2024 Concerts
September 5 - Madelyn Kowalski (cello) Jonathan Ferrucci (piano)
September 5 - Madelyn Kowalski (cello) Jonathan Ferrucci (piano)
American cellist Madelyn Kowalski performs at chamber music festivals in Europe and the U.S. She was nominated by Steven Isserlis for the 2023-24 Classeek Ambassador Programme and is a fellow at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. Madelyn’s solo performances include the Scottish premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s cello concerto with the RCS Orchestra and the Walton Cello Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Italian-Australian pianist Jonathan Ferrucci has given concerts as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, Australia and the United States. He has performed in Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and Milton Court Concert Hall in London, Carnegie Weill Hall in New York and the Fazioli Concert Hall in Italy.
Programme
Beethoven Cello Sonata no 2 in G minor, Op5
Chopin Cello Sonata
Madelyn Kowalski’s performance at the 2023 Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad with pianist Anna Han received the André Hoffmann prize for best interpretation of a work commissioned for the festival. Madelyn has performed on BBC Radio 3, and in 2019 she premiered a chamber work by Sir James MacMillan in the presence of King Charles. She has received the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal, an ABRSM International Postgraduate Scholarship, and placed 2nd in the Concours International de Violoncelle “Tremplin” in Paris.
Originally from Washington State, Madelyn received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), where she studied with Alison Wells. She has attended festivals including IMS Prussia Cove, Académie Maurice Ravel, Yellow Barn Festival, Kneisel Hall, the Birdfoot Festival, the Sitka International Cello Seminar and Hellensmusic, and regularly takes part in the Open Chamber Music sessions at Prussia Cove each September. She has had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Kim Kashkashian, David Waterman, and Ralph Kirshbaum, among many others.
Madelyn loves being in the countryside, around animals, and watercolour painting.
Jonathan Ferrucci is a prize winner of numerous competitions, such as the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, the Royal Overseas League, the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition. A Kirckman Society Artist and Keyboard Trust Artist, Jonathan’s recent work includes a seven-date tour of the United States, focused around the Goldberg Variations, and concerts in Italy with the Orchestra da Camera di Perugia, playing as a soloist and together with his mentor Angela Hewitt.
Jonathan’s repertoire ranges from baroque music to contemporary composers, with a particular emphasis on Bach: in 2020 he began his study of the Goldberg Variations, and has since performed them in the UK, Italy and the US. As for future projects, his exploration of Bach’s music continues with the complete keyboard Toccatas, which he recorded with German label Audite for release later this year.
In addition to his training with Giovanni Carmassi in Florence, and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School in London, his artistic sensitivity has been profoundly influenced by Angela Hewitt, with whom he has worked since 2014, and by his studies with Robert Levin, Aldo Ciccolini, and Zhu Xiao-Mei. His journey has been inspired along the way by masterclasses with Murray Perahia, Richard Goode, Christian Zacharias, Dmitri Bashkirov and Peter Frankl.
Parallel to his time spent at the piano, Jonathan is a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga practitioner. He considers Yoga integral to his work as a musician and essential in life.