A former string quartet, the Cappa Ensemble have already enjoyed considerable success. In July 2008, they evolved into a chamber ensemble with a focus on a combination of both string trio and piano quartet idioms. The ensemble has toured extensively in Australasia and Japan, also performing at the Wigmore Hall and subsequently in Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. They take their name from the famous 17th century Italian violin-maker Gioffredo Cappa and currently play on a variety of fine instruments kindly on loan from private sponsors, including a 1695 Cappa violin, a Ceruti viola c.1800 and a Vuillaume cello c.1840.

Born in 1984, Polish violinist Bartosz Woroch studied at the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań before being awarded a Swiss Government Scholarship to study at the Hochschule der Künste, Bern. From 2007 to 2008, Bartosz held the concertmaster chair of the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra and as soloist, he has appeared with the Częstochowa Philharmonic, Poznań Philharmonic, Silesian Philharmonic, the Bern Symphony Orchestra and the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra. A keen chamber musician, Bartosz has performed at the Barbican and the Wigmore Hall, London. Bartosz has been awarded a Polish Minister of Culture Scholarship three times in appreciation of his numerous international awards at competitions such as the Michael Hill, Pablo Sarasate and Takasaki International violin competitions.

Born in 1984, Adam Newman graduated with first class honours from the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Philip Dukes and Gyorgy Pauk. He also studied in the class of Tatjana Masurenko at the Hochshule fur Music in Leipzig. During his time at the Academy, Adam had considerable success in both competitions and recitals, including a Sir John Barbirolli Foundation Award towards the purchase of a new bow and the Duchess of Cornwall / English Chamber Music Award. He was also a recent finalist at the Windsor International String Competition where he was awarded the Bishops Instruments and Bows Prize. Adam enjoys working with the London Steve Reich Ensemble (who recently recorded for the CPO label in Zurich, Switzerland), the English Chamber Orchestra, the Razumovsky Ensemble, the London Conchord Ensemble and the Aronowitz Ensemble.

Born in 1985, Irish cellist Brian O’Kane is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Jacqueline Du Pre Scholarship to continue his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Brian has also studied at the International Musicians Seminar with renowned musicians such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Gabor Takacs-Nagy and Steven Isserlis. As winner of the 2007 Accenture Bursary Award and the Camerata Ireland Young Musician of the Year Award, Brian performed as soloist with Camerata Ireland under Barry Douglas and with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Highgrove. Brian came to prominence by taking first prize at the Windsor Festival International String Competition and subsequently performed Elgar’s cello concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Brian has toured extensively throughout the Far East, Australasia and Europe. He has collaborated with artists such as the Vanbrugh Quartet, Michael Collins, Anthony Marwood and Alasdair Beatson. Brian has appeared at many festivals and concert halls throughout the U.K and Ireland including the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and Series, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. Martin in the Fields, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and the Barbican.

Belfast-born pianist Michael McHale was winner of the 2009 Terence Judd/Hallé Award and has established himself as one of the leading Irish pianists of his generation. He enjoys a busy career as solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician and has performed throughout the UK and Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary and USA, including broadcast performances for BBC TV, Radio 3, RTE, WNYC Radio, PBS television and Deutschlandradio Kultur. Michael graduated from Cambridge University with a double first-class honours degree in Music before completing postgraduate studies with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He won the 2004 Camerata Ireland Musician of the Year and the Brennan and Field Prizes at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition.

Highlights include solo performances at the Tanglewood Festival, Berlin Konzerthaus and Vígadó Hall, Budapest and chamber music collaborations with Patricia Rozario, Barry Douglas and Richard Watkins. This season Michael will give concerto performances with the Ulster, Hallé, and RTE Concert Orchestras and the London Mozart Players, duo recital tours with Michael Collins (UK) and Sir James Galway (UK and Far East) and a solo tour culminating in a début evening recital at the Wigmore Hall (June 2010) for which he has commissioned a new work from Irish composer Ian Wilson. Recent CD releases include a disc for the Louth Contemporary Music Society featuring solo works by John Cage and Arvo Pärt as well as chamber works by Silvestrov, Knaifel and Górecki (which received unanimous critical acclaim from BBC Music magazine, International Record Review and Gramophone magazine), as well as an album of piano trios with Ensemble Avalon on the RTE lyric fm label, which was chosen as 'selection of the month' in The Strad magazine.

www.michaelmchale.com

Sample Programmes

Please contact the Performance Programme Manager below for more information.

Reviews

""…Why can the playing of 25-year old Northern Irish pianist Michael McHale be as fluent and inspired as, say, Lang Lang, and yet we don't know him? …Michael McHale remains the discovery of the evening: a magician who glides across the keys…""

Christiane Peitz, Der Tagesspiegel, August 2008

More Info

For further information on availability or artist fees or to discuss a booking please contact the Performance Programme Manager by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or telephone: 01 6719429.