About Will
Will Duerden is a student at the Royal College of Music. He has worked with Caroline Emery ever since age nine and began studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School at age 10.
At age 17, Will auditioned for a coveted place in the BBC Young Musician Competition which is the top competition in the Uk and he achieved a place in the Finals of the string Category, only the second person to do this on the bass.
He also won the Peter Morrison Competition at the Royal College of Music’s Junior Department as well as First Prize in the Haslemere String Competition.
About Caroline
Having an international reputation as a teacher of all age groups, including the largest bass class at the RCM for over ten years now, Caroline Emery’s contribution to the double bass world is unique.
After graduating from music college and subsequently gaining a teaching qualification, she became the leading exponent of the Yorke Mini-Bass Project from its inception in 1984. Since then she has taught in state schools, independent schools and privately. The European String Teachers Association and the International Society of Bassists have provided a platform for her work to be demonstrated internationally and this, coupled with the enormous success of her first Yorke Edition publication “Bass is Best” in 1988 led to her taking pupils as far afield as America and Norway.
She has coached the National Youth Orchestras of both Norway and Nordic Lands. The Bass Club which she founded facilitates an exchange of ideas both within Britain and between other countries. She was appointed to the Junior Department at the RCM in 1985 and was appointed to the professorial staff of the RCM in 1995. In 1991, she became the first ever double bass teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Caroline received a special achievement award for teaching from the International Society of Bassists in 1997 and was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music in 2000.
Caroline’s recent professional playing engagements have included two orchestras in Sweden, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also a founder member of Vent, a period instrument chamber music ensemble.
