Alumnus Iason Marmaras has been awarded the 1st prize at the 1st International Basso Continuo and Partimento Realization Competition, held this past January 12-14, 2019 in Katowice, Poland. The competition is new to the international stage and is organised by Katarzyna Drogosz, Professor of Fortepiano at the Music Academy of Katowice and fortepianist Dominika Maszczynska.

Iason, a vocal coach and harpsichord virtuoso, who is currently employed as Director of Music at the Schola Cantorum Sancti Pauli: "This was a competition which by its nature (rather than speed, precision, or some sort of technical excellence) promoted harmony, fantasy, invention, and in general the appreciation of music and its constituent parts. Everything from the welcome to Katowice, to the form of the competition itself, and importantly the structure distribution of the prizes, indicates that it is a competition from musicians, and for musicians and music both".

Iason holds both a Bachelor and Master degree in Early Music from the Royal Conservatoire, where he studied with Fabio Bonizzoni, Ton Koopman and Patrick Ayrton.

Second and third prizes were for Johannes Rake and Niels Pfeffer.