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Eblana String Trio & David Curington

Wednesday 8th February 2012, 7:30pm

                                             Jonathan Martindale             Peggy Nolan              Lucy Nolan

                                                                    violin                                        cello                            viola

                    David Curington

                                       oboe

Formed in 2006, The Eblana String Trio consists of three committed chamber musicians, interested in performing the often neglected string trio repertoire.  In their first year together, the trio won the RNCM Leonard Hirsch prize for the performance of Beethoven, as well as performing concerts in Dublin and throughout Manchester.  The trio continue to give concerts for music societies and festivals throughout the UK and have also performed as part of the RNCM Chamber Music Festivals since 2007.  More recently they performed the Schoenberg String Trio to great acclaim in the RNCM Festival ‘From Schubert to Schoenberg’ – “…the late, mercurial, if elliptical, String Trio, a sort of 12-tone divertimento, was brilliantly undertaken by the RNCM’s Eblana String Trio.” (Sunday Times).  This year saw the trio perform works by Finzi, Moeran, and Bliss in the 2010 RNCM Festival, a celebration of British chamber music. In the summer of 2009, the trio travelled to Stellenbosch, South Africa to perform Hindemith’s two string trios at the 37th International Viola Congress and in January of this year, they represented the RNCM at the European Chamber Music Academy.  As well as performing the string trio repertoire, the Eblanas frequently enjoy collaborating with other musicians to perform works by composers such as Brahms, Britten, and Mozart. The trio receive regular coaching from Petr Prause, Pavel Fischer, and Marc Danel, and have participated in masterclasses with Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Hugh Maguire, and James Boyd, as well as with members of the Endellion quartet. The Eblana String Trio appears by kind permission of the Royal Northern College of Music, where they were winners of the prestigious 2010 Chamber Music Award.

David Curington studied composition at masters’ level at the RNCM with Gary Carpenter whilst taking oboe lessons from Melinda Maxwell, graduating with Distinction, the Soroptomist International Award for composers and the Evelyn Rothwell Prize for oboists. He has recently been accepted onto the LPO Leverhulme Young Composers Scheme, which, after workshops led by Julian Anderson, will result in a performance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and is a recipient of the 2011 RPS Composition Prize, which, after workshops led by Unsuk Chin, will result in a commission for players of the Philharmonia in the Music of Today series. David was recently selected as a bursary student, supported by the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, to study at the 2011 Dartington Summer School with oboist Nicholas Daniel.

During his time at the RNCM, David appeared as both composer and oboist in two RNCM Chamber Music Festivals and together with the Eblana String Trio, with whom he works regularly, was named the 2010 RNCM Ensemble of the Year. The latter resulted in a recital including a performance of the Carter Oboe Quartet and a première of his Oboe Quartet, described as ‘a suave reading’ and ‘impressively unified’ respectively by The Times. Amongst performances in various RNCM composer festivals, including two at the Wigmore Hall, David performed Ferneyhough’s Coloratura to the composer with pianist Richard Casey in the RNCM Ferneyhough Day and his ‘cello duo Two Journeys and Two Comparisons was performed to great acclaim at the 2010 PLG Young Composers’ Symposium by Tom Bayman and David McCann. David was selected as a composer for the 2011 RNCM Gold Medal Weekend, resulting in a collaboration with euphonium player Lewis Musson. David also appears by kind permission of the RNCM.

Programme

J.S.Bach ~ Three Part inventions (transcribed for string trio)

Mozart ~ Quartet for Oboe and Strings

Finzi ~ Prelude and Fugue for String Trio

Britten ~ Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op.49  (oboe solo)
i) Pan,  iv) Bacchus,  v) Narcissus,  vi) Arethusa

Britten ~ Fantasy Quartet for Oboe and Strings, Op.2

Moeran ~ Trio in G major