Alexander Soares studies piano at the Guildhall School of Music, where he holds a scholarship. He achieved a distinction in his final recital on the first year Master’s course, and this year was winner of the Beethoven prize. He graduated with a first from Clare College, Cambridge. He previously studied at the Royal College of Music, Junior Department, with Emily Jeffrey. At the RCM, he was winner of all of the major competitions, including the Peter Morrison Concerto Competition, which led to his concerto debut performance with the Barber Concerto. Upon leaving he was awarded the Esther Coleman prize for outstanding contribution. At Cambridge, he won the top performances prizes, leading to concerto performances with the main orchestras.
Alexander has given solo recitals at such venues as St James’s Piccadilly, LSO St. Luke’s, St Lawrence Jewry and West Road, Cambridge. He has appeared on BBC Radio 3, taking part in a UK première performance at the LSO St. Luke’s in collaboration with the Barbican Centre’s Total Immersion Series. Most recently Alexander reached the semi-finals of the Manchester International Concerto Competition 2009, and was winner of the Ealing Festival Concerto Award. In Spring 2010 Alexander will perform at the Barbican, before a tour of Stravinsky’s Les Noces around Paris and London.
As a composer, he was a winner of the BBC Proms / Guardian Young Composers’ Competition, resulting in a broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He was selected for the Rising Generation Project, in which his work was performed in the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre. He was shortlisted by the Society for Promoting New Music (SPNM), and has written for the Schubert Ensemble and Endymion. In 2009 he was awarded the Arthur Bliss Composition Prize at Cambridge.
He has won scholarships to Dartington to study piano with Stephen Kovacevich and Joanna MacGregor. He has also taken part in masterclasses with Dominique Merlet, Steven Osborne and Yonty Solomon. Alexander currently studies with Ronan O’Hora, and is grateful to the Arts Council, the Countess of Munster Trust, the Ernest Cook Trust and the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers for their generous support.
January 2010