Trumpet player Sol Maghur has been announced as the recipient of the 2023 Richard Fice Memorial Award.

The prize was established in memory of Richard Fice, former principal cornet of South Glamorgan Youth Band, who was killed in the bombing of the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent in 1989. The competition is held annually by Cardiff & Vale Music Education in recognising the county's leading brass player aged 19 and under.

Award winner

The 17-year-old (centre of image) Cardiff and the Vale College student is from Roath in Cardiff, and taught by Tredegar Band's principal cornet, Dewi Griffiths. Sol plays with Cardiff & Vale Music Education Youth Band and Symphonic Brass, CAVMS Youth Jazz Orchestra and a member of Parc & Dare Band and National Youth Brass Band of Wales.

Since its inception in 1991, the £2,000 Richard Fice Memorial Award has helped more than 30 promising local players to further their careers by enabling them to purchase instruments, pay for tuition or attend residential courses.

Many previous winners have gone on to become professional musicians, including horn player Meilyr Hughes, trumpet player Elizabeth Jones and trombonist Stephanie Muncy-Dyer.

Jury

1998 winner, Daniel Trodden and 2013 winner, horn player Jack Sewter joined the adjudicating panel which was chaired by Head of Cardiff & Vale Music Education, Emma Archer.

The 2023 competition was held at the Music Service's headquarters at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff in front of an invited audience which included Richard Fice's parents John and Marcia Fice.

We heard assured performances full of style and character and on the evidence of today's competition, the future of brass playing locally is in safe handsJury member, Jack Sewter

Assured performances

Speaking about the competition, Jack Sewter remarked: "We enjoyed a varied and entertaining programme of music that took in major works by Mozart, Schumann and Strauss.

We heard assured performances full of style and character and on the evidence of today's competition, the future of brass playing locally is in safe hands."

The three competitors — Sol Maghur (trumpet), Conrad Thorndike and Jacob Adams (both French horn) each performed with mature assuredness, but in the end the panel felt that Sol's beautifully phrased playing in Hubeau's 'Sonata for Trumpet' and energetic rendition of Herman Bellstedt's 'Napoli' marked him as a worthy winner.