Royal Northern College of Music, YMF Showcase November 2006
![[The Myrios String Quartet]](images/2006sc/myrios240.jpg)
'...they played [Shostakovich's] dark and demanding Ninth String Quartet not only with fine technique and stamina but also mature understanding.' Richard Morrison, The Times
The Myrios Quartet was founded at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Rowland. The quartet, all fourth year under-graduate students, won second prize at the National Youth String Quartet Competition 2005 in London. Recently, they were invited to attend the Tunnell Trust's Young Musicians at Strathgarry Programme.
They have performed at many UK festivals and music societies, including the Windsor Festival, the RNCM 2006 ChamberFest, 'Shostakovich and his Comrades' and as part of the London String Quartet Week in the Goldsmith's Hall. They have also been featured in recitals at the Swaledale Festival and at St. Bride's Church in London. The Myrios quartet has participated in masterclasses for members of the Endellion, Oslo and Australian Quartets, Gabor Takacs-Nagy and David Dolan.
Future engagements include performances of Steve Reich's triple quartet with the Smith quartet and at the 2007 RNCM ChamberFest, 'Intimate Letters from Eastern Europe'.
Sadie Fields (first violin) performs frequently in Canada and the UK. Since her orchestral debut under conductor Victor Feldbrill, Sadie has appeared as guest soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, and National Festival Symphony Orchestras, and has also been featured as soloist with the Toronto String Orchestra and Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra. Concerto performances in the UK include the Beethoven violin concerto, with the Eversley Orchestra, Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending with the Manchester Beethoven orchestra and the Bruch violin concerto with the Cheshire Sinfonia. Sadie has been presented in solo recitals at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, the Caskey Concert Series, and the Guelph Spring Festival. She has performed for the Prime Minister of Canada and for Pope John Paul II, and has been a winner of the Edward Johnson Music Competition and the Canadian Music Competition. Sadie has had lessons and masterclasses with many of the most distinguished teachers in Europe and North America, including Ivry Gitlis, Aaron Rosand, Victor Danchenko, Almita Vamos, Zvi Zeitlin, and Mauricio Fuks. Before receiving full scholarship to attend the RNCM, Sadie studied at the Young Artists Performance Academy in Toronto with Prof. Atis Bankas. Having studied with Prof. Wen Zhou Li, Sadie is now in fourth year, studying under Prof. Yair Kless.
Emanuela Buta (second violin) came from Romania in 2001 to study at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset with Richard Ireland and is presently in her fourth year at the RNCM. From the age of 7, she made solo appearances with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania and from 1999-2001, she won (in each consecutive year) the National Romanian Solo competition.
Emanuela has toured Norway, Poland, Hungary, Germany, France and Italy both as soloist and chamber musician. In April 2005, she won the National Youth String Quartet Competition held in London as member of the Azzura String Quartet. Between 1997-2004 she was invited to attend Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, where she had the privilege to work with Sir Colin Davis, Dr. Ioan Davies, Dr. Christopher Rowland, Mark Messenger, Howard Davis, Simon Rowland-Jones, members of the Delme Quartet, Israël Piano Trio, Leopold String Trio, Endellion String Quartet and Wihan String Quartet of Prague. With her Pro Corda piano quartet, she performed at the RNCM Schumann and BrahmsFest in 2005. Emanuela plays an Andrea Postacchini violin, kindly lent to her by the RNCM.
Michael Gurevich (viola) comes from Hilversum, the Netherlands, and is a fourth year undergraduate student, studying the violin at the RNCM with Maciej Rakowski. Having begun violin lessons at the age of 5, Michael previously studied with Jan Repko at the Amsterdam Conservatoire in the Young Talent class. In the Netherlands, he has been a laureate of the Davina van Wely violin competition and the Princess Christina Competition. He is the former concert-master of the Netherlands Youth String Orchestra, with which he has also performed as a soloist. Other solo performances were with the Hague Youth Symphony and the Atheneum Chamber Orchestras. He was a finalist in the International Violin Competition at Kloster Schöntal, Germany.
At the RNCM, Michael was recently awarded the Roger Raphael Prize for chamber music as well as the Norman George Violin Scholarship. As a member of the Rhodes Trio, Michael has won the RNCM's Terence Weil and Leonard Hirsch prizes and also recently collaborated with members of the Chilingirian quartet in performances at the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival. Michael has performed in masterclasses for artists such as Ivry Gitlis, Lewis Kaplan and Yossi Zivoni and in chamber music masterclasses for Ian Brown, Alexander Melnikov, and many others. Michael plays on a viola by Eugenio Politi, kindly lent to him by the RNCM.
David Edmonds (cello) comes from Sussex and began cello lessons at the age of nine. He attended Chetham's School of Music where he studied with David Smith of the Alberni String Quartet. During his time at Chetham's, he took the role of principal cello in the Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and was awarded the senior string orchestra-prize in his final year.
David studied with Peter Howard at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, has participated in masterclasses with Colin Carr, David Geringas, Ralph Kirshbaum, Fred Sherry and David Strange and has studied chamber music with members of the Szymanowski, Chilingirian and Schidlof quartets. As a member of the Rhodes Trio, he won the RNCM's Terence Weil and Leonard Hirsch prizes.
He has taken part in numerous concerts across the north of England, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. David was offered scholarships from various prestigious music colleges in the UK and is currently studying with Hannah Roberts at the RNCM. David plays on an English cello by William Forster, kindly lent to him by the RNCM.