GARETH JONES – MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Gareth Jones, born in South Wales, was a member of the Music Staff of Welsh National Operafrom 1990-2008, during which time he conducted performances of Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turandot, Nabucco, La Traviata, Ernani, Die Fledermaus, Eugene Onegin, The Yeomen of the Guard, Faust, La Boheme, Fidelio, Billy Budd, The Carmelites, Carmen, Katya Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen, Jenufa, Le Nozze di Figaro, Der Fliegende Holländer, Madame Butterfly,  La Cenerentola, The Magic Flute and Hansel and Gretel.

From 1988-90, Gareth was Associate Music Director of the New D’Oyly Carte Opera Company  where he conducted The Yeomen of the Guard, Iolanthe, The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance. In 2004, Gareth made his debut with English National Opera conducting The Mikado. He has also conducted The Mikado for Vancouver Opera.
 
Concert work in the United Kingdom has included appearances with the Hallé Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata.

Between 1992 and 1994, Gareth worked closely with the American choreographer, Mark Morris, conducting performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival and with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Adelaide Festival.

In 1996, Gareth formed Sinfonia Cymru, which in its brief history has established itself as a major orchestral force in Wales . Many established artists have worked with Gareth and the orchestra including Dennis O’Neill, Rebecca Evans, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Peter Donohoe, David Pyatt, Jean Philippe-Collard, Michael Collins, Chloe Hanslip, Catrin Finch, Guy Johnston, Alina Ibragimova and Ll?r Williams.

As a result of a highly acclaimed concert given by Sinfonia Cymru in April 2000 with Bryn Terfel, which included a performance of “Wotan’s Farewell”, a special bond has developed between Bryn, Gareth and the orchestra. Gareth has worked with Bryn Terfel on numerous projects including the disc “We’ll Keep a Welcome”, opera galas at Faenol, Henley and Hampton Court Festivals in addition to concerts in Dublin , Stockholm , Sydney and Melbourne and a television recording of Handel’s Messiah for S4C. Gareth also made his BBC Proms debut in September 2002 with Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming in works by Wagner and Richard Strauss. Gareth has been the regular conductor for the Opera Gala at Bryn Terfel’s Faenol Festival where he has conducted international singers such as Andrea Bocelli, Angela Gheorghiu, Rolando Villazón and Denyce Graves.

Gareth is currently conducting The Barber of Seville for WNO, while future engagements include a Scandinavian tour this autumn with Bryn Terfel, concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Aida at the Bregenz Festival in 2009 and 2010.

Michael Francis

Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January 2007, when he was asked, with 12 hours notice, to replace an indisposed Valery Gergiev for the rehearsals and performance of Sofia Gubaidulina's MärchenPoem and Pro et Contra with the London Symphony Orchestraduring the BBC Gubaidulina festival at the Barbican Centre.  This performance received the following reviews:

"The conducting honours with the LSO were shared by Mikhail Jurowski and Michael Francis [...] the latter doing incredible things with the vast, forbidding architecture of Pro et Contra." 
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 16 January 2007

"Valery Gergiev [was] kept away by a viral infection.  Every manager's worst nightmare, this; though it ended in triumph for young Michael Francis, the LSO double-bass player and aspiring conductor drafted in for two items - including Pro et Contra, the biggest, most Russian, most mystifying of all. He didn't turn a hair." 
Geoff Brown, The Times, 17 January 2007

"Pro et Contra [had] moments of remarkable colour.  It held the not-immodest audience spellbound." 
Annette Morreau, The Independent, 16 January, 2007

Then in February 2007, Michael was asked, with two hours notice, to replace the composer/conductor John Adams in a performance of his own works with the LSO at the Philharmonie Luxembourg: the programme was “Slonimsky’s Earbox” “The Dharma at Big Sur”, (an electric violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz), and “Naïve and Sentimental Music”.

“With amazing assurance and very clear movements of the baton, Michael Francis led the orchestra to the highest achievement…We wish the talented Francis would take up the baton more often, for conductors of this calibre are more than ever needed.” Alain Steffen, Luxembourg Tageblatt, Feb. 2007.

In October 2008, Michael was a finalist in the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, were he conducted the LSO in a performance of Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloe Suite no. 2 to critical acclaim.  He was described as being:

 “the candidate who stirred the highest temperature...” and as someone who conducted with “intelligent panache” Geoff Brown, The Times, 6th Oct, 2008

The LSO first became aware of Michaels’ conducting ability when he took a rehearsal, with no notice, of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony on a tour of Lithuania in 2006.  The orchestra have since continued to engage Michael as a conductor for TV, education and commercial recording work, where he has recorded with Natasha Marsh for EMI Classics and Paul Potts, (the winner of “Britain’s Got Talent” TV show), for Sony/BMG.  He has been regularly invited by the LSO to conduct rehearsals for Valery Gergiev, and has been asked to assist Gergiev for the entire 2008-09 season.  In December 2007, he shared a LSO concert at the Barbican with Sir Colin Davis in which he conducted a world premiere as part of the UBS Soundscape series, and in January 2008, Michael conducted a performance of R. Strauss’ Metamorphosen with the LSO strings in LSO St Lukes.
           
In September 2007, he was asked to participate in a televised masterclass with Valery Gergiev during the Gergiev festival in Rotterdam, where his performance of Schubert’s Ninth Symphony with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra was highly acclaimed.  Following this masterclass, Michael was invited to conduct a series of concerts with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in June and October 08, and has been asked by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to assist Gergiev for his entire Brahms cycle and 2008 Festival, (where he has conducted many rehearsals, and worked with artists such as Nelson Friere, Janine Jansen, Ekaterina Gubanova, Mariusz Kwiecien, Solveig Kringelborn and the Swedish Radio Choir).  Following the success of his work with the orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra engaged Michael to assist for the 2009 Gergiev Festival, and have just recently invited him to conduct a full subscription concert in 2011.

In November 08, Michael will make his debut with the Orchestre Philharmonie du Luxembourg in a concert with Roberto Alagna, and in July 09, Michael will make his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, (with a programme to include Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with Ricardo Morales).  Recently, he was asked by Daniel Harding to work with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and by Michael Tilson Thomas to work with the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami. He has assisted Francois-Xavier Roth on two opera productions with Les Siecles in France, and continues to conduct young chamber orchestras such as Sinfonia Cymru in the UK. Michael has studied conducting with Jorma Panula and Sian Edwards, and has conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a masterclass in June 2007. 

Michael has been a member of the LSO since 2003, where he is the privileged position of being able to work with, and discuss conducting, with the worlds' finest conductors.  He graduated with a Masters degree from the Royal Academy of Music in 2000, and was greatly honoured to be awarded an ARAM in May 2007.

Richard Laing

Since winning the sinfonia ViVA Conducting Scholarship in 2001, Richard has established a reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile young conductors in Britain.  In 2002, after nine months of study, he graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a Master's degree, a postgraduate diploma in conducting, and the Conservatoire's Postgraduate Prize for the most outstanding contribution to the musical life of the college.  Subsequently he was supported by the Foyle Foundation to work intensively on operatic conducting at Dartington with Diego Masson.

Richard has conducted extensively in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.  He is Music Director of the critically-acclaimed Birmingham-based professional opera company Operamus, Music Director of The Midlands Sinfonia, Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, Lancashire Youth Symphony Orchestra, Leicester Bach Choir and the Midlands Chorale, Principal Conductor of the Leamington Chamber Orchestra, and a regular guest conductor with Queen’s Park Sinfonia, Hallam Sinfonia, Chandos Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Sinfonia and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.

Richard’s operatic performances have included Albert Herring, Hansel and Gretel and Noye’s Fludde (Operamus), La Traviata and La Bohème (Dartington Festival Opera), Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics (Birmingham Conservatoire), Adrian Cruft’s Dr Syn (Kent Opera) and Handel’s Orlando (Pigotts).  He has accompanied many distinguished artists including Brigitte Engerer, Anthony Halstead, Robert Hayward, Neil Jenkins, John Turner, Alan Hacker and Joanne Lunn.  Richard is a conductor and coach in the Department of Vocal and Operatic Studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he assists Lionel Friend; he is Associate Conductor of the virtuoso young ensemble Sinfonia Cymru, and Associate Conductor of the internationally renowned Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra in Surrey.  He has premiered many new works, and is in demand as a coach at festivals and summer schools and as a leader of orchestral and choral workshops around the UK.

Richard studied violin at the University of Illinois and the RNCM, and plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Orchestra of the Swan, and as a guest leader for the Queen’s Park Sinfonia, Sinfonia of Birmingham and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.  For the last seven years Richard has been principal second violin of Sinfonia Cymru.

In his limited spare time Richard pursues a wide range of academic interests: his undergraduate work in Manchester on John F. Kennedy’s policy in Vietnam won him the Kaiser Award for American History, and he has presented papers on subjects as diverse as Hollywood film, reality TV and the Ring cycle at the International Conferences on Film and Literature at Florida State University and the International Wagner Symposium at the University of Adelaide.  Among his proudest achievements are being appointed Vice President of the University of Illinois Triathlon Club and having articles published in the iconic games magazine White Dwarf.

Llyr Williams

One of the most outstanding pianists of his generation, Llyr Williams brings an extraordinary musical intelligence to all his work, as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician.  In 2005 he made his Proms début with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek, opened the Queen’s Hall series at the Edinburgh Festival and appeared with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields at the Barbican’s Mostly Mozart Festival.  This year he returned to the Edinburgh International Festival for the fourth time, appearing with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä as well as giving an extraordinary peformance of Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata and Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet.

During the last year Llyr Williams has appeared with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Hallé.  He performs regularly with Sinfonia Cymru and last autumn directed a Mozart Concerto from the keyboard as well as continuing the complete Beethoven Concerti series, culminating in 2006 with a 10th Anniversary Concert with Bryn Terfel.  Future plans include a tour of the United States with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, recitals throughout the UK including the Wigmore Hall on 30 March 2007, as well as concerts with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players.

In 2005 Llyr Williams was awarded the MIDEM Classique ‘Outstanding Young Artist Award’ in partnership with the International Artist Managers’ Association. His first commercial CD featuring Chopin’s Préludes was released in March 2006 on the Quartz label.

Born in 1976 in Pentrebychan, North Wales, Llyr Williams read music at Queen’s College, Oxford, graduating in 1998 with a first class alpha degree. He went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every prize and award.  From 2000-02 he was a ‘Shinn’ Fellow at the Academy, coaching singers and studying conducting.  He was also an active member of the Live Music Now! scheme for several years.  In 2002, Llyr Williams joined the Young Concert Artists Trust scheme.

Llyr Williams received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2004.

www.victoriarowsell.co.uk

Rebecca Evans

Rebecca Evans was born in South Wales and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, she has sung Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Così fan tutte), Nannetta (Falstaff) and Johanna (Sweeney Todd).  A regular guest at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, her roles there have included Ginevra (Ariodante), Nannetta, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito), Ilia (Idomeneo) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro).  Elsewhere she has sung Despina at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin; Ilia for the Netherlands Opera and for the Opera de Lausanne; the title role of ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ for Scottish Opera and Romilda (Xerxes), Ginevra and Governess (The Turn of the Screw) for ENO.  A favourite at the WNO, her roles there have included Mimi (La bohème), Pamina, Susanna, Ilia, Marzelline (Fidelio), Norina (Don Pasquale) Hero (Béatrice and Bénédict) and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel).

She has also established a major operatic career in America where she has sung Susanna and Zerlina for the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Susanna for the Santa Fe Opera; Pamina and Adèle (Die Fledermaus) for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Zerlina, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) and Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore) for San Francisco Opera.

Engagements this season include Zerlina at Covent Garden, her role debut as Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) and Mimi for WNO.  Her future plans include Ginevra in Oviedo, Governess at the ENO, Countess at the Ravinia Festival and Mimi at Covent Garden.

In concert she has appeared at the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals and she is a regular guest at the BBC Proms. She has sung with the San Francisco Symphony with Tilson Thomas, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Tate, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Mackerras, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra with Otaka. In Australia she has appeared at the Melbourne International Festival and on tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.  She has appeared in Gala Concerts with Bryn Terfel, Andrea Bocelli and with Luciano Pavarotti and she sang at the Gala Concert to celebrate the opening of the Welsh Assembly in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales. 

In recital, she has sung at the Wigmore Hall, London; and the Barcelona, Ravinia, Buxton, Belfast and Beaulieu-sur-Mer Festivals.

A Grammy Award winning artist, she has recorded prolifically including Marzelline, Pamina and Gretel with Sir Charles Mackerras, Ilia with David Parry and Laila with Brad Cohen (Chandos); Nanetta with Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Philips); a series of Gilbert and Sullivan recordings with Sir Charles Mackerras and a solo recording of Italian songs (EMI).  On television she has appeared on the BBC in ‘Maestro’, as Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) and as host of her own series ‘A Touch of Classics’.

Jiafeng Chen - “One of the world’s most gifted young violinists” – Pierre Amoyal

In December 2005, aged 18, Jiafeng Chen won 2nd Prize in the prestigious Sibelius Violin Competition, Helsinki, joining a distinguished list of previous prize-winners. This immediately led to accolades from the Finnish press and from such distinguished figures as Pierre Amoyal, Herman Krebbers and Tuomas Haapanen. It also led to engagements with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Paavo Berglund, with the Vaasa City Orchestra, and a recital in Hameenlinna, as well as invitations to perform in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, UK and South Africa.

Jiafeng is already building an international career after winning 1st Prize at the 9th Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland, with further prizes from the European Union Music Competition and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, and 2nd Prize at the 13th Menuhin International Violin Competition in Cardiff.

Born in Shanghai in 1987, Jiafeng Chen started to play the violin at the age of three. He studied with Prof. Peter Shixiang Zhang at the age of four. From 1996 to 2004, he studied with Prof. Jiyang Zhao and Prof. Lei Fang in the Music School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. During these years, he was awarded numerous scholarships. In 2002, he gave solo performances across the country of U.S.A.

In 2004 he moved to England to study at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and soon after was awarded from the Hattori Foundation and the Manoug Parikian Prize at the Musicians' Benevolent Fund String Awards in London. This led to an invitation to give his Wigmore Hall debut in December 2005.

He has participated in numerous music festivals and seasons including the BBC proms cycle of 2006 as a soloist when his recital was broadcast on BBC radio 3; the Lake District Music Festival, and the Shanghai 'Spring' International Music Festival. He has had numerous concerts throughout the world. He has also performed as soloist with many eminent orchestras and conductors including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Halle Orchestra (Rory Macdonald), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Petri Sakari), Tapiola Sinfonietta (Paavo Berglund) and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (John Storgards).

He has recently had masterclasses with Pierre Amoyal, Bruno Canino, Boris Garlitsky, Burkhard Godhoff, Eduard Grach, Tuomas Haapanen, Piotr Janowski, Herman Krebbers, Itzhak Perlman and Ruggiero Ricci.

Alongside his developing concert career, he is currently continuing his studies from September 2006 with Prof. Jan Repko at the Royal College of Music in London. He holds the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship.

Jiafeng plays a Nicolo Gagliano (Naples, 1751), kindly on loan from the Violin Syndicate owners.

Website: www.jiafengchen.com

William Stafford - Clarinet

William Stafford graduated from the University of Manchester in 2007 with a First Class Honours degree in music and from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2008, receiving the much-coveted Gold Medal, the highest award that the College offers for performance. William was subsequently offered a place at the Royal College of Music where he is now taught by Barnaby Robson, Richard Hosford, Bob Hill and Michael Harris. Previous teachers include Nicholas Cox, John Bradbury and Colin Pownall.

An experienced orchestral musician, William has worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and is currently on trial for the positions of principal clarinet with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra and RNCM Concert Orchestra, and has given recitals at various music clubs across the UK as part of the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme. A committed chamber musician, William has performed with the London Winds, and appeared alongside the legendary oboist, Maurice Bourgue, at London’s King’s Place.

Enabling him to fund his course of postgraduate study, William has received scholarships from the RCM, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund (Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Award) and the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund. Other awards include the Granada Prize for chamber music (RNCM), the Procter-Gregg Prize for performance (University of Manchester), and the Trevor Wye Prize for wind chamber music (RNCM)