ROSALIND VENTRIS

April 2021 - Cowbridge Music Festival Artistic Director Appointment

Apr 19, 2021

Cowbridge Music Festival - New Artistic Director!

I’m absolutely delighted and thrilled to have been appointed as one of the new Artistic Directors of the Cowbridge Music Festival in Wales, alongside my husband Joe. For more information on the announcement and this wonderful festival, click here. I've absolutely LOVED playing in Cowbridge over the years and couldn’t be more delighted to be taking on this new role with my better half. We’re already working hard with the truly brilliant Cowbridge team to bring a festival packed full of joyful music-making to you in October 2021! A special, heartfelt thanks to Cowbridge’s outgoing Artistic Director and Festival Founder, Mary Elliott-Rose for all that she’s done for the festival and for her continued support. What Mary has achieved in Cowbridge over the past decade is truly remarkable and we are so glad and grateful that she will be continuing her close relationship with the festival as Chair of the Board of Trustees. We are both hugely excited about this opportunity and are really enjoying working together with the amazing Cowbridge team. 

www.cowbridgemusicfestival.co.uk


Solo CD update


A huge thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported my solo CD fundraiser. I’m really happy to share that this has now closed and that we met the target! I’ll be letting you all know more about how I’m developing this project and update you regarding the release in due course. It’s a long-held dream to have been able to realise this solo disc. I’m enormously grateful to you all for helping me and looking forward to continuing this journey promoting the music recorded. A big thank you in particular to the City Music Foundation for setting up the fundraiser to complete this final piece of the puzzle. 


Wigmore Hall and Cambridge Festival concerts to view online 


I’ve been so lucky to play at the Wigmore Hall again as part of my beloved Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective at the end of last month. Our performances is available until April 28th here. We performed Fauré’s second piano quartet—one of my favourite chamber music works of all time. On the same day, a project I was involved in for the Cambridge Festival exploring environmental issues, music and poetry was streamed. This video, featuring a variety of solo viola music (including some Elizabeth Lutyens I recorded on my solo disc), is still available to view online here.


The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective has been invited to perform in the Wigmore Hall's 120th Birthday celebrations next month. Click here for details about the family concert on May 29th and here for the evening concert on May 31st.


Student successes and Benedetti Foundation sessions


My students at the RIAM have been working so hard this term, and I’ve been completely blown away by their achievements. At this year’s Feis Ceoil in Ireland, they were awarded first prizes in the Family Ensemble, Contemporary Irish Music Cup, Junior Chamber Music Cup, Arthur Catterall Cup, Senior Viola and Junior Viola (A) competitions, and commendations and second prizes in Rhoda Coghill Cup, Aileen Gore Cup, the Junior Viola (A) Competition and the Jameson Rosebowl for the highest marks in junior A competitions across violin, viola and cello! One of my students was also offered a place to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and another was awarded an Ad Astra Fellowship at University College Dublin.


I’ve also been tutoring for the Benedetti Foundation’s Virtual Sessions this month, working on the physicality and psychology of playing. These sessions are so inspiring and I’m thoroughly enjoying working with the Benedetti Foundation team and participants. I'm going to be teaching on the Benedetti Foundation's Virtual Chamber Music Mini Sessions for Adult Learners in May. To sign up, please click here.

By websitebuilder-hub 28 Jul, 2021
RPS Award: I'm delighted to be a recipient of the RPS Enterprise Fund awards (in association with Harriet’s Trust). Many thanks to the Royal Philharmonic Society—your support of my work means so much to me. Watch this space for more online offerings of works for the viola by women composers! Cowbridge Music Festival update: We have all been very busy bees behind the scenes to bring a wonderful selection of folk, jazz, classical and more to Cowbridge again this autumn. Joe and I love working with the amazing Cowbridge team together as the new Artistic Directors and we're very excited about the concerts later this year. It was fabulous to have the festival featured in Wales Arts Review in June: many thanks to Nigel Jarrett for the interview. We can’t wait to share our plans with you soon! In the meantime have a look at the Wales Arts Review article here to get a flavour of what’s in store and what the festival is all about. Thanks also to my alma mater Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for taking the time to talk to me about my recent appointment as one of the Cowbridge Music Festival Directors and much more too. You can read this feature here . www.cowbridgemusicfestival.co.uk Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective concerts and debut CD: May and June were wonderful months for the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective team! Our debut album for Chandos Records came out on May 28th and we performed on BBC Radio 3's In Tune programme to celebrate the release. You can click her e to buy/listen to our CD! We also played two concerts for the Wigmore Hall's 120th anniversary: these performances felt like a total dream! They were the last of five concerts I've played in this season at the Wigmore with Kaleidoscope; I feel incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had the opportunity to play on that glorious stage with my amazing friends and colleagues this past year. Our final Kaleidoscope concerts this summer were at Snape Maltings Concert Hall. Playing in this fantastic hall was pure joy! Solo concerts to view online: A few recent online solo performances I've given are available to view online for the foreseeable future: Oxford Coffee Concerts Dublin International Chamber Music Festival I'm really grateful to both of these wonderful organisations and to Patrick Allen for his brilliant work filming the concerts. Live solo and chamber music concerts: I feel very lucky to have been able to give solo performances and play with inspiring friends and colleagues at a number of fantastic festivals these past two months. A huge thank you to Tring Chamber Music, Roman River Festival, New Paths Festival and Lewes Festival of Song for having me.
By websitebuilder-hub 23 Jan, 2021
I was very lucky to be able to record a disc featuring outstanding works inspired by nature, folk music and dance, by leading female contemporary and twentieth-century composers at the end of 2020. I was so lucky to have a dream team of Andrew Keener and Oscar Torres working on this with me and to make the disc in the amazing Wyastone Concert Hall. This project was a real challenge and the recording was definitely a test of my stamina, but I can't think of a better way to have spent the end of the last year working on these great pieces with a brilliant team in the most beautiful surroundings. There's really something for everyone on this CD: it explores a diverse range of moods, emotions and colours. I can't wait to share this music with you and bring it to a wider audience. Watch this space for updates on the release in the future! I really hope that this CD will mean these works are better known, come to be loved by listeners and find their place in concert programmes in the future. I'm so grateful to everyone who has supported the disc. I really wouldn't have been able to do this without your help!
By websitebuilder-hub 19 Jan, 2021
Welcome to my new website!
By websitebuilder-hub 08 Dec, 2020
In December 2020 Rosalind will be recording her debut solo album. She has been busy fundraising, but has a little way to go finding the financial support to make the project happen. Can you help her in her last steps to reach the target? Watch the video below for more information about this exciting recording, featuring works for solo viola by women composers. For anything you can give, thank you. (DONATIONS CLOSED) (Donations from abroad do not need to enter a UK address, just enter your address manually or alternatively use the PayPal option.) Rosalind writes: Over the lockdown period I've been working on a range of solo viola music. I realised that several works I'd been playing for my own enjoyment I'd really like to record, and so I've made a little project out of this desire to commit interpretations to disc and highlight some wonderful music--that just happens to be by women composers. With the help of CMF, I've made short fundraising video to explain a bit more about the project and why it's so important to me. The video also features excerpts of some of the repertoire, taken from my CMF Clocktower livestream in July. It would really mean so much to me if you can help in any way. It's a tough time for freelance musicians in general and also a difficult time to be asking for funds for projects like this. I'm really grateful for whatever support you can give. Thank you. '
By websitebuilder-hub 19 Nov, 2020
I was really delighted to return to Frinton Festival, joining Andrew Marriner (clarinet), Gavin Edwards (horn), Carmine Lauri and Eunsley Park (violin), Robert Max (cello) and Stacey Watson (double bass) for a live performance of Schubert's glorious Octet last month. 
By websitebuilder-hub 29 Sep, 2020
 I’m very excited to be returning to the Wigmore Hall this month (on September 30th) as part of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective again.
By websitebuilder-hub 07 Aug, 2020
It’s been a week since working with the amazing Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
By websitebuilder-hub 07 Jul, 2020
A huge thank you to the City Music Foundation for hosting Joseph Fort and me on Tuesday in their St Pancras Clock Tower series.
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