Musicians

Hungarian violinist Tamás András is Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1996, he was prize winner of the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Denmark and received third prize at the Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Hungary in 1997. Tamás has appeared as a soloist with the Budapest Philharmonia Orchestra, the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players among many others, and has given recitals and chamber concerts throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. He has also appeared as guest leader of several orchestras in the UK including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Tamás is currently Co-Leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Carmine Lauri is Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in 1971, he started playing the violin at the age of four, later studying with Mario Bisazza. In 1988, he was awarded the Associated Board scholarship to continue his studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music with Jean Harvey and Maurice Hasson. His solo performances have included numerous recitals and concertos in the UK and abroad with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, London Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Malta Philharmonic, to name but a few. His recordings include Bravura, Violin Extravaganza and the entire 2005-2007 violin syllabus of the Associated Board. In 2006, Lauri’s own country, Malta, bestowed upon him the National Order of Merit – M.O.M.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny was born into a distinguished family of musicians in Moscow. She is currently in great demand as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician all over the world. She is Associate Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic. At the age of nine, she began her studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, in the class of her parents, Professors Igor Bezrodny and Mari Tampere-Bezrodny. In 2006 she won the most prestigious award at Guildhall School of Music and Drama: the Gold Medal, previously won by Bryn Terfel and Jaqueline du Pré. Anna-Liisa has appeared as soloist with orchestras in most prestigious concert venues in the world, such as Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Cologne Philharmonie, Cadogan Hall and St Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. In addition to her busy solo career, since 2007 Anna-Liisa has taught at both Purcell School and the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is Professor of Violin in Karlsruhe Hochschule für Musik.

Eva Bindere is Associate Concertmaster of Oxford Philharmonic. As a young girl, Eva took her first steps towards becoming a musician in Emils Darzins Special Music College and then completed her Bachelor’s degree in Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music. Having finished her studies in Riga, she became a student in the City of Basel Music Academy and was a student of the renowned French violinist Raphael Oleg. Eva is a member of the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and a guest leader of the Kremerata Baltica. Regularly appearing with virtually all Latvian orchestras, she has also appeared as guest leader with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Soloists, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Basler Chamber Orchestra, and Suedwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz. Eva is a member of the Strings Faculty at the Latvian Academy of Music, and records regularly for Latvian Radio.

Praised by The Strad as a ‘poised and calmly confident player’, Shlomy Dobrinsky is Associate Concertmaster of Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. After receiving a master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama following his undergraduate degree at the Royal College of Music, Shlomy has performed with some of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Philharmonia, of which he was a member for 11 years. Shlomy has won various prizes at international violin competitions, including the Lipizier in Italy, the Unisa in Pretoria and the Philharmonia/MMSF Concerto Award which granted him an invitation to debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Shlomy performed at the most prestigious concert halls including Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre. Shlomy also enjoys teaching and has given masterclasses including at the Koster Festival, Sweden and Chipping Campden Academy.

Evgenia Epshtein is Associate Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg), Russia, she began her violin studies at the age of six and attended the High School for Gifted Musicians under Vladimir Milshtein. Evgenia immigrated to Israel in 1990 where she studied with Arthur Zisserman, Yair Kless and Irena Svetlova at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. She then studied with Benzion Shamir at the Rotterdam Royal Academy, where she received her master’s degree. As co-founder of the Aviv Quartet, Evgenia is a winner of the Third Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (1999 Grand Prix and four special prizes), the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition (2003) and Charles Hennen Music competition (1999).

Charlotte Scott has enjoyed a varied career as a chamber musician, soloist and concertmaster. She has been Associate Concertmaster of Oxford Philharmonic since 2015. Charlotte studied at Wells Cathedral School and at the Royal Academy of Music where she won the Franstein Violin Prize. Charlotte was 1^st violinist of the Piatti Quartet from 2006-2013, during which time they were nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. The quartet enjoyed an international concert schedule at venues included Wigmore Hall (live BBC Radio 3), Madrid’s National Auditorium and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Their discography includes recordings for LINN Records, Classical Label and Champs Hill. From 2013-2017, she was the 1^st violinist of the Badke Quartet, performing in venues including Concertgebouw and Esterhazy Palace. Charlotte is currently a member of the Oculi Ensemble. As a soloist Charlotte has performed with some of the leading UK orchestras and with her duo partner James Baillieu, at venues and festivals throughout the UK. Charlotte is a regular guest Concertmaster for orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal National Scottish Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic, where she has taken part in numerous live broadcasts and concerts at the BBC Proms. Charlotte plays on a violin by Antonio Stradivarius 1685 ‘Gagliano’.

A violinist, conductor and music educator, Adrian Adlam was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic in 2022. Educated at Westminster Abbey, Winchester College, Conservatoire Royale de Musique of Brussels and the Hochschule fur Musik, Hanover, Adrian has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. He has appeared as concertmaster with several European orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and has collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Bernstein, Boulez, Mehta, Solti, Ozawa, Haitink, Davis and Tilson Thomas. He is known as a soloist for his performances of the concerti by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Wieniawski, Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi. He is co-founder and artistic director of the International Freden Music Festival in Germany.

Matthew Denton has performed for more than 20 years as the leader of the Carducci String Quartet, winning prizes at international competitions including the Concert Artists Guild (USA), Kuhmo (Finland), Charles Hennen (Holland), Osaka (Japan), Bordeaux (France) and London (UK). He has recorded over 25 CDs for labels including Signum, Naxos, BMG, Somm, Nimbus and has performed at major concert halls around the world. In 2015 the Quartet won a Royal Philharmonic Society award for ‘Shostakovich15’  – a project which included a performance of the complete Shostakovich quartets in one day, at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Matt studied with Felix Andrievsky at the RCM and then continued as a Junior Fellow, studying with members of the Amadeus, Alberni and Chilingirian Quartets. He is a violin professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Matt plays on a historic Brother’s Amati violin from 1603 – ‘The Hurwitz ex Cooper

Victor Dernovski was born in St Petersburg and gave his first concert with a symphony orchestra in the prestigious Philharmonia Hall in his hometown, aged 9. In 1980, he joined the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, studying with Leonid Kogan and Igor Bezrodny. In 1986, Dernovski joined the Moscow Soloists ensemble under the direction of Yury Bashmet, and in 1995, was appointed a leader of the Orchestre National de Lyon. Since 1997, Dernovski has been leader of the L’Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse. He has been invited to guest lead a number of prestigious orchestras, including the Hallé Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the London Symphony Orchestra (guest co-leader). Alongside this, Dernovski participates in numerous festivals in Europe and the United States as a solo and chamber musician. He was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic in 2018.

Katerina Nazarova is Assistant Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic. Born in Tasmania, Katerina began playing the violin and piano at a very early age and made her solo debut at age 11 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, broadcast nationally on ABC Television. In 2012 she won Australia’s most prestigious music competition, the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards. Subsequently she made her debuts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician Katerina has performed across Europe and Asia with such musicians as Roman Simovic, Sasha Zemtsov, Olga Sitkovetsky and Andrew Marriner. Katerina has led various orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, CBSO, BBC Concert Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She is a prize-winner in various competitions including the 2015 Royal Overseas League Music Competition, the Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy, and won the RCM Concerto Competition.

Born in 1983 in Kraków, Alicja Smietana is Assistant Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic. Winner of numerous competitions and awards, Alicja studied at the Kraków Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Kronberg Academy where her teacher was Christian Tetzlaff. Alicja has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with many of the world’s greatest musicians including Gideon Kremer, Nigel Kennedy, Martha Argerich, Simon Rattle and Gustavo Dudamel. In 2010, she was asked by Nigel Kennedy to become a co-artistic director of his new Orchestra of Life, with which she has also performed in the most renowned halls including the Berlin, Cologne and Munich Philharmonies, the Palais des congrès de Paris and the Royal Festival Hall. Alicja plays a magnificent Camillus Camilli violin dated 1740 with a Jean Persoit bow thanks to Mr Nigel Brown and the Stradivari Trust.