ALUMNI UPDATES
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Tenor Peter Aisher has joined the Opernstudio of Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf for two years from September 2016. Performances include roles in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Puccini’s Turandot and a version of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte adapted for children. Pianists Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen have launched the inaugural London Piano Festival at Kings Place. The weekend celebration of the piano, held 7–9 October, included a range of solo and duo piano music, together with lectures, family concerts and a world premiere by Nico Muhly. Next year’s festival will take place 6–8 October and will focus on Russian artists and repertoire. Composer Mark Bowden has recently released Sudden Light, the first disc of his own orchestral and chamber music. Released on NMC in September, the CD features Mark’s works Lyra, Heartland and Sudden Light, as well as 5 Memos for violin and piano, performed by Hyeyoon Park and RCM alumnus Huw Watkins. Cellist Eun Cho has been awarded Fourth Prize in the cello division at the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition 2016 held in Harbin, China. Recordings by Eun were also broadcast on KBS Classic FM, South Korea’s largest classical radio station.
Soprano Charlotte de Rothschild has released a new CD with the City of London Sinfonia and RCMJD alumnus Michael Collins. Featuring the Japanese art song form the ‘kakyoku’, Hana wa saku (Flowers will bloom), was released in October and includes new arrangements by composers David Matthews, Stuart Calvert and Yui Kakinuma. Charlotte will tour Japan with the orchestra in March 2017. Pianist Diana Dumlavwalla joined Florida State University’s College of Music as Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy in August 2015. This summer, she gave presentations on the piano works of Alexina Louie and on piano teaching in India and the Philippines at the 32nd World Conference of the International Society for Music Education. Margery Elliott has been featured in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s magazine Music Stand. Interviewed by Chief Executive Stephen Maddock, Margery discussed her time at the RCM in the 1940s, her career with the CBSO and the fact that, at the age of 97, she has written a book about the Rotton Park area in Birmingham. The Ferio Saxophone Quartet – RCM alumni Jose Bañuls, Shevaughan Beere, Eleanor McMurray and Huw Wiggin – has recently been appointed Young Artists at St John’s Smith Square for 2016–17. The position offers three concerts during the season and provides funds to commission a new work or to work on a new edition of a piece of early music. RCMJD alumnus Christopher Gough has been promoted to Principal Horn of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Christopher was previously appointed Associate Principal Horn in 2015. Former RCM professor Joseph Horovitz has heard his Music Hall Suite performed by Onyx Brass at Holy Trinity Church in celebration of his 90th birthday year. His Clarinet Sonatina has been performed by Austrian clarinettist brothers Daniel and Andreas Ottensamer: at Wigmore Hall in June by Daniel and in Andreas’ tour which includes the USA, Canada, Germany and Switzerland. Organist and composer John Hosking has released All Angels Cry Aloud (Regent). Featuring his liturgical choral works, the CD was recorded by the Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir and the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, directed by Sarah MacDonald, with organists Alex Berry and Tim Parsons. John’s work was also heard at this year’s North Wales International Music Festival, where the opening concert was dedicated to his music.
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UPBEAT AUTUMN 2016