2011 Ernest Bloch Competition

Monday 25 July 2011

RCM performers have walked off with the top two prizes in the 2011 Ernest Bloch Music Competition.

First prize went to Japanese mezzo soprano Ayaka Tanimoto, who impressed the judges with her performance of Bloch's Historiettes au Crépuscule. She was awarded £1,000 as well as a concert in a top London venue. Ayaka completed her undergraduate studies at the RCM in 2009, and now studies on the RCM's Masters programme with Patricia Rozario.

The jury awarded second prize and £500 to Canadian flautist Lindsay Bryden, for her performance of the Suite Modale for flute and piano. Lindsay studies at the RCM with Simon Channing and Kathleen Stevenson.

The Ernest Bloch Music Competition was initiated in 2009, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Swiss-born, American-Jewish composer Ernest Bloch (24 July 1880 – 15 July 1959).