Latymer Musician Wins National Award
Local sixth-former's highly prestigious national award for music composition
Joel Rust, a 17-year-old student at Latymer Upper School, is one of three winners of the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composers’ Award. His winning composition will be performed by the Endymion Ensemble at 4pm on Friday 17th August in the Cadogan Hall and then broadcast on Radio 3 on Friday 24th August.
“This is an incredible achievement,” says Tony Henwood, Director of Music at Latymer Upper School. “Joel is a remarkably talented musician and it is wonderful to see his abilities recognised in this way.”
The BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composers Competition, now in its ninth year, has helped many thousands of creative young people gain skills and confidence in expressing themselves through music, and set others on the road to recognition.
The competition’s founder, Guardian journalist Peter Kingston, says: “Anyone between the ages of 12 and 18 can enter the competition. Entries, which must be no more than five minutes long, are judged by a panel including top composers from varied musical fields. Winning composers, including Joel, will receive further commissions.”
“The standard of entries was very high this year, but Joel’s piece, Paraprosdokia, made an instant impression on the judges, not least because it consisted of an interesting and original combination of instruments – three woodwind and three brass instruments. Joel showed a real understanding of each instrument and each individual part was extremely well written. It was also submitted as a live, acoustic recording which was both refreshing and accomplished.”
Joel, who plays the piano, cello and double bass, is modest about his success but is nonetheless delighted.
“I stared composing around five or six years ago. I love all parts of the composition process and winning this prize makes me want to write even more. It is extremely encouraging.
“I think I was inspired to compose after my grandfather took me to a Prom which included a violin concerto by the German composer Alban Berg – I was captivated by its freshness. My mum spotted that I had started composing and encouraged me by arranging some composition tutoring – so that really got me going.”
Joel already has an offer from Cambridge University to read music at Emmanuel College, and the school has asked him to write a piece of music to mark the opening of our new music school, due to open in January 2008.
And what about that striking title of his winning piece, Paraprosdokia?
“It is a literary term that I came across in my classical studies. It means ‘a sudden reversal in fortune’. It seemed an appropriate title for my composition.”
July 7, 2007
