PROFILE
Rhys, British-Indian pianist made his solo debut at age 8 at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London. Since then he has performed widely as a soloist across UK, USA, Europe and India appearing in prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Barbican Centre in London, Teatr Polski in Warsaw, Teatro dell’Osservanza Imola in Italy and NCPA Mumbai in India.
He has performed as a soloist with various orchestras such as the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Ealing Symphony Orchestra and Purcell Symphony Orchestra in the UK and worked with professional conductors such as John Gibbons, Stefan Hofkes and Joe Zegers. He has performed as soloist across Germany in charity concerts with the Bundes Polizei Orchester, Munchen Orchestra in aid of UNICEF’s “Schools for Africa” program. He was the pianist for the prestigious National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and has toured and performed across the UK with them.
Rhys has been awarded prizes in several international music competitions and his competition credits include First prize in the 22nd Evangelia Tjiarri International Piano Competition, Cyprus, First prize in Reading Symphony Orchestra Young Musicians Competition, First prize and Overall Concerto Award at the Ealing Music Festival, First Prize at EPTA 2015, Most Distinguished Pianist Award and the Young Talent Encouragement – Special Mention Award at the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition, Sicily, Italy , Third prize at the 5th Windsor International Piano Competition, Winner of the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition and many more.
Rhys has been awarded the prestigious Times Network Global NRI of the Year Award 2017 in India recognizing his achievements as an Outstanding Young Pianist. He was the youngest recipient of this award at age 14 and has performed for Miss World 2017 and Bollywood in Mumbai, India.
Rhys is passionate about promoting classical music and has performed and become an ambassador for numerous organisations and societies that share this aim. These include his performances for Maestro Zubin Mehta’s Mehli Mehta Music Foundation at the Young Generation Pianists recital in NCPA, Mumbai, India. His work as Music Ambassador of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, where he has performed alongside Lang Lang as well as taken part in key projects such as the ‘Virtual Concert’s series’ during the COVID 19 lockdowns and featured in videos for Lang Lang’s album ‘Piano Book’. Most recently, he has become an ambassador of the Leeds International Piano Competition, where he has taken part in numerous events and performances broadcast on Classic FM and Medici TV to promote the competition to a wider audience.
Rhys currently studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Professor Eliso Virsaladze. He completed his secondary school studies with a music scholarship at The Purcell School for Young Musicians, a specialist music school in the UK and was also awarded the Elton John scholarship for his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, Junior Department. Rhys has had masterclasses with several notable professors and performers such as Lang Lang, Dimitri Alexeev, Rena Shershevskaya, Tatiana Zelikman, Epifanio Comisa, Boris Petrushansky, Eugene Indjic, Vladimir Ashkenazy, William Fong, Edita Stankeviciute, Christopher Elton and Murray McLachlan among others.
COMPETITIONS & AWARDS
2021 and 2022
Tabor Ambassador at the Leeds International Piano Competition and performed during the Piano Trails and Gala Dinner.
2020
Performed in the Lang Lang Music Foundation’s ‘Play it Forward’ virtual concert series followed by live Q&A session.
2019:
Awarded third place (no first place awarded) at the 5th Windsor International Piano Competition, Windsor, UK
2018:
Winner of the Valerie Childs Cup at Marlow Music Festival, UK presented by Childs Pianoforte School in the Open Piano Recital category.
Awarded a place as a pianist in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain 2019
Selected from the UK as one of the Young Master Pianists from around the world and performed in charity concerts across Germany in aid of UNICEF’s “Schools for Africa” program.
2017:
Winner of the Times Network Global NRI of the Year Award 2017 for being an outstanding Young Pianist and performed for Bollywood in Mumbai in July 2017.
Winner of The Overall Concerto Award at the Ealing Music Festival between concerto winners across all instrumental categories and selected to perform with the Ealing Symphony Orchestra, UK,
Winner of the Outstanding Award and The Paul Masters Trophy in the concerto round at the Ealing Music Festival, UK in the 16 and under category,
Winner of The F. Broda Trophy at the Ealing Music Festival, UK in the open age category,
Winner of the 22nd Evangelia Tjiarri International Piano Competition Category A – under 15 years held in Cyprus.
Winner of the Reading Symphony Orchestra Young Musicians Competition, London, UK and selected to perform with the premier Reading Symphony Orchestra, UK.
Winner of the Iris Dyer Piano Prize 2017 held at the Royal Academy of Music, London, UK.
2015-16:
Selected as Music Ambassador by the Lang Lang International Music Foundation
Sir Elton John Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music, UK
Winner of the Doroszkowski Chopin Cup, Marlow Music Festival, UK
Winner of the E. E. Squire Memorial Cup for outstanding winner, Ealing Music Festival, UK
Winner of the Piano Solo Senior Recital Cup, Ealing Music Festival, UK
Winner of the Alec and Eileen Wilson Memorial Trophy for Advanced Recital, Maidenhead Music Festival, UK
Winner of Councillor and Mrs E. A. Daniell Cup, Ruislip-Northwood Festival, UK,
Winner of the Craxton Cup for outstanding winner, Ruislip-Northwood Festival, UK
Winner of Joy Day Cup, Most Promising Young Musician, Reading Young Musician 2016, UK
Winner of the EPTA 2015 in the 12 and under category
Winner of the Mrs L. N. Hicks Cup, Ruislip-Northwood Festival, UK
Winner of the Elsie Childs Cup (rolling for 2 years), Ruislip-Northwood Festival, UK
2013-14:
Most Distinguished Pianist Award, IBLA Grand Prize International Competition, Sicily, Italy
Young Talent Encouragement – Special Mention, IBLA Grand Prize International Competition, Sicily, Italy
Winner of American Protege International Piano & Strings Competition, New York, USA
Winner of the Moston Cup – Junior Recital, Marlow Festival, UK
Winner of the Sir Keith Stuart Cup, Marlow Festival, UK
Musical Achievement Trophy – St Helen’s College, UK
David Edwards Award for Most Outstanding Performance, Ruislip Northwood Festival, UK,
Valerie Child’s Cup for Best Performance, Ruislip Northwood Festival, UK
Miss B A Double Cup for Baroque, Ruislip Northwood Festival, UK
Frank Henegan Cup for Best Performance, Ruislip Northwood Festival, UK
Danielle Cup, Ruislip Northwood Festival, UK
Before 2013:
Won 30+ trophies in the UK at different music festivals.
MASTERCLASSES
Rhys has had several masterclasses with several leading pedagogues from around the world.