Soloists
M
adeleine Easton
The orchestra was fortunate to have Maddy as leader from 2014 the end of 2018 when she moved back to Australia. She played with us as a soloist on three occasions: 2015 – Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, 2016 – Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, 2018 – Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending.
Australian violinist Madeleine Easton is an established star on the international stage, known for her versatility and expertise in both period and modern styles of playing. Having studied at the Sydney Conservatorium and won many prizes, followed by postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music, she has since performed at the highest level in Europe and Australia with orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique.
Madeleine is forging a career as a director and concert master. She has performed as both guest and permanent concertmaster of several leading orchestras in the UK and abroad. Engagements in this role include the Orquestra Sinfonica de Madrid, the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra of Lisbon, The English Baroque Soloists under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, The Kings Consort, The Gabrieli Consort, the Musicians of the Globe, The Independent Opera Company, London Orchestra da Camera, Orchestra Nova, the Guildford Philharmonic, Bath Philharmonia, Southern Sinfonia, Florilegium, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Ballet Orchestra of England. She was appointed concertmaster of The Hanover Band in 2006 and continues to perform with them as both leader, director and soloist.
Madeleine has performed on many award winning recordings including the Bach Cantata series with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, the recently released Bach B minor Mass recording with the same ensemble, Haydn’s ‘Creation’, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Gabrieli Consort to name a few. She has released the complete piano trios of Alexis de Castillon with her piano trio ‘Trio Castillon’, available on Peyrole Records. She has also recorded the Antoine Reicha Bassoon Quintet and variations with the all Australian ensemble, ‘Island’ available on the ARS label.
Madeleine is proud to be part of the internationally acclaimed Australian World Orchestra. She is also the artistic director of Australia’s newest dedicated Bach ensemble, ‘Bach Akademie Australia’ which she founded in 2017 with the support of Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
Joshua Hugo Gustav von Bohlen began playing the piano at the age of six, the violin and tuba at seven. He won a Lady Dacre Major Music Scholarship to attend Emanuel School. His musical education continued at Trinity Conservatoire, where he gained his Performance Degree and LTCL in instrumental teaching with Distinction. He completed his Master of Music Degree at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied with Yossi Zivoni and received support from The Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust and The Kathleen Trust. Since graduating Joshua has studied with international soloist Remus Azoitei.
As a violinist and chamber musician Joshua has performed throughout the UK and Europe. In partnership with Saki Matsumoto he received First Prize in the Chamber Virtuoso Competition at the Musikverein in Vienna in 2016. As an orchestral musician Joshua enjoys playing with a variety of orchestras, including performances alongside members of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Currently Joshua holds the position of leader with Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra, Dorking Philharmonia and Kingston Third Age Orchestra.
Joshua is much in demand as a violin teacher holding positions at City of London School, Ewell Castle School, Surrey Strings Academy and Kingston Music Services where he is Music Director of the Kingston String Sinfonia. Joshua’s efforts with the ensemble have been acknowledged by Kingston Music Services with a successful nomination and gaining a Jack Petchey Foundation Leader Award.
Over the past year (2023-4) Joshua has delighted audiences as a soloist, showcasing his talent with performances such as the Beethoven Violin Concerto alongside the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Dorking Philharmonia. He has also been invited to perform the Bruch Violin Concerto in May 2025 with the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra.
He played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with K3AO in March 2024.
Julie Peat is a freelance cellist bas
ed in Kent who has worked as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician at home and abroad. She has recently performed the Shostakovich 1st Cello Concerto with the Bradstow Symphony Orchestra, the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Folkestone Symphony Orchestra, as well as being featured as a solo cellist in the Ramsgate Festival of Sound, for which she collaborated with local composers in a re-imagining of well-known sea shanties. Other recent performances include concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and performing as part of Sweden’s televised P3 Guld award show. She regularly performs with the Kent Sinfonia and the Leon String Quartet.
Alongside her performing work, Julie has enjoyed taking part in many other musical projects, such as education work in schools, side-by-side projects (including Revelation Strings with cellist Matthew Sharp), and performances in healthcare settings. She was recently invited to coach on the prestigious chamber music course, Pro Corda.
Julie played Vivaldi’s D major Concerto and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei with K3AO in December 2023.
Lizzie Chilcott, after choosing to learn the oboe at age 9 ‘because no one had heard of it’, revelled in European tours with her school concert band, also playing in the West Sussex County Youth Orchestra. On leaving school, she was inspired to undertake a BMus (Hons) degree at Royal Holloway, University of London, studying oboe and cor anglais with Jane Marshall and Geoffrey Browne.
During her degree, as well as being a member of the university symphony and chamber orchestras, Lizzie was also a member of the Lincolnshire Sinfonietta, and has wonderful memories of a music tour to Poland. Lizzie pursued a successful non-music related career, continuing her music as a hobby, playing oboe and cor anglais with the Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra, London Lawyers Music Symphony Orchestra and the London Chamber Group, as well as performing at weddings and attending music courses.
After taking a break from regular ensemble playing when her children were very young, Lizzie deputised for local orchestras as this was flexible to fit in with family life and work commitments. Following a dep session with K3AO in 2017, Lizzie was invited to join as First Oboe from January 2018, performing the first movement of the Mozart Oboe Concerto with the orchestra at their May 2022 Awayday and subsequently invited to perform the whole work at the Spring 2023 concert.
Alicia Dine studied flute and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London from which she holds the Licentiate diploma and is a Graduate of the Royal Schools of Music. She has been a regular visitor to the recital platform over a number of years, for solo, duo, chamber and concerto performances, both in the UK and in Europe and has played her flute with orchestras in all the major London concert halls, and for opera, shows and musicals. Alicia taught flute and piano for over 20 years in schools and music centres in Kent before relocating to Surbiton in 2001 and developing a thriving private teaching practice.
A keen composer and a tireless enthusiast, Alicia plays and teaches several other instruments, including classical guitar, violin and Irish harp. Alicia is in demand year round as a teacher and performer but on the occasional day off, she likes to play her mandolin, banjo or piano accordion, as well as to rehearse with the Kingston Third Age Orchestra, for whom she has great respect and affection (usually playing her violin) and with whom she has very much enjoyed working on the Vivaldi Flute concerto in G minor La Notte (December 2022).
Anthea Fry, who has played the piano from the age of three, is able to trace her pedagogical roots back to Clara Wieck, wife of Robert Schumann. She was a prizewinning student at the Royal Academy of Music in London under the guidance of Robin Wood and Max Pirani and has performed throughout the UK, in USA and Europe, with appearances at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room.
She has made a special study of the piano works of Robert Schumann and these are often a feature of her solo recitals. Programmes are diverse, encompassing Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin through to Debussy, Ravel, Hindemith and Stravinsky.
She performs widely as a chamber musician with the Lauriston trio, which has recently expanded into the Lauriston Ensemble. She also tours the world as a music examiner.
Anthea played the first movement of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in June 2017 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no 4 in March 2022. She is a regular member of the orchestra in which she plays the viola.
Peter Bullett is a member of the orchestra in which he plays cello. He was a choral scholar at the Temple Church, gaining professional qualifications in piano and organ while still at school, before pursuing a career in physics and technology education.
He is music co-ordinator at New Malden Methodist Church, rehearsal pianist to the Kingston Grammar School Choral Society, director of the Harmonie Choir, accompanist to The Ibstock Place School Schola Cantorum, course pianist for Lythe Chamber Music and vocal accompanist to the Kingston Festival of the Performing Arts.
In 2013 Peter played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor K491 and in 2019 Handel’s Organ Concerto in F major HWV 295 The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.
Clara Falkowska
Born into a musical family, Clara Falkowska began studying the violin with her father at the age of five and had her Grade 8 by the age of ten. She now holds ABRSM diplomas in Performance on both violin and trumpet, and she is also a very keen singer. She has played in the National Youth Orchestra for three years on both violin and trumpet, including playing 1st trumpet at the BBC Proms. She will play with the National Youth Music Theatre in summer 2019.
As a music scholar at Westminster School she has played numerous solos in Westminster Abbey. She has recently won a scholarship for undergraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music. She was a Junior Exhibitioner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and learns the trumpet with Andrew Mitchell and natural trumpet with Paul Sharp.
She played Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E flat major with the orchestra in March 2019.
James Quilligan
James Quilligan graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015 and for the past year has been a lay clerk at St John’s College, Cambridge. He continues to study privately with Robert Dean.
Since graduating, James’ operatic roles have included Count Almaviva and Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Trinity College Music Society and Magnetic Opera), Dr Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore (Cambridge University Opera Society), Death in Holst’s Savitri (CUOS), Farasmane in Handel’s Radamisto (TCMS), the title role and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Ensemble Orquesta and Hampstead Garden Opera), Flemish Deputy in Verdi’s Don Carlo (Grange Park Opera), and Bluebeard in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle (OperaUpClose). James has also created several roles in contemporary operas with companies including St John’s College Music Society and the Helios Collective. Recent performances include Menotti’s The Telephone and Barber’s A Hand of Bridge.
On the concert platform, James has performed Bach St John Passion, Charpentier Te Deum, Dvořák Stabat Mater, Fauré Requiem, Finzi In Terra Pax, Handel Messiah, Haydn Harmoniemesse and Nelson Mass, Mozart Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Christmas Carol and Five Mystical Songs. A keen recitalist, he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, St Martin in the Fields, St George Hanover Square, Hatchlands Park and the Old Royal Naval chapel, Greenwich.
James returned to sing with the orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols in December 2018.
Felix Stephens
Born in to a family of professional musicians Felix has always been surrounded by music and began learning the cello aged 5. At the age of 11 Felix gained scholarships to both the Junior Royal Academy and Wells Cathedral School. Felix spent 7 years as a specialist cellist studying with Penny Driver at Wells. In 2016 Felix gained a scholarship to the Guildhall to study with Ursula Smith.
During his first and second year of Guildhall, Felix performed on many platforms with analytical feedback from professors. Felix has won many prizes; a finalist in the Two Moors competition twice, Newbury Young Musician of the Year 2014, and won numerous accolades of “outstanding” in the Mid Somerset festival in 2014 and 2015. Felix took part in regular master classes with professors such as Leonid Gorokhov, David Strange, Thomas Demenga, Robert Cohen over his time at Wells, all of which were thoroughly immersive and inspiring. Felix also enjoys playing in his quartet and recently took part in the Akoesticum Talent Programme 2018, in Holland.
Felix played Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo theme with the orchestra in June 2018.
Bryony Prior began studying Horn at age 8. In 2010 she was selected to play in the orchestra of Glyndebourne’s community opera, Knight Crew which was documented by the BBC and in the same year Bryony was the youngest musician in the final of the West Sussex Young Musician Award.
While studying at Junior School of Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she was appointed Principal Horn in the Symphony Orchestra and participated in master classes taken by Rex Richardson and Tine Thing Helseth.
Bryony gained a scholarship at Guildhall School Of Music And Drama, studied with Richard Bissil and was also coached by David Pyatt, Jeff Bryant and Hugh Seenan. She studied Jazz singing with Lee Gibson. Her orchestral experience has led to invitations to play with Kent Sinfonia, Bayleaf Brass, London Schools Symphony Orchestra, Docklands Sinfonia, Folkestone Symphony, Adhoc Orchestra’s made up of LPO musicians and many more.
Bryony also performed as concerto soloist with The Brandenburg Sinfonia and the Southwark Sinfonietta. During her time in London she has been a member of Dockland’s Sinfonia, played at Angel Studios for Katie Meluas Album/ Single ‘I will be there’ and as a jazz singer has performed at Arundel Jailhouse Jazz Club and with big bands. Bryony recently appeared as a singer in a BBC short video about the recording of a virtual choir of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers. Sales of the CD, Choirs With Purpose released shortly before Christmas, put it in the top 40 and helped raise much needed funds for the CF trust.
Bryony also performs in her own duo with renowned musician/trumpeter, Paul Newton. Their repertoire covers everything from Jazz to modern, pop and classical.
Bryony played Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 3 with the orchestra in March 2018.
Pierre Frapier was a laureate of the 11th Aram Khachaturian International Violin Competition and is an Artist Duploma graduate and schole of the Royal College of Music under the guidance of Prof. Itzhak Rashkovsky. International appearnaces have included The Kuhmo Arts Center, Teatro Braluz, Piotr Stoliarsky School Auditorium, Tchaikovsky Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Tel-Aviv Opera House, Yerevan Opera Theatre, National Musicians’ Church in Holborn, New North London Synagogue, St Martin’s in the Fields and the Wigmore Hall.
Passionate about chamber music, he is regularly invited to the Kuhmo International Chamber Music festival, playing with musicians such as Victor Mendelssohn, Yuval Gotlibovich, Sergey Malov, Hugh Ticciati, Marc Danel, Michel Lethiec, Niek de Groot and the Enesco Quartet.
Pierre played the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens with the orchestra in April 2017.
Helen Pierce, after graduating from Goldsmith’s University, studied under Keith Puddy and Nick Bucknall at Trinity College of Music for a Master’s Degree, which she passed with distinction. In 2001 she was awarded the Wilfred Hambleton prize for clarinet, and went on to study with Roland Diry in Germany and with Hans Deinzer in Italy.
In Germany she worked with a leading contemporary music group ‘Ensemble Modern’, and played with Darmstadt Staatstheater Opera Orchestra and with Frankfurt Schauspiel. Helen subsequently recorded Messiaen’s ‘Quatuor pour la fin du temps’ for the Frankfurt Musik Hochschule label.
In the UK Helen has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, English Sinfonia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Milton Keynes City Orchestra, Manning Camerata, the Adderbury Ensemble, Britten-Pears Orchestra and St Paul’s Sinfonia.
Helen plays with the quartet Clariphonics who were semi-finalists in the Royal Overseas League competition, 2008 and were selected as Park Lane Group young artists in 2009. Helen also plays in the Argento Trio who appear in venues throughout the UK and has performed with the Berkeley Ensemble in their project of Arnold’s chamber opera The Open Window.
Solo engagements in 2016 include Strauss’ Duet Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon performed with St Paul’s Sinfonia and Weber’s Concertino in Eb Major, Op26 in our summer concert.
Peter Nall has been playing the violin since the age of 7 and plays with the London Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he has appeared with world famous conductors and musicians. He also offers advice to professional and amateur string players in locating and purchasing fine instruments.
He has appeared twice as a soloist with Kingston Third Age Orchestra: he played Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor (with the leader John Kitchen) at the orchestra’s inaugural concert in 2010, and came back in 2014 to play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64.
Belén Barnus (soprano), Emily Kyte (mezzo soprano), Jorge Navarro-Colorado (tenor) and James Quilligan (bass), all students at or recent graduates of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, were the soloists in the orchestra’s performance in May 2013 of Haydn’s Mass in Bb major, Hob.XX:14 – Harmoniemesse.