J & A Beare For over 125 years, J & A Beare has built a reputation as the world’s most respected violin dealer and expert through authenticating, valuing, selling, making and restoring instruments and bows of exceptional quality. Founded in 1892, Queen’s Award Winning J & A Beare Ltd. is widely regarded as the pre-eminent business in the field of fine antique stringed instruments and bows. Supported by Beare’s unrivalled team of specialists, many of the world’s leading artists have chosen to perform on instruments acquired through Beare’s. In the last ten years the company has completed the sale of more than sixty instruments by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù amongst hundreds of other fine examples by Italian makers. In 2012, Beare’s set the world-record price for a violin sale with the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri del Gesù for more than $16,000,000. Based in a six-storey period building in the heart of Marylebone in London, Beare’s has its own workshop of highly-skilled craftsmen, internationally recognised for their expertise in restoring fine old violins, violas, cellos and bows. All instruments and bows sold by Beare’s are supplied with Beare’s Certificate of Authenticity (where a specific maker can be identified), which is highly valued across the world. In 2008, Beare’s received the ‘Queen’s Award for Enterprise and International Trade’, the only fine arts business ever to have received the award. As well as being Honorary Advisors to the Royal Society of musicians and valuers for the Royal Academy of Music instrument collection, J & A Beare has a partnership with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kronberg Academy and sponsors the Academy of St Martin in the Fields as well as many other musical charities. In 2013, the company was the leading sponsor of the Ashmolean Museum’s Stradivari Exhibition and sourced many of the fine instruments on exhibit. Most recently, Beare’s has formed a partnership with Premier Performances to support the Beare’s Premier Hong Kong Festival.
Oxford
Philharmonic
Orchestra
Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford
20
th
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Instrument Collection J & A Beare and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Partnering virtuosi with Stradivari
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Praised as ‘excellent’ by Gramophone magazine and ‘thoroughly impressive’ by BBC Music Magazine, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s reputation is based on the uncompromising artistic standards of its Founder and Music Director, Marios Papadopoulos, and maintained by some of the finest musicians in the UK. Established in 1998, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra occupies a unique position within the UK orchestral landscape. As an orchestra of the highest quality, the Oxford Philharmonic attracts some of the world’s greatest artists to appear in its series including Valery Gergiev, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Martha Argerich, András Schiff, Renée Fleming, Lang Lang, Janine Jansen, Yuri Temirkanov and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Following his remarkable debut with the Orchestra in 2013, Maxim Vengerov became its first Artist in Residence. Recent collaborations with Vengerov include a recording of Mendelssohn’s Octet and appearances at Cheltenham Music Festival and Saffron Hall with the Soloists of the Oxford Philharmonic - a tight-knit group of musicians described by The Times as the ensemble’s ‘glorious individual players’ and by Jessica Duchen as ‘a line-up to match any top-notch international chamber ensemble and probably beat them on their own turf’. The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent releases include works by Nimrod Borenstein for Chandos, and cello concertos by Shostakovich and Mats Lidström (Solo Cello of the Oxford Philharmonic) on the BIS label, both conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. A recent partnership with J & A Beare provides our distinguished members with opportunities to play on Stradivari instruments, adding a new dimension to the sound of the Orchestra. This brochure does not constitute financial advice and should not be taken as such. You are strongly advised that you take your own professional advice before making any investment decisions.
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