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We were honoured to welcome inspirational concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy as the guest speaker of this year's Prep Prize Giving. 

As well as presenting awards to this year's prize winners, Nicholas treated audience members to an incredible speech and performance on a piano very kindly provided by Steinway & Sons for the event. 

Born in 1989 without his right hand, Nicholas rose above many obstacles to pursue his love of the piano with sheer talent and determination. He studied at the prestigious Royal College of Music in London and his graduation in July 2012 drew press headlines around the World, being the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the Royal College of Music in its 130-year history. 

A career highlight was performing with the British Paraorchestra at the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic games where he played alongside Coldplay in front of an audience of 86,000 people and half a billion worldwide viewers. Nicholas made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 20th July 2025, performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. The first time in nearly 75 years that the concerto has been performed at the Proms by a pianist with one hand.