The winner of the 2021 Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks award is Patrick Keefe

Baritone Patricks Keefe has won the 2021 Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks singing award after a hard-fought final in the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy of Music on July 4th.

Patricks received the winner's prize of £14,000 with runner-up xxxxx winning £xxxx. In addition to this, the winner of the Brenda Webb Piano Award was xxx, who received £xxxx.

This year's saw the award return to a recital-based final including Patrick but also xxxxx.

Patrick Keefe is studying with Mark Wildman and Jonathan Papp. Prior to this he studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Robert Dean and Peter Robinson, and at the University of Oxford, where he completed a BA (Hons) in Music and a Master’s in Music Theory and Composition, which he passed with distinction.

At university, he was a choral scholar and, later, the Peter Phillips Scholar in the Choir of Merton College.

With Royal Academy Opera he has recently enjoyed performing the roles of Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

Patrick is an Opera Prelude Young Artist, and is grateful to have had his studies supported by the D'Oyly Carte Memorial Award, Fordyce Award, Behren's Foundation and Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton Award.

Patrick Keefe went on to come second in this year's Pavaritti Prize, also held at the Royal Academy.