Alexandra Lomeiko violin

Antonina Suhanova piano

http://www.alexandralomeiko.com/

Programme: 14 October 2016

Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 30 No. 3
Tchaikovsky: Melodie (op. 42 No. 3)
Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A minor, Op. 100
Prokofiev: Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35
Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major

Alexandra was born in 1991 into a family of musicians. She is currently a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music in London, United Kingdom where she has established herself as one of the most talented and versatile musicians her age, winning prizes in various competitions, founding and directing the unconducted ensemble Silk Street Sinfonia, being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on numerous occasions and performing extensively as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician both in the UK and abroad.

Alexandra began violin lessons at the age of 5 in Christchurch, New Zealand. During the following years she received many awards and prizes around New Zealand including the Most Promising Award at the Young Performer of the Year competition, the Ernest Empson Scholarship and the Dame Malvina Major Scholarship. She won 2nd place at the Sentinel Performers Competition (2005) and 3rd place at the National Concerto Competition (2008). In 2005, Alexandra was the youngest performer at the Pablo Casals Festival which led to her being invited to join the Russian Virtuosi of Europe Ensemble with whom she regularly collaborates to this day.

2006 brought Alexandra to London where she was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Purcell School of Music in London with Evgeny Grach. During her time in London, she also performed as a soloist and chamber musician in many prestigious venues around London including, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Buckingham Palace, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall, LSO St. Lukes, Princess Alexandra Hall and Watford Colosseum. Alexandra has also performed internationally in many countries, including Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Israel, Poland and Turkey. A laureate of numerous competitions, Alex has won the Purcell Concerto Competition (2008), the Orpheus Chamber Music Competition (2007) and was awarded the special “Audience Prize” at the International Canetti Violin Competition in Israel (2010), the “Best String Player Award” at the Gisborne International Music Competition (2012) and Province of Terni Soloist Award from Associazione Mozart Italia (2014).

Alexandra is also a very avid chamber musician a performing in various ensembles across the U.K and abroad. As an orchestral musician Alexandra has worked with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Oxford Philomusica, the London Symphony Orchestra with whom she collaborates through her placement on the LSO String Scheme and the BBC Symphony Orchestra through her placement on their Student Pathway Scheme. In 2013, Alexandra founded a self-directed string orchestra known as Silk Street Sinfonia which released its debut CD “Live in Switzerland” in December 2014 and is scheduled for many upcoming performances throughout Europe.

In 2010, she was awarded “The Henry Weinrebe Award” scholarship by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) studied there with Professor David Takeno. Following her graduation in 2014, she commenced her postgraduate studies at The Royal College of Music with Radu Blidar and Yuri Zhislin. She is an RCM Lark Scholar supported by a Leverhulme Postgraduate Studentship and also by awards from the Countess of Munster Trust, the Martin Music Scholarship Fund and the Help Musicians UK Foundation.

An active participant in numerous masterclasses, 2015 saw Alexandra perform in the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses with Ivry Gitlis and Philippe Graffin, the Kronberg Academy Violin Masterclasses with Pavel Vernikov and the Encuentro Santander Festival Masterclasses with Zakhar Bron and Mihaela Martin. In previous years have seen her work with other notable artists such as Yuri Volgin, Charles Castleman, Robert Rozek, Boris Brovtsyn, Natalia Prishepenko, the Belcea Quartet, the Takacs Quartet and the Endellion Quartet amongst many others.

Alexandra plays on a violin made by Carlo Tononi, Cremona 1687, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the Royal College of Music, London.

Since 2000, the Latvian pianist Antonina Suhanova has been praised at numerous national and international piano competitions in France, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Russia and Estonia. She studied with Gunta Boza and prof. Juris Kalnciems at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music before moving to London in 2012 where she commenced her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of distinguished British pianist Ronan O’Hora. Since September 2015 she is continuing her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall and has been awarded a full scholarship sponsored by the Edith Vogel Bursary and Drake Calleja Trust. In 2016 has been awarded Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award.

Antonina has appeared as a soloist with Latvian orchestras led by Atvars Lakstigala, Andris Vecumnieks and Andris Nelsons. She worked with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, London’s Silk Street Sinfonia and the “Moscow Virtuosi” Orchestra led by the legendary violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov. She is an active chamber musician, specializing in violin and piano duo repertoire. She has participated in masterclasses of numerous world-renowned pianists including Dominique Merlet, Idil Biret, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitri Bashkirov and Boris Berman. In 2015 Antonina gave solo recitals and performances with the orchestra as part of the City of London Festival, the International Piano Stars Festival in Latvia, the International Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands, the Autumn Chamber Music Festival in Riga and also performed a solo recital in London’s Milton Court Concert Hall. In May 2016 she gave her debut performance at the Barbican Hall as finalist of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for the most prestigious prize The Gold Medal.