Hilary Tann -

Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York  where  she  is  the  John  Howard  Payne  Professor  of  Music  Emerita  at  Union  College, Schenectady. Her compositions have been widely performed and recorded by ensembles such as the  European  Women’s  Orchestra,  Tenebrae,  Lontano,  Marsyas  Trio,  Thai  Philharmonic,  Royal Liverpool  Philharmonic,  and  BBC  National  Orchestra  of Wales.  Composer-residencies  include the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival, 2013 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and 2015 Welsh Music Center.   Praised for its lyricism (“beautiful, lyrical work” – Classical  Music  Web)  and  formal  balance  (“In  the  formal  balance  of  this  music,  there  is  great beauty  ...”  –  Welsh  Music),  her  music  is  influenced  by  a  strong  identification  with  the  natural world. She is a published haiku poet and a deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China. A recent review of her string quartet, And The Snow Did Lie, states “Tann’s music is shimmering and weightless, effective  and  moving  ...  it  reinforces  the  grounded  spiritual  ecstasy  that  is  Tann’s  distinctive musical outlook” (J. Dalton, Albany Times Union, 5/24/20).

Follow her here

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Richard Ormrod

and

Mary Hofman have performed together as a duo for six years in venues across the UK as well as touring the Mediterranean. They have performed in Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia and will be returning to Malaysia and giving first performances in Brunei and Indonesia in summer 2018. Individually they also lead varied musical careers when they are not at home in the mountains of north Wales with their young daughters.

Richard is an acclaimed soloist playing for audiences throughout the United Kingdom as well as in more than a dozen countries abroad. He has won numerous prizes including at the Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein competitions.  Chamber music has been central to Richard’s musical life.  He is the pianist with the Salzburg Hyperion Ensemble and he has also played with the renowned Dorian Wind Quintet on three US tours.  Other collaborations include frequent performances with Trio d’Archi di Praga and the Czech Nonet.  He also performs widely as concerto soloist, twice performing Beethoven Concertos at the London Barbican Centre with the Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor David Parry. He has made international tours with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Virtuosi. In February 2018 he

released a CD of Schubert and Schumann with Austrian Gramaphone. Richard teaches on the piano faculties of the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Since graduating in 2007, Mary has pursued a varied career as an orchestral and chamber musician and teacher.  While at Cambridge she won an award from the Stradivari trust leading to performances at West Road Concert Hall with some of Britain's most eminent chamber musicians.  She also won an award from the Maestro Foundation in Los Angeles giving chamber performances on the United States West Coast.  Mary has worked as guest leader of the Edinburgh Quartet as well as performing with the Endellion quartet and regularly performs with Ensemble Cymru. She has worked with most of Britain's leading chamber orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata and Britten Sinfonia.  Mary also teaches violin at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music.

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Biography and Duo pages on

richardormrod.co.uk