Breinton Recital Society presents a Soiree by

Callum Smart

violin

Gordon Back

piano

Saturday 21
January 2012
at 7:30 pm

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Callum Smart came to wide public attention when at the age of thirteen he won the string section of the 2010 BBC Young Musicians Competition. Gordon Back's international reputation was established in 1978 when he played with Dong-Suk Kang in Alice Tully Hall, New York.

Programme

• GRIEG, EDWARD:  Violin Sonata in G
• DARBELLAY, JEAN-LUC:  Avec élan  
• CHAUSSON, ERNEST:  Poeme
• BRAHMS, JOHANNES:  Sonata No.3 in D minor
• WIENIAWSKI, HENRYK:  Variations on an original theme

Reviews

Callum and Gordon recently performed the same programme at the Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre in Newport. The South Wales Argus reported:

"It’s customary to marvel at musical prodigies for the way their technique outstrips their tender years. To find maturity as well is rare - but 14-year-old violinist Callum Smart definitely has it."

"Although Smart didn’t win outright last year, he showed that his career will have a trajectory of its own independent of competition triumphs. His is a self-assured musicianship packed with potential."

Read the whole review.

About Callum

Callum Smart came to wide public attention when at the age of thirteen he won the string section of the 2010 BBC Young Musicians Competition and was subsequently selected as one of three concerto finalists.  In the finals he performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Vasily Petrenko at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff broadcast on BBC 2 and Radio 3.

Callum began his violin studies at the age of six and was a pupil at the Royal Junior College of Music, London. At the age of nine he entered the Yehudi Menuhin School where he was a student of Maciej Rakowski and for the last three years has continued his studies with him at Chetham’s School of Music. His concerto work has included appearances as soloist with the Chetham’s String Orchestra, National Children’s Orchestra, the Charnwood, Liverpool Mozart, Wimbledon and Warwickshire Symphony Orchestras and a performance of the Vieuxtemps Concerto No.5 at the Valdres Festival in Norway.  He has given numerous recitals around the UK including the International Lake District Summer Music Festival and Leeds International Concert Series.

In April 2010 he was a prize-winner in the 2010 Menuhin Competition in Oslo, where he also performed in the Conservatory of Music with an orchestra from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Barratt-Due Music Institute conducted by Per Kristian Skalstad.

2010 also saw Callum give a series of recitals with Gordon Back including a Radio 3 broadcast from Carreglwyd, a concert at the Cheltenham Festival, and an appearance as a concerto soloist at Cadogan Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with the National Children’s Orchestra.  In December Callum returned to Cardiff to perform the Glazunov Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Grant Llewellyn, broadcast live by BBC Radio 3. He also performed with the orchestra as a soloist in their series of Christmas concerts around Wales.  Future recitals include the Lamberhurst Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern in Germany as well as concerts in Spain and Gstaad, Switzerland.

Callum plays on a c.1730-35 violin by Carlo Bergonzi.

About Gordon

Welsh-born Gordon Back's distinguished career as a pianist has taken him to many continents of the world. His international reputation was established in 1978 when he played with Dong-Suk Kang in Alice Tully Hall, New York, to great critical acclaim. Since then he has travelled extensively throughout Europe, Russia, U.S.A., Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore and, of course, the UK, performing and recording with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin and Yo Yo Ma.

Gordon Back studied piano and viola at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He was awarded the Lady Grace James Scholarship, which enabled him to take up his post-graduate studies in Italy, studying with Guido Agosti and Sergio Lorenzi. On returning to England he was one of the youngest ever appointed professors to join the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music (London) in 1974, where he was made head of the Department of Accompaniment in 1980. He received the honour of being made a Fellow of the Guildhall School in 1984.

Gordon Back was an official accompanist to major international violin competitions including the Carl Flesch Competition (London), the International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow), the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (U.S.A.) and the Menuhin Competition (UK). In 2002 he became its Artistic Director and has since channeled his creative energy into defining it as a unique international event. The Menuhin Competition was hosted in London 2004, France 2006, Cardiff 2008 and will take place in Oslo in April 2010. It now includes a major violin festival featuring all jury members as performers and provides an educational forum to all participants and visiting musicians.

His recordings include the Bach-Schumann Sonatas and Partitas for violin and piano with Jean-Jacques Kantorow (which received a French Grand Prix du Disque), the Schubert Arpeggione and Rachmaninov Cello Sonatas with cellist Daniel Lee (for Decca) and a series of CDs with clarinetist Emma Johnson (for ASV).

Gordon Back gives regular master classes as guest professor in music colleges such as the Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute and the Royal Northern College of Music. In the summer he teaches in Courchevel, France and Valdres Festival, Norway. He is a jury member at many international competitions and artistic advisor of the Hattori Foundation.