Blackheath Sunday - Adam Walker (flute) & John Reid (piano)

Born in 1987, Adam Walker taught himself to play the flute at the age of 9. A year later he entered Chetham's School of Music, where he studied with Gitte Sorensen and in 2005 won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he studies with Michael Cox.

In 2002 Adam became the youngest ever winner of the British Flute Society Competition and in 2004 he was a Concerto Finalist in the BBC Young Musicians Competition performing Nielsen's Flute Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov. He was selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2007 and in 2009, at the age of 21, Adam Walker was appointed principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra and also received the Outstanding Young Artist Award at the MIDEM Classique Awards in Cannes, in partnership with the International Artist Managers’ Association.

Over the last year Adam has made his debut at the Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields at the Barbican, performed Joe Duddell’s Flute & Harp Concerto at Presteigne Festival and given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Mozart BathFest, Spitalfields and Isle of Man Festivals, the latter broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

John Reid read music at Clare College, Cambridge, before taking up a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek. He has also taken lessons in song interpretation with Malcolm Martineau and, privately in Amsterdam, with Rudolf Jansen. His many awards include the 2003 Kathleen Ferrier and Maggie Teyte accompaniment prizes, the 2003 Birmingham Accompanist of the Year (joint first prize), the 2004 Gerald Moore Award and the Queen’s Commendation for excellence, presented by the Academy. John was recently elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

During the course of recent seasons, John has made a number of significant recital debuts: at Wigmore Hall in May 2004 (with soprano Lucy Crowe); at the Purcell Room (as a 2004 Park Lane Group Young Artist); in Berlin and at the Mecklenburg Festival (with flautist Adam Walker) and in Switzerland, Italy and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (with trumpeter Alison Balsom). He has partnered distinguished singers Joan Rodgers and Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, flautist William Bennett, cellist Alexander Baillie and violinist Jennifer Pike and, together with his regular duo partner, violinist Thomas Gould, he has performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, St George’s Brandon Hill, Purcell Room and in festivals across the UK. He is a regular member of the Aurora Orchestra, with whom he has appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, and he joined the contemporary music ensemble Radius for debuts at Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre during 2007.