Launched at the beginning of this season, the Valo Quartet was created out of a mutual desire to delve more profoundly into the string quartet repertoire. The members (originally from Poland, the UK and Finland) have come together and often collaborated in various formations at festivals and series across Europe, such as Festival Resonances in Belgium. A shared spirit of spontaneity became the perfect starting point to develop a sense of enduring growth, the guiding light (Valo – ‘light’ in Finnish) being the union of meaningful exploration of the score and trust in the individual player’s musical instincts.
Maria Włoszczowska
Polish violinist Maria Włoszczowska is recognised for her versatile musicianship, performing as soloist, director/concertmaster and chamber musician.
Maria gave her debut recital at the Wigmore Hall in 2016 with Alasdair Beatson and she appeared there last season both in recital and chamber music concerts, as well as featuring in several BBC Radio 3 broadcasts. She performs regularly at festivals such as Musikdorf Ernen, Lammermuir Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Resonances. Artists such as Jeremy Denk, Bengt Forsberg and Dinis Sousa have joined her in recital and other chamber music partners have included Thomas Adès, Steven Isserlis, Robert Levin and Steven Osborne.
Recent seasons have seen solo appearances with ensembles including the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Concerto Budapest and Pauliner Barockensemble. In 2021 she was appointed Leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, with whom she directs a number of programmes; this season she also undertakes projects as a guest leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Emily Anderson Prize, she based herself in the UK after completing her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with violinist and conductor András Keller. In 2018 she won First Prize and Audience Prize at the XXI Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.
See more at mariawloszczowska.com
Tim Crawford
Currently studying in Basel Musik Akademie with Rainer Schmidt, Tim is a sought after British chamber musician and soloist.
He plays regularly with his string trio, The Teyber Trio, a musical partnership with violist Timothy Ridout and cellist Tim Posner that they’ve shared since the age of 15. Between 2017 and 2020 he also played with the Barbican Quartet, during which time they won first prize and classical era prize at the Joseph Joachim International Chamber Music Competition, but has recently founded the Valo Quartet with long time playing partners Maria Włoszczowska, Lilli Maijala and Amy Norrington.
Tim has been attending the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses since he was 18, studying with Andras Keller and Steven Isserlis. In 2019 he was invited on the IMS Open Chamber Music Tour across the U.K., and later that year began playing occasionally with the Nash Ensemble, the long-standing resident chamber ensemble of the Wigmore Hall in London. Next year he will again participate in the IMS Prussia Cove Tour, ending with a concert at the Wigmore Hall in London, as well as one with Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. He also leads Collegium, a string group set up by Lawrence Power in 2019.
Tim plays a 1770 Ferdinand Gagliano.
See more at timcrawford.uk
Lilli Maijala
One of the most sought-after Nordic string players, Lilli Maijala has carved out a distinguished voice as a violist in all elements of musical engagement. Since 2011 she has been Head of Viola Faculty at the famed Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and has concurrently appeared regularly as both soloist and chamber musician on stages throughout Europe.
Having made her solo debut at the age of 17 with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Maijala has been no stranger to the unique role of a viola soloist. She has appeared in performance as a featured artist with orchestras including the Helsinki Philharmonic, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen and Tapiola Sinfonietta. She gave the world premiere of Lauri Kilpiö’s Viola Concerto with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia in 2013. More recently, she made a recording of Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s Concerto for Viola, Double Bass and Chamber Orchestra alongside bassist Olivier Thiery, Juha Kangas and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. This 2019 Alba Records release was received with excellent reviews.
She has been recognized by critical acclaim at numerous international competitions, including the Munich ARD Competition, the Nordic Viola Competition and the Viola Space Tokyo International Viola Competition. In 2003 she took first prize at the Klassik Festival Ruhr, held in conjunction with various music academies all across Europe.
Currently based in Amsterdam, Lilli is in considerable demand, dividing her time between her teaching post and many international venues such as West Cork Chamber Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Resonances, Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival, Oslo Kammermusikkfest, Musikdorf Ernen and Delft Chamber Music Festival. She was previously a member of the highly acclaimed quartet-lab with members cellist Pieter Wispelwey, violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Pekka Kuusisto.
After extensive studies throughout Germany and Scandinavia with Diemut Poppen and Lars Anders Tomter (among others), she now cherishes the opportunity to actively participate in the molding of a new generation of violists. Maijala plays primarily on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume viola from 1870, on loan by kind permission of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, as well as on a baroque viola.
Amy Norrington
Amy Norrington’s sincere musicianship and ability to convey her profound love of the music makes her a popular partner in the international chamber music world.
Her musical generosity attracts world class musicians to share in unique concert experiences, one of the most renowned being Festival Resonances of which she is the founder and artistic director.
Acclaimed by the press for her honesty and singing sound, Amy enjoys an international career as a chamber musician, soloist and guest principle cellist in orchestras throughout Europe.
She collaborates with world class musicians such as Jeremy Denk, Philippe Graffin, Alina Ibragimova, Steven Isserlis, Pekka Kuusisto, Aleksandar Madzar, Denes Varjon and Antje Weithaas and is regularly invited to play at festivals and in all the main concert halls in Europe and beyond. Recent highlights include performances at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Liszt Academy Hall in Budapest.
Amy is a member of the Fortepiano Trio Talisma and the award winning ensemble Oxalys with whom she has recorded prolifically. She performs in a Duo with the pianist Piet Kuijken and also with the guitarist Antigoni Goni and enjoys collaborations with other chamber ensembles such as Camerata RCO Amsterdam and the Elias Quartet.
Amy Norrington is Professor of Cello at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and of Chamber Music at the Orpheus Institute in Gent. She regularly gives masterclasses at The Royal Academy of Music in London, RNCM and the Brussels Conservatoire.
Amy enjoys mentoring young chamber ensembles and in 2018 she founded the Resonances Chamber Music Academy in Belgium which attracts some of the best music students from all over the world.