Royal College of Music
Lucy Baker, violin
Cerys Jones, violin
Nicholas Bootiman, viola
Kate Sawbridge, cello
THE BOWEN STRING QUARTET was formed in 2002 by Royal College of Music graduates, who began playing together as principals of the RCM orchestras. The four colleagues studied with the aid of scholarships and won many awards and prizes in both internal and external competitions. Since graduating all the members are pursuing individual careers in the music profession, encompassing everything from solo and chamber music performance to orchestral playing. It is this diversity that gives the Bowen Quartet its unique flair, with each player bringing a different aspect of performance to the group.
Their exciting style of playing and wide spectrum of repertoire is the reason for their growing reputation as one of the country's most innovative and inspirational young quartets. This reputation was further enhanced by their collaboration with Dr. Milan Skampa, one of the world's leading Janacek experts, as part of the RCM Quartet Festival 2003.
Having impressed both audiences and critics alike with their performances, the Bowen Quartet has a busy schedule of recitals and have recently been awarded a scholarship by the Emanuel Hurwitz Charitable Trust. Future plans include studying with Graham Oppenheimer at Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine, USA, concerts in Guildford and Cheltenham, and a tour of Dubai.
![[Lucy Baker]](images/2004/bowen_baker161.jpg)
LUCY BAKER, previously a pupil of Igor Oistrakh, received a first class Bachelor's degree and a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction from the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Ani Schnarch and Itzhak Rashkovsky. At the RCM she won the Ian Stoutsker Violin Prize and the Kathleen Long Chamber Music Prize and was holder of awards from John Lewis Partnership, Countess of Munster, Musicians' Benevolent Fund and the Martin Trust.
Lucy performs internationally as a soloist, having given concerts in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal, the Centre for Performing Arts in Tel Aviv and in the Mirabell Schloss in Salzburg. Recent concerto performances consist of Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso as part of the Cambridge Music Festival, the Bruch Concerto in G minor with Redhill Sinfonia, and the Glazunov Violin Concerto as winner of the Royal College of Music Concerto Competition 2002. As leader of Guildford Symphony Orchestra, she recently performed Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade to critical acclaim. She is leader of the Amadeus Orchestra, and the Bowen String Quartet, an award-winning ensemble formed of RCM graduates.
In 2003 she received a John Wates Award to attend the International Summer Academy Mozarteum (Salzburg), where she studied with Igor Oistrakh and Lewis Kaplan. She was also a Jerwood Scholar at IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses, and was subsequently invited to participate in IMS Open Chamber Music. Lucy is currently studying privately with Itzhak Rashkovsky and Herman Krebbers, funded by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.
![[Cerys Jones]](images/2004/bowen_jones161.jpg)
CERYS JONES originates from Rhiwbina in the South Wales valleys. She was born in 1981, and began playing the violin at the age of eight. During her time in Wales, Cerys has been a prominent musician. In 1996 she received a full scholarship to attend the Junior Department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she studied for three years with Barry Haskey.
Cerys was leader of the Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan Youth Orchestra, and regularly performed as a soloist with the orchestra, both on a tour of Tuscany, Italy in July 2002, and in the Barber Violin Concerto in Cardiff in 2003. She has also been a major prize-winner in Wales, receiving the D. Ffrancon Thomas Award from the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and the Russell Sheppard Memorial Scholarship. Cerys currently holds, for the third consecutive year, the Geoffrey Crawshay Memorial Scholarship, endorsed by the University of Wales. In November 2003, Cerys made her debut as a soloist with the BBC National Chamber Orchestra of Wales, performing J. S. Bach Concerto for Violin in E major.
Cerys moved to London in 1999 to attend the Royal College of Music. She studied violin with Rodney Friend, Michaela Comberti and Adrian Butterfield, and conducting with Neil Thomson. In July 2003 Cerys performed Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with the RCM Baroque Orchestra. She was recently highly commended in the Boise Foundation Awards, and the 2003 RCM Ian Stousker Violin Prize, and in March 2004 she will be representing the RCM in the London "Genius of the Violin" festival. Cerys has returned to the Royal College of Music this year as a Scholar on the Postgraduate Masters course, supported by Marjorie and Arnold Ziff and Gandar Dower Awards, the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
![[Nicholas Bootiman]](images/2004/bowen_bootmn161.gif)
NICHOLAS BOOTIMAN was born near Munich, Germany in 1980, where he first took up piano and violin. After moving with his family to England he continued lessons locally before joining the Purcell School on viola, assisted by a G.A.P. Scholarship. He then completed a BMus (Hons) course at the Royal College of Music, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance with Distinction, on a full scholarship. A portion of his last year was spent in Prague as part of the Erasmus Exchange Programme. While at the RCM he was selected for the London Symphony Orchestra's String Experience scheme. His teachers have included Ian Jewel, Milan Škampa and Andreij Vyitovych. He has participated in masterclasses with Bruno Giurrana, Prunella Pacey, Paul Silverthorne, Detlef Han and the Alban Berg Quartet.
Since leaving the College in the summer he has been on trial for positions in several orchestras around the country: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Always a dedicated chamber musician, Nicholas has been a member of prizewinning ensembles, and is now violist of the Bowen Quartet as well as many other groups.
![[Kate Sawbridge]](images/2004/bowen_sawbr161.jpg)
KATE SAWBRIDGE started learning the piano at the age of 6, and the cello at the age of 8, as part of local peripatetic music classes. She then went on to take private lessons in her home town of Bolton. In 1997, Kate joined the Royal College Music, London, studying cello with Amanda Truelove and Melissa Phelps, and piano with Simon Nicholls. She graduated with BMus (Hons) in July 2001 followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Solo and Chamber Music Performance in July 2002. Six months of Kate's postgraduate year were spent studying with Dmitri Ferschtman at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, as an Erasmus scholar. Kate also participated in masterclasses with Alexander Baillie, Walter Despalij, Uzi Wiesel, Louise Hopkins and Jerome Pernoo.
During her time at the RCM, Kate was a scholar and prizewinner, and regularly performed as principal cellist of both the Sinfonietta and Symphony Orchestra. Together with other RCM orchestral principals, she formed the Bowen String Quartet in 2002. From 1999 to 2002, Kate was a member of the Emanon String Quartet, formed at the RCM, winning RCM Chamber Music Prizes in consecutive years (2000 and 2001), and giving recitals all over the UK and Europe.
Kate performs regularly with pianist Annette Saunders in and around the London area, in venues such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Lincoln's Inn Chapel. She also performs with pianist Nicholas Rimmer, in the North-West of England and in Germany. Kate is currently studying with Professor Johannes Goritzki at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Dusseldorf, while fulfilling a busy schedule of recitals both in the UK and abroad.