This year’s coaching staff includes Bryony Gibson-Cornish (violist, Marmen Quartet), Valentin Erben (cellist, co-founder of the Alban Berg Quartett), members of Cuarteto Casals and Alexander Pavlovsky (first violinist, Jerusalem Quartet).
Bryony Gibson-Cornish – viola (Marmen Quartet)
Bryony Gibson-Cornish is the violist of the Marmen Quartet, winners of the Banff and Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions. They regularly tour throughout Europe and are the Peak Fellowship Ensemble in Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
New-Zealand born Bryony was accepted into the Master of Music degree programme at The Juilliard School at 19 years old as a Fulbright Scholar, where she studied viola with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory.
In 2015, Bryony moved to London to pursue an Artist Diploma in viola at the Royal College of Music, studying with Andriy Vytovych. Upon graduating, she was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal, awarded by HRH the Prince of Wales to graduating students judged to have made outstanding contributions musically and in other important ways to the life of the Royal College of Music. Bryony stayed on at the RCM, completing another Artist Diploma in chamber music with the Marmen Quartet, as well as assisting her former professor, Andriy Viytovych, with teaching his viola class and teaching chamber music from 2017 onwards.
Valentin Erben – cello (Alban Berg Quartett)
To find the roots of the Viennese native, one must travel to Bohemia, Slovenia, Transylvania, and even The Netherlands. His father, a music-loving physicist, and his mother, a professional pianist, taught their son never to let a day pass without music. Valentin Erben began his cello studies with Walter Reichardt at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. In 1963, he had an encounter in Siena that would be of great significance for his future path: he met the famous cellist and pedagogue André Navarra, as well as other renowned cellists such as Maurice Gendron and Paul Tortelier. In 1969, Valentin Erben was a founding member of the famous Alban Berg Quartett in Vienna, a fateful and successful association of four musicians who would shape and dominate the international string quartet scene for nearly 40 years. Günter Pichler, the first violinist of the Alban Berg Quartett, calls him the “angel of the string quartet”.
In 2013, Valentin Erben retired from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he had taught for over 40 years. Valentin Erben plays the famous cello by Matteo Goffriller from 1722, know as the “Ex-Pierre Fournier” and “Ex-Yo-Yo-Ma”.
Cuarteto Casals
Cuarteto Casals (Vera Martínez Mehner, Abel Tomàs, Cristina Cordero, Arnau Tomàs) Since winning First Prizes at the London and Brahms-Hamburg competitions, Cuarteto Casals, which was founded in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, has been a continual guest at the world’s most prestigious concert halls.
A prize from the prestigious Burletti-Buitoni Trust in London enabled the quartet to begin a collection of matching Baroque and Classical period bows which it uses for works from Purcell through Schubert, refining its ability to distinguish between diverse musical styles.
In recognition of its unique contributions to the cultural life within Catalunya and throughout Spain, Cuarteto Casals has been acknowledges as cultural ambassadors by the Generalitat of Catalunya and the Institut Ramon Llull. Additionally the quartet has had the privilege to perform repeatedly on the extraordinary collection of decorated Stradivarius instruments at the Royal Palace in Madrid.
Their vast experience as quartet players made them exceptional teachers at various institutions. Besides playing in their own quartet, they are eager to transfer their knowledge to the younger generations, to ensure that this special form of music making is preserved for the future.
Alexander Pavlovsky – violin (Jerusalem Quartet)
Alexander Pavlovsky is co-founder and first violinist of the world-renowned Jerusalem Quartet, as well as a versatile and internationally sought-after chamber musician, soloist and educator. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and completed his education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. With the Jerusalem Quartet he celebrated triumphs in such concert halls as the Tonhalle Zurich, the Münchner Herkulessaal, Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Berliner Konzerthaus. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has been a guest at international festivals in Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Rheingau, Salzburg and Amsterdam, as well as at the Schubertiade in Austria, among others.
Alexander Pavlovsky has collaborated with such renowned musicians as Sir András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Jessye Norman, Alexander Melnikov, Denis Kozhukhin, Menahem Pressler, Natalia Gutman and Joshua Bell. His many CD recordings with the Jerusalem Quartet have accounted for three BBC Music Magazine Awards and several Diapasons D’Or. Since 2022 Alexander Pavlovsky holds a professorship in the field of chamber music for strings at the University of Graz, and since 2009 he has been artistic director of the Zeist Music Days & Masterclasses, where he passionately imparts his knowledge to talented young musicians.
