Martin James Bartlett’s early public success was as the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2014. This led to engagements with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as recitals across the country. Bartlett currently studies with Professor Vanessa Latarche as a Foundation Scholar Masters student at the Royal College of Music.
He made his BBC Proms debut in 2015, performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In the following year, he performed at Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th Birthday thanksgiving service, which was broadcast live on BBC One.
In 2017, Bartlett was a quarter-finalist in The Cliburn Competition, attracting a considerable following online on Medici TV. He is now in the final year of his master’s degree at The Royal College of Music in London as a Foundation Scholar. During the past season, Bartlett made his debut with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in ‘Classic FM Live’ at The Royal Albert Hall playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2. He also competed in the Kissingen Piano Olympics, winning both second prize and the audience prize and has played recitals at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and The Riga Jurmala Music Festival, The Biarritz Festival, and returned to play at the BBC Proms.
You can hear Bartlett’s First Round performance during Session 6 on Tuesday, August 4.