FOCUS ON FAURÉ

Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a unique and distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. As a chamber musician, he has curated series for many of the world’s most famous festivals and venues, including the Wigmore Hall, the 92nd St Y in New York, and the Salzburg Festival.

The recipient of many awards, Steven Isserlis’s honours include a CBE in recognition of his services to music, the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, and the Piatigorsky Prize in the USA. He is also one of only two living cellists featured in Gramophone’s Hall of Fame. He gives most of his concerts on the Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music.

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Praised for “her mastery of phrasing and of the dramatic dimension” Diapason, “astonishing virtuosity“ Revelation Classiques and her “infinite delicacy” Le Populaire du centre, Irène has won multiple international competitions and is an active performer of concerti, recitals and chamber music.

In the 23/24 season, Irène will be recording two solo albums to be released by Capriccio. She will be performing at the Festival Aix en Provence in France and the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival in Australia. Over the 22/23 season Irène made her debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Sir András Schiff and as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Irène also made her debut with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and gave solo and chamber music recitals at Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie in Paris and across the UK.

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Roy Howat is internationally renowned as both pianist and scholar whose concerts, broadcasts and lectures regularly take him worldwide.  A graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, he made a special study of French music in Paris with Vlado Perlemuter, and is one of few British artists repeatedly invited to teach and play French music at major French-speaking Conservatoires and on French radio.  He is specially known for his lively lectures and masterclasses, which he has given worldwide at venues including the USA’s Juilliard and Eastman Schools.  In a wide-ranging career he has also conducted professionally, played violin in major London chamber orchestras, and held University posts in several countries.

A Steinway Artist, Roy Howat knows much of his concert repertoire from the composers’ manuscripts, and was one of the editors invited by the late François Lesure, along with Pierre Boulez and others, to found the Paris-based Complete Debussy Edition (Œuvres Complètes de Claude Debussy), for which he has edited much of the piano music.  Among his other publications are numerous Fauré Urtexts for Peters Edition, two seminal books (Debussy in proportion and The Art of French piano music), an English edition of Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger’s classic Chopin, pianist and teacher, and chapters in numerous other books on Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók and other topics.  His championship of Chabrier has led to recordings and a Dover edition of  Chabrier’s marvellous piano music.  He hold the posts of Keyboard Research Fellow at London’s Royal Academy of Music, and Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

Tom joined Music in the Round in 2015 and works with us alongside his career as a broadcaster on BBC Radio 3, currently presenting the station’s most popular programme Essential Classics. Tom grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and studied classical guitar with Craig Ogden at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he now also lectures. Tom also curates the new music series at Kettle’s Yard Art Gallery in Cambridge and is a member of the Artistic Sub-Committee at NMC Recordings.