The Performers
The Allegri Quartet
The Allegri Quartet is one of the oldest British chamber ensembles in existence, going back to its foundation in the 1953 by Eli Goren, William Pleeth, Patrick Ireland and James Barton.
Highlights for the seasons 2009/10 and 2010/11 will include the premičres of new commissions by Anthony Payne, Alec Roth and Tom Hyde. In addition, the Quartet is planning a complete Beethoven String Quartets Cycle over four years, beginning in 2010.
Recent recordings include Mozart's Quintets in G Minor and C Major with ex-Allegri Violist Prunella Pacey, two works by Michael Stimpson and a re-release of Peter Fribbins' Clarinet Quintet with James Campbell. These recordings of new works reflect an ongoing commitment to contemporary music that has led the Quartet to premičre more than 60 works since 1964, including pieces by well-known composers such as Alexander Goehr, Jonathan Harvey, James Macmillan, Colin Matthews, Edmund Rubbra and John Woolrich.
The Allegri enjoys collaborating with other artists, and has worked with outstanding concert performers such as Jack Brymer, Clifford Curzon, Annie Fischer, Dame Thea King, John Ogden and Gervase de Peyer at international festivals that include Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Prague Spring, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Stavanger. In 2006-07 they were joined by Canadian clarinettist James Campbell for quintets by Brahms and Mozart.
The members of the Allegri Quartet are always in demand for their teaching, with residencies at Middlesex University, the universities of East Anglia, Bangor, Durham, Nottingham, and Oxford, with whom the Quartet has enjoyed long-standing relationships thanks to the generous support of the Radcliffe Trust.
Guest Artists
Elisabeth Altman
Elizabeth’s talent was early recognised when she made her concert debut at the age of 6. She went on in her young teens to represent Leeds in a BBC TV Series and later on to perform Mozart and Beethoven concertos for BBC TV, as well as broadcasting the first performance of Thomas Pitfield’s Piano concerto.
Following success in the last BBC Piano Competition, the forerunner of the BBC ‘Young Musician of the Year’, the Daily Telegraph singled out the ‘rare distinction’ of her playing and the Arts Council promoted her South Bank debut to critical acclaim. She has since toured the UK in concerts and major festivals including Aldborough and Leeds.
In 1990, returning to concertising from time at home with young family, she became musical and artistic director of English Camerata, Yorkshire’s professional touring chamber ensemble. Under her direction they receive enthusiastic support from both audiences and critics with numerous concerts in the region’s festivals and concert series and in national tours, thanks to several major sponsorships. Their Mozart Bicentennial Celebration concerts in 1991 won critical admiration and played to capacity audiences.
A feature of the English Camerata programmes has been Mozart concertos directed from the keyboard. A development of the Orchestra has been the establishment of the English Camerata Soloists, a flexible association of musicians committed to the performance of chamber music.
Elizabeth’s identification with chamber music also led to the foundation of an annual chamber music course that attracts international amateur musicians of high ability. She has recently been honoured by the Royal Academy of Music, as a former student, for her distinguished contribution to the music profession.
Andrey Chulovskiy
Andrey Chulovskiy was born in 1953 into a Russian/Polish family. He began playing the piano at the age of five under the guidance of his mother, a professional pianist. He graduated from the piano department of the St Petersburg conservatoire in 1978. For several years he was a soloist of Omsk Philharmonic Symphony orchestra performing piano concertos and also played in chamber ensembles together with prominent string artists.
In 1991-1998 he worked as a piano and organ Professor at the Novosibirsk M.Glinka State conservatoire and in 1999 he founded his own Centre of Composition. Since 2000 he has travelled extensively as a concert organist giving recitals in many countries and performing at international festivals.
In 2006 he immigrated to the UK as a composer and published his collection Piano Works which includes his first piano sonata, dedicated to N.Perelman. He made his first appearance in the UK as a pianist on March 19, 2011 at Gregynog in Powys.
Our Chairman, Pamela Clare-Joyce, recently heard Andrey at Gregynog and has written an article about his evening with us in July.
Ffion Davies
Ffion Elinor Davies is a singer and pianist hailing from Buckley, Flintshire. She studied voice with the operatic soprano Sandra Dugdale of the Royal Northern College of music whilst studying for her Bachelor of Music degree in Bangor University, then studied for a PGCE in secondary music education. She has performed in many venues, from chapels to concert halls and has a broad repertoire from folk songs to arias. She has appeared as Venus in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with Bangor Baroque, appeared as a soloist in great oratorios such as Messiah and Elijah and sung for Prince Charles in a royal ceremony. Ffion also has an extensive list of choral, conducting, private tuition and piano commitments. Following her studies, she taught Western piano and voice in India and performed in concert venues promoting Western music. Now living in Derbyshire, she works as a music teacher in a private boys school. She has immersed herself in music in the area and has appeared as a soloist with Derby Choral Union and Nottingham Harmonics. She regularly returns home to Wales to perform and is thrilled to be returning to Llanfyllin in what promises to be a beautiful and exciting concert.
David Fisher
David is a graduate of Trinity College of Music, London, where he also gained the Fellowship diploma in organ playing (FTCL) and piano teaching diploma (LTCL). He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists at the young age of twenty.
He has held various organist posts, including Director of Music at Camberwell Parish Church in South London (where he formed the Camberwell Choral Society), and Director of Music at Wrexham Parish Church. As a choral conductor, David was Musical Director of the Halfway House Male Voice Choir in the 1980’s.
Following a long career as an insurance surveyor, both in London and in Mid/North Wales, David retired early to concentrate on piano and violin teaching, a second career spanning 8 years. In 2009 he tried to retire a second time, but is now much sought after as a piano accompanist for music exams, and as an organist. He and his wife live in Coalbrookdale in Shropshire.
Grey Gowrie
Grey Gowrie was born in Dublin. Educated and professionally working in England and the USA, he made his home in Ireland until 1983 when he moved to the Welsh Marches. He taught English and American literature at Harvard and University College London and in 1972, on publishing his first collection of poems, exchanged an academic career for business and public life. He has been a company chairman, a Cabinet minister, Chairman of the Arts Council of England and Provost of the Royal College of Art. He is Patron of the Llanfyllin Festival.
Third Day, new and selected poems, were published to great acclaim in 2008. His translations of fado poems are included in Saudade: An Anthology of Fado Poetry, which was published in 2010 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which commissioned the translations. A setting of his fado poems was made by composer Matthew Taylor, and premiered at last year’s Festival.
Bozidar Vukotich
Bozidar Vukotic is the founder member of the Tippett String Quartet. Born in London, he studied as a Goldsmith Company Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix. He continued his studies with William Pleeth, and completed his training with Alexeander Kniazev in Moscow with the aid of Wingate Trust and Hattori Foundation Scholarships.
A prize-winner in the National Federation of Music Societies and Jeunesses Musicales International Cello competitions, Bozidar has performed as a soloist worldwide. In 2010 he made his debut for EMI Classics performing Howard Goodall’s The Seasons.
As a member of the Tippett Quartet, he performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Purcell Room, on BBC Radio 3 and has appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Opera House, Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead and at the BBC Proms. He has recorded extensively to much critical acclaim for labels including Naxos, EMI Classics, and Classic FM Records. 2010 saw the Quartet’s highly successful debut in the Gramophone Classical Chart with their recordings of Bax and Bridge Piano Quintets.
Bozidar has been invited to play as guest principal with many of this country’s finest orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. He teaches at the Junior Royal Academy of Music.
David Watkins
Whilst still at school, David was performing with the National Youth Orchestra and was a finalist in the Daily Mirror competition for young instrumentalists. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later in Paris. On return to London, Solti chose him to play with the orchestra at the Royal Opera House – in a “golden age” with Callas, Sutherland, Schwarzkopf and Nureyev. He was a founder member of the Welsh National Opera. After a short period with the Royal Philharmonic he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
His solo concerts have taken him all over the world, with many compositions written especially for him, and he has also performed as soloist with many great orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta at the Proms, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
He is also a composer, and his works for the harp have been very successful. Since winning first prize in an International American Competition with his composition Petite Suite for harp, he has written many pieces including the Concertino Pastorale, which he played with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Festival Hall, Walter Susskind conducting. He has given regular master classes, and was for many years Professor of Harp at the Royal College of Music.
Alec Roth
Alec studied music at Durham University and gamelan at the Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts in Central Java. His previous posts include Artistic Director of the Royal Festival Hall Gamelan Programme; Music Director of the Baylis Programme, English National Opera; Associate Composer, Opera North; and Lecturer in Music, University of Edinburgh. He now works as a freelance composer, and is best known for his collaborations with the Indian writer Vikram Seth. These include the opera Arion and the Dolphin, the BBC Proms commission Earth and Sky for children’s choir, and several song-cycles, one of which – Romantic Residues for tenor and harp – is included on James Gilchrist’s CD of the same name. Other works include commissions for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and, most recently, Earthrise for 40-part unaccompanied choir, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Ex Cathedra. Between 2006 and 2009 he completed a cycle of 4 major works in collaboration with Vikram Seth. The first in the series, Songs in Time of War, for tenor, violin, harp and guitar was written for Mark Padmore and is now available on CD. Seven Elements, to be performed on 2nd July, was the fourth in the series, the songs written for, and dedicated to the tenor James Gilchrist, who gave the first performance at the 2009 Salisbury Festival. His song cycle Seven elements, sung by virtuoso tenor James Gilchrist, was one of the highlights of last year’s Festival.