Music scholarship and bursaries awarded to wide range of talented St John's students

Date 25 November 2019

Congratulations to this year’s recipients of music scholarships and bursaries!

This year the John Heath Music Scholarship, worth up to £400 for a gifted instrumentalist, has been awarded to Julian Gonzales. Julian, a pianist, played Etude Tableaux: Opus 39 No. 5 by Rachmaninov in his audition, and is currently in his second year of studying Mathematics at St John’s. 

Music bursaries, worth up to £120 each term to contribute to the cost of music lessons, were awarded to Max Cheung (3rd year Literae Humaniores – Cello), Inès Gétaz (3rd year Geography – Voice), Ishta Sharma (4th year Medicine – Flute), William Orbell (3rd year Chemistry – Piano), and Yige Huang (DPhil Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics – Organ). 

Professor Jason Stanyek, Tutorial Fellow in Ethnomusicology and judge of the awards, said, ‘this term, we had a record number of applicants for our music bursaries. Twelve students from across various subjects and degree programmes auditioned, performing a diverse range of pieces (including Western classical music, American/Australian popular song, Hindustani devotional music, and Brazilian choro)’

As well as the students who were awarded scholarships and bursaries, the other students to audition represented a wide range of subjects, including Chemistry, Mathematics, English Language and Literature, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), and Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, whilst the other instruments played included the piano and the bamboo flute. 

We were pleased to see that so many of our students, even when not studying the subject, are able to enjoy music alongside their academic work. To find out more about some of the musical opportunities our students have taken up outside their degrees, take a look at this article written by current Physics student Matthew Hopkins.