West Wight Arts Association
Visiting Artists 2025/26 Season

Jamie Smith cornet / flugelhorn
Jonathan Bates tenor horn
Michael Cavanagh baritone horn
Chris Robertson euphonium

A4 Brass Quartet comprises principal players from some of the UK’s top brass bands, including Grimethorpe Colliery, Brighouse & Rastrick and Foden’s. With “technical virtuosity in abundance” (Brass Band World), these four astonishing musicians come together to perform both lyrical and high-octane works, forming a distinctive and new take on chamber music.

The Quartet has a unique blend of instruments, with a cornet, tenor horn, baritone and euphonium creating an exclusive sound that stands out from the standard brass quartet. With this unusual instrumentation, A4 Brass has actively developed their repertoire, commissioning new music, composing and arranging music themselves.

Formed in 2013 at the Royal Northern College of Music, in their first year the Quartet won the coveted Philip Jones Brass Ensemble of the Year prize. They went on to represent the brass department in the College’s overall chamber music prize, winning the Christopher Rowland Ensemble of the Year Award and claiming both the jury and the audience’s votes. In June 2018 the Quartet completed the prestigious International Artist Diploma in Chamber Music course at the RNCM as John Fewkes scholars.

The Quartet has performed widely throughout the UK appearing at major venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Cadogan Hall, Purcell Room, St. Margaret’s Church Westminster Abbey (for Park Lane Group), Lake District Summer Music and King’s Lynn Festivals. More recently they have completed engagements which included a residency at the Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, a concert in the Ceresio Estate Festival in Switzerland and a re-invitation to the Trakai Fanfare Week in Lithuania.

The Quartet has featured on national television and radio, appearing three times on ITV’s Christmas Carol Concerts and on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In-Tune’ twice with Sean Rafferty and Katie Derham. In 2016 they released their debut CD at the RNCM Brass Band Festival featuring new, original music composed for them, including works by Martin Ellerby, Edward Gregson, Oliver Waespi and Nigel Clarke.

A4 Brass have won numerous prizes and awards including the 2018 Royal Over-Seas League Chamber Music Competition, a Tunnell Trust Award, the Tillett Trust Young Artists’ Platform series and the Musicians’ Company Concert Series. In September 2018 they were selected to become City Music Foundation Artists and the following month won the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award. They regularly work with Live Music Now and Music in Hospitals & Care scheme and are committed to expanding and diversifying their work.

www.a4brassquartet.co.uk

Irish guitarist Manus Noble is one of the UK's leading classical guitarists, known for his strong, unique sound, original compositions and varied recital programmes. Noble studied with Craig Ogden, Gary Ryan and Michael Lewin, graduating from the Royal College of Music with First Class Honours and the Royal Academy of Music with Distinction. He then went on to launch his career to wide critical acclaim, winning awards from the Musician's Benevolent Fund, Ian Flemming Trust, Countess of Munster Trust, Ivor Mairants Guitar Competition, Royal College of Music Guitar Competitions and being accepted onto the Park Lane Group, Countess of Munster and Making Music Concert Series.

Career highlights include recitals at major UK venues such as the Purcell Rooms, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Sage Gateshead, Bridgewater Hall, Kings Place and Wigmore Hall, as well as giving recitals and masterclasses at Festivals across the UK and Europe. Noble is also in high demand as a teacher, having taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as well as directing the National Youth Guitar Ensemble in Wales. He is also now Director of the Bunagee Guitar Festival.

In 2019 Noble graduated from the European Institute of Guitar Making under the tutelage of Stephen Hill and Evan Kingma, and now works as a luthier. For more information, click on 'Noble Guitars'. Manus Noble uses Concerto Carbon Cases, Knobloch Strings, GuitarLift supports and performs on guitars made by Manus Noble, Stephen Hill and Jim Redgate.

Red Priest – recently described in the New York Times as ‘the wildly virtuosic little band’ – has been at the cutting edge of baroque music performance for over a quarter of a century.  Formed in 1997 by recorder virtuoso Piers Adams, together with violinist Julia Bishop, cellist Angela East and the late Julian Rhodes, harpsichord (a role filled since 2011 by David Wright) - and named after the original ‘red priest’ Antonio Vivaldi - the quartet has developed a truly unique style, combining high-energy performance, boundary crossing arrangements and theatrical presentation, delighting audiences across the globe.    

Although based in the UK, where they are long established favourites amongst promoters and public alike, Red Priest has crossed the Atlantic for over 50 coast-to-coast tours of America, Mexico, Cuba and Canada, as well as performing in prestigious festivals in almost every European country, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Japan, China, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.   The group has given numerous radio and TV broadcasts, including a fly-on-the-wall documentary for The South Bank Show in 2005, which attracted a million viewers. 

Red Priest’s discography – released on their own label – includes an iconic take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, hailed by Gramophone Magazine as one of the all-time best recordings of the work, alongside titles such as Handel in the Wind, Johann I’m Only Dancing, Pirates of the Baroque, Nightmare in Venice and Priest on the Run – all of which have received the highest critical acclaim.  Their most recent release, The Baroque Bohemians, surprised the major labels by reaching No.1 in the UK classical charts. 

Currently continuing his studies as a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of Danny Driver, pianist Amiri Harewood regularly performs across the UK and abroad. previously studied at Trinity Music Academy under Richard Evans.

An alumni of the Trinity Music Academy under Richard Evans, his previous engagements include solo recitals at prestigious venues including Steinway Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Institut Francais, Bishopsgate’s Institute, the Royal Albert Hall (as part of the Steinway Young Artist series), and an appearance performing on BBC Radio London.

His appearances abroad include recitals at the Conservatorio in Venice, and the Mozart Music Festival in Forli, Italy. Amiri has also had the privilege of working with renowned musicians including Inon Barnatan, Vanessa Latarche and Trio Shaham-Erez-Wallfisch.

Amiri’s Royal Festival Hall concerto debut with Chineke! Orchestra was universally acclaimed, described as a “...Royal Festival Hall debut of considerable panache…” (Geoff Brown, The Times) as he brought “...confidence and a touch of grandiloquence to Grieg’s Piano Concerto…” (Richard Fairman, The Financial Times).

He was also selected as one of the first Tabor Piano Ambassadors for the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition, representing the Royal College of Music. He continues to work with the competition to deliver education and outreach initiatives.

Amiri uses his versatile music experiences to inspire his playing. Until age 14 he sang as a treble with the renowned Trinity Boys Choir, performing in opera productions at Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House, Garsington, and English National Opera. He also performed at the Aldeburgh Festival and Amina Mundi Festival in Pisa alongside the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, as well as touring Japan in 2015.

This compelling trio of international musicians was formed at the acclaimed Northern Chords Festival, founded in 2009 by Artistic Director Benjamin Nyffenegger. It brings together some of the most exciting young musicians from across Europe. They have all been recipients of many prestigious awards and perform regularly as soloists and chamber musicians worldwide.

Described by Le Monde as "possessing the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves", since winning First Prize at the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, British pianist Viv McLean has performed in all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. Viv’s concerto work includes appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, Orchestra of the Swan, Orchestra of St John’s, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of such conductors as Daniel Harding, John Wilson, Wayne Marshall, John Lubbock, Christopher Warren-Green, Anthony Inglis, Owain Arwell Hughes, Philip Hesketh, David Charles Abell, Stephen Bell, Carl Davis, Rebecca Miller, Chloe Van Soederstede and Marvin Hamlisch. Recent concerto highlights include Mozart K467 with the ECO at the Royal Festival Hall, Grieg with the LPO at the Barbican, Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto with the RPO in Cambridge, Gershwin, Bernstein, de Falla and Ravel with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead and other venues in the North of England, and Beethoven's 5th Concerto with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall. 

Viv plays regularly with the Adderbury Ensemble and has also performed with other leading chamber groups such as the Ysaye String Quartet, the Sacconi String Quartet, the London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble, members of the Elias, Allegri, Tippett String Quartets and Leonore Piano Trio, Ensemble 360, the Galliard Wind Ensemble, Onyx Brass, the Bristol Ensemble, the Berkeley Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio. He has collaborated with musicians such as Natalie Clein, Marianne Thorsen, Daniel Hope, Lawrence Power, Adrian Brendel, Mary Bevan, David Le Page, Matthew Sharp, Guy Johnston, Alice Neary, Ruth Rogers, Fenella Humphreys, Jessica Duchen, Alasdair Beatson and many others.

He has performed at numerous festivals including the Cheltenham International Festival, Buxton Festival, Music in the Round Festival and Harrogate International Festival in the UK, the International Beethoven Festival, the Mecklenburg Festival and the Kultur Kreis Festival in Germany, the Festival International de Musique Classique d’Aigues-Mortes, the Melle Festival and Festival de Saintes in France, the Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden in Norway and the Musik vid Kattegatt Festival in Sweden. Since 2014, Viv has been pianist-in-residence at the Glossop Festival.

Viv studied from an early age with Ruth Nye and, after attending Chetham’s School of Music, he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne and Maria Curcio. At the Academy he held the Hodgson Fellowship and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy in 2005. He made his Wigmore Hall recital debut through winning the Friends of the Royal Academy Wigmore Award. Whilst studying at the Academy, he was the winner of the piano competition at the Royal Overseas-League Music Competition and was selected as one of the winners of the National Federation of Music Societies' Young Artists Competition. 

Viv made his BBC Radio 3 recital debut through the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists Forum scheme and has also recorded for Classic FM, WDR Radio in Germany, Radio France, ABC Radio in Australia, NRK Radio in Norway and for the Sky Arts television channel. His commercial releases include recordings for such labels as Sony, Chandos, Naxos, Nimbus, Lyrita, RPO Records, ICSM Records, Harmony & Imagination Records and his most recent releases are a Chopin recital and a selection of live recordings for Stone Records. Upcoming albums include the Florence Price Octet with Onyx Brass for Chandos, and the Piano Sonata and Chamber Music of Kenneth V. Jones with the LMP Chamber Players for Lyrita.

Sarah made her acclaimed USA debut as Lucy Lockit (Britten The Beggar’s Opera) conducted by Lorin Maazel, and her European debut as Eliza Doolittle in Robert Carsen’s production of My Fair Lady at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris (for which she was described by Le Monde as ‘as fine an actress as she is a singer’) opposite Alex Jennings.

World premières include Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love with Rambert Dance Company. Orchestral concerts include Webern with London Sinfonietta, Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder and Britten Les Illuminations. She has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, France Musique, RTÉ, NPR, and Radio France. Her first feature film as an actor is Brigitte Rouan’s ‘Tu honoreras ta mère et ta mère’.

Projects for 2017-18 include new commissions for The London Songbook (fourteen new songs by fourteen composers inspired by the Great American Songbook), Fly Me to the Moon – exploring the music that astronauts have taken to space with author Lucy Hawking, recitals with pianists Gavin Roberts, Stephen de Pledge and Viv McLean, further collaboration with composer Sarah Angliss and librettist Ross Sutherland on their new opera for Snape Maltings and the Jerwood Foundation, Giant, a revival of Dorothy Parker Takes a Trip, the solo show premiered at Dartington International Festival in 2016, and a new solo show, Lucretia’s Last breath (a modern masque inspired by Handel’s cantata, La Lucrezia)

Margaret Fingerhut was born in London of Ukrainian and Polish ancestry. Described by Gramophone as a pianist of “consummate skill and thrilling conviction”, her distinguished career has taken her to many countries. She is particularly known for her innovative recital programmes in which she explores the highways and byways of the piano repertoire. As a concerto soloist she has appeared with all the major orchestras in the UK, collaborating with eminent conductors such as Rudolf Barshai, Paul Daniel, Sir Edward Downes, Sir Charles Groves, Vernon Handley, Leonard Slatkin and John Williams in major venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican. She is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and many radio stations worldwide, and her film and television work has included an appearance in Testimony, Tony Palmer’s film about Shostakovich.

Her extensive discography on the Chandos label has received much critical acclaim and won many accolades. Her recordings reflect her long-standing fascination with exploring lesser-known repertoire, including works by Bax, Berkeley, Bloch, Dukas, Falla, Finzi, Grieg, Howells, Leighton, Novák, Stanford and Suk as well as several pioneering collections of 19th century Russian and early 20th century French piano music. She was the soloist in the première recording of Elgar's sketches for his Piano Concerto slow movement, arranged by Percy Young. Other première recordings of British repertoire include Edgar Bainton's Concerto Fantasia, Bax's Octet and works by Howells, Leighton, Malcolm Arnold, Lennox Berkeley and Michael Berkeley. “Margaret Fingerhut deserves our most heartfelt admiration for her championship of the byways of the British repertoire twentieth century piano repertory.” (MusicWeb International). Margaret also made the first recording of a rediscovered student piece by Rachmaninoff, as well as two solo piano pieces by Sergey Taneyev.

Originally formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Fibonaccis are a Resident Ensemble at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid with Günter Pichler and at the Dutch String Quartet Academy in Amsterdam. Following public finals at Wigmore Hall last May, they were selected to join the Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT) roster.

During the 2024/25 season the Quartet will perform extensively throughout Europe, including concerts in the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and France. They will undertake residencies with ProQuartet in Paris and Britten Pears Arts in Aldeburgh, as well teaching and performing at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff in their position as Resident Quartet.

The Fibonacci Quartet are prolific prize winners and have received numerous awards including First Prize in the Royal Overseas League Chamber Music Competition, First Prize in the Cavatina Chamber Music Competition, The RPS Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award, First Prize in the International Triomphe de l’Art Competition in Belgium, The Kirckman Society Award, Audience Prize at the Schiermonnikoog Festival and Special Prizes of the Shostakovich Association in Paris and Peermusic in Hamburg.

Additionally, the Quartet regularly give radio and television broadcasts including on Dutch National Television, Dutch Concert Radio, BBC Radio 3 and RAI tv, Italy. They were honoured to work closely with Kaija Saariaho on a new recording of ‘Terra Memoria’ made at the Barbican as part of the BBC Total Immersion series.

The Fibonacci Quartet are generously supported by the Escuela Reina Sofía, the Hattori Foundation, the Cosman Keller Trust, The Frost Trust and Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre in Paris.