Anthony Marwood
Violin, Guest Director
In 2006, Anthony Marwood was named Instrumentalist of the Year at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the first string player to receive this honour in more than a decade, and confirming him as one of the most sought-after and versatile violinists of his generation.
In 2006 he became Artistic Director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and of the Shannon International Music Festival. He is a regular collaborator with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In 2005, his passion for theatre resulted in a UK tour with the Academy of a fully staged production of Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale, in which he acted the role of the Soldier as well as playing the violin part – his performance was picked as one of the cultural highlights of the year by the Daily Telegraph.
He has had many works written for him, including Sally Beamish's 1995 concerto, subsequently televised for BBC4. Thomas Adès's concerto Concentric Paths, which he premiered in 2005 in Berlin and at the BBC Proms is the result of a fruitful musical partnership with the composer. In the 2009-10 season, Marwood will premiere two new concertos written for him, one by American composer Steve Mackey and one from New Zealander, Ross Harris.
He is the violinist of the celebrated Florestan Trio (the first trio to win a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, in 2000). They have recorded much of the mainstream trio repertoire on Hyperion, many of them becoming benchmark performances. The Florestan Trio also has its own Florestan Festival at Peasmarsh, an annual event in June.
Anthony Marwood enjoys teaching, and each summer attends the Yellow Barn Festival in Vermont, where students and faculty perform together in a rural setting.
He plays on a beautiful violin by Carlo Bergonzi (1736), kindly bought by a syndicate of purchasers.