I wrote briefly about the Stradivari Trust on 23rd August last year at the end of a post called Stephen’s Day and it’s time for an update.
The Trust was instrumental in buying a viola for Stephen Upshaw. Together they have clocked up some air miles. Here is what Stephen writes in his newsletter.
The Past year has been a busy one, with concerts across Asia, the USA, Europe and the UK. Some recent highlights:
– Touring across Asia with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
– Residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival developing new solo work and performing chamber music with members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
– Bravo! Vail Festival USA Residency with Joshua Bell and ASMF
– Invited to join London’s Riot Ensemble as Violist and Artistic Board Member
– Awarded Trinity Laban Richard Carne Fellowship 2016/2017 (http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/trinity-laban-announces-new-junior- fellows/)
– Solo recital in Budapest, Hungary
- European Tour with Murray Perahia and ASMF
– Live Broadcasts of solo pieces written for me on BBC Rado 3 Live from the Tate Modern
– Live Broadcast with the Riot Ensemble on BBC Radio 3 Live from the Southbank – Huddersfield Festival Performances
- Guest solo viola with Klangforum Wien, Wien Modern Festival
- Lucerne Festival Residency and Concerts, Live broadcast on Swiss Radio
– Premiere of new Solo viola work by Mark Simpson, former BBC Young Musician/Young composer of the year and current composer in residence BBC Philharmonic
– Guest Artist Recital and Masterclass at Auburn University, USA
I am impressed but I suppose that this is the sort of schedule a fairly successful performer has these days.
The Lanchester Tradition by GF Bradby, published in 1913, “remains one of the best stories of school life ever written” (Google Books) and I only heard of it via The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters. I was able to read it online and it seems astonishingly fresh after more than a century. Bradby went to Rugby and subsequently taught there and his father was headmaster of Haileybury but he is careful to make his fictional public school representative of public schools in general. It is a satire that still seems relevant. You can read it (free) on line at Forgotten Books if you don’t mind a few pages being blocked to non subscribers.
You probably did not notice but on Saturday for about twelve hours this website was down. I thought that maybe there was routine maintenance but eventually contacted Bluehost and they fixed a glitch. IT, like everything else, sometimes breaks and needs to be mended.