Alexandra Wood
Alexandra Wood, 'a talent to watch' (The Strad), has won major prizes at international violin competitions including the Wieniawski, Tibor Varga and Yampolsky.She has given recitals for numerous international festivals including Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Bath and Brighton, and also in London at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall.
She has performed concertos with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia and the Orchestra of St John’s, Smith Square, working with conductors including Richard Hickox and Roger Norrington. Alexandra has won many prestigious awards including the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal, Maisie Lewis Award, Wingate Scholarship and Junior Fellowships at the Royal College of Music.
She was selected for the Tillett Trust Young Artists Platform, and was an NFMS Recommended Artist. Her CD of world premiere recordings, Chimera, was described as 'splendid' in the Sunday Times, and in BBC Music Magazine as 'agile, incisive and impassioned'.
She is leader of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and teaches at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Deborah Calland
'A superb recital by the notable trumpeter Deborah Calland'
(Malcolm Miller, Musical Opinion)
Deborah Calland has given trumpet and organ recitals in the USA, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, as well as venues throughout the United Kingdom, and has performed concertos with, among others, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Virtuosi di Kuhmo (Finland) and the Britten Sinfonia. She has also appeared as a recitalist at many of the major festivals in England, such as the Cheltenham and City of London.
She has a special interest in contemporary music and has played an active role in increasing the repertoire for the instrument. Compositions have been written for her by the British composers Hugh Wood, Robin Holloway, Sally Beamish, Diana Burrell, Jonathan Dove, Huw Watkins, Rhian Samuel, and John Hawkins, as well as the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara and Bent Lorentzen from Denmark. She has also given British premieres of works by Peter Sculthorpe and Aulis Sallinen. A CD of contemporary British music for trumpet and organ, recorded by Deux-Elles at Douai Abbey with organist William Whitehead, was released in 2006 to critical acclaim.
Kyle Horch
Kyle Horch is one of Britain’s leading saxophonists. After studying at Northwestern University (Chicago) with Frederick Hemke and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) with Stephen Trier, he was a prizewinner at numerous young artist competitions in Britain, the USA and Europe and has performed as a soloist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, British and World Saxophone Congresses and numerous other venues in this country and abroad.
His two CD recordings on the Clarinet Classics label, ChamberSax and AngloSax, have received international praise from reviewers. He has also recorded John Carmichael’s Aria and Finale for ABC Classics. He has worked with many well-known ensembles including the CBSO, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Opera House, Philharmonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, London Musici, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Mistral and Paragon Saxophone Quartets, Carlos Bonell Ensemble and the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra. He is saxophone professor at the Royal College of Music in London, and has given masterclasses in Britain, Holland, Norway, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia and the USA.
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Iain Farrington
Iain Farrington studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and at St John’s College, Cambridge., and has an exceptional career as an organist, pianist, arranger and composer. He has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Opera House, and in Japan, South Africa and across Europe. He has accompanied Bryn Terfel, Lesley Garrett, the Royal Ballet and the BBC Singers, and worked with such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Colin Davis. He has made numerous recordings, on the Naxos and Nimbus labels among others, and has broadcast on BBC Television, Classic FM and BBC Radio 3. His compositions and arrangements have been recorded and performed all over the world.
