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

Mark Padmore - Tenor

Mark Padmore was born in London and studied at King’s College, Cambridge. He has established an international career in opera, concert and recital. His appearances in Bach Passions have gained particular notice, especially his renowned performances as Evangelist in the St Matthew and St John Passions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Simon Rattle, staged by Peter Sellars.

A highlight of Mark's 2021/22 season is a residency at Wigmore Hall where he celebrates his relationship with pianists Till Fellner, Imogen Cooper, Mitsuko Uchida and Paul Lewis. He will also appear in recital in Brussels with Simon Lepper, Madrid with Kristian Bezuidenhout and in a six-concert US tour with Mitsuko Uchida.
Other appearances in this busy season include a staged Britten War Requiem at the Liceu Barcelona, Evangelist St Matthew Passion at the Bayerische Rundfunk conducted by Simon Rattle, and directing performances of St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment.

Mark recently appeared in a new Royal Opera House, Covent Garden production of Britten’s Death in Venice, where his performance was described as a “tour de force” and “exquisite of voice, [presenting] Aschenbach’s physical and spiritual breakdown with extraordinary detail and insight”. Other opera roles have included the leading roles in Harrison Birtwistle The Corridor and The Cure at the Aldeburgh Festival; Captain Vere in Britten Billy Budd and Evangelist in a staging of St Matthew Passion both for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the world premiere of Tansy Davies Cave with the London Sinfonietta.
In concert Mark performs with the world’s leading orchestras. He was Artist in Residence for the 2017/18 Season with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and held a similar position with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for 2016/17. His work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has involved projects exploring both Bach St John and St Matthew Passions and has attracted worldwide acclaim.

His extensive discography includes Beethoven Missa Solemnis and Haydn Die Schöpfung with Bernard Haitink and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on BR Klassik and Lieder by Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart with Kristian Bezuidenhout for Harmonia Mundi. Other Harmonia Mundi recordings; Schubert cycles with Paul Lewis (Winterreise won the 2010 Gramophone magazine Vocal Award); Schumann Dichterliebe with Kristian Bezuidenhout (2011 Edison Klassiek Award) and Britten Serenade, Nocturne and Finzi Dies Natalis with the Britten Sinfonia (ECHO/Klassik 2013 award).

Mark was voted 2016 Vocalist of the Year by Musical America and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Kent University in 2014. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queens’ Birthday Honours List. 

www.markpadmore.com

Gemma Rosefield - Cello

Winner of the prestigious Pierre Fournier Award at Wigmore Hall in 2007, Gemma Rosefield made her concerto debut at the age of sixteen, when she won First Prize in the European Music for Youth Competition in Oslo, Norway. Other numerous awards and prizes include the Vice-Principal’s Special Prize at the RAM and the Gold Medal at the RNCM.

Gemma performs regularly on BBC Radio 3, and has played widely outside the UK in the USA, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Kenya, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. In 2011, Hyperion released a CD of Gemma playing the Complete Works for Cello and Orchestra of Sir Charles Stanford with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Manze.

Gemma is the cellist of Ensemble 360, Royal Philharmonic Society Medal Winners, whose performances are described by the Independent as ‘brimming with body and soul, with passion, vitality and virtuosity, whose performances never cease to amaze’. She is also cellist of the Leonore Piano Trio.

Gemma studied with David Strange at the RAM and with Ralph Kirshbaum at the RNCM. She has a deep interest in contemporary music, and works have been written for her by David Matthews, Cecilia McDowall, James Francis Brown, Julian Dawes, Rhian Samuel, David Knotts and Michael Kamen.

Gemma plays on a cello made in Naples in 1704 by Alessandro Gagliano, formerly owned and played by the Prince Regent.

Aleksandar Madzar - Piano

Aleksandar Madzar was born in Belgrade in 1968. He started playing the piano under the guidance of Gordana Malinovic and later studied with Arbo Valdma, Elisso Virsaladze and Daniel Blumenthal in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Moscow and Brussels.

He won prizes in Geneva, Leeds, the 'Busoni' and 'Umberto Micheli' competitions and gave his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Ivan Fischer in 1990. He has since then been performing regularly all over Europe, enjoying a rich and varied career in recital, concertos and chamber music, occasionally also touring North and South America, South Africa and the Far East.

Aleksandar Madzar teaches at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Brussels.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen - Violin

Described by The Times as a violinist "who held us rapt in daring and undaunted performances" and by The Guardian as a performer of "fearless intensity", Tamsin Waley-Cohen enjoys an adventurous and varied career. She has performed with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, taking her across Europe, New Zealand and the USA, playing in venues such as the Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, and in other venues across the UK and the continent.

Tamsin is a Signum Artist for Signum Records. Her most recent solo disc is ‘SOLI’, a disc of works exploring post-1944 solo repertoire, which was claimed to be “as fine as any on record... it succeeds utterly” by Classical Music Magazine. Tamsin continues to strengthen her duo relationship with pianist Huw Watkins, and their latest disc of works for violin and piano by Hahn and Szymanowski was described as “radiant and soaring” by the Sunday Times. Her next orchestral recording will be of violin concertos by Harris and Adams, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton.

Tamsin is a member of the acclaimed London Bridge Trio with whom she has recently recorded the Dvorak piano quartets for the Champs Hill label. She also regularly plays with Tom Poster, Simon Crawford-Philips, cellist Gemma Rosefield, and has worked with artists such as Andreas Haefliger, Heinz Holliger and Anssi Karttunen.

Since 2007 she has played the 1721 ex-Fenyves Stradivarius violin.

Thomas Aldren - Violin

Thomas Aldren is enjoying an exciting international career as a recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician. He has given several performances of the major concerti by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Sibelius, Bruch, Mozart, Bach and Saint-Saens, and in June will perform the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the University of London Symphony Orchestra. He is in high demand as an orchestral leader and director, following on from his leadership of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Last summer Thomas achieved a Distinction in his Master's at the Royal Academy of Music, during which time he was the winner of numerous competitions including the Winifred Small Violin Prize and the York International Chamber Music Festival Competition. He is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Christoph Poppen.
He plays a violin by Antonio Gragnani made in Livorno in 1779.
 

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.