Benjamin Nabarro
Described by Musical Opinion as “an outstanding artist”, Benjamin Nabarro has performed throughout Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle and Far East, as a violin soloist, director and conductor. He has performed with the BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, English Chamber and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, and Philharmonia, among others. His concerto performances have won praise for their “purity of style, elegance of phrasing and unsurpassed perfection of technique” (Musical Opinion). Recent concerto recordings include the Concertino by Huw Watkins and works by Henriette Bosmans, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and George Vass.
Since 2009, he has been first violin of Ensemble 360, and he is also first violinist with the Nash Ensemble where he has appeared in concerts world-wide. To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of Western music’s most innovative and influential composers, Arnold Schoenberg, Ensemble 360 collaborated with the composer’s renowned interpreter, soprano Claire Booth, to perform and record their “Pierrot Portraits” programme, a thought provoking exploration of the Pierrot character in depictions by a range of composers. The resulting disc (Onyx Classics) was declared as “Nothing short of a triumph” in BBC Music Magazine’s Five Star review. With the Nash Ensemble, latest and forthcoming releases include chamber music by Debussy and Ravel, including the string quartets by both composers. Benjamin has also made numerous other recording for Hyperion, Dutton, Onyx and Resonus.
Benjamin Nabarro is violinist of the Leonore Piano Trio, together with cellist Gemma Rosefield and pianist Tim Horton. The Leonore Trio has given concerts throughout the UK and mainland Europe, as well as further afield. The Leonore Trio’s debut recording for Hyperion records of music by Arensky and Rachmaninov was released in March 2014 to great critical acclaim. Their numerous recordings since for the same label, including works by Lalo, Tanyev, Rimsky Korsakov and Parry have won universal praise and have often featured as BBC Radio 3’s ‘Disk of the Week’. The trio has recorded the complete trios of David Matthews, at the composers request and has given performances of complete Beethoven cycles in Sheffield and in London, not only of all works for piano trio, but also the complete works for violin and piano, and for cello and piano.
Recent concerto engagements include performances of works by Sibelius, Elgar, Glazounov, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Brahms, Watkins, Piazzola, Barber, Vivaldi and Bach, and he has regularly been invited to the festivals of Cheltenham, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Bath, Presteigne, Schleswig Holstein, Mecklenberg-Vorpommern and Nuremberg, where he also made his conducting debut in 2012.
Benjamin Nabarro has given concerts and masterclasses in Schools and conservatoires throughout the UK, Europe and further afield, including workshops in Otara, New Zealand, as part of the Sistema programme. He has also given masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music, London, as well as in Norway and in Canada.
