Alexander Binns - Organist
Alexander Binns has just completed his undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with Susan Landale and David Titterington, and performed in masterclasses under eminent organists including; Olivier Latry, Eric Lebrun, Jon Laukvik, Patrick Russill and Naomi Matsui. At the Academy Alexander was the recipient of numerous prizes which include; the Eric Thiman Prize, the Gwen and Eric Windo Organ Award, the Stephen Bicknell Award and the Paton Award. Alexander was also involved in numerous Academy projects which include; two commercial recordings with the Academy Soloist's Ensemble under the direction of Trevor Pinnock, the premiere performance of 'Compline' from 'The Hours' by leading composer Diana Burrell, a performance in the inaugural recital of the Academy's new Kuhn organ in the Duke's Hall, and two residencies at Neresheim Abbey in Southern Germany for concerts and services.
A holder of the Associateship Diploma from the Royal College of Organists, Alexander has performed at some of the county's finest venues, including; Westminster Abbey, the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace, St George's Chapel Windsor Castle, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Fairfield Halls, Coventry Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Ealing Abbey, the Clore Ballroom, Southwark Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, Wakefield Cathedral, Manchester Cathedral, Queen's College Cambridge, Pembroke College Cambridge and Rochdale Town Hall. Alexander has performed in outreach projects with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in the summer of 2012 he toured Europe with the European Union Youth Orchestra under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda.
Minn Majoe - Violinist
Minn Majoe recently graduated with a first class Master of Arts degree from the Royal Academy of Music. She learnt with Maurice Hasson, and previously with Clio Gould. During her studies she led the RAM Concert, Manson and String Orchestras, Opera Orchestra and took part in the collaboration with the Juilliard School of Music, culminating in a BBC Prom. Minn enjoys performing contemporary works as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Contemporary orchestras she has performed in include the London Sinfonietta, Lucerne Festival Academy 2013 and London Sinfonietta Academy 2011. She was selected for the 2012-13 London Symphony Orchestra’s elite String Experience Scheme and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s mentor scheme. Minn has worked in many UK orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and English National Opera.
Opening Gala Concert - October 5th, 2014
Henry Neill - Baritone
Henry is currently studying on the MA Vocal Performance course at the Royal Academy of Music with Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham, having read music as an undergraduate at Cambridge University. He was recently awarded the Michael Head Prize for a recital of English song at the Royal Academy of Music and is generously supported by the Musicians Benevolent Fund Postgraduate Performance Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. Previous roles include Quince in an award winning production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Shadwell Opera at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Noye from Noye’s Fludde in Cambridge University Opera Society productions. This year Henry returned for his second season at Garsington Opera where he was involved in their production of Rossini’s Maometto II and Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Engaged extensively as a soloist, Henry has performed recitals in the Pitville Pump rooms, Cheltenham and Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, with solo roles including Mozart and Brahms Requiems, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Lizst’s Via Crucis, Bach’s St. John Passion, Vaughan-Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, and a one to a part St. Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Rebecca Taylor - Pianist
Rebecca read music as Organ Scholar at Lincoln College, Oxford, studying with David Sanger. As both an organist and choral conductor she has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 & 4, made CD recordings and performed in the UK and abroad in venues such as Westminster Abbey, St.George's Chapel Windsor and St Marks Venice. Rebecca recently completed her studies for an MA in piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Carole Presland, where she was also a member of the Academy Song Circle. She achieved a distinction in her LRAM diploma and currently holds a position as Trainee Répétiteur at the Royal Academy of Music. She was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, touring under the direction of Thomas Søndergård and Gianandrea Noseda. Rebecca has performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including St. David's Cardiff, St.Martins-in-the-Field, The Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Macedonia Opera House, as soloist with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra in Muscat and she recently attended the Solti Accademia in Venice where she worked with Richard Bonynge.
Chloe van Soeterstede studied the violin and the viola at Conservatoire Regional of Paris and while over there Chloe entered Nicolas Brochot's conducting class, obtaining her final diploma in 2010 combining subjects as musical analysis and chamber music as well as solo performance. Since 2010 she is a student at the Royal Academy of Music studying viola with Prof. Yuko Inoue and conducting with Raymond Holden and Paul Brough. She is also attending conducting classes with Sian Edwards, head of conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as Prof. Peter Stark at the Royal College of Music. In September 2012, Chloe created the Arch Sinfonia, an emerging dynamic orchestra in London supported by students and graduates from Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music.
In April 2013, Chloe was selected to participate in an international conducting masterclass in France and as a result, conducted the United Strings of Europe chamber orchestra in April and in November 2013. She was also accepted to conduct the Berlin Sinfonietta for later in the year and participating to the Manchester conducting masterclasses in May 2014. After a very successful conducting audition, Chloe was chosen to conduct the Harmony Sinfonia, a very good amateur symphony orchestra, for its summer concert. She has great support from Daniel Harding who invited her many times to attend some of his rehearsals and work with him. Since 2013 Chloe is a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and during this year she gave a recital in the Wigmore Hall with the Stella Quartet (in which she is currently the viola player) and played at the Royal Opera House featuring a new ballet. She also played under the baton of prestigious conductors as Mark Elder, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Trevor Pinock, Mistuko Ushida, Franck Ollu, Marine Alsop , Semyon Byckov, Krysztof Urbanski among others. In summer 2014, Chloe toured in Japan within the Pacific Music Festival (PMFO) and was invited to play with the Birmingham Festival Orchestra as the viola section leader.
Opening Gala Concert - October 5th, 2014
Ross Knight - Tuba
Ross is a tuba player from Carnoustie, Scotland. Ross began playing when he was just nine years old and went on to graduate from the Royal Academy of Music with a first class honours degree in July 2014. In May 2014 he was placed second out of twenty-eight brass and percussion players from all over Europe in the European Brass and Percussion Solo Championships. He also won the best tuba award in the competition. He is the only tuba player to have made it to the final three in the history of the competition. Ross also won the best soloist award playing the second movement of Andy Scott’s ‘Salt of the Earth’ in the European Youth Brass Band Championships on 4th May 2014.
In November 2011 Ross won the BBC Radio 2 Under 21 Young Brass Player. He then competed against the Under 18 category winner and the Youth Band category winner and won the title of the overall BBC Young Brass Player in January 2012. From this he has gone on to play as the guest soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra on the 2nd October 2012 playing the 2nd movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto and the first movement of Edward Gregson’s Tuba Concerto. This performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 2’s programme ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ on the 9th November 2012. He also performed as the guest soloist with Grimethorpe Colliery Band playing Rodney Newton’s ‘Capriccio’ at the gala concert of the British Open Brass Band Championships in September 2012 to a packed Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
In addition to his solo work, Ross is the principal tuba player of the European Union Youth Orchestra and has been a member since 2012. He has toured all over Europe with the orchestra, including countries such as Malta, Macedonia, Germany, Italy, Greece and Spain as well as a tour to Abu Dhabi as part of the orchestra’s first trip to the United Arab Emirates.
