Alex Rowe, aged 18, first studied piano at the age of seven when living in Southgate, North London. He twice won his age-group in the Enfield Music Festival piano competition before moving to Denmark, where he lived for five years, studying under Bella Zapolski. During this time he was twice winner of his class in the Danish national Steinway Competition, and was selected to perform in a pan-European prize-winners’ concert in Hamburg. The same year he played the Shostakovich Concertino to win the prestigious Talentpræmie at the Berlingske Tidende Musikkonkurrence, a competition run by one of Denmark’s leading daily newspapers. Since returning to England in 1997, Alex studied for two years with Michael Dussek at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, and his teacher is currently Kate Elmitt in Hitchin, where he has lived for the last two years. Alex is a keen trumpeter, learning with the famous Tivoli Gardens wind band while in Denmark. He is a pupil at Dame Alice Owen’s School in Potters Bar, and a keen member of both Symphony and Chamber orchestras. He has also played with the English Schools Symphony Orchestra at an international music convention in Canada. Currently studying for his A-levels, Alex is already the holder of a Private Pilot’s Licence, and his ambition is to become an airline pilot. (June 2002)