Programme for Season 2026
Kammerphilharmonie Europa
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Maxim Calver
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Jacky Zhang
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Sunday 12 April 2026 at 3pm
Kammerphilharmonie EuropaIrina Knauer ViolinCyrill Gussaroff Trumpet
Programme
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Artist BiographyThe Kammerphilharmonie Europa (Chamber Philharmonic Europe) was founded 2006 in Cologne Germany. The orchestra engages talented young musicians from 18 European nations. Its musicians have performed in many prestigious concert halls and opera houses and its outstanding high artistic level is confirmed by appearances at many concerts and festivals, as well as by press and critics. The 2024/2025 season saw Chamber Philharmonic Europe perform 47 concerts Europe-wide. The musicians have performed in many reputed concert halls and opera houses, including: Civic Theatre, Dublin, Musikhuset Aarhus, Neumünster, Zürich, Conway Hall, London, Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Kulturkvarteret Kristianstad, The Hawth, Crawley, the Palladium, Malmö, Town Hall Theatre Galway. Irina Knauer was born into a German-Belarusian family of musicians. She started playing the violin at the age of 4. At the age of 8, she made her international competition debut by performing Berio's Concerto for Violin with orchestra. She studied in Minsk and the St. Petersburg Conservatory. She has participated in numerous masterclasses and festivals around the world and is the winner of many international competitions. Irina is a permanent guest musician at the Würth Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Ruhr Orchestra, and the French Chamber Philharmonic. she has played under the conducting of Yuri Temirkanov, Valeri Gergiev, Misha Kats, Aleksandr Dmitriev, Nikolai Alekseev, Jeffrey Mayer and others. Irina has performed with Yuri Bashmet, Anna Netrebko, Mischa Mayski, Oksana Volkova, Michael Gantvarg, Joshua Bell and many others. Irina has been leader of the Chamber Philarmonie Europe since 2024. Soloist Cyrill Gussaroff (trumpet) was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia where he received his first trumpet lesson from the famous trumpet player Professor V.Margolin, in whose class he graduated from the Saint-Petersburg Conservatoire with distinction in 2002. He continued his education at the Conservatoires of Hanover and Essen, where he was taught by such influential people as Professor S.Goehtel and Prof. U.Koeller. In his career Mr. Gussaroff has gained awards at international competitions including the International Competition Citta di Porcia, the Dokshitzer Competition Vilnius, the Competition of Calvia Mallorca and the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire International Competition, Moscow. He started his career as a trumpet soloist at the Staatskapella Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg. At present he is a soloist with the Lower Rhine Symphony Orchestra and is an artist of the Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival. In addition, Cyrill Gussaroff has worked with several different orchestras such as the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bochum Symphonie, the Camerata Budapest, the Chamber Philharmonic Europe and the Philharmonika Venezia.
Programme Noteswill be available at the concert.
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Sunday 26 April 2026 at 4pm
Maxim CalverCello
Jâms Coleman Piano
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Artist BiographyPraised for the “elegance of his technique, overall sound and natural poeticism” (Charlotte Gardner, Strad Magazine), Maxim Calver first gained public recognition as a Grand Finalist and Strings Category winner of BBC Young Musician 2018, where he made his concerto debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Since then he has been in high demand across the UK and Europe and in October 2021, he made his European Concerto debut at the Grosse Saal of the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Establishing himself as a young artist known for his passion for performance, Maxim has appeared in many of Europe’s other leading venues including the Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zurich and Cadogan Hall amongst others. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with various orchestras including the Bath, Stockport, Ipswich, Maidstone and Young Musician Symphony Orchestras, the Orpheus Sinfonia and the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra. He also made debut recital appearances at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, Cambridge Summer Music Festival and at the Oranjewoud Festival in the Netherlands as the winner of the ‘Oranjewoud Award’ at the 2024 Schiermonnikoog Festival. In the 24/25 season, Maxim’s highlights include performances of Elgar, Shostakovich and Dvorak’s cello concertos, recitals alongside pianist Kumi Matsuo and a variety of exciting chamber music collaborations. Furthermore, from the start of the 24/25 season Maxim has been invited to be an ‘Associated Artist’ on the UK Artists Directory after his successful tenure on the Countess of Munster Trust’s Recital Scheme. A passionate chamber musician, Maxim has appeared at the Gstaad-Menuhin, Lewes, Stamford and International Pau Casals Chamber Music Festivals and performed live radio broadcasts from the Konzerthaus Berlin and Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In May 2024, he was invited to the Kronberg Academy’s ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’ Festival where he worked and performed alongside Gidon Kremer, Antje Weithaas and Lawrence Power. Maxim has also appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival for the past two years as a part of their ‘rising stars’ series at the invitation of current artistic director Nicola Benedetti. In 2023, Maxim was invited by composer Matthew Coleridge to appear on his new album ‘Requiem’ alongside the Southern Sinfonia and Choir of Royal Holloway directed by Rupert Gough. The album was recently released on Convivium Records to widespread critical acclaim. Originally from Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk, Maxim started the cello at the age of 4 with Maja Passchier before moving to the Yehudi Menuhin School to study with Thomas Carroll aged just 8 years old. He currently studies at the Royal College of Music with Professor Melissa Phelps, where he is proud to be an ABRSM Scholar for his postgraduate studies. He has received guidance and inspiration from many leading cellists including Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, Steven Doane, Colin Carr and the late Heinrich Schiff. Maxim has also partaken in master-classes at the Kronberg Academy, Tibor Varga Academy and IMS Prussia Cove amongst others. Maxim is very grateful to have received support from the Amaryllis Fleming Foundation, Geoff and Val Richards, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Drake Calleja Trust and the Hattori Foundation. He is also very grateful to the Young Classical Artists Trust and the Countess of Munster Trust for their invitation. Maxim plays an Alberto Aloysius Blanchi cello, dated 1906.
From Anglesey, North Wales, Jâms Coleman is a pianist who enjoys a rich and varied musical life performing as a soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist. He finds it inspiring and fascinating to collaborate with different musicians and values the rewards of this process. Chamber-music engagements include performances in the UK and across Europe with instrumentalists Luke Hsu, Clio Gould, Maggie Faultless, Timothy Ridout, Laura van der Heijden, Jamal Aliyev, Joy Lisney, Marcin Zdunik and Peter Moore. He has performed live on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service, BBC 2’s Proms Extra, BBC Radio Cymru and S4C. As a vocal accompanist, he enjoys collaborating with many singers and his engagements include recitals with Ailish Tynan, James Gilchrist, Sir John Tomlinson, Robert Murray, Nicholas Mulroy, Robert Murray, Andrew Kennedy, Nicholas Mogg and Katie Stevenson at festivals such as the Leeds and Oxford Lieder Festivals. Recent highlights include performing the three Schubert song cycles at the Two Moors Festival and performing at Wigmore Hall in a showcase for Samling Arts alongside Nicky Spence, James Newby, Elin Pritchard, Olivia Warburton and Christopher Glynn. Jâms enjoys performing solo recitals and as a concerto soloist. He has performed repertoire including Beethoven’s Third, Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos and concertos by Chopin, Brahms and Mozart. Jâms read Music at Girton College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. In 2016 he completed a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music where he then stayed on as a Fellow. He also has experience of working as a Musical Director and repetiteur and in 2014 he conducted fifteen performances of Tchaikofsky’s Eugene Onegin across Wales. In 2018 he was the Artistic Director of a concert series based in St Clement Danes Church in Central London which featured twenty-four lunchtime concerts and five evening concerts. Jâms is an Oxford Lieder Young Artist, a Live Music Now Artist, a Park Lane Group Artist, a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Samling Artist. He is grateful for the support of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, the Elizabeth Evans Trust, the John Fussell Award, the Arts Council of Wales and is grateful to the English-Speaking Union for providing funding to attend IMS Prussia Cove.
Programme Noteswill be available at the concert.
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Sunday 10 May 2026 at 4pm
Jacky ZhangPiano
Programme
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Artist BiographyJacky Zhang is a young composer, pianist, songwriter, and producer. He is a fourth year undergraduate student currently studying piano and composition at the Royal College of Music. He has won the first prize of the UK Piano Open International Competition in 2020, Premio Alkan International Piano Competition in 2022, and both Classical and Romantic sections at the Cantù International Piano and Orchestra Competition in 2023. His broad musical interests include conducting, historical performance and music for screen as well. Jacky was a finalist in the 2024 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, where he performed with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ben Gernon.
On the same weekend concert goers will be able to enjoy an exhibition of fine and affordable art, which will be on display in the Church - at no extra charge.
Programme Noteswill be available at the concert.
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