TEMPORADA 2014/2015
Edificio Foro de Somosaguas. Planta 1, oficina 26
Urbanización Pinar de Somosaguas, 89 bis
28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón - Madrid - España
Tel.: +34 91 591 32 90
Fax.: +34 91 591 32 91
info@musiespana.com
www.musiespana.com
Twitter @musiespana
Cavaleri String Quartet
Martyn Jackson, violin
Ciaran McCabe, violin
Ann Beilby, viola
Rowena Calvert, cello
Quotes
“The foursome had delivered one of the festival’s most striking performances this year”
The Strad, David Kettle (Edinburgh Festival)
“The Cavaleri Quartet give a first rate performance with fine ensemble, sensitivity and panache”
The Classical Review, Bruce Reader
“they move around the aurally pungent moods of the [Schnittke] Third Quartet with complete
assurance”
The Strad, David Denton
“The Cavaleri Quartet play Mendelssohn with passion”
BBC Music Magazine, Roger Nichols
Since its formation in 2008, the Cavaleri Quartet has gained a reputation as one of the leading
European string quartets. They won Second Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music
Competition 2014 and First Prize at the 2012 Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition.
At Hamburg they were also awarded the Brahms Society Prize and Mendelssohn Prize from the
Oscar and Vera Ritterman Foundation. In 2011 they were recipients of the ‘Special Prize’ at the
Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition.
The Cavaleri Quartet first came to prominence in the UK after winning the Royal Over-Seas
League Ensemble Competition in 2011, following their Wigmore Hall London debut in 2010 and
Southbank debut at the Purcell Room in 2008 (as Park Lane Group Young Artists). The quartet
were “RCM Rising Stars” 2008 and were also selected for the Countess of Munster Recital
Scheme and both the Kirckman Concerts Society and Musicians Benevolent Fund Ensembles
Awards. They have just completed three years as the Quartet in Residence at Oxford University
and are Ambassadors for the European String Teachers’ Association.
Highlights of recent seasons include appearances at the Musikverein in Vienna, Festpiele
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Schubertiade in Austria, Auditorio Nacionale (Madrid), Teatro
Toniolo (Venice) and Rachmaninov Hall (Moscow) as well as a major tour of New Zealand and
Australia. They have also performed at all of the major London concert venues, including the
Wigmore, Cadogan, Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3,
Radio Clásica, Spain, NDR Kultur and SWR Radio, Germany. Festival appearances in the UK
include Edinburgh Fringe, Cheltenham, Harrogate, Salisbury, Brighton and Newbury.
The quartet were selected as Albeniz Foundation Scholars at the Instituto Internacional de Musica
de Camara in Madrid, where they studied intensively with Guenter Pichler of the Alban Berg
Quartet. They also studied with Andras Schiff and Eric Hobarth at the International Musicians’
Seminar, Prussia Cove, and with Eberhard Feltz, as part of the ProQuartet-CEMC Professional
Training Programme. They were Leverhulme Junior Fellows in Chamber Music at the Royal
College of Music for 2010-11.
Notable performances of contemporary works include the chamber music of Mark Anthony
Turnage for the 2008 BBC Proms ‘Composer Portraits’ series and Lachenmann's Quartet 'Grido' at
the RCM 'Transcendant' Festival, which received critical acclaim. They collaborated with the Medici
Quartet for the UK premiere of Sir John Tavener’s ‘Towards Silence’ and recorded the work for the
Signum Classics label. Upcoming premiere performances include Hilary Tann’s new quartet And
the Snow Did Lie at the 2014 Presteigne Festival and Tavener’s Scatter Roses Over My Tears (UK
premiere) at Cheltenham 2014.
The Cavaleri Quartet’s recording of the Mendelssohn Quartet in A minor, op. 13 and Schnittke
Quartet no 3 – part of their First Prize award at Hamburg – was released on the Fontenay Classics
label in 2013. They have subsequently recorded quartets by David Dubery (Metier label) and
Fanny Mendelssohn (Champs Hill Records).
British violinist Martyn Jackson was born in 1988 and has performed as a solo artist and
chamber musician throughout the UK, much of Europe and the Middle East. Previous seasons
have included performances of the Mendelssohn, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky Concertos and a
European tour with cellist Henri Demarquette encompassing venues such as the Philharmonie and
Konzerthaus in Berlin and Les Invalides in Paris. Forthcoming engagements include the Brahms,
Elgar, Prokofiev, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky Concertos. Martyn made his recital debut at the
Southbank Centre's Purcell Room last autumn, as part of the Philharmonia Orchestra Martin
Musical Scholarship Fund Prize Winners’ Recital Scheme. He was also invited to perform with
principal players from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Milan and Rome. Martyn is a selected
artist on the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme 2013 and is a Concordia Foundation Artist. As
an orchestral musician, Martyn has frequently served as Assistant Concertmaster of the LSO,
Philharmonia Orchestra and BBC SSO. Martyn currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik
“Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Professor Stephan Picard and is a graduate of the Royal College of
Music, London where he studied with Professor Itzhak Rashkovsky. He performs on a JeanBaptiste Vuillaume kindly on loan to him from Frau Angela Schmeink.
Ciaran McCabe’s solo engagements have included the Barber Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra,
Mendelssohn with the Orpheus Sinfonia, Bruch with the Halle Youth Orchestra and the Kurt Weill
concerto at the Royal College of Music. He is a regular leader and principal player of a wide variety
of ensembles and has appeared as guest leader of the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Symphony
Orchestra of India, Brandenburg Sinfonia, English Touring Opera and the Aurora Orchestra. In
addition to his work with the Cavaleri Quartet, he is a member of the London Chamber Orchestra
and has performed with ensembles such as the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Camerata
Nordica, Sweden, the Rasumovsky Ensemble and the John Wilson Orchestra. This has led to
extensive travel abroad and festival appearances which include the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh,
Naantali (Finland), Young Euro Classic (Germany) and the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon. Ciaran
was a student of Yossi Zivoni at the Royal College of Music, where he was a Yehudi Menuhin
Scholar and recipient of a Countess of Munster Award. A previous winner of the Milton Violin
Award from the Arts Council of N. Ireland, he was also selected for their Young Artists’ Platform
Scheme, which included making a BBC studio recording of virtuoso violin works. Ciaran has
participated in masterclasses with eminent musicians such as Eduard Grach, Gabor Takacs-Nagy,
Ferenc Rados and Daniel Hope.
Australian violist Ann Beilby made her solo debut in the Sydney Opera house at 19 and has won
many awards and prizes, both as a solo and chamber musician. These include the 'Schott & Co.
Publishing Prize' at the 2006 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Cecil Aronowitz,
Lionel Tertis & Lesley Alexander Prizes at the RCM (2009). Annie was also a finalist in the RCM
'String Player of the Year' Award in 2009, and joint winner of the 2007 RCM Autumn Concerto
Competition String section. Having graduated from the Royal College of Music, London MMus
programme with Distinction in 2010, Ann now enjoys a rich and varied musical life mainly as part of
the quartet, but also freelancing with many of the major London symphony and chamber
orchestras. Aside from an exciting season ahead with the Cavaleris, Ann is looking forward to
performances of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in September 2014, as well as a duo
appearance with her fellow quartet member Rowena Calvert in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in
August. Ann is very grateful to her mentors Guenter Pichler, Alex Todicescu (Sydney
Conservatorium of Music), Ian Jewel (RCM, London), as well as the Worshipful Company of
Musicians in London, the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Leverhulme Trust, the Richard Carne
Trust, the Meyer Foundation, the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia, the Australian Music
Foundation and the Royal College of Music for all of their support. She plays on a wonderful
modern viola made for her in 2011 by David Milward.
A year after beginning the cello with her Father, Rowena began her musical education at St
Mary's Music School, Edinburgh, with Ruth Beauchamp. After her Queens Hall debut when she
was twelve years old, several concerto opportunities and masterclasses from masters including
Mstislav Rostropovich, Steven Isserlis and Steven Doane, Rowena transferred to the Yehudi
Menuhin School to study with Leonid Gorokhov. It was here that she performed in venues such as
the Wigmore Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, Manchester Cello Festival, UK, Kronberg Cello Festival,
Germany, and in the UNESCO Celebrations, Paris. Rowena then went to The Royal Academy of
Music where she studied with Paul Watkins and was a string finalist of BBC Young Musicians
2002. Her studies continued at the Royal Northern College of Music with Hannah Roberts. Here
she was the winner of the RNCM Gold Medal, the Sir John Barbirolli Prize, Busenhart Morgen
Evans Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Tillett trust Education Award, The
Haworth Trust award for Cellists, an Ian Fleming Award from the MBF, a Countess of Munster Star
Award, The Jellineck Award, The Myra Hess Award, The Oglesby Education Award and a bow
from the Scottish Arts Council; she also enjoyed being a part of the Countess of Munster Recital
Scheme. Solo and chamber music engagements have taken her as far afield as Europe, India and
Thailand. Concerto engagements include performing Haydn C major with the London Mozart
Players and the Darwin Ensemble that was broadcast live on Classic FM.
April 2015