Barnstaple prodigy who learned piano during lockdown to play major concert aged 11

A highly talented young pianist from Barnstaple who learned to play the piano from scratch during lockdown has just won a prestigious youth music award and is about to play a major concert – aged just 11-years-old.

River Peryer will be performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 on Saturday, June 21 at Torrington’s St Michael and All Angels Church alongside North Devon Sinfonia, a full orchestra of experienced adult musicians.

He has also recently been named one of four winners of the prestigious Two Moors Festival Young Musicians Competition and will perform as part of the highly-regarded classical music festival this autumn.

River attends West Buckland School, as does his sister Anais and he has just won a music scholarship to attend the school when he begins in Year 7 this September.

His parents Jake and Laura freely admit they are not musical, but Jake’s mum Annie – ‘Granny Annie’ to River – noticed he enjoyed classical music and was ‘always humming and tapping away’, so suggested he give it a go.

Incredibly, he started playing the piano aged six and at the height of the pandemic lockdown – his piano lessons took place on video call and dad Jake said it was initially a challenge, but River persevered with it.

He added: “Both of us know nothing about music and were not able to help him much.  

“Since then, with support from some amazing piano teachers and his school, River’s come a long way, flown through his grades and theory with Distinctions - he is currently on Grade 7.”

Sadly, Annie passed away in May 2022 from pancreatic cancer and River is hoping to play a recital at Barkham on Exmoor later in the summer, which will raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Mum Laura said: “She was very close to River and was very supportive of him up until the day she died, always there when he played and listening to classical music with him. She was a big lover of classical music as well and a wonderful lady.”

Above: River Peryer has amazed his parents and teachers with his musical ability and is about to play a major summer concert. 

River will play a 30-minute concerto at the North Devon Sinfonia performance on June 21, supported by the full orchestra, but he is already used to playing under pressure after performing during auditions for the prestigious Two Moors Festival Young Musicians Competition.

Two Moors has come to be regarded as one of the most distinctive classical music festivals in the UK and the live youth auditions for ages six to 18 held at Taunton School saw 37 competitors take part.

To give an idea of the standard of competition, two of the four category winners were from the Wells Cathedral School, recognised as one of the top music schools in England.

Laura added: “There was a panel of four musicians and initially they had to send in a video, then played live at the auditions.

“The winners are often from specialist music schools, so for River to be one of those is quite amazing. There’s some amazing young talent out there so it’s quite a high calibre competition.”

A quote from the chair of the judging panel said of the competition: “It was a huge pleasure judging the Young Musicians’ Competition 2025, alongside such an illustrious panel of very experienced musicians. We all thought the standard of the performers this year was outstanding- making it almost impossible to choose the winners.

“It is heart-warming knowing that music is still being taught at such high levels, despite the media doom and gloom that tell us classical music is a dying genre.

“Although there were many impressive, virtuosic performances, the candidates that stood out were the ones that had deep heart felt musicality and who WANTED to perform.”

The North Devon Sinfonia Summer Concert featuring River playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 takes place at St Michael and All Angels Church, Great Torrington, on Saturday, June 21 at 7.30pm. For tickets, please visit https://www.northdevonsinfonia.org.uk