Programme for Season 2014
This season has now concluded. We include it for your interest.
Ji Liu
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The Villiers Quartet
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Retorica
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Sunday 30 March 2014 at 4pm
Ji LiuPiano
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Artist BiographyBorn in 1990, Pianist Ji Liu studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2005 and 2006 he took part in the Verbier Festival & Academy in Switzerland where he received the Tabor Piano Award and CUBS Prize from the UBS Bank. He went on to study with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton completing his Masters on piano and composition (the latter with Ruth Byrchmore) in 2013. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013. From a young age Ji has appeared as soloist at major venues and festivals internationally including Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Concertgebouw, Auditorium du Louvre, Salle Cortot, Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), 92nd Street Y (New York), Rachmaninoff Hall (Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow), Salle Garnier Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Hong Kong Town Hall, the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre and Stavanger Chamber Music Festival. He has performed JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Gstaad Festival and the complete piano music of Isang Yung at the Tongyeong Music Festival in South Korea. Engagements during 2013/14 include his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra, a performance of Liszt’s Totentanz at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and recitals at the Purcell Room and The Sage Gateshead. Read more... Programme NotesProgramme notes are available here |
Sunday 13 April 2014 at 4pm
The Villiers QuartetString QuartetViolin I – James DickensonViolin II – Tamaki HigashiViola – Carmen FloresCello – Nick Stringfellow
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Artist BiographyJames Dickenson studied both in the UK and the USA and lists Lydia Mordkvitch, Danny Phillips, Jerry Horner, Wen Zhou Li, and Christopher Rowland as some of his many teachers and mentors. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music, James left the UK to lead the Degas Quartet in the USA. With this quartet James gave concerts all over the USA, in Carnegie Hall and at the Aspen Music Festival, and held various residencies in over ten universities. Since leaving the quartet in 2007, James returned to the UK to continue his teaching, performing, and chamber music career. An advocate of new music, James has worked closely with many American composers, including Jeffrey Mumford, Andrew Waggoner, and he is currently commissioning a new piece for violin from Shafer Mahoney. Japanese-born violinist Tamaki Higashi started violin at the age of seven and was a multiple winner of the South Japan Music Competition in her hometown of Kagoshima. She was invited to study with Lewis Kaplan in New York City, and she received both her bachelors and masters degrees from the Mannes College of Music. After graduating in 2002 she founded the Degas Quartet. Together with her husband James, the Degas Quartet held residencies at Syracuse University and with the Western Piedmont Symphony, working closely with the Cassatt Quartet and Earl Carlyss of the Juilliard Quartet. The Degas Quartet toured frequently within the United States and was featured live on NPR broadcasts, appearing in many prestigious venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, Aspen Music Festival, and the Library of Congress. Tamaki and James moved to the UK in 2007, and since then she has enjoyed a busy schedule as recitalist, teacher, and chamber musician. A passionate advocate for music education and community outreach, Tamaki organised several music projects in North Carolina, USA and Kagoshima, Japan, bringing chamber music to local schools and children's groups. She plays on a fine Italian violin by Antonio Ungarini of Fabriano, 1740. Carmen Flores attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and studied viola at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada. Her principal teachers were Yizhak Schotten and Steven Dann. In 2007 she was appointed Principal Viola of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the orchestra of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She has also performed as guest principal viola with the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and the English National Opera. Nick Stringfellow began his musical education at Chetham’s School of Music, performing in masterclasses at an early age with Heinrich Schiff and Janos Starker. After further study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Clive Greensmith, he completed his training at the Royal College of Music, studying jointly with Anna Shuttleworth and Anthony Pleeth. Nick cut his chamber music teeth as cellist with the London Mozart Ensemble alongside violinist David le Page. He is Principal Cellist with the Orchestra of the Swan, often appearing as soloist with the orchestra and taking part in its extensive education and outreach programmes. Nick has performed with many ensembles including the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and the Brook Street Band, and he has recorded for EMI, Naxos, Somm and Orfeo labels. He is the featured cellist on Schott’s Baroque around the World series and his trio Spirituoso is resident ensemble at Handel House. Read more... Programme NotesProgramme notes are available here |
Sunday 18 May 2014 at 4pm
RetoricaViolin DuoHarriet MackenziePhilippa Mo
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Artist BiographyPhilippa studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing with Professor Lin Yao Ji. Her studies were supported by the Belmore Woodgate Scholarship and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Since finishing her research studies culminating in the award of an MMus degree, Philippa now performs extensively as a chamber musician. She has given concerto and chamber performances all over Europe; including her acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall, the premiere of the revised Fugue Refractions by Jim Aitchison at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, the Beethoven Series at St John’s, Smith Square, and performances at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, Ulaan Bataar, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and The Tate St Ives in the UK and televised performances in Turkey as part of the Ankara International Music Festival with Orkestra@Modern. Read more... Harriet has toured Europe, America and Japan as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Harriet made her highly acclaimed Purcell room debut as part of the Park Lane Young Artists Series. Since then she has given recitals worldwide in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw and Beers van Berlage Hall in Amsterdam, the Lysenko Hall of Marble Columns in Kyiv, the Marble Hall in Budapest and the Expo Dome in Japan. She premiered Robert Fokkens violin concerto, written and dedicated to her, at the Southbank Centre, London and in 2012 gave the premiere of Graham Coatman's violin concerto at the Swaledale Festival, which was also written and dedicated to her. Harriet regularly performs concertos both in England and abroad. She has broadcast recitals 'live' for BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and for Hungarian National Radio. Read more... Programme NotesProgramme notes are available here |
