SOPHIA ELGER saxophone
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Wednesday 15 May 2024Doors: 6.30pm
Concert: 7.30pm (70 minutes, no interval) Tickets: £25 Adults, £20 Concessions (Under 18 and full-time students) Tickets include a complimentary post-concert drink |
Programme
Paule Maurice (1910-1967)
Tableaux de Provence (1948-1955) I. Farandoulo di Chatouno II. Chansoun per ma Mio III. La Boumiano IV. Dis Alyscamps L'Amo Souspire V. Lou Cabridan Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Six Studies in English Folksong (1926) 1. Adagio (‘Lovely on the Water’) 2. Andante sostenuto (‘Spurn Point’) 3. Larghetto (‘Van Dieman’s Land’) 4. Lento (‘She Borrowed Some of her Mother’s Gold’) 5. Andante tranquillo (‘The Lady and the Dragon’) 6. Allegro vivace (‘As I walked over London Bridge') Béla Bartók (1881-1945) Three Hungarian Folksongs (1914-1918) 1. Rubato 2. L’istesso tempo 3. Poco vivo |
John Carmichael (b.1930)
Fêtes Champêtres (1989) I. Passepied II. Berceuse III. Rigaudon Stephen Lias (b.1961) Imaginary Folksongs (2011) I. High in the Andes II. Song of Light III. Magic Island IV. Titania’s Bower V. Bonnie-Bye VI. Three Jolly Pigeons |
Sophia Elger
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Sophia Elger is a British saxophonist. Her performances have been described as “captivating, exciting, and engaging” (Richard Ingham, CASS Magazine).
In 2023, Sophia received a Distinction in her Master of Music (in Performance) degree from the Royal College of Music, having studied with Kyle Horch. During her master’s degree, she was a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, an Ian Fleming Award holder, and the recipient of the Biddy Baxter and John Hosier Trust Award. She has received numerous prizes, including (in 2021) First Prize in the Jane Melber Saxophone Competition, Second Prize in the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain Competition, and Third Prize in the RCM Contemporary Competition (all instruments). In 2020, her saxophone quartet was awarded First Prize in the RCM Woodwind Ensemble Competition. At the end of 2023, Sophia was awarded Third Prize in the International Saxophone Academy Young Artist Competition. Sophia performs both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She is passionate about commissioning new works and performing pieces by contemporary composers. In addition, she has an interest in collaborative projects involving other creative disciplines. In 2022, Sophia became a Young Artist with the Musicians’ Company, a Hattori Foundation Senior Award Winner, a DEBUT Horizon Artist, and a Talent Unlimited Artist. She has created a repertoire of themed programmes: "Celebrating Women", "Classical Meets Jazz", "Duelling Dances", and "Inspirations". She regularly performs solo recitals with pianists Iain Clarke, Dina Duisen, and Kumi Matsuo, and has performed at London venues including St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, and the 1901 Arts Club. Sophia gave her debut concerto performance when she was 17, performing Alexander Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto with members of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at The Lighthouse Concert Hall, Poole. In 2021, she performed Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera with the RCM Symphony Orchestra after being placed Second in the RCM Concerto Competition 2020. This year, she is due to perform Sally Beamish’s second saxophone concerto, Under the Wing of the Rock, with the Sirius Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Sophia performs with The Tondo Duo and the Spirito Saxophone Quartet, as well as in mixed ensembles. She formed The Tondo Duo with guitarist Declan Hickey at the end of 2023. Recently, they gave the premiere a new commission, by composer Jack Gionis, at St John’s Smith Square. The Spirito Saxophone Quartet was formed at the end of 2022. Most recently, they took part in the London Brandenburg Festival with the Queens Park Singers, where they premiered A Musical Instrument by pianist and composer Hamish Brown. Last summer, Sophia participated in the London Sinfonietta Academy, giving the live premiere of Fragments by John Woolrich, and performing Bronze by Diana Burrell and Dark Crossing by Mark-Anthony Turnage as part of the ensemble. She is also a member of the Echo Ensemble. As well as being a musician, Sophia is a visual artist. In 2020, she directed a project that combined music with the visual arts, Five Figures. This was a collaborative project of her own conception, involving the commissioning of five composers to write a short solo saxophone piece based on five paintings that she had produced. Towards the end of 2024, Sophia will be taking part in an interdisciplinary project involving music, visual art, poetry, and dance, envisioned by composer Liz Dilnot Johnson. |
Dina Duisen |
Kazakh-British pianist Dina Duisen was born into a family of musicians in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She studied there and in the USA (Artist Diploma) before completing a Master of Arts Degree in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with Distinction.
She is a major prize-winner at many piano competitions, including the 29th International Piano Competition in Senigallia (Italy), the Shabyt International Competition, the National Competition of Kazakhstan, and the International Musician of the 21st Century Competition. Dina has participated in a number of international music festivals in Europe, the USA, and Asia. These include IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses and Open Chamber Music, Rome Music Festival, and the Oxford International Piano Festival. Dina has been selected twice (one of eight pianists) to participate in Sergei Babayan’s International Piano Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Dina gave the Asian premier of Mazurkas by British composer, Thomas Adès. She has been the resident class pianist for violin and viola classes at IMS Prussia Cove, Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, 6th Jiafeng Chen International Music Summer Course at St Hilda’s College, and New Virtuosi International Violin Masterclass at St Edward’s School in Oxford. Currently, she is working at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. Dina joined Sinfonia Cymru for Twisted Rhythms: Mark-Anthony Turnage Birthday Concert at the Vibrate Festival and played with the Mercury Quartet at George Enescu Festival. She has performed at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, at Milton Court, in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall. She also played at the 20th Anniversary Concert of the Oxford Piano Festival. In October 2018, she made her debut at Cadogan Hall in a dramatised concert ‘Byron: Angel & Outcast’ with actors Simon Russell Beale and Rob Heaps. The concert was performed in Kazakhstan in September, 2019. She was also ased to step in to play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at Cadogan Hall with the Pico Players orchestra. Dina works regularly with violinist Nicola Benedetti. Earlier this year, Dina made a recording of Bowen’s Sonata for viola and piano with Yoon-Kyung Shin followed by the tour in Italy. Dina has released her solo debut album Mazurkas from Chopin to Adès which was recorded at Kings Place with the Grammy-award winning producer Andrew Keener. |
Wednesday
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Doors: 6.30pm
Concert: 7.30pm (70 minutes, no interval) Tickets: £25 Adults, £20 Concessions (Under 18 and full-time students). Tickets include a complimentary post-concert drink |