An adventurous concert of songs, works for piano and duets for piano with clarinet or flute selected by Alexander Karpeyev and performed by outstanding young musicians and singers. The programme includes the world premiere of songs composed by Stravinsky’s teacher Leokadiya Kashperova. Pianists Thomas Ang, Jocelyn Freeman, Alexander Karpeyev, Martin Malmgren, Marina Staneva, Olga Paliy, clarinet player Boyan Ivanov and flautist Pasha Mansurov will present instrumental works and accompany singers Jonathan de Garis, Betty Makharinsky, Iestyn Morris, Laura Peresivana and Yulya Shkvarko.
A. ALYABYEV ‘Ah, well you, my dear’, ‘In the evening the dawn blushes’
M. BALAKIREV ‘The Clear Moon has Risen’
N. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV 'The Nightingale Enslaved by the Rose', ‘The Clouds Scatter‘, Op. 42 no. 3
S. TANEEV ‘Little Island’, Op. 17 no. 1
A. GRECHANINOV ‘Death’, Op. 15 no. 2, Sonatina in F, Op. 110 no. 2
L. KASHPEROVA ‘I look at the sky’, ‘On the road’, ‘At the springtime’ (World première)
S. RACHMANINOV ‘These Summer Nights’, Op. 14 no. 5, ‘Spring Waters’, Op. 14 no. 11, ‘A-u’, Op. 38 no. 6
V. TSYBIN Tarantella
N. MEDTNER Prologue, Op. 1 no. 1, ‘Rose’, Op. 29 no. 6, ‘Echo’, Op. 32 no. 1, ‘Waltz’, Op. 32 no. 5
I. STRAVINSKY Three pieces for clarinet solo
S. FEINBERG Piano sonata no. 2, Op. 2
S. YEVSEEV Polyphonic pieces on Russian themes, Op. 57
N. KAPUSTIN Lento & Allegro from Sonata no. 20 (European première)
Betty MAKHARINSKY, Laura PERESIVANA, Yulya SHKVARKO (soprano)
Iestyn MORRIS (countertenor), Jonathan DE GARIS (baritone)
Boyan IVANOV (clarinet), Pavel MANSUROV (flute)
Thomas ANG, Jocelyn FREEMAN, Alexander KARPEYEV, Maria KUSTAS, Martin MALMGREN, Olga PALIY, Marina STANEVA (piano)
TICKETS
Tickets are available from the St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden website
Thomas Ang studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne and Diana Ketler, and at the Guildhall School with Andrew West and Eugene Asti. He has won prizes for his performances of Beethoven, Frederick Delius, Arthur Bliss and the contemporary piano repertoire, and has been praised for his thoughtful and critical programming and excellent technique. He has also earned recognition as a specialist in the music of Nikolai Kapustin, having played and conducted premieres of his compositions in the UK, US, Singapore, and Australia.
Off the concert stage, Thomas works as a répétiteur and ballet pianist. He sometimes accompanies and improvises for silent film, appearing at various festivals and events. Thomas also plays the violin, and writes poetry and piano transcriptions of songs and symphonies.
Jonathan de Garis is a baritone and Samling Artist from Dorset, studying for a master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He completed his undergraduate degree at GSMD in 2018 where he was awarded a first class and the Wyburd Prize for German Lieder. His operatic experience includes the role of Marco (Gianni Shicchi) with Lunchbreak Opera, Eugene Onegin with Opera Loki, Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte) and Jupiter (Orphée aux Enfers) with St Paul’s Opera, and Papageno (GSMD). He is equally passionate about song repertoire. Recent recital engagements include a recital of song in Wigmore Hall with the Princes' Consort and other GSMD singers, Swansong with Iain Burnside (GSMD), a programme Russian song in the Barbican Hall (Pre LSO Concert), and a Lieder Recital in the German Embassy. Later this year he will be performing in a BBC Immersion Concert of music by Detlev Glanert, and Vaughan William’s Five Mystical Songs with Milton Keynes Symphonia. He is very grateful to have received support from the Sidney Perry Foundation and the C M Vinson Scholarship, helping him continue his second year of study of this Master's degree.
Award-winning collaborative pianist Jocelyn Freeman is founder-director and curator of SongEasel, a platform for song in South East London. Her artistry has been described as "outstanding", "brilliant", "sparkling" and "one to watch".
Jocelyn's versatility ranges from Lieder to chamber music and concertos, often championing lesser- known composers alongside standard classical and contemporary repertoire. Her imaginative approach to programming is evident in projects with award-winning artists Jamal Aliyev, Gareth Brynmor John, Stuart Jackson, Elin Manahan Thomas and Julien Van Mellaerts .
Jocelyn is a prize-winning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Phoebe Benham Fellow 2012 at the Royal College of Music, a Samling Artist and Britten–Pears alumnus. Prizes include the Viola Tunnard Young Artist Award, Marlow International Concerto Competition and the Internationalen Wettbewerb für Liedkunst in Stuttgart.
Jocelyn is grateful for the support of the Carne Trust, McInroy & Wood, the Oleg Prokofiev Trust and the Nicholas Boas Foundation.
Boyan Ivanov is a versatile and virtuosic clarinettist from Bulgaria who has enjoyed great success as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician, performing at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including the Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cadogan Hall, Kings Place, and St John’s Smith Square, among many others.
Ivanov studied at the Plovdiv Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Trinity College of Music and Guildhall School for Music & Drama (London).
Ivanov’s performing career takes him to venues such as King’s Place, Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall, as well as venues in China. He is a founding member of the Inspirity Ensemble and the Trinity Trio with which he remains an active solo and chamber musician to this day.
Russian-born pianist Alexander Karpeyev has been a major prizewinner in international competitions, including 1st prizes at the Dudley International Piano Competition, the Norah Sande Award and Oxford Music Festival’s recital competition. He is the graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University London, where in 2014 he successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the performance practice in the music of Nikolay Medtner. Alexander has given recitals in the major venues of the UK (the Barbican, Kings Place, Purcell Room, Royal Festival, Cadogan, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London; Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and Holywell Music Room in Oxford). Abroad, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, France, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. His performances have been featured on Sky Television and BBC Radio. In 2008 he was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal. Alexander has been featured as ‘One to watch’ in International Piano magazine in 2018 and in 2016 he was appointed a Music Curator at the Pushkin House.
Prizewinner of national and international competitions including the Piano Campus international piano competition in France, the Delia Steinberg international piano competition in Spain and the Tunbridge Wells international competition, pianist Maria Kustas has performed across Europe, Russia and Asia. In 2007, Maria performed with the Moscow chamber orchestra “The Seasons”. She has taken part in festivals including the International Festival ‘Paris: City of Light’, the Mayfield Festival, and the Saint-Savin festival in France. In March 2014 Maria took part in a concert tour in Luxembourg and Germany as part of the EMCY project. In February 2017, Maria was grateful to receive a prestigious Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship.
Having graduated from the Central Music School of the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory magna cum laude in 2013, Maria went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2017. She has recently completed a Master of Music in Performance degree at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev. Maria is a Linda Beeley Scholar supported by the Olive Rees Prize, William Mealings Award and is a Yamaha Award Scholarship Holder.
Betty Makharinsky is a British-Russian soprano based in London. She has given recitals at festivals including Levoča Indian Summer in Slovakia, Suoni dal Golfo in Italy, the Koblenz International Guitar Festival in Germany, and the Brighton Fringe festival.
Recent opera credits include Flora The Turn of the Screw (Dartington International Festival), The Model WEAR (Tête à Tête Festival), Amor Orfeo ed Euridice (New Sussex Opera), and covering Zerlina Don Giovanni (HeadFirst Productions).
For the Dartington International Festival, Betty sang Michal Saul (c. Laurence Cummings) and solos in Tippett's Five Spirituals and Beethoven's Choral Fantasia (c. Stephen Barlow), and for the Suoni dal Golfo Festival in Italy, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle (c. Gianluca Marciano). Other oratorio experience includes Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria, Fauré's Requiem, Brahms' Requiem, Bach's Magnificat & St. John Passion, and Will Todd's Mass in Blue.
Betty sings with several professional choirs, through which she has toured to Europe and the USA. She recorded Pelham Humfrey Symphony Anthems with Edward Higginbottom’s solo-voice consort for the Pan Classics label, and sang solos on Exeter College’s disc of music by C. V. Stanford.
Betty trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is currently part of the Barock Vokal excellence programme in Mainz. She received a First Class Music BA from Exeter College, Oxford.
Martin Malmgren has made himself known as a versatile performer, equally at home on stage as a soloist, lied pianist and chamber musician. With an unusually wide repertoire ranging from early baroque up until the music of our times, he takes delight in surprising his audiences by performing unjustly neglected works and composers, in addition to the standard repertoire. Always aiming at finding meaningful connections between different composers, his concert programs typically show a thoughtful approach which builds bridges between different musical styles and periods. Martin is also founder of the Key Discoveries piano recital series in Helsinki, and more recently, he founded the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra together with conductor James Kahane and concertmaster Aku Sorensen.
As a sought-after soloist, he has appeared with such orchestras as Sinfonia Lahti, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Belgrade Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Torun Philharmonic Orchestra, Oulu Sinfonia, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and numerous others. With over 30 concertos in his repertoire, Martin has frequently championed rarely-heard music, and recently gave the Nordic premiere of Doreen Carwithen's piano concerto, with Helsinki Chamber Orchestra in spring 2019.
Pavel Mansurov was born in Russia and started playing flute at the age of 6. He moved to the United States of America where he studied with Dr. Bradley Garner of The Juilliard School for the majority of his early teenage years. He then moved to the UK and attended the Purcell School of Music with full scholarship where he studied with Clare Southworth. Later he won an audition to The Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Kate Hill and Michael Cox on Flute and Pat Morris on Piccolo and he graduated with one of the highest mark in the woodwind class. For his Masters he moved to the Guildhall School of Music Drama, where he studied with Ian Clarke, Phillippa Davies and Sarah Newbald.
His Recordings include motion picture "The Master” and “Alien: Covenant” as well as Audio Sample Libraries for Spitfire Audio. He also appears on Rick : Wakeman’s "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" re-release in 2014. Chamber music appearances include guest player with the Fugata Quintet and the Mercury Quartet. Pasha is a full time member of the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists. As an orchestral musician he has played with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestral, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fileds, London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra and toured the far east with the Symphony Orchestra of India.
Iestyn Morris made his ROH Covent Garden debut in 2015 in the title role of PETER PAN for Welsh National Opera; a role which earned him a nomination for ‘Best Male in an opera production’ in the Wales Theatre Awards 2016. After reading Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol, Iestyn went on to study Early Music (Mmus) and then Opera at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In 2003 he became a Britten-Pears Young Artist. He was the 2005 winner of the Tracey Chadwell Award for contemporary song and 2006 winner of the AESS National English Song Competition.
Operatic engagements include appearances for English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and English Touring Opera. Foreign engagements include Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatstheater Nuremberg Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Städtische Theater Chemnitz, Theater Basel, De Nederlanse Oper and Dutch Nationale Reisopera, in repertoire that ranges from world premieres to gems of the 17th Century and everything in between.
Concert engagements include appearances at Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lincoln Centre New York and Snape Maltings as well as various cities in Spain, France and Poland. For over 15 years Iestyn has been sharing his passion for Russian art song and he largely attributes this repertoire for developing his voice into the versatile operatic instrument it is today.
Olga Paliy is a Ukrainian pianist successfully combining performance, research and teaching in her musical career. Giving her first solo recital at the age of thirteen Olga received her musical education in the Ukraine and the UK.
After successful completion of her research at the RNCM under the primary supervision of David Horne Olga was awarded PhD in April 2017. In her research Olga concentrated on Russian composer Sergey Taneyev and his contrapuntal technique. Olga’s appearances in numerous international piano competitions led her to winning the top prizes in Ragusa-Ibla International Music Competition (Italy), The Art of 20th Century, (Italy), The Art of Accompaniment (Ukraine), The Emmanuel Prize (UK) and Sussex International Piano Competition (UK).
Olga has been appearing widely as a recitalist, chamber musician and as a soloist with the orchestra in major venues in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine interpreting wide range of repertoire, from Bach and Scarlatti to Carl Vine and James MacMillan. Olga is grateful for the experience of working with distinguished pianists, such as Norma Fisher, Arie Vardi, Michel Beroff, Anton Voight, Charles Rosen, Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Michel Dalberto, Nelson Goerner, Garrick Ohlsson and Jerome Rose.
Since 2016 Olga is a regular jury member of the Riga International Competition for Young Pianist, held annually in Latvia.
Latvian soprano Laura Lolita Perešivana graduated with First-Class Honours in Vocal Studies from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is now studying on a full scholarship at the GSMD Opera School with Prof. Janice Chapman. She is grateful for the support of The Mercer’s Company and the City of London Scholars. Laura started her operatic career at the Latvian National Opera House where she performed Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and First Spirit (The Magic Flute). She has also performed the role of Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at British Youth Opera, Musetta (La Bohème) and Eurydice (Orpheus in the Underworld), Anne Truelove (Rake’s Progress), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and Madama Cortese (Il Viaggio a Rheims).
Recently, Laura was awarded the first prize in the David Clover Festival of Singing , an “Extraordinary Prize” in the Tenor Vinas International Singing Contest, and was also “very highly commended” at the London Song Festival Schubert Prize. Laura is regularly invited to perform at venues in Latvia, Germany and the United Kingdom. Not long ago Laura made her debut at the Wigmore Hall in London. This summer Laura took part in Georg Solti Accademia summer programme in Italy with the conductor Richard Bonynge and opera singer Barbara Frittoli.
Yuliya Shkvarko is an awardee of the Presidential Award for Young Talents (Belarus), prize-holder of the International Vocal Competitions ‘Little Opera’ (Kohtla-Järve) and ‘I sing for you, Russia’ (Velikiye Luki). She is a recipient of Brisbane Junior Opera Championship Trophy, scholarships for Alion Baltic International Music Festival (Riga), MMus Int, AdvPgDip and IAD at RNCM. Yuliya’s recent Opera roles include: Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmelites), Geraldine (A Hand of Bridge), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Antonina Milyukova (Tchaikovsky, Angel of Music). Yuliya has recently won 1st Opera Prize in the VI Alion Baltic International Music Competition 2019 in Latvia. She has performed with concerts across Europe and Australia and is currently undertaking the most prestigious RNCM degree – International Artist Diploma.
Bulgarian pianist Marina Staneva performs regularly in the UK and Europe both as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist. She is a 2019 Sam Hutchings Piano Prize Recipient, a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2018 and a full scholarship recipient at the Brancaleoni Festival, Italy in 2018.
Marina has performed at the Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Milton Court and The Inner Temple in London, Liverpool Philharmonic and the Britten Studio in Snape Maltings. She regularly records for Classic FM and took part in the “The First Global Granados Marathon” broadcast live from Milton Court Concert Hall. She is a guest artist on Jennifer Johnston and Alisdair Hogarth’s new CD “A Love Letter To Liverpool” released by Rubicon Classics.
Marina has performed for the Mendelssohn Foundation, the Schubert Society of Britain, Russian Culture House Rossotrudnichestvo and has participated in the festivals The Holland International Music Sessions, London Contemporary Festival, Dopo il rumore, ppIANISSIMO, Varna Summer.
Future engagements include recitals at the Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Barnes Festival amongst others around the UK. As a 2019 Sam Hutchings Piano Prize Recipient she took part in Oxenfoord International with artistic director Malcolm Martineau.
Marina was a fellow at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she previously completed Masters and Advanced Diploma degrees with distinction under the guidance of Philip Jenkins and Pamela Lidiard. Marina holds a Bachelor in Performance from the National Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria. As a student at the Guildhall she was generously supported by the Guildhall Trust. Currently, Marina is continuing her studies privately with Steinway Artist Alisdair Hogarth.
