2009 FESTIVAL ARTISTS
Nicholas Daniel Oboe/Cor Anglais
At his debut at the BBC Proms in 1992, the Sunday Times described Nicholas Daniel as one of the greatest exponents of the oboe in the world. Today one of the UK's most distinguished soloists as well as an increasingly successful conductor, he has become an important ambassador for music and musicians in many different fields. In 2008, Nicholas played Mozart's Oboe Concerto on the First Night of the BBC Proms and Elliott Carter's Oboe Concerto later in the Proms.
Educated at Salisbury Cathedral School, the Purcell School for gifted young musicians and at the Royal Academy of Music, Nicholas Daniel studied with Irene Pragnell, George Caird, Janet Craxton and Celia Nicklin. At the age of 18, he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, going on to win major prizes at several other competitions, including the International Double Reed Society competition in Graz, and the Munich International Oboe Competition.
Nicholas Daniel has been heard in recital on every continent, and has been a concerto soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Netherlands and Bavarian Radio Orchestras, the Orquestro Sinfonico di Rio, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Budapest Strings, the National Orchestra of Spain and all the BBC orchestras, under such conductors as Sir Roger Norrington, Oliver Knussen, Richard Hickox, Sakary Oramo, Tadaaki Otaka, Diego Masson and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. He has appeared regularly at the BBC Promenade Concerts, where his concerts have included the world premiere of John Woolrich's oboe concerto and Thea Musgrave's Helios, a work written especially for him. In the 2009 Proms he performs the Mozart Oboe Concerto on the opening night and the Elliott Carter Oboe Concerto later in the series. He made his conducting debut at the Proms in 2004 in the chamber series with the Britten Sinfonia.
An active chamber musician, Nicholas Daniel is a founder member of the Haffner Wind Ensemble and the Britten Oboe Quartet and has enjoyed long and fruitful collaboration with pianist Julius Drake and the Maggini, Lindsay and Carducci string quartets.
Nicholas Daniel has been an important force in the creation and performance of new repertoire for oboe. He has premiered works by composers including Henri Dutilleux, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Michael Tippett, Nigel Osborne and John Woolrich. Composers such as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, John Tavener, Oliver Knussen, Michael Berkeley, David Matthews and Tansy Davies have written pieces especially for him. With the English Chamber Orchestra, he gave the world premiere of the orchestral version of Britten's Temporal Suite at the 1994 Aldeburgh Festival; and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra the world premiere of Thea Musgrave's Helios at the St. Magnus Festival and, with the BBC Symphony, of her “Two’s Company”, with Dame Evelyn Glennie, at the 2007 BBC Proms. In the 2006/7 season, Nicholas Daniel premiered two works by John Tavener written for him: Kaleidoscopes, for oboe, string orchestra and percussion, and Music of the Sky, for oboe, tenor and piano.
Conducting is now absorbing an increasing amount of Nicholas Daniel’s time and he has conducted and directed a number of leading orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, City of London Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, Budapest Strings (Hungary), Camerata Roman and Jonkopings Sinfonietta (Sweden) and Kristiansand Chamber Orchestra (Norway).
Nicholas Daniel was Artistic Director of the Osnabrück Chamber Music Days from 2001-2004. In 2002 he was appointed Associate Artistic Director of the Britten Sinfonia and is Artistic Director of the Leicester International Music Festival.
A committed teacher, Nicholas Daniel was appointed Professor of Oboe and Chamber Music at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama at age 23. He served as Professor of Oboe at the Indiana University School of Music from 1997-99 and in 2004 took up the post of Professor at the Trossingen Musikhochschule in Germany.
Mr. Daniel can be heard on more than 30 recordings for such labels as Virgin Classics, Chandos, BMG Conifer, Leman Classics, Naxos and Harmonia Mundi USA. His most recent recording is with the Carducci Quartet: Joseph Horovitz’s oboe quartet, on Carducci Classics.
As well as Mr Daniel’s regular appearances with the award-winning Britten Sinfonia, as soloist, director and in chamber music, his future engagements include solo appearances at the BBC Proms, as well as chamber music engagements at venues including the Wigmore Hall. He also returns to several international festivals, including the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, playing and conducting, and the Delft Chamber Music Festival in the Netherlands.
Mr Daniel plays Loree instruments supplied by Crowthers of Canterbury in association with Loree, Paris.
James Gilchrist Tenor
James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time career in music in 1996.
James’ concert appearances include Damon in Acis and Galatea at the Proms (Academy of Ancient Music/Paul Goodwin), Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra in their celebrated Bach Pilgrimage (Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Europe – America), Tippett’s The Knot Garden (Sir Andrew Davis/BBC Symphony Orchestra), Monteverdi Vespers and Messiah (The Sixteen/Japan), Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Ralph in HMS Pinafore (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), the title role in Judas Maccabeus (The King’s Consort), Septimius Theodora (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Israel in Egypt (St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Collegium Vocale Gent and SCO), B Minor Mass (Semyon Bychkov/Turin and Santa Caecilia in Rome), Mozart Requiem (Seattle Symphony Orchestra), L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and a televised performance of Berlioz L’enfance du Christ at the BBC Proms (Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra), Alexander’s Feast in Salzburg, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Ton Koopman and the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich, the Evangelist in the Bach/Mendelssohn St Matthew Passion with the OAE, a residency with the Nash Ensemble at Princeton University, Israel in Egypt on tour with Collegium Vocale, Messiah with both the San Francisco and the Detroit Symphony Orchestras, War Requiem and Dream of Gerontius for the Three Choirs Festival, Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich and at the Salzburg Festival, Bach Cantatas with the Bach Collegium Japan, St Matthew Passion with North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and at Symphony Hall, Boston, St John Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Britten’s Serenade at The Sage, Gateshead and The Seasons with the Handel & Haydn Society under Sir Roger Norrington at the BBC Proms. James is a keen exponent of contemporary music and has performed in the world premieres of Knut Nystedt’s Apocalypsis Joannis (Oslo Philharmonic), John Tavener’s Total Eclipse (Academy of Ancient Music), which was also recorded, and Helen Ottaway’s new commission for the Salisbury Festival, The Echoing Green.
As a recitalist, he has appeared with Malcolm Martineau, with Stephen Varcoe and Della Jones at St John’s Smith Square, and with John Constable performing Britten Canticles, Quilter To Julia and Tippett The Heart’s Assurance for the BBC. In his partnership with the pianist Anna Tilbrook, he has performed Schumann Liederkreis (op 24), Finzi Till Earth Outwears and Poulenc Metamorphoses for BBC Radio 3. James is also partnered regularly by the harpist Alison Nicholls and recently appeared in recital with the Nash Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall, and at the Bury St Edmunds Festival in a programme featuring a new commission by Alec Roth based on Vikram Seth’s ‘All You Who Sleep Tonight’.
Operatic performances include Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte, Scaramuccio in Strauss’ Ariadne Auf Naxos (Richard Hickox), Gomatz in Mozart’s Zaide (Istanbul), Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love (Barbican/Radio 3), Hyllus in Handel’s Hercules (Berlin), Acis & Galatea at the Berlin Staatsoper, Evandre in Gluck’s Alceste at La Monnaie in Brussels and Purcell’s King Arthur for Mark Morris at English National Opera.
Amongst his many recordings are Albert Albert Herring and Vaughan William’s A Poisoned Kiss for Chandos, Bach St Matthew Passion (Gabrieli Consort/McCreesh), Bach St John Passion (New College Choir/Higginbottom), Rachmaninov Vespers (EMI/Kings College, Cambridge), Schütz Sacred Music (The Sixteen/Collins Classics), Rameau Cantatas and St Mark Passion (ASV), Grainger Songs (Chandos), Kuhnau Sacred Music (The King’s Consort/Hyperion), Bach Missa Brevis (Collegium Instrumentale Brugense), and Bach Cantatas variously with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan. More recently James released a disc of Finzi song cycles, “Oh Fair To See”, (Linn Records) and Elizabethan Lute Songs “When Laura Smiles” with Matthew Wadsworth.
Engagements in 2007/2008 include On Wenlock Edge with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bach Concerts on tour with the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra, Creation at the Frauenkirche, Dresden and at Westminster Cathedral for the Bach Choir, Mass in B Minor at Wells Cathedral, Lechmere Owen Wingrave (concert) for CLS at Cadogan Hall, Pulcinella for Radio Svizzera in Lugano, St Matthew Passion at the Royal Festival Hall and Ugone Flavio for the Academy of Ancient Music in Birmingham and London. Looking further into the future, engagements include War Requiem with the Dresden Philharmonie and the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Oedipus Rex with BBC NOW, Creation on tour with Philippe Herreweghe, Pulcinella with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, St Matthew Passion with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich and King Arthur with the Concert Spirituel in London, Luxemburg and Paris.
Priya Mitchell Violin
Priya Mitchell has been described as ‘one of the foremost violinists of her generation’ (The Strad). She was brought up in Oxford and went to the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied under David Takeno. Two years at the Conservatoire in Vienna were followed by a period of study with Zachar Bron in Germany. In 1994 the Young Concert Artists Trust in London selected her for representation.
She was chosen as the British representative in the European Concert Halls Organisation ‘Rising Stars’ Series and her year as ECHO ‘Rising Star’ included recitals at Symphony Hall Birmingham, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Konzerthaus (Vienna), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels) and her critically acclaimed New York debut at Carnegie Hall.
She has given highly acclaimed performances with, amongst others, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov at the Royal Albert Hall, the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox, and the Walton Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis at Symphony Hall, Birmingham; the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; the English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. She has recently toured Scotland with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and played with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields at the Barbican under Emmanuel Krivine.
Priya Mitchell is a regular concerto soloist with many major European orchestras. She has appeared with the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia and the Polish Chamber Orchestra. In August 2000 she made her debut in Australia with a very successful nationwide tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In 2003 she toured the UK with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra performing the Sibelius and Stravinsky violin concertos. Her most recent successes include concerts with the Deutsche Sinfonie-Orchester at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.
As a recitalist and chamber musician Priya Mitchell has performed extensively at many international music festivals including Schleswig-Holstein, Lockenhaus, Stavanger, Heimbach, Rheingau and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festivals in Germany. In November 2000 she gave a highly praised recital tour of Northern Ireland and Eire and was subsequently invited to play in the 2003 Sligo Festival. Additionally she has performed at the Schwarzenburg Festival, Bath International Festival and the Perth Arts Festival, Australia; Cheltenham, Bath Mozartfest and recitals at the Philharmonie, Berlin; Chatelet, Paris and concerto performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In July 2000 Priya Mitchell launched her own festival – the Oxford Chamber Music Festival – of which she is Artistic Director. The Independent acclaimed ‘this is a festival that should really put Oxford on the map of the classical music world’ and the majority of the concerts have been broadcast on BBC. Priya Mitchell plays a Balestieri violin (1760).
Alexander Sitkovetsky Violin
The young British violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow in 1983 into a family with an established musical tradition and at the age of eight Alexander made his debut performance as a soloist with the chamber orchestra in Montpellier, France, and later that same year he was invited to become a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied with Natalia Boyarsky and Professor Hu Kun. He continued his studies with Hu Kun at the Royal Academy of Music. Alexander participated in Master classes given by Lord Menuhin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Mauricio Fuks. Georgy Pauk, Maya Glezarova, Zvi Zeitlin and Abram Stern. In 1998 he took part in a master class given by Maxim Vengerov which was broadcast over the European TV network. Currently Alexander is studying with Professor Pavel Vernikov.
Since their first meeting in Moscow in 1990, Lord Menuhin became a great inspiration for Alexander and supported him through his school years. Together they performed the Bach Double Violin Concerto in France and Belgium, as well as Bartok’s Duos at St James’s Palace in London. In 1996, Alexander played Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in Budapest with Lord Menuhin conducting.
Alexander has performed in many international music festivals throughout Europe, including the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, the Festival Internationale des Jeunes Solistes in Antibes, France, the Festa Torino in Italy, the International Music Academy in Tours, France, the Music Festival in Oldenburg, Germany, at the Verbier Music Festival and Academy in Switzerland, at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy, and the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival in Germany.
He has been featured as a soloist at many famous venues throughout Europe, including The Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square in London, Salla Verdi in Milano, Palais des Congres in Antibes as well as in Israel, Hawaii, and Moscow. His performances include concerts in the Barbican, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. The Strad magazine has featured Alexander as one of the “Stars of the New Century”. He has been featured in a BBC documentary which has been broadcast several times and has made numerous television appearances in the UK. He was featured as a soloist in the “Tchaikovsky Experience” documentary by BBC Television which was broadcast on BBC Two in February 2007. His several Wigmore Hall appearances in London have been much acclaimed. Alexander is also an accomplished composer. His two orchestral ballet scores were premiered in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Dance in 1995 and in 1999 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
He has released two CD recordings for Angel Records (a part of Capitol/EMI Classics group). His second CD recording for EMI/Angel featuring concerto performances by Bach, Mendelssohn, Panufnik and Takemitsu was released in January 2004 and has received unanimous critical acclaim.
He has given a solo recital at London’s Royal Festival Hall, as well as debut performances in New York where he appeared at the Frick Collection Series partnered by Bella Davidovich. His 2005-2006 schedule included engagements in the USA with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Constantin Oberlian, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan, and his concerto performances included his debut at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and other concerto performances in the UK, Italy and USA. During the 2006-2007 Season he has made further performances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, and also in Bangkok, Bermuda and various cities in the US. Alexander also made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Southbank Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Sitkovetsky has a terrific technique to be sure, but his confident, entirely natural musicianship, is what sets him apart from the crowd.”-The Gramophone
“Mr Sitkovetsky poured his warm tone into the music’s soaring phrases, managing to sustain its impassioned lyricism and preserve its broad arcs of sound” – The New York Times
Guy Ben-Ziony Viola
Guy Ben-Ziony was born in 1974 in Israel. At age 9 he started to play the violin, and since age 13 is playing the viola. In Israel he studied among others with Prof. Chaim Taub. He finished his studies under Prof. Tabea Zimmermann(Frankfurt), and Prof. Tatjana Masurenko (Leipzig). Guy is Professor for viola and chamber music in Leipzig “Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Musikhochschule,” and is a regular guest viola principle in Camerata Salzburg under Leonidas Kavakos. He has given master courses, teaching in Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Israel and Hungary.
As a soloist he played with many Israeli and European orchestras, among them the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Tel-Aviv Soloists, and with the I.D.F. Chamber Orchestra in its 12th anniversary, a concert patronaged by Isaac Stern. Another collaboration was the Bartok concerto in Leipzig under Daniel Harding.
A most requested violist in Europe, Guy is regularly invited, as viola principal, to orchestras such as Deutsche kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Jaervi, “Kremerata Baltica” under Gidon Kremer, and Camerata Nordica, Sweden. His chamber concert engagements took him to music halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London and Berlin Konzerthaus.
In the 1998/1999 seasons, he was a member of the Zapolski Quartet in Copenhagen. They toured Scandinavia and Russia, and recorded for the “Chandos” and “Classico” record companies. Guy has participated in some of the world’s leading chamber music festivals, among them the Lockenhaus, Davos, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Ravinia, “Spannungen in Heimbach”, Jerusalem international chamber music festival, Moritzburg, Prussia-Cove, and “Chamber music connects the world” in Kronberg.
Guy Ben Ziony collaborated in concerts with artists such as Gidon Kremer, Antje Weithaas, Tabea Zimmermann, Tatjana Masurenko, Boris Pergamenschikow and Menachem Presler.
Natalie Clein Cello
Natalie Clein’s exceptional musicality has earned her a number of prestigiousprizes including the Classical Brit Award for Young British Performer of 2005 and the Ingrid zu Solms Cultur Preis at the 2003 Kronberg Academie. She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year (aged 16) in 1994 and in the same year was the first ever British winner of the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians in Warsaw. She was awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship by the Royal College of Music before completing her studies with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. In the 2007/08 season, Natalie toured Australia and New Zealand, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with Martin Brabbins and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Pietari Inkinen and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She also gave concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia amongst others, as well as recitals and chamber music throughout the UK.
She made her concerto debut at the BBC Proms in August 1997, performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with Sir Roger Norrington and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and has since appeared in venues throughout the UK such as the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Bridgewater Hall and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. She has performed as a soloist with most of the UK’s major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, The Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National, Hallé and BBC orchestras with conductors such as Sir Charles Mackerras, Gennardi Rozhdestvensky, Sir Andrew Davis, Heinrich Schiff, Sir Neville Marriner, and Paul Daniel.
Her international career continues to gain momentum with concerts in the United States, Canada, South America, Germany, Austria and Spain. Her debut concerts with the Montreal Symphony and Mark Wigglesworth received critical acclaim as did her Argentinean debut at the Teatro Colon with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires.
Natalie is in great demand as a recitalist and appears every year at London’s Wigmore Hall. Next season she will perform there several times as part of Stephen Kovacevich’s residency. She has given recitals in Tokyo, Seoul, New York (Lincoln Center) and Vienna and Salzburg. She is an avid chamber musician and each summer takes part in many of the world’s great international festivals, including Cheltenham, Mostly Mozart (London), City of London, Bath, Oxford, Leicester, Australia, Canada (Vancouver Festival), France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria. Besides her regular recital partners – Julius Drake, Kathy Stott and Katya Apekisheva – her chamber music collaborations have included Martha Argerich, Ian Bostridge, Melvyn Tan, Imogen Cooper, Lars Vogt, Itamar Golan, Wayne Marshall, Steven Isserlis, clarinetists Michael Collins, Sharon Kam and Emma Johnson, oboist Nick Daniels and violinists Priya Mitchell, Pekka Kuusisto and Isabelle Faust. She is also regularly invited to perform with the Belcea, Jerusalem and Takacs quartets as well as the Nash Ensemble.
Natalie records exclusively for EMI Classics. Her debut recording, a recital disc with both Brahms Cello Sonatas and Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata with Charles Owen was released in October 2004. She has since released ‘The Romantic Cello’ with Charles Owen, which includes Rachmaninov’s Sonata and Chopin’s Sonata and Polonaise. Her latest disc of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vernon Handley, CBE conducting was released in September 2007.
Natalie Clein plays on the “Simpson” Guadagnini cello (1777).
Katya Apekisheva Piano
Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Katya started to play the piano at the age of five and a year later entered the famous Gnessin School of Music where she was taught by Ada Traub and Anna Kantor. She continued her studies with Irina Berkovich at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem where she won an American- Israel Cultural Foundation Award and took second prize at the Young Talents Radio Competition performing Prokofiev's first piano concerto with Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
In 1994 Katya moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya and the following year won the President's Rose Bowl for the most outstanding pianist of the year presented by HRH The Prince of Wales. In 1996 she won sixth prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition.The same year she was London Philharmonic/Pioneer Young Soloist of the Year which led to performances with London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In following years, Katya was presented with Terence Judd Award for the Most Outstanding Pianist of the Year and took second prize at the Scottish International piano competition. She also won Schubert prize at the AXA Dublin Piano Competition.
Katya is a frequent guest at festivals including Gilmore(USA), Leicester, Warwick, Thaxted, Grassington, Cheltenham, Bath, Perigord-Noir (France), 'Homecoming' and 'Crescendo' (Russia). Katya has performed throughout Russia, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland,France,Israel,Turkey, USA, South Korea and Phillippines, working with such orchestras as London Philharmonic, CBSO, Philharmonia, Halle, Moscow Philharmonic, and with such conductors as Alexander Lazarev, David Shallon, Alexander Rudin and Sir Simon Rattle.
As a chamber musician Katya collaborates regularly with ensembles including Tippett, Gabrieli and Belcea quartets, Covent Garden Soloists, Kandinsky and Gnessin trios and soloists Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Jack Liebeck,Maxim Rysanov, Natalie Clein, Alexei Ogrinchuk, Boris Andrianov.
She has made several recordings for BBC Radio 3 and has made a solo CD on Master Musicians
Label. In 2004 Katya released a CD with Jack Liebeck on Quartz Label which received high critical acclaim and was nominated for Classical Brit Awards.
In the past season Katya performed at Janine Jansen's Festival in Utrecht(Holland), 'Homecoming' Festival in Moscow and Bath International Festival, UK. Her performances included Tchaikowsky Concerto with Worthing Symphony Orchestra, Wigmore Hall recital and a recital at Birmingham Symphony Hall with Jack Liebeck. She also took part in Norwich and Norfolk Festival and 'Music in the country churches' Festival performing with Natalie Clein.
Future plans include recitals with Natalie Clein, Jack Liebeck, recordings for BBC radio3, CD release with Maxim Rysanov and Boris Brovtsyn (works by Brahms) , Hummel Piano Concerto at 'Music in country churches' festival with English Chamber Orchestra. She has just released a solo CD of Grieg's piano music on Quartz Label
Julius Drake Piano
The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and specialises in the field of chamber music, working with many of the world’s leading vocal and instrumental artists, both in recital and on disc. He performs regularly in the world’s great concert halls and festivals. He is a familiar visitor to the Leicester International Music Festival and to the Lunchtime Concert Series.
He appears at all the major music centres: in recent seasons concerts have regularly taken him to the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Salzburg, Schubertiade, and Tanglewood Festivals; to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre, New York; the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Chatalet and Musée de Louvre, Paris; the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus, Vienna; and the Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms London.
Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 – 2003, Julius Drake was also musical director in Deborah Warner’s staging of Janacek’s Diary of One who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam and New York. He is appointed artistic director of Leeds Lieder in 2009 and the Machynlleth Festival in Wales 2009 - 2011.
Julius Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for the Wigmore Hall, London, the BBC and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. A series of song recitals - Julius Drake and Friends - in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding artists including Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Ian Bostridge, Phillip Langridge, Angelika Kirchschlager, Sergei Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Katarina Karneus, Angelika Kirchschlager, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Christoph Pregardien, Amanda Roocroft, Jose Van Dam and Sir Willard White.
Julius Drake is also frequently invited to perform at international chamber music festivals such as Kuhmo in Finland, Delft in The Netherlands, Oxford in England and West Cork in Ireland, while his instrumental duo with Nicholas Daniel has been described in The Independent newspaper as “one of the most satisfying in British chamber music: vital, thoughtful and confirmed in musical integrity of the highest order.”
Julius Drake is a Professor at The Royal Academy of Music in London and visiting Professor at The Royal Northern College of Music. In addition he regularly gives masterclasses, most recently in Amsterdam, Brussels, Oxford, Paris, Vienna and at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien. In 2009 he has been invited on to the jury of The Leeds International Piano Competition.
Recordings include French Mélodie with Hugues Cuenod (Chandos), French Oboe Sonatas with Nicholas Daniel (Virgin), Britten song with Derek Ragin (Etcetera), Schumann Lieder with Sophie Daneman (EMI), Gurney Songs with Paul Agnew (Hyperion), Sibelius Songs with Katarina Karneus (Hyperion), Shostakovitch Sonatas with Annette Bartholdy (Naxos), Mahler Lieder with Christianne Stotijn (Onyx) Spanish Song with Joyce Didonato (Eloquentia), Schoeck Sonatas with Christian Poltera (Bis), English Song with Andrew Kennedy (Altara) a ‘Wigmore Live’ recording with Christopher Maltman and Haydn and Schumann and Mahler Lieder with Alice Coote (EMI). He has made a series of award winning series of recordings with Ian Bostridge for EMI, including Schumann, Schubert, Henze, Britten, The English Songbook and La Bonne Chanson.
His recent series of recordings with Gerald Finley for Hyperion - Ives, Barber and Schumann - have been much acclaimed and the Songs of Samuel Barber is winner of the 2008 Gramophone Award.
Highlights in the coming season include Schubert at Carnegie Hall, New York with Ian Bostridge; ‘Wigmore Live’ recording releases with Gerald Finley and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson; Recitals in New York and London with Alice Coote; Grieg Songs for Hyperion with Katarina Karneus and Tchaikovsky songs for Onyx with Christianne Stotijn; recitals in Ulm and London with Diana Damrau and Schumann duets and quartets with Röschmann, Kirchschlager, Bostridge and Quasthoff at the Schubertiade in Austria and in Hamburg, London and Vienna.
Anna Tilbrook Piano
Anna Tilbrook is one of Britain's most exciting young pianists, with a considerable reputation in song recitals and chamber music. She made her debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1999 and has since become a regular performer at major concert halls and festivals. Anna has collaborated with many leading singers including James Gilchrist, Lucy Crowe, Sarah Tynan, Willard White, Mark Padmore, Stephan Loges, Ian Bostridge and Gillian Keith, while also enjoying partnerships with a number of instrumentalists.
With James Gilchrist she has made acclaimed recordings of 20th-century English song, including Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. The disc was a finalist in the 2008 Gramophone Awards. With the Fitzwilliam she has also performed Shostakovich's chamber music throughout the UK, Mozart Piano Concerto K415 and the Elgar Piano Quintet.
As well as accompanying, Anna is in demand as a repetiteur, continuo player, audition pianist and vocal coach, working for companies including the Royal Opera, Royal Ballet, Aldeburgh and the LSO. For the 2006 Buxton Festival she made her conducting debut, directing Telemann's Pimpinone from the harpsichord.
At The Two Moors Festival Anna has devised and performed a series of epic performing projects: all the Schubert song-cycles in a day in 2005; all the Schumann song-cycles in 2006; and in 2007 a day of songs by Mahler and his contemporaries. Recent engagements have included recitals at the Down Ampney Vaughan Williams week-end, St.David’s Festival, Three Choirs Festival, LSO St Luke's, Dartington, the Anima Mundi festival in Pisa and a live broadcast recital for the Wroclaw Cantans festival in Poland. James and Anna have recently recorded a CD of songs by Lennox Berkeley for Chandos and works by Britten and Leighton for Linn.
Born in Hertfordshire, Anna studied music at York University and at the Royal Academy of Music witJulius Drake, where she was awarded a Fellowship. She also won many major international accompaniment prizes. She now lives in London.
"Anna Tilbrook is an outstanding accompanist: discreet when necessary, but also able to make the simplest phrase or chordal progression tell without a touch of exaggeration." (BBC Music Magazine).
"Superb" (Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph). "Anna Tilbrook is excellent" (John Steane, Gramophone)
Lynda Houghton Double Bass
Lynda Houghton is Principal Double Bass with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has been playing with the orchestra for over 25 years on world tours and recordings.
Having studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Banff Centre for Fine Arts in Canada, she went on to establish a reputation as a talented exponent of contemporary music with the London Sinfonietta. She was also invited to play with the London Symphony Orchestra- the first woman bassist in that orchestra. Lynda also enjoys playing with a number of other chamber orchestra and ensembles, such as the City of London Sinfonia and Orchestra of St.Johns Smith Square, as principal bass in both, and the Nash and Fibbonacci Ensembles as a guest.
Since 1996 she has regularly played at the Sangat Chamber Music Festival in Mumbai and at the invitation of Julia Fischer, in the Mecklenburg-Vorponnen festival, Germany.
As an enthusiastic 'period' instrumentalist she has toured with the English Concert and English Baroque solsoists. Whilst being in demand as a teacher and examiner, her playing engagements encompass not only the world of Contemporary, Symphonic and Chamber Music but also of Film and popular Music.
Ben Russell Double Bass
Ben studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Thomas Martin, gaining a first class honours degree. He has been the recipient of scholarships from the Countess of Munster and Musician's Benevolent Fund.
Since leaving college, Ben has been in demand across Britain and Europe as an orchestral principal and chamber musician. He has appeared as guest principal with the Academy of St Martin's, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. He regularly records for film and pop sessions that range from Snow Patrol to opera with Kate Royal.
As a chamber musician, Ben has been invited to play with the Kungsbacka trio, ASCH Trio, the Plush Ensemble and the Sacconi Quartet
Tim Gunnell Percussion
Tim hails from the fens of Cambridgeshire. He started out as a clarinet player, but gradually swapped to Percussion during his teens. He went on to study at the Royal College of music from where he graduated in 2000. Since then He has moved back to his beloved Cambridgeshire from where he works as a freelance Percussionist. Tim is a member of Sinfonia Viva, the orchestra of the East Midlands, and is heavily involved in their thriving outreach and education programme. As well as his work for Sinfonia Viva, Tim works for a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles, most recently the London Sinfonietta, BBC Concert Orchestra, City Of London Sinfonia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and the Britten Sinfonia. Tim was also a featured soloist at this years Dillington International Guitar Festival. Outside music Tim is very interested in swimming, surfing (in the sea), riding his bike and Britains history and heritage.
The Quartets
Idomeneo Quartet
Guildhall College of Music and Drama
Isolani Quartet
Royal Northern College of Music
Eilon Quartet
Royal College of Music
Sinfonia Viva! Jazz Ensemble
Family Concert