The English String Quartet has a wide national and international reputation, with concerts and extensive tours in this country, Europe and the USA, and broadcasts for the BBC and radio stations abroad.  Many CDs have been recorded for several labels, including Chandos, Meridian and Unicorn-Kanchana, and the disc of Mendelssohn Quartets received the British Music Retailers Association Award for Excellence in Chamber Music.  The English String Quartet has been 'resident ensemble' at the Festival since 1995.

The English String Quartet was originally formed in 1909, and in its long history its members have included some of Great Britain's most distinguished string players: the violist and composer Frank Bridge, the cellist Ivor James, and the violinists Marjorie Haywood and Nona Liddell amongst others.Diana Cummings took over the leadership of the Quartet in 1982.  She is a recitalist and concerto soloist, a leader of chamber and symphony orchestras, and a Professor at both the Royal Academy and Trinity College of Music.  In the same year her husband Luciano Iorio joined as violist: he teaches at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music and at Eton College. Luciano has been member of several well known chamber ensembles, and is the Executive and Artistic Director of the London Festival of Chamber Music.  Subsequently Keith Lewis joined as second violin and Nick Holland as cellist.  Before joining the Quartet Keith developed his career in chamber music both in this country and in Venezuela, where he played with a number of ensembles and taught at the University of Valencia. Nick Holland has had a very varied career in baroque, classical and contemporary music. He was for many years a member of the Balanescu Quartet, performing in many countries and at major festivals, and has made many recordings.

Tristan Fry, percussion. Tristan Fry began his career by joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 17.  He was a founder member of a number of ensembles, such as the Nash, Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta.  He also became involved in many commercial recordings, TV shows and films, playing on such diverse soundtracks as the Beatles records, James Bond films, Dr. Who and the Rolf Harris shows.  Tristan is the timpanist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra and has performed on the majority of their recordings and in concert.  He is the drummer with the pop group SKY, has given many solo concerts of avant garde percussion repertoire, and has hosted a TV show, "Countdown to the Festival".  He played in John Dankworth's orchestra, recorded the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion three times, and performed in concert with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Fred Astaire and Stravinsky.

Back to list of performers

Naomi Butterworth. It is unusual for a musician who works at the level of an orchestra like the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields to be not only an expert cellist, but also a flautist, pianist, double-bass player and jazz-musician! In her early career she toured with John Cleese etc. in the (1960's) Cambridge Footlights, and, also in Cambridge, she was cello tutor to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.  She tours Britain as a soloist as well as performing with a number of ensembles, including the Dartington Trio and the Ambache Ensemble, and has made many recordings.  She is a professor at London's Trinity College of Music.

Martin Jones is one of Britian's most highly regarded solo and chamber music pianists. He has performed with the major British orchestras, has appeared in all the main concert halls throughout the country and has extensively toured Europe, Russia and North and South America. His many discs include the complete solo piano works of Brahms, Debussy, Grainger, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky and Szymanowski. He has also released two boxes of CDs of Spanish music, including the major works of Albeniz and Turina, and is in the process of recording all the piano works of Richard Rodney Bennett.  Martin has played at the London Festival of Chamber Music every year since it began.

Karin Leitner, flute. The Austrian flautist Karin Leitner, who studied at the Academy of Music and Arts in Vienna and at the Academy of Music in Freiburg, Germany, has a busy career both as soloist and chamber musician.  As a soloist she has performed with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Mozart Orchestra, Austrian Ladies Chamber Orchestra, Camarata Musica, Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Kralove, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestre Filharmonique de Besancon.  With the Duo Medici (Flute and Harp, with Duccio Lombardi), the Duo Concertante (Flute and Guitar), and the Ensemble Mosaique (Flute, Violin and Piano) she has given recitals in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, England, Ireland, Iran, the USA, South Africa, Holland, Switzerland, France and Italy, and made several CDs.  She has also recorded for TV and Radio in Austria, France and the Czech Republic, and has coached at several chamber music courses, including the Sandor Vegh Symposium in Austria.

Duccio Lombardi, harp. Born in Florence, Duccio Lombardi studied in Milano and Tel-Aviv and won several international competitions.  He has now a successful career as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player.  He has recently appeared as solist with the Orchestre Filharmonique de Besancon and the Vienna Mozart Orchestra.  He has given solo recitals and chamber music concerts with the Duo Medici, which he formed with the flautist Karin Leitner, in Italy, Austria, England, Ireland, France, Israel.  He has recorded several CDs and Radio and TV programmes in Italy, France and Israel, and has coached chamber music at the Sandor Vegh Symposium in Austria as well as at music courses in Ireland and South Africa.  He has been Harpist in the Grande Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano G. Verdi, Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, Young Israel Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Schleswig-Holstein Festivalorchester.

Back to list of performers

Andrew Sparling, clarinet. The clarinettist Andrew Sparling has a wide-ranging career as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician.  He has given recitals with the pianist Thalia Myers in venues which include St Helier and Ho Chi Minh City, and has played quintets with the Brindisi and Lyric Quartets as well as chamber concerts for the British Council in Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and for the London Festival of Chamber Music.  As a soloist he has performed at festivals in London, Huddersfield, New York and Belfast, and has recorded for BBC Radio 3 and Danish Radio; in May 2000 he gave his concerto debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra.  Earlier this year he made his television acting debut playing the part of clarinettist Anton Stadler in the forthcoming BBC2 drama-documentary series "The Genius of Mozart", to be shown in the 2003-4 season.  He has also made many broadcasts and recordings as member of the ensembles Lontano, Apartment House, Ensemble Exposé and Double Image"

  Back to list of performers