Louisa Breen
Piano
Louisa Breen was born in Melbourne, Australia, and graduated with Bachelor of Music Honours from the University of Melbourne in 1998. She came to England for postgraduate studies on the piano at the Royal College of Music, supported by a Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship, an Associated Board International Scholarship, and the Clarke Scholarship. After gaining a Distinction for her Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Performance, Louisa completed her Masters in Musical Performance in 2001. During this time she studied piano with John Byrne and violin with Ani Schnarch, helped by support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Musicians Benevolent Trust.
While in Australia, Louisa had much performing success as both a violinist and pianist, winning many competitions, performing numerous concertos with orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and performing as member, concertmaster and soloist with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Camerata Australia.
Since moving to England, Louisa has enjoyed similar success, winning many prizes at the Royal College of Music including the highest prize for piano, the Chappell Gold Medal in 1999, and the Marjorie and Dorothy Whyte award on her graduation in 2001. She has toured Asia and Australasia as a member of the RCM Premiere ensemble and performs regularly as a soloist and as a chamber musician in concerts throughout London and the UK, including such venues as St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James Piccadilly, Winchester Cathedral, and St John's Smith Square. She has performed many concertos with orchestra in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and New Zealand, including the European Premiere of Australian composer Carl Vine's Piano Concerto in 2001 with the RCM Sinfonietta. In January 2003 she made her highly successful Purcell Room debut performing a recital of contemporary solo piano repertoire as part of the Park Lane Group Young Artist Series.
At the time of writing, Louisa was in her second year of the Jenny Marsh Chapman Junior Fellowship at the RCM.