Navarra String Quartet Xander van Vliet violin Marije Ploemacher violin Simone van der Geissen viola Nathaniel Boyd cello Winners of the 2005 Florence International Chamber Music Competition, the Navarra quartet was formed in 2002 at the RNCM under the guidance of Christopher Rowland and consists of three Dutch and one British player. They are all currently postgraduate students at the RNCM where they have won several College quartet prizes and in 2005 were awarded the college’s Professional Performance Diploma with distinction. The quartet’s first national success came in June 2004 when they won the intercollegiate quartet competition at the RAM in London. In September 2003 they represented the International Music Festival at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire and have subsequently been given concerts in the UK, Netherlands and USA including appearing at the 2003 Mendelssohn Festival and 2004 QuartetFest both at RNCM, the IMS at Prussia Cove, the 2005 Brahms-Schumann Festival and the Lake District Summer Music Festival. They have performed for Manchester Chamber Concerts and most recently gave a live broadcast of Shostakovich’s 3rd Quartet for Italian Radio 3. In January 2006 they performed at the Soviet Fest in Manchester. In February 2006 The Navarra quartet will commence a residency at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh and will also give their Bridgewater Hall debut concert later in the year. www.Navarra.co.uk Gemma Rosefield Gemma is currently studying with Ralph Kirshbaum at the RNCM, supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, having graduated with 1st class Hons from the RAM as a pupil of David Strange where she won the Vice-Principals’ Special prize. Her major competition successes have included 1st prize in the European Music for Youth in Oslo, 1st prize in the Royal Overseas League String Competition, the Making Music Young Concert Artists Award, a Kirckman Award and the Prix Academie Maurice Ravel in St. Jean de Luz, France. As a committed chamber musician Gemma has played in the USA, Russia, Japan and Europe, and at the moment is performing around the UK on the Countess of Munster recital scheme. She is a founder member of the Fidelio Piano Quartet and later this year she will be playing clarinet trios with Julian Bliss and Simon Lepper, and Beethoven sonatas with Nicola Eimer. She has appeared at the South Bank, Barbican and Wigmore Halls to great critical acclaim. Her festival appearances this year include King’s Lynn, Hampstead & Highgate, Presteigne, Gstaad and the Lyon Musicaades XV. She is keenly interested in contemporary music and new works have been written for her by Rhian Samuel, James Francis Brown and the late Michael Kamen. She has recorded “Voices from the Sea” by John Hawkins with Paul Silverthorne as well as a popular CD of Sephardi songs arranged for cello & piano. Concerto performances this season include the Schumann, Elgar and both Haydn concertos. In November 2005 she played in Tallin, Estonia and she is touring Holland making her debut at the Diligentia, The Hague and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in the New Masters International Recital Series. She will be giving the world premier of James Francis Brown’s concertante for violin, viola, cello & String Orchestra at the Presteigne Festival in August 2006. Amandine Savary French pianist Amandine Savary is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Christopher Elton and Alexander Satz. After graduating with honours from Caen Conservatory in Normandy in 2003 she was awarded a scholarship to the RAM. Whilst in France she won first prize in several International Competitions including ‘Au Concours International de Piano Ginette Gaubert’, Au Grand Concours International de Piano de Paris’ and the ‘2003 West of France Young Artist Competition’. Amandine has appeared as soloist with the “Orchestre de Bretagne” conducted by Mosche Atzmon, and has given many recitals, including a performance at the “Festival International de Dinard”, under the patronage of the pianist Kun Woo Paik, where she will be returning for another performance later this year. In July 2005 she was invited to perform as both soloist and chamber musician in Santander, Spain as well as participating in the "Kyoto International Student Festival 2005" in Japan. She has participated in Master-Classes with eminent pianists and musicians including Cedric Tiberghien, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Alexander Satz, Marie-Paule Siruguet, Sigmund Nissel, Genevieve Martigny, and Bernard Ringeissen. She is also an active chamber musician with a wide repertoire and is a member of the Pourquoi Piano Trio which recently gave a successful performance as part of the Bloomsbury Festival. She also regularly plays with violin, cello and voice and enjoys performing the contemporary repertoire, having worked with composers such as Luciano Berio, Ivan Fedele, and Yoshihisa Taira. In France Amandine has appeared on TV and Radio programmes such as France 3 Television and Mezzo Sequences; she also recently played on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune” programme. Alexander Sitkovetsky Alexander Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow in 1983 into a family with an established musical tradition. He made his debut as solist in 1991 with the Montpellier Chamber Orchestra and later that same year became a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied with Natalia Boyarsky and Professor Hu Kun. In 1998 he took part in a master class given by Maxim Vengerov which was broadcast over the European TV network. In 1999 Alexander he went to the RAM to study with Professor Hu Kun .Since their first meeting in Moscow in 1990, Lord Menuhin became a great inspiration for Alexander and supported him through his school years. Together they performed the Bach Double Violin Concerto in France and Belgium, as well as Bartok’s Duos at St James’s Palace in London. In 1996, Alexander played Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in Budapest with Lord Menuhin conducting. Alexander has performed in many international music festivals throughout Europe. He has been featured as a soloist at many famous venues throughout Europe, including The Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square in London, Salla Verdi in Milano, Palais des Congres in Antibes as well as in Israel and Hawaii, and most recently, the Great Hall of the Conservatoire in Moscow. His recent performances include concerts with the London Soloists Orchestra in the Barbican, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. He made his official American debut in 1998 at the renowned Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island, USA. Alexander is also an accomplished composer. His two orchestral ballet scores were premiered in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Dance in 1995 and in 1999 at Queen, Elizabeth Hall, London He has made two CDs for EMI/Angel, the second of which featured concerto performances by Bach, Mendelssohn, Panufnik and Takemitsu and was released in January 2004 to unanimous critical acclaim. In 2005 he made his debut appearance at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and he has recently given a solo recital at London’s Royal Festival Hall |
