Simon Hewitt Jones - The Violin Blog

The Virtuoso Violin

The Virtuoso Violin

‘Virtuoso Violin’ is a unique live performance that revives and updates the Virtuoso tradition of violin-playing established by Paganini over three hundred years ago. The programme features the music of great violin-composers such as Wieniawski, Sarasate and Kreisler, through to present-day compositions by some of today’s leading composers.

Simon Hewitt Jones & David Worswick - The Virtuoso Violin Duo

Simon & David met and began performing together whilst studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Their shared love of the Virtuoso tradition of violin-playing led to an acclaimed concert at St James Piccadilly in London in 2005, since when they have performed throughout the UK as the ‘Virtuoso Violin’ Duo. In 2006, they performed a 13-city tour of the UK, and became performers for the Live Music Now! recital scheme.

They have appeared frequently on BBC Radio and at many concert series and festivals, including the 2007 Red Violin festival at the Cardiff Millennium Centre, Gregynog festival, North Wales International Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2008, Simon and David will be working with SPNM on a new commission for the City Showcase festival, and performing recitals at venues including the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Simon Hewitt Jones

simon hewitt jones
Simon Hewitt Jones

Simon performs widely as a soloist and collaborative musician. With his ensemble, Court Lane Music, he performs a wide range of classical chamber music programmes at concert series and festivals, and for online webcast, including a recent premiere performance and CD recording of string chamber works by Imogen Holst. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music.

This season, he contributed to an installation at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, appeared as a guest artist with the Carducci Quartet, and performed with the Henri Oguike Dance Company at Belgrade Dance Festival. As leader of Kamandjati Camerata, Simon frequently gives concerts in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and will perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Jerusalem in 2008.

Future solo appearances will include the National Portrait Gallery, a series of concerts in Edinburgh to celebrate composer Kenneth Leighton, and a recital debut at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. He is currently working on a series of new music collaborations with his brother, composer Thomas Hewitt Jones.

Simon is also known as a teacher and writer, and and he authors a widely-read internet weblog, through which he regularly broadcasts MP3 and video recordings.

David Worswick

david worswick
David Worswick

David is a violin soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster, and is known for his advocacy of contemporary music. As leader of the Ossian Ensemble and the London Contemporary Orchestra, David has worked with many of today’s most important composers including Thomas Adès, Gunther Schuller, Bent Sorenson and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and premiered over thirty new works.

He recently appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Johnsmas Foy in Shetland, the 2006 Paganini Festival, at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of the Soundings Festival and in the Leeds International Concert Series. In 2007, he performed Paul Ben-Haim’s Violin Concerto with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, and Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 4 with the Eden Chamber Orchestra. His diverse chamber music projects have included collaborations with the Rambert Dance Company, with jazz saxophonist Ken Vandermark and with The Opera Group, and a recording for the CPO label with The London Steve Reich Ensemble.

David is originally from Liverpool, and he trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School. He later studied with Erich Gruenberg, Matthew Souter and Lydia Mordkovitch at the Royal Academy of Music, where he held a New Music Fellowship.