Introducing the performers…

Craig Ogden (guitar)

Australian born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the most exciting artists of his generation. He studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of thirteen. In 2004, he became the youngest instrumentalist to receive a Fellowship Award from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. One of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, his recordings for Virgin/EMI, Chandos, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony and Classic FM have received wide acclaim.

Craig has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras. In recent seasons he has performed with the Hallé, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (Spain), Spanish Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Dublin), London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In 2015, Craig was asked at short notice to step in for the indisposed Miloš Karadaglić to perform a series of concerts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at major UK concert halls and again in 2016 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra, both tours receiving critical acclaim.

Craig enjoys performing new works for guitar and gave the world premiere of a concerto written for him by Andy Scott with the Northern Chamber Orchestra in Manchester in November 2017, followed by the Australian premiere in Perth in September 2018. He gave the world premiere of ‘Il Filo’, a double concerto for guitar and accordion by David Gordon with Miloš Milivojević in summer 2019 and composer David Knotts has written a concerto for him.

Craig regularly appears as soloist and chamber musician at major venues, collaborating with many of the UK’s top artists and ensembles. He is a regular member of the London Tango Quintet and has been invited by John Williams to perform with him at venues including London’s Globe Theatre, where he returned for a music and poetry performance with actress Meera Syal. He performed as part of the Michael Tippett concert series at Wigmore Hall, returning there with the Nash Ensemble.

Craig has performed chamber music concerts at the Australian Chamber Music Festival at the invitation of Piers Lane and in September 2019 he performed a new programme with the Syrian qanun player Maya Youssef for Equator Festival Music at Kings Place, London. He also frequently records for film and was featured on the British hit, Notting Hill. He has presented programmes for BBC Radio 3, BBC Northern Ireland and ABC Classic FM (Australia).

Craig Ogden is director of guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, adjunct fellow of the University of Western Australia, associate artist and curator of Craig Ogden’s Guitar Weekend at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, director of the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival and visiting musician at Oriel College, University of Oxford.

“A worthy successor to Julian Bream…”

BBC Music Magazine

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Viv McLean (piano)

Winner of the First Prize at the 2002 Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, Viv McLean has performed at all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. Viv’s concerto work includes appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Halle Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, Orchestra of the Swan, the London Concert Orchestra, the Scottish Concert Orchestra and the National Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra.

Recent concerto highlights include Mozart K. 467 with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall; Grieg with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican; a tour of the USA with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Gershwin; Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto with the RPO in Cambridge; Gershwin and Bernstein with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; and Beethoven’s 5th Concerto with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall.

Viv has performed chamber music with leading groups such as the Adderbury Ensemble, Ysaye String Quartet, the Sacconi String Quartet, Ensemble 360, the Galliard Wind Ensemble and the Leopold String Trio, and has collaborated with musicians such as Natalie Clein, Marianne Thorsen, Daniel Hope, Lawrence Power, Eijin Nimura, Phillip Dukes, Matthew Sharp, Kate Gould, Guy Johnston, Richard Dubugnon, David Le Page, Wayne Marshall, Christopher Warren-Green, Owain Arwell Hughes, David Charles Abell, Carl Davis and Marvin Hamlisch. He has also performed at various festivals, including the Cheltenham International Festival and Harrogate Festival in the UK; the International Beethoven Festival; the Mecklenburg Festival and the Kultur Kreis Festival in Germany; the Melle Festival and Festival de Saintes in France; the Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden in Norway; and the Musik vid Kattegatt Festival in Sweden.

Viv studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne where he held the Hodgson Fellowship and was made an Associate of the academy in 2005. He made his Wigmore Hall recital debut through winning the Friends of the Royal Academy Wigmore Award. Whilst studying at the Royal Academy, Viv was the piano winner at the Royal Overseas League Music Competition and was selected as one of three winners of the National Federation of Music Societies’ Young Artists Competition, leading to various recitals and concerto appearances throughout the UK.

Viv has recorded regularly for the BBC since making his recital debut through the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists Forum scheme and has also recorded recitals for Classic FM, WDR Radio in Germany, Radio France, ABC Radio in Australia, NRK Radio in Norway and for the Sky Arts television channel. His commercial releases include recordings for such labels as Sony Classical Japan, Naxos, Nimbus and the RPO label.

“The pianist Viv McLean seemed exceptional to me; he astonished us with his musical maturity and extraordinary sonority.”

Le Monde (Paris)

“The pianist Viv McLean never faltered, spewing molten lava.”

The Times (London)

“The fluent technique and brilliance of the interpreter were impressive. He played with insight and the greatest sensitivity.”

General Anzeiger (Bonn)

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The Adderbury Ensemble

Formed in 1986 by a group of the UK’s finest young freelance musicians, the Adderbury Ensemble has always had a flexible line-up, mixing and matching different players to deliver performances primarily as quartets, quintets or small chamber groups and occasionally adding further instruments to play symphonies and concertos by the likes of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn or Brahms – with or without a conductor.

Everyone who performs as part of the Adderbury Ensemble is an eminent instrumentalist, usually a principal player with one or more of the leading orchestras of Europe. From its early years playing Sunday evening concerts in the beautiful village of Adderbury in north Oxfordshire, the group has gone on to develop a global reputation. It performs regularly throughout Britain and overseas and helped found the world famous Oxford Coffee Concerts at the Holywell Music Room, the oldest purpose-built music venue in Europe.

The Adderbury Ensemble has released ten recordings in its own right since its first CD was released in 1997 and individual members have recorded many more, either as soloists or as members of other groups.

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