Cyprus Today

Russia, China NCPA Orchestra, to name but a

few, under the baton of such conductors Andrey

Boreyko, Valery Gergiev, Lü Jia, Gidon Kremer,

Christoph Poppen and Vladimir Spivakov.

Levon Chilingirian / violin

Levon Chilingirian, born in Cyprus, began violin

with his great uncle, Vahan Bedelian. After

emigrating to the U.K., he later studied with his

uncle, Manoug Parikian, Hugh Bean, and the

Amadeus Quartet. Chilingirian’s partnership

with the late Clifford Benson was launched by

winning first prizes in the 1969 BBC Beethoven

Competition and the 1971 ARD Munich Duo

International Competition. Founded in 1971,

the Chilingirian Quartet is today one of the most

celebrated string quartets on the international

scene, its highly regarded recorded repertoire

spanning classical to contemporary works.

Chilingirian also performs as a soloist and with

other chamber music partners. He is co- artistic

director of the Pharos Festival (Cyprus) and

for 14 years was Director of the Mendelsohn

on Mull Festival. Other partnerships as guest

director include Camerata Nordica, Gothenberg

Symphony, Armenian Chamber Orchestra, the

Guildhall String Ensemble, Trondheim Soloists.

He coaches chamber music at the Lake District

Festival, West Dean College summer course,

and has worked with El Sistema in Venezuela.

Levon Chilingirian is Professor of Violin and

Chamber Music Artist in Residence at the Royal

Academy of Music (London) and Professor

of Violin and Chamber Music at the Guildhall

School of Music and Drama (London). He is

much in demand giving masterclasses, coaching,

as a jury member around the world and is

chair of the Trondheim International Quartet

Competition. In 2017, he is a member of the

jury of the Osaka Quartet Competition. Levon

Chilingirian received an OBE in the Queen’s

Honours List and the Cobbett Medal.

Monika Urbonaite / violin

Monika Urbonaite was born in Lithuania

into a musical family. From an early age she

played as soloist with various orchestras and

won numerous competition awards both in

her native Lithuania and abroad. After having

won the “Talent of Hope” award at the Heifetz

competition in Vilnius, she was invited by Gidon

Kremer to join the Kremerata Baltica chamber

orchestra. She spent the next six years there,

touring all over the world and collaborating with

the likes of Martha Argerich, Misha Maisky,

Gustavo Dudamel, Yo Yo Ma, and with the

orchestra’s founder, Gidon Kremer. Monika

Urbonaite has recently graduated from Trinity

College of Music where she was a recipient of

numerous scholarships and awards including the

Leverhulme, the Founders, the TCM Trust and

the Tillett and Colin Keer Trust scholarships and

also won the Vivian Joseph classical concerto

competition. She studied with Ofer Falk.

Jennifer Stumm / viola

Violist Jennifer Stumm is recognised as one of the

world’s dynamic and creative advocates for her

instrument, known both for her distinctive sound

and unbridled enthusiasm for music. Hailed by

the Washington Post for the “opal-like beauty”

of her playing, Stumm appears on many of the

world’s great stages, including Carnegie Hall, the

Kennedy Center, the Concertgebouw, Sala São

Paulo, and the Wigmore Hall, London. Her solo

career was launched after victories in three major

international competitions: William Primrose,

Geneva and Concert Artists Guild (where she

was the first violist ever to win First Prize.) An

enthusiastic speaker and writer about music,

Jennifer Stumm’s TED talk about the viola and

the blessings of being different, “The Imperfect

Instrument,” was named an editor’s pick of all

talks on

ted.com

and she was recently cover

artist of Symphony Magazine. A recipient of

the prestigious BBC New Generation artist and

Borletti Buitoni Awards for her work in chamber

music, she appears at major festivals such as

Verbier, Marlboro, Spoleto, Aldeburgh, Delft and

IMS Prussia Cove, and her collaborative partners

have included the Beaux Arts Trio, Guarneri,

Vermeer and Alban Berg Quartets. In 2015,

Jennifer Stumm founded the Ilumina Festival, a

chamber music festival in the mountains outside

São Paulo uniting prominent international soloists