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Cimbalom Chris began studying the cimbalom in 1978 during his percussion studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester under Gilbert Webster. The Halle Orchestra required a cimbalom player for their forthcoming performances of the Hary Janos Suite by Kodaly. Chris was in the percussion room at the time of the call and 'got the job'. Six weeks of intense day & night study, two performances at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester (under Maurice Handford) launched Chris's cimbalom career, which has seen him perform with most of the UK's orchestra's and ensembles as well as the Vienna Philharmonic (Austria), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Finnish Chamber Orchestra (Finland), Liege Philharmonic (Belgium), Philharmonia Hungarica (Germany), Residente Orkestra (Holland), RTE SO (Eire) and Musique Vivante (France).
Highlights include playing on stage at the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden with Kiri Te Kanawa in Die Fledermaus conducted
by Zubin Mehta and televised throughout the world on New Year's
Eve, 1978; UK premiere and an Arts Council tour of Kurtag's music;
several appearances at the Proms & Edinburgh Festival; numerous
film & TV soundtracks and commercial soundtracks; many appearances
on BBC TV and radio, Yorkshire Television and Channel 4; European
tour to Vienna, Paris & Portugal with the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra (Dreamsongs / Crosse); Eclat Multiples
(Boulez), conducted by the composer, at concerts in the UK and
France and subsequently a request to perform with Ensemble Intercontemporain. Discography: Renard
- Stravinsky Ragtime-Stravinsky
Rhapsody
No.1 for violin & orchestra - Bartok Gawain's
Journey - Birtwistle Gawain
(full opera) - Birtwistle Boots
of Lead - Holt Liaisons
- Kronberger UK
premieres of Kurtag's Messages of the late R.V.Trousseva;
Scenes from a Novel and many other works; Dutilleaux Violin
Concerto (CBSO/ Rattle/ Stern) and Mystere de l'lnstant
(SCO/ Saraste); world premieres of Birtwistle's operas Gawain
(ROH/ Howarth) and The Second Mrs Kong (Glyndebourne Touring
& Festival Howarth); on stage for Opera North's production
of Schereker's Der Ferne Klang. Chris
has performed Maxwell Davies Image, Reflection and Shadow
at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and on board the
Cutty Sark, Greenwich and in 1996 appeared briefly on BBC 2's
documentary about the Royal Opera House, The House, as well as
being interviewed for Radio 3's Music Matters; a lecture/ demo
on the cimbalom at the Purcell Room followed by a performance
of Kurtag's Eight Duos with Andres Keller; Kurtag's 70th
birthday weekend with the London Sinfonietta. More
recently he has performed in pieces by James Wood (Parliament
of Angels), Brian Ferneyhough (Transit) as well as
Love Unites, an arrangement of music from Birtwistle's The
Second Mrs Kong by Michael Berkeley, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and a commercial recording with Zoe Krönburger and the Zimmermann
Cello Concerto with the BBCSO. Highlights
from August 1999; Kurtag's Grabstein for Stefan with the
Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne Festivals
and the BBC Proms; and in 2000 the revival of Gawain for
the Royal Opera which opened the refurbished opera house and a
performance of Stravinsky's Les Noces conducted by James
Wood in Belgium for Flanders Radio. In the summer of 2002 he performed
Hary Janos in Gujla, Balatonfured & Budapest, Hungary
on a tour with the East Riding Youth Orchestra and in 2003 he
has performed at the Aldeburgh Festival (eco-pavane/Holt; Scenes
from a Novel/Kurtag; Renard/Stravinsky); BCMG/Almeida production
of Who put Bella in the Wych elm?/Holt and Dutilleaux's
Mystere de l'Instant with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
in Frankfurt, Cologne & London and in Helsinki, Finland with
the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, as well as further performances
of Kurtag's Scenes from a Novel. Recent recordings include
pieces by Holt; Boots of Lead with the BCMG/Rattle and
eco-pavane, BCMG/Oramo. He
has also performed with some of the country's youth orchestras
(Nottingham, Rochdale, Hertfordshire, Humberside, East Riding
of Yorkshire, Hull, Harrow,Solihull and the City of Leeds) and
music academies (Royal Academy, Welsh College of Music & Drama
and City of Leeds), also at the Universities of Huddersfield,
York and Leeds as well as numerous performances of Hary Janos
with many of the UK's leading semi-professional orchestras and
most recently the Henley Symphony Orchestra. Chris
plays on a Bohak concert cimbalom, no 495, made in 1981 and he
is a member of the World Cimbalom Association. |
