John Crosdale
John graduated as a musician from the Northern School of Music in Manchester. The Principal, Ida Carrol gave him his first conducting lesson. Later, inspired by Sir John Barbirolli, enthusiasm for conducting led to opportunities under several very different Maestros. Winning a Revolving Scholarship to Tanglewood in the USA, under the tuition of Leonard Bernstein and Eleazar di Cavlho, and working with Aaron Copland and Pierre Monteux, John gave performances with the Boston Fromm Chamber Orchestra. On returning to England, opportunities arose to work with Nikolai Malko in Leeds, George Hurst at Canford, and Sir Adrian Boult and Ernest Read in Queenswood. After studying in Europe, many professional conducting engagements followed including Stravinsky’s ‘Histoire du Soldat’ with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Sibelius’ 5th Symphony with the Hilversum Radio Orchestra, and Beethoven’s 8th Symphony with the BBC Northern Orchestra.
John was for several years a professional trumpet player, playing in the Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Orchestra with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Alexander Gibson. Returning to Manchester, John joined the Hallé Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli. John is now enjoying working with the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra as Director of Music. He has encouraged many young musicians from their student days including Ronan O’Hora and Peter Donahoe to take their place in the Music Profession. The Manchester Beethoven Orchestra greatly appreciates his help in tackling an interesting and varied repertoire.
Frank studied the violin with Rudolph Botta from the age of 12. He led the Xaverian College Orchestra and became a member of the Royal Holloway College Orchestra as an undergraduate. After taking a degree in History and a research degree in American Studies at the University of Manchester, he began a career in lecturing at De La Salle College in Middleton, Manchester. Currently he is head of American Studies at Liverpool Hope University College. Having taken a few years out of orchestral playing (to have a family), Frank joined the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra as a rank-and-file violinist in 1982. In 1991, he was invited to lead the orchestra.
While Frank has played in theatre shows and, occasionally, in Chamber Groups, he enjoys orchestral music most of all. Apart from leading the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra, he plays regularly for the Gorton Philharmonic Orchestra and frequently helps at other orchestral concerts in the North-West region.
Yan Lim is currently studying in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. Originally from Singapore, he started playing the piano 16 years ago, and came to Manchester in September 1993 to study at Chetham's School of Music, where he was taught by David Hartigan and Ronan O'Hora, his current tutor. In 1994 Yan reached the Grand Finals of the Audi Junior Musician competition and also won two prizes in the 1998 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition. He performed Liszt's 1st Piano Concerto in Eb major whilst at Chetham's and also played with the Hallé Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall.
Yan began his higher education in September 1998 and is in the final year of the Joint Course run by both the University of Manchester and the RNCM. He has won numerous prizes for solo piano at the RNCM, including the Arthur Bliss Prize, the Piano Recital Prize, Bach-Spielen, the Ryszard Bakst Memorial Prize and the Emmanuel Prize.
In the Glories of the Keyboard festival at the RNCM in November 1999, Yan was featured in a late night concert - "Chopin in Manchester" - performing Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor with the RNCM Chamber Orchestra. He played in the Piano 2000 Festival at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in January and was a finalist in the Dudley Millennium Piano Competition which took place in March 2000. In June 2000 Yan performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No 2 in A with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky (principal guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic). He performed Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major with Vägus in Sweden under the baton of Simon Phipps in November 2000 and came second in the Sheffield Piano Competition 2001. He won the Karic International Piano Competition held in London in April this year, and was also a joint winner of the Christopher Duke Memorial Award in the Watford Festival. Other engagements include a lunchtime recital for Peterborough Festival in June 2001 and a recital for the Isle of Man Arts Council in their piano series in March 2002.
He has appeared in numerous master classes with such distinguished pianists as Arnaldo Cohen, Stephen Hough, Pascal Rogé and Krystian Zimerman.
Yan is an enthusiastic chamber musician and is in great demand as a duo partner and chamber musician. He has several duo partners whom he has accompanied in major events such as the Yehudi Menuhin violin competition, the Lipinski-Wieniawski International Competition for young violinists and the Pierre Fournier Award for cello at the Wigmore Hall in London. He came joint second in the RNCM's Malcolm Arnold Award for Chamber Music in 1998, and two years later won the Arthur Bliss Prize for Chamber Music. With duo partner Jia Zhang he was winner of the Helen Porthouse Award for violin.
Yan Lim appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
The German-born cellist Julian Metzger started his cello studies at the age of four. Since 1990 he has been living in England, where he studied with Dr. Ioan Davies, former cellist of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. In 1992, he entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Stefan Popov. During his four-year honours degree course, Julian Metzger won several prizes and bursaries and performed as far afield as Hong Kong, where he also recorded for Radio Television Hong Kong.
Since graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mr. Metzger has been continuing his studies with Raphael Wallfisch. His duo partner is his wife, the pianist Gitanjali Ram, with who he performs regularly in Hong Kong, England, France and Germany.
Future concerts include concertos with the South-Westphalian Philharmonic, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Herts Philharmonic, as well as duo recitals and further recordings for RTHK.
A graduate in German from University College, London, Angela has a particular love of Lieder and French and English song. She sang Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs in December of last year and will perform them again in February 2001 along with Mahler's 4th Symphony.
Angela has performed throughout England and Wales and has given solo recitals at venues as varied as Lyme Hall and St James's, Piccadilly, London. She also appeared in concerts in France during the summers of '98 and '99 and enjoyed a successful tour in Romania during June of last year. She has sung most of the major oratorio works including Vivaldi Gloria with The Northern Chamber Orchestra. Angela also sings regularly with male voice choirs throughout the northwest.
In February '98 she won the prestigious Rose Bowl and Vocal Recital prize in the Mrs. Sunderland Musical Competition in Huddersfield. In the same year she was invited to sing in a public masterclass in London with Thomas Hemsley.
Already this year she has again won the Rose Bowl in Huddersfield and in addition to recital and performances of Creation, Messiah, Fauré Requiem and Vivaldi Gloria she was invited to take part in the University of East Anglia Music Festival in Norwich and will sing Bach and Handel at the University of Keele in November.
In April Angela became an Associate of the Royal College of Music, with a diploma in singing as performance.
Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1977, Yoon Chung moved to London at the age of fourteen and was awarded a scholarship to attend the Purcell School of Music. He has recently completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Bristol. While at Bristol, he gave numerous concerts, including concertos with the University Symphony Orchestra and the University Chamber Orchestra and was awarded a Pacific Rim Scholarship.
Yoon has performed at various venues such as the Purcell Room, St. John's, Smith Square, Victoria Rooms and Waterfront Hall. He has taken part in Master Classes with, among others, Gyorgy Sebok, Stephen Kovacevich, Jean-Francois Heisser and Renna Kellaway.
Yoon is currently undertaking his post-graduate studies with Benjamin Frith at the Royal Northern College of Music where he was awarded the Sir Charles Hallé Scholarship and an ABRSM Post-graduate scholarship.
Yoon Chung appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
It is almost 30 years since Richard first appeared as soloist with the Orchestra playing Finzi’s clarinet concerto. More recently he has played the Copland concerto with us and in our November2001 concert he will be playing arguably the finest showpiece for clarinet and orchestra.
In the 1950s he was a pupil of Bert Brooks, the best known clarinet player in the Hull area, who was then in his seventies and still active leading big bands, Benny Goodman style. Playing in many types of ensemble, including the East Riding Youth Orchestra, jazz band, dance band, military band and salon orchestra, developed his wide interests in music. Moving to the Manchester area in 1958, he soon became the principal clarinetist and bandmaster of the Adamson Military Band in Dukinfield.
As a conductor, he has directed amateur operatic performances, military bands and was the musical director of the Trafford Light Orchestra with whom he conducted over 500 concerts. Currently he plays the clarinet with the Gorton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dorian Wind Ensemble.
Richard has recently retired from leading the commercial activities in the Faculty of Technology at Bolton Institute, where he was also a principal lecturer in computer engineering. He is now developing new interests and renewing neglected ones, for example, photography, walking and developing bread-making recipes. Since retiring Richard has been making transcriptions and arrangements for wind quintet and, of course, for clarinet.
Sarah, who is now in her third year at the Royal Northern College of Music, began playing the violin at the age of four. She was taught by her mother Jean, and then from the age of thirteen went on to study with Nina Martin in Sheffield.
Sarah led the youth orchestra in her home town of Doncaster for five years and performed the Bruch Violin Concerto, Beethoven's Romance in F and Mozart's Concerto No 4 with them. She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra for four years which took her on a European tour, playing in a number of the most famous concert venues in the world.
Sarah has gained many prizes in music festivals throughout the UK. She won the Sheffield Young Musician of the Year in 1994 and reached the regional final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year. Twice she won the Music For Youth competition as part of a violin quartet. This led to a number of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall.
Last summer Sarah was invited to participate in the International School for Musical Arts in Toronto, Canada, with her professor at the RNCM, Wen Zhou Li.
Sarah Fletcher appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
Siona Crosdale
Siona Crosdale (bassoon) took up the bassoon just for fun whilst at school in Manchester but soon gained a place at the Royal Northern Junior College to study bassoon and piano. There she won the concerto competition and the Ida Carroll prize. As an undergraduate, she studied at Girton College, Cambridge as a University Instrumental Award Holder and college Choral Exhibitioner. Whilst at Cambridge, Siona participated in several musical ensembles including travelling to Moscow with the University Symphony Orchestra to play under Gergiev, and performing Cosi fan Tutte in France. She was awarded her college's highest musical award, the London Girton Association Award for Outstanding Musicianship and, having graduated, she then took up a scholarship place at the Royal Academy of Music. There she studied with John Orford and Gareth Newman and was awarded the Andrew Sykes prize and a Reckitt Award. Throughout her studies, she was supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Newby and William Gibbs Trusts and the Clothworkers' Foundation.
As a student, Siona was principal bassoon of the World Youth Orchestra and of the National Youth Wind Orchestra with whom she played in Sweden and throughout Europe. She is currently a frequent member of the Britten-Pears Orchestra playing on both baroque and modern bassoon, and has worked with esteemed conductors such as Oliver Knussen, Tadaaki Otaka and Richard Hickox. As a soloist, Siona has performed several concertos, including the Weber Concerto in Cambridge and the Strauss Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon in the Concert Hall at the Royal Northern College of Music. Her role as a chamber musician has taken her as far afield as Vietnam and Hong Kong and she has been coached by several esteemed musicians, including David Walters, Michael Collins, Douglas Boyd and Nicholas Daniels. Recitals include those given in the West Road Concert Hall and Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy and Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh.
Whilst at the Academy, Siona gained her LRAM in teaching and now teaches the bassoon at Repton School, Derby as well as privately in London. She has worked with the Council for Music in Hospitals which involved giving educational workshops at various schools where children get the chance to play and hear instruments they would not otherwise have access to.
Since joining the Royal Academy, Siona has been able to fulfil her particular interest in period instruments by studying both classical and baroque bassoon with Andrew Watts. She won the Noble House Early Music prize at the Royal Academy on baroque bassoon and has worked with, among others, Peter Holman, Monica Huggett and Lawrence Cummings, as a student (through the Academy and Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestras) and as a freelance player. She has recently played Handel's Giulio Cesare with South Creake Opera, directed by Gary Cooper and future engagements include Bach's B Minor Mass. Her quintet, the Gallimaufry Ensemble, are Leverhulme Junior Chamber Music Fellows at the Academy and future venues include St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Purcell Room (with the Park Lane Group).
Desmond Neysmith received his Bachelors at the Royal College of Music under Professor Steven Doane and was subsequently offered the position of Teaching Assistant at the University of Akron, Ohio, where he studied with the first assistant principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, Richard Weiss.
Over the years Desmond has participated in many festival, including Aspen, Dartington and most notably at Bowdoin Summer Music Festival as both the Performing Associate and Teaching Assistant to Steven Doane. This has provided Desmond with invaluable teaching experience. He was recently invited to give a masterclass and recital at NOCCA (New Orleans Centre for the Creative Arts).
After winning first prize in the Texaco Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino String Players in March 2001, Desmond gave his US Concerto debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and following that was invited to give solo performances with Hartford, Louisiana and New World Symphony orchestras. Many of these performances were broadcast nationally on television and radio.
Further afield, Desmond has been tireless in promoting classical music in ethnic minorities. Due to his Caribbean background he has found himself in great demand as a performer and representative of an all too insignificant number of classically trained black musicians. He has given interactive workshops at inner city schools in many US cities including New York, Baltimore, Louisiana, Hartford and Miami. Most notably he was recently given the honour of being the soloist with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in their first ever performance at the Ebeneezer Baptist Church (the birthplace of Dr Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement) on the national holiday given his namesake.
Desmond is currently at the Royal Northern College of Music pursuing his postgraduate studies under the tutelage of Karine Georgian. He is kindly supported by awards from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Musicians Benevolent Fund, Myra Hess Fund, The Emanuel Herwitz Chamber Music Charitable Trust and the KPMG Martin Musical Scholarship Fund.
Desmond plays on a Giovanni Grancino cello circa 1600 on kind loan from J & A Beares of London.
Desmond Neysmith appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
Nathaniel Boyd was born in 1983 and started studying the cello at the age of four at the Preparatory Department of the Guildhall. At the age of nine he joined the Junior Guildhall School of Music where he studied with Selma Gokcen. He also studied regularly with William Pleeth.
At the Guildhall, Nathaniel was principal cellist of both the Symphony Orchestra and the String Ensemble, with which he appeared as soloist. He is passionate about chamber music and has performed in numerous Chamber Music Festivals both in England and abroad at venues such as St Martin in the Fields and the Barbican. Recently, Nathaniel has taken part in masterclasses at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove and The London Masterclasses with Ralph Kirshbaum and Karine Georgian. In March 2002 he performed Boccherini's G major cello concerto at St James' Piccadilly with the London Pergolesi Sinfonietta and was subsequently invited to return as soloist.
On finishing school, Nathaniel was offered full scholarships to study at The Royal Academy, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Northern College of Music. He is currently in his second year at the RNCM where he studies with Hannah Roberts.
Nathaniel Boyd appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
Helena Roques was born in 1980 and began learning the violin at the age of 4. In 1991 she decided to continue her studies at Wells Cathedral specialist music school where she was funded by a DFEE scholarship. Helena was awarded an entrance scholarship to continue her studies at the RNCM in 1998, where she received tuition from Richard Ireland whom she continues to study with now. Helena graduated from the RNCM with a First Class Honours Degree in 2003.
Helena is an active chamber musician as second violin in the Stillman Quartet. She was a finalist in the Royal Overseas League Chamber Music Competition and winner of the RNCM Barbirolli prize. The quartet also performed in the RNCM Beethoven and Schubert and Mendelssohn festivals.
Helena is also a founder member of the Roques Piano Trio who perform regularly throughout the UK and further afield, including recitals for the Lake District Summer Music Festival, Peterborough Festival, Romiley Music Club and Bishop Auckland Music Society. The Trio also performed at the RNCM's highly acclaimed SchubertFest and have taken part in masterclasses with Renna Kellaway and members of the Chilingirian and Sorrel Quartets. The Trio were winners of the audience prize in the RNCM Granada Prize Competition.
Having led both the RNCM Chamber and Symphony Orchestras, Helena now freelances with various orchestras in the North, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. She continues to play with her trio and quartet and hopes to continue her studies abroad next year.
Helena Roques appears by kind permission of the Principal, Royal Northern College of Music.
Wendy Olsen grew up in Indiana, where forests and caves offer mystery and excitement to young hikers. Even as a teenager, Wendy felt that books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the music of Grieg, and the physical setting of mixed forests together reflect the glory and challenge of being alive. Wendy moved at age 18 to Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she studied piano, voice and choir as a supplementary part of her university degree. After having a child she began studying the flute, and she now plays flute for the Salford Wind Band and the Friends of the Camerata orchestra.
Wendy moved to Britain in 1981 to study at Oxford University where she received a masters and doctoral degree in economics.
Wendy now works at Manchester University as a lecturer in socio-economic research, and she has research experience in India, Sri Lanka and Ghana as well as in the United Kingdom. Her research includes interviewing and statistics as well as advice to government and research on behalf of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
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