Clapham Chamber Concerts

30/10/2023

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Bringing great music to SW4 since 2008

20/11/2022

Our next concert! 2/12/22 featuring and vaughanwilliams |tickets in bio|

23/09/2022

Clapham Chamber Concerts opens its 2022-23 season on 30th September with two masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire

24/06/2022

As tonight’s gala concert fast approaches, meet our oboes for this evening, Chris Vettraino and Helena Mackie. Chris studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Chris Cowie and Sue Bohling, and will graduate this summer as a winner of both the Oboe Prize and Cor Anglais Prize in 2021. Helena is an oboist finishing her first year of postgraduate study also at the Royal Academy of Music, where she learns with Christopher Cowie and Ian Hardwick. Helena graduated with First Class Honours in Music from Clare College, Cambridge, where she was principal oboe of Cambridge University Orchestra and a choral scholar in Clare College Choir. She took up the oboe whilst a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral, and spent four years in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, playing principal in her final year. She features as principal cor anglais on NYO’s Chandos recording of Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Recent engagements include principal oboe with Royal Academy Opera playing Strauss and Waley Cohen, and she will be giving recitals with her wind quintet, the Ormonde Ensemble, across England this summer. Helena grew up in Clapham and is therefore delighted to be making her debut in Clapham Chamber Concerts. She is extremely grateful to the Royal Academy of Music for their generous support of her studies.

24/06/2022

Joining our artistic director on clarinet for tonight’s summer gala, is clarinettist Kimon Parry. Kimon is a freelance orchestral, chamber musician, teacher and ABRSM Examiner. He has performed with renowned orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Royal Birmingham Ballet, and was a member of the Southbank Sinfonia in 2013. He also took part in the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Amadeus. Kimon is a member of the Ellis Ensemble.

24/06/2022

It’s still not too late to decide to come to our summer gala concert tonight! Book now via eventbrite - link in bio! French horn player Will Padfield features as 1st horn in Seiber’s brilliant Serenade this evening. Will is a busy freelance horn player and teacher based in London. Since completing his Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in 2020 he has performed regularly with many of the major orchestras in the UK, notably the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the BBC Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic orchestra.
In Addition to his orchestral work, Will can be seen and heard on screen in Netflix’s “the Crown” and “Bridgerton” TV Shows.

24/06/2022

It’s time to meet another performer for tonight’s concert! Bassoonist Izabela Musiał was born in Poland, where she completed her education at the Academy of Music in Poznan, and then decided to continue her studies at the Royal College of Music, with help from the Big Give and Soirée d’Or Scholarships. Since graduating from RCM in 2016, Izabela has worked with many major orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Opera House, RSNO, Philharmonia and Britten Sinfonia. She was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2018. In 2019 she was awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Allianz Instrumentalist Prize, and worked as an advocate for the bassoon.

24/06/2022

Next up… our 2nd horn for tonight, Paul Cott! Paul is a freelance horn player who regularly plays with the Royal Philharmonic and BBC Symphony orchestras, amongst others, and is a member of the Berkeley Ensemble. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was a member of Southbank Sinfonia.

23/06/2022

Jack Cherry is our double bassist in Dvorak’s Wind Serenade tomorrow evening. Jack lives in London and enjoys a career as a freelance double bass player and bass guitarist. He performs regularly with numerous orchestras, in musicals and as a session musician and has recently toured Europe as bassist for The Rock Orchestra!

23/06/2022

Did you know that Dvorak’s wind serenade features no flutes but does feature a cello and a double bass?! Meet our cellist for the evening, Findlay Spence. Born in Scotland, Finlay was a scholar at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Melissa Phelps, and he is now mentored by John Myerscough. Recent chamber engagements include Wigmore Hall, Pierre Boulez Saal, Royal Festival Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and appearances at the Lucerne, Aldeburgh, Mendelssohn on Mull and Grafenegg Festivals. Findlay is also supported by the Britten-Pears Young Artist Scheme and Ensemble Modern Hans Zender Akademie as well as performing alongside the Doric, Sacconi and Edinburgh Quartets.
Findlay plays Robert Brewer Young’s ‘Rostropovich’ cello, generously loaned to him by the St. Paul’s Foundation.

23/06/2022

Meet our first horn, Fabian van de Geest! Fabian is a graduate of the Purcell School where he studied the horn with Sue Dent before continuing his studies at the Royal College of Music under Simon Rayner and Tim Jones. During this time he also spent an Erasmus exchange in Salzburg with Radovan Vlatkovic. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was taught by Richard Bissil and David Pyatt.

Fabian is a sought after chamber musician, performing with a mixture of ensembles at the Aldeburgh Festival, Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, Southall Festival, Music a Marsac and Klosters Music Festival. This also extends to chamber orchestras where he regularly plays with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He also performs extensively with some of the UK's leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

22/06/2022

Next up is our first bassoon, Lorna West! Lorna is from London and lives in Catford with her husband and two children. She studied music at Manchester University and went on to complete a postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music. Since graduating in 2008 Lorna has been freelancing with London orchestras and West End shows. In recent months she has worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and English Chamber Orchestra.