Categorie: Villiers Quartet News

We are delighted to announce that cellist Leo Melvin has joined the Villiers Quartet!
Leo is London-born and graduated with honours from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied on full scholarship, with Richard Lester. Leo also studied in Hamburg, Germany with professors Kleif Carnarius, Claudio Bohorquez and Troels Svane. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, given solo and chamber recitals across the UK, and he also teaches cello and piano in London.
Leo has performed several Concerti (including Dvorak, Schumann, Haydn D and Brahms Double) with various orchestras such as Sinfonia D’Amici and Kings Sinfonietta and recorded a solo cello track for Howard Goodall’s CD release ‘Enchanted Voices.’ In October 2013, Leo was invited to play with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on their Academy Program and has performed with the orchestra in Dijon.

Leo comments “I am really honoured and hugely excited to join the Villiers Quartet. I have worked for some years now as an orchestral musician and a teacher, but all the while I was playing chamber music with friends and colleagues and it was always my favourite thing to do. I have dreamed of being in a professional chamber group for some ten years now, and despite finally achieving my goal at such a difficult time for professional music-making I am still extremely excited and feel so privileged to work on and perform such great music with such wonderful musicians as the members of the Villiers Quartet. In short, I’m ecstatic to be here and can’t wait to get to work!”

We are delighted to welcome Katie Stillman, you can read the announcement on their website: http://villiersquartet.com/2020/06/08/newfirstviolinist/
You can hear Katie play with Tamaki and Carmen in Dvořák ‘s Cavatina from Miniatures Op. 75a: https://youtu.be/8XjI5sApjac

The Villiers Quartet embarks on a new chapter for the 2020/21 season. They are having a personnel change.
Quartet founders Tamaki Higashi and Carmen Flores, whom you all know so well from your past relationships with the quartet, are continuing the Villiers forward with exciting and first-class musicians. They are looking forward to this new chapter and cannot wait to reveal the new members, with whom they are working now to prepare the upcoming season. With their new energy and outstanding musicianship, the Villiers Quartet continue their spirited journey of exploring the art of string quartet. Known for their live performances that are intellectually imaginative and deeply emotional, the Villiers also remain strong in their commitment to uncovering and sharing treasures of British repertoire.

In March 2020 the Villiers will release their seventh CD on the respected Lyrita Records label: String Quartets by William Alwyn.  Alwyn was a prolific composer for British cinema in the 1940s and 50s, scoring films such as Swiss Family Robinson and The Fallen Idol. The Villiers Quartet offer Alwyn’s beautiful one-movement Quartet No. 9 – based on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet – of which they have made the world premiere recording for Lyrita.

In collaboration with Oxford University and the British Library, the Villiers also continue their Delius Discovery project, which highlights the chamber music of Frederick Delius and offers fresh insight and interpretations of his compositions. The Villiers are proud to be a part of this cherished musical history and offer Delius in their upcoming programme.