British pianist Samantha Ward has performed extensively around the UK and in Europe and has appeared on British television and radio several times. She has won first prize in a number of competitions, starting in 2004 when she won the Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists, resulting in concerto and recital appearances around Europe as well as concerts in the Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square and St Martin in the Fields. She also won the Guildhall School’s Beethoven and John Ireland Prizes (2004 and 2006), the Beethoven Society of Europe’s Intercollegiate Piano Competition (2006), The Hastings International Concerto Competition as well as the Sir Philip Ledger Prize for the best Mozart or Beethoven Concerto (2006), the Marlow International Music Festival Concerto Competition (2007) and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Maisie Lewis Young Concert Artists Fund Award (2007). More recently, Samantha was a major prize winner in the Bromsgrove International Young Artists Platform as well being a finalist in both the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Prince’s Prize and the piano section of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition. Samantha was awarded a fellowship from the Guildhall School of Music for the year 2007/8, where she studied under the Senior Professor Joan Havill and was awarded a major educational award from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund. She previously studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester under the Polish pianist Alicja Fiderkiewicz. She has also recently been awarded a scholarship from the Dartington International Summer Festival where she took masterclasses with Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich. Most recently, Samantha’s debut recital at St John’s Smith Square was chosen to be recorded by ‘Slow Down London’ to feature in their 2010 festival. Future engagements in 2010 include recital and concerto engagements around the UK, performances of both Brahms Piano Concerti and recitals in Paros, Greece. Aside from her performing career, Samantha is also a visiting teacher of piano at Wellington College and St Paul’s Cathedral School. (November 2010)