About the Ellis Ensemble
Described as "suberb" and "exceptional, " the Ellis Ensemble is one of the UK's forefront chamber groups, dedicated to performing and commissioning works for piano and woodwind instruments. Having originally formed and enjoyed critical acclaim as a trio for clarinet, bassoon and piano in 2010, they soon discovered a wealth of music written for piano and woodwind chamber groups and decided to expand with more players, offering different combinations from duo up to quintet. The group has built a reputation through their virtuosity, expressive playing and original repertoire.
Its members are outstanding musicians much in demand internationally as orchestral, chamber and solo artists with regular performances at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Cadogan Hall and the Moscow Festival, and orchestras including LPO, BBC Phil, ENB and Glyndebourne. As a group they have made appearances on Radio 3 and at venues including St John's Smith's Square, Buckingham Music Festival and St James's Piccadilly. They have been selected as 'Recommended Artists' by Making Music which has seen them tour the UK giving concerts for Music Societies and Clubs. They are also selected artists on King's Place's Chamber Studio programme. They have a strong commitment to championing both traditional works for this wonderful mixture of instruments as well as promoting new music by living composers. The British composer Hannah Kendall has arranged her piece Iscariot Blues for them which is being recorded for BBC Radio 3 broadcast and composer Shiva Feshareki is also writing a work for the trio. Other future projects include an Austrian concert tour in Spring 2023 and a recording featuring new and traditional works.
About the Players
Described as "suberb" and "exceptional, " the Ellis Ensemble is one of the UK's forefront chamber groups, dedicated to performing and commissioning works for piano and woodwind instruments. Having originally formed and enjoyed critical acclaim as a trio for clarinet, bassoon and piano in 2010, they soon discovered a wealth of music written for piano and woodwind chamber groups and decided to expand with more players, offering different combinations from duo up to quintet. The group has built a reputation through their virtuosity, expressive playing and original repertoire.
Its members are outstanding musicians much in demand internationally as orchestral, chamber and solo artists with regular performances at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Cadogan Hall and the Moscow Festival, and orchestras including LPO, BBC Phil, ENB and Glyndebourne. As a group they have made appearances on Radio 3 and at venues including St John's Smith's Square, Buckingham Music Festival and St James's Piccadilly. They have been selected as 'Recommended Artists' by Making Music which has seen them tour the UK giving concerts for Music Societies and Clubs. They are also selected artists on King's Place's Chamber Studio programme. They have a strong commitment to championing both traditional works for this wonderful mixture of instruments as well as promoting new music by living composers. The British composer Hannah Kendall has arranged her piece Iscariot Blues for them which is being recorded for BBC Radio 3 broadcast and composer Shiva Feshareki is also writing a work for the trio. Other future projects include an Austrian concert tour in Spring 2023 and a recording featuring new and traditional works.
About the Players
|
Jenny Brittlebank – Oboe
Jenny is a busy freelance oboist who's most recent appearances have been with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. Jenny grew up in the North East of England and lived in Northumberland until the age of 18, when she moved to Trossingen in the German state of Baden Württemberg to study with Nicholas Daniel. After a further two years of training at the Royal College of Music, where she met pianist Belinda Jones, Jenny embarked on a freelance orchestral career that involved travelling the length of the UK and beyond. In 2015 Jenny joined the orchestra of the English National Ballet where she is the second oboe and plays Cor Anglais whenever there is a Cor part. Luckily there usually is a nice Cor Anglais part in ballet music. Ballet work is seasonal, and Jenny |
supplements her career with semi-regular freelancing with groups including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia and the BBC orchestras. A musical highlight of her career so far has been runs of opera at Glyndebourne and ENO.
Jenny teaches oboe at a boys' school, where an ABRSM examiner recently described her pupils' scales as "exploratory" (they still did well!), but particularly enjoys teaching adults as they generally practice and don't answer back.
Jenny teaches oboe at a boys' school, where an ABRSM examiner recently described her pupils' scales as "exploratory" (they still did well!), but particularly enjoys teaching adults as they generally practice and don't answer back.
|
Kimon Parry - Clarinet
Kimon Parry is a busy freelance play, working as an orchestral, chamber and solo musician. He has played in renowned orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta at prestigious venues. In 2013 he was a member of the Southbank Sinfonia, and he is performing with them in the National Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Amadeus. |
As a soloist he has toured the country giving a large number of performances sponsored by the Countess of Munster Trust. In 2012 he was a finalist in the wind/percussion section of the Royal Over-Seas League's annual music competition and in the same year was awarded Recommended Artist status under Making Music's Philip & Dorothy Green Award scheme. In late 2011 he won the Clarinet & Saxophone Society (CASS)'s clarinet soloist competition.
A keen chamber musician, Kimon is currently giving recitals with the Ellis Ensemble. Previously up until late 2012 Kimon was a founder member of the Davis Clarinet Quartet, which as "Live Music Now" artists saw them playing in care homes and for children in special schools. In addition he has guested in much lauded performances with the Jubilee String Quartet and the Ellipsis Wind Quintet.
In 2011 he completed his postgraduate studies with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Mark Van de Weil, with financial support from the Countess of Munster Trust, Ann Driver Trust and Picker Award.
Prior to that, Kimon was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music studying under Richard Hosford. Before graduating with a First Class Honours, Kimon won the Edward and Helen Hague Senior Woodwind Prize.
In his youth, Kimon was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music's Junior Academy studying with Elizabeth Drew
A keen chamber musician, Kimon is currently giving recitals with the Ellis Ensemble. Previously up until late 2012 Kimon was a founder member of the Davis Clarinet Quartet, which as "Live Music Now" artists saw them playing in care homes and for children in special schools. In addition he has guested in much lauded performances with the Jubilee String Quartet and the Ellipsis Wind Quintet.
In 2011 he completed his postgraduate studies with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Mark Van de Weil, with financial support from the Countess of Munster Trust, Ann Driver Trust and Picker Award.
Prior to that, Kimon was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music studying under Richard Hosford. Before graduating with a First Class Honours, Kimon won the Edward and Helen Hague Senior Woodwind Prize.
In his youth, Kimon was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music's Junior Academy studying with Elizabeth Drew
|
Belinda Jones – Piano
Described by the Times as "outstanding with significant artistic personality" Belinda is a much in demand solo and chamber pianist based in London. Belinda studied at Chetham's School of Music, Royal Academy of Music, and gained an MA with distinction at the Royal College of Music where she held a full scholarship, kindly supported by the Claud and Margaret Craddy award and an AHRC award. She was also awarded the Lord and Lady Lurgan Junior Fellowship in 2012/13. Her teachers include Ryzard Bakst, Ronan O Hora, Roger Vignoles and Simon Lepper and has had masterclasses with pianists including John Lill, Murray Perahia, Stephen Hough, and Bernard D'Ascoli. She has performed across the world at important venues including Rachmaninoff Hall Moscow, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Esplanade Singapore, Palau de la Music |
Barcelona and in the UK at the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St Martin in the Fields, St James Piccadilly, Cheltenham Town Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. Other performance highlights include the Bernstein Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, Cheltenham Festival, Moscow Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Rye Arts Festival, Ryedale Festival and concerto appearances at Bridgewater Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Competition successes include the 2011 Megan Foster prize at the Maggie Teyte Competition, 2008 prize winner at the Porto International Piano Competition and first prizes in the Lies Askonas, Major Van der Pump and RCM Schumann competitions. Alongside these, she has also been awarded selection as an RCM Rising Star, a Samling artist, Britten-Pears programme participant, and was also a 2015/2016 Recommended Artist by Making Music.
Working regularly as a pianist for Southbank Centre, she has been rehearsal pianist on their Peter and the Wolf production with Jarvis Cocker and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and played with Alfred Brendel at the Royal Festival Hall for acoustic work. She has appeared on Radio 3 and BBC World Service and recorded for Intermusica with violinist Ning Feng. Her recent recording 'Calliope' with Soprano Sarah Dacey has featured on BBC Radio 3's Record Review and 'In Tune' and articled in BBC Classical Music Magazine. Belinda enjoys working as a member of the teaching and piano staff at the Royal College of Music and Junior Trinity Laban.
Working regularly as a pianist for Southbank Centre, she has been rehearsal pianist on their Peter and the Wolf production with Jarvis Cocker and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and played with Alfred Brendel at the Royal Festival Hall for acoustic work. She has appeared on Radio 3 and BBC World Service and recorded for Intermusica with violinist Ning Feng. Her recent recording 'Calliope' with Soprano Sarah Dacey has featured on BBC Radio 3's Record Review and 'In Tune' and articled in BBC Classical Music Magazine. Belinda enjoys working as a member of the teaching and piano staff at the Royal College of Music and Junior Trinity Laban.
|
Susanne Simma – Bassoon
In 2012, Austrian- born bassoonist Susanne Simma graduated from the Royal College of Music with a Master of Performance degree. Her studies were generously supported by the Lions Club Vorarlberg and a scholarship of the “Impuls Privatstiftung.” For her final year, Susanne was awarded the prestigious “Leverhulme Orchestral Mentorship” For her undergraduate study at the Mozarteum Salzburg/Landeskonservatorium Vorarlberg, Susanne studied with Allen Smith and Irina Puryshinskaja and was twice awarded a scholarship given to talented musicians from the county Vorarlberg before graduating with distinction in 2010. She has participated in masterclasses with many eminent bassoonists such as Richard Galler, David Seidel, Lyndon Watts, Daniel Jemison and Alexander Meyrick and Martin Gatt. Recent highlight includes an invitation to participate in the Banff Masterclasses 2016 under the tutelage of the renowned bassoonist Frank Morelli. Her stay was kindly supported by a Career Development Bursary by Help Musicians UK. |
Susanne is much in demand as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. In 2011 she was selected as an RCM Rising Star and has performed the Vivaldi Concerto in B flat Major with the Southbank Sinfonia at various venues, as well as the Concerto for Bassoon by Mozart and a modern bassoon composition Fantasy for a Blue Bassoon, written by Gernot Wolfgang. Susanne has been performing with orchestras such as Southbank Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia as well as being a member of the Sinfonieorchester Vorarlberg. Chamber music has always been a passion and after having worked with established groups such as Le Concert Impromptu, Susanne co – founded her own group, the Ellis Ensemble.
Susanne has a keen interest in combining performing with teaching and is very interested in all the research supporting musicians in their profession. She has published a book on Mental Training in the Akademieverlag, Germany, and gained a “Master of Performance Science” study at RCM. She also teaches the bassoon at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music.
Susanne has a keen interest in combining performing with teaching and is very interested in all the research supporting musicians in their profession. She has published a book on Mental Training in the Akademieverlag, Germany, and gained a “Master of Performance Science” study at RCM. She also teaches the bassoon at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music.
|
Charles Hutchinson | French Horn
Charles began his musical life as a chorister singing in Westminster Abbey and St Margaret’s Church next door. However he soon took up the horn, aged eight, and attended the Centre for Young Musicians, London Schools Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal College of Music Junior Department. He studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, followed by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Jeff Bryant, Hugh Seenan and Richard Bissell, completing his Undergraduate degree and a Postgraduate sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers. |
Since graduating in 2011 Charles played for a year with the European Union Youth Orchestra followed by a year with the Southbank Sinfonia. He currently has a varied freelance career having played with the Philharmonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, English Classical Players, Bampton Classical Opera, Orpheus Sinfonia, World Youth Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, and the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra. When not playing or listening to music Charles enjoys running and gardening, but not at the same time.