Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists

The Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists (PDGYA) awards have helped kick start the careers of artists including Steven Isserlis, Elizabeth Watts and Craig Ogden, by providing up-and-coming classical musicians with performing opportunities with Making Music’s 3,700+ group members.

In the current economic climate, where arts funding is scarcer than ever, it can be tough for leisure-time music groups to engage high-quality soloists for their concerts. We provide subsidies of £150 for soloists and £250 for accompanied artists making it realistic for our members to book these talented musicians at the start of their careers. In turn, these artists get crucial real-world performance experience and opportunities to raise their profile.

2019 winners

Charlotte Bowden - soprano

Charlotte Bowden is currently working towards her Masters of Performance at the Royal College of Music. She is a Britten-Pears Young Artist and was recently awarded second prize and the audience prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards. Concert highlights include performing at Snape Maltings, the Oxford Lieder Festival with Sarah Walker and the London Handel Festival. Upcoming performances in 2019 include a recital at the Aldeburgh Festival and studying and performing at the Verbier Festvial Atelier Lyrique. Charlotte is a Big Give Scholar supported by the Royal College of Music. She is also a Help Musicians UK Ian Fleming Award holder and is grateful for the support of the Josephine Baker Trust.

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Manu Brazo - saxophone

Award-winning Spanish saxophonist Manu Brazo made his concerto debut in the UK with Guildford Symphony Orchestra in 2016, and since then has performed with the London Sinfonietta, Orquesta Betica de Camara and London City Orchestra among others. Since 2017 Manu has won the Royal College of Music Saxophone Competition, the GSO Young Artist Competition and was selected for the London Sinfonietta Academy and the Britten-Pears YAP. He has performed in over 30 concerts in the UK, Norway, Greece and Spain as a soloist and with Vario Duo. In 2018 he performed at the Snape Proms conducted by Marin Alsop and was invited to perform on BBC Radio 3 as a BBC introducing artist.

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Indira Grier - cello

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Abel Puustinen - violin

Finnish violinist Abel Puustinen made his debut with a symphony orchestra in 2014 performing Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto at the Helsinki Music Centre. He has since performed as a soloist with orchestras such as The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Puustinen’s passion for chamber music has taken him all around Europe and to Asia. Puustinen is a Young Artist at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Conway Hall, King’s Place, Helsinki Music Centre, The Temppeliaukio Church, Kallio Church, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Albert Hall.Puustinen is a Royal College of Music Scholar and plays on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin, generously loaned to him by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

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Amy Roberts - oboe

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Antonina Suhanova - piano

Latvian pianist Antonina Suhanova has been performing internationally since 2000. She has appeared with orchestras across Europe and Russia, collaborating with Andris Nelsons and Vladimir Spivakov. Antonina has received awards from the Hattori Foundation, Help Musicians UK, and the Drake Calleja Trust, and has been awarded the Kenneth Loveland Gift and the William Brown Prize in the Scottish International Piano Competition. She debuted at the Barbican Hall in 2016 as a finalist of the Guildhall Gold Medal Prize, and her debut at the Wigmore Hall in 2018 was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Antonina received her Master’s Degree with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with Ronan O'Hora.

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Previous winners