William Vann is establishing himself at the forefront of the current generation of young British accompanists. He graduated with a distinction in the Postgraduate Piano Accompaniment Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in 2007, having studied with Malcolm Martineau and Colin Stone, and in September 2008 won the prestigious Gerald Moore award. He is also a past winner of the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship for accompanists and is supported by the Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust. He has recently completed a year as Hodgson Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music and has been elected Samling Scholar for 2010.
Born in Bedford, he was a Chorister of King’s College, Cambridge, a Music Scholar at Bedford School, where he became an Associate of the Royal College of Organists, and a Choral Exhibitioner at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied Law and was awarded the first prize in a competition to compose a piece for the Queen’s Jubilee on behalf of the University.
Recent performances have included the 2009 Young Songmakers concert at St John’s, Smith Square, a recital with James Gilchrist, an evening of Mozart arias in Dulwich Picture Gallery, a guest performance for the Gurney Society, Dvorak and Brahms’ chamber music with the Nephele Ensemble at St David’s, Cardiff and in the Rhyl and Carlisle festivals, a staged performance of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a reconstruction of Mendelssohn’s time spent with Queen Victoria in Trinity Chapel, Oxford and a guest appearance at the Hereford Summer School. He has been a Britten-Pears Young Artist for three consecutive years.
He has played in masterclasses given by Michael Dussek, Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, Robin Bowman, Andrew West, Sue McCulloch, Sarah Walker, Richard Jackson, Richard Stokes, Robert Tear, and James Bowman and was the official accompanist for the Hampshire Singer of the Year competition in 2007 and 2008 where he will be returning later this year.
Forthcoming appearances include a concert at Wigmore Hall with Samuel Evans, supported by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and a recital in the Aldeburgh Festival in 2010. He will also be organising and playing in several concerts at the Royal Academy of Music as part of his fellowship.