Thursday 1 December 2011
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).
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.