PROGRAMME
Luciano Berio - Les mots sont allés
Ludwig van Beethoven - 7 Variations for Cello and Piano on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen', WoO 46
Johannes Brahms - Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in F major, op. 99 (1886)
I. Allegro vivace
II. Adagio affettuoso
III. Allegro passionato
IV. Allegro molto
FREE ENTRY
Urška Horvat is a young Slovenian cellist, currently studying at Trinity Laban with internationally renowned cellist David Cohen. She finished Postgraduate Artist Diploma in 2016 with Distinction and Director’s Prize for Excellence in Strings.
Urška has worked with other great musicians such as Enrico Bronzi, Leonid Gorokhov, William Hagen, Maria Kliegel, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Valery Gergiev and Richard Markson. She is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes from national and international competitions: Concordia Foundation 2017, 1st prize at the Vera Kantrovitch Bach Competition 2015, 1st prize at the Soloists' Competition 2016, 1st prize at the Leonard Smith and Felicity Young Competition 2016, TEMSIG national competition (Slovenia), Wettbewerb fur Violoncello Liezen (Austria), Young International Janigro Competition (Croatia)...
She has performed in Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey, both as a soloist and in various chamber ensembles and orchestras. Urška has appeared in venues including the Wigmore Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, St. James's Piccadilly, Cadogan Hall, King's Place, Southbank Centre and Flagey (Belgium). One of her artistic focuses is chamber music and this has brought her to collaborate with many musicians.
She is a member of YES Camerata (a Young European String Camerata) and a founder, with pianist Francesca Fierro and violinist Andrea Montalbano, of Tamesis Piano Trio, which has been awarded 2nd prize at TIM International Competition 2016, has been selected to play in the semifinal of St. Martin in the Fields Competition and became part of The Richard Carne mentorship programme at Trinity Laban. Urška is also playing in a cello duo, Duo Furioso with another young Slovenian cellist, Helena Švigelj. They performed in festivals in Belgium and Slovenia.
Urška has been invited as a soloist and a chamber musician to participate in various festivals, such as Davos Festival (Switzerland), Les Sons Intensifs (Lessines, Belgium), Festival "Côté Cour, Côté Jardin" (Belgium), Virenze Concerts Series (Netherlands), Glasbena mladina Ljubljanska (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Festival Lent (Maribor, Slovenia).
In June 2016 she performed Dvořák's Cello Concerto with Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall. After she was invited to play the concerto again with London Euphonia Orchestra.
She is very grateful to the Ofenheim Charitable Trust who generously supports her study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Francesca Fierro was born in Italy in 1985, at six years old she moved to Argentina where she began her piano studies with Ana Chaves and with Elizabeth Westerkamp, pupil of M° Scaramuzza. In 2005 she moved back to Italy and attended the Conservatoire G.B. Martini of Bologna with Valeria Cantoni, graduating cum laude from Bachelor in July 2008 and cum laude and honourable mention from Master Degree in 2013. From 2007 she had also received frequent musical guidance and advice from Aldo Ciccolini. In 2014-2015 she attended the Chamber Music Advanced Course under Giampaolo Pretto at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. Thanks to the Beverley Creed Scholarship she attended the Post Graduate Artist Diploma course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London under Gabriele Baldocci in 2015/16.
She made her debut at the age of eight for an Argentinean TV program, and at only nine years old she took part in the Festival about Beethoven’s Sonatas made at the National Conservatoire of Buenos Aires. She has been awarded in national and international competitions and she has also participated in the Seminar for Instrumentalists given by musicians from Julliard School of Music of Rochester University, in master classes of Piano Performance given by the Polish Piotr Paleczny, the Masterclasses at the Festival Martha Argerich in Buenos Aires, Alicja Kledzik, Boris Petrushansky, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling during the Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Deniz Arman Gelenbe, Gabriele Baldocci, Lilya Zilberstein, Luca Chiantore and David Kuijken at Mallorca Summer Academy, Arie Vardi at the 38th International Concert Weeks Working at Goslar (Germany), Benedetto Lupo, Jeffrey Swann and Claudio Martinez Mehner at Academy Dino Ciani of Cortina, Hakon Austbo; and Pier Narciso Masi, Nicholas Pendelbury, Kronos Quartet, Carducci Quartet, Wihan Quartet and Martin Lohr for chamber music.
She has performed regularly as a soloist and in chamber music in Argentina, Italy, Spain, Germany and UK. She made her orchestral debut at seventeen years old playing Mozart and Beethoven Concertos with the Camerata Santa Cecilia in Buenos Aires and Youth Orchestra of Berisso (Argentina). In 2006 and 2009 she was invited to play the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra K365 Mozart in Argentina, with Ana Chaves and the Academic Orchestra of the Teatro Argentino of La Plata. In 2010 she played the Concerto No. 1 by Chopin at the Teatro Manzoni in Bologna, and in 2012 she performed at the Festival "Vivacissimo Italy" with the String Orchestra of Radio Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina). In 2013 and 2014 she performed as a soloist at Festival PalmaClassica in Mallorca-Spain. In 2014 she played the Concerto in G by Ravel with the SenzaSpine Orchestra at the Teatro Manzoni in Bologna.
She is founder, with cellist Urška Horvat and violinist Andrea Montalbano, of Tamesis Piano Trio, which became part of the Richard Carne mentorship programme at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London in 2015/2016. The trio has been selected to play in the semifinal of St.Martin in the Fields Competition, won 2nd prize at TIM International Chamber Competition and 3rd prize at ‘Grand Prize Virtuoso’ International Music Competition.
