Shaldon Festival 1991
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Chamber Choir of the Royal College of Music
Mistry String Quartet
Concert
Sunday 28 July 1991
Jagdish Mistry violin
Charles Sewart violin
Caroline Henbest viola
Susan Monks cello
Programme
Mozart: Quartet in D minor H421
Dvorák: Quartet in F major Op. 96 ‘The American’
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No 1 in D, Op. 11
Formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, the Mistry Quartet is one of the most original ensembles of the British musical establishment. Since their Wigmore Hall debut which received the highest praise from the critics of the Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian, they have become especially renowned for their extremely challenging and wide-ranging repertoire. Their finesse is equally at home in the music of Haydn and Mozart as in that of Michael Tippett and Simon Holt.
During the last few seasons they have performed extensively in this country and abroad. They have made several tours for the British Council including visits to France, Germany, Italy and India. Foreign appearances also include Greece, where they have directed the Paxos Festival for four years, Spain, Ireland and Denmark to where they return this year. They were invited to give the world premiere of Simon Holt’s specially commissioned first quartet work at the Leeds Festival last summer and recently gave its London premiere.
The many prizes the quartet have won include the Ensemble Prize of the Royal Over-Seas League and most recently the Valentino Bucci International Quartet Prize, Rome. Other awards have been made from the Frank Britton Trust and the Ivan Sutton recording prize.
After completing an extremely successful three years residency at the University of York they are now affiliated to Brunel University London. As a result of Jagdish Mistry and Charles Stewart exchanging roles as leader and second violin, the quartet gains and communicates new perspectives in ensemble.
The Mistry Quartet broadcast regularly for BBC Radio and have appeared on National Radio and TV in France, Italy and Denmark. They have had featured appearances on LWT’s South Bank Show and Yorkshire TV.
Andrew Clements in a recent review in the Financial Times said of the quartet – ‘a programme that demonstrated the Mistry’s technical poise and stylishness. Other young quartets may be equally secure; but few match their powers of projection, and their confident way of rounding out everything they put into a performance; there are no half measures’.
2013 Footnote:
Now based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Jagdish Mistry was born in Mumbai (India). He started learning to play the violin when he was eight. In 1975 he moved to England to learn at Yehudi Menuhin’s school. He continued his tuition with David Takeno at the Guildhall School in London. In 1986–1992 he was primarius (primary violinist) of the Mistry String Quartet, with whom he performed in Europe and Asia and recorded Edward Elgar’s, Arnold Bax’s and Elizabeth Maconch’s compositions for Decca Argo, Chandos and Unicorn, as well as for the BBC. As a soloist, he has performed with the following renowned orchestras: Oslo Filharmonien, Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Wiener-Symphoniker, SWR Sinfonieorchester in Stuttgart, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Since 1994 Mistry has been a member of Ensemble Modern; he puts together concert programmes that combine modern and traditional music with extraordinary sensitivity. Jagdish Mistry plays a J.B. Vuillaume violin made in Paris in 1853.
Chamber Choir of the Royal College of Music
Concert
Saturday 27 July 1991
Royal College of Music Chamber Choir
John Birch: Conductor
The Chamber Choir of the Royal College of Music is a handpicked choir consisting of Post Graduate singers who have already distinguished themselves in their chosen career.
Programme
Bracing Sea Air(s), An Anthology of Nautical Music for Choir and Soloists