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Introducing the Stay Close Ensemble

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Rehearsals are well under way for the new piece, now entitled Only Sound Remains, with the first performance just weeks away. As such, it seems like a good moment to fully introduce the members of our wonderful ensemble. The final ensemble is listed below and I’m really pleased with the sound world it is eliciting. The combination of Middle Eastern and Western instruments is working really well with particular pairs of instruments bringing out really interesting textures. Pairing the ney with the flute highlights the breathy tones of both instruments while the combining the tar and harp produces an unusual array of plucked textures. My personal favourite is considering the kamanche as part of the wider string section, subtly imbuing the well-known string sound with a subtle difference.

See below for the biographies of the musicians in our ensemble:

Flute – Javier Leon*

Ney – Louai Alhenawi

Clarinet – Joy Boole*

Trombone – Chris Augustine*

Tombak – Fariborz Kiannejad

Harp – Olivia Jageurs*

Soprano – Honey Rouhani

Kamanche – Adib Rostami

Tar – Jamal Samavati

Violin – Nilufar Alimaksumova*

Viola – Martin Wray*

Cello – Iain Ward*

Double bass – Ben Wolstenholme*

Conductor – Gregory Rose

* denotes members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts Programme, an annual development programme bridging the transition between college and the professional platform for up to 16 outstanding young musicians.

Javier Leon is a Spanish flute player. He completed his BA at Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Aragon (Zaragoza) in 2012. Nowadays, he is doing the first of two years of Masters in Orchestral Performance at the Royal College of Music learning with Sue Thomas and Gareth Davies. He is a dedicated orchestral musician having played with ensembles like: Youth Symphony Galicia Orchestra, Youth Spanish Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra. He is also really interested in all kinds of folk music.

Louai Alhenawi is a Syrian musician, teacher and composer. He specialises in the ney, Arabic percussion and Middle Eastern music. He studied at the eminent Damascus Conservatoire graduating in 2001 and later spending a year as teacher at the Conservatoire and ney soloist in the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra and National Arabic Orchestra. Since coming to the UK in 2002 he has toured with artists including Oojami, Terry Hall, Natacha Atlas and Shakira. He leads and composes for his group Al-Farabi ensemble performing spiritual and Arabic classical music.

Since graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Joy Boole has enjoyed a busy career as a clarinettist and teacher. She was leader of the National Youth Wind Orchestra and is involved in many orchestral and chamber projects. She currently plays bass clarinet with Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra and is involved with contemporary projects connected to the London conservatoires. Recent engagements include Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Hampstead Garden Opera and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto as soloist with Wessex Symphony Orchestra.

Chris Augustine is one of the most exciting and versatile musicians to have emerged from East London in recent years. He has studied trombone with scholarships at Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Chris has played principal trombone with the World Youth Orchestra and Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra and has trialed with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has worked with London Symphony, Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras.

Fariborz Kiannejad started learning tombak firstly by himself and later with one of Iran’s leading tombak players, Morteza Ayan. He studied daf with Iran’s daf legend Bijan Kamkar. In 1995 he founded the Nava Art Group UK which has since become one of UK’s leading promoters of the best classical and regional music of Iran. Fariborz holds regular percussion workshops throughout the UK and is currently the Ensemble Leader of the Middle Eastern Percussion Ensemble at City University.

Olivia Jageurs studied at the University of Manchester and then the Royal Academy of Music. Particularly interested in new music for her instrument, Olivia recently commissioned 12 works for oboe and harp, which she premiered at London’s Wigmore Hall in September. Olivia was selected for the London Sinfonietta’s Academy 2013 and the LPO Foyle Future Firsts Scheme 2013/14. Olivia performed in the Royal Box at the Wimbledon Championships Weekend last year and has been invited to play there again this summer. www.olivia-harpist.com

Honey Rouhani is a British-Iranian soprano and Leverhulme postgraduate scholar at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music And Dance. Recent performances include Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine (Trinity Laban) Sandman and Dew Fairy in Humperdink’s Hansel & Gretel (Opera in Space). Future performances include the premier of a new piece by Philip Ashworth for Soprano, Marimba and Cello at the Royal Albert Hall for the event ‘Imagining the future of Medicine’ in April 2014. www.honeyrouhani.co.uk

Jamal Samavati is a composer, tar virtuoso and recitalist in the art of improvisation. He studied music at Tehran University and continued his studies in musicology and sociology at Marburg University, Germany. He has performed with many well-known Persian musicians: Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Hossein Alizadeh, Parviz Meshkatian and the Kamkars. He was one of the founders of Chavosh cultural institute in Iran and has performed as the soloist of Sheida band in concerts around the world.

Adib Rostami was born in 1988 in Kermanshah. Since childhood he started learning music and playing tombak on his own. In 2003 he took part in classes by Mohammad Ghodsi and Pejman Hadadi and, after finishing advanced courses in tombak, started learning kamanche with Ruzbeh Asadiyan and Maestro Mohammad Reza Lotfi. He also participated in Maestro Kayhan Kalhor’s master classes. Adib is currently playing in a new music project called Reflection of Silence with Pouya Mahmoudi, Tara Jaff & Mehdi Rostami.

Nilufar Alimaksumova (b. Tashkent 1987) began studying Violin at 7 at the Republic Academy of Music. At 10, she performed with the Uzbek Symphony Orchestra as a soloist and, later, all the major orchestras of Uzbekistan. In 2006 she received 1st prize in the Uzbekistan Competition for Young Musicians. Moving to London in 2009, she completed her BA at Royal Academy of Music and PGDip at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music Dance. She is a Candide Award winner – “student showing the greatest promise” in LSO String academy 2010.

Martin Wray studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Mark Knight and at The Royal Academy of Music with Martin Outram. Martin’s orchestral experience includes guest sub-principal with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, as an extra with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as featuring as a backing artist for TV and BBC Radio. As a member of the Dulcinea Quartet, Martin has performed at all major London venues and has toured throughout Europe, China, Japan and Canada.

Iain Ward performs widely and particularly in contemporary music. Recent highlights include: world premier of Alexander Goehr’s Opera Promised End with the Aurora orchestra; Tristan Murail’s chamber concerto for Ondes Martenot Les Courants de l’espace at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; two premieres of works by London Sinfonietta Composer in Residence Luke Bedford; John Adams’ Shaker Loops as Principal of the London Contemporary Orchestra; the British premiere, broadcast on BBC 3, of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Introitus; world premiere of Alexander Campin’s Three To Midnight at the Tete-a-Tete Festival.

Originally from Manchester, Ben Wolstenholme first picked up a double bass at the age of 17. Two years later he was awarded a full scholarship at Birmingham Conservatoire. Under the tutelage of Richard Lewis, he graduated with a first class degree and post-graduate certificate. Ben enjoys performing across a broad range of styles, most notably including a large amount of orchestral playing having won places on the CBSO and WNO training schemes and most recently on the LPO Foyle Future Firsts scheme.

 



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