The final Programme of this fourth Series features three of our regulars whom our audience have most enjoyed.
The inspired Finnish violinist, Sini Simonen and captivatingly imaginative Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson join our Artistic Director, David Waterman, for forty-two years cellist of the Endellion Quartet, in a programme centring around Schubert’s Trio in E flat, one of his great mature masterworks.
If the Trout is Schubert’s most joyous piece, this trio is one of his most tragic and moving. The extremely evocative slow movement, which was inspired by a Swedish folk-song , “The Sun has Set”, and has been used in many a film score , was first performed on the anniversary of the death of Beethoven, revered by Schubert.
Beethoven’s own early piano trio, full of life, energy and sheer happiness, was part of a set of three in what must be the most distinguished, immortal Opus 1’s ever issued by a composer. The concert opens with a violin and piano Sonatina by the great Jean Sibelius, the most wonderfully expressive composer from Sini Simonen’s native land.
Musician Biographies
Alasdair Beatson
Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson works prolifically as soloist and chamber musician, adept on modern and historical instruments, and renowned as both performer and pedagogue. Notable performances in the 2025/26 season include multiple appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, performing as concerto soloist with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and in festivals including Bath Mozartfest, Cumnock Tryst, IMS Prussia Cove, Musikdorf Ernen, Resonances, Shenzhen Verbier Festival, and Yellow Barn. Musical collaborators include Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, Viktoria Mullova, Pieter Wispelwey, and the Nash Ensemble.
Alasdair is acclaimed as a sincere musician and intrepid programmer. Alongside a particular affinity with the classical repertoire and the music of Schumann and Fauré, he often explores the more exotic: Catoire, Pierné, Thuille; Debussy’s Jeux (in the composer’s arrangement for solo piano); Ligeti Horn Trio, Harrison Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks; and Thomas Adès Piano Quintet. His concerto repertoire includes works of Bach, Bartok, Fauré, Hans Abrahamsen, Hindemith, Mozart, Sally Beamish, Stravinsky, and Messiaen. In recent years he has appeared with Britten Sinfonia, Moscow Virtuosi, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra and Vaasa City Orchestra.
Recent recordings include Beethoven and Schubert works for violin and fortepiano with Viktoria Mullova on Signum, and a solo piano recital Aus Wien on Pentatone. These join an acclaimed discography of numerous solo and chamber recordings, on modern and historical pianos, on BIS, Chandos, Claves, Champs Hill, Evil Penguin, Onyx, Pentatone, SOMM and Rubicon labels.
View Alasdair's full biography here.
Sini Simonen
Finnish violinist, Sini Simonen, enjoys an international career as a chamber musician and soloist. For 12 years, she led the Castalian String Quartet, performing worldwide at major venues and holding a residency at the Wigmore Hall as well as the University of Oxford. Sini has worked closely with composers such as Thomas Adès, Charlotte Bray, Bent Sørensen and Mark-Anthony Turnage. She is a regular at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Kuhmo, OCM Prussia Cove and Spoleto, and collaborates regularly with artists such as Stephen Hough, Alasdair Beatson, Michael Collins and Midori.
Her discography includes Bach Double violin concerto with Helsinki Strings (Warner), Bach Triple violin concerto with Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (tacet), an award winning album featuring quartets by Beethoven, Adès and her own arrangements of renaissance music (Delphian) and a violin-cello duo album featuring music by Ravel, Martinu, Saariaho, Winkelman and Ligeti.
Sini studied at the Sibelius Academy, Musikhochschule Hannover and Musik-Akademie Basel with Lara Lev and Rainer Schmidt among others. Masterclasses and collaborations with Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner and Sir Andras Schiff provided important influences. Sini won top prizes in international violin competitions including the Flesch, Lipizer and Cremona competitions. She also won prizes in the Brahms, Lyon, ARD and Banff chamber music competitions.
She is Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
David Waterman
David Waterman was born into a musical family in Leeds. He studied philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded an MA and PhD degrees.
Founding member of the Endellion Quartet, his frequent collaborations with other artists have included appearances with members of the former Amadeus Quartet, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joshua Bell, Lukacs Hagen, Steven Isserlis, Gabor Takacs-Nagy and Sandor Vegh. He was commissioned by Cambridge University Press to contribute a chapter to the “ Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet” which was published in 2003.
M. Waterman has taught at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall, and the Menuhin Academy at Gstaad and teaches cello and chamber music for IMS at Prussia Cove.
View David's full biography here.
