Our Spirit of Autumn series continues……. A concert Harvest shining in Musical energy ………

welcome “ENSEMBLE AUREA”

date: Sunday 22nd October 2023

Time: 7pm VENUE: St John’s Church, Macaulay Road, Broadstone bh18 8ar

Tickets: £12, Students under 18 £3 – Wine or soft drink included – Book Online above (small fee applies) or limited availability on the door by cash only.

We are excited to welcome this dynamic ensemble who will perform in Broadstone for the first time together.
“AUREA” consists of familiar musicians from Royal College of Music & Merton College Oxford, joined by young professionals. They’re also mentoring 3 of our year 13s who are hoping to embark on music studies next year!

PROGRAMME

Read about some of Aurea performers here:

Polly Bartlett – Oboe

Polly graduated from the Royal College of Music in July 2022 where she was awarded a Master of Performance with Distinction, studying under the tutelage of Olivier Stankiewicz, Juliana Koch and Christine Pendrill. She performs regularly with many of the UK and Europe’s leading professional orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and the World Orchestra for Peace. These appearances have given her the opportunity of performing under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as Barbara Hannigan, Francois Xavier-Roth and Jaume Santonja. She also holds the position of principal oboe with the Bath Festival Orchestra.

Away from orchestral performance, Polly is an avid chamber musician, with a particular highlight being awarded the Elias Fawcett Prize for Outstanding Performance in the final of the Royal Overseas League Final with her wind quintet, Ensemble Solaire.  She was the winner of the RCM Oboe Prize in 2020 and later that year, placed second in the RCM Concerto Competition with a performance of Skalkottas’ Concertino for Oboe and Orchestra. In addition, Polly was a semi-finalist in the Virtual Oboe Competition 2020. 

Her upcoming engagements include a performance of JS Bach’s Oboe and Violin Concerto as part of the Broadstone Music Series, the start of the new orchestral season with Bath Festival Orchestra and the world premiere performance of Karl Jenkins’ ‘One World’ in Linz with the World Orchestra for Peace.  

Savva Zverev – Violin

Prior to joining BSO, Savva had been a regular player with such orchestras as the Hallé, CBSO, Welsh National Opera and the Ulster Orchestra, amongst others. He has also guest-lead the Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet sinfonias.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Savva moved to the UK as a full-scholarship student to learn with Yuri Torchinsky, Leader of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Royal Northern College of Music. As a student, he performed major violin concertos as a soloist with orchestras across the North West, most notably, with The Hallé and Northern Ballet Sinfonia.

A pandemic graduate, Savva spent his lockdown recording all 24 Paganini caprices to raise funds for UK-based arts organisations, delivering on Uber Eats, and working full-time at bet365 in Stoke-on-Trent.

In 2020 Savva received the Best Male Actor award from the Greater Manchester Drama Federation, for the role of Andrea in a production by Northenden Theatre Players, ‘Ladies in Lavender’

Joan Martinez – Violin
Joan joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2015. He started playing the violin at the age of 8. In 2008 he was accepted at the Royal College of Music in London where he graduated in 2013 with a Master in Performance. Joan was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2014. Besides playing in orchestras, he has performed in various chamber music ensembles, occasionally as a soloist and has even played in musicals in the West end and at the National Theatre in London.

 Sally Aiko Dando – Violin

Sally was born in Spain in 2003. She began her studies with her mother, and then auditioned to study at Conservatorio Julian Orbón, under the guidance of Professor Lev Chistyakov. In 2015, she moved with her family to England, and joined and became leader of the Wessex Youth Orchestra. Winner of the 2016 National Partnership Award from Music for Youth, the highest accolade available to UK youth orchestras, it was there she developed her love for orchestral playing, performing in major halls around the country including the Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. In 2019, her quartet was invited the perform Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 ‘Death and the Maiden’ in the Academia Vivo International Festival in Vittorio Veneto. Sally is currently in her second year of studies at the Royal College of Music, under the guidance of Professor Radu Blidar.

Joe Berry – Viola

Joe Berry was born in Dorset in 2003. Growing up, he studied viola, piano, and composition, and joined the Wessex Youth Orchestra in 2016. He later became co-principal viola. In 2018, Joe co-founded the Capriccioso Quartet, which regularly performed professional programmes as well as his own compositions at local venues in Dorset, and internationally. Joe also won his age category of the 2019 Benslow Young Composers Competition, and was given the privilege of a professional performance of his submission by the Coull Quartet. His notable performances have included Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Broadstone Sinfonia, alongside Lewis Lee, in July of last year. Joe currently studies undergraduate viola with Jonathan Barritt at the Royal College of Music.

 Edward Chesterman – Cello

 Eddie studies Music as a Choral Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. Singing as a baritone in Merton College Choir, Eddie has taken part in a number of exciting projects including two BBC broadcasts, a US tour, and frequent performances with Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Last year, the choir recorded a disc with Delphian Records of English Anthems with the Britten Sinfonia, and this Easter performed the St. John Passion in the Barbican. Eddie is also an avid composer. Eddie was co-principal cellist of Ealing Youth Orchestra from 2018-2020, and in 2015 was chosen to play in a select orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. 

It has been quite some time since Eddie last played cello however, and thus was incredibly surprised when Lewis asked him to play in the Mendelssohn Octet. He hopes you enjoy the concert. 

 Lewis Lee – Violin

Lewis is in his 2nd Year reading Music at Merton College, Oxford, where he holds a Music Award. He has received the Music at Beaulieu Award 2018, adjudicated by Sir Stephen Cleobury, and ‘Rotary Wessex Award’ 2019, reaching the National Final of the Rotary Club’s Young Musician Competition. Orchestrally, he performs regularly with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, performing with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, having been part of their Orchestral Apprenticeship scheme. He is Co-Leader of Oxford University Orchestra, and has toured to the International Music Festival of Portel, Portugal, with St Anne’s Camerata. In April 2022 he was invited to lead an orchestra of players from the BBC Concert Orchestra and Oxford University in the ‘Silk Road’, a concert in collaboration between Katie Melua and The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.He has performed as a soloist with Broadstone Sinfonia, Nova Foresta Classical Players, L’Orchestra SiO, and the Wessex Youth Orchestra. As a chamber musician, his quartet was invited by Accademia Vivo to give recital in Veneto, Italy, funded by the Belacqua Trust.
He studies violin with Mayumi Fujikawa via the Oxford-Royal Academy of Music Scheme, and with Simon Blendis. He plays an 1820 Lorenzo Ventapane violin kindly on loan through the Bates Collection.

Joe MacDonald – Violin

American-born violinist Joe MacDonald is a first prize winner of the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra, and Harvard Musical Association Achievement Prizes, among others. He has performed in numerous renowned concert halls such as the Symphony Hall in Boston, Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein in Austria, and Jordan Hall, as well as other notable venues. Currently, he is in his second year at the Royal College of Music studying under Professor Radu Blidar, having previously studied with Professor Yuri Mazurkevich at Boston University. He is an avid chamber musician, partaking in an RCM based sextet, string quartet, and piano trio. Joe plays on an Antonio Vinaccia violin and a newly commissioned bow from Benoit Rolland.

 Charlie Potts – Viola

Charlie is a second year Music student at St Peter’s College, Oxford, originally from Cheshire. They were section leader of the Hallé Youth Orchestra for several years up in Manchester and studied at the Junior Department of the RNCM. As an undergraduate, Charlie is now the president of their college music society; there, they organise weekly chapel recitals, manage the college orchestra, and facilitate the flourishment of all music at St Peter’s. They have accumulated a broad and high-quality variety of performing experience while in Oxford. Highlights of this year include leading the Viola sections of the Oxford Baroque Players and Orchestra Vox, with upcoming appearances as Soloist with the Oxford University String Ensemble and St Peter’s College Chamber Orchestra. At St Peter’s, they hold the Stephen Geddes Award for Musical Excellence, the highest award of its kind at college, earned through total dedication to the musical life of college. They play a large Tertis Model viola made by L. E. Carroll in 1962, and currently take lessons with Jon Thorne at the Royal Academy of Music.

Derry Sowinski – Horn

British French horn player, Derry Sowinski, recipient of the 2021 Needley Family Scholar award, is embarking upon his Bachelor of Music Degree at the Royal College of Music, London. Derry was presented with an award by the Michael James Music Trust in 2018 following his solo performance of the final movement of Mozart’s 3rd Horn concerto at Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Mixed with his love of classical music, he has a passion for jazz and performed with Queen Elizabeth’s Jazz Orchestra at the Swanage Jazz Festival in 2017 and 2018, culminating in the recording of an album at the iconic Abbey Road Studios London, in the summer of 2019. As principal horn for the Wessex Youth Orchestra, Derry toured Amsterdam in 2019 soloing Mendelssohn’s Nocturne from a Midsummer Night’s Dream.

 Carys Underwood – Cello

Carys Underwood is a cellist from Horsham in West Sussex, who is now studying at the Royal College of Music under Richard Lester. Having started learning at the age of 4, they progressed through the West Sussex Youth Orchestra, attending two tours across Belgium and Germany. They then joined the Royal College of Music Junior Department, studying with Michal Kaznowski. They have performed in renowned venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank, and the Royal Albert Hall. Carys has received masterclasses from cellists such as Alexander Baillie, Brian O’Kane, Denis Brott and Joely Koos. As an avid chamber musician, they have benefited from masterclasses with the Harlem Quartet, Sacconi Quartet, and was selected to play in a concert alongside the Gould Piano Trio, and to perform in the Sacconi Festival of 2023 in Folkstone.

Ben Siebertz – Harpsichord
Ben Originally from Merseyside, Ben studied Music at the University of Birmingham, majoring in conducting under Julian Wilkins and harpsichord with Yeo Yat-Soon. The current Librarian at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Ben also pursues an active portfolio of freelance work including conducting, playing, singing, editing, and copy-writing. A yearly fixture in the calendar is as the producer of the Composer Academy at Cheltenham Music Festival. The Academy is a week-long forum which allows early-career composers to explore their creative voice, and to network with fellow composers, musicians, and industry specialists. Since moving to the Dorset Coast in April, Ben has been making the most of the weather (while it lasts), walking over the Purbecks, swimming off Durley Chine, and cycling around Poole Harbour.