Springtime in Venice – Music at Hellens

Violinist Lana Trotovsek has won admiration for her expressive playing and unique musicality. The Washington Post has described her as ‘Radiant’ and praised her ‘clean, refined tone with musical sense of phrasing and impeccable intonation’. The Strad Magazine has mentioned her ‘true feel of live intuitive performance’ . Since her debut with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev in 2012, Lana Trotovsek appeared with some of the world’s finest orchestras.  In 2014, she toured with the Moscow Soloists and Yuri Bashmet and in 2016 she performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the London Symphony Orchestra. Her recent schedule included the BBC 3 live recording of a Violin Concerto “Venus Blazing” composed by Deirdre Gribbin with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Tchaikovsky violin concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Raphael Payare, a premiere of Hugo Wolf Violin Concerto in Congress Centre Villach in Austria, Mendelssohn violin concerto with the RTS Symphony Orchestra in the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre as well as in Klagenfurt Konzerthaus with Carinthian Symphony Orchestra, and an evening recital in Wigmore Hall, which has been described as “remarkable” by the Strad magazine.

One of the leading lights among the new generation of Spanish pianists, Maria Canyigueral completed her undergraduate studies at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona with Michel Wagemans, she later attained a Master of Arts in Performance from the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying with Sulamita Aronovsky. She has also received musical advice from Nino Kereselidze and André de Groote. Maria Canyigueral’s name soon became a fixture of the international piano circuit, embracing Spain, the UK, Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya), Belgium, Slovenia and other countries. In addition to her live performances, Maria has made an impact with her recordings. Her solo album for Audite has been recently released to great acclaim from magazines such as International Piano and Pizzicato; She won the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in California for her album of works by C. Franck, Granados, Skerjanc and Finzi, recorded with violinist Lana Trotovsek (Hedone Records, 2016); A recording with flautist Boris Bizjak, of works by Martinu, Poulenc, Fauré and Böhm, was also released by Hedone Records in 2016.

Slovenian flautist Boris Bizjak, based in London, is the prize-winner of many competitions. He won the 1st and 2nd prize at the European Flute Competition in Picardy, France. He was regularly a top prize winner as a soloist and chamber musician at the Slovenian National competition. Boris performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Slovenia, Great Britain, the United States, Japan, China, France, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Cyprus and Malta. He has performed concertos with the Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra on a number of occasions; in 2015 he performed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, in 2017 the CPE Bach flute concerto under the baton of Dmitri Sitkovetsky, in 2018 the Brandenburg Concerto and the triple concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord in a minor by J.S.Bach. He has also performed as a soloist with the City of London Ensemble, Euphonia Symphony Orchestra, Solisti Divini, London Brandenburg Soloists and SNG Maribor. He has performed chamber music with Natalie Clein, Jurij Žislin, Natalija Lomeiko, Fleur Barron, Gareth Lube, Lana Trotovšek, Janis Kelly, Guy Johnston, Simon Lane, Yoko Misumi and Maria Canyigueral in halls such as St. John’s Smith Square and St. Martin in the Fields, Looe Festival, Purbeck

Hoffmeister: Duo (flute & violin), Beethoven: Spring Sonata (violin & piano),

Interval: Clara Schumann: Three Pieces for Flute and Piano, Prokofiev: Two-Violin Sonata arranged for Flute and Violin, Paganini: Carnival of Venice (flute & piano)