The Ni Ensemble

Royal Academy of Music, Young Musicians' Festival, 2001

Winners of the Nicholas Blake Prize for Wind and Brass Ensembles, Royal Academy of Music 2000

Anders Nyqvist, trumpet
Valentine Garvie, trumpet
Yi-Chun Wang, french horn
Andras Olsen, trombone
David Polkinhorn, tuba

The Ni Ensemble is a non-traditional brass chamber group whose goal is to expand the horizons of brass music in the classical world by combining music and theatre in their performances. Repertoire focuses on contemporary pieces, ethnic music, and early music of the Western world. Five members form the core of a flexible cast of musicians which changes to meet the demands of the music.

Anders Nyqvist started playing trumpet at the age of 10 in his hometown of Gothenbourgh, Sweden. He studied for three years in Hong Kong before returning to Europe. Currently an undergraduate student at the Royal Academy, Anders was appointed this year as Principal Trumpet in the new UBS Verbier World Youth Orchestra. He has performed with many orchestras including the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Gothenbourgh Symphony Orchestra, and, most recently, the Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra in France.

Valentin Garvie was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He has a degree in orchestral conducting from Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires, a city in which he has performed extensively as an orchestral and chamber musician and as a soloist. In 1999 he was awarded the Alfonsina Prize 'for uplifting the cultural prestige of Mar del Plata'. He is now a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Howard Snell and John Wallace.

Yi-Chun Wang was born in Taichung, Taiwan. She studied both horn and pipa at the National Taiwan Normal University, performing in a number of orchestras and ensembles in Taiwan. She is the recipient of a number of prizes including an Artist Scholarship from the British Council and the Yamaha Scholarship for Outstanding Performance. She is now a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Michael Thompson and Derek Taylor.

Andras Olsen was born on the Faroe Islands in 1978, and began learning the euphonium at the age of 11, taking up the trombone when he was 14. In 1997, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, and is now a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studies with Dennis Wicks and Dudley Bright. During his time in Aarhus, Andras performed with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Aarhus Sinfonietta, and is currently principal trombone in the Scandinavian Youth Orchestra. He was a prize winner in the Lieksaand International Trombone Competition, and in last December's Sidney Langston Prize competition at the Royal Academy.

David Polkinhorn was born in Cornwall. He began learning the tenor horn in a brass band at the age of seven, switching to tuba when he was thirteen. As a teenager, he was part of several prestigious youth orchestras before becoming principal in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Now an undergraduate at the Royal Academy, David is currently co-principal of the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and a member of the Britten-Pears Orchestra. In 1999, he was a semi-finalist in the Shell LSO Brass Scholarship.

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