Willard Carter and Callum McLachlan YCAT New Artists 2026
Two Eisler students have been accepted as New Artists into the support programme run by the British Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT): Cellist Willard Carter and pianist Callum McLachlan triumphed at the final auditions on 7 May 2026 at Wigmore Hall in London, each securing one of five places on the highly sought-after programme, which is dedicated to supporting highly talented young musicians.
Willard Carter was born in London in 2002 and began playing the cello at the age of four. He studied cello at the Purcell School in Hertfordshire, UK, from 2013, and at the Escuela de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid from 2018. In 2023, he became a student at the Barenboim–Said Academy in Berlin under Prof. Frans Helmerson, before transferring to the Eisler School in 2026, where he has since been taught by Prof. Antje Weithaas. He has performed at events including the Heidelberg Spring Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Gstaad New Year Festival, Wigmore Hall in London, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Teatro Romano in Mérida and Buckingham Palace. He is the winner of the 2025 VP Opus Bank Award in Liechtenstein. In addition to support from YCAT, he receives funding from the Concert Artists Guild (CAG). He has also been awarded the title of YCAT Anniversary Artist.
Callum McLachlan, born in 1999 in Stockport, UK, has been studying for a Master’s degree at the Eisler School under Prof. Kirill Gerstein since 2025. He was a finalist in the 18th Schumann Competition in Zwickau and a semi-finalist at both the Leeds International Piano Competition and the Santander International Piano Competition. He has performed at many major concert venues across Europe and the USA, including the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Pereda Hall in Santander, Steinway Hall in London, and Bridgewater Hall and Stoller Hall in Manchester. In the 2025/26 season, he will make his debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at Wigmore Hall in London, and will also undertake a concert tour of Japan.
Founded in 1984, the YCAT programme supports young emerging musicians over a period of three to five years as they develop their careers, providing international concert engagements, marketing, social media advice, photo and video shoots, and concert recordings. https://www.ycat.co.uk/