Benjamin Nabarro, violin

Tom Dunn, viola

Kate Gould, cello

Ivan Ludlow,  baritone

“.. they demonstrated throughout the evening an extraordinary ability to weave and sustain extended melodic lines”

“.. the group produced sounds of unfailing beauty and warmth”

The Strad

“.. in the hands of these virtuosi, this simple music could not help but dance, fly and rejoice”

“.. it was a divine evening of music making”

Music and Vision

“Ivan Ludlow was able to inject an urgency and yearning that was beautifully complemented by the instrumentalists’ responsive playing.” Classical Source

  

The London Bridge Ensemble is one of Britain’s most exciting and brilliant chamber groups.

Since making its Wigmore Hall debut in 2005, which included the premiere of a work written for the group by David Matthews, the group’s engagements have included concerts at Sheffield Music in the Round, St. David’s Hall Cardiff, St. George’s Bristol, St. John’s Smith Square and Bridgewater Hall Manchester. Festival appearances have included City of London Festival, the Kerry Chamber Music Festival, Leicester International Music Festival’s lunchtime series and Ponte de Lima Festival in North Portugal.

In 2012 the ensemble returns to the Wigmore Hall, appears at Kings Place in London and gives a series of concerts in Portugal.  They will also present their fifth annual festival - The Winchester Chamber Music Festival - which quickly established itself as a highly successful event following the inaugural festival in 2008 in the home town of their cellist Kate Gould.  The guest collaborators in 2011 were Richard Lester, Krysia Osostowicz and Sara Bitlloch.

The Ensemble presents innovative and stimulating programmes of chamber music and song or instrumental music alone, on occasion inviting guest artists to form larger combinations in order to explore an even richer and more versatile repertoire.  The name represents the group's special ability to bring together different musical genres and styles from the fields of both chamber music and song.  It is also an affectionate homage to the bridge and station of that name in the City of London and, importantly, reflects, through Frank Bridge, an admiration for the English music of the early twentieth century, which has from the outset formed an important part of the group’s varied repertoire.

Daniel Tong (piano) spends his musical life performing as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as directing two chamber music festivals and teaching. Outside the UK he has performed in Sweden, France, Belgium and Portugal.  Daniel has appeared at many of the foremost British venues and festivals - Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, St Georges Bristol, Birmingham Town Hall as well as the Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals.  He is frequently heard on BBC Radio and has broadcast throughout Europe. Daniel’s latest project, 'unravelled' in collaboration with musicologist Richard Wigmore, has seen a series of lecture-recital weekends on Beethoven and Schubert piano sonatas.  In 2012 he has been invited to curate a festival of Elgar's music at Kings Place in London.  Daniel will also give a series of presentations in northern Portugal, with performances by the Skampa Quartet, exploring the late Beethoven quartets and contemporary works by Schubert and Mendelssohn.  Each year Daniel plays with an array of wonderful artists, often at his own chamber festival in the Wye Valley. 

Benjamin Nabarro (violin) plays worldwide as soloist and chamber musician.  He appears regularly at international festivals such as Cheltenham, the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, Edinburgh, Bucharest, Hanover and  Bullawayo, Zimbabwe.  During recent years he has given concerto performances of works by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Sibelius, Leighton and Piazzolla. Benjamin has appeared as director, soloist and leader of the English Chamber Orchestra and was invited to play Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherezade with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Charles Dutoit.   As well as his membership of the London Bridge Ensemble, Benjamin is the newly appointed violinist of Ensemble 360.   He is also a regular guest of the Nash Ensemble and Fibonacci Sequence. Other recent collaborations include concerts with the cellist Adrian Brendel.

Tom Dunn (viola) was born in Yorkshire and studied on the Joint Course at Manchester University and The Royal Northern College of Music. Since moving to London in 2002, he has held Co-Principal Viola positions in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.  Tom is currently a member of The London Bridge Ensemble and the Aiso Quartet and, since January 2010, Co-Principal Viola in The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.  In recent years, Tom has appeared as Guest Principal Viola with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Philharmonia,Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English Baroque Soloists,London Chamber Orchestra and The Philharmonia.  He is very lucky to play on a viola made in 1690 by the Flemish maker Matthijs Hofmans.

Kate Gould (cello) is well known for her contribution to the chamber music world, appearing regularly at the major international concert halls and festivals world-wide.  Her 2011/12 season includes performances at Wigmore Hall, London, Musikverein, Vienna, Conservatorium, Innsbruck, the East Neuk Festival, Scotland and a tour of Italy. In addition to her membership of the London Bridge Ensemble, she is a founder member of the Leopold String Trio, with violinist, Isabelle van Keulen and violist, Lawrence Power. Kate spends the rest of her concert life giving duo recitals and playing in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, of which she became a member in 2000.  As a student, Kate was a winner of the Tillett Trust Young Artists Platform and the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists’ Forum.  Through the trio, she has received prestigious awards from the Royal Philharmonic Society and Borletti-Buitoni Trust and taken part in the inaugural BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme and the European Concert Halls Organisation 'Rising Stars' series.  She regularly plays with artists such as Paul Lewis, Christian Zacharius, Marc-Andre Hamelin and Alekzander Madzar and has made numerous recordings for Hyperion Records, including two nominations for Gramophone Awards.  Kate plays a Carlo Guiseppe Testore cello of 1711.

Ivan Ludlow (baritone) was born in London, and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio.  A regular guest at some of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses, including Naples, Spoleto, Paris, Lyon, Athens, Toulouse, Welsh National Opera, Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux, Metz, Casa da Musica (Porto), Vlaamse Oper (Antwerp), Lausanne, with conductors such as Christophe Rousset, Adam Fischer, Jan Latham Koenig, Jean-Yves Ossonce, Cyril Diedrich, Franck Ollu, Christoph Ullrich Meyer, Ludovic Morlot, Gerard Korsten and Gustav Kuhn he has, amongst others roles, sung: Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Onegin, Iarba (La Didone), Escamillo, Nevers (Les Huguenots), the Count (Capriccio), Marcello, Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Danilo, Belcore, Aeneas, Demetrius, Traveller (Curlew River), Astrologer (Burning Fiery Furnace), Baritone (Maxwell-Davies’ No. 11 Bus).  A frequent recitalist Ivan has performed throughout Europe and the United States and is often partnered by Daniel Tong.  He regularly appears in concert with orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, Remix Ensemble, Le Parlement de Musique, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Il Seminario Musicale, Divino Sospiro.