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Philharmonia, Orchestre National de Lille, Vienna
Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic,
RLPO, and under the baton of conductors such as
Simon Rattle, Osmo Vanska, Donald Runnicles,
Ilan Volkov and Vassily Sinaisky.
In June 2002 he appeared alongside the likes of Sir
Thomas Allen, Mstislav Rostropovich andAngela
Gheorghiu in a gala concert at Buckingham Palace
to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II,
a performance broadcast live to millions of view-
ers around the world. In recent years he has be-
come a regular guest at the BBC Proms, making
his debut in 2008 with Vaughan Williams’ Piano
Concerto, and returning in following seasons to
performworks by Foulds, Stravinsky,Antheil, and
McCabe.
Renowned for a broad and eclectic repertoire,Ash-
ley has received great critical acclaim for his re-
cordings of music from a wide range of styles and
eras, with glowing reviews of his interpretations
of composers such as Liszt, Franck, Beethoven
and Bridge. His survey of Bax’s piano music was
nominated for a Gramophone Award and his dis-
cography boasts a number of Gramophone ‘Edi-
tor’s Choice’ recordings and BBC Music Maga-
zine ‘Choices’.
Much in demand as a chamber musician, Ashley
regularly partners many of the leading artists of his
generation. He is a frequent guest of international
festivals such as Bath, Ako (Japan), Cheltenham,
Kuhmo, Mecklenburg, Gstaad, City of London,
and Ravinia and Marlboro in the USA. Ashley
Wass is the Artistic Director of the Lincolnshire
International Chamber Music Festival. The Festi-
val has grown from strength to strength during his
tenure, with sold-out performances of challenging
repertoire and broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. Ashley
is currently a Professor of Piano at the Royal Col-
lege of Music, London, and is an Associate of the
Royal Academy of Music.
Tanja Becker-Bender / violin
“Tanja Becker-Bender does wonderful things with
it, shaping its lines with great lyrical force and a
tremendous sense of drama.”
The Guardian
Tanja Becker-Bender was early on awarded top
prizes at the international competitions in Geneva,
Tokyo, Houston, Gorizia and Genoa. As a solo-
ist, she performs under the baton of Kurt Masur,
Gerd Albrecht, Lothar Zagrosek, Uriel Segal, Fa-
bio Luisi, Hartmut Haenchen, Hubert Soudant,
Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Carlos Miguel Prieto
with renowned orchestras such as the Tokyo Phil-
harmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon
Symphony, andHouston Symphony, the Orchestre
de la Suisse Romande, Radio Symphony Orches-
tra Stuttgart of the SWR, Konzerthaus Orchestra
Berlin, and the Vienna, Zurich and Prague Cham-
ber orchestras, as well as the English Chamber
Orchestra. She is a regular guest at international
chamber music festivals.
Her latest CDs for Hyperion Records – Paganini
“24 Capricci”, Schulhoff Works for Violin and
Piano, Reger Violin Concerto, Respighi Works
for Violin and Piano – were awarded numerous
distinctions by the international press (Editor’s
Choice, Gramophone and Classic FM, Disc of
the Month, BBC Music Magazine, “Outstanding
Award”, International Record Review, “Star of the
Month”, Fonoforum).
Working with contemporary composers is of spe-
Tanja Becker-Bender
