Retorica

Harriet Mackenzie and Philippa Mo – violins

(Retorica, definition: Italian feminine form of 'rhetoric' – artful persuasion.....)

Philippa and Harriet met at the Royal Academy of Music and discovered their passion for contemporary repertoire as well as the wealth of rarely heard repertoire for two violins. Since they started performing together in 2007, highlights of their performing schedule include recitals at the Barbican Centre as part of the Park Lane Young Artists Series Mostly Mozart Festival, at Goldsmith's Centre for Russian Music in London, a tour of Greece and as part of their involvement in the 2D2N Festival of contemporary Music in Odessa 2008, Retorica performed seven new commissions by leading British composers for their project 'Continuous Spectrum – shades of play'. Music has been written and dedicated to the duo by such eminent composers as John McCabe, Paul Pellay, Jim Aitchison, Robert Fokkens, Ben Ellin, Owen Bourne, David Matthews, Sadie Harrison and Dmitri Smirnov. As well as this exciting contemporary repertoire, Retorica perform violin duos by Mozart, Haydn, Leclair, Weiniawski, Rawsthorne, Ysaye, Prokofiev, Handel/Havorsen, Teleman, Handel, Honneger, as well as the famous folk-derived duos by Bartok.

“Harriet Mackenzie and Philippa Mo are both exceptional violinists; together they have an instinctive rapport which makes them one of the most exciting duos around” - David Matthews, composer

Harriet Mackenzie has toured Europe, America and Japan as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. In 2004 Harriet gave her highly acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut as part of the Park Lane Young Artists Series, having previously played in the New Year Series in the Purcell Room. Since then she has given recitals in prestigious venues such as the Concertgebouwe and Beers Van Berlage Hall in Amsterdam, the Marble Hall in Budapest, the Expo Dome in Japan, the Purcell Room, the National Portrait Gallery as part of the McCann Series, the British Library, St James Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the- Fields and she was invited to return to the Wigmore Hall again for the closing concert of Steven Isserlis' Saint-Saens Festival playing with the Florestan Trio. She also wrote the score and played solo violin on=2 0stage in the acclaimed performance of Chekhov 'The Seagull' directed by Daniel Austin in Jersey. She has broadcast recitals 'live' for BBC Radio 3 and for Hungarian National Radio.

Harriet studied at the Royal Academy of Music graduating with First Class honours and a DipRAM – the highest award for graduates. She has received awards by the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Tillett Trust, the Hattori Foundation and is a recipient of the Manoug Parikian Award, the Elise Owen award, the DM Lloyd Prize and Winifred Disney Award.

She has collaborated with composers such as Anthony Payne, David Matthews, Robert Fokkens, Dmitri Smirnov, Paul Pellay, Jim Aitchison, Mauricio Kagel, Marc Yeats and Gyorgy Kurtag. As well as performing Sibelius with the Ukrainian Philharmonie, Harriet recently performed the premiere of a violin concerto, written for and dedicated to her by Robert Fokkens, in the Purcell Room to great acclaim with the New Professionals Orchestra. She was lent a Stradivarius violin by the Academy for this performance. Future highlights include a tour of Scotland with her duo partner pianist Chri stina Lawrie, Paganini violin concerto in the Seychelles and performances and recording of John McCabe two violin concerto.

“Searing intensity.......A performance full of panache.... Captivating” The Strad

The Times Review – Richard Morisson, Purcell Room, 5th July 2006

“My puny brain still reels from trying to absorb this action-packed concert, part of the Fresh Young Musicians series. It began as a violin and piano recital, expanded into the weird, wacky, theatrical world of Mauricio Kagel, and ended with 18 people crammed on the platform to premiere a new concerto by the young South African Robert Fokkens. You can attend whole seasons by some

famous orchestras and not get this much novelty.  At the centre of this merry-go-round was the violinist Harriet Mackenzie, not long graduated from the Royal Academy of Music (and borrowing an RAM Strad for the occasion), but already a formidably well-organised talent. Every piece was contemporary apart from the first, and even that was unknown — Arnold Bax’s unpublished 1928 Violin Sonata, plucked from a manuscript in the

British Library... It was all impeccably prepared. I’d like to hear it all again.”

The Times Review – Richard Morisson, Purcell Room, 5th July 2006

Philippa Mo studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing with Professor Lin Yao Ji. Her studies were supported by the Belmore Woodgate Scholarship and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Since finishing her research studies culminating in the award of an MMus degree, Philippa now performs extensively as a chamber musician.  She has given concerto and chamber performances all over Europe; including her acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall this year, the premiere of the revised

Fugue Refractions by Jim Aitchison at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, the Beethoven Series at St John’s, Smith Square, London and performances at the Deutsches Museum, Munich; the Natural History Museum, Ulaan Bataar, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and The Tate St Ives in the UK and televised performances in Turkey as part of the Ankara International Music Festival with Orkestra@Modern.  As a founding member of Convergence Quartet based jointly in London and New York, she gave a recital at Lincoln Center, New York and across London. 

With pianist Maria Krivenski, Philippa has concentrated on largely unknown and new music of South America.

She was invited as the only British musician to participate as soloist in the International Music Festival of Contemporary Music, Mongolia in 2002 where she gave a programme of new British works in the State Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Palace of Culture, Ulaan Bataar and also amongst the dunes of the Gobi Desert and at Erdene Zuu Khiid, the capital of Genghis Khan.  A champion of contemporary music, Philippa has given recital/discussions and workshops on British contemporary music at the Central Conservatory, Beijing

working with composer Professor Jia Guo Ping and at Bilkent and Hacettep Universities in Ankara, Turkey. She also regularly returns to coach students of the Kurmangazy National Conservatory of Kazakhstan in Almaty where in June of this year she gave a televised interview and performance of British contemporary music.

Philippa plays a violin by Julius Cesare Gigli from 1786.

“24 Miniatures (2000) by Laurent Perrenoud, for violin and percussion, was riveting. Philippa Mo stood stock still, playing all manner and style of phrases in all 24 keys – in snatches of less than 12 bars each. David Jackson, meanwhile, kept busy running from drum to triangle to tubular bells and many other instruments besides. The ingenuity of the writing was quite dazzling; so was the playing – the expertise of Mo’s near-instantaneous transitions from one style to another was often startling and always impressive.”

Classical Source, Kenneth Carter, 2007 – The Wigmore Hall

Miloš Milivojević is a first prizewinner at International Competitions in Germany, France, Italy and Denmark, and in July 2007 he became the first accordionist ever to win the RAM Club Prize at the Royal Academy of Music. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music since 2002, he won the S & M Eyres Scholarship, the Louise Child Prize, Larry Adler Award, a Foundation Award and a Vice-Principal's Special Award.

Milos made his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room in January 2004 where he performed World Premiere by Anthony Gilbert, commissioned by the Park Lane Group. His performance was enthusiastically received by the music critics.

His ambition has always been to take the classical accordion into the spotlight of the classical music world and is deeply involved in collaborations with contemporary composers. As a result, he has premiered works by Anthony Gilbert, Howard Skempton, Elena Firsova, Stephane Altier, Patrick Nunn, Ben Foskett, Tom Lane, Elena Vorotko, Carlos Duque, Mark Bowden, Emily Hall, Chris Mayo, Anna Meredith, Philip Venables, and Robert Percy and has given the UK premiere of Sequenza No.13 by Luciano Berio.

Miloš has also performed in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, St John Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields and St James Piccadilly, University of London Senate House, Holywell Music Room, National Portrait Gallery, St Paul Church Covent Garden, Colston Hall Bristol, Keble College Oxford, and has performed at the Foundation Day awards ceremony in front of HRH The Princess Royal.

Appearances at the festivals include: Park Lane Group Young Artists, Cheltenham International Festival of Music, Cheltenham Contemporary Concerts, Aldeburgh Festival Britten-Pears Orchestra, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Berio Festival, Northfolk & Norwich Festival, Deal and Chichester, Swaledale, Hexham,
Burton & Bradstock, Belef, Nomus and Grad Teatar.

Internationally, he performed in Russia, Slovenia, Hungary, Iceland, Serbia and Montenegro. He also gave live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Serbian National Radio and television network. Milos is also a keen chamber musician. He is a member of the London Tango quintet, Kosmos Ensemble and AccordDuo. In masterclasses he has received guidance from many distinguished musicians, including Nicholas Cleobury, John Williams, Steven Isserlis and Gorgy Kurtag. Since 2002 he has been studying with Owen Murray at the Royal Academy of Music.

However, the highlights came from a perhaps unexpected source:the young Serbian accordionist

Milos Milivojevic. Berio's Sequenza No 13 - its first UK performance - and Lindberg's frenzied Jeux D’anches showed him to be a serious and fearless virtuoso. But it had been in Anthony Gilbert's new Rose Luisante, inspired by a window in Bayeux Cathedral and drawing on the accordion's associations with French music and the organ, that we had been first introduced to the intensity, color and even sensuality of Milivojevic's playing. Judging by the speed with which Gilbert bounded on to the platform to shake his hand afterwards, he was a very happy composer.

The Guardian January 7, 2004 Reviewed by Erica Jeal