GLOBAL MUSICIANS' LEAGUE - Key Persons
Andrea Sim is the music director and principal conductor of the klpac String Orchestra. A seasoned orchestral violinist, she has led and played solo with numerous orchestras and plays regularly with various chamber groups. Andrea graduated with first class honours on a full scholarship from UCSI University's Institute of Music with a Bachelor of Classical Music (Hons) degree.
Vivaldi was the music director for an orphanage called Pio Ospedale della Pietà or the Devout Hospital of Mercy in Venice. Under his direction, the orphanage gained a reputation around Europe for their formidable orchestra and choir. Vivaldi was known as a technical master of the violin and his students were in the fortunate position to have music composed for them. They would play his compositions of over 200 concertos for solo violin and combinations of two to four violins, as well over 500 more concertos for various instruments.
Barbara Strozzi was born in Venice, Italy on the 6th August 1619. Baroque scholars conclude that her mother is Isabella Griega and her father, librettist and poet Giulio Strozzi as there is little evidence of her birth. Born into an artistic, academic family and surviving plagues that ripped through Venice in her early life, Strozzi became a well-known young vocal talent in the area. At her young age, she was able to sing with ease whilst also playing the lute or theorbo, accompanying herself in concert.
Her father, a prominent academic in Venice, introduced her to the composer and director of music at St Mark's Basilica, Francesco Cavalli. At 16, Strozzi began publishing her vocal compositions, the first examples being two volumes of short songs in 1635 and 1636. Her talents were so profound that despite the societal pressures and views at the time, she was allowed to regularly perform at both social and academic gatherings.
Throughout her performing and composing careers, Strozzi aimed to secure financial sponsorship. Many of her vocal collections were dedicated to different patrons of the arts. Funding from the wealthy was one of the only ways composers were able to have their music performed in public and published in print. Her song collections were often dedicated to major figures in society such as the Medici family.
She was the first female composer to publish secular music under her own name; society at the time meant that women often had to write under male pseudonyms in order to have their work recognized in the public eye.
Barbara Strozzi composed mostly for the voice with the majority of her works being for the soprano vocal range. The impact of her father's literary skill is clear in her compositional style; she worked in meticulous detail over elements such as word setting. Another prominent feature in Strozzi's compositional style is long, drawn out dissonances often used to express the strong lyrical meanings in her songs.
Barbara Strozzi died in 1677 at the age of 58 in Padua, Italy. Through her 125 known works to have been published, Strozzi developed a distinctive and innovative style. Scholars often find sketches and fragments of her work in archives so Strozzi's compositional library is still being discovered and growing to this day.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Director
Candian Li is Chief Executive Officer for Global Musicians' League Limited, a young talented artistic director and music business entrepreneur in the classical music world. Music is the art and spirit of time, it brings people together. The main aim for Candian is to develop GML into a diverse media platform, deepening the exchange of music culture between different countries, spread the great spirit of musicians as well as make music more accessible to the world.
Daniel Browell enjoys a busy and varied performing career. Described as a pianist of "considerable intelligence and grace" (Tim Ashley, The Guardian), he has given concerts throughout the UK, Europe, China, and North America. His recital at London's Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre and his concerto performance at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall received critical acclaim in the national press.
He made his BBC Proms debut in 2008, as part of a composer portrait broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. A committed supporter of performing and recording contemporary music, Daniel is a member of the Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, which specialises in contemporary music and has commissioned and premiered works by distinguished composers such as Greg Caffrey, Piers Hellawell, Jane O'Leary and Ian Wilson. The Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble gives concerts throughout the UK and Ireland, has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has recorded on a number of labels.
Daniel particularly enjoys his collaborative projects with instrumentalists and singers; he has given recitals with YCAT winner Kathryn Rudge at the Wigmore Hall and on many occasions since, he has collaborated with Susan Gritton, and he regularly works for the BBC Philharmonic.
After studying for his undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham, Daniel went on to study in Paris, the Royal Academy of Music in London, Chicago and became a Junior Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music. Whilst there he won numerous prizes and awards.
Daniel is in great demand as a teacher; he has given masterclasses and has taught in China, Europe, the Middle East and America, and is highly regarded as an adjudicator. He was appointed Associate Head of Keyboard at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2014 and is currently a member of the jury and organising committee of the Dudley International Piano Competition.
George Rowley began his studies at the age of 7 in his hometown of Kidderminster. He later received a scholarship to the Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to work with Magdalena Nasidlak, before embarking on his undergraduate studies with James Kirby at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Whilst at RWCMD, George was accepted to study on an ERASMUS exchange programme at the prestigious Hannover Hochschule für Musik, before graduating with a first class honours degree in 2015. George continued his studies with Mark Bebbington at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, from where he graduated with the highest Distinction in his cohort. Most recently, he has been a pupil of professor László Borbély at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, supported by a scholarship from the Weingarten Trust.
As a soloist, George has performed professionally throughout the country and abroad, including appearances at the Winchester Festival, the Holywell Rooms and the Liddell Concert Series. In addition to this, George has participated in masterclasses with pianists such as Nikolai Demidenko, Freddy Kempf, Steven Osbourne, Natalia Trull and Peter Donohoe and has reached the final stages of many competitions including the Brighton Concerto Competition, the intercollegiate Beethoven competition, and the Ian Stoutzker Prize.
George is now based in the West Midlands where he is in high demand as a performer and teacher. He is currently a professor of piano at the Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has recently joined the piano faculty of Cheltenham Ladies' College in addition to teaching privately from his studio. In March of this year, George made the premier commercial recordings of the piano sonatas of Ivor Gurney which will be released on the Naxos label in October.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music
- Fellow of the Royal College of Music
Ian Jones, the Deputy Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music and a renowned Steinway Artist, has a career that has taken him across all five continents. He has delivered notable performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra at prestigious venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Hall. His critically acclaimed renditions include Rachmaninov's Second and Third Piano Concertos, Paganini Rhapsody, as well as concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Schumann. Jones has graced the stage in Paris and throughout France as a concerto soloist with the Ensemble International, and has performed an array of Mozart's piano concertos across Europe and the USA.
A prizewinner at the Leeds International Piano Competition, he also won many prizes, including the prestigious Chappell Medal, whilst a student at RCM. Other awards include the Vlado Perlemuter Piano Prize and a special scholarship from the French government inviting him to spend a year in Paris. His teachers included Maria Curcio, Gyorgy Sebok, Phyllis Sellick, Jerome Lowenthal and Alain Planès.
Ian Jones is much sought-after as a teacher and his students have enjoyed international success. He is Artistic Director of the World Piano Teachers Association International Piano Competition and often serves on the juries of other international piano competitions. He frequently examines and adjudicates at other leading conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music in London and regularly performs and conducts international masterclasses, most recently in China, USA, Serbia, Japan, Ireland, Greece, Italy and Russia and at conservatoires such as Sweden's Royal College of Music and many keyboard faculties in USA.
Ian Jones was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2014, an honour conferred on him by HRH Prince Charles.
He was piano coach, music advisor and composer/performer on the Oscar-nominated film Hilary and Jackie and has also written and performed music for France's two national theatres in Paris and Strasbourg.
Jan Loeffler's career as a soloist, chamber musician, collaborative pianist and pedagogue has so far taken him to Hungary (where a piano recital of works by Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin was partly recorded for Hungarian television), Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Ireland, the USA and China.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of State for Education
Julian Lloyd Webber OBE is one of Britain's greatest music educator, solo cellist, conductor, and broadcaster. As the President of the Global Musicians' League, Julian Lloyd Weber enjoys one of the most creative careers in music today and he shows his enthusiasm alongside the GML team to support young musicians and bring them to the virtuous music journey.
Julian Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative careers in music today. As a solo cellist he has performed with many of the world's greatest orchestras and conductors including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and every leading symphony and chamber orchestra in the UK in partnership with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Lorin Maazel, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Neville Marriner, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. He has also collaborated with a wide range of legendary musicians from pianists Sir Clifford Curzon and Murray Perahia to jazz artists Stephane Grappelli and Dame Cleo Laine and rock musician Sir Elton John.
Julian's many recordings include his BRIT Award-winning Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin - chosen as the ‘finest ever version' by BBC Music Magazine, the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich, a coupling of Britten's Cello Symphony and Walton's Cello Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields which was described as ‘beyond any rival' in Gramophone magazine and ‘Variations', famous as the theme to ITV's long running South Bank Show. Julian has also inspired more than fifty new works for cello from composers as varied as Malcolm Arnold, Joaquín Rodrigo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, James MacMillan, Philip Glass and Eric Whitacre.
In 2007, at the invitation of the Secretary of State for Education, Julian founded the UK Government's In Harmony programme and he continues to Chair Sistema England. The two programmes combined have introduced the power of music to more than sixty thousand school children from the least privileged parts of England. Julian was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1994 and is the recipient of a Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum (1998) the Classic FM Red Award (2005) and the Incorporated Society of Musicians' Distinguished Musician of the Year Award (2014). Julian has represented the music education sector on BBC1's Question Time and The Andrew Marr Show, BBC2's Newsnight and BBC Radio 4's Today, The World at One, PM, Front Row, and The World Tonight.
In 2014 Julian was forced to retire from playing the cello due to a neck injury which reduced the power of his bowing arm. In July 2015 he was appointed principal of Birmingham Conservatoire. During his five-year tenure he oversaw the move to a new £57 million building and the merging of the existing Conservatoire with the Birmingham School of Acting. In September 2017 the Conservatoire was awarded the Royal status by Her Majesty the Queen.
Julian is married to fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng. A lifelong Leyton Orient supporter, he was the London Underground's first official busker and the only classical musician to perform at the Closing Ceremony of Olympics 2012.
Katharine Lam has established a distinguished profile throughout the UK and abroad as recitalist, concerto-soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and music educator.
Following her London recital debut in 2003, she made her debut as soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2004 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The Birmingham Post praised her playing for its "glittering panache and terrific aplomb. Definitely the highlight of the evening."
Katharine's subsequent career has included performances at major venues with conductors including Barry Wordsworth, Adrian Lucas and Edwin Roxburgh. Her solo recitals throughout Britain have featured a wide and diverse repertoire, including contemporary repertoire and premiering new music. She has performed a broad range of chamber music and collaborated with various distinguished artists. She has appeared in major festivals and innovative community outreach projects. As part of Duo Arundo (oboe and piano), Katharine has had the privilege of travelling across the globe giving recitals. In a piano duo with Duncan Honeybourne, she has given recitals throughout Britain and in Switzerland, including many music societies and clubs, a recital of English works in Bern and appearances in the Delius and Ireland and Skryabin and the Russians festivals in Birmingham.
Katharine has made several broadcasts as a solo pianist for the BBC, and has produced two solo piano CDs reflecting her wide-ranging repertoire and featuring music ranging from Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy to Gershwin, Chick Corea and Frederic Rzewski. Her recent recording with Duncan Honeybourne of the Sonata for Two Pianos by Andrew Downes was released on the EM Records label in 2017 and has been broadcast on Radio New Zealand Concert.
Born in Leicester, Katharine studied at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Malcolm Wilson, winning numerous competition prizes and scholarships. She graduated with First Class Honours and the highest performance award, the Diploma in Professional Studies in Music Performance. In 2011 she was elected an honorary member of the Conservatoire in recognition of her work in music and music education.
Katharine is passionate about teaching and dedicates much of her time working with young musicians as a highly regarded music educator. She is a sought-after adjudicator nationwide and has been a judge for the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2022 (Regional Round).
Katharine is Senior Lecturer in Piano at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students. She delivers classes on Piano Pedagogy, oversees the Elmhurst Ballet Piano Scheme and has initiated and designed the RBC/IBA Health, Well-being and Performing with Confidence Programme.
Oliver Clayton is currently reading an undergraduate degree in Music at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where he studies modern violin with Susanne Stanzeleit and baroque violin with Lucy Russell. Whilst at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Oliver often plays in the Birmingham New Music concert series where he premiers new compositions. Oliver also works as a creative, collaborating on various artistic projects in and around Birmingham. Oliver regularly performs with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus singing alongside the CBSO. When not playing the violin, Oliver is an avid reader of modern and contemporary fiction and writes commercially. Before attending higher education, he studied German and History alongside Music.
Job Titles:
- Principal of Purcell School
Paul Bambrough, the principal of Purcell School, is a renowned figure in music education with extensive experience in teaching and institutional management. His previous role as Vice-Principal at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire saw him managing the day-to-day operations, artistic programme, curriculum, and collaborative partnerships. He is a devoted teacher and also taught within the Department of Vocal and Operatic Studies as well as contributing to undergraduate programmes in Pedagogy, the postgraduate Lecture Recital module, and the Orchestral Conducting course.
Described by a former Secretary of State for Education as ‘one of the most inspiring teachers', Paul Bambrough has gained a national reputation for his work in state music education. Whilst Director of Music at the Sixth Form College Farnborough, his passionate dedication to excellence led to the creation of the largest A Level Music Department in the country comprising some 500 students actively engaged on courses and enrichment activities. Paul has also worked as an inspector in Post-16 music institutions, and has been sought as a consultant in many colleges around the country. He believes in the transformational power of music and seeks to communicate the great joy of music to all those with whom he works.
As a tenor, Paul has performed at most of the UK's foremost concert halls and cathedrals. He is a harpsichordist, organist and pianist and has had the good fortune to work as a Repetiteur with some of the world's finest singers. Away from music he enjoys the countryside, architecture and maintains a (largely) enthusiastic fitness routine.