‘Madeleine Mitchell in Recital’ on 22 January

‘Madeleine Mitchell in Recital’ will take place on 22 January (Sunday) at 5 p.m. at the Russian Cultural Centre, 1 Independence Avenue, Colombo 7.

Unreserved tickets are available priced at Rs. 2,000 each, at The Autodrome PLC, 304 Union Place, Colombo 2, and The Barefoot Gallery, Colombo 4.

Presented by the Chamber Music Society of Colombo and sponsored by Fairway Holdings, Madeleine Mitchell has been described by The Times as ‘one of Britain’s liveliest musical forces (and) foremost violinists’. 

Her performances in some 50 countries as a soloist and chamber musician a wide repertoire are frequently broadcast for television and radio including the BBC Proms, ABC (Australia), Bayerisher Rundfunk, S4C and Italian TV when she won the Palmo d’Oro, praised both for her vibrant lyrical intensity and her pioneering creativity. 

Her engagements in 2015/16 included Elgar Violin Concerto in Russia, recitals in Singapore, Wigmore and Barbican Halls London, BBC Radio 3, Schoenberg Center Vienna and Moscow, with concerto, recital and classes at Dartington International Summer School, judging the Western International Strings Competition in China and a major tour of the USA.

Madeleine Mitchell has performed violin concertos with orchestras including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Czech and Polish Radio Symphony, Wurttemberg and Munich Chamber, the Royal Philharmonic and other London orchestras, Orchestra de Bahia Brazil and for the BBC. 

For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee she returned to the Bath International Festival as soloist in the ‘Great Brits’ programme in Vaughan Williams ‘The Lark Ascending’, which she also performed as Canberra International Music Festival Artist-in-Residence. Her performance of Bruch Violin Concerto during the Edinburgh Festival was reviewed as ‘totally bewitching. She has a full rich tone which sang strongly.’ 

She devised a unique ‘concerto’ for violin and choir, with new works by Jonathan Harvey, Thierry Pecou and Roxanna Panufnik, supported by Arts Council England and in July, performed works for violin and choir by Rutter and Tucapsky. 

The latest in a long line of distinguished composers to write for her are David Matthews, whose Romanza with strings she performed in several festivals, Geoffrey Poole and Sadie Harrison – new works 2015 – Severnside Composers Alliance (eight new pieces April and November 2016) and Guto Puw, whose violin concerto she premiered with Orchestra of the Swan at the Bangor New Music and Spring Sounds Festivals and performed with BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2016 at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival. 

Mitchell’s acclaimed discography for which she has been nominated for Grammy and BBC Music Awards, includes ‘In Sunlight: Pieces for Madeleine Mitchell’ by MacMillan, Nyman and other well-known UK composers, ‘FiddleSticks’ – Lou Harrison Violin Concerto with Percussion Orchestra and new companion pieces (which she performed in Symphony Hall International Series); ‘Violin Songs’ – Classic FM’s CD of the week, ‘British Treasures’ – early 20th century romantic violin sonatas, two albums for Naxos of music by Alwyn and Howard Blake (with the composer as pianist), Hummel violin sonatas, Bridge chamber music and the widely recommended Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time with Joanna MacGregor.

Her Linn recording of MacMillan Motet with solo violin and choir was BBC Music’s CD of the Month. Plans for her next album of unrecorded works by established British composers are well advanced. 

Madeleine Mitchell is well known for her recitals and for her imaginative programming, described by The Herald as ‘a violinist in a million’ after a recital in Glasgow. She represented Britain with recitals in the festival UKinNY at Lincoln Center, for the centenary of Entente Cordiale and Kuwait ‘Great British Week’ 2014. 

Mitchell has given recitals at Sydney Opera House, Seoul Center for the Arts and Hong Kong – part of a three-month world tour supported by the British Council, played at many international festivals and frequently in London.

Madeleine Mitchell won the GBSF award for her recitals with pianist Noriko Ogawa and she has collaborated with many outstanding artists. She regularly tours the US and other recent recitals have included Paris, Rome (broadcast by Radio CEMAT) and St Petersburg by return invitation.

A highly-creative personality, she devised the Red Violin festival under Lord Menuhin’s patronage, the first international eclectic celebration of the fiddle across the arts, held throughout Cardiff for which she was shortlisted for European Women of Achievement and Creative Briton Awards. She is also Director of the London Chamber Ensemble, a long-standing flexible group including the UK’s outstanding chamber musicians. 

Madeleine Mitchell won the Tagore Gold Medal as Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music where she is a Professor. Her ground-breaking work with the RCM’s Centre for Performance Science was featured in The Observer News and she embarks on a research project in 2016, awarded funding by the European Commission. 

As Fulbright/ITT Fellow she was awarded a master’s degree in New York studying with DeLay, Weilerstein and Rosenberg at the Eastman and Juilliard schools. She gives master classes worldwide and is on the faculty of the Orfeo International Music Festival in the Italian Alps and the international LMFL courses. 

Madeleine plays on an 1839 Rocca violin made in Turin. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2000