::: Navarra String Quartet : bios :::

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Mstislav Rostropovich
"You are the most wonderful group of musicians, you really touched my heart"

Second Prize
5th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition :: 2007

First Prize
Florence International Chamber Music Competition 'Vittorio Gui' :: 2005

The Navarra String Quartet

Xander Van Vliet (violin)
Marije Ploemacher (violin)
Simone van der Giessen (viola)
Nathaniel Boyd ('cello)

First prize winners of the 2005 Florence International Chamber Music Competition and second prize winners of the 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the Navarra Quartet is widely recognized as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of the late Dr Christopher Rowland, the quartet were postgraduate students of the Alban Berg Quartet in Cologne and are currently Junior Fellows at the RNCM.

In January 2008 the Quartet received the 'Outstanding Young Artist Award' at the MIDEM Classique Awards in Cannes, in partnership with the International Artist Managers' Association. They have won numerous prizes and awards, in 2007 receiving a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and in 2006 were selected for representation by YCAT and received Tunnell Trust, Tillett Trust and Musicians Benevolent Fund Awards. They have taken part in the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove and in 2008 returned as resident quartet to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.

Since winning representation by the Young Concert Artist Trust, the Navarra Quartet have undertaken an exciting concert schedule encompassing concerts in Europe, Australia, Russia and the USA with performances in renowned venues such as the Wigmore, Bridgewater, St. George's Bristol, Purcell Room, the Teatro della Pergola (Florence) the Glazunov Hall (St Petersburg) and the Hamer Hall (Melbourne). Recent festival highlights include highly acclaimed performances at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommen International Festival in Germany, Music in Great Irish Houses (June 2007), the Lake District Summer Music Festival (2005) and yearly appearances at the RNCM Chamber Music Fest (Manchester). The Quartet has broadcasted for BBC Radio 3, RAI 3 (Italy) and ABC Classic FM (Australia).

Future plans include their debut at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, a BBC Radio 3 Beethoven Plus concert at LSO St. Lukes, an Arts Council Around the Country tour with the Sacconi Quartet and concerts in Germany (Rheingau Festival), Austria, Italy, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They also continue their strong association with the Wigmore Hall with several future performances including at the Haydn Festival in 2009. In summer 2008 they will be Quartet in Residence at the Verbier Festival.

During 2008 the Quartet work with Wayne MacGregor's Random Dance Company on a new piece called Entity choreographed to a Quartet by Joby Talbot giving a series of performances at Sadler's Wells and in Aldeburgh and Amsterdam.

The quartet are delighted to support their teaching and educational commitments as part of their Junior Fellowship at the RNCM with a residency at Repton School in Derby where they give regular workshops.

Recent reviews:

ESTA Magazine, January 2006 (Soviet-Festival Manchester, January 2006)
"The outstanding quartet playing of the whole Fest was giving us by the Navarra Quartet. The group formed at the RNCM in September 2002 with three Dutch members and an English cellist. It was no surprise that they were multi-prize-winners at home and abroad, and had gained the RNCM's professional performance diploma with distinction. Joined by pianist, Vyacheslav Sidorenko, their Sunday afternoon recital of Shostakovich's Prelude and Fugue No. 15, Schnittke's quartet No. 3, Shostakovich's piano quintet and Shostakovich No. 3 was a truly remarkable experience. Totally at one with the music and each other, these talented young players are on their way to top acclaim in the chamber music world. By comparison the St Petersburg Quartet…though superb, did not play with such all-consuming believe."

The Strad, January 2007 (Wigmore Hall, September 2006)
"Moments of intuitive chamber work and cellist Nathaniel Boyd's compelling melodic lines were signs of good things to come…Shostakovich's marathon third quartet came to life in subtle shades of humour and gravity. The young anglo-dutch ensemble played with an uncanny wisdom…."

The Musical Opinion (Purcell Room, September 2006)
"The Navarra Quartet opened the programme exactly a hundred years after Shostakovich’s birth with the composers eight quartet, a reading of much insight and dedication."

Xander Van Vliet

Xander Van Vliet (violin) started to play the violin at the age of seven. Two years later, he entered the class for talented young people at the Enschede Conservatory in the Netherlands. When Xander was thirteen years old, he was accepted in to the Amsterdam Conservatory where he studied with Maarten Veeze, Jaap van Zweden, Ilya Grubert, and Jan Repko. Xander is currently studying for a Masters degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In July 2004, he won the chamber music award for violin at the RNCM (the Rodger Raphael Prize) and in 2005 Xander was awarded the RNCM's Professional Performance Diploma with distinction. He has attended masterclasses with artists such as Theo Olof, Herman Krebbers, Lewis Kaplan, Professor S. Shalman, and Lorand Fenyves. After having been the assistant of both Jan Repko (violin) and Dr. Christopher Rowland (chamber music) last year, Xander is now a tutor of violin at the Royal College of Music in London and the Junior School at the RNCM and Chetham's School of Music in Manchester. Xander plays a 1757 Nicolas Gagliano, which the RNCM kindly make available to him.

Marije Ploemacher

Marije Ploemacher (violin) started violin lessons at the age of seven with Marie-Jose Beks. After three years, she was accepted in to the class of Joyce Tan at the Utrecht Conservatory. In addition to her studies in Utrecht, she received private tuition from Davina van Wely. In 1998, Marije went to the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam where she studied with Jan Repko and later with Ilya Grubert. For several years, she was the leader of the Youth String Orchestra of the Netherlands with which she also performed as a soloist. She has been co-leader of the NYO of the Netherlands and a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra. In September 2002, Marije came to Manchester to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Jan Repko. In June 2005 she finished her undergraduate studies with First Class Honours, and in September 2005, began Postgraduate studies with Professor Yair Kless. She has led the RNCM Symphony Orchestra on many occasions and, in 2003, was soloist in Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No 1.In November 2007 she will perform Brahms' "Double" Concerto with Nathaniel Boyd. In April 2005, Marije was awarded the RNCM's Professional Performance Diploma with distinction and received their highest award, the Gold Medal. In May the same year, she received third prize in the NYOS Staffa Award. Marije is a violin tutor at Chetham's School of Music. She plays a Joannes Baptista Guadagnini, on kind loan from the RNCM.

Simone van der Giessen

Simone van der Giessen (viola) was born in 1984 and started to play the violin aged five at the music school in Amsterdam. At the age of nine, she received private tuition from Julia Veerling and later from Jeroen de Groot. Simone gave regular performances and won prizes at the Princess Christina Competition. In September 2002, she came to the RNCM to study with Jan Repko and, since 2004, she studies viola with Predrag Katanic. Simone has attended the California Summer Music and Bowdoin International Music Festivals in the United States and, most recently, the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, in Cornwall. She has taken masterclasses with artists such as Graham Oppenheimer, Garfield Jackson, Marco van Pagee, Isabel Charisius and Thomas Riebl. In 2004-2005, she was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra. She graduated in June 2006 with First Class Honours and won the RNCM's competition for viola (the Cecil Aronowitz Prize). In June 2007 she performed Walton's viola concerto with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra. Simone is currently a postgraduate student at the RNCM and plays an unknown English viola of the mid 19th century.

Nathaniel Boyd

Nathaniel Boyd ('cello) was born in 1983 and started studying the cello at the age of four at the Preparatory Department of the Guildhall. At the age of nine he joined the Junior Guildhall School of Music where he studied with Selma Gokcen. He also studied regularly with William Pleeth. On finishing school, Nathaniel underwent undergraduate studies in the class of Hannah Roberts at the Royal Northern College of Music. He graduated in June 2005 with First Class Honours, a PPRNCM (Distinction) and the Leonard Rose Prize. He has participated in masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich, Bernard Greenhouse, Thomas Demenga, Karine Georgian, Steven Doane, Colin Carr and Alexander Rudin. In a solo capacity Nathaniel appears regularly with orchestra, most recently performing Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto and Brahms' "Double" Concerto (with violinist Marije Ploemacher) with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra. He is currently a postgraduate student at the RNCM studying with Ralph Kirshbaum. Nathaniel plays a Grancino cello of 1695.

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