Cropper/Welsh/Roscoe Trio
Peter Cropper was born in Southport, Lancashire. He comes from a musical family; his grandfather was Leader of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and his uncle Principal viola player in the BBC Philharmonic for thirty-five years. At the age of thirteen he won a music scholarship to Uppingham School and whilst there joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, where he met his wife to be, Nina Martin. He continued his violin studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London with his future father-in-law, David Martin. He won numerous prizes there including the prize for the best final year recital. He also founded the now internationally acclaimed Lindsay String Quartet of which he has been the Leader for over thirty years.
Despite giving concerts all over the world with the Quartet, he gives many solo recitals and has performed concertos with over a dozen different orchestras. He plays on a Golden period Stradivarius violin. The Lindsays retire as a quartet in July 2005 and Peter's future plans include playing piano trios with Moray Welsh and Martin Roscoe and recording all the Beethoven Violin Sonatas. He will also be teaching an MA in String Quartet performance at Sheffield University.
His musical activities don't end with the violin, he often gives talks about music for the BBC. He was invited to sit on the music panel of the Arts Council of Great Britain, which gave him an insight into the need to promote music as well as play it. To this end he started the International Chamber Music Series in Sheffield, now known as Music in the Round. As Artistic Director of this Festival he set about popularising chamber music by dressing informally and giving entertaining and informative introductions to the music. In 1994 he was awarded the Philharmonic Prize for 'consistently imaginative programming'. In 2000 he won a Creative Briton award for his outstanding vision, leadership and creativity in the musical life of Great Britain. Peter has been awarded many honorary degrees, including Doctorates from the universities of Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester.
Outside music, Peter's interests are varied, but his main loves are wine and food (having been born in one of the best wine years of the century, 1945) and he has nearly finished renovating a 17th century farmhouse tucked away in the Peak District. He has 2 children, a son who is following in his father's footsteps as a violinist and a daughter who plays the oboe and conducts.
Moray Welsh had the unique experience of studying for two years at the Moscow Conservatoire under the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Born near Edinburgh, while still a student at York University the quality of his playing was recognised by Benjamin Britten, who then arranged an introduction to Rostropovich. Since then he has pursued a distinguished and varied career as soloist, chamber musician and Principal cellist. In Britain he has played several times at the Proms, in all the major concert halls and with all the key symphony orchestras. He has toured abroad as a soloist with several British orchestras and has appeared as a soloist in Scandinavia, Europe, Russia, the USA, and the Far East.
His musical interests are extremely wide, and his records range from a disc of Baroque Concertos, to several records of contemporary music, including the Hugh Wood Concerto, which was selected as a Record of the Year by the Sunday Times. A recent disc of Herbert Howells pieces with the LSO was selected as Editor's Choice in Gramophone Magazine, and his CD of cello music by Rachmaninov with Martin Roscoe was an Amazon record of the month.
Also very active in the chamber music field, Moray has directed his own string sextet - The Arienski Ensemble - which won the 1992 Music Retailers Award for Best Chamber Music CD. He has recorded Bach Trio Sonatas with James Galway and Kyung Wha Chung, and has several times performed the complete works of Beethoven for cello and piano. Recent chamber music partners have included Andre Previn, Martin Roscoe, Yuri Bashmet, Midori, and Leif Ove Andsnes. For 18 years Moray held a teaching post at the Royal Northern College of Music but relinquished that in 1992 in order to take up a new appointment as joint Principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has since several times been soloist both in this country and abroad. In July 1993 he gave the world premiere of the David Blake Cello Concerto at the Cheltenham Festival with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and in December 1995 the premiere of the Ronald Stevenson Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, adding to an impressive list of first performances and works which have been dedicated to him.
When not sitting behind a cello, Moray also enjoys skiing, gardening, 20th century British art, and has himself dabbled in painting and silversmithing. Another interest in recent years has been writing. Moray plays on a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in Venice around 1720.
Martin Roscoe performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician all over the world. As a concerto soloist, Martin has worked with many of the world's leading conductors and has performed with orchestras across Europe and further afield South Africa, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
In the UK, Martin has performed with all the major orchestras, developing strong links with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, with whom has given over 80 performances, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. A close relationship with the BBC has led to over 400 broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and invitations to perform at the BBC Proms on 6 occasions. As a recitalist Martin performs in the UK at the Wigmore Hall each season and has given recitals in South America, Australia, the Lebanon and across Europe.
As a chamber musician Martin has partnered Emma Johnson, Michael Collins, Steven Osborne, the Chilingirian, Endellion, Vellinger, and Sorrel Quartets amongst others. He works regularly with violinist Tasmin Little.
Martin's numerous recording projects have included piano concertos by Brüll and Dohnanyi (Hyperion), solo works by Dohnanyi (ASV), Clementi (CRD), Arvo Pärt with Tasmin Little (EMI), chamber music by Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach with the Endellion Quartet and Copland and Dohnanyi with the Vanbrugh Quartet (ASV). The fourth and final disc of his survey of the piano music of Szymanowski (Naxos) will be released shortly. Among Martin's most recent releases are the Romantic piano concertos by Fuchs and Kiehl (Hyperion) and James MacMillan's The Berserking (Chandos).
Martin was a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music for 6 years, now holding an Honorary Associateship. Martin's services to music have been recognised with the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Hull. The Artistic Director of the Beverley Chamber Music Festival, Martin also initiated and directs the Ribble Valley International Piano Week.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Sarah Trelawny
