London Cello Orchestra 2017 londoncelloorchestra.com Michaël Bialobroda Appointed Cello Soloist of the National Orchestra of Lorraine in 2015, Michaël graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique in Paris with the highest distinction. He subsequently participated in the Seiji Ozawa Academy where he performed chamber music under the direction of Ozawa at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Victoria Hall and the Louis Vuitton Foundation. As the winner of the Concours international du Festival musical d’automne de jeunes interprètes, Michaël was invited to perform cello concertos with a number of Parisian orchestras. He has also played with the New Europe Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de l’Oise. Michaël’s chamber music partners include David Kadouch, Ray Chen, Sergey Ostrovsky and the Rosamonde Quartet. Arthur Boutillier A graduate of the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music in London, Arthur started cello in his native Paris at age five. As a chamber musician, Arthur has performed at festivals around the UK and Europe. He has performed Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time at London’s Cadogan Hall and Barbican Hall, in Sweden for the Aurora Festival and more recently in Switzerland for Avigdor Classics. During 2015, he played with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of their development programme, and also with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. As a concerto soloist he has performed the Schumann Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Croydon Symphony Orchestra, the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Guildford Symphony Orchestra and the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra. Arthur is a member of teaching staff at the Oxford Cello School. Eun Cho Eun has appeared as concerto soloist with the Serbian Radio and TV Orchestra, Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, GMMFs Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic, Daegu Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Seoul Symphony and the Royal College of Music Symphony. She is a prize-winner at the Paul Harris International Music Competition, Tunbridge Wells International Competition and Great Mountain Music Festival Concerto Competition, and was a finalist at the Jeunesses Musicales International Competition in Serbia. Born in South Korea, Eun earned a Masters in Performance with distinction at the Royal College of Music in 2013, and completed her Artist Diploma there in 2014. Alongside her studies in London, Eun worked under Natalia Gutman at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy and at the Konservatorium Wien in Austria. Eun teaches at Royal College of Music as a deputy of Professor Alexander Boyarsky, and is co-director of Cello Project Korea, formed in 2015. Pedro da Silva Pedro was born in Portugual and started playing the cello at the Madeira Conservatory. He is now based in London. As an orchestral cellist he has worked with such conductors as Maxim Vengerov, Trevor Pinnock, Marin Alsop and Mark Elder, performing across the United Kingdom. Chamber music engagements have included a masterclass with Andras Keller at Wigmore Hall and a performance of the Mendelssohn Octet alongside the Doric String Quartet. Future projects include chamber music at the Marvão International Music Festival, and a performance of the complete Vivaldi Cello Sonatas in his hometown of Funchal. Pedro is completing his postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Guy Johnston. He has won the Academy’s Bach Prize for Cello and the Countess of Munster and Help Musicians UK awards. Karen French After graduating from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, Karen undertook a Masters Degree in Music Performance at the Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany. She also studied with Alisdair Tait, David Waterman, Krysia Osostowicz, Richard Ireland, Simon Rowland-Jones and Jackie Shave. Karen is now based in London as an orchestral and chamber musician. As a member of the Southbank Sinfonia she has performed with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the BBC Concert Orchestra and at the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House. As cellist of the Alke Quartet, Karen has appeared at Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, Bath Pump Rooms and the Barbican. The Alke Quartet has been a finalist in the St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition and the Royal Overseas League Competition. Alice Gott Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, Alice began the cello at age five. She was accepted into the class of Euan Murdoch as part of the “Young Musicians Programme” at the New Zealand School of Music and completed her undergraduate studies at age nineteen at the University of Canterbury under Edith Salzmann. She went on to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold under Xenia Jankovic. As cellist of the Lazarus String Quartet, Alice has won international prizes and scholarships, and has been accepted into the prestigious Masters Programme in Hanover with Oliver Wille. The Quartet, now based in Berlin, appears at such festivals as Heidelberger Frühling, Musikwoche Hitzacker and the Edinburgh Fringe. Aside from her quartet life, Alice resides in Amsterdam, where she is involved in other chamber music projects and plays with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Sonia Hammond As a scholarship student at the Birmingham School of Music (now the Birmingham Conservatoire), Sonia gained a First Class Honours BA in Music together with several performance diplomas, all with distinction. Postgraduate studies followed at the Royal College of Music in London. While in Birmingham, Sonia was invited to play for the Eurythmy School in Botton Village, North Yorkshire. Thus began an enduring association with Camphill Communities. Later, living in London, she recorded and toured with Barb Jungr, Ennui and Philip Kane. She played for Garden Opera in Europe and Kenya and with such orchestras as London Virtuosi, Moscow Ballet and English String Orchestra. Since moving to the Welsh Borders in 2006, Sonia has given concerts in the area as a member of the Castalia and Peregrine String Quartets and Principal Cellist of the Brecknock and St Woolos Sinfonias. She also plays with the Radnor Improvisers. Sonia recorded her first solo CD, Bach’s Suite No.1 for Solo Cello, in 2014. With Charlie Beresford she has recorded three albums of improvisations, and toured to Budapest and Vienna. Sibylle Hentschel Sibylle works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as Guest Principal Cello of Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Ulster Orchestra, and as Guest Co-principal of English Touring Opera. On the European Continent she has worked with the Hamburg Philharmonic, Hamburg State Opera, Copenhagen Philharmonic and Basel Chamber Orchestra. Sibylle recently performed the Dvořák Concerto and Haydn D major Concerto with St Paul’s Sinfonia in London, and during her student years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama was selected by the Swiss Foundation Habisreutinger as Principal Cello of a string sextet showcasing the foundation’s six Stradivarius instruments in festivals, chamber music series and radio broadcasts throughout Europe. Alma Hernan Alma was born in Spain and was eight years old when she discovered the cello and became entranced by it. She began her studies at the Centro Integrado de Música Padre Antonio Soler, from which she graduated with Honours and the Extraordinary Prize for Cello given by the Community of Madrid. Alma then moved to London to study with Louise Hopkins at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she gained her Bachelors Degree with Distinction. She also studied baroque cello with Joseph Crouch and worked with such conductors as Gianandrea Noseda, Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Alma has played in concert halls around Europe, including a tour as a soloist in Austria. She is passionate about chamber music and also multimedia arts, having been awarded a Collaborative Barbican prize to direct a music theatre performance staged at London’s Milton Court. Alma is now completing her Masters Degree in Basel, with Professor Rafael Rosenfeld. Will Hughes The youngest member of the London Cello Orchestra, appearing under the mentorship of the Arts Global Foundation, Will is studying cello performance at the University of North Texas. Formerly Principal Cellist of the Dallas Millennial Choir and Orchestra, he is the founder of the North Texas String Group, which provides musical services for the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex. His teachers to date include Janet Lattanzi, Nikola Ruzevic, Dobrila Berkovic-Magdalenic, Deborah Brooks, Elizabeth Morrow, Mark Motycka, Geoffrey Simon and Eugene Osadchy. Stanislas Kim Born in France, Stanislas received his first cello lessons from Marguerite Hauchecorne at the Conservatory in Courbevoie and later pursued solo studies with Dominique de Williencourt, Raphaël Pidoux and Philippe Müller. In 2010 he received his Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures and entered the class of Tilmann Wick at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover. Stanislas has also studied under David Geringas, Frans Helmerson, Natalia Gutman, Arto Noras, Jérôme Pernoo, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Jens Peter Maintz and Leonid Gorokhov. He has performed at the Grieg Festival in Bergen, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Bachtage Würzburg, and has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in several European and Asian countries. Stanislas has been a prizewinner at the International Brahms Competition in Austria and the International Hindemith Competition in Berlin. He has won the Maggini Foundation Award and Special Prize for his interpretation of Bach’s Cello Suites. With pianist Marie Rosa Günter he was a winner of the 8th Swedish International Competition and the 12e Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon. He holds scholarships from the Gundlach Foundation, the Peter Fuld Foundation and the Ottilie-Selbach-Redslob Stiftung. Stanislas plays a cello of the Vuillaume school, on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.