gina mccormack violin · nigel clayton piano
Sunday 24 November 2024, 3pm · St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington
MOZART Sonata in B flat, K.454
AMY BEACH Romance
CHAUSSON Poème
FAURÉ Romance • Sonata in A, Op.13
AMY BEACH Romance
CHAUSSON Poème
FAURÉ Romance • Sonata in A, Op.13
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Gina McCormack and Nigel Clayton have played as a duo for more than 30 years, their easy rapport and near-telepathic sense of ensemble delighting audiences across the UK and abroad. One hundred years after Fauré’s death, Gina and Nigel will honour the French composer in an evocative and beautifully crafted programme, featuring works by Mozart, Amy Beach and Chausson as well as Fauré's short and alluring Romance, culminating in his famous first violin sonata with its “balance of elegant restraint and romantic ardour”.
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GINA McCORMACK is well established as one of Britain’s leading artists, with regular performances as a soloist and chamber musician at venues across the country and abroad. She made her recital debut in London at the Wigmore Hall at the age of 21 and has appeared many times since then in both that Hall and at the South Bank Centre, and at venues and Festivals across the country. Gina has performed as soloist with the Hallé and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the former Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Solo tours abroad have taken her to France, Norway, Denmark, the Czech Republic, South Africa and South America, and most recently to Austria and Switzerland.Gina studied with György Pauk at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and attended masterclasses with Sandor Vegh (at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at Prussia Cove in Cornwall), Dorothy DeLay, Andras Mihaly and Siegmund Nissel (from the Amadeus Quartet). While still a student, she was a prizewinner at the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London and at the International Young Concert Artists’ Competition in Tunbridge Wells, where she has since returned to serve on the jury.
Gina has over twenty years’ experience as a quartet leader. For many years she was the leader of the Sorrel Quartet, with whom she was frequently heard on BBC Radio Three. The quartet made twelve CDs for Chandos Records, of works by Britten, Mendelssohn, Schubert and the complete cycle of Shostakovich quartets. Their Elgar CD was chosen as one of Classic FM’s records of the year and was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine. The group also recorded John Pickard’s Quartets on the Dutton label.
She then led the Maggini Quartet for two years, leaving that group in March 2010 to focus on her solo work, continuing a long association with her duo partner, pianist Nigel Clayton. Most recently, she spent two years as first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet, with a hugely busy concert schedule in the UK and abroad. Highlights were tours of Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. She made the tough decision to leave the group in February 2021, needing to be closer to home for family reasons, and will be returning once again to her solo work.
Gina McCormack is also well-known as a teacher, having spent 11 years as professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (formerly Trinity College of Music) in London, followed by 7 years at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She is currently teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and also gives regular masterclasses both in the UK and at summer festivals abroad. She frequently coaches amateur musicians, finding their deep love and knowledge of music rejuvenating.
Gina’s passion for dance has led to a long association with the choreographer Matthew Bourne, whose New Adventures orchestra she has led for many years, being part of his very first iconic production of “Swan Lake” and so many other award-winning shows since then. She has also continued her long association with the London Chamber Orchestra throughout her busy career, a special highlight of which was playing for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
NIGAL CLAYTON studied with Stephen Savage and Angus Morrison at the Royal College of Music, London, where he won prizes in every category of piano performance and was awarded the College's yearly prize for his Bachelor of Music degree. Whilst there, a particular interest in chamber music and accompanying developed and was further encouraged by international prizes from competitions in London, New York (Concert Artist Guild) and from the English Speaking Union. Since then his worldwide travel has included four major tours of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with Indian cellist Anup Kumar Biswas, tours of the Middle East and America with Wissam Boustany, of Scandinavia with Gerald LeFeuvre and throughout every European country. He performs more than eighty concerts every season and has also played at most of the music clubs and festivals in his native Great Britain, appearing regularly on the BBC's radio network, at the Wigmore Hall and at the South Bank Centre, where he has already performed over fifty recitals. His most recent concerts have been in Taiwan and Japan, where he is becoming an increasingly regular performer.
Nigel also continues to perform as a soloist and has given more than one hundred solo recitals on board the British cruise liner SS Canberra, as well as completing several cruises on P & O's Oriana, Victoria and Arcadia luxury cruise liners. He has performed concertos by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Mozart (directed from the keyboard), and was a soloist in Poulenc's two piano concerto in the Royal Albert Hall whilst still a junior student at the Royal College of Music.
Apart from several long-standing partnerships, Nigel has appeared alongside such artists as Michael Collins, Sylvia Marcovici, Ofra Harnoy, Tasmin Little and Bryan Rayner Cook, the Chillingirian, Sorrel and Bingham Quartets and with instrumentalists from many countries; he is engaged as official accompanist each year for the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland and has recorded nine commercial compact discs. He teaches at a specialist school for pianists in Surrey and is visiting professor of piano at the North East of Scotland Music School and was recently appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music.
Gina has over twenty years’ experience as a quartet leader. For many years she was the leader of the Sorrel Quartet, with whom she was frequently heard on BBC Radio Three. The quartet made twelve CDs for Chandos Records, of works by Britten, Mendelssohn, Schubert and the complete cycle of Shostakovich quartets. Their Elgar CD was chosen as one of Classic FM’s records of the year and was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine. The group also recorded John Pickard’s Quartets on the Dutton label.
She then led the Maggini Quartet for two years, leaving that group in March 2010 to focus on her solo work, continuing a long association with her duo partner, pianist Nigel Clayton. Most recently, she spent two years as first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet, with a hugely busy concert schedule in the UK and abroad. Highlights were tours of Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. She made the tough decision to leave the group in February 2021, needing to be closer to home for family reasons, and will be returning once again to her solo work.
Gina McCormack is also well-known as a teacher, having spent 11 years as professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (formerly Trinity College of Music) in London, followed by 7 years at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She is currently teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and also gives regular masterclasses both in the UK and at summer festivals abroad. She frequently coaches amateur musicians, finding their deep love and knowledge of music rejuvenating.
Gina’s passion for dance has led to a long association with the choreographer Matthew Bourne, whose New Adventures orchestra she has led for many years, being part of his very first iconic production of “Swan Lake” and so many other award-winning shows since then. She has also continued her long association with the London Chamber Orchestra throughout her busy career, a special highlight of which was playing for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
NIGAL CLAYTON studied with Stephen Savage and Angus Morrison at the Royal College of Music, London, where he won prizes in every category of piano performance and was awarded the College's yearly prize for his Bachelor of Music degree. Whilst there, a particular interest in chamber music and accompanying developed and was further encouraged by international prizes from competitions in London, New York (Concert Artist Guild) and from the English Speaking Union. Since then his worldwide travel has included four major tours of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with Indian cellist Anup Kumar Biswas, tours of the Middle East and America with Wissam Boustany, of Scandinavia with Gerald LeFeuvre and throughout every European country. He performs more than eighty concerts every season and has also played at most of the music clubs and festivals in his native Great Britain, appearing regularly on the BBC's radio network, at the Wigmore Hall and at the South Bank Centre, where he has already performed over fifty recitals. His most recent concerts have been in Taiwan and Japan, where he is becoming an increasingly regular performer.
Nigel also continues to perform as a soloist and has given more than one hundred solo recitals on board the British cruise liner SS Canberra, as well as completing several cruises on P & O's Oriana, Victoria and Arcadia luxury cruise liners. He has performed concertos by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Mozart (directed from the keyboard), and was a soloist in Poulenc's two piano concerto in the Royal Albert Hall whilst still a junior student at the Royal College of Music.
Apart from several long-standing partnerships, Nigel has appeared alongside such artists as Michael Collins, Sylvia Marcovici, Ofra Harnoy, Tasmin Little and Bryan Rayner Cook, the Chillingirian, Sorrel and Bingham Quartets and with instrumentalists from many countries; he is engaged as official accompanist each year for the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland and has recorded nine commercial compact discs. He teaches at a specialist school for pianists in Surrey and is visiting professor of piano at the North East of Scotland Music School and was recently appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music.
