Early Years
Jennifer Pike is the daughter of British composer Jeremy Pike. She gave her first recital at the age of eight, and within two years she was chosen to play in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales, having been selected to take part in the Associated Board National High Achievers’ concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. At the same age she made her concerto debut, playing Haydn's Violin Concerto in G with the Chetham's School Orchestra and with the Lake District Summer Music Orchestra in the Menuhin Concert, Windermere. She was also chosen at the age of ten to perform at the national Millennium Festival in Leeds Town Hall in November 2000, as the overall winner of both the Alderley Edge and Liverpool Festivals in the Millennium year.
Hallé Début
In June 2001 at the age of eleven she was invited to appear with the Hallé Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, as soloist in a performance of Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, the youngest player ever to perform with them.
Competitions and Masterclasses
In 2002 she won the national Emanuel Hurwitz Prize and was awarded a Martin Musical Scholarship. The same year she became the youngest ever major prizewinner in the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition held in France, where she was awarded fourth prize. On winning major awards from the Graucob and Musicas Funds she was invited to attend international summer schools for advanced students in both the United States and the English Lake District. She has been awarded an annual Martin Musical Scholarship since 2003.
She has participated in masterclasses with many renowned violinists, including Maxim Vengerov, Ivry Gitlis, Michael Vaiman, Lorand Fenyves, Atis Bankas, Zvi Zeitlin and Mauricio Fuks. She has also won awards from the Hattori Foundation, Awards for Young Musicians, Graucob Awards and the Geoffrey Shaw Memorial Award. She was unanimously awarded the Manoug Parikian Award in 2005 and the Derek Butler London Prize in 2007.
BBC Young Musician of the Year
In the BBC Young Musicians 2002 competition she was unanimously voted winner of the String section final for her performance of Debussy's Violin Sonata in G minor, Jeremy Pike's Aphelion and Havanaise by Saint-Saens, before winning the title of BBC Young Musician of the Year at the Concerto Final in the Barbican Hall, London, on May 26, the youngest player ever to be awarded the trophy. The Final was watched by millions across the country and abroad. She was too young (by two years) to be entered for the Eurovision Competition, but she took part instead in 2006, where she was the only violinist to reach the grand Final, performing to 40.00 in the Rathausplatz, Vienna, and live on TV throughout Europe!
Following this award she has played live on BBC Radio 3 on many occasions, including performances from the BBC studios in London and Glasgow and from St. George's, Bristol. She has also given many interviews on radio, television and for the national and local press.
She has given many performances throughout the country and abroad, including recitals with her father Jeremy Pike, with Max Ritchie, with Andrew Wilde, Andrew West and Gordon Back. As a concerto soloist she has performed with the country's top orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestras, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Halle Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras, the London Mozart Players, the City of London Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, the Northern Chamber Orchestra and the London Festival Orchestra. She has also performed as soloist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the World Youth Orchestra.
Instruments
She currently plays on a violin by Matteo Goffriller which was initially loaned to her by the Saba Young Musicians Trust with the assistance of J & A Beare Ltd. It is now on loan to her from the Jennifer Pike Violin Trust, set up by Nigel Brown to assist her to acquire the instrument in the long term. Please see Jennifer Pike Violin Trust for further information. For the BBC Concerto Final she played on the 'Maurin' Stradivarius violin generously loaned by the Royal Academy of Music. Other instruments she has played on include a Cappa from the RAM, and the Stradivarius Child Violin kindly loaned by the Royal Northern College of Music.
These details are NOT for publication. For a full concert biography please click here.