Will Duerden - Biography

An ABRSM Scholar at London’s Royal College of Music (supported by the Drake Calleja Trust) and Yehudi Menuhin School scholarship holder, 21-yearold Will Duerden is also a YCAT artist with a slew of awards and prizes in addition to his BBT Fellowship, including the Yorke Double Bass Prize at the 2023 Royal Over-Seas League Strings Competition and the International Society of Bassists Competition. He was also a finalist in the 2018 BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. He is fast building an international career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader and has given premieres in London and Milan of several new works written for him. He recently performed Bottesini’s Gran Duo with the LGT Young Soloists alongside violinist Haeun Kim at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and has collaborated with artists such as Alexander Sitkovetsky, Lawrence Power and Maxim Rysanov. 2023/24 season highlights include his debut at St George’s Bristol, plus performances at the North Norfolk Music and Buxton International Festivals.

Photographs by Kaupo Kikkas