Successes for Arne

Thursday 22 May 2014

We’re delighted to announce that RCM composer Arne Gieshoff has enjoyed two outstanding competition successes recently.

Arne has won the Theodore Holland Intercollegiate Composition Prize - a biennial competition open to outstanding composition students from the RNCM, RCM, RAM and RCS. Each institution nominates one candidate, and the prize money of £425 is intended to help the winner embark on their professional career. Arne’s portfolio of three contrasting works (Ad Bestias for ensemble; Stanza for orchestra; and Aphorisms and Annotations for orchestra) won him the prestigious prize: the third time in a row it has been awarded to an RCM composer.

Arne says: “I was honoured when I learned that the RCM had nominated me to submit my work to the 2014 Theodore Holland Intercollegiate Composition Prize for consideration. Today, a few months on, I am delighted to have received this award!”

The talented German composer has also been named as the 2014 Mendelssohn Scholar. Awarded biennially by the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, this scholarship has been held by an illustrious list of musicians including RCM professor Mark-Anthony Turnage. The panel members were unanimous in their decision to award Arne the 2014 scholarship, valued at £6,000.

Arne is a Master’s student Royal College of Music supported by an ABRSM Scholarship and an RVW Trust Award. He studies with Jonathan Cole, Simon Holt and Dai Fujikura; his previous teachers include Kenneth Hesketh and Cord Meijering. He is co-founder and artistic director of the contemporary music group explorensemble, which performs at the RCM on Monday 23 June.