Horsham musician awarded scholarship with prestigious London Symphony Orchestra

A talented Horsham musician has been awarded a highly prestigious scholarship from the London Symphony Orchestra.
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Double bassist Will Duerden, 23, is one of just 10 musicians from across the world to have been awarded the new LSO Conservatoire Scholarship.

The ground-breaking initiative has been created to ensure that musicians from all backgrounds have access to conservatoire training and to help reduce the financial barriers of those wanting to enter the profession.

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Will will receive £30,000 over the next two years to help him focus fully on his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music. He will also benefit from coaching and mentoring from the LSO’s own renowned musicians and ongoing career advice.

Will has been playing the double bass since the age of seven. “I was already playing the piano, and my mother took me to watch a local orchestra. She said that I could learn any instrument that I liked the look of, and I chose the bass.

"This surprised her since I was pretty small, but she kept her promise!”, he said. By nine, Will had earned a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School in Cobham, studying with Caroline Emery, until he was 19.

Will is lucky to play on a Carlo Loveri double bass from 1873, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous benefactor. “The instrument has a rich history, even featuring on the soundtrack of some early Walt Disney animations,” Will said.

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Music has always been a central part of Will’s life, thanks to his mother, an oboist, and a teacher of singing and piano. “Growing up around varied musical styles nurtured my love for classical, baroque, and jazz,” he added.

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Currently a student, Will already boasts an impressive resume. He’s currently part of the John Wilson Orchestra and could recently be seen playing bass in the Hollywood’s Greatest Hits show, an evening of hit songs from the Golden Age of Hollywood movie musicals.

In between performing and studying his Masters of Performance under Rodrigo Moro Martín, principal double bass at the LSO, Will is also passionate about teaching. He teaches at the junior department of the RCM and visits primary schools to inspire younger students with the double bass.

The LSO Conservatoire Scholarships programme is supported by Alex and Elena Gerko. Mr Gerko is the founder of algorithmic trading business XTX Markets.

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Will said: “The LSO scholarship has already helped huge amounts in my studies as a bassist and musician. The help has meant that I do not have to worry about filling every week with different work, but in fact have been able to spend so much valuable time working on the bass itself and progressing as a player, time which I would not have had without the support from the scholarship.”

LSO managing director Dame Kathryn McDowell said: “Will is a wonderful talent. We’re so glad to be able to help him study at one of the leading 10 conservatoires in the world and we are excited to watch him develop in the years ahead.”

The LSO Conservatoire Scholarship programme was open specifically to postgraduate instrumentalists from low-income backgrounds, especially those whose combined household income is less than £45,000 per year, and those who were facing financial barriers that would have prevented them from further study.