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The Bulgarian violinist, Rada Ovcharova, started her violin studies at the age of 6. She received a prestigious scholarship from the Labberté Foundation to study in the Netherlands where she completed both a Bachelor of Music degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and a Master’s degree at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Her teachers have included Thomas Brandis, Phillipe Graffin, Istvan Parkanyi, György Pauk, and Gordan Nikolic. She has won top prizes in competitions including the International ‘Young Music Talents’ in Sofia, Bulgaria and has performed as a soloist with the National Youth Orchestra Sofia and the Delft Symphony Orchestra.
Rada Ovcharova has performed regularly throughout the Netherlands and across Europe as both a chamber musician and recitalist. She plays in the Ysaÿe String Trio as well as the New European Ensemble and made numerous appearances for radio and television in these roles.
Rada Ovcharova plays on an Andreas Gisalberti violin from 1791. |
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The Dutch violist, Emlyn Stam, finished his Bachelor’s degree in June 2006 and his Master’s in September 2008 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague having studied with Ferdinand Erblich and Vladimir Mendelssohn. Further studies have included master-classes with Pinchas Zukerman, Michael Tree, Yuri Bashmet, Roberto Diaz, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian and Gerald Stanick.
Emlyn Stam is active as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestral musician in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. For seven years he was assistant principal violist of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag under Neeme Järvi. Other orchestral work has included appearances is as a guest principle with the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Welsh National Orchestra and Toulon Opera. He has made numerous appearances for Dutch radio and television, he has appeared as a soloist with the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and the Schönberg Ensemble. He has also performed at numerous festivals such as the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Sound of Stockholm, Connect Festival, Giverny Chamber Music Festival, International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht and Grachtenfestival Amterdam. Chamber music performances have included concerts with the Parkanyi Quartet in the Concertgebouw and regular appearances with the Ysaÿe Trio of which he is a founding member. The trio released their first CD in 2013 on the DRC label. He is a founding member of the New European Ensemble as well as the ensemble’s Artistic Coordinator. He also plays the Viola d’Amore. |
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The Canadian/Dutch cellist, Willem Stam, began his musical education as both pianist and cellist. During his studies with John Kadz in Calgary he was coached by many of the worlds most renowned cello pedagogues including Richard Aaron, Andres Diaz, Lynn Harrell, Desmond Hoebig, Hans Jenzen, Paul Katz, Ron Leonard, Lawrence Lesser, and Aldo Parisot. At age 17 thanks to the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, he moved to The Netherlands to study with Dimitry Ferschtman. In 2010 he successfully completed his Bachelor of Music education and is currently continuing his studies in The Netherlands with Professor Ferschtman. He has also received coaching from Anner Bylsma, Natalia Gutman, Gary Hoffman, Reinhard Latzko, Harro Ruijsenaars, and Torleif Thedéen.
An experienced chamber musician, Willem Stam is a founding member of several ensembles with which he regularly performs throughout The Netherlands, Europe, and around the world. The Ysaÿe Trio was founded in 2006 in The Hague and performs regularly throughout the Netherlands including frequent performances with Belarusian/Dutch pianist Hanna Shybayeva in a project called “Symphonic Intimacy” which includes arrangements of symphonic works and concertos for chamber music settings. He is also an avid performer of contemporary music and in 2008 was involved in founding the New European Ensemble, an ensemble of young musicians from across Europe which combines older more established works of the 20th century repertoire with new works written by some of the best composers of our time which has performed across Holland as well as in Sweden and the UK. He also performs regularly with violinist Eduardo Paredes both as a duo and in larger ensembles and appears regularly as recitalist with pianists Sergey Smirnov and Stefan Petrovic. He has received chamber music coaching from many of the worlds leading chamber musicians including members of the Alban Berg, Daniel, Guarneri, Miro, Parkanyi, Shanghai, and Vermeer quartets as well as Eberhard Feltz, Naum Grubert, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Gordan Nikolitcg, and Per Nyström among others.
Willem Stam first performed with orchestra in 2006 in Calgary as soloist in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and debuted with the Janacek Philharmonic in the Czech Republic in 2010 as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. He has performed extensively throughout The Netherlands and has given concerts in Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, UK, and Uruguay. His performances have been broadcast on the radio and television in both Canada and The Netherlands. Most recently he appeared as soloist in Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto with violinist Eduardo Paredes in Rosario, Argentina as part of an extensive five week concert tour of South America supported by the Dutch Embassies in Argentina, Bolvia, and Uruguay as well as the Netherlands Foundation for the Performing Arts.
A dedicated pedagogue, Willem Stam teaches privately in The Netherlands as well as abroad through the Internet and has also given master-classes in Argentina, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
Willem Stam plays on a Stefano Scarampella (Mantova 1918) cello, on loan from the Netherlands Musical Instrument Foundation. |
