Principal Flute Charles West retires from Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra

                                

Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra wishes Charles West all the best for the future and would like to thank him for his great service to the orchestra over the years as our Princpal Flute.

                                                      

Thank you to David Williams for his kind permission to use these photos.

Internationally acclaimed singer to join us for our concert in March 2012

We're very pleased to welcome Sarah Fryer to join us for our concert in The Abbey in March 2012.

Sarah Fryer

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Fryer has appeared on concert platforms throughout Europe and in Canada, the US, Mexico, Singapore and Japan. Career highlights include six years as a soloist at the Bayreuth Festival and opera productions in Nantes, Turin, and Dublin and at La Scala, Milan. 

Sarah has recorded for BBC and CBC radio and for the Naxos and Nimbus record labels. She has been the guest of many festivals including The Three Choirs Festival, Taormina Arte and The Aldeburgh Festival. Highlights include Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, directed by Bramwell Tovey, Mozart’s Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Leeds Choral Union directed by David Hill, R. Strauss’s opera Elektra (Dritte Magd) with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra directed by Kent Nagano, as well as three ‘Last Night of the Proms’ concerts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Recent performances include Mahler’s Rűckert Lieder and Second Symphony for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a song recital in the Cotswolds accompanied by Andrew Lumsden. Sarah will return to Vancouver to perform Sea Pictures with the VSO in May. Her other upcoming engagements include Bach’s B minor Mass in Victoria B.C. and Elgar’s The Music Makers in Romsey Abbey.

Sarah is married to Canadian tenor/choral conductor Peter Butterfield and they have two children: Felix, a chorister at Winchester Cathedral and Rosanna, a cellist studying in Houston, Texas.

Wendy Jones to perform Trumpet Concerto with the Orchestra

Wendy Jones began playing the trumpet in Shropshire. She was educated at Mary Webb School and Shrewsbury Sixth Form College. At The Royal College of Music she won three Brass Prizes, in addition performing with the RCM Baroque Orchestra on Natural Trumpet and the RCM Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble on Cornetto.

In 1988 she performed with John Wallace's 'The Wallace Collection' at The International Trumpet Guild Conference in London. In 1989 she worked with The London Philharmonic Orchestra in a season of Gluck's 'Orfeo et Eridice' at Glyndebourne.

More recently she has performed a Trumpet and Organ recital at Church Stretton and South Shropshire Arts Festival, the Memorial Concert for Princess Diana and on Natural Trumpet with The English Haydn Orchestra.

Wendy also performs with the 18th Century Concert Orchestra in performances of Bach's B Minor Mass, Haydn's The Creation, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Handel's Messiah on period instruments.

In 2009 she performed in the Vivaldi double trumpet concerto with Oswestry Sinfonia.

Wendy is currently Director of the 'County School of Music', the ensembles for students of Shropshire Music Service, the conductor of Shropshire Youth Brass Band and teaches all brass instruments to students throughout the county.

Louise Houghton appointed viola section principal

 The orchestra is delighted to announce that Louise Houghton has been appointed section principal for the violas.

Louise, originally from Brighton, started to play the viola when she was at school, and played with the Brighton Youth Orchestra and University of London Orchestra. She then pursued a career as a doctor moving to Shropshire in 1995 and now works as a GP at Marden Medical Practice, Shrewsbury. Louise has also played with Oswestry Sinfonia, and is a current member of the European Doctors Orchestra. She also enjoys playing in a string quartet and plays the organ for church services. She and her husband run activity holidays for underprivileged children in Romania. 

The orchestra wishes to express its appreciation to Gordon Le Roux who has recently stepped down from this role, we wish him all the best for the future.

Gary Hickey to join us for James Bond concert

Gary Hickey was Head of Performing Arts at Ercall Wood Technology College in Telford, Shropshire. He has been teaching for nearly 17 years, and prior to that spent 8 years as a freelance musician, composer and theatre director. As an award-winning theatre director he has directed over 40 plays and has directed two full-length films. As a composer he has also released two CDs of original music as well as working as a session musician. He is now a Deputy Headteacher in Shropshire, England.

He studied in London with Carlos Bonell and has worked many times as a soloist, in duos and ensembles. His work as a composer has ranged from theatre - including "Othello" (1987), "Cider with Rosie" (1989), "On Golden Pond" (1991) and the Chester Mystery Plays (1992): Dance - for Cheshire Dance Workshop, Neil Fisher (Digital Dance Award winner) and choreographer Tom Roden. His piece "Just in Case" was used as the GCSE Dance Set Study accompaniment in 2000. Gary has also had various commissions from radio. In 1998 he conducted the first performance of his "War Requiem" for soprano and orchestra, and other works include pieces for mixed ensemble, unaccompanied choir, solo piano and electronic scores for tape. In 1994 Gary recorded an album, with counter-tenor Joe Mace, of Medieval and Baroque songs for voice and guitar. He was appointed Music Director/Composer to AIR Dance Company in the spring of 1995 and later that year was commissioned to write the music for a set of three community plays for Portsmouth Arts. He also records for other people and can be heard on the CD "The Bridge" - an adaptation of the novel by Iain Banks, composed by Gary Lloyd and featuring the voice of Iain Banks, released on the Codex label.

In the early 1990s he formed the first incarnation of The Liadon Ensemble - an instrumental chamber group consisting of violin, flute, guitar, soprano sax and cello - to exclusively play his own compositions. Their first album, "Music for Rooms", was released in 1998 and a string of concerts followed to promote the CD. Music from this album has been heard on both national radio and TV. The second CD (entitled "Not Now, But Soon") was released in 2001. At Ercall Wood he introduced a touring theatre company for GCSE students which has subsequently toured to venues such as Barcelona, Verona and the Edinburgh Festival. He also has been at the forefront of introducing new technology into Drama teaching and has been approached twice to trial new software before it has been released worldwide.

A former finalist in the Guardian Teacher of the Year awards, he was awarded a Special Commendation for “extraordinary work in drama” (National Teaching Awards 2000) and also awarded a DfE Bursary for Good Practice (2001). Gary has been invited to talk about and demonstrate his innovative work with raising boys’ achievement through Drama at conferences in Texas, Prague, Nepal and Greece. He has also been invited to lecture at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) on the current role of Drama in education. He has studied with professional directors at both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Gary has taught in Australia as part of a British Council initiative, and his work and methods have been the subject of both BBC and PhD research, and have been filmed by the DfE. He has also been visited by the previous government Minister for Education, David Milliband, later the feature of an article in the TES. In 2010 he was invited to deliver a lecture on raising achievement at Harvard University in Boston.

His Masters degree was focused on raising achievement in boys across the curriculum through physical theatre and ICT.

Profile of David Campbell our guest soloist for the Mozart Clarinet Concerto

“Make no mistake, this is exceptional chamber playing” (Gramophone)

David Campbell is internationally recognised as one of Britain’s finest musicians and was described by the late Jack Brymer as “the finest player of his generation”.  As a soloist and chamber musician, David has performed in over forty countries with leading orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, and ensembles including The Fires of London, Nash Ensemble and London Sinfonietta. He is still involved in orchestral playing in recording sessions for films and television.

His repertoire is wide-ranging from the classics to new works, including many that have been written for him.  In July 2009 David and the Solstice Quartet premiered Richard Blackford’s Clarinet Quintet “Full Moon” at MusicFest Aberystwyth with subsequent performances at the Cheltenham International Festival and at the Janáček Festival in Luhacovice, Czech Republic in the summer of 2010.

As well as numerous broadcasts over the past thirty years, David Campbell has recorded many CDs, including the Mozart Concerto, the Brahms and Mozart Quintets and the Brahms Sonatas.  David's latest recording of the Finzi concerto has been described as "a quite outstanding and beautiful performance" (Music and Musicians)

In March this year David will feature in Radio 4’s Soul Music, a series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal. 

David has collaborated with some of Britain’s finest chamber musicians. His ensemble with Joanna MacGregor, Madeleine Mitchell and Christopher van Kampen performed and recorded Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps. David particularly enjoys playing with string quartets and has appeared with many of the world’s finest. He has a particular association with two award winning young quartets, the Sacconi Quartet and the Solstice String Quartet of which his son, Jamie, is the leader.
David is passionate about music education.  He has given masterclasses in many parts of the world from China to the USA and South America and enjoys giving workshops linked to his recitals.
David Campbell is Artistic Director of MusicFest Aberystwyth and has held the position of Course Director of the International Clarinet Course at Harrogate since 2005.  He is the Chairman of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain, the UK Chair of the International Clarinet Association and is a consultant for Buffet-Crampon clarinets and Vandoren Reeds.

Second clarinet Matthew Hall wins best composition award

Our second clarinet player Matthew Hall recently won the 'Best New Composition or Arrangement' award at one of the most prestigious Brass Band contests in the world. The Brass in Concert contest took place at The Sage in Gateshead on Sunday 21st November 2010 where Tredegar Town Band performed the world premiere of his piece 'Legends of Cyfarthfa.'

With elements including the music of Joseph Parry, the legendary Cyfarthfa Band and folk songs from Wales, 'Legends of Cyfarthfa' combines multiple musical styles, difficult soloistic and ensemble playing of the highest quality and logistics.

4 Bars Rest commented 'All leeks and daffodils for the Merthyr feature with clever images and touch of hywl to end.'

Highlights of the Tredegar Town Band's winning entertainment performance were played on BBC Radio 2's 'Listen to the Band'. You can hear an excerpt of Legends of Cyfarthfa by clicking here: Recordings

Profile of friend of the orchestra: Matthew Gibson

Over the last twenty years there have been so many musical highlights: playing Bartok with Sir Georg Solti, who was very combative with the players of the orchestra but always insulted you with a humorous twinkle in his eye; a complete Shostakovitch cycle with Mstislav Rostropovitch, not a great conductor technically and yet such an incredibly compelling musical personality;  Stravinsky with Pierre Boulez, who, as well as being a musical genious, on every visit to the orchestra always insists on taking all the back stage staff (librarians, stage and personnel managers, truck drivers etc) out for a sumptuous meal on him;  Bruckner with Bernard Haitink, the musicians musician; Strauss with Andre Previn; Bernstein with Michael Tilson- Thomas;  Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky with Valery Gergiev , who generates enough energy in one performance to power a small Russian city;  and just about everything that Sir Colin Davis ever chooses to conduct. In fact Sir Colin has been conducting the orchestra for over fifty years now so he is kind of our musical father and it really does feel like the family is back together again when he stands on the rostrum. These are just some of the many musical events on the classical stage which I feel proud to have been a part of.

The LSO is a self governing organisation and as such elects a Board of Directors from the playing members,  all of whom own shares in the company.  I served on the Board for a ten year period, four years of which as Vice Chairman. This provided me with a fascinating insight into the ins and outs of the running of a major arts organisation and resulted in me being a part of some interesting and sometimes bizarre situations. I was involved in the process of appointing a new Managing Director to replace the outgoing Sir Clive Gillinson, now CEO of Carnegie Hall. This included having to interview many of the top arts managers from around the country and the world and resulted in the the very fortunate and successful appointment of Kathryn McDowell. I have had to chair meetings of the Finance Committee with the ex mayor of the City of London and some of the most influential city bigwigs .... ('no, honestly, I don't know anything about finance - I'm just a bass player form Shropshire....HELP!!'), I have had to conduct pre concert talks with artists like Sir Colin Davis, Rodion Shchedrin and Paavo Jarvi,  I have had to to assist the gargantuan Leif Segerstam on with his support stockings, without which he would have been unable to stand in front of the orchestra for a three hour rehearsal. I have experienced Valery Gergiev falling fast asleep whilst in mid conversation with me. I could have accepted this like a man had I been the one talking but it was HE  who was mid sentence! This was a new one on me but admittedly it was three o'clock in the morning, in a car, after a long performance of something, somewhere, followed by a very 'heavy' reception!

In fact I have had the privilege and good fortune to have been taken out for spectacular meals with many of the top conductors in the world - talking Russian politics with Yuri Temirkanov, sharing wonderful evenings with Sir Colin and the delightful, late Lady Davis  after concerts in Madrid, discussing bell ringing with Pierre Boulez (!), singers with Tony Pappano and concert hall construction with Michael Tilson-Thomas. He has just had a new one built in Miami!

Of course the other thing which makes life in the London Symphony Orchestra constantly interesting is the flexibility of the organisation. The orchestra has always been very happy to involve itself in all genres of music, as long as whatever it happens to be is performed to the highest level at all times. Albert Hall rock concerts with Deep Purple,  jazz concerts with Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, John Dankworth and Lalo Schiffrin. Film productions with James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, George Fenton, Alexandre Desplat and of course John T Williams. Amongst many other films, we have recorded all six Star Wars soundtracks with John Williams  (I was too young to be on the original three but was there for the last three!) so I got to see the films on the enormous screen on the back wall of Abbey Road Studios as we played along to John Williams conducting his score.  As part of the large education project which the LSO runs I visit many schools and it is great to be able to go into a classroom full of teenagers who have a very limited knowledge and experience of classical music, if any, and being able to tell them confidently that every one of them will have already heard me perform. As soon as they realise this their engagement and interest levels immediately jump - so thank you Mr Williams!

Education work is a major output of our orchestra and provides me with many fantastic experiences and opportunities to take myself out of the comfort zone of performing and I really enjoy giving people the chance to find out what music can do for them. A quintet of players visited Mostar in Bosnia to assist in the rejuvenation of the Mostar Sinfonietta after the devastation of the war, a somewhat harrowing but incredibly rewarding experience. We have done some fascinating work with the Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, helping students to express their feelings through the medium of group performance. I take part in recitals in private homes of people who, due to ill health,  are unable to attend the concerts we perform in various cities around the world. This included playing for the 90 year old lady in her top floor New York appartment  who happened to have been the PR representive for Leonard Bernstein for his entire career. I was thrilled to meet her and have the opportunity to discuss my childhood hero at great length!

More recently I was involved with preparing a large mixed ability youth orchestra for a masterclass with Gustavo Dudamel.  As I was conducting and talking to the the students I found myself recalling my own formative experiences which really opened my eyes (and ears) to the possibilities of a life in music - playing cello in an ensemble for the first time at the age of eight with Hamish Drummond conducting; the many memorable youth orchestra experiences with Richard White and one of my first experiences playing the double bass in an orchestra - at the age of twelve sitting on stage in Shrewsbury Music Hall next to Joy Charlesworth, performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Shrewsbury Orchestral Society.

Now I know for a fact that I didn't play all the notes in that performance - but I do remember the feeling of excitement and involvement it gave me!

Internationally acclaimed clarinettist David Campbell performing Mozart Clarinet Concerto

Wednesday 30th March 2011 at 7.30pm, Shrewsbury Abbey

The orchestra are very excited about David Campell coming to perform Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with us at our next concert. David Campbell is internationally recognised as one of Britain's finest musicians and was described by the doyen of British clarinettists, the late Jack Brymer, as 'the finest player of his generation'.

A large part of Campbell's early career was spent as a clarinettist in the field of contemporary music as a member of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' chamber ensemble, 'The Fires of London' also playing regularly with the London Sinfonietta, Endymion Ensemble, and Lontano, but over the past twenty years David Campbell has developed the solo and chamber music strands of his career, performing in over forty countries with leading orchestras and ensembles.

His repertoire is wide-ranging but he still champions new works, many of which have been written for him. The most recent were a new concerto 'River of Crystal Light by Peter Lieuwen, which he played and recorded in the Texas Festival in June 2005 and a clarinet quintet, 'The Sun and the Moon' by Michael Stimpson which received its premiere in Aberystwyth with the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet in July 2005. In February 2006 David played concertos by Mozart and Charles Fitts (World Premiere) in the USA with the Houston Chamber Orchestra.

As well as numerous broadcasts over the past thirty years, David has made many CDs including two versions of the Mozart Concerto with the City of London Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic, two versions of the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas as well as the Mozart and Brahms Quintets, Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time, two albums of music by Charles Camilleri, the Bliss Clarinet Quintet, Phillip Cannon's Quintet, Logos and works by Martinu, Maxwell Davies and Carey Blyton.  His recording of Peter Lieuwen's 'River of Crystal Light' was released in May 2007 and future projects include recording a third CD of works by Charles Camilleri and an album of English clarinet quintets, and concertos by Carl Davis, Gerald Finzi and Graham Fitkin in Estonia with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra.

David Campbell particularly enjoys the genre of the Clarinet Quintet and has appeared as a guest artist with many fine string quartets including the: Bingham; Bridge; Brodsky; Copenhagen (Denmark); Coull; Danubius (Hungary); Delme; Emperor; Endellion; Fine Arts (USA);  Maggini; Medici; Solstice and Tippett. During 2007 David has toured the UK extensively with the Sacconi Quartet (Second Prize Winners in the London International String Quartet Competition in April 2006).

For more information see:  David Campbell's website

Impressive Horn Quartet for December 2010 Concert

Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra were very grateful to our wonderful soloists for the December 2010 concert who made it through the adverse weather conditions to give a memorable performance of Schumann's Konzertstuck for four horns. The audience were certainly very impressed with great applause and lots of positive feedback. Our heart felt thanks go to our superb soloists:

1st Horn – Richard Lewis
2nd Horn – Jesse Durkan
3rd Horn – Martin Grainger
4th Horn – Joe Walters

You can hear an excerpt of their fantastic performance by clicking here: Recordings

Shrewsbury Welcomes Professional Horn Quartet for Schumann's Concertstuck

1st Horn – Richard Lewis

Richard took up the Horn in his home town of Swansea at the age of 14. He studied at Cardiff University with Jim Beck and Trinity College London with Stephen Stirling and Roger Montgomery where he won the Gladys Puttock, Phillip Jones and Grace Wylie prizes. Since then Richard has enjoyed a varied career as a freelance horn player and teacher. On the modern horn he is a regular guest principal of London Mozart Players, principal of the Armonico Consort and players and also plays with Viva and English Touring Opera. On the natural and baroque horns Richard has recorded for Deutsche Gramaphone with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, BIS for Haydn Sinfonietta Wien and for the BBC in their Discovering Music series of programmes. As a soloist this is Richard’s ninth performance of the Konzertstuck and his eighth on First horn. Other recent solo performances include Strauss’s 1st and 2nd Concertos, the Gliere concerto, Mozart concertos 2,3 & 4 and last month his first professional engagement as a hosepipe soloist in a concert dedicated to Hoffnung. Next year projects include Richard’s first performance of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Richard is the Horn tutor at Oundle, Oakham and Stowe schools.

2nd Horn – Jesse Durkan

Born in London in 1976, Jesse Durkan began his musical studies with the piano when he was five years old. He took up the tenor horn when the local music service started free group brass classes at his primary school, and then settled on the French horn at the age of ten at secondary school. He studied at Trinity College of Music from 1996 to 1998 and also at the Royal College of Music from 2000-2001. He was co-principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in Spain from 2003-2004, with whom he twice participated in the Rossini International Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy. As a freelance musician, Jesse has worked with various orchestras including the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Ballet and London Mozart Players. Most recently he has been principal Horn of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Yucatan in Mexico for the past five years, returning to the UK this past summer to resume a freelance career. Jesse also studied composition at college, receiving the Chappell Prize for Composition. His own concerto for four horns and orchestra, entitled “Concerquarto”, was performed with the Dorking Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003. He has recently taken up a new hobby of kickboxing, and is a Real Ale enthusiast.

3rd Horn – Martin Grainger

Martin was born in Stourbridge, and began playing the horn at the age of 8.  He continued his studies with Robert Ashworth at the University of York, and later with Julian Baker at the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded the Sir Arthur Somervell and Manns Prize for brass playing. Since leaving college, Martin has forged a successful and varied career as a freelance horn player and teacher, working amongst others with the London Mozart Players, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Opera House, and English National Ballet. Martin has also performed extensively as chamber musician and soloist, recent concerts including Strauss' 2nd Concerto with Forest Philharmonic, and the Mozart Serenade for 13 Winds with London Mozart Players."

4th Horn – Joe Walters

Joe studied music at King's College, Cambridge during which time he took a sabbatical year in Calcutta learning the tabla with Abhokit Banerjee. He then continued his horn studies at the Guildhall School of Music. Joe is second horn in the English Baroque Soloists, l'Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Further natural horn engagements have seen him play with the Amsterdam Barogue Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Europa Galante, the Sixteen and the English Concert. As a modern player he regularly appears with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. With his Indie hat on Joe was a member of the band Stereolab for five years and went on to form his own folk-pop duo Tea With Jeanie alongside soprano wife Lucy Crowe. This year Joe produced a feature documentary film The Sound of Mumbai which further deepens his twelve year love affair with India.

Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra Website Launched By FraggleWorks

Our new website was launched in October 2010, thanks to Nick Stevens, our Orchestra Manager, who created the original website. Many thanks to local web design company, FraggleWorks, who completely revamped the original website for the orchestra and relaunched it together with a social media strategy including getting the orchestra on Facebook and Twitter.

Professional Double Bass Player Matt Gibson Returns To Shrewsbury To Play With SSO

Summarise your instrument... ‘It plays a supporting role. It’s big, has a very deep sound, is versatile and fun.’ Best thing about it? ‘It is needed in all types of music.’ Worst thing about it? ‘Carrying it around.’ How often do you practise? ‘I can go for days without practising, but then will do four days solid if I have a difficult piece coming up.’ Why did you choose the double bass? ‘Because I was a very bad cellist and my teacher told me to.’ Do you ever wish you played another instrument? ‘No, although I sometimes have nightmares that I am playing principal oboe and I don’t know what I’m doing.’ Where do you sit in the orchestra? ‘On stage left, against the side wall, in front of the trombones.’ What can you hear where you sit? ‘Everything, but with a lot of brass.’ How much is your Instrument worth? ‘Mine is a cheap one worth about £15,000. Other double basses in the orchestra are worth £100,000.’ Your favourite pieces for double bass? ‘Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and “The Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky.’ Tell us a joke about double bass players ‘What is the difference between a violin and a double bass? A double bass takes longer to burn.’

LSO Violist Rhys Watkins to play Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra

Rhys Watkins was born in Cardiff (1982). Graduated from Chetham's School of Music in Manchester (prof. When Zhou Li). Graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with a First Class Honours degree (2004). Participated in numerous masterclasses throughout Europe with Zvi Zeitlin, Lewis Daplan, Mauricio Fuks, Ruggiero Ricci, Thomas Brandis and Dong Suk Kang. Rhys enjoys an active musical career in Wales leading several orchestras and working as a regular extra player. More recently Rhys Watkins joined the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra. He has performed concertos with the number of orchestras throughout the country. Plays on an eighteenth-century violin by Lorenzo Storioni. Finalist of Audi and Texaco Young Musician of the Year Competition (1996). Prize winner in the Rotary International Competition (1998). Finalist in the Jeunesses Musicales International Violin Competition (2006).

Martin Roscoe - International Pianist to play Beethoven Piano Concerto with Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra

Martin Roscoe is an English classical pianist. He teaches piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the Department of Keyboard Studies. He performs as a concerto soloist, as a recitalist and as a chamber musician.   Martin Roscoe was born in Halton, Runcorn, Cheshire. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Gordon Green and Marjorie Clementi. Awards early in his career included the Davas Gold Medal in 1973, the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1974, the British Liszt Piano Competition in 1976 and he was a prizewinner in the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1981. Roscoe has developed close links with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Manchester Camerata. He has played as a soloist under many of the world's leading conductors, including Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Libor Pešek, Luciano Berio, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Andrew Litton and Mark Wigglesworth. He gives regular recitals at the Wigmore Hall. Roscoe has appeared in BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts on six occasions and has made over 300 broadcasts with the BBC. He has an international reputation and has played in many countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, South America, Australia, USA and France. As a student he formed a piano duo with Peter Donohoe and they have performed and made recordings together since. Their recording of music by Gershwin on Carlton Classics was chosen as Editor's Choice in the August 1997 issue of Gramophone. As a chamber musician he has performed with Tasmin Little, Emma Johnson, Steven Isserlis, Michael Collins, Steven Osborne, the Leopold String Trio and the Chilingirian, Vanbrugh, Tale, Schidlof, Carmina, Brodsky, Endellion and Sorrel String Quartets. The details of Roscoe's recordings are shown in the table below. Before becoming a teacher at the Guildhall School, Roscoe had held positions at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. He is the artistic director of the Beverley Chamber Music Festival and the Ribble Valley International Piano Week. He has been granted an honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Hull.