Jonathan Martindale and Emily Howard, violins; Alice Billen, viola; Chris Terepin, cello. They will be playing:-
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) String Quartet in G minor, Op 10 (1893)
I) Animé et très décidé II) Assez vif et bien rythmé III) Andantino, doucement expressif IV) Très modéré
Jazz standards arranged for string quartet – selection
Jonathan Martindale
Jonathan Martindale enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral principal. In 2006 he co-founded the Eblana String Trio which has gone on to perform regularly for concert societies and festivals throughout the UK as well as in Europe and South Africa. The trio is currently Park Lane Group artists and highlights of the past few seasons include performances at the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, and the
Bridgewater Hall as well as live performances on BBC Radio 3. Away from the trio Jonathan performed as a chamber musician with pianist Steven Osborne and acclaimed violist Thomas Riebl, as well as in the chamber ensembles of Manchester Camerata and Royal Northern Sinfonia.
In 2016 Jonathan was appointed Assistant Leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and has so far appeared with the orchestra in China and Japan as well as at the BBC Proms and Aldeburgh Festivals. He has also led the orchestra on a number of occasions and performed as a soloist. Prior to joining the CBSO Jonathan was Principal Second Violin with the Royal Northern Sinfonia in Newcastle with whom he also appeared as a soloist. Since 2011 he has also been a member of Manchester Camerata.
Emily Howard
Emily Howard was inspired to play a musical instrument from the age of five, choosing the violin for its beautiful singing sound. She graduated from the RNCM with a Postgraduate Diploma and Bachelor of Music Honours in 2012, having studied with acclaimed soloist Leland Chen. In 2014, Emily won a scholarship to study with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on their Postgraduate Orchestral Course with Birmingham Conservatoire. Since graduating from the course with Distinction, she has been freelancing with other orchestras around the country, having been invited to play with Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata and with the BBC Philharmonic, playing in concerts, live broadcasts for Radio 3 and joining them for their recent European tour. Emily is a dedicated and enthusiastic chamber musician. Previous chamber music highlights include joining the Eblana Trio to perform Schoenberg’s ‘Verklärte Nacht’ at the Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Music Festival, and performing with her pianist in the Beethoven Chamber Music Masterclass series at Steinway Hall, London.
Alice Billen
Alice Billen from Worcestershire, begged to play the violin aged 4 (having not yet discovered the viola). Alice studied on the joint course between the University of Manchester and the RNCM, during which time she learnt the viola with Simon Rowland-Jones, winning the Procter-Gregg and Rachel Godlee prizes.
As the violist with the Albion String Quartet, Alice was selected by the RNCM to take part in an exchange with
the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, where the quartet spent three months studying and performing. Further notable performances of the Albion String Quartet include a performance as part of the Alexander Goehr Festival at the Wigmore Hall.
After a year of postgraduate study she graduated with distinction from the RNCM and is now in demand as a freelance violist working with orchestras in the NW including The Hallé, the RLPO and Opera North. As a soloist
Alice has given recitals around Manchester and the Midlands along with concerto opportunities including the Telemann Viola Concerto under the baton of Nicholas Kraemer, accompanied by the RNCM Chamber Orchestra. Alice is a keen chamber musician and enjoys playing music with friends in various guises! When not fielding viola jokes Alice enjoys running, cooking and dreams of having an alpaca farm.
Chris Terepin
Chris Terepin is a cellist, viol player and musicologist based in Manchester. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford and the RNCM and is now a PhD student at King’s College London. His instrumental teachers were Raphael Wallfisch and Philip Higham. Since 2012 he has been the cellist of the Florian Quartet. Chris’s research at King’s deals with the conventions and ideologies of string quartet performance, with particular focus on recordings made before 1930. He has taught modules in music analysis and the history of recording, and enjoys collaborating with King’s composers on new music for both the cello and the viol. Chris began playing the viol while a student at Oxford University, taking lessons from Laurence Dreyfus and Jonathan Manson. He is a
member of early music ensemble Three Parts Vied, and has also played with renowned consort Phantasm, appearing on a 2014 CD of verse anthems by John Ward.