 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
The South Korean born pianist Young-Choon Park began the study of the piano at the age of four and gave her first full recital when she was seven. She played the Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine. The young child prodigy studied at the Juilliard School in New York and later gained the highest masters degree at the Hochschule in Munich.
Since 1993 she has toured extensively, giving over 50 concerts each year in Europe, Scandinavia and the United States. She makes many return visits to major concert venues including the Birmingham Symphony Hall, St. David's Hall in Cardiff, Belfast Waterfront Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, de Doelen in Rotterdam, Frits Philips Saal in Eindhoven, Athenaeum Hall in Bucharest, Tivoli Koncertsalen in Copenhagen, Gasteig in Munich, Musikverein in Vienna and the Troldhaugen in Bergen.
International Music Festivals appearances have included, amongst many others, the Haydn Festival in the Esterhazy Palace at Eisenstadt, the Cork Midsummer Festival and in the UK at Bath, Brighton, Chelmsford, and City of London.
Young-Choon Park has broadcast for radio and television in many countries and is currently recording the complete Mozart piano concertos for Duchesne World Records in Belgium.
She has performed with many leading orchestras including the Hungarian State Opera, Lithuanian National Symphony, National Philharmonic of Belarus, Slovak Philharmonic, Weiner Mozart, and the Warsaw Sinfonia.
Reviews:
“…individually refreshing, while demonstrating real passion and style as well as outstanding technical proficiency…” Sunday Times
“…seductive clarity without falling into dryness or pedantry – not only power, fire and passion but also proportions and form…” Suddeutsch Zeitung
“…her technical ability is beyond dispute, as is her pleasant touch and her ability to make the tone sing. Young-Choon Park – a name to remember…” Arnhemse Courant
“…the piano technique was dazzling with its insatiable strength and energy, her technical skill and accuracy were shown to be irreproachable…” La Libre Belgique
The programme will be:
This concert is sponsored by David Brown.
Haydn Sonata in B minor Hob.XV1:32 Scarlatti Sonata in A minor K.7/L.379
Sonata in D major K.96/L465
Sonata in F minor K.239/L.281Haydn Sonata in Eb major Hob.XV1:52 Beethoven Sonata No.8 in C minor op.13, “Pathétique”
Sonata A flat major op.110
BACK
Helen-Jane Howells, Caroline Palmer, Lawrence Olsworth-Peter
and Tristan Stocks, with Anna Le Hair (piano)
Our President, Neil Jenkins, presents a programme of songs and arias given by four young singers of exceptional talent. They are all past and present prize-winners at his highly-respected summer school for singers: Ardingly International Music School (AIMS), where they have been the recipients of coveted Bursaries. Each of the four singers (one each of Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor and Baritone) will sing their selected choice of songs and arias, and then join together for famous operatic quartets from Beethoven's Fidelio and Verdi's Rigoletto. Neil will introduce the items and talk about the success of the Summer School, which he has been running with his wife Penny since 2007.
For further information regarding AIMS, visit www.ardinglyims.org
Helen-Jane Howells (soprano)
Helen-Jane has sung extensively throughout the UK in recitals and as an oratorio soloist. Solo work includes Arwel Hughes ‘Dewi Sant’, Zelenka ‘Magnificat’, Bach ‘St. John Passion’, Vivaldi ‘Gloria’, Bach ‘Christmas Oratorio’ & Magnificat, Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Mozart’s Vespers & Coronation Mass, Rutter ‘Psalmfest’, Haydn ‘Paukenmesse’ and Mozart Mass in C,ans most recently, Schubert’s ‘Shepherd on the Rock’ and ‘Ständchen’, and Rutter's ‘Mass of the Children’.
Following her undergraduate degree at RWCMD Helen-Jane has enjoyed a variety of recital and concert work: an early music recital for Lord Raglan for the Lower Machan Festival Launch, Recital of American Song (Southwark Cathedral) for the Michael James Trust, Ross-on-Wye Music Festival, concerts with the R.N.L.I choir, Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir, the Fletching Singers, a two-week recital tour of ‘English Song & the Plucked String’, 2006 with lutenist Matthew Nisbet and Mahler Symphony No. 4 at the West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and masterclasses with, among others, Dame Emma Kirkby and Roger Vignoles. She is also an experienced choral singer, and has sung with Welsh National Opera Community Choir (Verdi Requiem, outreach project ‘Gwydian and the Swan’) BBC Chorus of Wales and Welsh National Youth Opera. She is involved in ‘English Voices’, has made recordings for BBC Radio 3 with ‘Serendipity’ and recently performed Messiaen ‘Cinq Rechants’. Operatic experience includes: Scenes: Helena -‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’; Leila - ‘Pearlfishers’; Countessa -‘Fledermaus’; Marschallin -‘Rosenkavalier’; Frasquita -‘Carmen’; Anne Truelove - ‘Rake’s Progress’. Roles: Lucy Lockitt -an outdoor performance of The Beggar’s Opera (Fletching Singers), concert performances with Spaghetti Opera; Joanna 'Sweeney Todd' -Welsh National Youth Opera, 'Moscow Paradise' Shostakovich; an Opera Gala at the Hall for Cornwall, and solo and chorus work with Welsh National Youth Opera, Galatea in an outdoor production, Fletching Singers, and for Neil Jenkins. Future engagements include ‘Gretel’ in Woodhouse Opera’s ‘Hansel & Gretel’, soloist in Purcell’s ‘King Arthur’, Brahms ‘Requiem’ and Haydn ‘Heiligemesse’, Paris.
Helen-Jane is a Postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, studying with Jennifer Smith. In 2005 she was awarded a full scholarship from the Sussex Opera and Ballet Society to attend Ardingly International Summer School, and was a soloist for many of the performances in ‘06 and ‘07. She is grateful to the Michael James Trust and the Kathleen & Margery Elliot Trust. In April 2008 Helen-Jane won first prize in the John Warner Memorial Competition (Chichester) and was also awarded first prize in the Russell Sheppard Vocal Scholarship (Cardiff). She has been awarded a place on the Samling Foundation’s 2008 Masterclass week with Sir Thomas Allen, was highly commended in the Van Someren Godfery Competition (RCM) and was a finalist in the Lies Askonas Competition.
For further information, contact: helenjhowells@lycos.co.uk
Caroline Palmer (mezzo-soprano)
Caroline was born in Chester into a musical family and began studying singing at the age of sixteen. She attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester for two years where she completed her A Level studies. Whilst at Chetham’s she performed as a soloist in Manchester and Chester Cathedrals as well as touring with the Chamber Choir and performing in venues such as the Bridgewater Hall. She is currently in her first year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama supported by a Lauriston School Trust scholarship and studying with Ameral Gunson.
For further information, contact: carolinepalmer86@aol.co.uk
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter (tenor)
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter currently studies Singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Last year, he graduated from the University of Bristol with an honours degree in Theology and Religious Studies. Whilst a student he took part in many musical and dramatic events including Hay Fever at the Bristol Old Vic as well as performing with Glyndebourne Youth Opera and the National Youth Opera. Recent concert engagements include Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Kodaly’s Missa Brevis and Monteverdi’s Vespers at the Mayfield Festival. Opera includes Remendado in Carmen with Southwick Opera. Lawrence was highly praised for ‘his polished performance’ in Handel’s Messiah this year. He also recently travelled to Fidenza, Italy to perform Il Barbiere Di Siviglia with ‘Friends In Concert’.
For further information, contact: larry-op@hotmail.com
Tristan Stocks (baritone)
Tristan Stocks initially trained as a violinist before developing his ability as a singer. He graduated from Trinity College of Music in 2007 with a BAMus (hons) and is now a postgraduate student of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Robert Dean.
Tristan frequently appears in recitals across London and also sings with a number of ensembles performing nationally and internationally. Tours have taken him to France, Holland, Spain, Italy, Slovenia and the Canary Islands and he has sung on both English and European televised broadcasts. Tristan was a prize winner at The John Lill Awards 2007 and 2008.
Recent solo engagements include: Handel’s The Messiah; Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem; and J. S. Bach’s St John Passion. Recent Opera performances include: ‘Schaunard’ in La Bohème for Suffolk Opera; Argenio in Handel’s Imeneo at St John’s Smith Square, London, and at the Llantilio Crossenny Festival, Wales, for Baroque Encounter; and the roles of ‘Zaretsky’ and ‘Captain’ in Eugene Onegin for the French company Opéra de Baugé.
For further information contact: tristanstocks@hotmail.co.uk
Anna Le Hair (piano)
Anna Le Hair started playing the piano as soon as she could reach the keys. She studied music at Edinburgh University, where she won many scholarships and prizes and graduated with an Honours degree. She then went on to study performance at the Royal College of Music in London for a further 2 years. During this time, a scholarship from the Austrian Institute allowed her to spend a summer studying piano accompaniment at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Since then, Anna has enjoyed a busy and varied career as pianist and piano teacher. Engagements have included recitals, both solo and as chamber musician and accompanist, in many London venues and others around Britain and abroad. She has twice played Grieg’s piano concerto with the Hertfordshire Philharmonia, in July 2004 and November 2007. In February 2006 Anna gave a solo recital in Edinburgh, and she also played Mozart’s concerto no 21 in April and Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto in May. In July, she was nominated for the title of “Performer of the Fringe” at the Buxton Festival. Last year, Anna played harpsichord in a performance of Bach’s Brandenburg concerto no. 5 with the Buckingham Chamber Orchestra in February and participated in festivals in Rayleigh and Canterbury. She also participated in concerts in Harrogate, Manchester, Rugby, St Albans, London and Provence, among other places.
Anna has done such diverse things as playing background music in London hotels and restaurants, touring the UK and Channel Islands with the Lewis London Ballet, and repetiteuring for opera groups and choral societies. Anna currently teaches piano at the Arts Educational School in Tring, Hertfordshire, where she also accompanies some of the Musical Theatre classes, and at St Albans High School. She also accompanies the Aeolian Singers in Hemel Hempstead and the Chiltern Choir in Chorleywood, and is much in demand as an accompanist for singers and instrumentalists.
For further information, contact: musicalanna@tiscali.co.uk or anna@aes-tring.com
Alec Frank-Gemill
Alec Frank-Gemmill
Alec was born in 1985. He began playing the tenor horn at the age of 6, before moving on to the French horn four years later. Alec studied music at Robinson College, Cambridge University where he was an Instrumental Award Holder and performed Schumann’s Konzertstück with the University Musical Society. Graduating with 1st class honours, he then went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to complete a Master’s. While at the Guildhall, Alec won the Armourers and Brasiers brass prize and played principal horn in Strauss’s Capriccio.
Alec has performed with various orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra. Since September 2007 he has been an apprentice in the horn section of Zürich Opera - he looks forward very much to his first Ring Cycle next season. In March he played principal horn with the European Union Youth Orchestra, giving seven performances of Strauss's Symphonia Domestica within 10 days. Besides the standard repertoire, Alec also has special interest in both early and contemporary music: he is a member of the period instrument group the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique and also played 1st horn under Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy. In addition to the Schumann, Alec has performed concertos by Mozart, Strauss and Rossetti, as well as the Britten Serenade. Also a keen chamber musician, he has worked with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and performs regularly as part of two trios (with piano & violin, or with piano & tenor).
A recipient of the Philip and Dorothy Green Award, he is a Making Music Young Concert Artist for 2007/8. Alec’s studies are supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Martin Musical Scholarships Fund and the Craxton Memorial Trust.
Geoffrey Paterson
Geoffrey Paterson was born in Kent in 1983. He read Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, studying conducting privately with Peter Stark, and is currently a student of Alasdair Mitchell at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He was a member of Diego Masson’s conducting class at Dartington, and has twice been selected for the Lucerne Festival Academy conducting masterclass under the direction of Peter Eötvös and Pierre Boulez.
Geoffrey studied the piano with Charles Wiffen and the organ with Peter Nardone. He works regularly as accompanist, soloist, church organist and continuo player, and in September 2008 joined the National Opera Studio as a repetiteur. As a conductor, Geoffrey’s work has included the Cheltenham International Festival, Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, Aberystwyth Musicfest Sinfonietta and National Youth Orchestra Sinfonietta. Geoffrey has also assisted Mark Fitz-Gerald with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, Komische Oper Berlin and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The programme will be:
Saint-Saens Romance Richard Strauss Andante op. Posth. Ludwig van Beethoven Horn Sonata op. 17 Robert Schumann Adagio und Allegro Olivier Messiaen "Appelle interstellaire" from "Les canyons aux etoiles" for solo horn Claude Debussy Bruyères and La Puerta del Vino from Préludes for solo piano (Book 2) Paul Hindemith Horn Sonata in F (1941) Mozart Concert Rondo K371 This concert is sponsored by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.
BACK
British-Russian artist Lola Toursunova is based in London, where she trained classically first as a pianist at the GSMD (BMus with 1st Class Honours, 2001) and then as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music (Postgraduate Diploma, 2005).
Lola Toursunova Nadia Gilova
Lola Toursunova
Lola was born in Moscow where, at the age of seven, she was accepted into the prestigious Gnessin School of Music. In 1994 Lola won a full scholarship to study piano with GSMD Professor Emeritus James Gibb at the Purcell School of Music in London. She then went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD), where she also started singing lessons. Lola graduated with First Class Honours in 2001 as the top undergraduate piano student of that year. She then changed her musical focus from piano to voice...
Her first performances as a singer were at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as a guest soprano in the Bach-Rumi Concert in 2001 and on BBC Live as a solo guest artist in the Hyde Park Jubilee celebrations in 2002. During her postgraduate studies, she took part in the Women's Day celebratory concert 2004 at the Duke's Hall and appeared in a number of Opera Scenes at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM): Susanna, La Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Suzel (L' Amico Fritz), Mimi (La Boheme), Medda (Pagliacci) Alice (Falstaff), Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw), Venere (L'Egisto) and others.
Lola won a number of awards, including entrance scholarships, RAM and GSMD Bursary, sponsorship support from Rio Tinto Plc., and the Clothworkers' Foundation. In January 2004 she was nominated for the Mortimer Developments Award from the Friends of the RAM and, later that year, an award from the Italian Cultural Association Il Circolo towards the summer courses and concerts in Italy in July 2004/2005. Since 2004, Lola has been on the young artists' Live Music Now scheme, with concerts and tours throughout the UK.
Since 1996 Lola has appeared in concerts in the UK, Russia, Western Europe, Southern Africa and America. In London, the venues include solo singing recitals at the Canada House, the Foreign Office, the Garrick and the Caledonian Clubs. She was invited as a solo guest artist at the Covent Garden 2004 Christmas Ceremony, also performed at RAClub 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar; in Rossic November 2005 Academia Rossica invited Lola to sing in the music recital celebrating Moscow Breakthrough and Russian Art in London at Spenser House. Lola took part and organised musical entertainment for the Welcome Club's International Conference, 15th May 2006. On occasions, she is asked and enjoys giving performances in which she accompanies herself on piano, with both popular classical and lighter music repertoires.
Lola is a very keen promoter of Russian music and often includes Russian songs and arias in her concert programmes. Her first love is performing pieces from the intimate, exciting and rich genre of Russian romances.
Nadia Giliova
Russian born pianist Nadia Giliova studied Piano at the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, the Royal Academy of Music, London and is currently performing in an International Piano Artists Course in Brussels and Paris with Nelson Delle Vigne and Philippe Entremont.Nadia has won a number of international awards and prizes that include 1st place last year at both the Oxford Music Festival and the Wantage Concerto Competition, both with outstanding performances. Nadia received a special mention and Prokofiev Award at the 2003 Grieg International Piano Competition in Oslo and 2nd prize in the International Prokofiev Competition in Moscow. She has won scholarships to study on a number of important summer schools in London, Manchester, Paris and last summer at the Oxford Philomusica’s International Piano Festival. Nadia has participated in masterclasses with many distinguished pianists that among others include Christopher Elton, John Lill, Dimitry Bashkirov, Martin Roscoe, Jerome Lowenthal, Lazar Berman and Artur Pizarro.
Apart from works by many of the fine Russian composers Nadia enjoys presenting less well known works by classical and contemporary Russian composers. Her wide classical repertoire includes many well liked but less performed works by: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Grieg, Mozart, Hindemith, Schumann, and many more. In recent months Nadia has become fascinated with the music of the British composer and conductor Howard Blake O.B.E., FRAM, probably best known for writing the words and music for the animated TV film ‘The Snowman’.
Since her sparkling English solo debut for Haywards Heath Music Society in 2002 Nadia has performed in a number of important venues, festivals and music series across the country. These include St Johns Smith Sq, The Pump Room, Bath, Malmesbury Abbey, Chichester Cathedral, the Jacqueline du Pre Music Hall, Oxford and the Brighton fringe festival. Her English debut concerto performance with Mid Sussex Sinfonia was well received and has lead to further engagements. In the autumn of 2004 Nadia performed at an official European Association twinning reception in Germany, She has also performed in the Salle Cortot, Paris, and more recently in the prestigious Steinway Piano Festival in Florida, America. Nadia has given many private and charity performances across the South East, raising many thousands of pounds for local and international charities.
2008 has seen Nadia's Wigmore Hall debut recital, about which Robert Matthew-Walker of classicalsource.com said: "What was immediately evident was this player’s wide tonal range – her fortissimos were immensely powerful, and she was also capable of delivering the most beautifully graduated and softly delineated line – as well as her admirable sense of characterisation."
This is an opportunity to listen to some of the best young musical talent in the district. The Young Musicians' Showcase was established in 1941 to give musicians under the age of 18 the opportunity of a public platform for their performances. Several of the young people featured in previous years have gone on to make a name for themselves in the professional world: examples include Alexis White, Pavlos Carvalho, Russell Hepplewhite and Caroline Tyler. (And one of the players in the original concert is now on the Music Society committee!)
Sasha Grynyuk was born in Kiev in 1983 and received his early musical training in the special School and National Music Academy of Ukraine. Following his concerto debut at the age of eleven he performed in many Eastern European countries and was a prizewinner in several piano competitions in the Ukraine, including the Horowitz and Gilels International Piano Competitions and received the “Future of Ukraine” Presidential Award as Musician of the Year.
In 2002 he was awarded a full scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studies with Ronan O’Hora. He also has taken part in masterclasses with Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Stephen Hough, Stephen Kovacevic, Boris Berman and many others great artists including the Emerson and Takacs string quartets.
He made his London recital debut at the Purcell Room in 2004 as a result of winning the Jaques Samuel Piano Competition, and has subsequently played recitals, concertos and chamber music throughout Europe, Japan and the USA, including appearances in the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Hall, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Sasha was this year's winner of the Haverhill Music Competition, and comes to us as part of this prize.
His future engagements include concerts and recitals in UK, Europe and far east including Royal Festival Hall, Bridgewater Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall.
"The most remarkable aspect of Sasha Grynyuk's playing is his unfailing musicality. He makes a beautiful cantabile sound, and his phrasing is always natural, unforced, and never mannered. His technique is splendid; I heard him give electrifying and moving performances. It is rare to find a pianist whose interpretations are so natural and so satisfying. He is a very impressive artist." Charles Rosen
