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benjamin grosvenor
09. Jun 2004 at 05:34
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a letter appeared in the print edition of last week's radio times - a uk media listings mag.

<i>glistening ivories

surely i can't be the only viewer to feel strongly that the judges got the result of bbc young musician of the year hopelessly wrong?

without detracting in any way from the musicanship of the chosen winner, i must observe that it is supposed to be the young musician of the year.

if one takes into account the difference in years between the winner and 11-year-old benjamin grosvenor, then here is one music lover that feels moved to protest.

while the winner, nicola benedetti, will always be a fine violinist, benjamin displayed a talent so awe-inspiringly prodigious that if he continues to develop from his current standard, he will be a <b>great</b> pianist.

he deserved to get the encouragement that is so important to a talent of such magnitude.

reg williamson
kidsgrove (!)
staffordshire</i>

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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #1 - 09. Jun 2004 at 10:41
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We have these sort of contests here from time to time and I'm continually perplexed as to why they generally choose older (virtually adult) contestants ahead of much younger and potentially great performers.  I just don't get it.
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #2 - 05. Jul 2005 at 09:28
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anyone with access to BBC1 can see benjamin tommorow night :

his www. website - benjamingrosvenor.co.uk

Imagine...

Wed 6 Jul, 10:45 pm - 11:45 pm  60mins

Being a Concert Pianist.

Alan Yentob gets under the lid of this extreme form of musicianship in a film inspired by Benjamin Grosvenor, the 12 year old boy who last year won the piano section of the Young Musician of the Year Competition.

The programme features some of the great players of today, including Yevgeny Kissin, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Chinese wunderkind, Lang Lang, talking intimately about their lives, their work and their motivation.

The film gives a frank and personal perspective on a profession for which the only real qualification is genius, richly illustrated with specially recorded rehearsals and performances. [S]

Subtitles   Stereo  Widescreen
 
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #3 - 06. Jul 2005 at 03:50
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Whew = and here I thought America was the only ageist society.  Sad

We syill live in an age, in fact ever increasingly so, where people are under the vast misconception that "the older you are, the better/smarter/more experienced you are".  Never mind that, to be younger you have to have a lot of talent to be noticed whereas most contestants on shows like American/Pop/WHatever Idol merely "earn" their celebrity status on their looks or attitude.

I don't know about overseas, but here we also have a growing attitude that discourages kids competing in most anything in order to "protect" them from losing or "feeling inadequate" if they don't win.  What a crock.
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #4 - 19. Jul 2005 at 04:42
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ben has letter published in UK times

Letters to the Editor 

July 15, 2005

Counter-point

From Benjamin Grosvenor

Sir, The article about me (T2, “A boy with grown-up fingers”, July 8) seemed to suggest that I was under terrible pressure.

I actually enjoy practising the piano and I love to perform in concerts.

I never practise for more than two hours without a break and there are plenty of boys at my school who spend as long playing computer games as I spend practising.

By the way, I had a really nice birthday meal with all my family, and I don’t actually like pizza.

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR

Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex


here's the times article :

A boy with grown-up fingers

By Amanda Holloway

TODAY is Benjamin Grosvenor’s 13th birthday — “the day after Mahler, and the day before Carl Orff,” he tells me. But unlike most 13-year-olds, Benjamin won’t be taking his friends for pizza and a movie after school. His biggest treat will be to watch The Simpsons before doing another five hours of piano practice.

Benjamin is about to be the youngest soloist to appear at the Barbican, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 13 this month. Last year he was the youngest finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, giving an astonishingly mature and sensitive performance of Ravel’s Concerto in G with hands that couldn’t even stretch an octave. The image of this tiny figure, perched on the edge of the piano stool, will stick in the mind for many years.

Fifteen months on, his hands can reach a ninth, and he’s lost the chubby cheeks that caused critics to call him “plump”. He’s tucking in to a plate of posh fish and chips at the Barbican restaurant, a reward for a tedious afternoon’s filming for the local TV news, and reassuring his mother that he answered all their questions politely. “I said what I normally say — that I’m very lucky to play in such a prestigious hall. Except ‘prestigious’ didn’t come out very well!” An unfortunate word to choose when, like Benjamin, you have trouble pronouncing your esses.

Benjamin is still at Westcliff High School for Boys, in Southend, Essex, though he’s allowed a lot of free periods to practise. That and being small for his age leaves him open to bullying, but he doesn’t complain. He’s a bright boy — he’s already taken several GCSEs — but he has no intention of staying on for A-levels or music college. He wants to be a concert pianist. Now.

There’s fierce debate in the music world about whether someone this young should be making such high-profile appearances. Other Young Musician finalists have chosen to hone their skills at a conservatoire before embarking on a performing career. This is the route recommended by Rosemary Pickering at the Young Concert Artists’ Trust, a non-profit agency hired by the BBC to advise and represent Young Musician finalists. The violinist Jennifer Pike was 12 when she won in 2002. She has combined studying for GCSEs with a modest number of concert dates. Pickering says the slow-burn approach has suited the quiet, academic Pike family.

At the other extreme, Nicola Benedetti, the Scottish violinist who won the BBC Young Musician competition over Benjamin in 2004, left school to concentrate on her career before she was 16.

The Grosvenors declined the trust’s offer of representation. They wanted an agent who would get dates for Benjamin, not just manage the ones that came in. Pickering says bluntly: “He was an 11-year-old circus performer. There was no point in cosseting him until he was 19.” Benjamin’s first agent, Terry Harrison, was anxious not to exploit his prodigy. But the Grosvenor family were equally anxious for Benjamin to get as much experience as possible.

His mother, Rebecca, a piano teacher with a flair for marketing, says: “If Benjamin gets known at 12, like Aled Jones, people will go and see him. There are lots of 18-year-olds who want to be pianists, but people might go to Benjamin’s concert because they remember him.” So when Harrison said she was an “over-ambitious parent” the Grosvenors signed with another agent, Hazard Chase. Now Benjamin is playing at the Albert Hall in October and makes his Carnegie Hall debut in February.

Is there anything wrong with pushing a talented 13-year-old who loves performing? Robert Rountree, from Hazard Chase, doesn’t see why the Barbican concert should put Benjamin under stress. “It’s good to do a few high-profile things so it’s not a shock further down the line,” he says. “He’s got so much further to go — we hope!” Benjamin says he’s never felt nervous, although he has had the odd memory lapse. I wonder if the critics are inclined to go easy on him because of his age? “I don’t think so,” he says. “When I toured with the Scottish Ensemble I got good reviews wherever we played.” “And three curtain-calls,” his mother reminds him.

For some young musicians, instant fame has disadvantages. The international oboeist Nicholas Daniel found himself isolated after winning the BBC Young Musician competition because “friends and contemporaries either kept their distance, or came forward too much”. The pianist Anna Markland played more than 60 concerts in the year after winning. She suffered stressrelated physical problems and then gave up the piano to sing.

What will happen to Benjamin Grosvenor? He’s an exceptional player, but is he really in the same mould as his hero, Evgeny Kissin, or Daniel Barenboim — both pianists who started as child prodigies and matured into legendary performers? Time will tell. “We’re not looking too far into the future,” says the pragmatic Mrs Grosvenor. “In another year Benjamin may decide he doesn’t want to do it any more.” In which case for his 14th birthday he can demand the things he’s been denied up to now, such as football, fencing and pizza parties.

Benjamin Grosvenor plays with the Academy of St- Martin-in-the-Fields at the Barbican on July 17 (020-7638 8891)
 

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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #5 - 19. Jul 2005 at 05:41
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That press article is a bit presumptuous but I suppose it is a question that needs to always be asked when kid performers are involved. How much is too much?  Will the kid burn out? Will he miss out on other important things?

IMO it's all horses for courses and Benjamin seems to like what he's doing.   It's certainly more productive than playing video games all day.
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #6 - 20. Jul 2005 at 06:18
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that's for sure, cal.

if you ever find yourself in the westcliff-on-sea area (on a musical pilgrimage?) i recommend the ice creams served at :

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The magnificent Rossi's Coffee Lounge in Westcliff on Sea - a superb little seaside suburb just between Leigh on Sea and Southend in Essex.

This area is great for moribund-high street action, packed with odd bookshops, thrift stores and old family retailers of all stripes.

In the background, above the Rossi, is the 'moderne' styled Cliffs Pavilion, a sizable early 60s arts centre (now somewhat remodelled) located on the landscaped gardens which rise up behind this shrine of Light Refreshment.

Wistful views over Southend pier and an exterior/interior combination untroubled for half a century should put this profound masterpiece of wicker, leatherette and lime green formica high on your hitlist!

Twentieth Century society in all its bracing contemporary brio.

In January 2003, local Rossi fan Helen Salkin wrote to tell us: "...the new owners/managers have chucked out the original green Lloyd Loom chairs and matching marble-topped tables, does still have various tiled labels such as ICES and SUNDRIES... around 20 years ago, the council threatened Mr Rossi with closure on the grounds that the cliff was collapsing behind his cafe."


classiccafes.co.uk



  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #7 - 21. Jul 2005 at 01:25
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I wonder how long Rossi's has been there?  I was born in Redhill which is S-W of there.  We used to go to the seaside quite a bit when I was a tiny tot, so perhaps I've already licked a Rossi cone or two.  Smiley
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #8 - 21. Jul 2005 at 07:40
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so what made you move from the delights of redhill?

didn't there used to a therapeutic quasi-penal establishment for children in redhill?

i've got the feeling (infamous child murderer) mary bell went there.

which must have been entertaining for the boys.

i think this might be it : (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

the school's closed but there's money in the bank for deserving causes : (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

also, take a look at (www site):

redhill-reigate-history.co.uk/ppo.htm
-----------
i was raised in the isle of wight - where filmmaker anthony minghella's parents run an ice cream firm.

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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #9 - 23. Aug 2005 at 08:16
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oops...  missed responding to this.

Thanks for those links BTW..  I still haven't got through them fully.

What made me move from Redhill?
I was still a pre-schooler and my father was recalled to Australia by his work... so there we went and there I be to this day   Smiley
  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #10 - 11. Oct 2005 at 04:46
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benjamin was on the richard and judy show yesterday.

they're talking about him on the show's forum :

Benjamin Grosvenor

At just 13 years old, Benjamin Grosvenor is a musical prodigy. He dreams of being a being a world-famous concert pianist and practices a gruelling 5 to 6 hours a day in pursuit of this aim.

Last year he was named BBC Young Musician of the Year 2004 in the piano group, and in July, he became the youngest ever concerto soloist at the Barbican Concert Hall.

His exceptional talent has wowed audiences nationwide who have compared him to the greats of Mozart. He is now preparing to perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on 20th October, and we are delighted to have him perform a Chopin Waltz for us live on Monday.


he also played gershwin`s i got rhythm

the forum - http site : community.channel4.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/9506046381/m/4510008823

the concert - www site : oneworldtrust.org/concertUN60th

  
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Re: benjamin grosvenor
Reply #11 - 03. Feb 2007 at 04:28
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concert upcoming :

Wednesday 7 February, 2007

19.30

English Chamber Orchestra

with Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Benjamin Grosvenor piano
Stephanie Gonley violin
English Chamber Orchestra
Roy Goodman conductor

Programme:

*** SELLING FAST ***

Vaughan Williams: Overture The Wasps
Grieg: Piano Concerto
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Grieg: Peer Gynt (extracts)
Vaughan Williams: Ballet Music and Final Tableau The Wasps

Fourteen-year-old BBC Young Musician of the Year Benjamin Grosvenor makes his Cadogan Hall debut following appearances at the Wigmore, Royal Albert and Carnegie Halls.

“Music flows from his young hands”
Daily Telegraph

Series Discounts
Book 3+ concerts: save 20%
Book 5+ concerts: save 30%

Groups 10+ concerts: save 20%

(Please note Series bookings by telephone only)

Free concert programmes

Pick up your complimentary programme at all ECO London Series concerts from Cadogan Hall.



Tickets*:
£35, £25, £15, £10

*Note: Certain ticket prices are currently only available via telephone.


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