30 June 2022 Music on Thursdays, G.RA.Y Piano Quintet,

Thursday

30th June 2022

12.30 lunchtime

G.RA.Y Piano Quintet
conservatoire students of the
Guildhall, Royal Academy, Royal College, & Yale

Andrew Samarasekara, violin 1 - Y
Julia Hwang, violin 2 - RC
Ami-Louise Johnsson, viola - G
Hattie McGregor, cello - RA
Yuki Hammyo, piano - G

Programme

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Violin Sonata No 2 in A major Op 100 "Thun" or "Meistersinger" (1886)
1 Allegro amabile
2 Andante tranquillo
3 Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante)

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Piano Quintet in G minor Op 57 (1940)
1 Prelude: Lento
2 Fugue: Adagio
3 Scherzo: Allegretto
4 Intermezzo: Lento
5 Finale: Allegretto

The image to the left or above on this webpage is of Dmitri Shostakovich

Concert duration approx: 55-60 minutes

Please donate to help fund these concerts at: cafdonate.cafonline.org/14455

Andrew Samarasekara

British violinist Andrew Samarasekara has featured regularly as both a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, North America and Asia, performing at major venues that include Berlin Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, Kaufman Centre, Menuhin Hall and Royal Albert Hall.

A keen advocate for chamber music, Andrew has performed at major international festivals, including Four Seasons, Menuhin Gstaad and Aldeburgh Britten-Pears, working with Shlomo Mintz, Lucas Hagen, Ida Kavafian and the Doric, Borromeo, Belcea and Emerson Quartets.

A recent graduate at the New England Conservatory of Music, Andrew currently studies at the Yale School of Music, where he is pursuing a Master of Music degree in the class of Ani Kavafian.

Upcoming engagements include competing at the 8th Sendai Violin Competition in Japan, attending Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut, US, followed by a two-week artist residency program, sponsored by Yale, at the UCROSS foundation in Wyoming, US.

Andrew plays on a 1731 Nicolo Gagliano violin and W.E. Hill bow, on loan from a generous private sponsor.

Julia Hwang

Julia Hwang gave her professional solo debut with the English National Baroque Chamber Orchestra at the age of nine, performing Bach's Concerto in A minor. In the same year, she performed for legendary violinist Ivry Gitlis in London and was invited to open the Proms on the Close for Jose Carreras. She recorded two CDs at the ages of eleven and twelve, and, also at the age of twelve, performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Julia has been a veteran of the concert stage for many years and her numerous solo appearances with orchestras internationally have led to an ever-increasing schedule of concerts both in the UK and abroad. Recent performances have included a tour of the Korngold concerto with conductor Nicholas Daniel, performing the Bruch concerto for television in Korea, and numerous recitals across UK including St Martin in the Fields and Bristol.

In 2015, she was appointed to be a cultural ambassador for the BRACE Alzheimer’s Research, alongside broadcasters Jonathan Dimbleby and Sir Martyn Lewis. She also became a Concordia Foundation Artist in 2017, which led to many public performances in London’s main concert halls, and in hospitals and care centres. Other public and charity performances have included performing at the 2012 Violins of Hope music festival in North Carolina, USA, with Shlomo Mintz; a collaboration in Israel with Vadim Gluzman; charity concerts at Highgrove to raise funds for The Prince’s Trust alongside Julian Lloyd-Webber; and innumerable further concerts to raise money for, among others, The Alzheimer’s Society, the NSPCC and MacMillan Cancer Relief.

Julia has appeared many times on live television and radio through the BBC and ITV and, in 2012, she was featured in a BBC4 documentary about the nation’s favourite composition ‘The Lark Ascending’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Her performance of this work was specifically chosen by the BBC to represent this timeless classic of the great British composer, and the documentary has been re-broadcast on many occasions due to popular demand. Her latest CD, recorded with Signum Classics, features Grieg, Lutoslawski, Wieniawski and Vaughan Williams, which she performed in live sessions of BBC In Tune and Classic FM respectively, and was reviewed by Gramophone as displaying a “model of expressive purity”.

Julia completed her undergraduate degree at St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating with the 2017 Larmor Award. She began her violin studies at the age of seven with Richard Crabtree at Clifton College, and currently studies with Itzhak Rashkovsky in London. Having been offered a full scholarship from the Royal College of Music, she is pursuing postgraduate studies as an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar, also supported by awards won from the Drake Calleja Trust and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. She is the winner of the 2018 Hattori Foundation Senior Award.

Julie plays on a Peter Guarnerius of Mantua violin c.1698, on generous loan from the Alderson Trust.

Ami-Louise Johnsson

Swedish violist Ami-Louise Johnsson has been lauded for her insightful musicianship and the warmth of her captivating sound, and is establishing a solid reputation as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.

Ami-Louise is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. As a soloist she has performed with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, LGT Young Soloists and O/Modernt chamber orchestra and appears regularly at festivals both in Scandinavia and Europe.

This season’s festival and masterclass appearances include IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Jong Talent Schiermonnikoog, Valdres Sommersymfoni and K&M fest Stavanger.

As a passionate chamber musician, Ami has worked and performed with renowned artists such as Priya Mitchell, Marianna Shirinyan, Natacha Kudritskaya and Akiko Ono.

Ami is a laureate of international competitions such as the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition where she was awarded the ex aequo prize. She is a recipient of the prestigious Hattori Foundation and scholar of the Drake Calleja Trust in London. Ami is also the winner of the Max and Peggy Morgan Viola Competition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Hattie McGregor

In August, Hattie McGregor will begin studying cello at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague in the class of Lucia Swarts.

As a recent graduate of the Yehudi Menuhin School, she has held a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music (London) this year, studying cello with John Myerscough (Doric quartet) and baroque cello and viola da gamba with Jonathan Manson (OAE). She was awarded third prize at the 2022 Musica Goritiensis international competition, and recent events include the London Handel Festival directed by Laurence Cummings, performing chamber music in Kings Place, and playing to musicians such as Jakob Koranyi, David Watkin, Vaclav Petr, and Sung-Won Yang.

While studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Matthijs Broersma and Bartholomew LaFollette, she also had masterclasses with musicians including Colin Carr, Gary Hoffman, Adrian Brendel, Alexander Chaushian, Tasmin Little, and the Endellion String Quartet. She has had the privilege of performing with Charles Owen and Emanuel Despax, as well as with Akiko Ono as part of courses run by Maiastra.

Additionally, she is the Cello Ambassador for the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland, and a composition of hers was recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Hattie’s secondary education was made possible with the support of the Music and Dance Scheme, and the Agar Trust. She plays on an anonymous modern cello, two period instruments made by Clive Morris and George Stoppani, and a bass viol, all kindly loaned by the Royal Academy of Music museum.

Yuki Hammyo

Born in 1999, Yuki Hammyo is a Japanese pianist living in London, performing in countries including Japan, Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and the UK.

She has won the Platinum Award in the Premier Music International Competition (2021), third prize in the 1st Windsor International Piano Competition (2015), and Silver Prize in the 1st European International Piano Concours in Japan (2010).

She is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for a master’s degree under Professors Paul Roberts, Caroline Palmer, and Laura Roberts with a scholarship, having obtained a First Class Bachelor of Music degree at the Royal College of Music under Professor Andrew Zolinsky in 2021. Yuki has attended masterclasses and lessons by Vadym Kholodenko, Klaus Hellwig, Noriko Ogawa, Franck Wibaut, Diana Ketler and Boris Berman.

As a keen chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with multiple groups and has received coaching from musicians such as Alina Ibragimova, Michael Collins, Noriko Ogawa, Mark Messenger, Simon Lepper, Carole Presland, Ursula Smith, Rick Stotijn, Harlem Quartet, and members of the Heath Quartet.

Her piano quartet, the Chiarina Piano Quartet, won the 2022 Ivan Sutton Award and was invited to a residency in Guildhall Young Artists in Norfolk where they had the pleasure of performing and giving masterclasses. In 2022 she collaborated with pianist Sarah Cahill as part of “Future is Female” concert in the Barbican and performed for concerts organized by Clare Hammond and Noriko Ogawa.

Yuki enjoys collaborating with living composers, commissioning, and giving premiers of their works in venues such as the Russian Embassy in London, Milton Court Barbican, and The Place for some of which she has received coaching from Marcus Barcham-Stevens and Mark Knoop. Meanwhile, she equally relishes performing on period instruments - fortepiano in particular. She has studied with Professors Geoffrey Govier and Maggie Cole, as well as playing for Ricardo Cecchetti in a masterclass.

Recordings of the works in today's concert

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Violin Sonata No 2 in A major Op 100 "Thun" or "Meistersinger" (1886)
1 Allegro amabile
2 Andante tranquillo
3 Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante)

A wonderful performance by David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter. Sit back and enjoy, admire, adore.

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Piano Quintet in G minor Op 57 (1940)
1 Prelude: Lento • 2 Fugue: Adagio
3 Scherzo: Allegretto • 4 Intermezzo: Lento
5 Finale: Allegretto

The first ever recording of the quintet was made by Shostakovich himself at the piano, with the Beethoven Quartet. That was in 1940. The Beethoven Quartet were: Dmitri Tsyganov, 1st violin, Vasily Shirinsky, 2nd violin, Vadim Borisovsky, viola, and Sergei Shirinsky, cello: