7.30pm Thursday, 18th February 2010
Mathieu van Bellen - Violin
Tadashi Imai - Piano
Sponsored by the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists, via Making Music
Programme of works by Mozart.
Sonata, no. 18, in G Major, K. 301
Adagio in E Major, K. 261
Sonata no. 32 in B Flat Major, K. 454
(Interval)
Sonata no. 35 in A Major, K. 526
Adagio in B Minor, (Solo Piano) K. 540
Mozart/Sarasate: Fantasy on "Die Zauberflöte", for Violin and Piano, Op. 54
Mathieu van Bellen (Hulst, Netherlands, 29.03.1988) started playing the violin at the age of four. During the first year he was taught by Mrs. Schepman. He continued with Mr. Nico Baltussen in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) at the Academy of Music-Word -and- Dance. In February 2000 he was invited to study at the Conservatory in Amsterdam. From September 2002 he studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester (UK) with Professor Jan Repko. The help of the VandenEnde Foundation, who gave him a scholarship to study at Chetham’s for four years, made this possible for him. During his years at Chethams, Mathieu took part in many chamber music events and won the schools concerto competition, which made it possible for him to perform Lalo’s Symphony Espagnole with the school orchestra.
At the moment Mathieu studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Professor Itzhak Rashkovsky. This is made possible by a scholarship from the RCM as well.
He has taken part in several competitions including Jong Tenuto, Prinses Christina Competition, The Iordens Viooldagen, Davina van Wely concours, The Wieniawski Competition and Young musician of the Year Holland, and Yeduhi Menuhin Competition. He was a prizewinner in all competitions. He took the second prize in the Oskar Back National Violin Competition of Holland. In 2008 he won the Royal College of Music String Player of the Year Competition. He gave concerts in The Netherlands, Belgium, England, Poland, USA, Denmark, Japan, Greece and in Belarus, and in May 2007 he played his debut in the Concertgebouw (Grote and Kleine Zaal).
Mathieu played often for television and radio programmes in Holland and in Belgium and he played several times as a soloist with orchestra, including the Brabants Orchestra, the Gelders Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, and Camerata Athena, working with conductors such as Nikolaj Alexeev, Jan-Willem de Vriend and Ivan Meylemans. He got scholarships for summer schools in California (2001, 2002, 2003), and Bowdoin, Boston (2004, 2005). He also took part in the European Union Youth Orchestra. A Graduate of the Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse 2008, where he studied with Schlomo Mintz, Mathieu also had masterclasses with distinguished artists like Nikolaj Znaider, Maxim Vengerov, David Finckel, Herman Krebbers, Simon Fontanelli, Gordon Back, Ani Schnarch, Rudolf Koelman, Bruno Schrecker, and Yair Kless. A member of the Wu Quartet and the Goethe Piano Trio, he has also performed in chamber music concerts with Schlomo Mintz, Evgenia Maria Popova, Matthew Trusler, Graham Oppenheimer and Craig Ogdon, among others.
"His Mozart reminded us of Grumiaux in terms of excellent taste and cantelina playing and his Tzigane took us back to Hirschhorn in his prime."
Tadashi Imai made his debut in Tokyo in 1997 under the auspices of the Japan Committee of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. As a prize-winner of several international competitions in Japan and the United States, he has performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto no.1 with the Osaka Symphoniker and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto no. 1 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As a Grand Prize winner of the Grand Prix International Chopin Competition, he made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall. Tadashi is a graduate of Toho Gakuen College of Music, the Texas Christian University and the Royal Academy of Music, London. Since 2005, Tadashi has been working with the violinist and academy professor György Pauk’s violin class. In 2008, he was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). His concert commitments for 2009-2010 include solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Japan, England, France, Ireland, Spain, Holland, Poland and Germany.
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