Every year the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) awards prizes of a pair of season tickets to two talented young musicians who have taken part in the Springboard Festival. In 2018 the recipients were pianist Tyzer McAllister & flautist Lucy Leete.
Tyzer (then aged 13) won the Brighton Hammond Organ Society Challenge Cup, awarded for the best jazz performance in the piano section, for the third year running. He played Blues for Tom by Charles Beale. He also played violin in the Grades 6-7 class as well as the Junior Recital class, scoring well in both.
Lucy (then aged 14) won First with Honours in the Woodwind Solo Grade 7 and over class, playing Hypnosis by Ian Clarke. She also also won the Patrick Criswell Challenge Cup, awarded in recognition of her highest points score across four classes within the senior brass and woodwind sections. Lucy is a member of the South Downs Youth Orchestra and Classic Flutes, both via the East Sussex Music Service. Having passed her Grade 8 flute with distinction she has been awarded a sixth form music scholarship, to study music A level, and she will shortly be touring Helsinki and Estonia with the East Sussex Youth Orchestra.
Last December Lucy took up the Brighton Philharmonic’s offer to attend one of their rehearsals at Brighton Dome, and wrote the following about her exciting experience of sitting in on their rehearsal.
A day with the Brighton Phil by Lucy Leete
“On Sunday 2nd December 2018 I had an amazing day courtesy of the Brighton Philharmonic
Orchestra.
I’m a flautist and my good friend Samuel Maughan, a clarinettist, both play in the South Downs Youth Orchestra and East Sussex Youth Orchestra. So we were over the moon when Catherine Stead arranged for us to watch the BPO rehearsal ahead of the afternoon performance.
Sitting on stage, between the musicians as they rehearsed, made me realise that I truly want to be a professional flautist and that I should follow my dream. The friendship, warmth and laughter between musicians was a delight and everyone we spoke to made us feel so welcome.
In a break between rehearsals Principal Flute Christine Messiter very kindly spent that time sharing her musical journey with me. Christine’s warm up tips, practise hints and the books she suggested using are now sitting proudly in my music room at home. I have adapted my schedule to incorporate everything she said, and I feel I am a better flautist for it.
If the day couldn’t get any better, we then sat through the afternoon’s concert featuring the most talented violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen.
A huge heart felt thank you to everyone involved in giving Samuel and I an inspirational day we will remember for a very long time.”