Kettering Concerts

Kettering Concerts


Kettering Concert 2013-09-15

Diemen Quartet and Karen Smithies
Jeremy Williams (violin), Yuen Yum San Williams (violin), Jo St. Leon (viola), Dale Brown (cello), Karen Smithies (piano)

Schumann Piano Quintet

Diemen Quartet and Karen Smithies

Programme:

  • The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Act 3 - Solomon) – George Handel (1685-1759)
  • String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op 59 No 3 – Razumovsky – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
  • Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 – Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sunday 15 September 2013, 3pm
Kettering Community Hall
Tickets available at the door
$10
Stay for the post-concert afternoon tea, meet and chat with the musicians.

Jeremy Williams

Following a period with the London Symphony Orchestra, Jeremy Williams was invited to join the internationally acclaimed Delme String Quartet and has since been dedicated to chamber music. As a member of the Nash Ensemble he played both violin and viola, and was also violinist for several years with the York Piano Trio.

In 1998 Jeremy took up the position of Principal Viola with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2003 he moved to Australia as a member the Australian string Quartet, later the Grainger Quartet. As a chamber musician he has appeared at major international festivals including Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, Salzburg, Hong Kong, Sydney, Adelaide and Prague Spring. Jeremy is currently Lecturer in Chamber Music at the Hobart Conservatorium of Music.


Yuen Yum San Williams

Born in Shanghai, Yuen Yum was the first recipient of the Hong Kong Government Music Scholarship to study at Wells Cathedral School, England, going on to graduate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1986 Yuen Yum joined the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, touring both nationally and worldwide. She has performed extensively with the London Wren Orchestra, the Bolshoi Ballet, the London Metropolitan Orchestra and the Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra.

Yuen Yum has worked with musicians as diverse as Igor Oistrakh, the Amadeus quartet and Quincy Jones. Yuen Yum's awards include the Somerset Violin Competition (UK), the Hong Kong Commercial Radio Prize (Twice Winner) and the Hong Kong Concerto Prize. As well as performing, Yuen Yum has played an active role in educating young violinists in London, Hong Kong and Australia. Fluent in three Chinese languages, she has also travelled widely in her capacity as a concert manager and coordinated the 2005 Australian String Quartet tour of China and the 2007 Southern Cross Soloists tour of Hong Kong and China. Yuen Yum is an Associate Lecturer at the Hobart conservatorium UTAS and Principal Music Educator of the Young Conservatorium Program.


Jo St. Leon

Jo studied the viola with Christopher Marting in Melbourne and Frederick Riddle in London. During her many years in London, she held Principal positions with the English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the English Touring Opera. She was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for thirteen years and their Education Director for two years. She was a regular freelance player ith the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. As a chamber musician, Jo was a member of the Priory trio for 6 years, and played regularly with the Orchestra of St. John's Chamber Ensemble and Endymion Ensemble, with whom she premiered many works of contemporary British composers. She has appeared as soloist in the UK, Australia, China and South America.

Since returning to Australia late in 2006, Jo has held positions as Lecturer in Viola at the Tasmanian Conservatorium and Head of Strings at St. Michael's Collegiate. She has appeared as Guest Principal Viola with the Melbourne Symphony Orhcestra and was a member of the Diemen Quartet from 2011 - 2013. She is currently the violist of the Elanée Ensemble, plays regularly with Virtuosi Tasmania and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, teaches at the UTas Conservatorium and has a large private teching studio. She tutors annually at the Australian International Symphony Orchestra Institute in Hobart and the Residential Summer String Camp in Ulverstone, Tasmania.


Dale Brown

Born in Perth W.A., Dale began cello studies at 12 years of age with Louis Tomlin and later Sally Talbot. She completed a Bachelor of Music with honours at University of W.A in 1983 and a Graduate Diploma of Music from the Tasmanian Conservatorium in 1985, studying with Christian Wojtowicz.

She has worked for the West Australian Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She was a finalist in the Young Performer of the Year Competition 1986, playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music has been interwoven through her orchestral career. The Hartz Piano Trio performed from 2007 to 2009 in Hobart, with Dale playing the cello. 2010 saw the release of a CD of Mendelssohn and Beethoven with Virtuosi Tasmania. In 2011 she looks forward to the inaugural year with Lucida Quartet.


Karen Smithies

Karen Smithies moved to Tasmania from the Central Coast of NSW in 1998. She completed her Masters in Music Performance at the University of Tasmania in 2003, studying with Beryl Sedivka and David Bollard. Upon graduating from Sydney Conservatorium with a Bachelor of music in piano performance and accompaniment, Karen was awarded the “Mollie Neal” scholarship for excellence in Accompaniment. She has appeared as soloist and accompanist with regional orchestras and major vocal ensembles across the Central Coast and in Sydney.

Karen has made several national ABC and 3MBS FM broadcasts with artists such as cellist Christian Woijtowicz, violinists Marina Phillips and Romana Zieglerova, baritones Christopher Richardson and Michael Lampard and the TSO Brass and Friends.

Karen is currently lecturer in Accompaniment at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and has lectured in piano studies at the University of Tasmania since 2000. In that time she has been busy as a repetiteur, and accompanist of undergraduates, postgraduates and visiting artists at the Conservatorium and throughout Tasmania. Karen regularly plays as orchestral and rehearsal pianist for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and repetiteurs for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Karen lives in on Hobart’s Eastern shore with her husband Matthew and four children.




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