Maurice Hasson

Maurice Hasson has established an international reputation for performances of deep musical sensitivity combined with an apparently effortless virtuoso technique. After his first recital in London, he was hailed by The Times as “an aristocrat among violinists.

Maurice Hasson was born in France and is citizen of both France and Venezuela. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire where he graduated with a First Prize for violin, a “Grand Prix” for chamber music and the first “Prix d’Honneur” to be awarded for sixty years. He became a pupil of Henryk Szeryng, who had an important artistic influence on him.

Maurice Hasson has been based in London since 1973. He made his USA debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel and since has been invited to play with the Orchestra many times in both North and South America. He appears with all the major symphony orchestras and in chamber music throughout Europe, the Nordic countries, USA, Israel, South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. He is also a frequent guest of European radio and television stations. He was invited by the BBC to celebrate Paganini’s Bicentenary in a public televised concert, giving a memorable performance of the No.1 Concerto. He contributed to the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Antonio Stradivari with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed in the Gala Stradivarius Concert at the Barbican. He just returned from a very succesful tour in Japan.

Maurice Hasson is a Professor and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. His masterclasses, which he gives at several international festivals, are much sought after. He is a permanent guest of the Pablo Casals’ Festival in France. In 1996 Maurice Hasson was granted the highest distinction the Venezuelan Government bestows on an artist, the “Order of Andrés Bello” in it’s first class. The city of Paris honoured him with the “Medaille de Vermeil”.

Tim Hugh

Following his success at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow Tim has enjoyed a immensely varied career incorporating chamber music, solo recitals and concertos while maintaining his position as Principal Cellist with the LSO. He has worked as soloist with many of the great conductors including Previn, Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Rostropovich, Menuhin, Harding, Xavier-Roth, Chung and Tortelier. His recordings of Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple with the LSO and Haitink together with Nikolitch and Lars Vogt are released by LSO Live.

Tim studied at Yale with Aldo Parisot and afterwards with Pleeth and Jaqueline du Pre whilst gaining his MA in Medicine and Anthropology at St Johns College, Cambridge. His interest in contemporary music led to performances of Boulez' Messagesquisse with BBC symphony and LSO and performences of Dutilleux "Tout un Monde Lontain" on tour in Japan. At the BBC proms Albert Hall, he also played the Dutillieux concerto as well as Britten Cello Symphony and Hugh Wood concertos . He has recorded the 3 Britten Suites, kodaly sonata, Saygun, Tabakov,Walton, Bliss, Finzi, Boccherini, Hoffman, Holst, CPE Bach concertos. The Bach Suites released in 2006 were reviewed by BBC music magazine as "the best performance on a modern cello".

Tim has recorded a large part of the piano trio repertoire with the Solomon trio and now appears regularly with the Nash Ensemble playing a huge repertoire . They recorded the Brahms Sextets for Hyperion and in August toured the Lofoten Islands and also performed with Leif Ove Andsnes. In October he performed Brahms Clarinet trio with Andrew Marriner and Olga Sitkovetski for BBC Radio 3 and recorded it for Hyperion with Lawrence Power in the version for viola. In Bath he has appeared at both festivals most recently playing Sextets with Nikolai Znaider.

With the LSO and Gergiev he recently performed Dutilleux and Tischenko concertos as well as Elgar, Strass Don Quixote, Shostakovich, Haydn, Dvorak, Messain and Walton concertos. At the Barbican he has given recitals with Andre Previn, Helen Grimaud, Nikolai Znaider and Andrew Marriner. In recent years he toured the UK playing Elgar and Brahms concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic and Spain with LSO at Alhambra Palace, Granada, Madrid and Almeria, Saintsaens concerto with Pamplona Symphony, Tabakov and Saygun concertos in Ankara, Turkey and Bulgaria as well as recitals in Beirut and Dubai, New York and Portugal. In October Tim will be playing Tischenko again with Gergiev at Berlin philharmonie. Tim plays on a cello by Petrus Roman of Venice 1708.