Faculty
JAN REPKO - violin
Jan Repko was born in South Africa. He started studying the violin with Jack de Wet and later continued his studies with Davina van Wely at the Sweelinck Conservatoire in Amsterdam. He also worked with Nathan Milstein, Dorothy DeLay, Victor Lieberman and Berl Senofsky. He has regularly performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. After 5 years as concertmaster of the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands, he decided to concentrate on teaching and was appointed at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam. During this period he was very active in teaching talented young violinists and is a co-founder of the Netherlands Youth String Orchestra.
Jan Repko is an internationally recognised pedagogue and is one of the most sought after teachers in the United Kingdom, drawing students from all over the world. They regularly perform as soloists and chamber musicians and have been top prize winners and laureates in many major international competitions, including the Menuhin, Sibelius, Wieniawsky and the Queen Elizabeth violin competitions.
He teaches at various summer schools and is a faculty member of the Academie Internationale de Tignes (Musicalp). Jan Repko is founder and artistic director of “Festival Quattro Corde" in Sant’ Agata Feltria in Italy. He is regularly asked to give masterclasses all over the world and serves as a jury member in many international violin competitions.
Jan plays on a Tommaso Balestrieri and a Stefan-Peter Greiner.
RADU BLIDAR - violin
Internationally renowned as a soloist as well as a pedagogue, Romanian-born French violinist Radu Blidar is founder and president of the Vibrarte International Music Competition in Paris.
Radu Blidar made his concert debut at the age of twelve. Career highlights include recitals and concerto appearances in New York (Lincoln Center), London (Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall), Paris (Cité de la Musique, Maison de Radio France, Musée d’Orsay, Salle Gaveau, Théâtre du Châtelet), Salzburg (Mozarteum), as well as Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Japan and South Korea.
Radu Blidar studied in Romania, in France at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and in Austria. He was a prize winner at numerous international violin competitions. Elected in 1993 young violinist of the year by the European Council and the Juventus Foundation, he was awarded in 1994 the Fondation de France prize, then in 1997 and in 1999 the Musique Française and Musique de Chambre honorary prizes.
His highly acclaimed digital debut launched a series of contemporary works recordings and commissioned works premieres.
Radu Blidar teaches at the prestigious Royal College of Music in London. Many of his students have been laureates at international competitions and are also members of major orchestras.
He plays on several violins, including a 1714 Stradivarius.
LOUISE LANSDOWN - viola
Louise Lansdown was appointed Head of Strings at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2012, after holding the position of Senior Lecturer in the School of Strings at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester from 2001-2012. Louise is the founder of the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, launched at Birmingham Conservatoire in October 2014 as well as the founder and President of the British Viola Society. She is the Secretary of the International Viola Society, on the Council of Management of Lake District Summer Music, a Trustee of the European String Teachers Association, on the board of the Quartet of Peace Trust and directs the Conservatoire based viola course at Pro Corda, Suffolk.
Louise, along with her viola students is the founder of a major distance learning education project that Birmingham Conservatoire will run in collaboration with Music is a Great Investment, Soweto, South Africa called “ARCO”. The project was launched in July 2015.
She plays on a French Viola c.1750 and 1890 Sartory bow, both previously belonged to the South African violist
Cecil Aronowitz.
JAKOB KULLBERG - cello
Praised internationally for his performances of the contemporary cello concerto, Jakob Kullberg is one of the most multifaceted and respected Danish instrumentalists who has become known for his highly personal and fearless interpretations Recognised for his prolific and engaging performances as a soloist, he appears regularly with some of the world’s high-profile orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, the BBC Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, among others, as well as the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish symphony orchestras and sinfoniettas.
He is Professor of Cello at the Royal College of Music in London having previously taught for a decade at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Since 2004 he has been artistic director of the Open Strings Academy and has given numerous masterclasses throughout Europe and the USA, most recently at the Peabody Conservatory as well as at New York University. Kullberg has been a juror at the Schoenfeld International String Competition (China) as well as the Karol Szymanowski International Composition Competition.
GIORGIA DELORENZI - piano
Giorgia Delorenzi, a graduate of Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ in Turin, studied with Floriana Valassina and Carla Papini and obtained her Masters Degree under the guidance of Claudio Voghera.
Supported by De Sono Associazione per la Musica, she studied chamber music at the Trio di Trieste International Chamber Music Academy, furthered her piano studies with Pietro De Maria and Enrico
Stellini at the Academy of Music of Pinerolo and took part in masterclasses with Benedetto Lupo, Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier, Andrea Lucchesini, Alexander Lonquich, Altenberg Trio.
She also holds a Masters Degree in Music Pedagogy from the Genova Conservatoire.
A keen chamber musician, as well as a soloist, Giorgia performs regularly as a duo partner for strings, Lied singers and in chamber ensembles for De Sono Associazione
per la Musica, Associazione Concertante, Unione Musicale di Torino, Turin Conservatoire, Festival Amfiteatrov Levanto, Xenia Ensemble and OSN RAI.
She is an accompanist at the Turin Conservatoire, De Sono Associazione per la Musica, OSN Rai and Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo, where she collaborates with the classes of Lukas Hagen, Lucia Hall,
and Simone Briatore. She has also accompanied courses masterclasses for Dora Schwarzberg, Sonig Tchakerian, Alessandro Moccia, Thomas Demenga, Daniel Grosgurin and the Benedetto Mazzacurati
International Cello Competition in 2016 and 2019.
Giorgia keeps a regular teaching schedule, successfully preparing students for Conservatoire grade and entrance exams and holds a position teaching piano at Liceo Classico e Musicale ‘C. Cavour’ in Turin.
Giorgia was a founding member of Trio Casella. The ensemble studied with Alexander Lonquich at Accademia Chigiana di Siena and Trio Debussy, took part in the 2015 Parkhouse Award and was awarded prizes in the ‘Rospigliosi’ and ‘Marco Fiorindo’ International competitions..
Alongside her professional activity as a pianist, Giorgia also trained in viola, earning her Diploma in 2020, and works as course coordinator and assistant viola player at the Xenia International Chamber Music Course for Young String Players
KENSEI YAMAGUCHI - piano
Playing piano from the age of five, he won the All Japan Student Music Competition, which allowed him to join the Toho Gakuen School
of Music, Tokyo - the most prestigious music school in Japan. Upon graduation he received a German National Scholarship to further pursue his studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin, with
Professors Erich Andreas and Pascal Devoyon.
He is the winner of the First Prize at Senigallia International Piano Competition, Italy (1999), and of the Grand Prix (First Prize)
at the prestigious Monte-Carlo Piano Masters, Monaco (2000).
His numerous concert activities include solo performances with Das Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di
Vicenza, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra Nacional do Porto, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Mozart Players and Tokyo
Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed in solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and as accompanist for Lied and Opera, in most European countries and
Japan.
In addition he is a regular at several International Music Festivals in Austria, France, and Germany.
DOMONKOS CSABAY - piano
Domonkos Csabay is a Hungarian pianist based in the UK since 2015. He is giving recitals as a concert soloist in many countries, while he also performs a wide range of classical repertoire as a
chamber musician and accompanist. He has been on stage at many important concert venues such as Town Hall and Symphony Hall in Birmingham or Queen Elizabeth Hall and Milton Court in London, and
collaborated with renowned artists and companies such as the CBSO, Orchestra of the Swan or Longborough Festival Opera.
His versatility is well illustrated by diverse competition successes: besides winning the Birmingham International Piano Competition in 2016, prizes won as a composer in Romania and as member of a Lied duo in Wales. After finishing his piano studies with Pascal Nemirovski and John Thwaites at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, his interest towards collaborative pianism led him to continue studying for an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in répétiteurship under Paul Wingfield and Robin Bowman. Domonkos was selected to become an accompanist at Samling Institute for Young Artists.
During his years in Birmingham, he has started a career as a free-lancing musician, working with orchestras, choruses and other artistic groups. He has made several concerto appearances and has
been invited to events such as Lichfield Festival, Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival or the Budapest Spring Festival. He made his debut on BBC Radio 3
broadcasting Beethoven. His debut CD is recorded and to be issued by the label Naxos in 2021.
Domonkos is currently based in London, where he holds a position as accompanist fellow at the Royal College of Music.
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