After two outstanding performances during January by pianist Peter Ciobanu and by the Cavaleri String Quartet, the challenge is to follow that!

The answer is to turn to the select groups of musicians whose excellence has been recognized by awards from the Tunnell Trust for Young Musicians. The Trust was set up by family and friends in memory of John Tunnell, the founder of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and his wife Wendy to provide opportunities for exceptional musicians to perform for Scottish music clubs. With the support of a list of patrons from the great and the good of classical music, each year the directors and advisers have to audition and select four young ensembles from about two hundred applicants.

From the current list of award winners comes the duo of Japanese violinist Lisa Ueda and Italian pianist Daniele Rinaldo who will be performing for Inverness Chamber Music in the Town House on Tuesday 5th February at 8.00pm. Their programme will feature sonatas by Debussy, Janacek, Medtner, Dvorak and Franck.

Lisa was born and raised in Japan, and educated at Osaka International School where she studied violin with Miyuki Emura and Hisako Tsuji, during which time she performed in London, Boston Tanglewood, Toronto, Japan, Shanghai, Munich, Geneva, and Vienna to name a few venues. Upon completing high school, Lisa moved to London on a full ABRSM International Scholarship, where she graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). She completed her Masters degree with Distinction on a scholarship from RAM, under the tutelage of Richard Deakin. Lisa plays on a 1596 Brothers Amati violin on kind loan from Filippo Protani Violins.

Daniele received his musical education at the New England Conservatory in Boston (USA) with Sergey Schepkin, at the “Pollini” Conservatory in Padova with Ines Scarlino and at the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome with Sergio Perticaroli, always graduating with the highest marks, as well as graduating cum laude in Mathematical Economics from Padova University. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Prof. Christopher Elton and currently is pursuing the Solistendiplom at the Basel Musik-Akademie with Claudio Martinez Mehner. He also worked closely with artists such as Andràs Schiff, Aldo Ciccolini, Dimitri Bashkirov, Michael Roll, Rainer Schmidt and Howard Shelley.

Tickets for the concert by the Ueda Rinaldo Duo can be reserved on line on the Inverness Chamber Music website (www,invernesschambermusic.com), purchased in advance through Eden Court Box Office or obtained on the night at the door from 7.30pm.

For the lunchtime concert on Wednesday 20th February, in the At One With Music series, Tunnell Trust Award recipients from ten years ago were chosen. The Fell Clarinet Quartet was formed in 1999 at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 2001 they were awarded the RNCM Professional Diploma, with distinction, the college’s highest accolade. In 2003/2004 the quartet was one of the award winners from the Tunnell Trust. As well as performing in venues such as the Purcell Room in London and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, the quartet has enjoyed a partnership with the Imperial War Museum North where numerous performances were given as part of the “In The Mood” exhibition, playing works inspired by times of conflict. In addition the quartet is Woodwind Ensemble in Residence at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester. Two CDs by the Fell Clarinet Quartet, Knotwork and Bohemian Rhapsodies are in the catalogue of Delphian Records, the label founded and run by Charleston Academy FP, Paul Baxter.

Admission to the fifty minute concert by the Fell Clarinet Quartet will cost £5 for adults and £1 for children, payable at the door on the day from 12.30pm.

Source: James Munro