69th ROSL Annual Music Competition announce winners of the Mixed Ensemble and Overseas Prizes

The Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) Annual Music Competition have announced the Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo as winners of the Mixed Ensemble Prize. The ensemble is made up of accordionist Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade and saxophonist David Zucchi, who also won the competition’s Overseas Prize.

Beating three other talented ensembles, Lyrus Winds, the Levanto Ensemble and Connaught Brass, the Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo’s performance impressed adjudicators Sue Dent, Gavin Henderson CBE, Geoff Parkin and Huw Wiggin to triumph in the section final. The duo wins a £10,000 cash prize as well as a chance to perform at the Gold Medal Final on 24 November.

Graduates of the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, Zucchi and Mikeleiz-Berrade made their debut at the Vale de Cambra Classical Music Festival in 2019 and have performed across the UK. The unusual accordion and saxophone duo regularly engage with contemporary works and improvisation as a part of their programmes. ROSL artistic director Geoff Parkin said: ‘the Mikeleiz-Zucchi have performed exceptionally throughout the competition and their musicianship really showed through in the final, taking an oft-performed piece such as Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango and elevating it to a beautifully atmospheric level’.

Zucchi also won this year’s Overseas Prize, awarded to the best musicians competing in the Competition from outside the UK. Competing against Irish cellist Killian White and soprano Sophie Sparrow from New Zealand, Zucchi again impressed adjudicators Sarah Bruce, Geoff Parkin, Helen Sherman and Emily Sunn to be chosen as winner. However, his competitors’ talents did not go unrecognised: Sparrow received the Tait Memorial Prize and Scholarship for an Outstanding New Zealand Musician, and White won the Phillip Crawshaw Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Musician from Overseas.

Parkin commented that: ‘David’s abilities were once again on display, with his win in this category following his success in the Mixed Ensembles final as one half of the Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo last week’.

Graduate of the Royal College of Music’s Masters and Artist Diploma programmes, London-based Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi enjoys a varied career as a performer of classical, contemporary, experimental, and improvised music, collaborating regularly across the UK, Europe, and Canada.

To find out more about the event, and to book tickets, visit the ROSL website.