Afternoon Concert with Oboe and Piano, St Nicholas Church, Church Street, Chiswick, W4 2PJ, Sunday 19th March 2023 – 3pm.
Programme to include:
Tickets £10 on the door, Stay afterwards for Tea and Cake – £5. All payments by cash or card. Any queries email: stnicksconcerts@gmail.com.
Ewan Millar and Tomas Boyles.
Ewan Millar is an oboist from Berkshire, recently having completed his final year reading music at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, graduating with first class honours. He has been playing for over a decade, beginning in the Berkshire Maestros charity music service in Reading, learning with Nicky Fairbairn. He now has lessons with Melanie Ragge, and is continuing with her at the Royal Academy of Music over the next two years for his Masters. In 2021, he reached the grand final of the BBC Young Musician Competition, winning the woodwind final along the way, getting to perform Oscar Navarro’s “Legacy” Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic at Bridgewater Hall. Recently he had the opportunity to perform the Marcello Oboe Concerto with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, the result of winning their U23 Concerto Competition. As a solo recitalist, he has performed at events around the UK like the Cheltenham Festival, Wooburn Festival, and Lake District Summer Music Festival. As well as oboe, he is a jazz pianist and singer, gigging regularly around Oxford.
Ewan is a Howarth artist, playing on a new Howarth XM, and is represented by YCAT. To help him undertake his Masters degree, he has received generous support from Drake Calleja, Help Musicians UK, the Charlotte Fraser Foundation, and the Zetland Foundation. He is grateful for their support of his career.
Tomos Boyles is a young Welsh musician developing a career as a pianist. He has performed in numerous venues, including St Martin in the Fields, the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, the Wales Millennium Centre, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
He has enjoyed success in competitions, having recently been awarded the first prize at the Wales International Piano Festival in Caernarfon; this came with a generous scholarship to help fund future studies. Other top prizes include the Blue Ribband at the National Eisteddfod, and first place in the EPTA competition.
Tomos graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University in 2022 with a first-class degree in music, having been the recipient of an academic scholarship during his studies. While at Oxford, he gave recitals at many of the University’s colleges, including Christ Church, Mansfield, and Jesus; he also live-streamed recitals from Christ Church Cathedral during the Covid-19 pandemic when there were restrictions on live music-making.
As a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music, Tomos studies under pianist Rustem Hayroudinoff, having previously studied with Alison Bowring at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s junior department. Tomos has also benefitted from one-off lessons and masterclasses with pianists such as Joanna MacGregor, Piers Lane, and Artur Pizarro, among others.
Profits to The St Nicholas Church Development Fund for restoration of the outside stonework of the church.
We are extremely grateful to Charlotte Fraser for additional sponsorship for the musicians.