Lunchtime recital by Michael Hurd Fund for Young Musicians' award holders

Petersfield Musical Festival

Biennial lunchtime recitals by recipients of grants from the Michael Hurd Fund for Young Musicians have become a popular feature of the Festival. The 2024 recital will be given by cellist Rebecca McNaught with pianist Emily Hoh, and soprano Rachel Newberry with pianist Mark Dancer.

Rebecca McNaught (cello) with Emily Hoh (piano). Rebecca will be performing James Macmillan’s Kiss on Wood, Trois Pièces by Nadia Boulanger and Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango.

Rebecca put her award , which she received from the Fund in 2020, towards a fine English cello. She gained a first-class honours degree from Merton College, Oxford, before undertaking her Masters at the Royal Academy of Music. She has since performed with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, recorded with Manchester Camerata, and performed in a cello ensemble with Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Rebecca is a tutor of cello and chamber music at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, Head of Strings at King Edward’s School, Witley, & Barrow Hills School, and Music Partnerships Coordinator at Westminster School.

Rachel Newberry (soprano) with pianist Mark Dancer. Rachel is a second year undergraduate at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, studying with Teresa Cahill and Alistair Young. She was the soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s and Rutter’s Gloria with Luminosa in November 2021 and was delighted to sing the role of Angel in Handel’s Jephtha at the 2023 Petersfield Musical Festival. Rachel was awarded the Lily Niblock Memorial Scholarship to study at the Saluzzo Opera Academy in summer 2023, with further assistance from the Michael Hurd Fund for Young Musicians. She was fortunate to have been cast as La Sorella Infermiera (The Nursing Sister), and covered the role of Suor Genovieffa (Sister Genevieve) in three performances of Suor Angelica by Puccini as part of Saluzzo’s Opera Festival.

Rachel will be singing well-known arias by Bizet and Mozart, and French, English and German songs