LUNCHTIME RECITAL
Caroline Durham – violin
William Bracken – piano
FREE ADMITTANCE
Retiring Collection
The Programme
Caroline Durham – violin
William Bracken – piano
Violin Sonata (1914)
1. Con moto
2. Ballada
3. Allegretto
4. Adagio
Violin Sonata No 1 (1798)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto
III. Rondo: Allegro
The Artist
Caroline Durham, 24, is an American violinist who earned a Master’s from Yale School of Music, studying with Tai Murray, and now studies at Guildhall School with David Takeno. She completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia–Juilliard exchange, studying neurosciece and violin performance. At Juilliard, she studied with Masao Kawasaki and Laurie Smukler. At Guildhall, Caroline has made the finals of Guildhall’s Gold Medal Competition, through which she was able to perform Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto in Barbican Hall.
She was also awarded a section violin position at Aurora Orchestra and became a 2026 LSO String Experience Fellow. Caroline has won several international awards, including 4th prize at the Klein International Competition, 1st prize at MTNA (Music Teachers’ National Association), and 1st prize at Stillman-Kelley, among others. Some of her favorite experiences include attending the Verbier and Fontainebleau festivals, working as a teaching assistant for Columbia’s biology department, and working at Yale’s community music program.
Pianist William Bracken‘s creative voice stems from a deep fluency with the language of music itself, dissolving musical boundaries through improvisational state of mind, curiosity and acute contextual awareness. A visionary musician with a vast repertoire of classical masterworks, contemporary works and equally at home in jazz and improvised music, the Wirral-born pianist has won numerous international awards and currently holds a position as a member of teaching staff in the Centre for Creative Performance and Classical Improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He is the recent founder and artistic director of Port Sunlight International Piano Festival. Concert highlights include recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London where he was praised by the Telegraph for possessing “an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand”. He is also a core member of the improvisation group Ensemble+ and bandleader of the Will Bracken trio.
