Alexander Chaushian        Ashley Wass

Cello and Piano Recital Alex Chaushian / cello Ashley Wass / piano Wednesday 24 January 2007, 8:30pm PASYDY Auditorium, Nicosia

The Pharos Trust is delighted to open the Winter / Spring 2007 season with a cello and piano recital by Alex Chaushian and Ashley Wass, first presented with a huge success at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London in December 2006. The recital will take place on Wednesday 24 January 2007, at the PASYDY Auditorium in Nicosia, with works by Mendelssohn , Beethoven, Vainberg and Rachmaninoff. The artists will also give an educational concert, organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture and supported by the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority.

Alexander Chaushian / cello

Alexander Chaushian started to play the cello at the age of seven, studying with his grandfather and Zare Sarkisian. From 1992 to 1995, he studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Melissa Phelps and from 1995 to 1999 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as a student of Oleg Kogan. From 1999 to 2001, Chaushian performed extensively as part of the Kempf Trio, holding a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since 2003 he had been pursuing advanced studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with the late Boris Pergamenschikow and later David Geringas, graduating with distinction in 2005.

Alexander Chaushian won First Prize in the 1990 Premio Mozart Competition in Verona, Italy and in 1992, First Prize in the International Music Competition in Holland. He received the Guilhermina Suggia Gift in London, a grant awarded to outstanding string players, on three occasions. In 1997, he was awarded the Orchestra of New England Soloist Prize, as well as the first Summis Auspiciis Prize of Young Concert Artists in New York. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Anna Instone Memorial Award sponsored by Capital Radio. In 2001, he was the joint recipient of the Pierre Fournier Award and in 2002 was awarded third prize in the 12^th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Alex Chaushian has won the 3^rd prize and the special prize given by the Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD in Germany in September 2005.

As a soloist with orchestra, Alexander Chaushian has performed in many countries worldwide, including appearances with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and at the Bruchnerhaus in Linz, as well as with the London Mozart Players and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Royal National Orchestra of Belgium, Les Solistes Européens de Luxembourg in a gala concert conducted by Yehudi Menuhin, the Boston Pops Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 

Chaushian has performed recitals at the Harrogate Festival in England, the Kuhmo International Festival in Finland, La Jolla Festival in the USA, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and in Montpellier as recipient of the Beracasa Foundation Prize of the Radio-France and in Montpellier Festival. From 2002 until the present he has acted as the artistic director of the Orpheus & Bacchus Festival in Bordeaux, France and the Pharos Trust Music Festival in Cyprus.

Ashley Wass / piano

Described by Gramophone Magazine as a ‘thoroughbred who possesses the enviable gift to turn almost anything he plays into pure gold’, Ashley Wass is firmly established as one of the most sought-after performers of his generation. Only the second British pianist in 20 years to reach the finals of the Leeds Piano Competition (in 2000), he was the first British pianist ever to win First Prize at the World Piano Competition in 1997. He appeared in the ‘Rising Stars’ series at the 2001 Ravinia Festival and is also a former BBC New Generations Artist.

Ashley Wass studied at Chethams Music School and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music to study with Christopher Elton and Hamish Milne. In 2002 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy. He has spent three summers as a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, playing chamber music with musicians such as Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and members of the Guarneri Quartet and Beaux Arts Trio.

Wass has given recitals at most of the UK’s major venues including Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall, the Purcell Room, LSO St. Luke's, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Sage, Bridgewater Hall, St. David’s Hall, and at the festivals of Bath, Cheltenham, Brighton and the City of London. His concerto performances have included Beethoven and Brahms with the Philharmonia, Mendelssohn and Beethoven with the Orchestre National de Lille and Mozart with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Wass has also worked with Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

In recent seasons Wass has appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic. He has also recorded the Poulenc Piano Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and Vassily Sinaisky. In June 2002 he appeared in a gala concert at Buckingham Palace to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, a performance broadcast live to millions of viewers around the world. Other notable engagements have included several return visits to the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Philharmonia, successful debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales (a performance of Brahms 1st Concerto that was voted "Best of 2004 - BBC Radio 3 Performance") and the BBC Symphony, and acclaimed debuts in Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, the USA and Cuba.

Ashley Wass’ recording of Beethoven 3rd Piano Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic has been issued as a BBC Music Magazine cover CD and he has also recorded Chopin for an EMI disc ‘In Tune with the Piano'. He made his debut recording in 1999 with a solo recital disc of works by César Franck for Naxos. Diapason commented: 'The quality and height of inspiration of his playing makes this disc a revelation.' Ashley’s recent surveys of piano music by Bridge and Bax have been heralded as ' remarkable' and 'the yardstick against which all future recordings will be judged'. Selected as an 'Editor's Choice' CD in Gramophone Magazine and later nominated in the 'Best Instrumental Disc' category of the Gramophone Awards, Volume One of his Bax series was hailed as 'without a shadow of a doubt the best recorded and best played Bax piano CD to come before the public', while Volume Two is described as 'unmissable at any price'.