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

Imogen Cooper - Piano

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Classical and Romantic repertoire, Imogen Cooper is internationally renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism. Recent and future concerto performances include the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, Sydney Symphony with Simone Young and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard.

Imogen has a widespread international career and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Budapest Festival, NHK and London Symphony Orchestras. Her most recent recital appearances have included Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Paris, Vienna, Prague and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg.

As a supporter of new music, Imogen has premiered two works at the Cheltenham International Festival; Traced Overhead by Thomas Adès (1996) and Decorated Skin by Deirdre Gribbin (2003). In 1996, she also collaborated with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the premiere of the piano quintet, Voices for Angels.

Imogen is a committed chamber musician and performs regularly with Henning Kraggerud and Adrian Brendel. As a Lieder recitalist, she has had a long collaboration with Wolfgang Holzmair in both the concert hall and recording studio. Her recent solo recordings for Chandos Records feature music by Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner and Robert and Clara Schumann.

Imogen received a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2007 and was the recipient of an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society the following year. In 1997 she was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1999 she was made a Doctor of Music at Exeter University. Imogen was the Humanitas Visiting Professor in Classical Music and Music Education at the University of Oxford for 2012- 13. The Imogen Cooper Music Trust was founded in 2015, to support young pianists at the cusp of their careers, and give them time in an environment of peace and beauty. 

http://www.imogen-cooper.com

Tim Horton - Piano

Tim Horton is one of the UK’s leading pianists, equally at home in solo and chamber repertoire. He is a founder member of both the Leonore Piano Trio and Ensemble 360 and has been a regular guest pianist with the Nash Ensemble. He was invited to make his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in 2016. Tim returned to Wigmore Hall in early 2021 to perform a programme of Mozart, Chopin and Szymanowski, and will be giving further solo recitals in the coming seasons. Between 2011 and 2015 Tim presented a complete Beethoven Sonata cycle at Sheffield’s Crucible Studio for Music in the Round, who invited him to return for a cycle of Schubert Sonatas 2017-2019, and a Chopin cycle which is currently underway.

Following two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1995, at the recommendation of Alfred Brendel, Tim was asked to give concerts with the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

The Leonore Piano Trio has produced seven discs for Hyperion, including the complete Parry Trios and the Piano Quartet. They have also recorded the complete Piano Trios of David Matthews for Toccata Classics.

With Ensemble 360, a mixed group of strings, wind and piano that took up residency at the Crucible Studio in Sheffield in 2005, Tim has performed to great acclaim throughout the UK and abroad.

Viviane Hagner - Violin

Violinist Viviane Hagner has won exceptional praise for her highly intelligent musicality and passionate artistry. Since participating in the legendary ‘joint concert’ of the Israel and Berlin Philharmonics, Hagner has acquired a depth and maturity in her playing that is reflected in her serene stage presence and magnificent assurance.

Appearing with the world’s great orchestras, Hagner’s concerto appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Philharmonia and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. This season she joins the Weimar Staatskapelle for a tour of Spain, visits London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman and returns to the Hallé and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestras.

As well as performing central concerto repertoire, Hagner is an advocate of new, neglected and undiscovered music; she gave the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto in 2002 with the Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester and Kent Nagano. 

Annabelle Meare - Violin

Since studying with Yfrah Neamen in London and Lorand Fenyves in Toronto, Annabelle Meare has gone on to enjoy a varied career as both chamber musician and orchestral principal.  Annabelle has been a member of the Vertavo String Quartet for the past nine years. In other chamber formats she performs with such groups as the Nash Ensemble, the Kungsbacka piano trio, and the Schubert ensemble. She is also a regular guest at various chamber music festivals both in the UK and abroad.

She currently holds the position of principal second violin with the Philharmonia and English Chamber Orchestras with whom she tours and records extensively. In addition to this she is much in demand as a guest principal.

As a soloist, she performs regularly with the English Chamber Orchestra, the European Camerata and Canadian Chamber Orchestra. Annabelle has recorded the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Stephanie Gonley and the ECO. The violin Annabelle plays is by Francesco Goffriller. 

Lawrence Power - Viola

Lawrence Power is one of today’s foremost violists, in demand worldwide as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber music partner. His artistry and penetrating musicianship gains him constant plaudits around the world

Over the past decade, he has become a regular guest performer with orchestras of the highest calibre, from the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Stockholm, Bergen and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras to the Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras.

His recital credits include performances at Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s, Lincoln Centre NY. He has developed an acclaimed partnership with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips, collaborates with musicians such as violinist Maxim Vengerov or Joshua Bell.

Power’s Award-nominated Hyperion recordings include Bartók, Rósza, Walton and Rubbra’s viola concertos, Shostakovich and Brahms’ viola sonatas, and York Bowen's complete works for viola and piano (with Crawford-Phillips). His three-disc Hindemith survey stands as a benchmark recording of the composer’s complete works for solo viola. His next releases include Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Bergen Philharmonic for Hyperion and Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Illumination with the Tapiola Sinfonietta for Ondine, both recorded in 2017. 

Simon Rowland-Jones - Viola

Performer, editor, composer and teacher, Simon Rowland-Jones has always led a multifaceted musical life. He was founder violist of the Chilingirian Quartet and has performed with many other leading chamber groups. 

His solo CDs, on the Meridian and Etcetera labels, include recordings of Schumann, Schubert, Bloch, Benjamin Dale and the complete Bach Cello Suites, the 6th suite on a specially constructed 5-string viola. Peters Edition published his viola transcription of the suites shortly after the recording was made. He then went on to make a new critical/performing edition of the Haydn String Quartets, and most recently a new viola transcription of Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas.

Simon Rowland-Jones has always been a composer too, taking lessons with Nadia Boulanger at the Yehudi Menuhin School. His many works include seven string quartets, two string quintets, a string octet, a string trio, a piano quartet, two piano trios, songs, several song cycles and ‘A Turn Outside’, a musical adaptation of a play by Stevie Smith composed for Dame Josephine Barstow.

He teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal College of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and is, alongside Barry Cheeseman, a co-director of the North Norfolk Music Festival. 

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.

Rick Stotijn - Double Bass

Rick Stotijn, these days, is considered one of the most leading bass players in the world. He received his first lessons at the age of eight, studied at the Conservatory in Amsterdam with his father Peter Stotijn where he graduated with the highest distinction.

Rick Stotijn performs regularly as soloist with Orchestra’s such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie Zuid Nederland and the Residentie Orchestra The Hague.

As a chamber musician he has worked with Janine Jansen, Christianne Stotijn, Liza Ferschtman, Robert Holl, Mischa Maisky, Lavinia Meijer, Bram van Sambeek, Julius Drake, Cecilia Bernardini, Vilde Frang, Amihai Grosz, Julian Rachlin, Candida Thompson, Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford Phillips Johannes Rostamo and many others.

Rick was principal double bass in the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and is currently principal in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. As guest principal Rick plays regularly in the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra Mozart and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Rick is teaching at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and will be the new Professor Double Bass at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf from September 2015. He performs on a Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano double bass, generously loaned by the National Musical Instrument Foundation.

Matthew Hunt - Clarinet

‘The clarinettist played so beautifully it was as though he wished to make the very air melt” Tokyo Times

One of Europe's leading clarinettists, Matthew Hunt is a distinctive musician, renowned for the vocal quality of his playing and his ability to communicate with audiences. Matthew enjoys an international career as both soloist and chamber musician, and currently holds the position of Solo Clarinettist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen. 

His recording for the ASV label of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet was acclaimed by the BBC as: "the benchmark recording of this much recorded work”. 

Joost Bosdijk - Bassoon

Joost started playing bassoon aged 15 and studied at the Royal College of Music in The Hague with Johan Steinmann and at the Music College “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin with Klaus Thunemann.

Joost has performed with many orchestras and ensembles such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. After a four-year period in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Joost changed his second bassoon job for the same position in the London Symphony Orchestra where he has held this position since 2007.

As a chamber musician he plays in many festivals. He performs regularly with bassoonist Bram van Sambeek, with whom he recorded Sophia Gubaidulinaʼs Duo for two bassoons on van Sambeekʼs cd “Kaleidoscope”.

Joost is a bassoon professor at the Royal College of Music in London. 

Alexander Sitkovetsky - Violin

Alexander Sitkovetsky was born into a family with an established musical tradition, and made his concerto debut at the age of eight. He went on to study with the late Yehudi Menuhin; performing together on several occasions.

Winner of the ICMA Special Achievement Award for Panufnik’s Violin Concerto with Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Alexander is a frequent guest soloist of top orchestras and embarks on nationwide tours of the UK.

1st prize winner at the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition alongside pianist Wu Qian. He is an alumnus of the prestigious ‘Bowers Program’ (formerly ‘CMS Two’) at the Lincoln Center, and in 2016 received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. Founding member of the Sitkovetsky Duo & Trio and also a member of the Julia Fischer String Quartet.

www.alexandersitkovetsky.com