2021 RDS Music Bursary Winner Announced

Dublin Violinist Takes €15,000 RDS Music Bursary

Winner, Phoebe White, is sister of 2018 RDS Music Bursary winner Killian White

Ireland’s largest annual classical music prize, with total prize fund of €20,000 

Award comes on foot of stunning performances by Phoebe at this year’s Feis Ceoil 

 

Phoebe White, a 24-year-old violinist, was today (Friday May 7) announced as the 2021 winner of the €15,000 RDS Music Bursary. A musician since the age of three, Phoebe follows in the footsteps of her brother Killian White, a cellist, who was the recipient of this prize in 2018.  

 

Former General Manager of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Brian O’Rourke was the Chair of this year’s judging panel that awarded Phoebe close to full marks. Phoebe was described by the panel as ‘a very impressive and confident performer with a strong track record of success and a clear vision for the future’. 

 

The RDS Music Bursary is the single largest annual classical music award in Ireland and one of the largest in Europe. Phoebe qualified for the bursary by taking the Aileen Gore Cup in this year’s digital Feis Ceoil with exceptional scores. 

 

“We are delighted to award Phoebe White this year’s RDS Music Bursary, she really impressed the judges and undoubtedly is a performer with a very exciting career ahead of her” said RDS Chief Executive Geraldine Ruane. “We wish her every success with her postgraduate studies in Berlin and look forward to welcoming her and Antonia Huang to perform next year in the RDS with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Classical music has a strong tradition in the RDS, and we are excited about supporting talented young artists to reach their full potential through this bursary and our continuing support for Feis Ceoil, which is the qualifying competition for the RDS Music Bursary.”  

 

Phoebe White 

Phoebe is currently undertaking a Masters of Violin Performance in Universitat der Kunste (UdK) Berlin studying with Professor Laticia Honda-Rosenberg. Phoebe plans to use her bursary money to continue her postgraduate studies in Berlin by pursuing a Soloist Masters with the same teacher. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance in the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in 2019 and previously studied under Fionnuala Hunt in the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. Phoebe has won numerous competitions over the years dating back to her first international prize in 2007 when she won third prize and the ‘Best Performance of a piece by J.S. Bach’ in the ‘Noor Muusik’ Young Musician Competition, Talinn, Estonia when she was just 10 years old. She has won many awards in the Feis Ceoil competitions, including most recently the Aileen Gore Cup & the RTÉ Lyric FM Award in 2021 with an exceptional mark of 98%. She has extensive performance experience both nationally and internationally, including as a soloist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in a sold-out National Concert Hall in August 2017. 

 

Jago Award 

The RDS Jago Award of €5,000, the second prize in the RDS Music Bursary Programme, was awarded to 21-year-old pianist, Antonia Huang. Both musicians will also receive professional performance engagements with RTÉ Orchestras as part of their prizes. Antonia Huang has studied piano with Hugh Tinney since 2016. She is currently completing a bachelor’s Engineer Degree at Cambridge University. Antonia will use her cash prize to contribute towards the costs of undertaking her two-year master’s in performance at the Guildhall in London under Ronan O’Hora, which will begin this September. She is the winner of numerous piano prizes and accolades and was selected as one of six Irish pianists to represent Ireland in the 2018 Dublin International Piano Competition. 

 

Ava Dodd 

Ava Dodd was also announced as this year’s recipient of the €1,500 RDS Collins Memorial Performance Award, which is awarded in association with the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. A previous RDS Music Bursary Award winner is selected annually by the Artistic Director of the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Ava will perform at the Festival which takes place annually in Lismore, Co. Waterford.  

 

As well as Brian O’Rourke as the chair of this year’s judging panel, it included Gerard Keenan, CEO of the Irish Chamber Orchestra; David Byers, former Head of Music in BBC Northern Ireland and former General Manager of the Ulster Orchestra; Pádhraic O’Cuinneagáin, Professor of Piano at TU Dublin Conservatoire; and Catherine Leonard, Artistic Director of the Westport Chamber Music Festival.