Paul Lewis - Piano

Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded CBE for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

With a natural affinity for Beethoven, he took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven and performed a concerto cycle at Tanglewood in summer 2022. He has performed the cycle all over the world, and was the first pianist to play the complete cycle in a single season at the BBC Proms in 2010.

Beyond many award-winning Beethoven recordings, his discography with Harmonia Mundi also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in Romantic repertoire such as Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt.

In chamber music, Paul Lewis works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together. Between 2022 and 2024, Paul Lewis embarked on a new Schubert Piano Sonata Series where he will present the completed sonatas from the last 12 years of Schubert’s life at venues around the world. Lewis is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Awards: Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year; two Edison awards; three Gramophone awards; Diapason d’Or de l’Annee; South Bank Show Classical Music Award; honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill and Southampton Universities; appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

www.paullewispiano.co.uk

Bjørg Lewis - Cello

Bjørg Lewis is one of Norway’s most highly esteemed cellists.  As a soloist, she played with the Oslo Philharmonic as well as many other orchestras throughout Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Baltics.

Bjørg is a founder member of the Vertavo String Quartet, an internationally-acclaimed ensemble, which has received numerous awards including Norway’s prestigious Grieg Prize. Vertavo launched their own chamber music festival, Vertavofestivalen in 2016.

A busy performance schedule takes Bjørg throughout Europe and North America. A frequent participant in many international chamber music festivals, Bjørg was also been regularly invited to join the Nash Ensemble for Wigmore Hall concerts and tours. She was Artistic Director of the Elverum Festival in Norway from 2001- 2015 and co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music since its inception in 2009.

Since 2018, Bjørg has held the position of Associate Professor of Cello at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In 2024 she curated athe Academy's first ever International Cello Festival. She is frequently invited to give masterclasses and be a jury member at many international chamber music competitions

Bjørg plays on a 1748 Gennaro Gagliano cello provided for her by the Dextra Musica Foundation, previously played by Martin Lovett of the Amadeus Quartet

www.vertavo.com

Andrej Bielow - Violin

Born in 1981, Andrej is one of the leading Ukrainian musicians of his generation. As a soloist and chamber musician he has recorded over 20 CDs and collaborated with many internationally renowned orchestras.

His repertoire includes over 30 concertos and all the major sonatas. He has recently performed the Shostakovich no. 1 in Lindau with SWD Philharmonie Konstanz and the Tchaikovsky at the Ryedale Festival with the orchestra of Opera North under Martin Andre. 

Andrej Bielow won several major prizes at international competitions such as the Long-Thibaut Paris, ARD Munich, Hanover (Joachim), Citta di Brescia and others. 

Andrej Bielow devotes much of his career to chamber music, of which he is a passionate advocate. At the Kronberg Academy he performed with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and the Beaux Arts Trio. In 2011 he joined Kit Armstrong and Adrian Brendel to form a piano trio. Future projects include a complete cycle of Beethoven and Mozart violin sonatas with Kit Armstrong. 

Andrej holds a teaching position at the Hanover University of Music and Drama and is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. 

http://www.andrejbielow.net

Alfred Brendel - Guest Speaker

Alfred Brendel studied piano and composition in Zagreb and Graz, completing his piano studies with Edwin Fischer, Paul Baumgartner and Eduard Steuermann. For 60 years he has enjoyed a distinguished international career concentrating on the works of central European composers from Bach to Schoenberg as well as featuring many works by Liszt. 

He was the first pianist to record Beethoven’s complete piano works, and was highly influential in getting Schubert’s Piano Sonatas and the Schoenberg Piano Concerto recognised as integral parts of the piano repertoire. He has performed regularly at the world’s musical centres and festivals, and with the leading orchestras and conductors, and his extensive discography has contributed to making him one of the most respected artists of our time. His final concert appearance was with the Vienna Philharmonic on December 18, 2008. It was released on CD, together with his last solo recital, by Decca.

Alfred Brendel has given lectures, poetry readings and masterclasses at the Festivals of Salzburg and Verbier, the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Wigmore Hall in London, and music universities and concert halls throughout Europe. His North American activities included the Juilliard School, New York University, Berkeley, CAL Performances, McGill in Montreal Harvard, Princeton and Yale. He has taught at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and as guest professor in Cambridge. 

He has published two books of essays, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts and Music Sounded Out the latter of which was awarded the 1990 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for writing. A volume of collected essays, Alfred Brendel on Music, came out in January 2001 to mark his 70th birthday. 

He has received honorary degrees from many universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and McGill, and was awarded an honorary KBE in 1989. 

http://www.alfredbrendel.com

James Boyd - Viola

James Boyd is widely recognised as one of Britain's finest chamber musicians. He has been a member of some of the country's foremost ensembles and is in demand as a guest artist with many others. 

After studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School he became a member of the Raphael Ensemble and was a founder member of the Vellinger String Quartet - winners of the 1994 London International string quartet competition. In 2001 he formed the London Haydn Quartet which has been acclaimed for its highly individual stylistic approach, using gut strings and classical bows, making a particular speciality of the works of Haydn and Beethoven. 

James appears as a regular guest with many ensembles including the Nash Ensemble and Arcangelo and is invited to many international chamber music festivals including Lofoten, Kaposvar, Lockenhaus, Korsholm.and Kempten.

He also plays in the Ludwig String Trio with Peter Cropper and Paul Watkins, and in 2015 will collaborate with Vilde Frang, Nicolas Altstaedt and Alexander Lonquich in a European tour of Piano Quartets. Gramophone Magazine described his CD of the viola music of York Bowen, with the pianist Bengt Forsberg, as "a gem of a disc!" 

In 2001 he co-founded MusicWorks, a chamber music course for young string players and pianists, from which many young chamber ensembles have emerged.

He also teaches chamber music at University of Cambridge (IAS), The Banff centre, and Domaine Forget (Quebec).

Veronika Eberle - Violin

Veronika Eberle has established a reputation as one of the most promising violin talents to emerge from Germany in recent years. Her exceptional talent, poise and maturity of her musicianship have been recognised by the leading orchestras and festivals, and by some of the world’s most eminent conductors.

Highlights among recent and  future concerto engagements include the Seoul Philharmonic, London Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig,  Seattle Symphony. As a recitalist, recent highlights include  London (Wigmore Hall Master Series), Rome (Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti), Paris (Theatre de la Ville). 

Past successes include recital debuts in New York (Carnegie Hall), Salzburg (Mozarteum), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Zurich (Tonhalle) and the Lucerne Festival.

Veronika Eberle was born in 1988 in Donauwörth, Germany. She joined the Hochschule Munich in 2001, studying with Ana Chumachenco. Veronika was the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship (2008) and plays the ‘Dragonetti’ Stradivarius, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. 

Clara Mouriz - Mezzo-soprano

Spanish-born mezzo-soprano Clara - a former member of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist - was an Independent Opera / Wigmore Hall Fellow 2009/11, and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied.

She made her Wigmore Hall debut under the auspices of the Kirckman Concert Society in 2007, and has returned there regularly, as well as appearing in radio broadcasts and at festivals across Europe and North America with pianists Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Simon Lepper, Malcolm Martineau, Joseph Middleton, Melvyn Tan and Roger Vignoles.

Clara made her BBC Proms debut in 2013, performing Falla's Three Cornered Hat with the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Juanjo Mena. Other recent highlights include Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Mozart's Requiem with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bach's Mass in B minor with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia and  Rossini's Petite messe solennelle with the BBC Singers.

She recently made her debut at Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse as Aurora (Vive's Doña Francisquita and appeared as Rosina at the Teatre Principal de Palma.

Clara's first solo recital disc of Spanish songs was released in 2010, and a second disc, Heroines in Song, is expected to be released this season.

http://www.claramouriz.com

Kathryn Stott - Piano

One of Britain’s most versatile musicians, Kathryn Stott studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music, and was a prize-winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1978. She is a Visiting Professor and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.

As a concerto soloist she regularly appears with many major orchestras throughout the world, and she enjoys long-standing musical relationships with many distinguished instrumentalists. A special interest in contemporary music has led to many world premières, including concertos by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Graham Fitkin and Michael Nyman. She is also a remarkable exponent of tango and other Latin dance music, reflected for instance in a noted and long-standing collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and leading South American musicians on disc and on tour. Kathryn Stott has recorded for BIS, Conifer, Chandos, Decca, EMI, Hyperion and Sony. She has also been the artistic vision behind several major festivals and concert series, in the UK and Italy, and is the artistic director of the Manchester Chamber Concert Series. 

http://www.kathrynstott.com

Amy Harman - Bassoon

Born in London, Amy Harman studied at the Royal College of Music with Andrea de Flammineis and Martin Gatt, and with František Herman at the Akademie Múzických in Prague.  On graduating she became Principal of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and in 2011 was appointed Principal of the Philharmonia Orchestra.  She was selected as a  YCAT artist in 2014.

Passionate about bringing the bassoon to a wider audience, in 2012 Amy appeared as a ‘flying soloist’ in Birmingham Opera’s premiere of Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht where she performed from a trapeze suspended above the audience.  Engagements this season include a performance of Strauss’s Concertino with the English Chamber Orchestra and recitals in Hamburg, Bath, the Purcell Room, The Sage Gateshead, Devizes and Lichfield Festivals.

As a chamber musician Amy is a member of Ensemble 360 and has collaborated internationally with artists including Radovan Vlatkovic, Natalia Gutman, Charles Neidich and the Chilingirian Quartet.   She has appeared as guest principal with the London Symphony, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Scottish Chamber Orchestras

Amy is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

Richard Hosford - Clarinet

Richard Hosford has a busy career both as a soloist and as chamber musician. He was for several years Principal Clarinet with the London Philharmonic before taking up the post of Principal Clarinet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1994.

Richard Hosford is a committed chamber musician and has recorded all the major repertoire for wind ensemble with the Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and has toured with them throughout the world. He has recorded with the chamber ensemble, Domus, and the Florestan Piano Trio.

In 1998 he became a member of the Nash Ensemble with whom he tours and broadcasts regularly. In recent years his recordings of the Copland Concerto, the Brahms Trio (with the Florestans) and the Brahms Quintet (with the Nash) have all  been chosen as  “First choice” by BBC Radio 3  ‘Record Review'.  Richard teaches at the Royal College of Music.  
 

Leon Bosch - Double Bass

Leon Bosch conducts chamber and symphonic ensembles around the world and is one of the few double bass players to direct concertos from the instrument.

Having worked with the finest conductors for 30 years as a member of groups such as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philharmonia and Hallé, he learnt the repertoire and conductor’s craft from inside the orchestra, and finally made the transition to the podium in 2015, when he left Academy of St Martin in the Fields and went to study in St Petersburg with Alexander Polishchuk. Since then he has conducted orchestras across the UK, Europe, India, South Africa and Mozambique.

During his playing career, he performed concertos around the world and served as a guest with ensembles such as the Lindsays, Brodsky Quartet and Zukerman Chamber Players.

Leon is committed to rediscovering neglected music, as well as expanding and diversifying the double bass repertoire, and has recorded 19 CDs of wide-ranging programmes, with more in planning.

Throughout his career he has worked with leading composers, and his latest project is to revive the sonatina form for a programme he will tour and record for Meridian Records in 2024. He also commissions chamber arrangements of well-known symphonic classics for his ensemble I Musicanti, and set up I Musicanti Publishing in order to distribute these works.

He is professor of double bass at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and gives masterclasses in the US, Europe, South Africa, and the Far East. He has also served as double bass coach for youth orchestras including the I, Culture Orchestra, National Youth String Orchestra, Miagi Orchestra and Buskaid. He has contributed to programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and written for The Strad and Classical Music magazines.

 Leon grew up in South Africa, the son of the political activist Jonas Fred Bosch, and spent time in a police cell for organising protests while at school. He left the apartheid regime behind to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

 He became a British citizen in 2000. In recent years he has returned to his roots, musically, forming the Ubuntu Ensemble with other UK-based South African musicians, and commissioning music for the South African Double Bass project, the first CD of which was released in 2020. He also acts as a mentor for South African musicians worldwide.