Manchester Jazz Festival discovers incredible young talent in citywide piano trail competition.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Nine year old Leo Cheung from Beswick has been selected as the winner of Manchester Jazz Festival’s piano trail competition and wins a Yamaha P45 piano as first prize. Press release attached.

We have received the following press release;

Manchester Jazz Festival discovers incredible young talent in citywide piano trail competition

Nine year old Leo Cheung from Beswick has been selected as the winner of Manchester Jazz Festival’s piano trail competition and he’s thrilled to receive a Yamaha P45 piano as first prize. On receiving his prize Leo said “Fantastic! I never dreamed I’d win first prize”.

James Sargeant from Yamaha said “Congratulations Leo on winning this year’s MJF Piano Trail competition! Your performance was fabulous and all of us at Yamaha were super impressed with your composition too! Enjoy your prize and keep playing, you’ll be a star one day!”

The mjf piano trail, delivered in partnership with the world renowned Forysth’s Music shop of Deansgate, was part of mjf2022 which took place at venues across the city from May 20 – 29.

13 street pianos were dotted around the city for passers-by to play in the build up to this year’s jazz festival. Over 2000 pianists, young and old bought the city alive with music and the search to find Manchester’s best street pianist resulted in over 100 entries.

The 13 pianos were located at The Arndale Centre, The Corn Exchange, Forsyth Music shop, Great Northern, Harvey Nichols, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Central Library, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Quayside Media City UK, Royal Exchange Arcade, Spinningfields, The Trafford Centre and Manchester Victoria Station.

Leo’s performance of his own composition, which was captured by his mum Janet, can be seen at https://manchesterjazz.com/piano-trail-winners alongside the other ten prize winners whose skills ranged from concert pianists to the occasional ivory tickler.

Emma Loat, Manager of Forsyth’s Music, said,
“It’s been a fun if tough job whittling down the many and varied competition entries to find the eventual winners. We were impressed with Leo’s creativity and poise at the piano at such a young age! We are sure Leo will benefit from the Yamaha digital piano he has won and look forward to watching him grow as a composer and pianist!’

Steve Mead from Manchester Jazz Festival said:
“Leo’s skill and musicality combined with his amazing creativity impressed us all. He’s a worthy winner of the mjf piano trail competition.”

All competition winners can be seen here https://manchesterjazz.com/piano-trail-winners

The prizes are:

·    Yamaha: Yamaha Digital Piano P-45B

·    Northern Rail: Four tickets at any time to anywhere on Northern rail network

·    Quayside MediaCityUK prize package including:
2 x £25 Quayside Gift Card, two lots of two tickets to Vue Cinema, a copy of Salford Edition Monopoly and two lots of two tickets for ITV Jungle Challenge

·    Doner Haus: Meal for up to 4 including pre/post drink

·    Lion’s Den, Deansgate Mews: £50 bar tab

·    Manchester Art Gallery: Afternoon Tea for two

·    Jenny Jones: a pair of saxophone cufflinks or a soul stone necklace

·    20 Stories: Afternoon tea for two with a glass of fizz

·    The Lawn Club: A complimentary pod booking and a bottle of Prosecco, for up to six people.

All prize winners also received a £30 Wagamama gift voucher, courtesy of the Spinningfields branch.

Visit http://www.manchesterjazz.com for more information.

Follow mjf on Facebook and Instagram @manchesterjazzfestival and Twitter @ManJazzFest for all the latest festival news. #mjf2022

Forsyth Music Shop,
126 Deansgate, Manchester M3 2GR   http://www.forsyths.co.uk
The mjf piano trail was delivered in partnership with Forsyth Music Shop of Deansgate. This 5th generation family business has been at the heart of music in Manchester for 165 years and offers an unrivalled selection of musical instruments, music and accessories in its 5 storey historic premises. Acoustic pianos have always been their speciality – with well over 100 pianos on display and their onsite full workshop facilities they are Manchester’s premiere piano specialists - well worth a visit.  Their magnificent 1st floor piano showroom was also host to a special event as part of mjf 2022 - the Ronnie Scott’s Trio featuring James Pearson, paying tribute to Oscar Peterson: a portrait of a jazz legend, on Friday 27th May.

Manchester Jazz Festival is the city’s longest running music festival and is unlike any other on the jazz festival circuit. mjf champions regional artists and celebrates musical innovation.

Accessible to all, mjf featured ten days of contemporary jazz from the north and across the UK, with national premieres of original work and a range of free events.

mjf took place from 20 - 29 May 2022. All the latest news can be found at http://www.manchesterjazz.com         

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at manchesterjazzfestival and on Twitter @ManJazzFest

Winner of the 2016 Europe Jazz Network Award for Adventurous Programming.

UK’s first festival signatory to Keychange, supporting a 50/50 gender balance across our stages.

Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner.

Founder Member of the Black Lives in Music charter, 2020.

Funders and supporters:
Arts Council England, Manchester City Council, PRS for Music Foundation and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.