Mio Takahashi & Daniel King Smith

Performers

Notes on the performers

Mio Takahashi

Born in 2001, Japanese violinist Mio Takahashi moved to London at the age of three. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) under Professor Philippe Honoré, after completing her Bachelor of Music there, graduating with first-class honours. She is a recipient of The Clarence Myerscough Trust Award.

Mio was a strings category finalist of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2020, where her playing was described as ‘gorgeous and effortless’. She won the Tunbridge Wells International Competition in 2021 and gave a winner’s recital at Mayfield Festival. In February 2022, she gave the world premiere of Shinuh Lee’s Caprice No.4 for violin, ‘Totentanz’, as part of RAM’s 200 PIECES series, launched to celebrate the Academy’s bicentenary.

Passionate about chamber music, Mio frequently performs with her quartet who were recently selected to be Britten Pears Young Artists for 2023-24. Her quartet receive regular coaching from John Myerscough, cellist of the Doric String Quartet, through the RAM Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training Scheme (ASSET), generously funded by the Frost Trust. Mio has also collaborated in chamber music settings with renowned musicians including the Doric String Quartet at their Mendelssohn on Mull festival, the Carducci Quartet, Brett Dean, Guy Johnston, Magnus Johnston at Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival, and at Conway Hall with Roger Vignoles and James Gilchrist.

Mio was accepted onto the London Symphony Orchestra String Experience Scheme, gaining the opportunity to perform in their 2022-2023 season, working under conductors Marin Alsop, François-Xavier Roth and Michael Tilson Thomas. She has also performed with Knussen Chamber Orchestra in the Aldeburgh Festival 2022, under the baton of Ryan Wigglesworth.

Daniel King Smith

Daniel King Smith has given concerts all over the world as both soloist and accompanist. He has been broadcast on both BBC TV/Radio in the UK (In Tune, Proms, Young Musician of the Year) and NHK TV/Radio in Japan, most recently in recital with Yuki Ito as part of NHK’s “Best of Classic” and “Classic Club” series. Daniel has recorded a number of CDs, including releases with Yuki Ito for Sony and with Anna Hashimoto on the Meridian label. As a soloist, Daniel’s extensive concerto repertoire has lead to many concerts in the UK and around Europe. He has frequently been a featured Solo Classical Artist on many Cruise lines around the world.

Accompaniment and chamber music are a major part of Daniel’s life, having held staff accompanist posts at both Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music Junior Departments and at the Purcell School. He regularly accompanies auditions, lessons, masterclasses and end of year recitals at the London conservatoires as well as being official accompanist for the Countess of Munster Trust. Daniel gives recitals every year with a number of people who have been accepted onto the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme as well as both the Tillett Trust and Making Music Recital Schemes. He is also official accompanist for the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists competition.

Daniel is often resident pianist on summer music courses including the British Isles Music Festival and Musicale. He has given recitals with Michael Collins, Carmel Kaine, Susan Milan, Robert Max, Yuki Ito and Anna Hashimoto, amongst many others and is a member of the Ridgeway Ensemble.

Programme

Programme notes

Eugène Ysaÿe

Violin Sonata in G Major, Op.27 No.5

1. L’Aurore
2. Danse rustique

Eugène Ysaÿe’s set of Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, was written in July 1923. Each sonata was dedicated to one of Ysaÿe’s contemporary violinists: Joseph Szigeti (No. 1), Jacques Thibaud (No. 2), George Enescu (No. 3), Fritz Kreisler (No. 4), Mathieu Crickboom (No. 5), and Manuel Quiroga (No. 6).

Beethoven Violin Sonata No.9 in A Major, op.47 ‘Kreutzer’ (42 mins)

Source: Wikipedia

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata No.9 in A Major, op.47 ‘Kreutzer’

1. Adagio sostenuto – Presto
2. Andante con variazioni
3. Presto

The Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is an 1803 sonata for piano and violin notable for its technical difficulty, unusual length (around 40 minutes), and emotional scope. It is commonly known as the Kreutzer Sonata (German: Kreutzer-Sonate) after the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, to whom it was ultimately dedicated, but who thoroughly disliked the piece and refused to play it.

Source: Wikipedia