The next West Wight Arts Association concert will be given by Thomas Luke, the Island’s star young pianist on Saturday March 11th in Freshwater Memorial Hall starting at 7.00pm.

Thomas is the winner of the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician competition 2020 and was awarded the first place in the 2021 Iris Dyer Prize at the Junior Royal Academy of Music.

He began piano lessons at the age of four before beginning his studies with Eleanor Hodgkinson at the Junior Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of twelve. In 2022, he received the offer of a full scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music, where he is now a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, studying piano with Vanessa Latarche.

In 2017 he was joint first winner of the biennial West Wight Arts Association Bursary. He played for WWAA in November 2021 and the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra in January this year when he performed Rachmaninov’s Second PIano Concerto to great acclaim.

On March 11th he will play J. S. Bach ‘s Prelude and Fugue in F Sharp Minor, Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 333 in B Flat Major and Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 (Sonata-Fantasy) in G Sharp Minor in the first half. After the interval the programme will be four Chopin Scherzos, No. 1 in B Minor, No. 2 in B Flat Minor, No. 3 in C Sharp Minor and No. 4 in E Major.

Tickets at £16.00 (£2.00 children and students) are selling out fast but a few are still available from www.westwightarts.co.uk (booking fee applies) or Totland Parish Office 756028.