The Musicians

Born in North London, Uchenna Ngwe studied oboe and cor anglais at Trinity College of Music, gaining a BMus (Hons) and later returning on a scholarship for a postgraduate diploma. Since then, her playing has taken her across Europe, Africa and Asia.

Solo engagements have included recitals at Lauderdale House and St Alfege Church in Greenwich and a performance of the rarely heard Oboe Concerto No.1 by Gordon Jacob with St Paul’s Sinfonia, while orchestral performances have included Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Belmont Ensemble of London and the UK tours for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Les Miserables. She spent a season as Guest Principal Oboe with KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa.

Uchenna is very interested in music education and has also recorded music for educational use including Abracadabra Oboe (A&C Black Publishers) and Ready, Steady, Blow (Oboe Classics).

Rowland Sutherland enjoys an international career in many different fields of music. He regularly performs in new music ensembles, chamber music groups, jazz bands, symphony orchestras, various non-Western groups, pop outfits and as a soloist.

Rowland has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and North Sea Jazz Festival. Regularly performing with new music ensembles including, Lontano, Icebreaker, notes inegales and Colin Currie Group, Rowland is also active in the orchestral field and has played with such orchestras as: Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, London Philharmonic, European Community Chamber, City of London Sinfonia and BBC National Orchestra Of Wales.

Currently based in Dublin, Ireland, Berginald Rash is Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Vivre Musicale. Comfortable as both a chamber musician and soloist, Berginald has collaborated with members of such orchestras as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Frankfurt hr-Sinfonieorchester, and the RTÉ ConTempo Quartet and has been a featured soloist at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland. He has recently been heard with such orchestras as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony and is a member of London-based Chineke! Orchestra.

David studied at Wells Cathedral School as a DfEE Music Specialist and continued his education at Royal College of Music as an Alice Templeton Scholar, where he was awarded the Herbert Samuel Horn Prize.  He now works across the European Union with the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, RTE National Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Britten Sinfonia & Southern Sinfonia Orchestras.  However, whilst studying he realized he loves performing various styles of music and has explored a diversity of avenues during his career.

His first professional contract was with McFly & he later went on to work with other pop artists including The Clientele, Jeremy Warmsley, Leona Lewis & The Killers.  As a jazz player David has had the pleasure of performing with Frank Sinatra Jr, Johnny Mathis, Liza Pulman, Dionne Warwick and Dame Shirley Bassey.

David’s various ventures also naturally led him to working in music theatre, beginning by touring with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, eventually working on the World Premiere of Lend Me A Tenor and the revival of Miss Saigon in the West End.  David now enjoys a busy freelance career combining work in the West End with commercial, orchestral and ensemble playing as well as teaching at London Oratory School.

Born in Paris, Tania began learning the violin at the age of nine, later achieving a violin diploma at the Regional Conservatoire of Rueil-Malmaison. Tania moved to Switzerland to complete her bachelor’s degree at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève before continuing her studies with a Master of Arts in Performance with Sergey Ostrovsky.

As a student in Switzerland, Tania was fortunate to play under the baton of Emmanuel Krivine, Kazuki Yamada and Tomas Netopil and has participated in several master classes with Ivry Gitlis, Stefan Picard, Sylvie Gazeau and Olivier Charlier. During her studies, Tania won a bursary to play for a year as Principal Second Violin with La Sinfonietta de Genève, performing as a soloist with the orchestra for various concerts including Haydn’s Symphonie Concertante for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon. Tania has also appeared as a soloist at the
festival of the International Music Academy of Solsona in Spain and performed a concerto for four violins with the orchestra of the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.

A keen chamber musician, Tania plays regularly with a quartet, recently winning a competition to perform a concert at the Theatre du Passage of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). Tania also plays regularly as a violin-piano duo.

In 2016 Tania took part in the Southbank Sinfonia programme and since then, has performed with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Chineke! and the Royal Scottish National orchestras.

Hazel Correa studied the violin at the Royal Northern College of Music, and has since enjoyed a busy and varied career as a freelance violinist. She works regularly with orchestras such as the Ulster Orchestra and London Mozart Players as well as taking part in collaborations with musicians such as Courtney Pine (saxophone) and Kuljit Bhamra (tabla). She runs a Bollywood band called the Bombay Gold Orchestra, and was also a member of a multi-cultural collective “Ku-da mix”, made up of 18 musicians from around the world. Hazel has recorded for film, television, CD and radio broadcast, and regularly performs chamber music with members of the Northern Lights Symphony Orchestra and the London Novello Ensemble.

Also committed to music education, Hazel teaches violin, and conducts a string orchestra, Camerata, at Harrow Young Musicians. She has also given many solo performances with HYM Philharmonic Orchestra including concertos by Bruch, Piazzolla and Vivaldi.

Viola and viola d’amore player Clifton Harrison has performed as a chamber musician and recitalist throughout the United States, Central America, Asia, and Europe. He is the viola player in the acclaimed Kreutzer Quartet with whom he has recorded extensively. A proponent of contemporary music, Clifton has collaborated with many of today’s leading composers and has premiered scores of works. He has given masterclasses throughout the United Kingdom, USA, and Asia and records widely for film and television. Alongside his commitments with the quartet, Clifton has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, London Mozart Players, Royal Philharmonic, Rambert Dance Company Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and most of London’s period performance ensembles.

 

Clifton studied at the Julliard School with Dorothy Delay (violin) and Karen Tuttle (viola) and at the Royal Academy of Music with Yuko Inoue and Jane Rogers (baroque).

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Davina Shum studied at the University of Auckland and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  She held the Manchester Cello Fellowship with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and was a member of the Sydney Sinfonia.  In 2013 Davina joined Southbank Sinfonia in London performing under Vladimir Ashkenazy, Edward Gardner and Charles Hazlewood in venues such as the Royal Opera House, the Southbank Centre and the Royal Albert Hall.  As a chamber musician, Davina has performed in the Crush Room and Paul Hamlyn Hall in the Royal Opera House, the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre, the Anghiari Festival in Italy and Young Virtuosi Festival in France. As a freelancer, Davina has performed with groups of many genres, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Concert Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Chineke! Orchestra, Riot Ensemble, and Kate Simko and London Electronic Orchestra.  Davina is also the creator and host of podcast As It Comes podcast: Life from a Musicians’ View, which explores the weird and wonderful lives of those who keep music-making alive.

Nathan started learning the double bass when he was 8 years old and soon found himself performing with the National Children’s Orchestra, London Schools Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Duncan McTier, Graham Mitchell, Dominic Seldis and Rodney Stewart, and graduated in 2016 with a First Class Honours degree, also receiving the Regency Orchestral Award. While studying he was principal double bass in projects conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Christian Thielemann, Edward Gardner, Trevor Pinnock and was a member of the 2015/16 Sainsbury’s Royal Academy Soloists under the direction of Clio Gould. Nathan has played in public masterclasses for Joel Quarrington and Gunars Upatnieks, and in private masterclasses to Matthew McDonald, Bozo Paradzik, and Hal Robinson. He has performed on various occasions with the English National Opera, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Chineke Orchestra and the London Philharmonic. He has important roles in outreach projects that help classical music spread to communities where there is not much exposure. He is a music leader for Kuumba Youth Music, an intern on Royal Academy of Music’s ‘First Strings Experience’, and the Double Bass tutor at Sistema England.

Prize-winning pianist, Caroline Jaya-Ratnam, read music at Cambridge University holding an Instrumental Award and a Choral Exhibition. Following her Masters degree she was appointed Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music.

Caroline is in particular demand as an accompanist. Television appearances include accompanying international opera singers Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazon and Danielle de Niese whilst BBC Radio 3 performances include numerous ‘In Tune’ broadcasts. She is the recipient of several national accompanists prizes and has given duo recitals at the Wigmore Hall and RFH in addition to accompanying String Finalists in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition.

She has appeared in various Proms within the London Symphony Orchestra (Gergiev) and BBC Symphony Orchestra (Bychkov/Oramo) and has broadcast live as a concerto soloist from the QEH.

Caroline is a freelance repetiteur for English National Opera and Glyndebourne. As a pianist she tours internationally with violinist Charlie Siem with whom she has recorded a CD licensed to Warner Classics. As a singer (high female treble!) she tours with Synergy Vocals specialising in Steve Reich. She is a vocal coach on staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a former Director of Music at St Matthew’s Church, Croydon.

Andrew has performed throughout the world from Sweden to South America.  He comes from a distinguished line of teachers; Gordon Fergus-Thompson, James Gibb, Edith Vogel and Mikael Kazakaevitch.  He studied as an undergraduate and post graduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, and Trinity College of Music.  Andrew’s concert activities are diverse and extensive, encompassing solo piano specialising in Bach and modern related works, vocal and instrumental accompanist, and occasionally organ and harpsichord continuo.  As a chamber musician specialising in repertoire for Piano, Clarinet and Cello, he has also won many prizes at international competitions and performed at major concert halls both in the UK and abroad.  Internationally, he has also recorded for radio, television and film.

The lighter side of his career includes performing on Top of The Pops with ‘Boy Bands’ of the 1990’s.  He has a keen interest in choral music and currently directs Koruso! Southwark Community Choir.