Soloists
CATHERINE LORD – Violin
Catherine Lord won an Associated Board Scholarship at the age of 16 and studied at the Royal College of Music with Hugh Bean and Jaroslav Vanacek. She gave many concerto and recital performances at this time, also winning all the prestigious prizes at the RCM including the Stoutzker Prize and the prize for the most outstanding string player. In 1979 she was awarded six scholarships to study with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School in New York. After graduation she worked as a concerto soloist both in Britain and the USA and after a period as Associate Concertmaster of the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and Professor of Violin at the University of New Orleans, Catherine returned to London to continue her performing career.
She has performed many of the great Violin Concerti with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and with the eminent conductors: Sir Charles Groves, Norman Del Mar, Richard Hickox and Christopher Adey. Leading American composer Eric Funk has written a new Violin Concerto for Catherine to be recorded with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and she has recently performed the Sibelius and Szymanowski concertos with orchestra. Catherine is also a founder member of Duo Concertante with solo double bassist, David Heyes, and the duo has commissioned many new works from several major composers as well as performing across the UK.
Alongside chamber music and solo recitals Catherine has taught at the Royal College of Music (JD) and the Guildhall School of Music and is presently Senior Violin Tutor at Wells Cathedral School - one of the four Specialist Music Schools in England.
DAVID HEYES - Double Bass
David studied at the Royal College of Music in London and later in Prague with the renowned soloist Frantisek Posta (Principal Bass, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). He is in demand as a soloist and teacher and has performed in 11 countries over the past five years. He was a juror at the 11th Gregora Double Bass Competition (Kromeriz), was the UK juror at the Brno Double Bass Competition in 2003 and was Jury Chairman for the 2008 Brno International Double Bass Compeition, held at the Janacek Academy of Music & Drama.
David teaches double bass at Wells Cathedral School and was Performer-in-Residence at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, having also taught at the Royal Academy of Music (JD). He is a founder member of Basso Bravura! (Soprano, Double Bass & Piano) and Duo Concertante with solo violinist, Catherine Lord, and has performed at leading venues and festival throughout Great Britain. David is a recipient of a prestigious award from the David Walter Charitable Trust of New York for his pioneering work as a soloist, teacher, publisher and commissioner of new music for double bass. He is particularly interested to expand the double bass repertoire, by commissioning new works and by rediscovering forgotten ones, and since 1990 more than 350 works have been written for him.
David has given recitals, masterclasses and workshops throughout Britain and abroad including America (University of Montana, University of North Texas), China (Central Conservatory, Beijing), Norway (Norewegian Academy of Music), Netherlands (Rotterdam Conservatoire), Spain (Palma Conservatoire, Inca School of Music), Portugal (Escola Superior de Musica, Porto) and Denmark (Carl Nielsen Academy). In recent years he has performed many new concertos with orchestra including works by Kevin Malone, Eric Funk, Tony Osborne, Judith Bailey, Stephen Latham and Miloslav Gajdos, and in recital has premiered works by Tony Osborne, David Ellis, Philip Cannon, Arthur Butterworth, John Alexander and Teppo Hauta-aho.
Concert and masterclass invitations in 2010/11 include America, Malaysia, China, Poland and Denmark.
SALLY STOCKS – Flute
Sally was born in England. She participated in several masterclasses given by James Galway and was a pupil of Elena Duran before entering the Royal College of Music at the age of seventeen, where she studied flute with Christpher Hyde-Smith and Graham Mayger and piano with Ruth Gerald.
Having embarked on a career as a soloist and a chamber musician, Sally emigrated to Australia where she was appointed Professor of Flute at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She has broadcast for the Australian Broadcasting Commission and Classic-FM (UK), recorded for AvanGuard = 'Rhapsody for Flute and Organ' (with Philip Matthias) and Guild 'Back to Bach' (with Hugh Webb-Harp).
She left Australia having been appointed Principal Flute in 'La Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria' and also performed with various chamber ensembles throughout her stay in the Canary Islands. Since her return to England in 1992 she has performed regularly with other international chamber musicians and as a soloist in various concerto performances.
Premieres include works by Martin Ellerby (British Music Information Centre), John Marson (Purcell Room) and Augusta Read-Thomas (St John's, Smith Square). Following a critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall concert with the same programme, her CD Cantilena' with pianist Paul Turner has been released on the Prologue label.
COSTAS FOTOPOULOS - Piano
Costas is based in London and works internationally as a concert and silent film pianist, and as a composer and arranger for film, the stage and the concert hall. He studied piano with Hamish Milne at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with First Class Honours and also obtaining a Master’s Degree with Distinction. For the third year of his Bachelor’s Degree he studied with Oxana Yablonskaya at the Juilliard School, New York. He has given many solo and chamber performances in this country as well as in Austria, Italy, America, Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria. His debut solo piano album was released in February 2009 under the JCL Records label, and features works by Rachmaninov as well as his own “Toccata”. He has also recorded solo and chamber repertoire for BBC Radio, as well as the piano solo work, Cross hands, for a CD of music by British composer Nicholas Sackman, released on the Metier label.
Costas regularly provides live improvisations to silent films at BFI Southbank and he has also accompanied films at other major British venues as well as in New York, Warsaw and northern Italy. In 2007 he provided a piano improvisation to sections of the Budget Speech, aired on BBC Radio 4.
In 2002 Costas completed his Master’s degree in the composition of music for film, television and multimedia at the Royal College of Music, passing with Distinction. Since then he has been composing original music for British short films, and has spent time working as an assistant to film composer Trevor Jones.
Costas continues to expand his portfolio of concert compositions: his new choral work, St Paul’s, is due to receive its world premiere at Guildhall, London in October 2009. Past performances include his Three Impressions (for accordion and piano), premiered at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Christmas Eve 2004, and his Elegiac Romance (for cello and piano) performed at the Wigmore Hall.
For more information about Costas please visit www.costasfotopoulos.com.