MUSIC student Cam Rossi is celebrating after being awarded a major scholarship to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Cam went to The Island Free School then Peter Symonds College in WInchester.

He has now won a place to study music at the prestigious conservatoire.

Saxophonist Cam has been offered a place at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

He said: “The interview process was quite strange this year having everything over Zoom and phone calls, but the staff at Guildhall were amazing and made it feel almost normal.”

Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, students had to audition for conservatoire places by video recording, with very little prior notice.

Cam auditioned with a backing band of teachers.

He said: "Auditioning over video was quite a challenge as it wasn't in front of the panel, but in my case it was nice to be playing with people that I've played with a lot and having a connection to the band I was playing with made me a lot less nervous, thanks to the amazing teacher jazz trio that are at Symonds.”

Head of music Rachel Platt praised her team. She said: "These applications are always a real team effort. Our head of keyboard, Samantha Carrasco, organised the performances and accompanied the students, with many hours of rehearsal.

"Sarah Mann, our music technician, made it all possible with high-quality audio and video.

"We are grateful to Ted Carrasco, head of pop and jazz performance, for organising the live trio of teachers performing on Cam Rossi’s video, which also included Robert Johnston and John Dickson.

"Michael Gale supervised the applications with his invaluable expertise and advice, and other PSC peripatetic instrumental and vocal teachers helped supervise the preparation of required repertoire, and we are grateful to the Symondians Association for covering some of the additional costs.”

Cam also enjoyed the opportunity to receive advice from world-renowned jazz musician Julian Joseph in an online masterclass before the audition.

Cam said: “College has helped me so much by giving me advice about interviews and conduct when I'm talking to people from conservatoires.

“I feel amazing to have won my place at Guildhall. I can't wait to start there, to further my knowledge of jazz and push myself to the limits as a player.”