Sinfonia Cymru is a young and innovative chamber orchestra from Wales. The orchestra consists of musicians in the early stages of their professional careers and performs an increasingly busy and diverse programme of activity each year. This includes regular orchestral touring across Wales, a series of recital concerts and a range of associated education and community projects to support the orchestra’s work.
The orchestra has also recently engaged in a number of creative collaborations including ‘Anatomie in Four Quarters’ with the CLOD Ensemble at the Wales Millennium Centre, the award-winning production of Romeo & Juliet with Ballet Cymru, and this year’s Big Splash Festival alongside BBC Urban Prom star Lady Leshurr. In addition, the orchestra launched UnButtoned in 2013, a new flagship event in collaboration with DJ Tom Raybould.
Sinfonia Cymru is artistically led by the orchestra’s Musical Director, Gareth Jones and has worked with a number of celebrated guest artists including Bryn Terfel, Carlo Rizzi, Catrin Finch, Alina Ibragimova and Benjamin Grosvenor.
The orchestra works in partnership with Wales’ National conservatoire, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) and the prestigious Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) and is financially supported by the Arts Council of Wales.
The Sinfonia Cymru String Quartet brings together four musicians from the orchestra consisting of Guest
Director Bartosz Woroch (violin), Charlie MacClure (violin), Tetsuumi Nagata (viola) and Steffan Morris (cello).
Bartosz Woroch is a member of the Internationally acclaimed Young Classical Artists Trust, and was appointed Sinfonia Cymru’s Guest Director in 2012. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with various orchestras including Sinfonia Cymru, Polish Radio Orchestra and The Bern Symphony Orchestra. He also gives regular solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall, makes his USA debut this year at The Phillips Collection in Washington and has recorded for BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, Radio France and for Polish Radio.
Steffan Morris and Charlie MacClure are both young Welsh musicians. Steffan was a student at the Yehudi Menuhin School before continuing his studies with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna and has given recitals and performed as a concert soloist in Japan, Holland, Germany, Italy, Russia and Austria. Charlie MacClure is currently studying at RWCMD and has previously studied at both Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California.
Tetsuumi Nagata is a regular performer with Sinfonia Cymru and is also a member of the Benyounes String Quartet. Tetsuumi also attended the Yehudi Menuhin School before studying at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. He has previously collaborated with Alexander Rudin, Adrian Adlam, Stephen Orton and the Belcea Quartet.
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is the National Conservatoire of Wales, providing specialist practical and performance-based training tailored to the demands of contemporary arts and creative industries.
The College trains and educates some of the most talented students from around the world, aiming to give them not just the technical and craft skills they will need to operate at the top levels of the profession, but also to help them to discover and develop their individual artistic ‘voice’.
The College has dedicated courses in music, opera, jazz, acting, musical theatre, stage management, theatre design and arts management as well as a thriving Junior Conservatoire and Young Actors Studio.
The College is also a busy arts venue, with an extensive annual programme of over 330 public performances and is home to the Richard Burton Theatre and Wales’ only purpose built chamber recital hall, the Dora Stoutzker Hall.
