music to experience


Leonard Schreiber (violin) - 18 November 2007

Leonard Schreiber was born in 1984 in Antwerp, Belgium. He began his violin studies at the age of six and made his concerto debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders a year later. In 1995 he won the Herman Krebbers International Violin Competition in Maastricht, Netherlands, which gave him the opportunity to perform more concertos with orchestra and work with the Belgian conductor Dirk Brossé. Leonid Kerbel prepared him for a professional career. He participates in various Masterclasses with teachers such as Dr. Felix Andrievsky, Herman Krebbers and Boris Kuschnir, and soloists Shlomo Mintz and Maxim Vengerov.

In 1999 Leonard was awarded a full scholarship at the Purcell School in the UK. Subsequently, he received the Foundation Scholarship to continue his studies with Dr. Felix Andrievsky at the Royal College of Music in London, graduating with First Class Honours in 2004. He is currently studying with Levon Chilingirian on the postgraduate course at the RCM where he is supported by the Frederick Johnston Award. He has also won other awards from the MBF and the MMSF.

Leonard has given concerts and recitals in many countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and the UK. He has also performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the European Philharmonic Orchestra, Collegium Musicum of Kiev, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the London Soloists and the Lima Radio Philharmonic Orchestra to name a few. He has had the honour to play for Prince Charles at Windsor Castle and for Prince Philippe in Brussels. He also was invited by Mischa Maisky to take part in a programme produced for the Japanese television company NHK. 

In 2004 he won the competition 'Junge Stars von Morgen' in Koblenz, Germany. He was a finalist at the Young Concert Artist Trust Competition held at the Wigmore Hall in May 2004. Last year he has performed concertos at St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Luke’s, as well as recitals at St James-Piccadilly and the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden. Recently Leonard won the Concerto Competition at the Royal College of Music, as a result performing the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with the College’s orchestra under Neil Thomson. 

Future engagements include, Bach concerto with oboist Maurice Bourgue under the direction of Jean-Bernard Pommier at the Menton Festival in august, Bruch Violin Concerto with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and concerts in Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg for the Premiere of a Belgian Concerto under Dirk Brossé. He will be giving recitals in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Peru and Scotland. Leonard has also been invited to tour South America in 2007, where he will be playing a series of concertos in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. In January 2008 he will perform Vieuxtemps and Saint-saëns concertos for his Paris Debut at the Salle Gaveau.

Leonard plays on an Italian violin by Alessandro Mezzadri, Ferrara 1710, kindly loaned by Georg Von Opel.

“Leonard Schreiber, as soloist, was at one with Thomson’s approach... the cadenza was given with wry sardonic humour that brought David Oistrakh, the work’s dedicatee, to mind...”   Musicweb-International


“Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto was played with effortless charm and virtuosity by Leonard Schreiber.”   Classicalsource




Anna Hashimoto (clarinet) - 6 April 2008

Anna Hashimoto (18) was born in Japan, moving to London six months later. She made her Barbican Hall début in December 2004 playing Weber's Concertino with the English Chamber Orchestra. She was the winner of the Parthenon Tama Prize at the Japan Clarinet Competition earlier that year. In 2003 she won the Japan Clarinet Society's 'Young Clarinettists Competition' where she was awarded all three special prizes as well. Anna started playing the piano at the age of four and clarinet when she was eight years old. She studied at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music with Charles Hine, where she was awarded the Else and Leonard Cross Memorial Scholarship and the Esther Coleman Prize (for being an outstanding student). She has also been a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Anna has appeared at London's Wigmore Hall on numerous occasions playing solo and chamber music. She has also played in the Cadogan Hall and South Bank Centre. In 2006 Anna played Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in a Gala concert at the British Embassy in Paris, and she has also performed at Buckingham Palace.

At “International ClarinetFest 2005” Anna had the honour of giving the Japanese Première and a live broadcast of Michael Daugherty's new clarinet concerto “Brooklyn Bridge”. There she also performed Tartini/Jacob's Concertino with the British Clarinet Ensemble, with whom she has also recorded a CD of the work. Anna has given many recitals and concerto performances. In 2006 she performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto four times, including the performance with the English Chamber Orchestra with whom she made her third appearance in August 2007. In Tokyo she played the Mozart Concerto with the Japan Chamber Orchestra in November 2006. As the winner of the Purcell School's Senior Concerto Prize, Anna gave a highly acclaimed performance of Jean Francaix's Concerto at LSO St Luke's in March 2007.

Anna was a student at the Purcell School for four years and she has just started an undergraduate degree course at the Royal Academy of Music, where she continues to study with Michael Collins. Anna plays on Peter Eaton "International" clarinets and basset clarinet.




Tamas Balla (oboe) - 22 June 2008

Tamas Balla (23) was born in Hungary. He graduated as Master of Music in oboe performance and attained a teaching diploma at Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest with Professor P. Pongracz and J. Kiss. Previous to that, he studied in Budapest at the Béla Bartók School of Music.

He won the National Oboe Competition of Hungary on three consecutive occasions. In 2004 he won the UFAM International Oboe Competition in Paris. He was awarded a tuition scholarship from Foundation Albeniz, continuing his oboe soloist performance study at Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia, Madrid with Professor Hansjorg Schellenberger.

As an orchestral musician he has toured America, Europe and Asia. He participated in master-classes with Lajos Lencses, Gordon Hunt, Dan Stolper, Elaine Douvas, Han de Vries, Christian Wetzel, Maurice Bourgue and Hansjorg Schellenberger.