Edinburgh string quartet

7.30pm Saturday, 11 September 2010

with

Özcan Ulucan - violin

Evgenia Startseva - piano

The musicians for this concert have come together specially to perform Chausson's extraordinary Concerto, an emotional odyssey of enormous range and inexhaustible melody.

After its formation the Edinburgh Quartet quickly became established as one of the foremost British ensembles. Whilst its broad base of international activities has always enabled a deep study of the great mainstream of classical quartet repertoire, the Quartet is also enthusiastic to encourage newer writers.

Having worked closely with Michael Tippett, its recording of Quartet No 1 was selected by the composer for re-release shortly before his death. This relationship was one of many, continuing to the present time, which won for the Edinburgh Quartet the Contemporary Music Prize at the Evian-les-Bains String Quartet Competition and the first PRS Award to be given by the Scottish Society of Composers. A testament to this can be found in the large and increasing number of recordings the Edinburgh Quartet has made of works by composers with whom it has been closely associated: the complete quartets of Kenneth Leighton and Hans Gal ("Editor's Choice", Gramophone Magazine October 2007) are being followed by recordings of works by Thomas Wilson, Robert Crawford, Kenneth Dempster, Bill Sweeney and a younger generation including Wagstaff, Nitibhon and Ip.

In addition to regular tours to Western Europe, the USA and Canada, the Edinburgh Quartet has travelled to South America, the Caribbean, Poland, Russia, Croatia, many Middle Eastern countries, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Turkish violinist, Özcan Ulucan made his first appearance on stage at eight years of age in the concert hall of the Shumen Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1987 he won the First prize and special prize at the international violin competition "J.Kocian" (Czech Republic). Following postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in the violin class of Prof. Yfrah Neaman, he continued his Masters Degree at Hacettepe University.

In 2000-2004 he studied with Maxim Vengerov and performed in concerts with his pianist sister and duo partner Birsen Ulucan, and also with his younger violinist sister Aysen Ulucan. In 2002-2005 he participated in duo concerts with Maxim Vengerov, together with the English Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Borusan Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra London in concert halls and cities such as the Royal Albert Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Lütfi Kırdar Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Corsica, Wels Festival, Ludwigsburg Festival, and Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

It was a special experience for Ulucan to perform for the Edison Awards Concert 2004 together with Maxim Vengerov under the baton of Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich. He has given many concerts in Turkey and Europe in concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Paganini. Since 2004, Ulucan has acted as an assistant to Maxim Vengerov in the Music Academy Saarbrücken.

Evgenia Startseva, born in Kazakhstan and now based in London, is a pianist with a growing international concert career. She studied in Moscow with Irina Savina, Theodor Gutmann and Ekaterina Derzhavina (followers of the Neuhaus tradition) and then completed her studies in Germany with Robert Leonardy. Her busy concert schedule has subsequently taken her to the former USSR, all over Europe and the United States. She has also featured in numerous broadcasts for radio and television in Great Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan and Ireland.

Recently she has been partnering the renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov. They gave an extensive and highly acclaimed Brahms recital tour across Europe and the United States, and appeared together at the televised 2003 Classical Brit Awards in London. She also appears regularly as a soloist and chamber music player in concert series and festivals throughout Europe and the UK.

In 2000 she made a recording with violinist Nadezhda Korshakova of works by Mozart, Prokofiev and Schedrin , released by DMK Classics and she has just released a CD of Shostakovich's Preludes and Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives for the Prometheus Editions Label.