Sitkovetsky Trio

Haydn  Gipsy Trio
Smetana  The Smetana Trio in G minor Op.15 (programme change, previously it was Brahms Piano Trio No.2 in C major; posted on 13 July)
Mendelssohn  Trio in D minor

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The music of the Sitkovetsky Trio is absolutely sublime!
Moira Castell, Rougham

Another great concert from very talented artits. A splendid evening of superb music. We are very lucky to have this on our doorstep.
Chris Lamb, Lavenham

One of the two greatest performances of the past 11 years at Blackthorpe barn!! The other also led by Sasha Sitkovetsky - The Razumovsky.
John Castell, Rougham

The Smetana Piano Trio was played with full of passion.
James Watson, Whepstead

An exhilarating concert and the Smetana Piano Trio was a work new to even an old man like me.
Arthur Winchester, Stowmarket

Quotes

‘unbounded, tireless energy… Bravo!' The Strad April 2008

'their performance was reminiscent of the Beaux Arts Trio in its heyday' 
Independent Jan 2008

'Sonorously singing, drastically energetic, with immanent vehemence and riveting verve.' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Sep 2008

Biography

First prizewinner of the International Commerzbank Chamber Music Award 2008 and recipients of the NORDMETALL Chamber Music Award at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival 2009, The Sitkovetsky Trio is a collaboration between three young musicians who share a passion for Chamber Music. Having met and worked together at the Yehudi Menuhin School, they founded the trio in 2007 and have emerged as one of the outstanding trios of today, receiving numerous awards and critical acclaim. They have won the Philharmonia-Martin Chamber Music Award, the Kirckman Society Award, the Tillett Trust, and are supported by the Hattori Foundation, the Fidelio Trust, the Music Benevolent Fund and the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation. They held the Junior Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music 2007-2008 and in 2008-2009, the trio became the first recipients of the Golubovich Fellowship at the Trinity college of Music resulting in many performances across London. For 2009-2010, the trio will continue their residence at the Trinity, this time having received the Richard Cairnes Junior Fellowship for Chamber Music.

Last year, the trio made a highly successful Southbank debut, playing a recital in the Purcell Room, and was invited to play in front of Her Majesty the Queen in London. They made their debut appearance at the Wigmore Hall in November 2008 and another recital there in May, 2009. They have already been invited to give Recitals at various Festivals throughout the UK and abroad, in venues such as King’s Lynn, Brighton, St. George’s Bristol, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, the Bath Mozartfest, the Chamber hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. They also performed the Beethoven Triple on tour with the Orchestra of the Swan and the Munich Symphoniker in November 2009. All three musicians enjoy varied careers as soloists and chamber musicians in their own right.

Alexander Sitkovetsky, born in Moscow into a family with an established musical tradition, made his concerto debut at the age of eight and the same year came to study at the Menuhin School. Lord Menuhin was his inspiration throughout his school years and they performed together on several occasions including the Bach Double Concerto, Bartok Duos at St James’ Palace, and when Alexander played the Mendelssohn concerto under Menuhin’s baton.  He has gone on to perform in international music festival throughout Europe, has appeared in many famous halls not only in the UK (the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall and St. John’s Smith Square) but also in Israel, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA. Last season he toured with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in Bangkok, Bermuda, the USA, Japan and Europe. He made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra and featured as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestras.

Wu Qian, born in Shanghai, where she received her early training before coming to the Menuhin School at thirteen. At fifteen she performed Mozart’s concerto in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and again at the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. She also played the Saint-Saens Concerto No.2 with the Philharmonic Orchestra in St. Johns, Smith Square. She made her debut recital at the South Bank Purcell Room in 2000 and has since played there again on several occasions, including a recital broadcast by BBC Radio 3 the following year. Qian gave recitals throughout Europe including the Steinway Halls of Hamburg and New York, where her performance was broadcast throughout Asia. She has appeared in many of the UK’s major venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival and Bridgewater Halls, and she has made her debut recital in City Hall Hong Kong. She was selected by the Independent Newspaper as a “Rising Star” in 2007. Qian’s debut recording was released in April 2009 on the Dal Segno label to unanimous critical acclaim and she has recently performed with the Brussels Philharmonic and Carlos Kalmar and the Munchen Symphoniker

Leonard Elschenbroich, this year’s winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, has already received invitations for orchestral performances from international conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Semyon Bychkov, Fabio Luisi, Paavo Järvi, Manfred Honeck and Christoph Eschenbach, and as a chamber musician from Gidon Kremer, Katia & Marielle Labeque and from Anne-Sophie Mutter.  He has appeared as a recitalist in 18 European countries with pianists such as Marc-André Hamelin, Martin Helmchen and Anna Vinnitskaya. He has just recorded his debut CD for Naxos featuring works by Alfred Schnittke. Leonard has received awards from the Kronberg Academy, the EBU-Union and the Verbier Festival and is supported insensively by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation as their only cellist. He plays the `Leonard Rose’ Matteo Goffriller Cello.

(Posted 23 July 2010)