GINA McCORMACK - VIOLIN

Gina McCormack is well established as one of Britain’s leading  artists, with regular solo appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, the South Bank Centre and at venues across the country and on tours abroad. Gina studied with György Pauk at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and attended master classes with Sandor Vegh (at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at Prussia Cove in Cornwall), Dorothy DeLay, Andras Mihaly and Siegmund Nissel (from the Amadeus Quartet). She led the Maggini Quartet for two years. Gina is now concentrating on her solo career, continuing her long-standing recital-partnership with pianist Nigel Clayton. For 11 years Gina was Professor of Violin at Trinity College of Music, London, and is now teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She gives regular master classes in the UK and abroad, most recently at “Danish Strings” in Jutland. She has also recently started organizing a Young Artists’ Series of charity concerts at her home, giving performance opportunities for emerging soloists and chamber groups in an intimate setting.

CATHERINE YATES - VIOLA

Catherine Yates began her musical studies with Marion Hillier before attending Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.  Further training included courses at Yale University and the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh. In 1989 she became a member of the Sorrel Quartet, one of Britain’s foremost ensembles. The Quartet’s long association with the Chandos record label saw the recording of twelve discs, including a much lauded complete cycle of Shostakovich quartets, the major quartet works of Britten and Schubert, Mendelssohn and Elgar.  Catherine’s musical life took a sharp change in direction following her appointment as Principal Second Violin with the Hallé Orchestra in September 2007, also teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was appointed Deputy Head of the School of Strings in 2013..  She continues to perform regularly playing both violin and viola with a number of ensembles, including Fibonacci Sequence and the contemporary music group, Psappha.

NICHOLAS TRYGSTAD – CELLO

Born into a musical family, Nicholas Trygstad began cello lessons at the age of four in Minnesota, USA. In his teenage years he studied with Peter Howard, Principal Cellist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra,  who inspired him to pursue the cello professionally.  In 1998 he came to England to study with Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music. While at the RNCM he received many awards both within the UK and America, most notably the Bronze Medal in the London Symphony Orchestra scholarship competition and the Gold Medal from the Royal Northern College of Music, the institution's highest honour. Having previously been Principal Cello with Scottish Opera, Nicholas Trygstad became Principal Cellist of the Hallé in 2005. In addition to his work with the Hallé he has a number of students at the RNCM and performs regularly in recitals and chamber music collaborations.  He is a member of the Manchester Piano Trio, which plays extensively around  the UK, and he has performed concertos with the Northern Chamber Orchestra,  Orchestra of Opera North and the Hallé.