Our Venue – St John’s Boxmoor
Saturday 3rd February 2024
Beethoven, “Leonora” Overture
Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1 – soloist Lucilla Rose Mariotti Banwell
Brahms, Symphony No. 2
Lucilla Rose Mariotti Banwell, born in 2001, is an Italian violinist currently studying at the Royal College of Music
(RCM) in London for an Artist Diploma with Mark Messenger with full scholarship. She has been selected as the winner for the prestigious Carne Trust Junior Fellowship 2023/24 at the RCM and she is also a 2023 Boise Scholar.
She completed the Master of Performance with distinction at the RCM in 2023, as an Anne & Brian Wadsworth Scholarship holder. During her studies at RCM, Lucilla has also been supported by Help Musicians as an Ian Fleming Award holder and by the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust.
From a young age, she has performed as soloist in many concerts. In 2023, she participated in the “European Festival of Soloists” organized by the embassies of EU Member States in Venezuela and El Sistema as an Italian representative, playing with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela in Caracas. In 2022, she performed as a soloist with the New English Concert Orchestra at the Battle Proms Concerts at Blenheim Palace, Burghley House, Hatfield House and Highclere Castle in the UK. She also performed as a soloist the third movement of Mozart’s violin concerto K216 with the RCM Chamber Orchestra in a live-streamed orchestral masterclass with Maxim Vengerov. Additionally, she performed Navarra by Sarasate with Maxim Vengerov and other RCM students with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.
Recently, Lucilla Rose has won the grand prize and the public prize based on the audience’s vote at
the “Violins&Soul” Salon Music Violin Competition at the AMADEUS Festival 2023 in Vienna, together with a 2-year gratuitous loan of a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin from the Goh Family Collection. She has also won many other national and international competitions including the 59th Kocian International Violin Competition in Czech Republic and the ESO 32nd Young Soloist Competition in Eastbourne receiving also the St Cecilia Bequest Award for the best performance of a musician under 18 and many other competitions in Italy and abroad. In 2019, she was awarded the Maura Giorgetti scholarship by winning the Young Musicians Competition organised by the Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala.
Saturday 4th May 2024
Maccunn, The Land of the Mountain and the Flood Overture
Elgar, Cello Concerto – soloist Riccardo Pes
Vaughan Williams, A London Symphony
Riccardo Pes is an Italian cellist and composer. He graduated with outstanding from the Royal College of
Music, London on the Artist Diploma course, under the tuition of the distinguished professor Melissa
Phelps. His repertoire spans from the baroque, played on period instruments, to the contemporary. His
curiosity has led him to experiment with various sources of technology, such as the loop-station, and he is committed to finding new ways of bringing classical music to younger generations.
As a soloist, Riccardo has played the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra,
Tartini’s Cello Concerto in A major with I Solisti Veneti conducted by Claudio Scimone, the Cello Concertos
by Nicola Fiorenza and Nicola Porpora with the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marco Feruglio.
His chamber music collaborations have included performances with Mario Brunello, Giovanni Sollima,
Gilles Apap, Madeleine Mitchell, Thomas Zehetmair.
He has played numerous solo recitals in prestigious venues, such as the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert
Hall, Kings Place, The Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, Blackheath Halls, Royal Academy of
Arts, Schloss Laudon in Vienna, Sala Sinopoli in Rome, and Teatro Della Tosse in Genoa. He has been
invited to perform at important festivals such as the Venice Biennale, “AHA! Festival ” in Gothenburg,
Triennale of Milan, and The Sounds of the Dolomites.
Riccardo also studied at the Conservatory of Venice and at the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia in
Rome with cellist and composer, Giovanni Sollima, graduating with distinction. He has attended several
masterclasses held by Frans Helmerson, Ludwig Quandt, Franz Bartolomey, Johannes Goritzky, Gustavo
Tavares.
Riccardo has studied composition and counterpoint with the composers Battista Pradal and Mario Pagotto.
His music is published by the Sonzogno Music Publisher in Milan, and it has been performed at venues
including the Southbank Centre London during the festival “Nordic Matters”, the “Summer Exhibition” at the
Royal Academy of Arts, Venice Biennale, Triennale of Milan, and Teatro Valle in Rome.
In 2023, he will record the cello and piano sonatas by G.A.Fano and L. Sinigaglia with the pianist Pierluigi
Piran for the label TACTUS. He will also premiere a video documentary to celebrate Prokofiev’s 70th
anniversary. The documentary is supported by the Oleg Prokofiev Trust and it will include exclusive interviews of distinguished researchers and musicians, as well as rare archival materials about the
uncompleted cello solo sonata.
Saturday 13th July 2024
Borodin, “Prince Igor” Overture
Arutunian, Trumpet Concerto – soloist Jasmin Ghera
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6
Jasmin Iris Ghera is an Italian trumpet player from Sardinia, where she achieved her Bachelor’s degree in Trumpet Performance in 2017. In 2022 she achieved the highest grade 6/6 in her Masters in Music Interpretation at the Lausanne High School of Music (HEMU) under the guidance of Master Eric Aubier. Since November 2022 she is undertaking the Professional Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since November 2022 Jasmin is attending the Royal Academy of Music in London where she a recipient of received the Bicentenary Scholarship She just achieved the Professional Diploma and will start her Advanced Diploma in Performance in September. She will also have the opportunity to record a solo album with Linn Records.
Jasmin feels the reason she would like to become a professional musician is the fact that through music she has the chance to express her emotions and communicate them to others. What she loves the most about this job is sharing and communicating with other musicians and people crushing boundaries and levelling each member of the audience as they will enjoy the music in their own individual way. She really enjoys performing in solo recitals and she has already performed in numerous venues in her region as well as in the Vatican museums of Rome and in the Opening Concert of the 31st International Music Festival in Prague. Between June and August 2022, Jasmin joined the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO) for the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Teodor Currentzis. In September 2022 she collaborated with the OCL (Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne). She also played with the Discanto European Orchestra, Ente Concerti Marialisa de Carolis, Orchestra Jazz della Sardegna, wind orchestra of Lorenzo della Fonte.