British evening – Jack Liebeck-violin, Great Britain

Jack Liebeck-violin

British/German violinist, director and Artistic Director Jack Liebeck possesses “flawless technical mastery” and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine). Jack is the Royal Academy of Music’s first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin and Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Jack’s fascination with all things scientific has led to two new concertos being written for him and regular collaborator Professor Brian Cox – Dario Marianelli’s Voyager Violin Concerto and Paul Dean’s A Brief History of Time commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Jack has worked with some of the world’s leading conductors including Andrew Litton, Leonard Slatkin, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Sir Mark Elder, Sakari Oramo, Vasily Petrenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Brett Dean, Daniel Harding, Jukka Pekka Saraste, David Robertson, Jakub Hrůša and major orchestras across the globe including Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Oslo Philharmonic, Belgian National, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, St Louis  and Indianapolis Symphony and most of the UK orchestras. Recent highlights include a return to Queensland Symphony Orchestra performing a new arrangement of Lark Ascending for choir and orchestra, his debut with Spokane Symphony performing the US premiere of Marianelli Voyager and returns to Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Savannah Chamber Music Festival and the Franz Liszt Orchestra.

In summer 2024 Jack gave the world premiere of Taylor Scott Davis’ Effortlessly with VOCES8 on the main stage of Sydney Opera House. Jack’s 25-26 season sees him performing across the globe in both chamber and orchestral concerts from Budapest to Macedonia, and from Australia and the US to South Africa .

Upcoming album releases include the Barber Concerto with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Malcolm Arnold’s Double Violin Concerto with Alexander Sitkovetsky. His release of Schoenberg & Brahms with BBC Symphony Orchestra was ‘Recording of the Month’ and BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Recommended Recording’ for the Brahms Violin Concerto in its ‘the greatest violin concertos of all time’.

Jack plays the ‘Ex-Wilhelmj’ J.B. Guadagnini dated 1785 and is generously loaned a Joseph Henry bow by Kathron Sturrock in the memory of her late husband Professor David Bennett.

Katya Аpekisheva-piano

Described as a ‘profoundly gifted artist’ by Gramophone Magazine, Katya Apekisheva has earned her place as one of Europe’s most renowned and gifted pianists. Born in Moscow, into a family of musicians, she attended the Gnessin Music School for exceptionally gifted children making her stage debut at the age of 12. She continued her studies in Jerusalem at the Rubin Music Academy and later at the Royal College of Music in London. From these auspicious beginnings she went on to be a Prizewinner of the Leeds International Piano competition and has gone on to enjoy a career performing with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Halle Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, the English Chamber

Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, working with renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, David Shallon, Jan Latham-Koenig and Alexander Lazarev.

Katya’s discography includes solo and chamber works by Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Dvorak and Rachmaninov.

Recent and future highlights include performances in Russia, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Australia and at home in the UK where she has a regular presence. Her intense artistry and delicacy makes Katya a most sought after collaborative pianist, working with artists such as Janine Jansen, Natalie Clein, Guy Johnston, Maxim Rysanov, Jack Liebeck, Boris Brovtsyn, Alexei Ogrinchouk and Nicholas Daniel and she appears regularly at major chamber music festivals around the world. Katya also has a highly successful and personally rewarding piano duo partnership with Charles Owen, performing regularly at

festivals worldwide. Together they are co-Artistic Directors of the London Piano Festival which began in 2016.

Programme:

ROMANCE ISN’T DEAD, YET

F. Schubert: Violin Sonata in A Major “Grand Duo”

Allegro moderato

Scherzo: presto

Andantino

Allegro vivace

F. Chopin (arr. Milstein): Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor

E. Ysaÿe: Poème élégiaque in D minor, Op. 12

-intermission-

F. Mendelssohn (arr. Hermann): Songs without words Op. 19 No. 1

F. Kreisler: Caprice Viennois Op. 2

F. Chopin (arr. Sarasate): Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2

F. Mendelssohn: Sonata in F major

Allegro

Andante

Presto