Aleksey Semenenko and Friends
Aleksey Semenenko, violin; Octavie Dosaler-Lalonde, violoncello; Artem Belogurov, piano; Inna Firsova, piano
Aleksey Grigorievich Semenenko (violin), is a Ukrainian violinist and has been praised for performances replete with "verve, wit, delicatesse, and beautiful phrasing" (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). First Prize Winner of the 2012 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions, he joined the elite YCA roster and debuted in New York at Merkin Hall, in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, and in Boston at theIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He will perform shortly in Boston and at the Harvard Musical Association.
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde (violoncello) is a versatile musician, whose primary focus is historically informed performance practice. She researches and uses techniques and instruments according to the time of the music she plays. After studying modern cello she went on to study baroque cello in Montreal and Amsterdam, the city where she has lived since 2014. In September 2016, Octavie won the second Prize at the Concours Corneille, International Competition for baroque soloists in Rouen.
Artëm Belogurov (piano) Highly aclaimed in the Boston Musical Intelligencer and praised for his“infinite tenderness” (Evening Odessa), Artëm Belogurov has a particular affinity for the Viennese classical style, in which he is distinguished by his use of improvisatory ornamentation. His critically acclaimed album of solo piano works by the late nineteenth century American Romantic composers, recorded on a 1873 Chickering, was released by the London based label Piano Classics in 2015. He is also a discerning advocate of contemporary music, and collaborates with a number of composers.
Inna Firsova (piano) is a young pianist who is quickly gaining the attention of audiences and the press for her solo performances, as well as for her concerts with violinist Aleksey Semenenko. She and Semenenko have given numerous duo-concerts throughout the United States and Europe. During 2017-2018, Inna’s busy performance calendar will include concerts throughout Europe and the United States. Notably, she performs Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto with the Warsaw Symphony Ochestra.
Tony Schemmer‘s rock opera, Phaust, was produced at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater in 1980. His works have been performed in St. Petersburg and Moscow, in that part of Europe lying to their south and west, and in the more discerning of The Lower 48, USA.
Concert 7 July 2018
André Previn (1929 - ): Sonata No. 2 (2012)
Tony Schemmer (1946 - ): Sonata for Reed and Piano,1981 (Adapted for violin by the composer)
Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843–1900) - Andante from Sonata for piano and ‘cello, Op. 64
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894) - Melody in F, arranged for ‘cello and piano by Léopold Auer
Robert Schumann (1810–1856) - Abendlied op. 85 no 12, arranged for ‘cello and piano by Léopold Auer
Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) Movements from Sonata for Violin and Piano, in C minor, Opus 45
Brel Song School
Amanda Roocroft - soprano, Joseph Middleton - piano Annabel Kennedy - mezzo soprano, Elizabeth Searle, Angharad Davies, Nina Kanter - soprano Martin Enger Holm - tenor, Charles Cunliffe - baritone, Gary Beecher, Richard Gowers - piano
Annabel Kennedy is a mezzo soprano going into her fourth year of vocal studies at the Royal College of Music. She studies with Amanda Roocroft and Gary Matthewman. She recently won second prize in AESS Courtney Kenny English Song Competition and first prize for the Undergraduate Brooks van der Pump English Song Competition at RCM. She is looking forward to performing in the Chorus for RCM’s upcoming production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Sir Thomas Allen.
Charles Mathieson Cunliffe, 22, is an English baritone who has recently completed his second year as an undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. He studies with Giles Underwood and Joseph Middleton. Previously, he was bass choral-scholar at Peterborough Cathedral under the direction of Steven Grahl. Recently, Charles toured as a soloist with the Ionian University of Greece, performing Allegri’s Miserere, including concerts in Rome, Assisi and Corfu.
Elizabeth Searle graduated from Oxford University with a First in Music last year. Whilst there, she enjoyed exploring both solo and choral singing; performing with her own College Choir as well as in the Magdalen Consort. During her undergraduate degree, she studies with Carys Lane and now continues her studies with John Upperton.
Welsh soprano Angharad Davies graduated with Distinction for her Vocal Performance Postrgraduate Diploma from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2017 where she studied with Suzanne Murphy and Michael Pollock. During her time there she was awarded the Mansel Thomas Memorial Award and the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales Music Scholarship. Angharad is currently studying privately with Amanda Roocroft and Michael Pollock, and performs both as a freelance soloist and with her chamber music ensembles.
Norwegian tenor Martin Enger Holm studies his Bachelor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music with Neil Mackie and Matthew Fletcher. He started his singing career as a soloist in the Norwegian boys’ choir Solvguttene, one of Norway’s most sought-after choirs and the Norwegian Opera’s Children’s Choir. He receives an entrance scholarship from RAM every year and is also generously supported by Tom Wilhelmsen Foundation, Astrup-Fearnley Foundation, Sammenslaingsstiftelsens Foundation for Young Musicians and Andersen Sveaas’ Foundation in Norway.
British soprano Nina Kanter recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with Distinction and the Grabowsky Connell Prize, having studied with Kate Paterson and Joseph Middleton. During her studies Nina was a prizewinner in the Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Prize and was a Josephine Baker Trust Artist. Nina is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, an Opera Prelude Artist and was an ENOA Artist at Polish National Opera. In concert, highlights include appearances at the Aldeburgh Festival and Oxford Lieder Festival. Previously Nina studied at Cambridge University and with English National Opera and Glyndebourne Opera. Future plans include performing as part of the first Rachmaninov Song Festival.
Gary Beecher was winner of the ‘Irish Freemason’s Young Musician of the Year’ and graduated as ‘Highest Placed Student’ and ‘Best Overall Student’ from the Bachelor of Music Degree at the Cork School of Music, Ireland. Now based in London, Gary is an Artist Masters scholarship student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studies with the song accompanist Julius Drake and chamber music specialist Caroline Palmer. Most recently, Gary was the winner of the Franz Schubert Lieder Accompanist Prize in the Guildhall School. British pianist Richard Gowers studies with Michael Dussek and Joseph Middleton at the Royal Academy of Music. He previously studied at the Mendelssohn Conservatoire in Leipzig, and then read Music at Cambridge University, where he was organ scholar at King’s College. He has an active schedule of concerts around Europe, occasionally venturing beyond for concerts in Australia, the USA and Japan. In September his debut CD, a disc of Messiaen, will be released. www.richardgowers.com
Concert 14 July 2018
Annabel Kennedy - mezzo soprano, Gary Beecher - piano
Dvorak: ‘Gipsy Songs’ Op. 55, I - IV
Wolf : ‘Verborgenheit’ Op.131
Charles Mathieson Cunliffe - baritone, Richard Gowers - piano
Bridge: ‘Isobel’
Jeffreys: ‘Full fathom five’
Gurney: ‘Thou didst delight my eyes’
Finzi: ‘Who is Silvia?’ from Let us garlands bring
Strauss: ‘Nachtgang’
Elizabeth Searle - soprano, Richard Gowers - piano
Schumann: Frauenliebe und Leben
Angharad Davies - soprano, Gary Beecher - piano
Poulenc: Banalites
Martin Enger Holm - tenor, Gary Beecher - piano
Schubert: ‘Nachtstuck’; Die Schone Mullerin: 3. ‘Halt!’ 4. ‘Danksagung an den Bach’
Duparc: ‘Extase’; ‘Le manoir de Rosemonde’
Nina Kanter - soprano, Richard Gowers - piano
Wagner: ‘Wesendonck’ Lieder, ‘Schmerzen’ & ‘Träume’
Dvorak: ‘Gypsy Songs’, op. 55, nos. IV - VII
Daphnis Piano Trio
Maria Gîlicel (violin), Jobine Siekman (violoncello), Maria Kustas (piano)
The Daphnis Piano Trio was formed by talented emerging musicians at the Royal College of Music, London, in 2017. The trio has performed across the UK, including London venues and Champs Hill Concert Hall in Sussex. In April 2018 the trio was nominated by the RCM for the Birmingham Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition and won the Third Prize. The repertoire of the trio ranges from Baroque and Classical periods to the modern and newly commissioned music. The ensemble has received tuition from such high profile musicians as Mark Messenger, Simon Lepper, Suzie Meszaros, Leonid Kerbel, Ben Hancox and others.
Concert at Brel, Roquecor, Monday 13 August 2018
Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) - Sonata for piano and violoncello, L144 (1915)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) - Piano Trio in C, K548 (1788)
Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918) - D’un matin de printemps (1918)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) - Piano Trio No 2 in C Minor, Op 66 (1845)
Academy of French Song and Opera
16-25 August 2018
Pianist: Katie Wong Course Leaders: Florence Daguerre de Hureaux, Caroline Dowdle, Jean-Paul Pruna
The Norwegian mezzo-soprano Marcela Randem has studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian Opera Academy. While studying she has sung parts such as the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Cherubino (Le Nozze de Figaro) and Prince Charmant (Cendrillon). She has been a soloist in the Norwegian Concert Hall, with the Oslo Camerata.
The Norwegian soprano Victoria Randem, one of the youngest entrants in the history of the Opera Academy. She has already performed roles such as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Cendrillon in Cendrillon and Drusilla in L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Forthcoming engagements include Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel at the Norwegian National Opera. In 2017 she won the Ruud-Wallenberg scholarship for young singers, and in 2018 she won the First Prize in the “Friends of the Opera Academy Competition”.
Often praised for her unique timbre and expression, the young Norwegian mezzo-soprano Eira Sjaastad Huse divides her time equally between opera and lieder. Her forthcoming engagements include Lady Capulet with Opéra de Lyon's Opera Studio in France, a recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival in England and the title role in Dido and Æneas at Ramme Gård Opera in Norway.
American-Norwegian soprano Martina Starr-Lassen graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June 2017. She continued her studies this year under Stephen Robertson and Elizabeth McCormack, and will begin a masters course at the RNCM this autumn. Martina is an expressive singer with a passion for languages, art song, opera and ensemble singing, and has been a member of the Bergen National Opera’s Young Voices programme since 2013.
The mezzo-soprano Reut Ventorero was born in Israel and is currently living in Rome. She has recently finished the opera studio of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma where she has sung various roles on the main stage. Recently she sang Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in Switzerland, and Teresa (La Sonnambula), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) in Rome. Reut has a vast concert repertoire as soloist in major halls in Europe and Israel. She has been selected to participate in the academy of Aix-en-Provence and the Luzern and Ambronay festivals.
British mezzo-soprano Olivia Warburton is currently studying on the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She is a Britten Pears Young Artist, a Samling Artist and a member of the Academy's prestigious Song Circle. A keen recitalist, Olivia has made debuts at the Aldeburgh and Oxford Lieder Festivals. Recent operatic roles include the title role in Dido and Aeneas for The Grange Festival, the title role in Teseo for the London Handel Festival and the Stewardess in Flight for RAO.
Katie Wong is a versatile pianist who specialises in accompaniment and répétiteur work. She is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she is also a member of the prestigious Academy Song Circle. Before that she read music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where she received the Beament Prize. She most recently worked as a répétiteur in the production of Così fan Tutte at the Ryedale Festival, in the UK.
Concert 25 August 2018
Faites-lui mes aveux (Faust, Gounod) - Reut Ventorero
Rêverie; Pêcheur de Lune (Rosenthal) - Martina Starr-Lassen
Dans les ruines d’une abbaye (Fauré) - Olivia Warburton
Voi che sapete (Le nozze de Figaro, Mozart) - Reut Ventorero
An Chloé (Mozart) - Olivia Warburton
Près des remparts de Séville (Carmen, Bizet) - Marcela Randem
La Flûte Enchantée (Ravel) - Eira Sjaastad Huse
L’Indifférent (Ravel) - Eira Sjaastad Huse
Auch kleine dinge (Wolf) - Olivia Warburton
Si le bonheur (Faust, Gounod) - Reut Ventorero
Zdes harasho (Rachmaninov) - Martina Starr-Lassen
Sommernatt ved fjorden (Bjørnstad) - Marcela Randem Møte (Haugtussa, Grieg/Garborg) - Eira Sjaastad Huse
Jade Moffat, Jonathan Radford, and Gamal Khamis
27 August - 2 September 2018
Jade Moffat - mezzo-soprano, Jonathan Radford - saxophones, Gamal Khamis - piano
Mezzo-Soprano Jade Moffat was born in Toowoomba, Australia, and relocated to the UK in 2015 to take up a place on the Guildhall School’s Opera Course. Jade recently made her Wigmore Hall recital debut with Independent Opera, and is a Samling Artist. She recently won the IFAC Australian Singing Competition, the Joan Sutherland Award, and is an Australian Music Foundation awardee for 2017/2018. Operatic roles include: Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), Zenobia (Radamisto), Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle), Fenena (Nabucco), Carmen (Carmen), Mother (Mavra), Marta (Iolanta), Fatima/Puck (Oberon), Diane (The Perfect American), Mrs Nolan (The Medium), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterly), and Tisbe (Cenerentola).
Saxophonist Jonathan Radford is the 2018 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition Gold Medalist. Born in 1990 in Suffolk, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM) and at the Royal College of Music. He is currently a young artist with Making Music (PDGYA), Park Lane Group, and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. He is featured as a Rising Star in the August 2018 BBC Music Magazine. Jonathan has given recitals at major venues in Europe including Wigmore Hall, Grieg Hall in Bergen and Philharmonie in Paris.
After gaining a degree in Mathematics at Imperial College London, pianist Gamal Khamis completed his formal musical education at the Royal College of Music. Born in London in 1988, Gamal was introduced to the piano at the age of four, and six years later performed at the Wigmore Hall. Gamal is an Artist with the Concordia Foundation, Royal Over-Seas League, Park Lane Group and Samling, and is a member of the Lipatti Piano Quartet. Upcoming plans include recitals in Australia and New Zealand, a performance of Beethoven’s Emperor concerto, and a tour of his WW1 show Never Such Innocence.
Concert at Brel, Roquecor, Saturday 1 September 2018
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) - Von ewiger liebe, Op 43 No 1 -Mädchenfluch Op 69 No 9
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) - From Songs Without Words Op 30, arranged for saxophone and piano (No 9 in E Major - Adagio non troppo - No 7 in E Flat Major - Andante espressivo)
Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) - Tarantella, from Venezia e Napoli S159
Mark Anthony Turnage (1960 - ) - Sarabande
Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) - Corpus Christi Carol
Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912) - Va! laisse couler mes larmes! from Werther
Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974) - Scaramouche Op 165
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924) - En sourdine
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921) - Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix, from Samson et Dalila
Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909) - From Suite Española Op 47, arranged for saxophone and piano (2.Cataluña 3.Sevilla)
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912 - 2002) From Cinco Canciones Negras (4.Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito 5.Canto Negro)
Ruisi String Quartet
29 September - 6 October 2018
Alessandro Ruisi, Oliver Cave (violins), Luba Tunnicliffe (viola), Max Ruisi (violoncello)
Winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Young British String Players, the Ruisi Quartet has established a reputation as a charismatic and expressive ensemble. Founded in 2012 by half-Sicilian brothers Alessandro and Max, the quartet perform regularly throughout the UK and Europe. They have been selected as Kirckman Concert Society Artists for 2018/19, and have also been awarded a place on the prestigious Belcea quartet scheme for 2018/19. Based in London, the group have given concerts at many leading venues, including the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Brighton Dome and Conway Hall, plus appearances in Scotland, Spain, Germany and Austria. Dedicated to continually exploring and developing, the group have studied with a wide-range of leading musicians. In 2018, they were selected for an Aldeburgh Chamber Music Residency, and for the IMS Prussia Cove masterclasses with Thomas Adès, which allowed the quartet to work closely with mentor Simon Rowland-Jones.
For 2018/19 the quartet look forward to multiple concerts throughout the UK, including Holkham Hall this November and a performance at St John’s Smith Square in February 2019. Recent highlights include live performances on BBC Radio 3 and the use of the Vuillaume 'Evangelist' instruments that were on short-term loan to the quartet. The quartet are grateful for the long-term loan of a specially made set of matching instruments by Harris & Sheldon of London.
Concert at Brel, Roquecor, Friday 5 October 2018
Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) - String Quartet in E Flat Major, Op 71 No 3
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) - String Quartet No 2 in A Minor, Op 13
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) — String Quartet No 8 in E Minor Op 59 No 2