Young Chamber Music Stars Win Dorothy Parkinson Memorial Award
Talented quintet Lumas Winds have been awarded the prestigious Dorothy Parkinson Memorial Award for Young British Musicians following their mesmerising performance at the HACS Harrogate Music Festival.
Lumas Winds with Sharon Canavar and Emily Scrope, Dorothy Parkinson’s granddaughter.
The London-based chamber music stars, who kicked off the popular Young Musicians Series at the Wesley Centre, were presented with the prestigious annual award by Emily Scrope, Dorothy’s granddaughter, after their concert.
The quintet, who have been making waves with their unique take on wind chamber music’s rich repertoire, performed a captivating and wide-ranging programme that included everything from music from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story and early work from Mozart to Sally Beamish’s The Naming of Birds.
Previous winners of the award include Evelyn Glennie, Ben Tarlton, Finzi Trio, Julian Bliss, Jamie Walton, Lucy Parham and Benjamin Grosvenor.
The award itself was inspired by the extraordinary life of Dorothy Parkinson, who had close ties with Harrogate International Festivals. Born in 1909, Dorothy was the third daughter of Lord and Lady Bingley and was brought up with her three sisters at Bramham Park near Wetherby. She went on to study music, which took her to Vienna where she studied with Arnold Rosé, the leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
After returning to North Yorkshire she became great friends with Dame Fanny Waterman, founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition, and the pair frequently performed recitals together. Harrogate International Festivals played a big part in Dorothy’s life – she was on its first board of governors following its inception in 1966 and was twice its president, in 1968 and 1978.
In 1981, the year after Dororthy’s death, her friend – the legendary mezzo-soprano Janet Baker – sang at Leeds Civic Hall in her memory, and the following year the Dorothy Parkinson Memorial Award became an integral part of the Festivals’ programme.
Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said: “The Dorothy Parkinson Memorial Award has become an integral part of our classical music programme, and over the past 45 years it has been won by some of the most gifted young musicians of their generation.
“Lumas Winds’ performance at the Wesley Centre was fantastic and they are thoroughly deserving recipients of this prestigious Award. They look destined for a stellar career!”
