Jonathan Stone – violin
Alongside the Phoenix Piano Trio, Jonathan Stone enjoys a busy international schedule of concerts as a member of the Doric String Quartet. Now in its 11th season, the Quartet regularly performs at major festivals and venues throughout the UK as well as abroad in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. In 2008 they won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize in the Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, where they also received a special mention for their performance of Haydn, and the Ensemble Prize in the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, donated by the Nordmetall-Foundation. Their debut recording of Haydn quartets on the Wigmore Hall Live label was “Editor’s Choice” in both Gramaphone and Classic FM magazines. 2011 will see the release of the complete quartets of Korngold and Walton as the beginning of a long term project with Chandos Records.
In 2009, Jonathan gave recitals with Sholto Kynoch in London and Oxford as part of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata series. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Bedford Chamber Music Festival and teaches the violin and viola at Brunel University.
Jonathan started serious tuition on the violin with David Angel of the Maggini String Quartet. He then attended the classes of Grigory Zhislin at the Royal College of Music where he won numerous prizes for his work in chamber music. After obtaining his degree and leading the RCM’s orchestras and ensembles both on tour and live on BBC Radio 3, he started working with the UK’s top orchestras. In 2003, Jonathan was awarded a scholarship to study with Howard Davis at the Royal Academy of Music where he received not only the D M Lloyd and Paton awards but also the conservatoire’s highest award for performance, the DipRAM.
Marie Macleod – cello
Described by The Guardian as ‘powerfully eloquent’ and The Strad as ‘a cellist who can hold a stage and captivate an audience’, Marie Macleod performs extensively as soloist and chamber musician at major concert venues across Europe, the USA and Australia. Her performances are frequently broadcast by the BBC, Classic FM, Dutch Radio 4 and Swedish Radio, and competition successes include winning the string section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Royal Over-Seas League competition, the Suggia Gift for Cello and the Bronze Medal in the Shell/LSO competition, as well as awards from the Tunnell, Leverhulme and Countess of Munster Trusts.
As a member of the Aronowitz Ensemble, Marie is a BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust award winner, and has performed at the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Bath, Spoleto and the City of London Festivals, as well as recording extensively for the BBC. The Aronowitz Ensemble released their debut CD on Sonimage in February 2010. Marie is also cellist in the Lendvai String Trio who perform at major concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Barbican, St John’s Smith Square and King’s Place in London, and the Berwaldhall and Nybrokajen in Stockholm. As well as winning awards from the Kirckman Concert Society, Musicians Benevolent Fund, Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Park Lane Group, the Lendvai String Trio was selected for the Holland Music Sessions ‘New Masters on Tour’ and the Concertgebouw’s Young Artist Series in Amsterdam in 2009.
From 2006 to 2008 Marie was principal cellist of the Västerås Sinfonietta in Sweden. She enjoys regular chamber music collaborations with artists such as Pekka Kuusisto, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Natalie Clein, Nicholas Daniel, Andrew Kennedy, Ailish Tynan, Charles Owen and Alison Balsom. Marie has a strong interest in contemporary music and has had several works written for her. She studied with Louise Hopkins at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Steven Isserlis at IMS Prussia Cove, David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she was awarded the prestigious Concert Recital Diploma, and Frans Helmerson in Cologne. Marie plays a Matteo Goffriller cello from 1706.
Sholto Kynoch – piano
Sholto Kynoch is in demand as a chamber musician and song accompanist, regularly performing with many outstanding instrumentalists and singers.
Recent highlights have included recitals at Wigmore Hall (with violinist Kaoru Yamada), the Berliner Konzerthaus (with soprano Olja Dakic), the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore (with violinist Tee Khoon Tang), the St Endellion Festival, the Chichester Festivities, Cambridge Summer Music, the Perth Festival, the Brasov International Chamber Music Festival in Romania, the Chelsea Schubert Festival (with the Doric String Quartet) and a series of recitals in Sweden (with violist Ylvali Zilliacus). In the BBC Proms he has performed two major chamber works by the composer Marc-André Dalbavie for a “Composer Portrait” Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2010 his debut CD was released on Stone Records, with violinist Kaoru Yamada, in a programme of fantasies by Messiaen, Schoenberg and Schubert.
Sholto is the founder and director of the Oxford Lieder Festival, where he has accompanied more than fifty song recitals over the past nine years, working with singers including Kate Royal, James Gilchrist, Mark Stone, Jonathan Lemalu and Henry Herford. In 2008, he was privileged to play for the “Farewell” recital of legendary tenor Ian Partridge.
Following a Leverhulme residency, he was appointed an Honorary Research Fellow of Bangor University in 2009. In 2010, Sholto was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
Sholto read Music at Worcester College, Oxford, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was awarded scholarships to all three institutions and upon graduation from the GSMD was appointed a Junior Fellow there. His teachers have included Michael Dussek, Graham Johnson, Malcolm Martineau, Ronan O’Hora and Vanessa Latarche.