THIS year’s Leamington Music Prize has been awarded to Taiwanese percussionists Yu-Cheng Chen and Shih-Han Lee
The duo triumphed from the four finalists who performed to the jury in the Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall.
Yu-Cheng Chen is now studying for his Advanced Performance Diploma at Birmingham Conservatoire. Before coming to the UK, Yu-Cheng enjoyed a varied professional performing career in Taiwan, devoting much of his time to contemporary music and premiering many new percussion works.
When Shih-Han Lee started learning percussion aged 12, she showed an outstanding ability to express melodies – a quality not often anticipated in percussionists – and particularly enjoys playing tuned percussion instruments such as marimba and vibraphone.
Leamington Music’s Festival Director, Richard Phillips, said: “I was delighted to award this well deserved prize. We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to include percussion in our coming winter season and inject a note of the unexpected.”
The prize includes a concert on Tuesday October 18 at Leamington’s Spa Centre.
Visit leamingtonmusic.org for further details.
