The Kirker Music Festival, Tenerife

Melvyn Tan was born in Singapore. and came to England at a young age to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music. He has appeared as a soloist with every leading orchestra, throughout Europe and the USA. The works of Chopin have always been central to his repertoire.

Elisabeth Perry studied with the first class of pupils at the Yehudi Menuhin School. At the age of fourteen, Perry shared center stage with Lord Menuhin in a memorable Royal Albert Hall concert and subsequently recorded the Bach Double Violin Concerto for Teldec. Perry has been a welcome guest soloist with Britain’s leading orchestras including the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

"Performer, editor, composer and teacher, Simon Rowland-Jones has always led a very busy, all-embracing musical life. He was founder violist of the Chilingirian Quartet, in which he played for a total of ten years, and subsequently performed with many other leading chamber groups. 

His solo CDs, on the Meridian and Etcetera labels, include the first-ever complete version of the Bach Cello Suites on viola. Peters Edition published his viola transcription of the suites shortly after the recording was made and he then went on to make a new critical/performing edition of the Haydn String Quartets. His many works include pieces for viola, four string quartets, a string trio, a piano quartet, songs and ‘A Turn Outside’, a musical adaptation of a play by Stevie Smith commissioned by Dame Josephine Barstow. He teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal College of Music and is co-director of the North Norfolk Music Festival."

Katherine Broderick, soprano, was born in Oldham. During 2007 she won two major prizes, the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the Gold Medal at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Career highlights include Donna Anna at ENO, Elsa in Montpelier and Brünnhilde for Opera North.

The pianist Gary Matthewman is one of the foremost accompanists of his generation working regular with the world's leading singers including Aiylyn Perez, Adam Plachetka, John Mark Ainsley, Andrei Bondarenko and many more. 

He is a Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music and works regular as a coach at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He has taken part in many Kirker Music holidays both on land and at sea. This autumn he will be joining us at our annual music festival on Ischia. Gary appeared in the episode of Downton Abbey alongside Dame Kiri Kanawa who, as Dame Nellie Melba, descended in great style on the Granthams!

Matthijs Broersma was born in Holland and began playing the cello at the age of four. After studying at The Yehudi Menuhin School with Louise Hopkins and Leonid Gorokhov, he continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Hochschule der Künste, Bern. He received numerous scholarships and awards and in 2010 he won 1st prize in the Kenneth Page Cello Competition.

As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed extensively worldwide, performing in venues such as the Concertgebouw and the Wigmore Hall. Recent highlights include the Saint-Saëns Concerto with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Elgar Concerto conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, and solo recitals at the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and the Menuhin Hall. Matthijs is also the cellist of the Gémeaux Quartett, a firmly established international prize winning Swiss quartet. Future engagements include numerous solo and chamber music recitals across Europe and in Japan as well as several performances of the Dvorak Concerto in Holland.