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Hailed as a rising star by the magazine International Piano, Scottish pianist Christina Lawrie will make her debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2009, playing the Grieg concerto in Dundee’s Caird Hall. Christina's recent engagements have included live BBC Radio 3 broadcasts, a performance at the 2007 Cheltenham Music Festival, and a recital at the Purcell Room for the South Bank Centre’s Fresh Young Musicians' Platform.
Christina’s debut at London’s world-renowned Wigmore Hall was praised by Musical Opinion magazine for its “astute intelligence and warmth of spirit”. In 2004 she gave her debut recital at London's South Bank Centre, in the Park Lane Group Young Artists Series. The Observer praised her "formidable intellect and boundless technique...Fantastic playing", and Musical Opinion described her as "a very gifted young player.." As a result of this recital, when one of the 2005 PLG Young Artists dropped out, six weeks before the concert, Christina was asked to step in for the 2005 series. Musical Pointers remarked of her performance "In a few weeks and by special request she had learnt the complete programme already scheduled for an indisposed PLG Young Artist. That included Tippett's rhapsodic and elusive 4th sonata, played from memory with complete assurance and remarkable aplomb; an astonishing feat of professionalism."
Her performance at the Bellapais International Festival in Cyprus was broadcast on television. Closer to home, Christina gave a recital in the inaugural season of the new Perth Concert Hall. Other recent engagements include her debut at St. George's, Bristol. She also gives numerous performances for music societies all over the UK, and frequently performs in her native Scotland. In May 08 she was honoured to give the inaugural recital on the Steinway bought by Music Nairn, and in January 08 she undertook a 6-concert tour of Argyll and Bute.
Christina has won a host of accolades on a national and international level. She was a finalist in the Piano Section of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London, and a winner of the Blackheath Hall Young Artists auditions, as well being a prizewinner at the Marsala International Piano Competition. She also reached the finals of the Madrid International Piano Competition “ Compositores de España”.
A former Caird Scholar, Christina has also won an English-Speaking Union/Vlado Perlemuter scholarship, and awards from the Cross Trust, Hope Scott Trust, Leverhulme Foundation, Laura Ashley Foundation, Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Tay Charitable Trust. She won numerous prizes at the RCM and the RAM, including the Academy's Postgraduate Piano Recital Prize, and the Friends of the Royal Academy of Music/Mortimer Career Development Award. She has received generous support from the Scottish Arts Council, and recently won a Dewar Award, Scotland's accolade for emerging artists.
Christina studied at Chetham's School of Music with the Polish pianist and teacher Ryszard Bakst before going on to read Music at Trinity College, Cambridge. Subsequently the Royal College of Music awarded her a Leverhulme Postgraduate Studentship, enabling her to study with Yonty Solomon. She also worked with Vanessa Latarche at the Royal Academy of Music, and undertook further study with Sergei Babayan and Joan Havill.
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