Amy Preece was born in Huddersfield, England, in 1981. She started violin lessons with Huddersfield Suzuki Violin teacher Caroline Goddard in 1985, achieving Associated Board Grade 8 in 1995. In 1991 she took up the piano with Julia Allen, continuing with an ex-Huddersfield University student Amy Bebbington in 1998.
Amy entered the University of Huddersfield BMus program as a first study violinist but soon discovered her talent and
interest also lay in composition. Through the composition
course offered at the university, where her tutor was Dr
James Saunders, Amy has had her music performed by The Layfield String Quartet, The Firebird Ensemble nad Mieko Kanno.
A member of Coma (Contemporary Music Making for Amateurs - see links page) for four years, she has also had her music performed by Michael Finnissy, Gregory Rose and the +- Ensemble.
In her first year at Huddersfield, Amy was the runner-up in Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra's Composition
Competition and her entry in the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir's Carol Competition was one of five entries to receive a commendation from the chairman of the judges, Andrew Carter. In March 2005, she won the Philip Bates' Prize for Young Composers with her work Another Five Seasons. The annual competition is held at Birmingham Conservatoire and remembers the life of a young musician who died aged 19.
Between 2002 and 2007, Amy was one of the offical accompanists for two local music festivals - The Haydn Wood in Slaithwaite and The Janet Beaumont in Paddock - both of which she successfully entered throughout her childhood. From 2004 until 2008, she was also the leader of the Gilder Hall Drama Group in Mirfield. The drama group was recently formed under the support of Patrick Stewart OBE who started his acting career in his home village of Mirfield. She was also the MD and accompanist for Paddock Young Performers from 1999 until it disbanded in 2004.
In 2005, Amy was awarded a Bachelor's degree with First-Class honours from the University of Huddersfield. As one of only two students achieving that classification, she was also awarded the J. Woods & Sons Prize for Composition.
Since completing her studies at Huddersfield, Amy has received commissions from three ensembles, both local and national - Marsh Ladies' Choir (Huddersfield), FourSight (London) and The Brakedrum Assembly (London) - and was also selected to take part in the Sounds New Mozart Pyramid Project throughout 2006. The project comprised three workshops with leading composers and Mozart experts, culminating in a performance of original compositions (based around Mozart) in Canterbury Cathedral in December 2006.
She teaches composition, violin, piano and music theory (both privately and at Hipperholme Grammar School) from beginner to advanced level.
Amy was awarded the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (in Violin Performance) in September 2008.
On the 24th of August 2007, Amy got married to her long-term partner, Ben Preece. Ben is a lighting designer for stage productions and he and Amy plan on collaborating on a work for live ensemble and light-show in the near future.
ABRSM Exam results
Violin
Grade 5 Distinction (140/150)
Grade 6 Distinction (142/150)
Grade 7 Distinction (137/140)
Grade 8 Merit (129/150)
LRSM Pass
Piano
Grade 1 Distinction (131/150)
Grade 3 Distinction (130/150)
Grade 8 Distinction (130/150)
Recorder
Grade 6 Distinction (136/150)
Grade 8 Distinction (144/150)
Cello
Grade 5 Distinction (136/150)
Theory
Grade 5 Merit (85/100)
Grade 8 Merit (80/100)
Music Exam results
GCSE - A*
A Level - A
BMus (hons) - 1st Class
