Thomas Carroll - Cello

Born in Swansea, Thomas studied with Melissa Phelps at the Yehudi Menuhin School and with Heinrich Schiff in Austria. An exceptionally gifted cellist, he is one of only two artists who auditioned successfully for both Young Concert Artists Trust in London and Young Concert Artists, Inc. in New York. He has since gone on to give critically acclaimed debut recitals at Wigmore Hall (London), Alice Tully Hall (NY) and in Boston, California, Florida and Washington DC.

As a concerto soloist Thomas has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, ViVA, Orchestra of the East Midlands, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Heinrich Schiff), English Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, and Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra. Much in demand as a chamber musician, Thomas has worked with the Belcea Quartet, Chilingirian Quartet, Endellion Quartet, Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Michael Collins, Julian Rachlin at Wigmore Hall, the Edinburgh and Cheltenham International Festivals, among many others. His recordings include Michael Berkeley's String Quintet with the Chilingirian Quartet for Chandos.

Recent engagements include concerts at Wigmore Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Dubrovnik Festival, Bath MozartFest, Mecklenburg Festival and The International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht with Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin and Ensemble. Thomas returned as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performed the Dvořák with the Staatsorchester Braumschweiger, Vivaldi Double Concerto with Heinrich Schiff and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and gave recitals at the Cheltenham Festival and in Holland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Russia, Sweden and Japan. Thomas has also given a series of concerts in Tokyo under the auspices of YCA Inc, been resident at the Delft Festival in Holland and appeared as soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre Regional de Cannes. In August 07 he made his debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a series of performances of Shostakovich's Concerto No.2.

The 2011/2012 season sees Thomas perform concerti with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Thomas and Llyr Williams' debut disc on the Orchid Classics Label was released in May 2010 to huge critical acclaim. Entitled 'Vienna' and including works by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, Thomas and Llyr continue to perform together in the 2011/2012 and concerts include a performance at the Wigmore Hall. As a direct descendent of the composer, Frederick Delius, Thomas celebrates Delius' 150th anniversary in 2012 with pre-concert talks and recitals throughout the UK that highlights Delius' Cello Sonata, one of the composer's favourite works.

Thomas is currently a Professor at the Royal College of Music in London and the Yehudi Menuhin School.

Anthony Hewitt - Piano

Anthony Hewitt has established a reputation as a pianist of formidable interpretative and technical ability. Highlights of orchestral engagements include the RPO in London, National Symphony and Princeton Symphony Orchestras in the USA, the Lodz Philharmonic in Poland, the Kaliningrad and Saratov Orchestras in Russia, as well as the Northern Chamber Orchestra, Welsh Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonia Viva in the UK. He has given four recitals at Wigmore Hall, appeared across the USA including at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, toured South America and Japan, and performed chamber music at high-profile festivals in Europe including in the UK at the Chelsea and Chichester Festivals, Bastad in Sweden, Orpheus and Bacchus and Sanary in France, Mecklenburg in Germany, and Stift in Holland.

Duo partners have included Emma Johnson, Thomas Carroll, Sarah-Jane Bradley, Chloe Hanslip, Natalie Clein, Martin Roscoe (four hands & two pianos) and Narimichi Kawabata with whom he has toured major concert halls in the Far East. His discography includes 'Protégé' (Divine Art Records) which is the first coupling on CD of the Liszt and Reubke Sonatas. It has been met with much critical acclaim including International Record Review which described it as "magisterial". Highlights of his current season include solo and chamber music recitals across the UK, in Monaco, Dubai, and orchestral appearances with the Brighton Philharmonic and the Northern Sinfonia.

Future plans include a recording of the complete piano works of Robert Schumann, and in 2012 both a Wigmore series concert and his 'Olympianist' project where he will cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats and give a concert at the end of each day in aid of charity. He has secured engagements along the route at many festivals and orchestras including the Manchester Camerata, Newbury and Swaledale Festivals and will also perform outdoors in market squares.

Based in London, he is also the founding Artistic Director of the highly successful Ulverston International Music Festival.

Concert Review

The first concert of 2012 offered an exceptional artiste in the form of solo ‘cellist Thomas Carroll who was pleased to be back at the Lights having visited in March 2009 with the London Conchord Ensemble. Thomas was accompanied on the piano, by his friend of 22 years, Anthony Hewitt.

For this concert, Thomas played an 18^th century ‘cello which has been on loan to him for the last eight years by his Austrian teacher, Heinrich Schiff. He said that he was very lucky to be able to perform with such a beautiful sounding instrument.

The first sonata to be played was for Cello and Piano in G Minor, composed by Beethoven. Thomas explained that up to the time at which Beethoven was involved in producing music for instruments other than the piano, all Sonatas would have been written for the keyboard with the ‘cello, or basso continuo, accompanying. This second sonata was written for ‘Cello and Piano’ and paved the way for other instruments to become the solo with keyboard accompaniment.

The Sonata was played with conviction, and ‘competition’ in places between the piano and cello made the piece exciting and engaging. The lightness of touch with which Thomas played the instrument made it all seem so easy! He produced contrasting tones by the use of harmonics and straight notes as well as vibrato. I believe the opening to the concert was much enjoyed by all.

Following the Beethoven, Thomas enlightened the audience with a description of his family relationship to Frederick Delius. It appears that his Grandfather, seven times removed, had a brother whose descendant was Frederick Delius, the composer. So this was his claim to fame, and he only learnt about it 3 years ago!

Delius’ Sonata for ‘Cello and Piano was a beautiful flowing piece for both instruments, ending, as the programmes notes quoted, in a triumphant coda. Thomas’ knowledge of the pieces that he was playing is such that he has excellent interaction with the audience. This enabled all listeners to be completely absorbed by the performances, and added to the evening’s enjoyment.

The introduction after the interval was a small interlude of distraction of amusing banter between the two performers. It was explained that they had met at the School Of Yehudi Menuhin when Thomas was ten years old and that they had been playing together for 22 years. No wonder they had such a good professional relationship.

Johannes Brahms was much influenced by Beethoven and it took him a long time to write a symphony, being such a perfectionist in composing. It appears that many original manuscripts were disposed of because he was not happy with them and he made many amendments. This evening’s ‘Cello Sonata No 2 in F Major was composed after Brahms had produced his symphonies and it is symphony-like in character, with much boldness and passion particularly in the piano part, played superbly by Anthony, showing his virtuosity from the start.

The evening was applauded to such a degree that the audience were treated to a Song without Words by Mendelssohn as an encore, which was melodic and charming and made a fitting end to an enjoyable and relaxing evening.

A mention of thanks must also go to Barry Mole for tuning the piano to such a high standard for these artistes and to the Lights volunteer Russell Copeland who turned the pages for the pianist with such ease, due to his knowledge of piano music.   KP