Programme - 27 April 2012

Galya Bisengalieva, a gifted violinist of Kazakh origin was born into a musical family and began playing at the age of 5. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music under Gyorgy Pauk with First Class Honours. Since being awarded scholarships by the Musicians Benevolent Fund and St. Marylebone Education Foundation Galya has been studying for her Masters degree at the Royal College of Music under Yossi Zivoni. Hailed for her dazzling and engaging platform manner, Galya has recently appeared as a soloist with orchestras in both Europe and Asia, performing concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bernstein and Bruch.  She is a deeply committed chamber and orchestral player, and has held the position of concertmaster in several orchestras, including the Symphony Orchestra of India, and the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra. She has furthermore performed as concertmaster under the baton of such illustrious conductors as Sir Colin Davis and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and appears as both soloist and orchestral player on disk2disk, EMI, Sony BMG, and Tocatta Classics labels. Galya recently performed alongside Dmitry Sitkovetsky In a critically acclaimed performance of Mendelssohn’s Octet and Dvorak’s String Trio. She plays on an Antonio Gagliano violin, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from Norman Rosenberg.

Robert Ames (b. 1985) is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied viola with Martin Outram. An advocate of new music, Robert has worked closely with many of today’s finest composers, including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Cole, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Robert has performed in numerous BBC broadcasts and played under some of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi and Sir Roger Norrington. Performances with the London Contemporary Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and London Symphony Orchestra include concerts at the Aldeburgh Festival, Luigi Nono: Fragments of Venice festival under Diego Masson and a performance of Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques conducted by George Benjamin.

He recently performed Colin Matthew’s ‘Four Moods’ at the BBC Proms which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and John Woolrich’s Ulysses Awakes at Latitude festival, both to critical acclaim. Robert is artistic director of the London Contemporary Orchestra. The orchestra was recently nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society ‘Audience Development Award.

Petr Limonov was born in 1984 in Moscow and started playing the piano at the age of 5. In 1991 he entered the Central Music School, where he studied under Siyavush Gadjiev and, later, Andrei Pisarev. After winning the First prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein piano competition in Paris 1998 he started giving concerts in Europe, Russia and Japan, sponsored by the Vladimir Spivakov International Foundation. In 2003 Petr was awarded a full international scholarship by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, which allowed him to continue his studies in the Royal Academy of Music under professor Hamish Milne and visiting professor Alexander Satz. Since then Petr took part in master classes given by Leslie Howard, Cristina Ortiz, Stephen Kovacevich, Stephen Hough and Vitaly Margulis. After graduating from RAM Petr continued his studies in Paris with  professor Ramzi Yassa, later winning the Third Prize in the International Jean Francaix piano competition (Paris, April 2009). In 2010 Petr returned to London to start his Masters program in the Royal College of Music under Dimitry Alexeev on a full scholarship.

Petr's notable appearances included the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, La Rogue d'Antheron festival (broadcast by Radio France Musique), Southbank Centre, Salle Cortot, Royal Opera House, a recital in Duke's Hall in presence of HRH Prince Charles, recordings for "Culture" television channel in Russia, recordings for radio in Hungary and Israel. His repertoire stretches from Orlando Gibbons to Carter.

Peteris Sokolovskis began the cello at the age of six with Lija Sudraba in Latvia and later studied at the Purcell School of Music with Alexander Boyarsky. He is currently in the final year of the BMus course at the RCM where he is continuing his studies with Alexander Boyarsky and received a Henry Wood Trust Award and a Martin Musical Scholarship. Peteris was the recipient of the Pierre Fournier Foundation’s Young Cellist Award and the Geoffrey Shaw Scholarship. In 2002, he won the Audience Prize in the International Tallin Young Musician competition, performing with the Tallin Chamber Orchestra. Peteris has participated in masterclasses with Bernard Greenhouse, Louise Hopkins and Robert Cohen. In 2010, he performed Villa-Lobos’s Jet Whistle with his sister Renate Sokolovska at the Royal Festival Hall. Last year, Peteris won the RCM Cello Competition and was selected to be an RCM Rising Stars, performing in a concert at Cadogan Hall. He is an active chamber musician and regularly performs new music. Peteris plays an Italian cello made by Matteo Goffriller, kindly on loan from the RCM.