Prokofiev Duets

Join us for the finale of our Prokofiev afternoon featuring Christopher and Vanessa White, violin, Melanie Reinhard and Radu Prisada, piano. Including a performance of the theme from the Apprentice. 

Programme:

Prokofiev Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 56: 

I. Andante cantabile

II. Allegro

III. Commodo (quasi Allegretto)

IV. Allegro con brio

Christopher and Vanessa White, violin 

Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet: 

No 13. Dance of the Knights

Melanie Reinhard and Radu Prisada, piano

Biographies:

Vanessa White began playing the violin at the age of seven. She quickly decided that she would like to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become a musician.

Vanessa was taught by her father, Christopher White while attending Oakham School and later Loughborough High School in the sixth form. She held music scholarships at both institutions. Vanessa was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre and National Youth String Orchestra where she was able to perform in venues such as the Sage, Gateshead and Kings Place, London.

Vanessa recently completed her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Czech violinist, Pavel Fischer. In her time there she has enjoyed the opportunity to perform in masterclasses given by violinists such as Levon Chilingirian, Yair Kless and Mauricio Fuks. She has performed as part of the RNCM Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Opera Orchestra, Session Orchestra.

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Vanessa is passionate about performing chamber music. She plays with the Alegría Piano Trio which formed at the RNCM in 2015, since then she has enjoyed regular lessons with the Elias Quartet, Trio Gaspard, Leonard Elschenbroich, Emma Ferrand and Jeremy Young and her trio was a finalists in the RNCM Hirsch Competition. Vanessa has also had the privilege to perform movements from the Mendelssohn Octet with the Elias Quartet.

Vanessa has helped run the Great Bowden Music Fest since its beginning in 2014 performing a variety of chamber works with musicians from the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zürich, Philharmonia Orchestra and other orchestras around Europe.

Vanessa has recently been accepted to the Berlin Opera Academy, where she has also been awarded the Lily Niblock memorial scholarship.

Christopher White is a London born violinist who studied at the Royal College of Music, London, where he won many prizes and left with one of the most coveted awards, the Dove Prize. Further awards enabled him to continue his studies at the Banff Centre in Canada and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.

He has studied with many distinguished violinists both in North America and England, including Josef Gingold, Jaime Laredo, Thomas Brandis, Rodney Friend and Erich Gruenberg.

Christopher has been concertmaster with a number of orchestras both in England and Europe, alongside a varied performing career as soloist and chamber musician. His solo CD was released in 1999, featuring solo violin works by Bach, Bartok and Ysaye, as well as a CD of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Melanie Reinhard. Further recordings were made with Die Taschenphilharmonie where Christopher was the first violin in Mahler Symphony No. 4 and “Lieder lines fahrenden Gesellen” (chamber version) and Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, recently distributed widely in Germany by Die Zeit.

Since returning to the UK in 2003, Christopher has held posts as Resident Violinist at Rugby School and Head of Strings at Uppingham School. He now enjoys a varied career of teaching and performing, as well as being a well-respected piano technician. Since its formation in 1998, his piano Trio Opus 3, has received critical acclaim in Germany, Switzerland and the UK and has performed in venues such as the Tonhalle Zurich, St. James’ Piccadilly, St. Martin in the Fields and Charterhouse. Christopher is also the Artistic Director of the Great Bowden Music Fest founded in 2014. His recent recordings of the complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with pianist Melanie Reinhard, will be released by Willowhayne Records later in 2020 to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Christopher plays on a Giuseppe Guarneri violin, dated 1707.

“White’s tone was superbly rich on the lower strings in Chausson’s glorious Poeme” (The Strad)

Melanie Reinhard is a Canadian pianist, who has many prizes and awards to her credit. Having performed extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, she has been recognised as a versatile and artistic musician who is sought after by noted instrumentalists and singers. Melanie received her ARCT (Performance) and LPRCM (Concert Diploma) from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, studying with James Anagnoson and Leon Fleisher. In master classes, she has worked with John Perry, Richard Goode, Marek Jablonski and Monika Leonhard.

Having lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland for a decade, performing in many places including Frankfurt, Munich, Konstanz, Zürich and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, where her concert was broadcast on Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Melanie moved to the UK in 2004 and is active here as a teacher and performer. As the pianist of the Opus 3 piano trio, she has performed in venues such as St. James’ Picadilly, Charterhouse, St. George in the East and for the Beethoven Society of Europe to critical acclaim.

Melanie has held the post as Head of Keyboard and Chamber Music at Loughborough Schools Foundation since 2011, being instrumental in the Music Department becoming an All Steinway School in 2015. A passionate performer and teacher, she continues to combine her teaching role with regular performing as well as masterclasses in the UK and beyond. Her recordings of the complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with violinist Christopher White, will be released by Willowhayne Records later in 2020 to mark the anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

“delicately and subtly Melanie Reinhard accompanied on the piano, so salient were the creative impulses she chose when she took over the lead melody onto the piano” (Badische Zeitung)

Romanian born pianist, Radu Prisada is currently reading for his Master’s Degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester after obtaining his Bachelors with Distinction from the same institution. He is studying under the tutelage of Richard Ormrod.

In this time, he enhanced his musical style having an important activity as soloist, playing in a diverse range of events (recitals, concerts, festivals). His continuous wish to self-improve made him an active participant in many national and international piano competitions, where he was awarded with good titles. He is performing regularly in UK, giving recitals in venues such as St Ann’s Church and Cross Street Chapel (Manchester),

As an active chamber and ensemble musician, Radu has played in concerts with various instrumentalists in places such as Oxford, Southport, London, and Great Bowden as well as numerous venues in Manchester. He has also been involved in orchestral projects such as playing the Celeste part in Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ as part of the RNCM’s Symphony Orchestra, and playing in a contemporary chamber orchestra performing George Benjamin’s work ‘At first light’ at Wigmore Hall.

In past years, Radu has had the privilege to perform in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Kathy Stott, Craig Sheppard and Bernard D’Ascoli, as well as having coaching from great chamber music ensembles such as Sitkovetsky Piano Trio and Gaspard Piano Trio.