Whats On - Thursday 5th August 7:30 pm
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Freeman String Quartet
Biographies
Toby Hughes
Leo Melvin
The Freeman String Quartet is a driven young ensemble formed in 2017 at the Royal Northern College of Music.
During their first year, the Freeman Quartet won the RNCM’s Nossek chamber music competition with their performance of Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op. 12, and in their third year won the RNCM’s Hirsch prize for their performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132.
Since forming in 2017, the Freeman Quartet have received coaching from some of the worlds leading chamber musicians including: Donald Grant, (Elias String Quartet) David Waterman, (Endellion String Quartet) and Petr Prause, (Talich String Quartet).
The Freeman Quartet have performed in the RNCM’s annual Chamber Music Festival since 2017, and in 2018 were invited to be the Quartet in Residence at the South Downs International Summer Music Festival, where they had the opportunity to work with members of the Benyounes String Quartet as well as giving the closing performance of the festival performing works by Smetana and Haydn in St. Andrews Church, Alfriston Sussex.
They have performed at many venues across the UK and have given concerts for the Manchester Chamber Music Society and the Lake District International Music Festival.
The Quartet are delighted to have been invited to attend two chamber music courses in 2021, including the Delft International Music Festival in Holland, and the Chilingirian Chamber Music Course in Sussex, for which they have been awarded a full scholarship.
In September 2020, the Freeman Quartet were appointed as the RNCM’s Studio Quartet, and were also one of the winners of the Tunnell Trust Awards.
In 2009 at the age of sixteen, Toby was invited to study at the combined universities of Lausanne, Fribourg and Sion with Professor Božo Paradžik. In his second year at university, he was awarded the ‘Future Talent’ Coombs Scholarship by the Duchess of Kent and in May 2011 was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s ‘Julius Isserlis Scholarship’ which enabled him to continue with his studies. In the autumn of 2011, he moved to Berlin, where he studied with Matthew McDonald, principal bass of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2012 Toby returned to the U.K. to continue his studies with Juří Hudec at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, graduating in 2015 from the International Artists Diploma course.
After his return to the U.K. Toby won numerous competitions and awards, in 2013 he won Chandos Symphony Orchestra's ‘Young Musician of the Year’, the string section of the 2014 Royal Over-Seas League Competition (the first double bassist ever to do so), in 2016 the Bromsgrove International Competition and in 2018 won the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition.
Toby has performed with major international orchestras both in Europe and the U.K. His recital engagements have included appearances at Wigmore Hall, St-Martin-in-the-Fields, The Edinburgh Festival and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the Royal Over-Seas League final. Having been awarded support from The Tillett Trust, The Musicians' Company and Making Music, he will be performing at many venues across the U.K. Toby has been a City Music Foundation artist since 2018 and his debut CD will be released later this year on the Champs Hill Record label.