Artea String Quartet

These musicians are no longer playing together.

O Duo was chosen for The Tillett Trust’s Young Artists Platform in spring 2005. Since the O Duo’s debut performance at St. Martin-in the-Fields in 2000, Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox have been performing recitals in music clubs all over the UK and double concertos in some of the country’s top concert halls on a regular basis. The duo, who were both scholars at the Royal College of Music, graduated in 2003, each gaining First Class Honours. They are currently holding one of the College’s prestigious Junior Fellowships.

Their repertoire, which spans more than 300 years, is a mix of popular classics and accessible contemporary music played on two marimbas, vibraphone and a huge array of percussion. They have performed their arrangement of Vivaldi’s Double Violin Concerto in A minor several times in Britain, with orchestras including the Locrian Symphony Orchestra. As well as this, between them, Owen and Oliver have been broadcast on Radio 3, BBC Scotland and BBC2, the latter broadcast being in the winning performance of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Percussion Final in 2000. They have made concerto appearances with the BBC Philharmonic and the Philharmonia orchestra, and have worked in studios such as Abbey Road and Sony on television and film scores. They have also appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002, 2003 and 2004 being nominated ‘Pick of the Fringe’ every year and winning ‘Best Music Act of the Fringe, 2003 and 2004.

The duo were given a concert series by the Tunnell Trust in 2003, and recently won the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists 2004, as well as being awarded a Purcell Room recital by the Martin Musical Fund / Philharmonia Orchestra. They have recently been accepted onto the Tillett Trust’s Young Artists Platform scheme, through which they will make their Wigmore Hall debut in February 2006.

Recent engagements have included performances in St. John’s Smith Square, the Purcell Room, the Globe Theatre and a tour of Scotland where they played in two sell-out concerts at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. In 2005-06 the Duo are touring the British Isles and making their debut in the USA.

• ‘Brimming with style and panache.’ The Daily Telegraph
• ‘Brilliant… one of the Fringe’s small musical gems.’ ***** The Herald
• ‘Startling… cheeky, but enchanting.’ **** The Scotsman

The Rautio Piano Trio
Jan Rautio Jane Gordon
Katherine Jenkinson

“This ensemble’s strength is that is plays to put across the music more than to flaunt its own undoubted talents - five stars and many more indeed!” Fairfield Croydon May 2005

The Rautio Piano Trio was chosen to join the Tillett Trust’s Young Artists’ Platform scheme in 2005. The Trio is a dynamic ensemble of outstanding prizewinning musicians who met whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. As individual soloists they have extensive performance experience at major London venues including the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room. As well as winning scholarships at both undergraduate and postgraduate level to the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, they hold an array of awards that include the Musicians Benevolent Fund, Countess of Munster Trust and English Speaking Union. Jane and Jan are an established duo and have been performing together for several years. Since forming the Rautio Piano Trio with Katherine in 2004, they have given many concerts in the UK including at the Holywell Music Room, St. James’s Piccadilly and Fairfield Hall. They have an increasing busy schedule which includes trio recitals at St. John’s Smith Square, National Portrait Gallery, Music at Duffield, Leeds Town Hall and performances at the Harrogate and Honiton Festivals. The Trio will make its Wigmore debut for YAP in September this year.

Jane Gordon - Violin "...  Jane Gordon brings not only a ravishing tone and depth of timbre but a real sense of musical line to everything she plays." The Independent 2004

Jane graduated from the Royal Academy in July 2003 with Distinction and The Marjorie Hayward Prize for the highest Postgraduate violin final recital mark, the DipRAM Award, and The Beare Violin Prize. With duo-partner pianist Jan Rautio, Jane gave her Purcell Room debut in the Park Lane Young Artists Platform New Year Series 2004, for which she was generously lent the ‘Kustendyke’ Stradivarius Violin from the Royal Academy. In June 2004 she won the Anglo-Czechoslovak Competition and gave a recital in Prague in November. Jane was also a string finalist in the 2004 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition and was awarded the Elias Fawcett Prize.

Katherine Jenkinson - Cello

"…Katherine Jenkinson showed remarkable points in her intense & expressive performance” The Strad 2004

Katherine gained a first class degree from the Academy, Distinction and prestigious DipRAM award at postgraduate level, and ten Academy cello prizes including the Dorothy Grinstead Memorial Fund for a Fairfield Hall Recital. She was also awarded the "RAM Associate Studentship" for 2003/2004. In March 2004, Katherine gave her Wigmore Hall debut as a winner of The Maisie Lewis Young Artists Platform, playing on the Academy ‘Markevitch’ Stradivarius Cello. She has numerous concerto engagements in the U.K. and abroad, and regularly performs chamber music including a string sextet with the principal members of the CBSO. She has also made a CD of works composed for her by the composer Thomas Hyde.

Jan Rautio - Piano

"…Rautio’s playing had a flowing quality that was almost Debussyan, while Gordon found passion and fire in even the most spare lyricism" The Evening Standard 2004

Jan was born in Russia where he began his musical education at the Gnesin School of Music in Moscow. Jan won a scholarship to the Royal College in 1998, where he graduated with a 1st class Honours degree and numerous prizes both for his academic achievements and performances, including being awarded the highest piano final recital mark in his year. He is presently a postgraduate scholar at the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Ian Fountain, and recipient of the Tobias Matthay fellowship.

Canadian violinist Katie Stillman was chosen for the Tillett Trust’s Young Artists’ Platform in Spring 2005. She has just finished her second year of Postgraduate studies with Yair Kless at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She received her BMus from the University of Manchester (First Class Hons) while she was on the joint course with the RNCM, and is currently completing her Masters degree from the RNCM.

Katie began her studies in London, Ontario and later joined the Young Artists’ Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto studying with Martin Beaver and Annalee Patipatanakoon. In 1998, she won the Grand Prize at the Canadian Music Competitions (CMC) in Montreal. While living in Canada, Katie gave recitals and performed with orchestras throughout Mexico, England and Ontario. Subsequently, she was awarded the Radio Canada Young Artists Performance Prize.

In 1999, Katie won a four-year International Undergraduate Scholarship from the Associated Boards to study at the RNCM, with Wen Zhou Li. She has subsequently received generous support from the RNCM, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, and the Musicians Benevolent Fund, In addition awards include the Granada Prize for the performance of Messian’s ‘Quartet for the end of time’, an English-Speaking Union Scholarship to attend the Aspen Summer Music Festival to study with Sylvia Rosenberg, and in 2004, an Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Katie has participated in masterclasses by Maxim Vengerov, Jamie Laredo, Aaron Rosand and Ernst Kovacic.

An avid chamber musician, Katie performs with the Stillman Quartet and the Groves Piano Trio. The Stillman Quartet is currently Young Artist in Residence at Salford University and the Groves Piano Trio have given recitals in the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Taiwan, as well as performing in festivals such as the Ryedale Festival, the Tokyo Haydn Festival, and the RNCM Brahms and Schumann Fest. They have also been chosen to participate in a masterclass for Rostropovich in June.

In October 2005, Katie will be continuing her studies with Yair Kless at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. Future concerts include a lunchtime recital in Fairfield Hall, Croydon, and a shared Wigmore Hall recital in the Monday Platform series as part of the Tillett Trust’s YAP scheme. Her recital partner is Manchester pianist Simon Lane. Katie performs on a violin by Francesco Ruggieri 1677, which is generously on loan from the RNCM.