Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra

Artem Kotov was born in Ekaterinburg in 1983 and started to play the violin at the age of six at the Ekaterinburg Academy of Music.  At the age of nine, he performed the Bach E major violin concerto with the academy orchestra.  Following several successful performances at the Ekaterinburg Philharmonic Hall, the Opera Theater and at the music festival organized by UNESCO, Artem was awarded the Scholarship of Russian Ministry of Culture.

Artem won the first prize at the Jeunesses Musicales competition in Bucharest at the age of ten, and the first prize at the “Citta di Stressa” International Competition in Italy in 1996. His other awards include prizes at the “Premio Rodolfo Lipizer” competition in Italy and at the International Competition of Markneukirchen, Germany. In 2007, Artem became laureate of the 5th Uralsk International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan and won the Bach Competition for Strings in London.

Artem’s concert tours include Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy.

During a 2006 tour of the South and Central America, he was invited to give a masterclass at the Cuban Institute of Music in Havana.

Artem Kotov’s repertoire includes the Six Sonatas and Partitas by Bach, Six Sonatas by Ysaye, and ten violin sonatas by Beethoven. Since 2005, Artem has been artistic director of the “Primavera Classica” international music festival, which has had big success at Moscow’s best concert halls, featuring some of the finest artists of the younger generation. Artem Kotov has studied with Igor Frolov at the Moscow State Conservatory and is currently studying at Trinity College of Music in London with Pieter Shoeman. Artem is a Golubovich Scholar, and has a full scholarship for three years. He is playing on an astonishing violin by Ceruti, 1820, which was kindly loaned to him from Trinity College of Music.

Nicholas was born in 1988, and began his musical career as a treble in the Choir of the Queens Chapel of the Savoy, London, where he was Head Chorister. After this, he began to play the Bassoon, and was eventually rewarded in 2006, with an entrance scholarship to study at Birmingham Conservatoire. He studied there with Meyrick Alexander and Nicholas Hunka. In 2008 he was awarded an ERASMUS Scholarship, and a place in the bassoon class of the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. There he studied with Professors Jiří Seidl and František Herman, who were both previously Principals in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly participates in masterclasses and music Festivals, both in England and Europe. He has also studied in Switzerland with David Schnebeli, Lyndon Watts and Marc Trénel, Germany with Klaus Thunemann, and in France with Carlo Colombo.  Nicholas is currently studying for a masters at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with an scholarship, studies with Gareth Newman, John Orford and David Chatterton.

Contemporary Music makes up a crucial component of his creative output.  Regularly playing in contemporary and avant garde music ensembles, he recently appeared as soloist with the Interrobang ensemble. This year he has premièred works by Dolden, Peate, Liu and Dewey. He has also studied in masterclasses with contemporary music experts Pascal Gallois and John Orford, and will continue to study with John at the Royal Academy.

Nicholas regularly plays with orchestras, and as well as his work with the college orchestras and ensembles, he has been invited to play with most of the amateur and semi professional orchestras and ensembles in the West Midlands (Sinfonia of Birmingham, Regency Sinfonia, Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra). Additionally he has been invited to play with the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, London. As well as having a teaching privately, Nicholas was this summer invited to work with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, as bassoon tutor  Away from music Nick enjoys following Cricket and Football, and sampling real ale!

Richard is a former leader of the National Children’s Orchestra. He graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester with first class honours in 2005; whilst studying in Manchester he held principal positions in the RNCM chamber orchestra and University Sinfonietta, together with many other chamber ensembles.

Since 2005  Richard has been studying medicine at Manchester University Medical School and in his spare time he goes sailing!