Julian Bream festival program

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

85YEARS

A tribute to Julian Bream

An initiative of guitar professor Antigoni Goni and the KCB research department

program 29/30/31 MARCH 2019

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

85years.

A tribute to Julian Bream

29/30/31 MARCH 2019

Photo by Eamonn Mc Cabe

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

Contents Welcome Schedule Concert Programs Biographies

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

Dear friends and music lovers!

It is with great pride and joy that I welcome you to a collaboration between the Guitar and the Research departments of the Koninklijk Conservatory of Music, celebrating the eighty-fifth anniversary of a living legend of the music world: Julian Bream.

My relationship with the art of Julian Bream has always been very personal. When I was a teenager, my friends and peers idolized the Cure and Queen. I, instead, adored Julian Bream’s music. From the very moment I listened for the first time to his Music of Spain album in 1983, I was mesmerized.

Time has passed, but the power of the connection I felt many years ago has not weakened. I am still enthralled by Julian Bream’s incredible sense of timing, his immense color palette, his uncompromising personality, and his visionary mission of building a twentieth-century repertoire for the classical guitar.

All through the past year, our students researched and became familiar with the repertoire inspired and commissioned by Julian Bream, and, between 29 and 31 March, the Koninklijk Conservatorium will present a series of exquisite concerts, master classes, and lectures showcasing these works.

Join us to celebrate a living legend and, with him, our fantastic instrument.

Antigoni Goni Head of Guitar, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

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Schedule

THURSDAY, March 28

11.00h -19.30h - KLEINE CONCERTZAAL / KCB

Guitar Students’ Recital Temple, Kleine Zavel 5

20:00

A recital featuring works written or commissioned by Julian Bream, with music

by Hans Werner Henze, Lennox Berkeley, Alan Rawsthorne, and Thomas Eastwood.

FRIDAY, March 29 Laura Snowden Masterclass Room 267, Kleine Zavel 5

17:00 - 20:00

SATURDAY, March 30 Laura Snowden Masterclass Room 267, Kleine Zavel 5

10:00 - 13:00 & 14:30 - 16:30

Roundtable Discussion Temple, Kleine Zavel 5

18:00

With Michael Lewin, Antigoni Goni, and Graham Wade in collaboration with the Julian Bream Foundation.

KCB Guitar Students’ Recital Temple, Kleine Zavel 5

20:00

A recital featuring works written or commissioned by Julian Bream.

With music by Reginald Smith Brindle, Roberto Gerhard, Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold, and Lennox Berkeley.

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SUNDAY, March 31

11.00h -19.30h - KLEINE CONCERTZAAL / KCB

CONCERT Grote Zaal,

Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

11:00

Andrea Dieci, Belgian Debut Recital Opening act: Maarten Vandenbemden (Belgium) with the KCB Contemporary Ensemble, conducted by Bart Bouckaert

CONCERT Grote Zaal,

Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

11:00

Laura Snowden, Belgian Debut Recital Opening act: Yiannis Efstathopoulos

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Concert Programs THURSDAY, March 28 KCB Guitar Students’ Recital Temple, Kleine Zavel 5

20:00

For the occasion of this festival, students at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels have each chosen a part of Bream’s musical legacy to highlight.

In this recital Thomas Bogaert, Flore Heirbout, Pjotr Demulder, and Giorgos Kakitsis perform classics such as Hans Werner Henze’s Drei Tentos and Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina, as well as two forgotten gems by Alan Rawsthorne and Thomas Eastwood. As an introduction to the performance, the students will present insights gained from their research on these works.

SATURDAY, March 30 KCB Guitar Students’ Recital Temple, Kleine Zavel 5

20:00

For the occasion of this festival, students at the Royal Conservervatory of Brussels have each chosen a part of Bream’s musical legacy to highlight.

In this recital Marta Marchetti, Cedric Honings, Maria Bastida Abril, and Alexander Kryuchkov perform music by Reginald Smith Brindle, Lennox Berkeley, Roberto Gerhard, Benjamin Britten, and Malcolm Arnold.

As an introduction to the performance, the students will present insights gained from their research on these works.

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SUNDAY, March 31 CONCERT Grote Zaal,

Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

20:00

Maarten Vandenbemden (Belgium) Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012) Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Ensemble (Belgian Premiere) Conductor, Bart Bouckaert KCB Contemporary Ensemble I. Lento e rubato, vivo II. Andante lento III. Con brio Tim Mulleman

Drei Tientos (premiere)

Andrea Dieci (Italy) Belgian Debut Recital Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012)

Royal Winter Music: First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters (1975/76)

Gloucester Romeo and Juliet Ariel Ophelia Touchstone, Audrey and William Oberon Toru Takemitsu (1939–1996)

All in Twilight: Four Pieces for Guitar (1987)

I. II. Dark III. IV. Slightly Fast 85 years. A tribute to Julian Bream

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Program notes The guitar holds a special place in the oeuvre of the composers on this program.

For Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu it was career-long companion, from his early thirties up to his very latest works. Of his nine works for solo guitar, All in Twilight is perhaps the finest. It was written for Julian Bream in 1987, and shows the composer as we know him best: masterfully interweaving the colorism of Debussy and Messiaen; the attention to space between sonic events found in Japanese folk music; and (in the last movement) the indelible memory of jazz heard on the American military radio during the Second World War. ••• Hans Werner Henze wrote three works for solo guitar, all commissioned by Julian Bream. Royal Winter Music is the first of two eponymous sonatas on Shakespearean characters. Its impetus was Bream’s half joking request for a sonata that could compare in scale to Beethoven’s Hammerklavier. Bream’s brilliant creative influence is clearly felt in the result, especially when compared to the second sonata—which was edited much more sparingly by Reinbert Evers. Indeed, Henze wrote the collaboration with Bream gave him “a new conception of how to write for an instrument with a rich tradition.”

The idea of transposing into music the drama of some of Shakespeare's plays can be seen as typical of the way Henze often found inspiration for instrumental pieces in poetic texts. This approach certainly called for a degree of versatility and expressive variety in the guitar that transcended previous experience. To understand how Henze set about his compositions, suffice it to examine the first movement of the Royal Winter Music, which derived from Richard III's famous monologue: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York." Richard, Duke of Gloucester approaches on stage, turning in vexation towards the audience. He hates his relatives, the York family, who now enjoy peace, having have beaten the Lancasters and placed Edward IV on the throne. The violent incipit of the movement conjures up the figure of Gloucester in almost tangible terms. The idle existence of the ruling family is represented by the lone sound of a lute in a lady's boudoir, creating a contrast between the bellicose atmosphere of the first subject and the liquid, iridescent notes of the stringed instrument. Another highly aggressive subject is then introduced, expressing Gloucester's desire for power. As Henze himself pointed out, these

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elements together create a sonata, to which further traits are added in the shape of drumming on the body that evokes an atmosphere of threat: Gloucester's cunning moves aimed at overthrowing his family members and seizing power. The piece ends with drumming that saturates the acoustical space, annihilating the music, and perhaps hinting at the death of King Richard III in the final battle, when he cries out in desperation: "A horse, my kingdom for a horse!" In this composition Henze manages to do more than simply portray a character: he uses the music to express in dramatic terms the man's violent opposition to the world.

In Romeo and Juliet, two lines of melody interweave in dialogue, mirroring the famous balcony scene in the play. A magnetic force seems to attract the two lines, which respond to each other by reversing the intervals, or chasing after each other as though drawn by a common goal. In this work Henze makes liberal use of dodecaphonic series, revealing the evocative power he attributes to individual intervals in music: the fourths and fifths that mime the spoken word, wider intervals that suggest variously emphatic actions and gestures, and narrow intervals that express subtlety of mood (a touch of sadness, a smile). The nocturnal character of the dialogue is voiced by faint sounds that towards the end suddenly acquire greater verve.

As the name suggests, Ariel in The Tempest stands for the spirit of the air, of flight and magical transformation. Henze conjures this up by means of a “motto� created by a chain of soaring triplets, and then proceeds to change the musical idiom, moving from the chords in fourths toward an expanded tonality. Hitherto, the scene has been dominated by human endeavor; specifically that of Gloucester with his desire for revenge, and thus the creation of disharmony by means of dissonance. By contrast, Ariel leads us back to nature. The illusions magically conjured up to trick visitors to the island, like the changeable movement of the wind, relate to a higher order, expressed here by the choice of tonality. The bewitching effect is created by means of a simple monodic singsong, interposed between gusts of notes that evoke flight. Henze talks about a "theatre of spirits of the air"; the harmonic sounds, often mixed with real notes, evoke this iridescent sound universe, underlining its separation from the real world.

Ophelia goes mad when Hamlet kills her father Polonius, appearing on stage singing fragments of folksongs. The Queen sings of how she died, going down to the brook and sliding into the water close to a willow tree, letting herself go under as she continued her song. The ethereal innocence, of her singing permeates the whole piece, first heralded in monodic form, and then returning above a subdued accompa85 years. A tribute to Julian Bream

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Henze suggests the popular nature of the song by attacking each phrase with a rising third. The accompaniment evokes water, an ambiguous substance that becomes a vehicle of death.

Touchstone, Audrey, and William are three minor characters in the comedy As You Like It, and it is their job to invest the Winter Music with a comic register. Touchstone is the fool, who expresses himself in paradoxes but ultimately proves to be much more sensible than the noble protagonists, who devote themselves to the pastoral life. He decides to marry Audrey, a goodly peasant lass who is sincere but uncomely. To achieve his aim he roughly gets rid of her peasant swain, William. Henze evokes the different characters in separate sections: Touchstone appears on the scene with a whimsical, shambling gait; Audrey in a lightly sketched waltz; and William with an interlude dotted with rhythmical ostinato. Toward the end, in a parody of battle, there is a violent dispute between Touchstone and William to win Audrey's hand. Astounding in its mimetic range, the music provides us with a portrait of Touchstone that is full of caprice, with little fanfares that become quite violent in the final showdown.

Despite the parody of tonality that accompanies these fanfares, the 3/4 tempo is constant throughout, which invests the piece with a sense of unity.

"The epilogue is expressed through Oberon, who is placid and reconciled, as if nature had been subdued by Man." With these words Henze explains that Winter Music should be perceived as a unitary piece that starts with violent discord (in the shape of Gloucester), but ultimately achieves a higher form of harmony. It is the task of Oberon, the King of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, to impose order on the intricate amorous intrigues of the volatile spirit Puck. Rich and magniloquent in tone, the music regarding Oberon is varied and changeable. Because it embodies a synthesis of tragedy and comedy, of the human and the supernatural, it has a cathartic role in relation to the whole sonata. Moreover, it also contains allusions to earlier events associated with other characters, which return in this context invested with new meaning: °Ophelia's sweet, slow melodies; Audrey's ironically accentuated grace notes; Gloucester's explosive expressions; Ariel's harmonics. With this latter character Henze creates a complementary relationship with Oberon, whereby the two figures refer to the air and dominate the elements. Ariel is Prospero's slave, however, and only Oberon is fully master of his magic.

The Royal Winter Music was premiered by Julian Bream on 10 September 1976 at the Berliner Festwochen.

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••• Like Henze, Bennett was an eclectic spirit. Despite his great admiration for the giants of Darmstadt, he never adopted their idealistic rigor. Instead he sought for a way to reconcile the serial approach with the influences from his musical double-life as a jazz pianist and film composer. In the case of this Concerto for guitar and orchestra, the result is an adaptive modernism, which combines the legacy of the second Viennese School with Elgarian lyricism; impressionist sensualism; a rhythmic angularity reminiscent of Stravinsky; and occasional jazzy indulgence.

Tim Mulleman’s Drei Tientos echo the spirit of the eponymous work by Henze.

Mulleman plays with its structural and harmonic elements, and—much like Henze with Bream—worked in closely with guitarist Maarten Vandenbemden during his creative process. The three movements that result each give a different perspective on the work’s germinal material. The first tiento presents central motives and harmonic cells in a rhetorical prelude with two contrasting parts. The second movement displays them in more perturbed light, with quick gestures and sharp chords. The many fast glissandi that at first give the piece an almost oriental touch slowly gain the upper hand and drive the movement to a discombobulated close. The last tiento starts out steadily with percussive ‘tambora’ chords, but this stability is short-lived, as textures and playing techniques gradually evolve. Peace returns when serene spirit of the first tiento reappears to bring the work to its conclusion

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Concert Programs SUNDAY, March 31 CONCERT Yiannis Efstathopoulos Frank Martin (1890–1974) I. Prélude II. II. Air III. III. Plainte IV. IV. Gigue Roberto Gerhard (1896–1970)

Quatre Pieces Breves

Fantasia

Federico Mompou (1893–1987) La Barca

Laura Snowden Belgian Debut Recital Fernando Sor (1778–1839) (arr. Bream)

Introduction and Variations on a theme by Mozart Op. 9

Olli Mustonen (b. 1967) I. Drammatico, con rubato II. Misterioso, con rubato III. Con fuoco

Sonata No. 2 (2016)

Laura Snowden (b. 1989)

Anpao

Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989) Sonatina Op. 52, No. 1 I. Allegro II. Lento III. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

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Program notes

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Swiss composer Frank Martin wrote Quatre Pièces Brèves for Andrés Segovia in 1933.

Segovia himself never performed the work. Instead we have the 1966 release of Julian Bream’s iconic album 20th Century Guitar to thank for the wide recognition this work enjoys today.

Quatre Pièces Brèves also contains some of Martin’s earliest exploration of twelve tone technique. He found “they offer to the composer who feels the necessity of renewing his language a path of guidance and a new law.” Schönberg’s innovations are loosely combined with a strong sence of tonal centre and traditional musical forms. Placed amidst these agents of nostalgia they lend to the work a sense of unease that seems almost to presage the global catastrophy put into motion by the political developments in neighbouring Germany.

Martin’s masterpiece is paired with short gems by Catalan composers Roberto Gerhard and Federico Mompou. Gerhard’s Fantasia was written at the behest for Julian Bream in 1957. The composer aligned himself with the likes of Bartok and Stravinsky, combining deep roots in folklore with modernist developments. Although Fantasia does not exhibit the avant garde complexity of his more famous works of the period (Symphony no.2 and Nonet), it transplants the folk idiom of the spanish guitar into the pantonal realm with virtuosic ease.

Despite their styistic differences Mompou was a close friend to Gerhard, and a fellow member of the Grup dels Vuit. The short and sweet “La Barca” is the sixth of his Impressiones Intimas for solo piano, which were written when Mompou was a young student in Paris, and are heavy with the influence of Debussy. It was the first work by Mompou to be performed on the guitar.

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Program notes ••• Our celebration of the Bream legacy concludes with an evening of music from the young artist hand-picked by Julian Bream to continue his legacy: Laura Snowden.

Introduction and Variations on a theme by Mozart op. 9

Fernando Sor (1778-1839)

Fernando Sor was a Catalan guitarist and composer. He is known especially for his didactic guitar material, but alongside his wonderful music for guitar solo and duo, he also wrote songs, string quartets, symphonies and even ballets! He acknowledged Haydn and Mozart as his musical influences and this delightful set of variations on a theme from The Magic Flute is one of his most popular pieces.

Sonata no 2 (2016)

Olli Mustonen (b.1967)

Julian Bream has continued to commission new works from composers in recent years through his Julian Bream Trust series at Wigmore Hall. New works by Birtwistle and Brouwer were premiered in 2013 by Andrey Lebedev, and I premiered Catalan Peasant with Guitar (2015) by Julian Anderson as well as this Sonata by Olli Mustonen in 2017.

Olli writes : ‘My relationship as composer with the guitar started in 2004, when my friend and neighbour, the Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen commissioned a work that became a Sonata for solo guitar, "Jehkin Iivana". About ten years later I received a very interesting letter from Julian Bream - he had heard the piano version of "Jehkin Iivana" played by me broadcast by the BBC and wanted to commission a new work for solo guitar. Naturally, I found this idea very inspiring and, as a result of all this, composed my 2nd Sonata for solo guitar.

Unlike its predecessor "Jehkin Iivana", which draws its inspiration from the world of Finnish myths and the ancient tradition of poet singers, the sources of the 2nd Sonata are more abstract. The first movement starts with dissonant intervals, full of drama and conflict - other important musical elements are consecutive fourths, recurring quintuplets and repeated, meditative and shamanistic chords. The movement ends with quiet, mysterious chords and the quintuplet motive remains, this time quiet, but reminding of the unresolved conflict. The second movement starts with a plaintive chant - as if the guitar has been left alone in the forest - and has a dream-like atmos-

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phere. After a nightmarish episode more hopeful music suddenly starts to appear. The ancient spirits of the forest are singing, first in a quiet and mysterious way, but soon gaining in strength, giving hope. In the last movement the guitar returns to fight its tormentors from the first movement with renewed energy. The dissonant chords, fourths and quintuplets take new forms in this movement and the guitar fights its way heroically through all obstacles to a triumphant end.’

Anpao

Laura Snowden (b. 1989)

I wrote this piece in Spring 2015 for a first performance at St John’s Smith Square. I first played at St John’s for a concert of music by John Tavener. There was something spiritual about the hall – a contemplative space which encouraged listening to the sound itself and to the silence between notes. It was perfect for John Tavener’s music.

With this in mind, I wrote a meditative piece of music in which the sounds themselves – and the silences - were important. I have always had a fondness for some of the high-pitched natural harmonics on the guitar, which I find can have rather a melancholy quality, so I have made use of these throughout the piece.

Sonatina op 52, no 1

Lennox Berkeley (1903 – 1989)

One of the earliest Julian Bream commissions was the Sonatina by British composer Lennox Berkeley, premiered in 1958. At the time of writing, Berkeley was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, a post he held for over twenty years, teaching David Bedford, Richard Rodney Bennett, Nicholas Maw and John Tavener. Of both French ancestry and temperament, Berkeley studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger from 1927 to 1932. The Sonatina owes as much to his French contemporaries (Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc, both close friends, and Gabriel Fauré) as to his British contemporaries and predecessors (Ralph Vaughan Williams, Tippett and Edward Elgar).

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Andrea Dieci

Michael Lewin

Antigoni Goni

Yiannis Efstathopoulos Laura Snowden

Maarten Vandenbemden

Graham Wade

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Biographies

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Andrea Dieci Andrea Dieci graduated cum laude with special distinction at the Verdi Conservatoire of Milan. He studied with Oscar Ghiglia at the summer Classes held at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (always with Diploma of Merit distinction) and at the Musikakademie in Basel, Switzerland, where he earned the “Solistendiplom.” He has also attended masterclasses with Julian Bream.

He has won first prize in the International Competition of Gargnano, the International Competition of Lagonegro (dedicated to twentieth-century guitar music) and the De Bonis International Competition of Cosenza. Moreover, he was awarded a Special Prize at the ARD-Musikwettbewerb held in Munich in 1989. Andrea Dieci has been described as “an impressive guitarist” by the Times Herald and “a true star of the classical guitar” by Corriere della Sera. He has performed extensively for prestigious music societies all over Europe, in the USA, and in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. He has appeared at such famous events as the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the Festival of the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), the Singapore International Festival, and at music festivals in Milan, Madrid, London, Athens, Istanbul, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, among others. He has premièred several pieces dedicated to him by contemporary composers. Mr Dieci’s performances have been broadcast by major radio and TV companies including Italian Radio-Television (RAI), Vatican Radio, Radio Nacional Española, Swiss-Italian Radio-Television, Euroradio, and the BBC. His thirteen CDs, released under MAP, Nuova Era, Bèrben, DotGuitar, and Brilliant Classics labels, include a CD of Manuel Ponce’s guitar music and albums dedicated to Nicola Jappelli, Astor Piazzolla (two CDs with violinist Piercarlo Sacco), Mauro Giuliani (music for violin and guitar, with P. Sacco), and Fernando Sor (complete sonatas for guitar). He has recorded the complete works for solo guitar by Toru Takemitsu (MAP, 2004, awarded the “Golden Guitar” 2005 for the best CD of the year at the International Guitar Convention of Alessandria), Heitor Villa-Lobos (MAP, 2009) and Hans Werner Henze (Brilliant Classics, 2016, awarded the “Golden Guitar” 2017 for the best CD of the year at the International Guitar Convention of Alessandria). He is the only guitarist to have recorded the complete solo works by these three important composers. His latest solo CD is a completely new recording of Takemitsu’s complete works for solo guitar (Brilliant Classics, 2018).

In addition to being in demand as a performer, Dieci is also a renowned teacher. He has presented masterclasses at important music institutions throughout Europe and in Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, and the USA. He is currently based at the Vecchi-Tonelli Conservatoire in Modena, also teaching yearly masterclasses at the Regondi Guitar Academy in Milan.

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Yiannis Efstathopoulos

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The Greek guitarist Yiannis Efstathopoulos is a passionate performer and researcher of Spanish music who has performed and lectured in major concert halls, festivals, and conferences in Europe, the UK, Australia and China.

His studies have included classical guitar, early plucked instruments, music writing, and world music at the University of Macedonia-Music Science and Art, State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, and Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, as well as at the legendary academies of Academia Chigiana in Siena and Catedra Cervera “Emilio Pujol.”

Historically inspired performance practice is the topic which has been at the heart of his activity in recent years. After an intense research and analysis of the guitar school’s evolution he is presenting the rediscovery of the historical Spanish-romantic guitar on period instruments and strings. As a PhD candidate of the Free University of Brussels (VUB) he is completing his thesis on the repertoire of the late Romantic period until the end of World War II, dealing with topics related to the Spanish Generation ‘27.

Since 2014 he has worked as an assistant researcher-teacher at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and also teaches at the Instituto Cervantes Bruselas.

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Antigoni Goni Universally praised for her profound artistic sensitivity, her exquisite sound, and her unmatched palette of colors and dynamics, Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni is internationally acclaimed as a true ambassador of the guitar and a sought-after pedagogue.

Her career blossomed in the mid-nineties after winning the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, which resulted in some sixty-five concerts in North America and a contract with Naxos Records. Since then she has performed virtually everywhere, in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Covent Garden and Wigmore Hall in London, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Acropolis (Athens), the Philharmonic and the Cappella Sale in St. Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in New York, to mention just a few.

Her highly successful recordings for the Naxos, Koch, and Timespan labels have been praised for being "expressively poetic and technically exciting" and have been received with great enthusiasm by the international musical community.

Her latest CD, Hymn to the Muse, is a collection of original works and transcriptions directly inspired by Greek culture and heritage. Italian Magazine DOT Guitar calls it “an exceptional recording which confirms without doubt Antigoni Goni as one of the greatest performers of the guitar on the world stage.”

Goni is the founder of the guitar department at the pre-college division of Juilliard School of Music of New York, where she taught for ten years.

Since 2005 Antigoni Goni has been professor of guitar at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) and a member of its Artistic Committee. In April 2015, the Royal Conservatory named her “Professor of the Year,” making her the youngest professor ever presented with the Madame de la Hault prize, awarded by the Brussels Royal Conservatory’s “Patrimonium.”

She is the creator of the Brussels Guitar Laboratory (a collaboration with the research department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels) and the founder and artistic director of the Volterra Project, Summer Guitar Institute. This innovative classical guitar workshop was created in 2007, and each summer since has gathered in Tuscany (Italy), bringing together international students and professionals of the highest caliber for ten days of intense study and inspired performances.

Antigoni Goni records on a 1989 José Romanillos guitar and performs on a 2012 Andrea Tacchi Guitar.

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Michael Lewin

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Michael Lewin studied with Hector Quine at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and later in Spain with José Tomás. As a guitarist and lutenist he has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, La Piccola Scala (Milan) and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and has broadcast on major networks in the UK and abroad. In addition to solo concerts, he has played with leading chamber groups and orchestras, appearing at festivals such as Bath, Bergen, Edinburgh, Flanders, Göttingen and Venice, as well as at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. He has also made a number of recordings, notably with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists under their conductor, Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Since becoming a professor at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in 1977, he has devoted an increasing amount of time to educational work. In 1987 he was appointed head of guitar studies by the RAM, a department from which a stream of outstanding musicians has emerged, including Mark Ashford, Antigoni Goni, Miloš Karadaglić, Elizabeth Kenny, Gary Ryan, Fabio Zanon, Xuefei Yang, and the Eden/Stell and Katona Duos, as well as the composer Stephen Goss and the Tetra and Vida Quartets. In recent years international prize-winners such as Rafael Aguirre, Srdjan Bulat, Mircea Gogoncea, Andrey Lebedev, Giacomo Susani, and Emmanuel Sowicz have come to the RAM to complete their advanced studies with him. One of the key features of the academy’s guitar course, led by Michael Lewin, has been its close involvement in special events attended by such distinguished composers as Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Stephen Dodgson, Franco Donatoni, Georg Friedrich Haas, Hans Werner Henze, Nicholas Maw, Peter Maxwell Davies, and its prestigious series of masterclasses and workshops given by many of the world’s most famous guitar virtuosi, among whom may be listed Julian Bream, John Williams, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Edoardo Catemario, Oscar Ghiglia, Tilman Hoppstock, David Starobin, the Assad Duo, and the Los Angeles Quartet.

A regular adjudicator at national and international competitions, he has examined for all the main UK conservatoires. In 1990 he co-founded the European Guitar Teachers’ Association (UK) and was its chairman from 1999-2001, meanwhile also being vice-president of the international EGTA from 1996-2006. In 2007 he was invited to make a return visit to teach at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and has given masterclasses at the Sibelius Academy (2008), the Paris Conservatoire CNSMDP (2009), the ‘Suonarte’ summer course in Scandiano, Italy (2008/2009), the Koblenz International Guitar Festival (2010), the Campos do Jordão International Music Festival in Brazil (2011), the University of Bologna (2012) and Torrita di Siena (2013-2016).

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This year sees the inauguration of his major project, the New Elizabethan Award (www.wcom.org.uk/new-elizabethan-award) for the performance on lute and guitar, solo or in ensemble, of music by composers from the two Elizabethan ages. While uniquely British in concept, the New Elizabethan Award is open to international applicants. It is administered by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, one of the City of London’s historic guilds. Among its career-enhancing opportunities the New Elizabethan Award offers a showcase at London’s famous Wigmore Hall and a series of concerts at historic locations.

Michael Lewin is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, Teacher of the University of London, Chairman of the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award panel, a trustee of the Julian Bream Trust, Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and a Freeman of the City of London.

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Laura Snowden

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Hailed as a “string sensation” by BBC Music Magazine, British-French guitarist and composer Laura Snowden is acclaimed for her “poise and intensity” (Guardian) and playing of “extraordinary depth” (Strings, Classical Music Magazine). The first guitarist to graduate from the Yehudi Menuhin School, made possible by the Rolling Stones, she was invited by guitarist Julian Bream to premiere his latest commissions at Wigmore Hall in 2015 and 2017. Laura’s international appearances have since built rapidly, with festival debuts across Europe as well as concerto debuts with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and a recording of Lisa Streich’s guitar concerto Augenlider with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester.

Described by Classical Guitar Magazine as “linking guitar’s past, present and future,” Laura’s eclectic musical output has ranged from producing arrangements for Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink to giving dozens of world premieres by composers including Julian Anderson, Errollyn Wallen, and Olli Mustonen. She has also collaborated closely with her folk band Tir Eolas, appearing with them at Shakespeare’s Globe at the invitation of guitarist John Williams. As a composer, Laura’s music has been performed at Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Sadlers Wells; commissioned by the Park Lane Group, Birmingham Symphony Hall, and International Guitar Foundation; and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland, and Hong Kong Radio 4.

Laura currently teaches at the Yehudi Menuhin School and has given classes alongside performances at venues including the Royal College of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Birmingham Conservatoire, Uppsala International Guitar Festival, Altamira Hong Kong International Guitar Symposium, the Volterra Project in Italy, and the Guitar and Lute Festival in Sweden.

Laura’s principal teachers have been Richard Wright (Menuhin School and Royal College of Music), Gary Ryan (RCM), Carlos Bonell (RCM), and Julian Bream.

85 years. A tribute to Julian Bream

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Maarten Vandenbemden Maarten Vandenbemden (1994) was born into a house full of guitars and started studying the instrument with his father. In 2011, he was accepted into the guitar class of Antigoni Goni at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Brussels, where he obtained his master’s in guitar and music writing, summa cum laude.

In February 2017, Maarten was finalist of the first Honda Competition for Classical music. In November of the same year, the Royal Conservatory of Brussels elected him laureate of the prestigious study grant “Horlait-Dapsens.” This concert season brings concerts in Italy, France, Germany, and China.

Since 2016, Maarten has been actively involved in the Volterra Project, an innovative guitar summer school in the Tuscan hills, conceived by Antigoni Goni. As a soloist, he has played in venues such as the Bozar (Brussels), the Loggia dei Lanzi (Firenze), at the Royal Palace of Caserta (Napoli), and with different orchestras. Out of a particular love for chamber music, he regularly plays together with musicians such as soprano Noémie Schellens, baritone Kobe Baeyens, and cellist Ann Van Hecke. This season, he is the fourth member of the Four Aces Guitar Quartet.

Duo Adentro is a special project with pianist Saskia Van Herzeele, finalist of the Flemish Supernova competition in 2018 and winner of the Chamber Music Award at the Twents Gitaarfestival (the Netherlands) in the same year. Their first album, Once upon a Time was issued in December 2018 with Etcetera records and will soon be available everywhere.

Maarten is a passionate guitar teacher at the Servais Academy of Halle.

28 | 85 years. A tribute to Julian Bream

Graham Wade

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Fellow of Trinity College of Music, Graham Wade was formerly head of strings and professor of guitar at Leeds College of Music and tutor in guitar for Leeds and York Universities. Internationally acknowledged as one of the foremost writers on the classical guitar, his forty publications include biographical studies of Segovia, Rodrigo, and Bream, as well as analyses of guitar history such as Traditions of the Classical Guitar and A Concise History of the Classic Guitar. In 2002 he was awarded the Schott Gold Medal for his contribution to Rodrigo studies.

Since the 1960s he has written regularly for many leading guitar periodicals and has a monthly column in Classical Guitar. Between 1990 and 1995 he was founder-editor of the European Guitar Teachers’ Association Journal (EGTA UK).

An advisory editor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, he has served as external examiner for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music, and the Dublin conservatoire. He has been on the juries of a number of international guitar competitions, and has given lectures and seminars at universities, colleges, and summer schools in some twenty countries.

Graham Wade has provided liner notes for leading record companies, including for the recent RCA/Sony Julian Bream and CBS/Sony John Williams collections, and has written more than 130 sets of liner notes for Naxos. For two decades he wrote program notes for the British tours of AndrĂŠs Segovia and Julian Bream.

85 years. A tribute to Julian Bream

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KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

www.kcb.be

KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM BRUSSEL

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