Mork-Stott Bios

TRULS MØRK, CELLO
     This is Truls Mørk’s second appearance on the Chamber Music Society of Detroit series, having performed in October 2002 with Yefim Bronfman and Gil Shaham.
     Truls Mørk's reputation as a cellist of fierce intensity and grace has been built on performances throughout the world, with such major orchestras as Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Tonhalle Zürich, Oslo Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic and all of the leading US orchestras.
     Upcoming dates include appearances with Munich Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia, Staatskapelle Dresden, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Cleveland and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras. In Summer 2005 he will tour the Far East and Australia giving concerts with NHK Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony orchestras. He also will perform and record Beethoven's Triple Concerto alongside Gil Shaham and Yefim Bronfman with the Zürich Tonhalle and David Zinman, and Beethoven Septet again with Gil Shaham and members of the Tonhalle.
     Truls Mørk is a committed performer of contemporary music, and recent concerts have included the world premieres of Krystof Penderecki's Concerto for Three Cellos with NHK Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit (2001) and Haflidi Hallgrimsson’s Cello Concerto co-commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has also recently given the premieres of Aaron J. Kernis's Colored Field in Germany and the Netherlands. He will premiere the Matthias Pintscher Concerto with Orchestre de Paris in February 2006, and will give the UK premiere with London Philharmonic and the US premiere with Cleveland.
     A dedicated chamber musician, Truls Mørk was the founder and served as Artistic Director of the annual week long International Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger (Norway) from 1991 until 2003. In addition to his regular recitals around the globe he also arranged the highly successful ‘Sixty Degrees North’ series at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, featuring works by composers from Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Oslo. Following the success of a recent US tour with appearances in Detroit, Chicago and New York, the trio of Mørk, Shaham and Bronfman is planning further dates in the US and Asia. This season Truls Mørk tours the US with Kathryn Stott and Europe with Stephen Kovacevich.
     Truls Mørk is an exclusive Virgin Classics artist and has recorded many of the great cello concertos including Shostakovich Concerti (Jansons/London Philharmonic) which was nominated for a Grammy; Dvorák Concerto (Jansons/Oslo Philharmonic); Britten Cello Symphony and Elgar Concerto (Rattle/CBSO); Miaskovsky Concerto and Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante (Paavo Järvi/CBSO) and Dutilleux (Chung/Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France). In 2002 he received a Grammy Award for his Britten Cello Suites. The latest recording, with Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, of the Schumann Cello Concerto will be released in Spring 2005, to co-incide with performances in Paris, and with Paavo Järvi and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in February 2005.
     Initially taught the cello by his father, John, Truls Mørk continued his studies with Frans Helmerson, Heinrich Schiff and Natalia Schakowskaya. His numerous awards to date include the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition (1982) and the Naumburg Competition in New York (1986). Truls Mørk plays on a rare Domenico Montagnana (1723) bought for him by SR Bank in Norway.

KATHRYN STOTT, PIANO
     Kathryn Stott is one of Britain’s most versatile and respected musicians. As a pianist, whether performing a new commission, making music with like-minded friends, recording unusual works or exploring repertoire beyond the normal Western classical piano tradition, she is committed to sharing her enthusiasm with as wide an audience as possible.
     Engagements as a concerto soloist with orchestras throughout Britain and Europe, Hong Kong and Australia are combined with recital and chamber music activities with a varied circle of collaborators, taking Kathryn Stott to major music centers throughout the world. Current and forthcoming engagements include a recital tour of the US (as well as concerts in Munich, Lucerne, London and Dublin) with longtime friend and colleague, Yo-Yo Ma; appearances with the Lindsay Quartet in Spain and with the Skampa Quartet in Italy, Holland and the UK; performances with Isabelle Van Keulen and Michael Collins in Spain and Italy, and with Janine Jansen at the Edinburgh Festival; engagements at the Delft and Stavanger chamber music festivals and a tour of the US with Truls Mørk.
     The critically acclaimed premiere of Graham Fitkin’s Circuit for two pianos with the BBC Philharmonic was one recent highlight of Ms. Stott’s piano duo partnership with Noriko Ogawa, with whom she will tour in Japan. As a result of Ms. Stott’s interest in contemporary music, several composers have written for her, including Julian Josephs, and in 2004 she takes part in a new piano trio commissioned from Fitkin by the Concertgebouw. She has given the first performances of new works by many of today’s leading composers: Michael Nyman’s Piano Concerto, Maxwell Davies's Piano Concerto, and Marc Yeats's The Round and Square Art of Memory, as well as the British premiere of The Four Parables by Paul Schoenfield.
     As Artistic Director, Kathryn Stott has devised two highly successful international piano festivals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester (2000 and 2003), embracing classical, jazz and tango music. Other series she has devised include ‘Out of the Shadows’ - the music of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn - and a Fauré festival after which, for her contribution to French music, she was appointed Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
     Her discography is extensive, ranging from the complete solo piano music by Fauré (Hyperion) to discs of piano music by John Foulds (BIS) and by Ernesto Lecuona, La Habanera (EMI), and the Grammy award-winning Sony CD, Soul of the Tango, a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and members of Piazzolla’s original quintet. Recent and current releases include solo piano music by Koechlin (Les Heures Persanes /Chandos) and by Schulhoff (BIS), Kabalevsky’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 (BBC Philharmonic/Chandos), sonatas by Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Franck with Yo-Yo Ma (Paris: La Belle Epoque/Sony), orchestral music by Delius arranged for two pianos by Philip Heseltine (with Noriko Ogawa) and Brazil featuring, amongst others, Yo-Yo Ma, the Assad Brothers and Paquito D’Rivera, around the release of which she toured with the CD ensemble to Japan, US and Europe.
     Kathryn Stott studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School (Vlado Perlemuter and Nadia Boulanger), and the Royal College of Music (Kendall Taylor), and was a prizewinner at the 1978 Leeds International Piano Competition. She lives in Lancashire, UK, where she was born, with her daughter, Lucy.

Return to top

Return to Main Series