Tait Chamber Orchestra – Page 2 – Tait Memorial Trust

Anna O'Brien, Violinist – The Tait Chamber Orchestra

Canberra-born Australian violinist, Anna O’Brien, is a recent Masters graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and is now pursuing a diverse career as a freelance orchestral and chamber musician. She has completed young artist professional development programs with the Manchester Camerata, the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Sydney Symphony, and performs regularly with her piano trio throughout the UK.

Anna will join the Tait Chamber Orchestra at our first concert at St John’s Smith Squate, Tuesday 9th December at 7.30pm

Book here

Ian Wildsmith, Horn – Tait Chamber Orchestra

Young Australian horn player, Ian Wildsmith will be playing 1st Horn in the Tait Chamber Orchestra. We are delighted to welcome this young Melbournian to our newly founded ensemble at our first concert at St John!s Smith Square, Tuesday 9th December 2014 at 7.30pm.

Questions and Answers with Australian Horn player, Ian Wildsmith
(From the RNCM website)

What were you doing before you came here, and why did you decide to apply to the RNCM?

Before I came to the RNCM, I was studying in Melbourne at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia. I had always wanted to study on this side of the world and did a whirlwind tour of English and German conservatoires with one of my high school friends in 2010, before settling on the RNCM.

What were your first impressions of the RNCM?

My first impressions were incredibly welcoming. I was able to sit down in the refectory and met a few then current French Horn students, who were very helpful in describing College life to me. I was also very impressed with the modern facilities and the wealth of programmes that were going on.

What’s a ‘typical’ day like?

It’s generally pretty full-on. In winter you often go into College before the sun rises and after the sun sets, it seems! You’re thrown into a myriad of musical ensembles in innumerable styles and situations. This is not to say that it’s all work and no play however. The College is very social and you can always find a friendly face for a coffee or a drink.

What’s your favourite aspect of being a student here?

I would probably say the depth and breadth of programmes I have participated in. From Symphony Orchestra to learning historically-informed performance practice on the hand horn, to intensive weekends featuring some of the most prominent composers of our time, the College provides you with training in all aspects of performance.

What are your main personal achievements since being at the RNCM?

Internally, I have been lucky enough to play principal horn with the Symphony Orchestra, performing ‘The Planets’ with Yan Pascal Tortelier and ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ with Sir Mark Elder.

Externally, I recently have been asked to play with the European Union Youth Orchestra. In the last year I was lucky enough to have participated in the London Sinfonietta Academy, the Deutsch-Skandinavische Jugend-Philharmonie and performed Mozart’s Horn Quintet on a Vacation Chamber Orchestra tour.

What do you plan to do after your studies here?

Ideally, I’d love to work in an orchestra, whilst hopefully having an active solo and chamber career. We will have to wait and see what happens though, I’ve still got a lot of time to spend in a practice room first!

Changing Feet – A musical exploration of changing pace

Kevin Penkin, Tait Scholar @KevinPenkin at the Royal College of Music 2013 & 2014 @RCMLatest has been commissioned by the Tait Memorial Trust to write an orchestral work for our Winter Prom @StJohnsSmithSq. He has decided to write a piece for flute and orchestra which he has entitled, Changing Feet. Conducted by Kelly Lovelady with Nicola Crowe, flute and The Tait Chamber Orchestra this will be one of the highlights of our showcase of Australian talent in the United Kingdom.

Changing Feet is about changing pace. Leaving the world’s most isolated city to live in one of the most industrious and compact environments requires a huge mental change. This piece tries to reflect not only the mentality of someone who grew up in Perth, but the experience of moving to London and ultimately returning home back to Australia. This work explores what one could miss of Perth, be it the silence, the space or the natural beauty.

Kevin Penkin composer. 29th September 2014

Listen to a sample of Kevin’s work on Soundcloud

We are delighted that Kevin has decided to write about a subject which is so close to many of us. The change of pace…the separation from friends and family is one of the most difficult things to adjust to when you make that leap over the pond. For our young artists who travel here on their own to unfamiliar surroundings without the comfort of their usual support networks this ‘change of feet’ has a real and tangible effect on the London experience.

Over the years the Trust have assisted over 250 young Australian performing artists who have made the leap of faith to study and work here in the UK. Part of of our role is to provide financial support but also to connect them with the network of Australian’s here in London who made a similar trip many years ago. Hopefully we ease the mental change which Kevin refers to. I think we can all remember the feelings we experienced when we first arrived. We are all very keen to hear how Kevin Penkin has

Nicola Crowe - Sir Charles Mackerras Chair — Nicola Crowe, flute – Sir Charles Mackerras Chair

Tait Awardee 2014, Nicola Crowe, flute and current holder of the Southbank Sinfonia, Sir Charles Mackerras Chair, will play the flute solo in Kevin’s new work.

Ádám Szabó , cello soloist – Tait Winter Prom

Ádám Szabó is playing with us in our Winter Prom @StJohnsSmithSq on Tuesday 9th December at 7.30pm. Adam and Yelian He will be centre stage in the second half when they play Giovanni Sollima’s, Violoncelles Vibrez! with the Tait Chamber Orchestra conducted by Kelly Lovelady

Book tickets here

Ádám was a Tait Awardee last year when he completed his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and this year is being supported again as he continues his studies with his teacher.

Listen to Ádám Szabó on Soundcloud

Biography – Ádám Szabó

Ádám Szabó enjoys a busy and varied career as a freelance orchestral player, chamber musician (as a member of the Darlinghurst Duo), and teacher. From December, Ádám will commence work on contract with Opera North as No. 2 Principal Cello; he is also currently on trial as a tutti member of the Hallé Orchestra. Appearances in 2014 include concerts at the Canberra International Music Festival with ACO2 and the Wallfisch Band, duo recitals in Manchester and London, and a full cycle of the Bach Cello Suites presented in association with the Swiss Church in London, to be performed early next year. In December, Ádám will perform Giovanni Sollima’s double cello concerto, Violincelles Vibrez, together with cellist Yelian He and the Tait Chamber Orchestra.

Currently based in Manchester, Ádám works regularly with Opera North, chamber orchestra Ruthless Jabiru (as principal cello), as well as with the Hallé Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ACO2. Other orchestras he has performed with include the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Chamber Opera, Australian World Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ádám was born in Sydney, and completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2010, under the guidance of Zoltán Szabó and Daniel Yeadon. Upon graduating from the Conservatorium, he was awarded a Sydney Symphony Orchestral Fellowship, after which he was engaged as a contract member of the orchestra. He continued his studies in the United Kingdom, moving to Manchester to study with internationally renowned cellist and pedagogue Hannah Roberts at the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating in 2014 with a Masters in Musi

Jakab Kaufmann – Bassoonist, Tait Chamber Orchestra

Australian bassoonist, Jakab Kaufmann is joining us at the Tait Winter Prom @StJohnsSmithSq Tuesday 9th December 2014 at 7.30pm. Jakab is continuing his studies in Switzerland with an internationally acclaimed historical bassoonist, Donna Agrell. We are delighted that Jakab will be a member of our all Australian ensemble.

Jakab Kaufmann
Bassoonist Jakab Kaufmann moved from Sydney to Basel, Switzerland in 2013 and began studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with renowned historical bassoonist Donna Agrell. He freelances with chamber ensembles and orchestras in Switzerland and the UK, playing baroque, classical and modern instruments. In August this year, he became a founding member of the London-based Ensemble Molière.

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