Soloists

Soloists

Ben Gregor-Smith (cello)

BenGS1 Son of cellist Bernard Gregor-Smith from the Lindsays, Ben started learning the cello at the age of seven. and in his early years won the “Outstanding Performance Award” four times in the “Music for Youth festival” with his quartet. The quartet also performed in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the School Prom as well as in many other respected venues such as the Purcell room in London and the crucible theatre in Sheffield. Subsequently Ben has studied with Sue Lowe and Nicholas Trygstadt in the Junior section of the Royal Northern School of Music.

Ben has played in master classes given by Johannes Goritzki and Karine Georgian, and has played in many of the Master classes in the Prades, Pablo Casals Festival where he was taught by Arto Noras. Ben has also studied with Alexander Baillie who wrote of him “He is blessed with a rare natural talent”. In recent years Ben has performed the J.C Bach Concerto, the Elgar cello concerto and Haydn C major concertos with the Sheffield Hallam Sinfonia Orchestra. He has also performed the Haydn C major concerto with the RNCM Junior school Orchestra and has partaken in many music club concerts throughout the country, in France and in Italy.

Ben was chosen to represent the Junior RNCM in the Schumann and Brahms Festival which took place in 2004 in the RNCM. Ben was offered scholarships to two of the major Colleges in England and is currently learning with Hannah Roberts at the RNCM. In 2005 Ben performed in the Lindsay’s farewell weekend where he played the Mendelssohn Octet with the Lindsays and other family members in the crucible theatre.

Ben loves chamber music and participated in the RNCM 2006 Soviet Festival where he played the Shostakovich 14th Quartet.

Yoshika Masuda (cello)

YoshikaMasudamed Born in 1986, Yoshika Masuda first started to play the cello at the age of five. Following studies with Ryouichi Hayashi in Japan and Georg Pedersen in Australia, he moved to the UK on a full scholarship to study with Hannah Roberts at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has also benefited greatly from taking part in masterclasses given by Anner Bylsma, Thomas Demenga, Karine Georgian, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, Philippe Muller and Uzi Wiesel amongst others.

Yoshika has won numerous top prizes and awards at the Sydney Cello Award, National Youth Concerto Competition (Australia), J&A Beare International Solo Bach Competition, Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year, and was also awarded the RNCM Amy Lindley Cello Prize in 2006 for the most promising cellist. He has performed concertos and recitals throughout Australia, France, Italy, Japan and the UK and his performances have also been broadcast on ABC Classic FM (Australia), Klassik Radio Deutschland (Germany) and Concertzender Radio (The Netherlands). Yoshika enjoys performing music ranging from Bach to Lutoslawski, but has recently taken a keen interest in contemporary music, premiering several works by fellow composer Michael Cutting, most recently a work for cello and orchestra entitled Epitaph.

Yoshika is also an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with artists such as Natalie Clein, Guy Ben-Ziony, Nicholas Daniel, Charmian Gadd and Priya Mitchell. He studies chamber music with members of the Alban Berg, Belcea and Skampa Quartets and has appeared at the annual RNCM chamber festival and in 2008 performed the entire Quatuor Pour la Fin du Temps at the Messiaen Portrait Festival to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth. He is also a member of the Isolani Quartet, which has performed throughout the UK and recently at the prestigious Leicester International Music Festival.

After graduating his B.Mus with first class honours in 2009 and receiving both the Sir John Munduell Prize and the Leonard Rose award for outstanding achievement, he is currently working towards his Masters at the RNCM studying with Ralph Kirshbaum. Yoshika would like to acknowledge the ABRSM, Friends of the RNCM, Stephen Bell Charitable Trust and the Leverhulme Trust for their generous financial support.

Nèstor Bayona Pifarré (piano)

Nestor1aRNCM Born in Lleida, in Catalonia, north-east Spain in 1985, Néstor began his musical education at the age of six in his city conservatoire with Jordi Benseny. In 2004, Néstor entered the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester to study under Helen Krizos. He was awarded the highest prize given by the college, the Gold Medal , and won the Piano Recital Prize (2006) and the Piano Duo Prize (2007) together with Luis Becerra.

Néstor won a special prize in the Ibiza Piano Competition 2008, which offered him the opportunity to perform in the festival Concerti in Villa Faravelli in Italy. More recently, he has been awarded the prestigious Philip & Dorothy Green Young Concert Artist Award (2009) from the organisation Making Music from which he will give recitals across the UK.

He has worked with the conductors Jordi Mora, Baldur Brönnimann, the harpsichordist Sharon Gould, and the pianists Melvyn Tan, Nelson Goerner, Alexander Melnikov, Angela Hewitt, Richard Goode and Josep Mª Colom.

Néstor performed alongside the cellist Jeremías Sanz in Duo Quodlibet. They won two international prizes in Barcelona in 2006, the Arjau and Les Corts. Following this success, the Duo Quodlibet recorded a CD with the label Solfa Recordings in the Auditori Pau Casals in El Vendrell.

In October 2007 Néstor made his solo recital debut at the prestigious concert hall in Barcelona Palau de la Música Catalana. In 2008 he performed in the Bermuda Piano Festival and gave a recital at the Ebina concert hall in Japan. Forthcomings events include his solo recital debut at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in October 2009.

Néstor is artist in residence of the Centre d'Estudis Pianístics in Barcelona and is currently working towards a Master Degree at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Website: http://nestorbayona.com/

Robin Ireland (viola)

RobinIreland09 Robin Ireland was a student at Cambridge University and at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. He had a short spell as leader of the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra and subsequently became a founder member of the Piano Quartet, Domus, which toured with its own portable concert hall (a geodesic dome) as well as having great success in more conventional venues.

Robin is well known as the violist of the Lindsay String Quartet, with whom he played for twenty years. He now plays with the Primrose Piano Quartet and the Anton Stadler piano/clarinet/viola trio, and has a Duo with the pianist Tim Horton. As a soloist, he has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, performed Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the Liverpool Philharmonic and the London Mozart Players, and has in his repertoire all the major works for viola. He specialises in recitals of unaccompanied Bach, transcribed for viola from the violin and cello works. His CD of Bach, which includes the Chaconne, is available on Quartz. His orchestral experience includes working as guest principal viola with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera North.

Robin is Senior Viola Tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire and also teaches at the University of Sheffield, at Cambridge, and on courses run by ESTA, Pro Corda and Cadenza. He tutors viola workshops and directs a string chamber orchestra. He is a keen student of the Alexander Technique and of Chi Kung, both of which influence his teaching.

In 2005, Robin was commissioned by the University of Sheffield to write a string quartet for its centenary celebrations. This work, played by the Lindsays, features on a CD alongside Pairings (his three duos, for viola and cello, two violas, and violin and viola) available on the Meridian label. In the same year, he received funding from the Arts Council to collaborate with the poet Elizabeth Barrett and composed fifteen tone poems for solo viola which interleave with poems from her collection The Bat Detector (CD now available from Robin).

Robin plays on an Amati viola made in the early 1600s. He lives in South Yorkshire.

Website: http://www.robinireland.co.uk

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