Willard Carter

Born in Wells, United Kingdom, in 2002. From 2018 to 2023, he studied at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Aline Foriel-Destezet Cello Chair with professor Ivan Monighetti. In the 2019-2020 academic year he received the Diploma to the most outstanding student of his chair.

He began his cello studies at the age of four. In 2009 he entered the Wells Cathedral School where he received classes from Elisabeth Anderson and in 2013, he was admitted into the Purcell School under the guidance of professor Alexander Boyarsky. Meanwhile, he furthered his training in chamber music at the children’s department of the Royal College of Music. In 2017 after being granted a scholarship by the Liechtenstein International Music Academy, he attended masterclasses by Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. As a student of the Reina Sofía School, he has also attended masterclasses by Torleif Thedéen, Alexander Lonquich, Asier Polo, Frans Helmerson, Ralf Gothóni, Oliver Wille, Alban Gerhardt, Krzysztof Chorzelski (string ensembles), and has participated in a meeting with Gautier Capuçon.

He was a Raphael Sommer scholar and won the Purcell School’s Junior Concerto, as well as the Nancy Carr Memorial, Marjorie Humby, Gordon Turner, Barbara Boissard Concerto, and the Chamber Music competitons of the Royal College of Music, that gave him the chance to play at the Wigmore Hall in 2017.

He has performed in Pratovecchio, Poppi, Osimo, and Recanati in Italy, and in Somerset, Wiltshire and London in the United Kingdom, on stages such as the Charterhouse, Goldsmiths Hall, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

As a student of the school, he performed with Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Péter Eötvös, Juanjo Mena and Jordi Francés, with whom he was a soloist. He also performed with the Fundación EDP Camerata under the baton of Giovanni Guzzo; within The Rising Generation series at the National Auditorium, and within Spain's World Heritage Cities Chamber Music series in Ibiza. In 2021 he participated in the 30th anniversary tour of the School with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, with whom he performed at Madrid's Teatro Real, at Bratislava's Reduta Hall, at Budapest's Liszt Ferenc Academy and at Vienna's Musikverein.
He was also a member of the Banco Activo Universal Esferas Ensemble, the Enagás Schumann Ensemble, the Schola and Fundación Mahou San Miguel trios, the Stoneshield and Albéniz de Prosegur quartets, the Bain Satie Ensemble, and the Ravel Duo.