Ficino String Trio

Formed in 2013, the Ficino Ensemble has been committed to exploring the vast chamber music repertoire and presenting thoughtfully programmed concerts.

The group regularly performs as a string quartet or as a string trio, and the addition of winds and percussion gives the possibility of playing large-scale chamber works. The members share a dedicated approach to contemporary music and have been invited to play as part of Moving on Music in Belfast, where they performed works by John Buckley, Anselm McDonnell and Ian Wilson. In 2019 they collaborated with several composers of the Irish Composers Collective, where the musicians worked on pieces with the composers and premiered several new works for flute, harp and viola. Ficino Ensemble was recently joined by the Con Tempo String Quartet in a performance of works by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Enescu as part of the Dublin Enescu Festival. In 2018 they performed a concert with Olwen Fouéré as part of MusicTown in Dublin, which included a performance of Thomas Ades’ Four Quarters and Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132. Their debut recording Winter, released on the Ergodos record label, has received critical acclaim and has put them at the forefront of the Irish chamber music scene. Ficino Ensemble takes the name from Marsilio Ficino, the Renaissance philosopher who regarded music as a “contemplation of the divine”. ficinoensemble.com

Ficino String Trio

Elaine Clark, violin
Nathan Sherman, viola
Peggy Nolan, cello

Programme

Schubert – String Trio in B flat major D.471
Allegro

Bach – from the Goldberg Variations arranged for string trio
Aria
Variations 1-8
Quodlibet
Aria da capo

Mozart – Movements from the Divertimento in E flat major K.563
1 Allegro
4 Andante
6 Allegro

Born in Aberdeen, Elaine Clark studied with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she won several awards and prizes. After graduating with a First Class Honors Degree, she continued her studies with Viktor Liberman at the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands.In 1996, she was appointed Co-Leader of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and has performed many concerti, including those of Berg, Brahms (Double Concerto), Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart (Fifth Violin Concerto, as soloist and director) with various orchestras in Scotland and England. Since joining the RTÉ NSO, she has been a regular soloist with the orchestra, most recently in performances of Prokofiev Concerto No. 1, Tippet’s Triple concerto as well as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, for which she was soloist and director.
As a member of the contemporary music group, Concorde, Elaine has specialised in contemporary violin repertoire, giving many Irish and world premieres and working closely with many distinguished composers. Elaine can be heard performing on Concorde’s most recent CD, Reflections, and also What Was, the recently launched CD by Judith Ring. Elaine is very much in demand as a chamber musician and has performed numerous concerts around Ireland with the Clarion Horn Trio. In 2007, she was invited to guest-lead the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a series of concerts and since then, has also guest-led the Ulster Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Nathan Sherman is a viola player, conductor and educator who enjoys a versatile career. He was immediately attracted to the darker sonorities of the viola from a young age and chose to explore the instrument and its repertoire further at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Escuela Superior de Musica Catalunya in Barcelona. Nathan is especially interested in contemporary music, where the viola has its richest and most diverse repertoire. He has premiered works by Kevin O’Connell and Ian Wilson in Ireland and the United States, and has performed and recorded with Evlana, Crash Ensemble and Kirkos. As Artistic Director of Ficino Ensemble, Nathan has performed much of the major chamber music repertoire. After a year investigating the rich musical life in Dublin during the time of Geminiani at Maynooth University, Nathan took historical performance classes with Monica Huggett and now plays with the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Marsyas and Camerata Killkenny. His collaboration with Alex Petcu has opened the possibilities of venturing into newly explored sonorities of viola and percussion. Nathan runs a community-based orchestra called the Offbeat Ensemble which meet on a weekly basis and regularly raises money for music education projects for children.

Peggy Nolan commenced her third level training at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2006 studying with Peter Dixon among others. She holds an International Artist Diploma in String Leadership, Master of Music and first class Bachelor degree from the RNCM.
Peggy co-founded the Eblana String Trio in 2006 and the group has performed regularly for music societies and festivals throughout the UK and beyond, winning praise from audiences and critics alike for the depth and insight of their performances of this often neglected repertoire.  Recent seasons have seen the trio giving acclaimed performances at both the Wigmore Hall for the Park Lane Group and at the Bridgewater Hall for the Manchester Midday Concerts Society, as well as performing live on Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ programme.
As well as her work with the Eblana String Trio, Peggy was a founding member of the Borromini Quartet, a young London-based ensemble, performing on instruments and bows of the classical period. As an orchestral player Peggy frequently performs with some of the UK and Ireland’s finest orchestras including the Halle, BBC Philharmonic and Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Ficino String Trio will give two performances on Friday 6 August: 1pm & 4pm