Professor Ieuan Jones

At the age of thirteen, Ieuan Jones was the youngest member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales where he gained valuable early orchestral experience with Marie Goosens. At sixteen, he moved on to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain where he came into contact with Marisa Robles who later became his tutor at the Royal College of Music 1981-1985.

Upon leaving the RCM in 1985, Ieuan was awarded the Queen Mother’s Rose Bowl for the most distinguished student of his year and the Tagore Gold Medal. In the same year, he won the Royal Overseas League International Commonwealth Competition and became runner up at the prestigious Israel International Harp Competition in Jerusalem…a feat not since repeated by any harpist.

Having toured as a solo harpist to great critical acclaim playing at many renowned Concert Halls and Festivals all over the world…including the Melbourne Festival, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Japan, Manila, Bangkok, Brunei, Singapore, Poland and many more, Ieuan’s work is now concentrated on teaching at the Royal College of Music in London where he has been a Professor since 1997.

Mark Messenger

Mark Messenger has had a broad and varied career. However, one will not find here any competition accolades as he suspects that the Olympic sport of trying to play better than another artist is inherently flawed.
His love of music and the human connection it offers has meant he has shared the concert platform with some remarkable musicians – amongst others, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Maxim Vengerov, Bernard Greenhouse, Natalie Clein, Raphael Wallfisch, Thomas Carroll, Yonty Solomon, Howard Shelley, John Lill, Dame Thea King, Michael Collins, Chris Garrick and Sir John Dankworth – and some incredible students. He hopes that these connections, some of which are fleeting, and others which last for decades, have in some way affected these people to the same extent as he has been transformed by them.
He has taken great pleasure from over three decades of string quartet playing, travelling across the world to teach, conducting and from his role as Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music. As long as his exploration of life and music continues to provide such human experiences he will continue the journey with travelling companions from any walk of life.

Maria Tarasewicz

Maria Tarasewicz has gained an international reputation as a chamber musician, duo partner and a pedagogue. She is committed to working with, and developing young artists. Her invitations as a performer, a teacher and accompanist have taken her to Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Jersey, Germany, San Marino, Poland, China and many UK festivals and masterclasses. Maria has performed in all of London’s major concert venues including Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and many others. She also appears regularly on BBC Radio 3, and works as a duo coach at the Royal College of Music in London and as a chamber music coach at the RCM Junior Department.
Maria Tarasewicz is undoubtedly an international artist in every respect. She was born in Ukraine, moved to Poland when she was 11, studied in Brussels and now works and resides in London where she lives with her violinist husband.
On her path she had been inspired by many great artists whose influence has shaped the direction of her music-making. The pantheon of these is large and include Ivry Gitlis, Maxim Vengerov, Gavriel Lipkind, Vladimir Perlin, Leonid Gorokhov, Leonid Kerbel, Eugeni and Olga Moguilevski, Natalia Radecka, Iya Pavlova, Boyan Vodenitcharov, Michael Dussek.
Maria is a co-founder and artistic director of The Thinking Musician, an innovative and unique programme for advanced young artist.

Martin
Gatt

He studied with Archie Camden at the Royal College of Music, London and aged 21 became Principal Bassoonist in the London Philharmonic Orchestra where he stayed for 8 years. During the last 4 of these he also played Principal with the newly formed English Chamber Orchestra , and when that became a full time post he left the L.P.O. and during the next 10 years devoted his time to playing for such conductors as Britten, Barenboim, and Leppard. He devoted a great deal of time to all forms of chamber music, and during his years in the E.C.O. also played with The Academy of St. Martins in the Fields , became a founder member of the London Sinfonietta and with Barry Tuckwell founded the Tuckwell Wind Quintet which performed and recorded all over the World for the next 20 years.
In 1978 he was invited by the L.S.O. to become their Principal bassoon, and there he stayed until 1998 when, looking for a quieter pace of life and a new and different challenge, he and his wife, Liz, moved to the West Country, where he became a member of the Bath Philharmonia, and commutes to London to play and teach. Since leaving the L.S.O. he has deputised in the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, B.B,C.
National Orchestra of Wales, City of Birmingham Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra, as well as guesting with the L.S.O He was Professor of Bassoon at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for 20 years and was awarded F.G.S.M &D in 1979. During a 3 year sabbatical from the L.S.O. (1984-1987) he set up and ran the Department of Wind and Brass at the newly opened Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and resumed teaching in London at the Royal College of Music where, in 2002 he was elected a Fellow and where he is still professor of bassoon and chamber music.