Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)
Simon Crawford-Phillips is a multi-festival director, renowned pianist, creative programmer with a passion for championing contemporary repertoire, and a chamber musician who regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power in repertoire from Haydn and Schumann to Adès, Byström, Dean and Reich. His own ensembles include The Kungsbacka Piano Trio and Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble (resident artists at Stockholm Konzerthus). In 2017 he was appointed Artistic Adviser and Chief Conductor of Västerås Sinfonietta. As a pianist, Simon performs in premiere festivals and concert halls including Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Edinburgh, and at Wigmore Hall where he will appear as the regular pianist with Chamber Ensemble in Residence, the acclaimed Nash Ensemble. Simon is the Artistic Director of the Change Music Festival in Norra Halland, Västerås Music Festival and Co-Artistic Director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival.
Alasdair Beatson (piano)
Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson is renowned as a sincere musician and intrepid programmer. He champions a wide repertoire with particular areas of interest: classical, early romantic and French music (especially Fauré), alongside the music of today's composers. A prolific chamber musician, Alasdair's colleagues include Steven Isserlis, Pekka Kuusisto, Viktoria Mullova, Pieter Wispelwey, the Doric, Gringolts and Meta4 string quartets, and the Nash Ensemble. The 2019 release on Pentatone, of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn music for cello and fortepiano with Johannes Moser, joins a discography of solo and chamber recordings on BIS, Champs Hill, Claves, Evil Penguin, and SOMM labels. Highlights of the 2019/20 season include performances at Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, a residency at Sage Gateshead, recitals on fortepiano of Beethoven violin sonatas with Viktoria Mullova, and appearances in festivals including the Bath Mozartfest, Edinburgh International, Esbjerg, kamara.hu, and West Cork. Since 2019 Alasdair has been co-artistic director of the Swiss chamber music festival at Ernen.
Philippa Davies (flute)
Since her celebrated performance of Mozart's Concerto in D at the BBC Proms, Philippa Davies has established an international reputation as one of the finest flautists currently performing. She has made concerto appearances and recordings with orchestras in the UK, Europe and North and South America. She was flautist with the Fires of London and Albion Ensemble, Principal Flute with the London Mozart Players, and is now a member of the Nash Ensemble and London Winds as well as playing guest principal with many of the main London orchestras. She has recorded Mozart's original concertos and quartets, the Romance of the Flute and Harp with Thelma Owen, Bach Flute Sonatas with Maggie Cole, and William Alwyn's flute music. This season she performs in France, Holland and Germany giving recitals and masterclasses, and plans to record Paul Reade's flute concerto and a solo CD of works that she has commissioned. She is a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and runs her own highly regarded summer flute courses at Benslow, North London and in Cubertou, France.
Gareth Hulse (oboe)
After reading music at Cambridge, Gareth Hulse studied with Janet Craxton at the Royal Academy of Music, and with Heinz Holliger at the Freiburg Hochschule fur Musik. On his return to England he was appointed principal oboe with the Northern Sinfonia, a position he has since held with English National Opera and the London Philharmonic. He is principal oboe with the London Sinfonietta, and with them has performed concertos by some of the world's leading composers, such as Berio, Ligeti, Penderecki and Carter. Gareth is also a founder member of London Winds, with whom he recorded the award winning discs of the complete wind music of Richard Strauss, and the wind serenades of Mozart. He has been a member of the Nash Ensemble for many years, and with them has played in many countries both the classical repertoire and contemporary chamber music. Gareth Hulse teaches at the Royal College of Music.
Richard Hosford (clarinet)
Richard Hosford has a busy career as a soloist and chamber musician. He was Principal Clarinet with the London Philharmonic before becoming Principal Clarinet with the BBC Symphony in 1994. He has recorded all the major repertoire for wind ensemble with the Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 1998 he became a member of the Nash Ensemble and recently recorded all the major chamber works of Poulenc and Saints Saëns with them. His recordings of the Copland Concerto, Brahms Trio and Brahms Quintet have all received critical acclaim. He has recorded the Mozart and Copland concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He recently gave performances and broadcasts of Finzi's Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata, has performed the Nielsen concerto with Paavo Berglund in Italy and Germany, and regularly performs the Mozart Concerto throughout the country with the Mozart Festival Orchestra.
Ursula Leveaux (bassoon)
Ursula Leveaux has been a member of the Nash Ensemble since 1997.
She is the Principal Bassoon with the Academy of Ancient Music and the City of London Sinfonia. From 1987 to 2007 she held the position of Principal Bassoon with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Ursula is frequently invited to appear as guest principal with orchestras and ensembles in Britain and throughout Europe. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and her numerous CD recording include solo concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi and the Strathclyde Concerto No. 8 by Peter Maxwell Davies, which was written especially for her. Ursula has given classes at all the major music colleges in the UK and as far afield as Toronto, Hong Kong and Melbourne. She has been a member of the senior faculty at Marlboro Music in the USA, a Jury member for the Munich ARD International Music Competition and Eurovision Young Musician.
Richard Watkins (horn)
Richard Watkins is one of the most sought-after horn players of his generation. He was Principal Horn of the Philharmonie Orchestra for 12 years, and is currently a member of the Nash Ensemble and a founder member of London Winds. He has appeared at many of the world's most prestigious venues and has worked with many eminent conductors. His extensive discography includes concertos and chamber music as well as works written especially for him by British composers. Closely associated with promoting contemporary music for the horn, Richard Watkins has given premieres of concertos by Maxwell-Davies, Osborne, Lindberg, Muldowney, LeFanu, Tansy Davies and Colin and David Matthews. Recent premières have included Colin Matthews's Horn Concerto and Trio, horn quintets by James MacMillan, David Matthews and Mark-Anthony Turnage, and horn trios by Huw Watkins, Alexander Goehr and Gerald Barry. Richard Watkins holds the Dennis Brain Chair of Horn Playing at the Royal Academy of Music where he is also a Fellow.
Stephanie Gonley (violin)
Stephanie Gonley is the leader of the English Chamber Orchestra and appears with them regularly as director and soloist. She was leader of the Vellinger Quartet for some time, and still enjoys performing a wide range of chamber music with such ensembles as the Nash Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra Ensemble. As Director/Soloist, she has performed with many distinguished orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Manchester Camerata. Concerto performances abroad have included the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Hannover Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Norrköping Symphony, Royal Flanders Philharmonic and the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recordings include the Dvorak Romance with the ECO and Sir Charles Mackerras for EMI and the Sibelius Violin Concerto for BMG/Conifer with conductor Adrian Leaper. She is currently Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Benjamin Nabarro (violin)
Described by Musical Opinion as "an outstanding artist", Benjamin Nabarro has performed throughout Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle and Far East. As a soloist, director and concertmaster, and in chamber music he has played with groups such as the Nash Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, English Chamber and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, and with the Philharmonia, where he played Scherezade under the baton of Charles Dutoit. His concerto performances have won praise for their "purity of style, elegance of phrasing and unsurpassed perfection of technique" (Musical Opinion). Since 2009, he has been first violin of Ensemble 360, and he is violinist of the Leonore Piano Trio. He has made numerous recordings for Hyperion and Dutton; the Leonore Trio's two recent releases for Hyperion were both BBC radio 3 'disk of the week', the Observer describing the playing as "revelatory". He has regularly been invited to the festivals of Schleswig Holstein, Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, Nuremberg, Cheltenham, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh and Bath. Benjamin Nabarro attended Chetham's School of Music, where he studied the violin with Roger Raphael. He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Gyorgy Pauk and Erich Gruenberg. Following graduation, he studied privately in Chicago with Shmuel Ashkenasi, with the generous assistance of an English Speaking Union Scholarship.
Lawrence Power (viola)
Over the decade, Power became a guest with orchestras such as Chicago and Boston, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Stockholm, Bergen, Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatsoper Kassel and Salzburg Festival. As a fervent champion of contemporary music, Lawrence has developed a large repertoire of new works: Neuwirth Remnants of Song, Salonen Pentatonic Étude, Turnage Power Play, Anderson Prayer, Goehr Hymn to Night, MacMillan Viola Concerto and Watkins Fantasy (all written for him). His recital credits include performances at Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke's, Lincoln Centre NY, Dresden and Savannah Festivals, a series at London's Kings Place and a two year residency at T. Simms. Artist in Residence with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, he has also forged a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His Hyperion recordings include Bartòk, Ròsza, Walton and Rubbra's concertos, Shostakovich and Brahms's sonatas, York Bowen and Hindemith's complete works for viola & piano, Fin de Siècle including Büsser, Hüe and Honnoré. His next releases include Berlioz's Harold in Italy Bergen Philharmonic and Tüür’s Illumination Tapiola Sinfonietta, recorded in 2017.
Adrian Brendel (cello)
One of the most versatile and original cellists of his generation, Adrian Brendel has travelled the world as soloist, collaborator and teacher. In 2014 he became a member of the Nash Ensemble. Adrian first studied the cello with William Pleeth and went on to study with Alexander Baillie and Frans Helmerson in London and Cologne. In great demand as a recitalist and soloist, his chamber music partners include Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner, Tim Horton, Kit Armstrong, Henning Kraggerud, and Lisa Batiashvili. Over the last years he has visited the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Verbier, Salzburg, Enescu, Schubertiade and Ruhr festivals, and is a frequent visitor to the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, and Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He has performed concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, RSNO, SCO and many orchestras across Germany and Eastern Europe. Adrian is artistic director of the Plush festival, held every summer in Plush, Dorset since 1995.
Graham Mitchell (double bass)
Graham Mitchell is Senior Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Section Principal Double Bass at English National Opera and regular double bassist of the Nash Ensemble. He has guest lead many orchestras in Britain and abroad including the London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He is also a regular guest player with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Graham enjoys a busy chamber music career working with many soloists and chamber groups over the years including Imogen Cooper, Anthony Marwood, Pekka Kuusisto, James Crabb, Steven Isserlis and the Belcea and Takacs quartets. Graham plays on a 1750 Italian double bass attributed to Testore and is extremely grateful to the Stradivari Trust for their support.
Lucy Wakeford (harp)
As well as being a member of the Nash Ensemble, Lucy is currently principal harp with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and a member of the Britten Sinfonia. She was previously principal harp with the Philharmonia Orchestra for from 2001 to 2011. After studying at the Royal College of music with Marisa Robles, Lucy continued her studies in Paris with Gerard Devos and in London with Skaila Kanga. She has been a prize winner in several international competitions including 2nd prize in the Israel harp competition 1st prize in the Cité des Arts international competition held in Paris. Lucy was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust in 1998. Concerto appearances include the Ginastera with the Israel Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the Debussy Dances with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Mozart flute and harp concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia.