Veles Ensemble

The Veles Ensemble is a classical string trio based in London. It was founded in 2016 by three young successful classical musicians – soloists, recitalists and performers in leading London chamber orchestras: Evva Mizerska – cello, Ralitsa Naydenova – viola and Hartmut Richter – violin. The group aims at exploring rarely heard masterpieces as well as bringing the classics to life and onto the concert stage. The ensemble is also committed to promoting new compositions and contemporary music. It occasionally expands to play as a piano quartet and slightly larger line-ups.

The Veles Ensemble released their debut album with chamber music by British composer Steve Elcock with Toccata Classics in December 2018 to critical acclaim (Gramophone, MusicWeb International amongst the others). Currently, the ensemble awaits the publication of their new album with previously unrecorded works by Austrian – British dodecaphonic composer Egon Wellesz. www.velesensemble.com

Named “rising star” by The Strad magazine, Evva Mizerska is an award-winning cellist, recitalist and chamber musician. Highly sought-after performer, she has appeared as a soloist or recitalist in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell Room (Queen Elizabeth Hall), St George’s Bristol, Conway Hall and the Fairfield Halls. Evva regularly performs at various festivals and concert halls across the UK including Cheltenham, Plymouth, Hexham Abbey and Chester Festivals. Abroad she has performed duo or trio recitals in Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. Her solo appearances include Elgar, Schumann and Saint-Saëns concerti, as well as Beethoven Triple Concerto and Requiem by Durufl?. Evva has also performed for the BBC3 and the Polish Radio.

Born in Poland, Evva graduated from the Frédéric Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. She later completed the PGDip and MMus courses at Trinity College of Music in London, where she studied with Richard Markson. She also received tuition from Yonty Solomon, Bernard Greenhouse, Raphael Sommer and Erling

Blöndal Bengtsson. Evva has been awarded numerous prizes, including the first prize at the Seventh International Leoš Janá?ek Competition in Brno, the Vivian Joseph Cello Prize and the Leonard Smith Duo Prize in London as well as scholarships and grants in the UK, Germany and the USA.

Evva currently lives in London where she is a cello lecturer at Morley College. Her chamber music partners include pianist Emma Abbate, the Veles Ensemble (a string trio, of which Evva is a founding member), violinist Miriam Kramer and clarinettist Peter Cigleris. Evva has a strong interest in Polish and contemporary music. She commissioned pieces by contemporary Polish composers and performed them as part of her Junior Fellowship concert series at Trinity College of Music. She also premiered, together with her pianist Emma Abbate, works by English composers Graham Coatman and Stephen Dodgson and Canadian Piotr Grella Mozejko.

Evva’s other recordings include the complete cello and piano music by Stephen Dodgson, Krzysztof Meyer and Algernon Ashton (vol 1) (with Emma Abbate) – all for Toccata Classics. Evva has also featured in recordings for Naxos and the Polish label DUX. Her CDs received outstanding reviews in magazines such as The Strad, The Gramophone, The International Record Review, Fanfare and German Fonoforum.

www.evvamizerska-cellist.co.uk

Born in Bulgaria, Ralitsa Naydenova began her musical education at the age of six, studying the violin at the National Academy of Music in Bulgaria before moving to London to complete her master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM).

During her studies at RAM, Ralitsa discovered her passion for the viola and began studying with Rivka Golani and Emanuella Reiter. Ralitsa was awarded a full scholarship for three years and continued with postgraduate studies in performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, gaining postgraduate diplomas on both the violin and viola.

Alongside orchestral playing, Ralitsa is passionate about chamber music and has been a member of prizewinning ensembles, giving many performances with string quartets, trios and sonata ensembles. Ralitsa has participated in master classes with renowned quartets such as the Chilingirian Quartet and Brodsky Quartet, and has performed as a concerto soloist with orchestras in England, Italy and Bulgaria.

Ralitsa has also been accepted onto the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme, parallel to her year in Southbank Sinfonia. Currently Ralitsa works as a substitute for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo National Opera and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

German-born violinist Hartmut Richter is a soloist and chamber musician residing in London, United Kingdom, giving regular concerts in Europe and North America. He is active in several ensembles including the Veles Ensemble, the Richter-Housden Duo (violin/guitar), the Richter-Ardelean Piano Duo and other formations. He is featured on a recent NAXOS CD of music by Stephen Dodgson, released in August 2017. Richter studied at the Hanover Academy of Music, Germany, under Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Atila Aydintan and Ina Kertscher, before completing his studies with a soloist diploma at the Nuremberg Academy of Music under Lydia Dubrovskaya. Richter won several first prizes in German national competitions including Jugend Musiziert and the Mozart Competition Hildesheim, and has received scholarships for international masterclasses working with renowned professors including Robert Szreder, Rosa Fain, Kurt Sassmannshaus and Christian Altenburger. Apart from his performing career, Hartmut is a composer and a dedicated violin teacher and frequently holds music workshops internationally. Hartmut plays a copy of the Hart (Ex-Francescatti) Stradivarius violin (1727), made by Christian Erichson, Hanover. www.hartmutrichter.com