Saturday 28th March 2026
Britten: Lachrymae Op 48 Prokofiev: Seven pieces from Romeo and Juliet (arr Borisovsky) York Bowen: Romance in A Op 21 no 1 Tabakova: Suite in jazz style Brahms: Viola sonata in A minor, Op 120 no 1
From the town of Barnstaple, Ben Norris is a Junior Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music having studied there with Vicci Wardman as an ABRSM scholar. He previously studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Alex Thorndike.
Ben has won multiple prizes for solo and chamber playing throughout his time as a student, including the RNCM viola prize in 2023. He has appeared on BBC Radio 3 as a chamber musician and on BBC Four multiple times as an orchestral musician. Ben has performed with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Manchester Concert Orchestra, Lindow Ensemble and BBC Philharmonic PES scheme.
Ben is a very active chamber musician and has recently performed at Cowbridge Music Festival, Delft Chamber Music Atelier in the summer of 2023 as well as a String Quartet tour around Wales with Sinfonia Cymru. He has played multiple times at Wigmore Hall and is part of the Hans Keller Chamber Forum for 2023/24 with the Talland Quartet.
Ben currently plays on a 1788 viola by Benjamin Banks, and is grateful to the ABRSM, Benslow Trust and the Stephen Bell Trust for their support
With playing of ‘great clarity’ and ‘surprising strength for one so young’, Jamie Cochrane is equally at home as a concerto soloist, song accompanist or chamber musician. He is keen to bring music to a wide audience, programming less widely-performed works alongside audience favourites. His latest successes include being selected as a Tillett Trust Debut Artist and winning the 2024 Norah Sande Award. Jamie has performed internationally, including venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and recent performances have included Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Colchester Symphony Orchestra and Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety with the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been fortunate to receive lessons and masterclasses from pianists such as Steven Osborne, Yevgeny Sudbin and Tom Poster, amongst others.
From 2019 to 2022, Jamie was the pianist in the Oxford-based, contemporary music group Ensemble ISIS, where he had the opportunity to work with
composers Shirley Thompson and Cheryl Frances-Hoad, amongst others, as well as collaborate with and perform works by student composers. During this time, the ensemble was also involved in a recording project in connection with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Chamber music continues to be important to Jamie, and recent performances include the Brahms Horn Trio and Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for two pianos.
After being crowned Essex Young Musician of the Year in 2018, Jamie went on to study at Merton College, Oxford, where he was awarded both instrumental and academic scholarships. Having graduated with a first-class degree, he went on to hold the position of Graduate Musician in Residence from 2022-23 at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, whilst continuing his studies in London. Jamie has recently finished his Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music with William Fong and Michael Dussek, where he was also awarded a DipRAM for outstanding performance in a postgraduate final recital. His studies were generously supported by the Wayne Sleep Foundation, Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation and the Cullis Bursary Fund.