Prizewinning pianist Hanna Shybayeva began her international career at the age of 11, and her performances have been praised by both the public and the press. She studied with professors Dmitri Bashkirov, Ferenc Rados and Naum Grubert, all of whom profoundly influenced her musical development. Under Naum Grubert she studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she graduated as Master of Music with the highest distinction in 2005. Since then she has given numerous performances in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the US and Canada, and also participated in the Robeco Summer Series Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Prinsegrachtconcert Amsterdam, the Yamaha Concert Series in New York and Germany, and the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, as well as many other international festivals.

Since 2008 Shybayeva has been a member of the New European Ensemble, comprising soloists and chamber musicians from all over Europe. Also in 2008 she initiated the chamber music project Symphonic Intimacy together with the Ysaye String Trio – a project that presents historical chamber music arrangements of symphonic works.

A prolific recording artist, Shybayeva has recorded for labels including Philips/Universal, Etcetera, Brilliant Classics and Grand Piano, playing versatile repertoire that includes music by Ravel, Prokofiev, Chopin, Takemitsu, Shostakovich, Kenneth Hesketh, Schubert and Rachmaninov.

Since 2013 Hanna Shybayeva has been a piano professor at the Internationale Anton Rubinstein Musikakademie in Düsseldorf (Germany)/Kalaidos Hochschule (Switzerland).

For more information, visit www.hannashybayeva.com.

The Utrecht String Quartet is one of the most renowned chamber-music ensembles, known internationally for its versatile and dynamic approach. Resident in the Netherlands, the musical world of the Utrecht String Quartet is borderless and boundless, and whichever work its musicians choose to play, it is their general policy to avoid any hint of treating them like museum exhibits. Even when it comes to traditional works, the musicians succeed in discovering elements that can be interpreted anew, or in finding unusual concert locations in which to perform them. However, it is mainly because of their search for lost or forgotten repertoire and for their collaboration with contemporary composers that the members of the Utrecht String Quartet have gained their excellent reputation in the music world.

This versatility has featured strongly in the quartet’s international tours, which have recently taken them to countries such as France, Germany, Australia and to the internationally famous Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. As reported by the Finnish daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat: “their performance is simultaneously intellectual, analytical and strongly expressive”.

In April 2000, the Utrecht String Quartet made its debut in England, at the Conway Hall in London, followed, in 2003, by a concert at the Wigmore Hall. The USQ has been a regular guest in London ever since. In the Netherlands, the USQ takes part in all the important chamber music series; such as those at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at Vredenburg in Utrecht and at the Frits Philips Music Centre in Eindhoven, to name just a few. In addition, the four musicians have performed at the Palace on the Noordeinde in the Hague at the invitation of Queen Beatrix. In July 2010, the USQ made its debut in Canada (Ottawa Chamber Music Festival) and in the United States (e.g. Library of Congress, Frick Collection).

The quartet is also active pedagogically and as Quartet in Residence is responsible for the chamber-music class of the Utrecht Conservatory. It has established a successful collaborative relationship with other notable chamber-music performers such as Michael Collins, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Isabelle van Keulen, Pieter Wispelwey, Thomas Oliemans, Arno Bornkamp, Christianne Stotijn, Pauline Oostenrijk, Ivo Janssen, Nobuko Imai, Ralph van Raat and Alexander Madzar. In addition to its extensive concert programme, the USQ also performs for radio and television transmissions and for CD recordings. A sizeable collection of its CDs have appeared under the MDG label. There have been excellent reviews of these recordings in all the well-known music periodicals such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, Fanfare and Fono Forum.

Born in Spain in 1985, Luis Cabrera begun playing the double bass at the age of 10. After graduating from the Conservatorio Profesional Joaquin Turina, where he studied with Professor Rafael de Frias and later on with Karen Martirossian, he moved to London in 2002 to complete his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under Professor Rinat Ibragimov. Luis then completed a master degree at Berlin’s Hans Eisler University under Professor Janne Saksala.

Having received numerous awards and scholarships he became principal double bass of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra of Amsterdam in 2006. Recently he has been invited to play as guest principal double bass with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Opera, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, where he played under conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur or Bernard Haitink amongst others.

Luis has collaborated with ensembles of different styles such as Arcangelo, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Sinfonietta, or the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquesta Nacional de Espana and other. Very active as a chamber music player, soloist and teacher, these commitments frequently take him to Portugal, France, Germany, Spain (Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid), Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Peru, Argentina, Hong Kong, to the Netherlands (Het Concertgebouw, Den Haag KonCon) and the UK (Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, LSO St. Luke's).

Luis joined the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s teaching staff in 2012 and has been visiting teacher and coach in several colleges and Youth Orchestras including Centro Superior Katerina Gurska en Madrid. Since 2018 he is also a professor at the Conservatory of Rotterdam (CODARTS).

Luis has recorded with several chamber groups for labels including EMI Classics and Pentatone, and has collaborated with BBC Radio 3’s prestigious New Generation Artists scheme.

Luis plays on a double bass made by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, c.1770 on loan from the collection of the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation (NMF).

Born in Bonn in 1770, the eldest son of a singer in the Kapelle of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and grandson of the Archbishop’s Kapellmeister, Beethoven moved in 1792 to Vienna. There he had some lessons from Haydn and others, quickly establishing himself as a remarkable keyboard player and original composer. By 1815 increasing deafness had made public performance impossible and accentuated existing eccentricities of character, patiently tolerated by a series of rich patrons and his royal pupil the Archduke Rudolph. Beethoven did much to enlarge the possibilities of music and widen the horizons of later generations of composers. To his contemporaries he was sometimes a controversial figure, making heavy demands on listeners by both the length and the complexity of his writing, as he explored new fields of music.

Stage Works

Although he contemplated others, Beethoven wrote only one opera. This was eventually called Fidelio after the name assumed by the heroine Leonora, who disguises herself as a boy and takes employment at the prison in which her husband has been unjustly incarcerated. This escape opera, for which there was precedent in contemporary France, ends with the defeat of the evil prison governor and the rescue of Florestan, testimony to the love and constancy of his wife Leonora. The work was first staged in 1805 and mounted again in a revised performance in 1814, under more favourable circumstances. The ballet The Creatures of Prometheus was staged in Vienna in 1801, and Beethoven wrote incidental music for various other dramatic productions, including Goethe’s Egmont, von Kotzebue’s curious The Ruins of Athens, and the same writer’s King Stephen.

Choral and Vocal Music

Beethoven’s most impressive choral work is the Missa solemnis, written for the enthronement of his pupil Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz (Olomouc) although finished too late for that occasion. An earlier work, the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, is less well known. In common with other composers, Beethoven wrote a number of songs. Of these the best known are probably the settings of Goethe, which did little to impress the venerable poet and writer (he ignored their existence), and the cycle of six songs known as An die ferne Geliebte (‘To the Distant Beloved’). The song ‘Adelaide’is challenging but not infrequently heard.

Orchestral Music

Symphonies

Beethoven completed nine symphonies, works that influenced the whole future of music by the expansion of the traditional Classical form. The best known are Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’, originally intended to celebrate the initially republican achievements of Napoleon; No. 5; No. 6, ‘Pastoral’; and No. 9, ‘Choral’. The less satisfactory ‘Battle Symphony’ celebrates the earlier military victories of the Duke of Wellington.

Overtures

For the theatre and various other occasions Beethoven wrote a number of overtures, including four for his only opera, Fidelio (one under that name and the others under the name of the heroine, Leonora). Other overtures include Egmont, Coriolan, Prometheus, The Consecration of the House and The Ruins of Athens.

Concertos

Beethoven completed one violin concerto and five piano concertos, as well as a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano, and the curious Choral Fantasy for solo piano, chorus and orchestra. The piano concertos were for the composer’s own use in concert performance. No. 5, the so-called ‘Emperor’ Concerto, is possibly the most impressive. The single Violin Concerto, also arranged for piano, is part of the standard violin repertoire along with two romances (possible slow movements for an unwritten violin concerto).

Chamber Music

Beethoven wrote 10 sonatas for violin and piano, of which the ‘Spring’ and the ‘Kreutzer’ are particular favourites with audiences. He extended very considerably the possibilities of the string quartet. This is shown even in his first set of quartets, Op. 18, but it is possibly the group of three dedicated to Prince Razumovsky (the ‘Razumovsky’ Quartets, Op. 59) that are best known. The later string quartets offer great challenges to both players and audience, and include the remarkable Grosse Fuge—a gigantic work, discarded as the final movement of the String Quartet, Op. 130, and published separately. Other chamber music includes a number of trios for violin, cello and piano, with the ‘Archduke’ Trio pre-eminent and the ‘Ghost’ Trio a close runner-up, for very different reasons. The cello sonatas and sets of variations for cello and piano (including one set based on Handel’s ‘See, the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus and others on operatic themes from Mozart) are a valuable part of any cellist’s repertoire. Chamber music with wind instruments and piano include the Quintet, Op. 16, for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. Among other music for wind instruments is the very popular Septet, scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass, as well as a trio for two oboes and cor anglais, and a set of variations on a theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the same instruments.

Piano Music

Beethoven’s 32 numbered piano sonatas make full use of the developing form of the piano, with its wider range and possibilities of dynamic contrast. Other sonatas not included in the 32 published by Beethoven are earlier works, dating from his years in Bonn. There are also interesting sets of variations, including a set based on ‘God Save the King’and another on ‘Rule, Britannia’, variations on a theme from the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, and a major work based on a relatively trivial theme by the publisher Diabelli. The best known of the sonatas are those that have earned themselves affectionate nicknames: the ‘Pathétique’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Waldstein’, ‘Appassionata’, ‘Les Adieux’ and ‘Hammerklavier’. Less substantial piano pieces include three sets of bagatelles, the all too well-known Für Elise, and the Rondo a capriccio, known in English as ‘Rage Over a Lost Penny’.

Dance Music

Famous composers like Haydn and Mozart were also employed in the practical business of providing dance music for court and social occasions. Beethoven wrote a number of sets of minuets, German dances and contredanses, ending with the so-called Mödlinger Dances, written for performers at a neighbouring inn during a summer holiday outside Vienna.