RPS Young Artist Biography
Jeanine Thorpe (violin)
2006 Emily Anderson Prize Winner
Jeanine Thorpe was born in 1989 and started playing the violin at the age of 6. At 8 years of age she entered the Royal Academy of Music, and studied with Philippa Bunting. When she was 11 she moved to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where her teachers have included David Takeno and Stephanie Gonley.
Jeanine has performed widely both in the UK and abroad, and has been involved in several courses and festivals in Switzerland, Norway and Italy. She has given recitals in Suffolk, Norwich, Devon, Cardiff and London.
In December 2002 Jeanine was awarded first prize in the Remember Enescu International Violin Competition in Romania by an international panel of judges. She was the first West European to win this award but her success was even more remarkable since, at the age of 13, Jeanine was also one of the youngest who entered. The following year she was invited to take part in a masterclass with Igor Ozim as part of the European String Teachers' Association (ESTA) Anniversary in London. In July 2004 Jeanine played Lalo's Symphony Espagnole at St. John's Smith Square with the Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra. In October 2004 Jeanine won the Gold Medal for her category, and overall First Prize in the Marlow Music Festival Competition; subsequently she was invited back in November to perform Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto with the Elgar Chamber Orchestra under Stephen Bell.
Other competition successes include the prize for players under 18 as part of the Manoug Parikian/Emily Anderson Award. In January 2005 she gave a recital at the Wales Millennium Centre and in March the same year, Jeanine was chosen to compete for the title of ESTA Student of the Year Award held in Malta which she won. After this she was invited to give a tour of recitals in Amsterdam in November 2005. In July 2005 Jeanine was first prize winner of Junior Guildhall's Lutine Prize.
Also in 2005 she was invited to Italy in the summer to have masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich. This year she has performed concertos including those by Elgar, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Bach at various London venues including the Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square and St James' Piccadilly.
Owing to her success in the ESTA competition, in August this year Jeanine was invited to give the opening recital at the ESTA annual conference in Tallinn, Estonia. In the autumn she is appearing in a production for ITV, entitled Trial and Retribution, playing music by Elgar.