FACULTY 2025
Philippe Graffin is a French violinist and recording artist, born in Romilly-sur-Seine. He was a student of the late Joseph Gingold and Philippe Hirschhorn and has established a particular reputation for his interpretations of his native repertoire as well for his interest in rare and contemporary works. He rediscovered original settings of classics such as Chausson’s Poème and Ravel’s Tzigane and has also championed the forgotten violin concertos of G. Fauré and the concerto by English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Philippe has shared the stage with some of the greatest musicians of our time: Yehudi Menuhin, M. Rostropovich, Martha Argerich, and Sergiu Comissiona. He regularly partners with cellists Gary Hoffman and Truls Mork; pianists Pascal Devoyon, Steven Kovacevich, Claire Désert and the Chilingirian Quartet and is founder and artistic director of the “Consonances” chamber music festival of St Nazaire, France. He has appeared in the BBC Proms Chamber Music series and has been Artistic Director of several chamber music projects at London’s Wigmore hall. As concerto soloist, he has performed with many of the UK’s major orchestras throughout Europe.
A number of composers have written works for him including David Matthews, Yves Prin, Vassili Lobanov and Philippe Hersant. The Lithuanian composer Vytautas Barkauskas dedicated his award-winning violin concerto “Jeux” to Philippe and wrote a double concerto Duo Concertante for him and violinist Nobuko Imai. Most recently Russian composer, Rodion Shchedrin has written a concerto for violin, trumpet and string orchestra, dedicated to Philippe.
His performances included tours to Korea and Japan, a performance of Miklós Rózsa’s Sinfonia Concertante with Raphael Wallfisch at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and the Elgar Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in a special 150th anniversary weekend. He continues to champion the Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto with a concert with The Philharmonia Orchestra in London to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK and with the Orchestre National d’lle de France. 2007/8 also includes the UK premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s Concerto Parlando with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a concert in the Wigmore Hall’s Grieg centenary celebrations and tours to Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and France.
He is currently professor at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique and guest professor at the Brussels Conservatoire Royal.
Jonian Ilias Kadesha is a Renaissance musician in the diversity and creativity of his intellectual interests and music-making. His studies in philosophy and rhetoric influence the stylistic accuracy of his interpretations, whether of early or contemporary music, and his rich imagination is clear both in the sound worlds he creates and the projects he curates as soloist, player–director and chamber musician.
As a soloist he has performed throughout Europe, including with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Sir András Schiff, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Jonathan Bloxham, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Ryan Bancroft and Slovenian Philharmonic conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov. He has given recitals in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Louvre, Berlin Philharmonie and Salle Moliere Lyon.
Kadesha is a committed chamber musician, collaborating with renowned musicians such as Martha Argerich, Steven Isserlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Nicolas Altstaedt and Antje Weithaas. He is co-founder of the award-winning Trio Gaspard, which regularly appears at festivals and venues around the world. He is also a member of the Kelemen Quartet.
In 2017 Kadesha founded and assumed the role of Artistic Director of the Caerus Chamber Ensemble, a flexible chamber ensemble made up of outstanding instrumentalists from the young generation of European musicians.
Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, Kadesha studied from a young age at Musikhochschule Wurzburg, followed by Kronberg Academy, where he completed his Masters in 2020. He has studied with Antje Weithaas, Salvatore Accardo, Grigori Zhislin and Ulf Wallin. He studied chamber music with Hatto Beyerle in Hannover and has taken part in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Leonidas Kavakos and Eberhard Feltz.
Kadesha plays on the ”ex-Moser” Guarneri de Gesu of 1743, kindly on loan by the private ”Princess Collection”. He is also an exclusive Pirastro artist.
Internationally known soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, recording artist, and pedagogue Steven Doane appears at festivals and on concert series throughout the United States and overseas. Doane received his BM from Oberlin Conservatory and his MM from SUNY Stony Brook. He received a Watson Foundation Grant for overseas study in 1975, and had further studies with Richard Kapuscinski, Bernard Greenhouse, Jane Cowan, and Janos Starker.
Steven Doane and pianist Barry Snyder have made a series of recordings for the Bridge label. The duo’s recording of the complete music of Gabriel Fauré for cello and piano was awarded the Diapason D’or in France, and has been broadcast throughout the United States and Canada, over the BBC in England, and throughout Europe. The second recording in the series, of works by Britten and Frank Bridge, was also released to critical acclaim. New releases on Bridge include the Rachmaninoff Sonata with Barry Snyder (May 2012) and Britten Solo Suites (due for release in 2013).
A professor at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, Steven Doane received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993, and the Piatigorsky Prize in teaching at the New England Conservatory in 1986. As a member of the New Arts Trio, Doane was awarded the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1980. He made his Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center debuts in Don Quixote with David Zinman and the Rochester Philharmonic in 1983. His Tully Hall recital debut occurred in 1990, and has been followed by numerous recital appearances, including programs in London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Saunders Theater, and many other venues. Steven Doane currently holds the title of “visiting professor” at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he has done several residencies, and is regularly invited to participate in Open Chamber Music and teach in the Spring masterclasses at the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove.
British-Maltese cellist Matthew Huber performs as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide. He has collaborated with artists such as Robert Levin, Philippe Graffin, Maria Włoszczowska, Tomoaki Kimura, Alasdair Beatson, and Steven Isserlis. He has appeared at the Kronberg, Schiermonnikoog, Zagreb “Virtuosi” and Salisbury International festivals, Boston and Utrecht Early Music festivals, the North York Moors, Ryedale and St. Nazaire Festivals and regularly attends the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove.
A CD recording titled “No Longer Mourn for Me” featuring the music of John Tavener was recently released by Hyperion Records to critical acclaim in which Matthew joined cellists David Waterman, Vashti Hunter, Chiara Samatanga, Amy Norrington, Bartholomew LaFollette, Caroline Dearnley and Steven Isserlis in arrangements of works for 8 cellos. The recording won the Premiere Award from BBC Music Magazine.
Matthew studied at the Eastman School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, IMS, and the Queen Elisabeth Chapelle, where his teachers and mentors included Steven Doane, Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis and Gary Hoffman. He is a Trustee of the Pierre Fournier Award and the British Cello Society, and Artistic Director of the London Master Classes.
Norma Fisher was born in London of Russian-Polish parents. Recognised as ‘a rare musical talent’, at the age of 11 she was awarded a Junior Exhibition to study with Sidney Harrison at the Guildhall School of Music. At 14 she was heard by the celebrated Greek pianist Gina Bachauer who became her mentor, introducing her to the distinguished Hungarian teacher Ilona Kabos, with whom she subsequently studied. A period was also spent in Paris studying French music with Jacques Fevrier. Her highly acclaimed early performances for the BBC led to an invitation by RIAS (Berlin) to perform with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra – which launched her career in Europe.
Success in the Busoni International Piano Competition as a top prize-winner followed and in 1963, when she shared the much-coveted Piano Prize in the Harriet Cohen International Music Awards with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Norma’s international reputation was sealed. That same year she made her debut at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall and became a favourite soloist with all the leading British orchestras. She is known for her versatility as a performer, receiving international acclaim as one of Britain’s leading pianists. This versatility extends to chamber music, which she plays with leading musicians throughout the world.
The CDs of Norma’s recently re-issued BBC recordings by Sonetto Classics, “Norma Fisher at the BBC Vol 1”, and “Norma Fisher at the BBC Vol 2” have been received with international acclaim, being awarded Editors and Critics Choice 2018 and 2019, by The Gramophone Magazine.
Norma’s reputation as a teacher is widely established and many of her prize-winning students are well known on the international concert circuit. She is invited to give masterclasses throughout the world and is also much in demand as an adjudicator being regularly invited on the jury of many major international piano competitions. In 1988 she founded the London Master Classes whose courses attract major talent from around the world to work intensively with top performers/teachers in London. She is Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music in London.
David Waterman, born in Leeds, studied philosophy for six years at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Research Scholarship and MA and PhD degrees, and was a tutor to final-year philosophy undergraduates. At the same time he studied cello privately with Martin Lovett, William Pleeth and Jane Cowan.
He was the cellist of the world-renowned Endellion Quartet (1979-2021) for all of its 42 years. The Quartet recorded mainstream repertoire for Warner Classics, EMI, Virgin Classics, and others. They were Quartet in Residence at Cambridge University for over 28 years and received the RPS Award. They were broadcast hundreds of times on BBC Radio 3 and TV.
David has also performed chamber music with members of the former Amadeus Quartet, the Belcea, Castalian, Chilingirian, and Elias Quartets, Joshua Bell, Michael Collins, Imogen Cooper, Jeremy Denk , Julia Fischer, Ivry Gitlis, Isabelle Faust , Steven Isserlis, Mark Padmore, Sándor Végh and Tabea Zimmerman, among others.
He has taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the RAM, the Guildhall, RNCM, the Menuhin Academy at Gstaad, in Germany, and at Yale, MIT, and Bloomington in the USA, and for IMUSE in Belgium. He coaches regularly for IMS Prussia Cove, where he has taken the chamber music, cello, and violin classes. He has participated in three IMS Tours. He also mentors and coaches quartets for chamberStudio.
He has curated several chamber series in Leeds and in JW3 London. He contributed a chapter to the Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, and has published articles in The Guardian, Strad Magazine, Quodlibet and Philosophy in Cambridge. He plays on a J.B. Guadagnini cello which he shares with Steven Isserlis.