Alasdair Beatson

Pianist Alasdair Beatson is highly regarded as a distinctive and vibrant musician.  Highlights of 2014 include a sixth solo Wigmore Recital on July 13th, performances of the complete Beethoven cello sonatas with Pieter Wispelwey, and chamber collaborations with such artists as Adrian Brendel, Philippe Graffin, Erich Höbarth, Henning Kraggerud, and Pekka Kuusisto.  His recent CD of Mendelssohn piano music with SOMM Recordings received praise for highly sensitive playing of rare insight (Classic FM Magazine) and was awarded the ‘Outstanding’ accolade of International Record Review, and a new disc presenting the complete piano music of Ludwig Thuille was released in April 2013.

Recent concerts include appearances as soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, the Scottish Ensemble, and performances as soloist in Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, conducted by George Benjamin, and Hindemith’s The Four Temperaments.  As one of the most established chamber pianists of his generation, Alasdair works in a wide and varied repertoire with some of today’s finest musicians.  Recent festival appearances include Aldeburgh, Bath Mozartfest, Music at Plush, Resonances (Belgium), Ernen (Switzerland), Delft and Oxford Chamber Music. A regular participant of IMS Prussia Cove, Alasdair was invited to join their touring groups in 2007 and 2011.  He is Artistic Director of the chamber music festival Musique à Marsac.

Alasdair enjoys a regular association with the Scottish Ensemble.  In addition to numerous chamber music projects, he returns in Autumn 2014 for a third tour as soloist, playing concertos of Mozart and Haydn.

Often attracted to less familiar repertoire, Alasdair’s approach to programming has been described as canny and uncompromising (Classical Source).  His debut solo CD – the opus 1′s of Schumann, Brahms, Grieg and Berg – was released on SOMM Recordings in 2009 to critical acclaim.  Other uncommon works explored include Debussy’s own arrangement for solo piano of his balletJeux, Fauré’s rarely performed Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, Hindemith’s Four Temperaments, the complete solo piano music of Ludwig Thuille, and piano trio arrangements of Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Janacek’s Kreutzer Sonata.  Keen to collaborate directly with living composers, Alasdair has worked closely with George Benjamin, Harrison Birtwistle, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Heinz Holliger.

Vsevolod Dvorkin

Born in Moscow in 1972, Vsevolod Dvorkin was five years old when he began to play piano. He attended the Music School for Children and the Gnessins Musical School before joining the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he graduated with distinction in 1995.
Dvorkin has participated in numerous competitions in Italy and Germany, winning top prizes, as well as a scholarship in 1994, which gave him the opportunity to study in Italy under Lazar Berman at the Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, and under Vincenzo Balzani at the Milan Conservatory.

Dvorkin made his debut as a soloist in the Sala Verdi of Milan in 1998, followed by debut performances in Kioi Hall, Tokyo, in 1999, and Nezahualcoyotl Hall, Mexico City, in 2000. He has performed in both solo and chamber music recitals, as well as with internationally acclaimed orchestras, in Russia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and further afield in Egypt, South Korea, and Japan, playing with the Moscow Symphony and State Symphony Orchestras, the Ulianovsk Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian orchestras Filarmonica Oltenia di Craiova and the Orchestra Filarmonica di Iasi, the Italian orchestras Filarmonica di Udine and the Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo, the Debrecen Symphony Orchestra, Hungary, the Orchestre d’Auvergne, France, and the Orquesta Filarmonica De La UNAM, Mexico. He has worked with a variety of musicians, including Natalia Anikeeva, Cristiano Rossi and Shuku Iwasaki and many others,* as well as with numerous chamber ensembles such as the Gaudeamus Quintet, and the Nuove Vie and Mozart and Rimsky-Korsakov quartets. Currently, Dvorkin is working with the acclaimed actress and pianist Sonia Bergamasco in a play* and in chamber theatre productions. Dvorkin teaches piano at the European Music Academy of Erba, Italy, and he gives world-wide master classes.

Dvorkin recorded the Stradivarius Schumann Quartet opus 47 in 2001, and the Recitarsuonando with Sonia Bergamasco for Rai Tre in 2004, as well as some chamber repertoire works with the violist N. Anikeeva* for Croatian Radio HRT. 
Dvorkin has judged in various Italian international competitions; the International Competition, Verbania; the Valsesia Musica International competition; the Liszt International Competition, Parma; and the International Competition, Città di Pavia.
He has participated in the New Names International program, and in numerous festivals including the Prokofiev Festival, Rostov on Don, the Pianoforum Festival, Kazan, the Salacgriva Music Festival, Latvia, the Rencontre internationale des Jeunes Pianistes, Paris, the Okinawa International Music Festival, Japan, and the Italian festivals, Autunno Musicale, Como, Eurofestival, Camerino, the Valsassina Festival, Barzio, and the International Festival of San Gimignano.

Itamar Golan

For more than two decades, Itamar Golan has been partnering the most outstanding instrumentalists of our time. His work has brought him great critical acclaim, and he is one of the most sought after pianists of his generation, playing on the most prestigious stages around the world.

Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, his family emigrated to Israel when he was a year old. There he started his musical studies and at the age of 7, gave his first concerts in Tel-Aviv. He was repeatedly awarded scholarships from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation which enabled him to study with Emmanuel Krasovsky and his chamber music mentor, Chaim Taub. Later under a full scholarship from the New England Conservatory of Boston, he was chosen to study with Leonard Shure. Since his earliest years, Itamar Golan’s passion has been chamber music, but he has also appeared as soloist with some of the major orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta, Royal Philharmonic under the direction of Daniele Gatti, the Orchestra Philharmonica della Scala, the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Riccardo Muti and Philarmonia Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel.

Over the years, he has collaborated with Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, Mischa Maisky, Shlomo Mintz, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Kyung Wha Chung, Sharon Kam, Janine Jansen, Martin Frost and Torleif Thedeen among many others. He is a frequent participant in many prestigious international music festivals, such as Salzburg, Verbier, Lucerne, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and has made a numerous recordings for labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics, Decca, Teldec, EMI and Sony Classical.

In 1991, Itamar Golan was nominated to the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, making him one of their youngest teachers ever. Since 1994, he has taught chamber music at the Paris Conservatory.　He resides in Paris, where he is involved in many different artistic projects.

Tolga Atalay Ün

Tolga Atalay Ün is a third year undergraduate student at the Royal College of Music, London, studying piano with Prof. Norma Fisher. He also studied the harpsichord for two years with Prof. Terence Charlston. He is Kenneth and Violet Scott Scholar. He is also generously supported by Sevda-Cenap And Music Foundation and Talent Unlimited.

Tolga Atalay Ün was born in 1995, Ankara, Turkey. He is a Turkish-American dual citizen. During his primary school education, he also had education about drama, dance and sports and won many prizes. He started taking his regular piano education when he was 10. In 2004, he was accepted as a member of the Polyphonic Children’s Choir of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, conducted by Ahter Destan. Between the years of 2004-2009, he participated in many concerts, tours and organisations as a choir member and accompanist.

In 2007, he was offered a place at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, where he started his piano studies with Sibel Özgün. During his seven-year conservatory education; he gave many concerts, premiered many pieces and made many radio recordings as a pianist, conductor, chamber musician and accompanist. He took lessons about Modern Music History and Contemporary Music Techniques from famous Turkish composer İlhan Baran between the years of 2009-2013. In May of 2009, he was awarded the “honorable mention” in the Fourth International Istanbul Pera Piano Competition. In 2010, he was awarded the “Jury Special Award” in “The National Chopin Piano Competition”, which was organized jointly by Başkent University and Bahçelievler Rotary Club in Ankara, Turkey under the auspices of the Polish Embassy, to commemorate Chopin’s 200th birthday. After winning this prize, he got invitation to become one of the founder members of Bahçelievler Interact Club. As an Interact, he has had the opportunity of participating in various social activities including gathering donations for The Rotary Global Eradication of Polio Project and for shelters for abandoned dogs.

He participated in masterclasses given by renowned pianists/harpsichordists such as İdil Biret, Özgür Aydin, Gülsin Onay, Ian Jones, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, Andrew Zolinsky, Rolf Plagge, Ton Koopman, Anton Voigt, Jia Xie, Rostislav Yovchev, David Wilde, Pawel Kaminski, Dmitar Tsanev, Jozsef Balog, Manolis Papasifakis, Alessandro Tenaglia and Krassimir Taskov. In 2011, he was selected as the conductor of the Hitit Philharmonic Orchestra which was founded by his teachers at Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. He took conducting lessons from Turkish Conductors İbrahim Yazıcı, Orhun Orhon, Burak Tüzün and Erol Erdinç. As well as having these lessons, he conducted the Hitit Philharmonic Orchestra, Hacettepe Youth Symphony Orchestra and Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra in several concerts. In winter of 2013, he conducted the Ankara Youth Symphony Orchestra in a concert, which was recorded as a DVD. In 2014, he graduated from Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory Music and Performing Arts High School with the “Top of the School Award”.

He gave his first harpsichord concert in Bach Festival Week at the RCM in March, 2015. In November 2015, he won the ‘second prize’ at the Broadwood Horniman Harpsichord Competition. In January 2016, he was invited by renowned pianist Janina Fialkowska to play a solo recital in Germany. In April, he played and conducted Mozart Piano Concerto No.21 from the keyboard in the opening concert of International Ankara Music Festival.