Beatrice Philips enjoys a busy freelance life as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player, leader and teacher. While reading music at Kings College London Beatrice studied the violin with Howard Davis at the Royal Academy of Music. Following her graduation in 2007 she went on to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki for her Masters, studying with Erkki Kantola and Paivyt Meller - during which she studied for one year on exchange in Paris with Olivier Charlier at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique.

During her time abroad Beatrice maintained her passion for playing chamber music by giving concerts with numerous groups in Helsinki, Paris, and in London. She has played at numerous festivals including Cheltenham, Kuhmo, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Two Moors, Resonances Chamber Music Festival in Belgium and has broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She has attended the International Musicians’ Seminar masterclasses at Prussia Cove and is regularly invited to September's Open Chamber Music, directed by Steven Isserlis.

She plays regularly with many leading ensembles in London including the London Chamber Orchestra, the London Contemporary Orchestra, the 12Ensemble, Arcangelo and regularly leads the Multi-Story orchestra, Kantanti Ensemble and recently founded the Eusebius String Quartet. As a soloist she has given performances of concertos by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius, Bruch and Tchaikovsky with orchestras throughout UK. Beatrice founded the Lewes Chamber Music Festival in 2012 and under her successful artistic direction the festival looks set to become a significant annual musical event.

Beatrice plays a copy of a 1736 Bergonzi violin which was completed in 2012 by David Munro. She is very grateful for the support she had throughout her studies from The Headley Foundation, The Albert Cooper Memorial Fund and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

A member of the London Haydn Quartet, Dutch violinist Michael Gurevich performs regularly as a chamber musician and orchestral leader and is a passionate teacher. As a chamber musician he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Royal Concertgebouw, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, the Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier Festivals playing with the Nash Ensemble, Florestan Trio, Ensemble 360, the London Bridge Ensemble, and many others. Radio broadcasts include appearances on BBC Radio 3 as well as abroad and he has recorded on the Hyperion label and Champs Hill Records. As a guest leader and principal, Michael has appeared with ensembles such as the Philharmonia, Arcangelo, CBSO, English Chamber Orchestra and Glyndebourne Orchestra.

Michael is a tutor in violin and chamber music at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and has given chamber music masterclasses at the Juilliard School, Yale University and Royal Academy of Music amongst others. Michael studied at the Royal Northern College of Music where he was awarded the Sir John Manduell Prize ‘for outstanding contribution to the college’ and ended his time there as the Leverhulme Junior Fellow in violin and viola.

He was a prizewinner in a number of solo and chamber music competitions, including the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition 2011. He greatly benefited from the guidance of the late Dr Christopher Rowland, Gaby Lester, Jan Repko, Maciej Rakowski, Ivry Gitlis and Pauline Nobes as well as masterclasses with Andras Keller, Ferenc Rados, James Boyd, Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida and members of the Florestan and Gould Trios and Endellion Quartet.

Tim is currently a student of Alexander Janiczek, and attends the Guildhall School of Music on a scholarship for the duration of his studies. Previously, he studied privately with Simon Fischer while attending the Junior Royal Academy. 

Tim was recently awarded first prize in the Under 18 North London Festival Recital class, joint-second in the D'Addario String Prize 2014, Brent Young Musician of the Year 2014, and won all available prizes at the Junior Academy of Music. He has participated in masterclasses with violinists Mi-Kyung Lee, Daniel Hope, Andras Keller and Ulf Wallin on courses across Europe. Over the past few years he has been fortunate to work closely with inspirational artists, many of whom he has met here at Lewes Chamber Music Festival. 

Although still studying for his undergraduate degree, Tim has been invited to the International Musicians Seminars Open Chamber Music Sessions in Cornwall in 2014, playing Berg’s own arrangement of the Adagio from his Kammer Konzert for Piano, Violin and Clarinet with fellow Lewes artist Matt Hunt and Ieva Jokubaviciute. Having recently performed Mozart’s 2nd Violin Concerto in D major at Wembley Arena and Chausson’s “Poème” with the Ernst Read Symphony Orchestra he looks forward to a performance of Glazunov’s Violin Concerto with Camden Symphony Orchestra in March 2016. 

From 2011 Tim has been a member of the Celan Quartet. Quartet in Residence at the 2014 Musikdorf Ernen Festival in Switzerland, the Celan Quartet was formed in 2011 with the support and inspiration of MusicWorks Chamber Courses. With the generous help from violist James Boyd, they were able to film and record Berg’s Quartet Op.3 at the Menuhin Hall, now released on CD. Since then they have appeared at many major festivals in Britain including Peasmarsh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, and two consecutive years of residency at the Wye Valley Festival in Wales. 

Tim is also very fortunate to have the opportunity to regularly play with Arcangelo, a leading ensemble comprised of players who excel on both historical and modern instruments, under the direction of founder and artistic director & conductor Jonathan Cohen. 

In 2015 Tim will be appearing at various chamber festivals, including Brighton Festival with fellow Lewes artist Timothy Ridout, Joroisten Musiikkipaivat in Finland and Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland. Tim plays a Ferdinand Gagliano, c.1770.

Catherine Manson enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. As first violinist of the classical London Haydn Quartet she has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and London’s Wigmore Hall. The quartet’s series of recordings of the Haydn quartets on the Hyperion label has met with high critical acclaim internationally.

She was appointed as leader of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 2006. Together with the orchestra's director, Ton Koopman she has recorded the six obbligato sonatas by Bach, Haydn's concerto for violin and organ and the complete chamber music by Buxtehude. They have given many concerts together throughout Europe. Highlights in recent months have included appearing as a soloist and director with Tafelmusik in Canada and performing all the Bach concerti at London's South Bank. In a duo partnership with pianist Alasdair Beatson she will next week complete a cycle of Beethoven sonata recitals with a concert recorded by the BBC.

Teaching has always been an important part of her musical life; in 2001 she co­founded and now directs MusicWorks, presenting chamber music courses for young musicians.

Tom Hankey studied the violin with David Takeno, Krzyzstof Smietana, Levon Chilingirian and Yossi Zivoni. As violinist and violist, he is a member of the Aronowitz Ensemble. The group took part in the Radio 3 New Generation Artist Scheme which involved frequent performances for radio throughout  the UK, including Wigmore Hall, the Sage, Gateshead, and Bridgewater Hall, as well as from the Bath, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Kings Place, Spoleto, City of London festivals and the proms. A Borletti-Buitoni Trust award enabled them to release two CDs on the Sonimage label. 

Tom also plays second violin in the Callino Quartet, with whom he has toured extensively and recorded works by Haydn, Schubert and Janáček. As soloist he has given many recitals and concerto performances including Beethoven’s triple concerto and Prokofiev’s first concerto, and has taken part in performances of Stravinsky’sSoldier’s Tale with the Kreisler Ensemble. His freelance orchestral work has included touring with the Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Camerata Bern, English Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.