THE CHAMBER GROUP

The Chamber Group of the Competition: The LCO (London Chamber Orchestra) Chamber Group, formed as follows: Andrew Haveron (violin), Magnus Johnston (violin), Louise Williams (viola), Pierre Doumenge (cello)

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

We are proud to announce The Orchestra of the Competition: The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Guest concert master will be: Andrew Haveron

Edo de Waart - Artistic Director and Chief Conductor

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) is one of Asia’s leading orchestras. Enriching Hong Kong’s cultural life for over a century, the Orchestra has grown into a formidable ensemble of Chinese and international talents, attracting world-class artists to collaborate on its stage. The HKPO annually touches the lives of over 200,000 music lovers through more than 150 performances. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Edo de Waart, the HKPO continues to scale new heights in musical excellence.
From April 2006, The Swire Group Charitable Trust became the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Patron. Swire’s sponsorship of the HKPO, the largest in the ensemble’s history, supports artistic growth and development as the Orchestra takes its place on the world stage, and brings performances of musical excellence to the widest possible public.
The HKPO stays in tune with our city by presenting the Orchestra in unexpected venues and bringing the excitement of the concert experience to every home through radio and television broadcasts including the largest symphonic event of the year, Swire Symphony under the Stars, at Happy Valley. The Orchestra runs a comprehensive schools education programme, HSBC Insurance Creative Notes, bringing the joy of classical music to primary, secondary and special school kids. The Orchestra also collaborates regularly with other performing arts organisations such as Opera Hong Kong in addition to its crossover series with Western and Chinese pop artists.
The Orchestra also builds its reputation and raises its artistic standards by touring. In September 2010, de Waart and the HKPO returned to China, performing at the Expo 2010 Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing to critical acclaim.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

ANDREW HAVERON - violin

The highest British prize-winner at the prestigious ‘Paganini’ competition in the last fifty years, Andrew Haveron is one of the UK’s most sought after violinists. He was born in London in 1975 and took up the violin aged five. After studying at the Purcell School and London’s Royal College of Music, Andrew also took prizes at the ‘Queen Elisabeth’ and Indianapolis competitions.
As a soloist, Andrew has appeared with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, Kent Nagano, Stanislaw Skrowachewski, John Wilson, John Lubbock, Jean-Jacques Kanteroff, Darrell Davison and Raymond Leppard, performing a broad range of well known and less familiar repertoire.
In 1999 Andrew was appointed first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet. A busy schedule saw the quartet perform and broadcast in their unique style all over the world. Andrew recorded more than fifteen CDs with the quartet, many of which received industry awards such as “Diapason d’or” and “Choc du Monde”.
Since leaving the Brodsky Quartet Andrew has focused on his work as Concertmaster. Since being appointed Concertmaster of the BBC Symphony in 2007, Andrew has also been invited to play as Guest Leader with major symphony orchestras including the London Symphony and Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Royal Scottish National and the West Deutscher Rundfunk of Cologne. Andrew has also led the ‘World Orchestra for Peace’ at the request of conductor Valery Gergiev.
He has recently been appointed as Concertmaster of the Philharmonia Orchestra, a post he will take up during the 2011/12 season.
In 2004 Andrew received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Kent for his services to music.
Andrew plays on a Carlo Tononi violin made in 1709.

MAGNUS JOHNSTON - violin

Magnus Johnston began his musical education as a chorister of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. As head chorister of the choir of King’s College Cambridge, Magnus toured extensively at a young age, going on to win a scholarship to Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and later the Royal Northern College of Music where he studied with Christopher Rowland.
Magnus is recognised as one of the most distinguished chamber musicians of his generation. Magnus’ passion for chamber music led to the birth of the Aronowitz Ensemble, a unique chamber group of string sextet & piano. In November 2004 the ensemble made their debut performance to a sold out St John’s Smith Square, and have since enjoyed a busy touring schedule along with frequent live broadcasts & studio recordings for BBC Radio 3. Aside from his dedication to chamber music, Magnus has immersed himself in a variety of playing; from leading the Britten Sinfonia in Julian Phillips’ newly commissioned opera “The Yellow Sofa” at Glyndebourne, to recording the strings for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” and playing under Ennio Morricone in his recent soundtrack to the film“Nine”. Magnus has been the leader of the Navarra Strimg Quartet since 2010.
In 2003 Magnus won Second Prize in the London International String Quartet Competition as a member of the Johnston (now Elias) Quartet, and has since collaborated in a variety of chamber music projects with Ralph Kirshbaum, London Bridge Ensemble, Alison Balsom,Nicholas Daniel, András Keller, Chamber Domaine, Andrew Kennedy & Martin Lovett.
Notable recent performances include The Wigmore & Bridgewater Halls, The Aldeburgh, Bath & Cheltenham Festivals, and the BBC Proms. During the early days of the group, Magnus worked closely with Norbert Brainin of the Amadeus Quartet, and on later receiving an Abbado Trust Award was able to acquire one of Brainin’s bows on which he now plays. As a recording artist Magnus has recorded with the Aronowitz Ensemble & Gerald Finley for Hyperion (“Dover Beach” – Barber) and he joined Julius Drake & Gerald Finlay for their“ Romanzo Di Central Park” CD of songs by Charles Ives. The Aronowitz Ensemble have more recently recorded a CD of Vaughan Williams, Watkins & Elgar for Sonimage.
Magnus plays a Hieronymus Amati II (1693)

LOUISE WILLIAMS - viola

Louise Williams studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian and at the Juilliard School in New York with Ivan Galamian. She then became a founder member of the Endellion Quartet as its second violinist. After five years, she left music for a while to study organic horticulture in England and meditation in India.
On her return to music she switched to viola and joined the Chilingirian Quartet where she remained happily for 5 years, until the birth of 3 children. Since then she has worked part-time, but has nonetheless managed to be a member of the Raphael Ensemble, Arpege (a group comprising flute, harp, viola and horn), Contrasts, (a group with clarinet and piano in which she played violin and viola) and currently the Frith piano quartet. She has also played frequently as a guest with the Nash Ensemble, the Takacs Quartet and was the regular quintet partner of the Lindsays for 10 years until their retirement in 2005.
Louise has also enjoyed playing as guest principal with the Britten Sinfonia and Philharmonia orchestras, and playing in Andras Schiff’s orchestra “Cappella Andrea Barca”. She has recorded the complete Bartok and Dvorak Quartets with the Chilingirian Quartet, Mozart and Beethoven quintets with the Lindsays, Mendelssohn Quintets with the Raphael Ensemble and a CD of Bridge viola pieces with David Owen Norris.
This year included a cycle of the Beethoven violin sonatas with Kathron Sturrock, a recording with the Frith piano quartet and another recording of British music from the early 20th century with David Owen Norris.

PIERRE DOUMENGE - cello

French cellist Pierre Doumenge enjoys a busy career divided between solo work, chamber music and teaching. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the Dante String Quartet performing at major venues in Europe and making regular radio and commercial recordings. Pierre has also worked as guest principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Passionately fond of chamber music, Pierre regularly explores and performs the repertoire with artists such as Pascal Rogé, Lars Vogt, Daniel Hope, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, the Belcea and Allegri Quartets and the Nash Ensemble. He has appeared at many international festivals (Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Kuhmo, La Hague, Bucharest, Nuremberg, Bergstaden, Hindsgalv, Genève), and frequently attends the Open Chamber Music sessions at IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, joining their tour of England in 2003. Pierre is also a regular performer at the Joy of Music Festival in Hong Kong. He has recorded for the Dutton, Meridian and Hyperion labels to great critical acclaim. He was chosen to be the official cellist of the 2008 Menuhin International Violin Competition, playing the Ravel Sonata with the nine semi-finalists.
Pierre taught cello and chamber music at the Yehudi Menuhin School from 2003-2009 and is a cello professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. He gives annual masterclasses at the Oxford Cello School, the International Cello Courses UK, the Violoncello Society of London, the West Helsinki Music Institute (Finland), the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Belgium) and the Szymon Goldberg Seminars in Toyama (Japan).