Musicians
September 29, 2008
Andy Wardale
Andy is a cellist living and working in the north of England. He is very busy in the classical world, working and touring with great orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Ballet, Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Halle to name but a few.
In other areas of music he is proud to be a member of the great Charanga del Norte, has toured in the jazz world with the Creative Jazz Orchestra and Anthony Braxton, and in a more contemporary world with Spelk and Nick Williams. He is with Jon Ward founder member of Cellembe, the best Djembe and cello combo around (as far as we know!); he even performed with Jon at his own wedding in the beautiful surroundings of the Morritt Arms Hotel.
Andy plays a gorgeous William Forster cello full of mellow warmth.
Dr. HengChing Fang (Ching)
Ching is a pianist and violist living and working in the West Midlands & Yorkshire. She has performed at various wedding venues. Recently married, she understands the need of brides, and determines to provide the best Romantic music services for your special day.
Started to learn piano from age 5, and viola (violin) from age 10, she is the prize winner of the Leeds Chamber Orchestra Soloist Competition, finalist in the Ludlow Philharmonic Competition, the First Prize in the Taipei West District Viola Competition and third-prize winner of the National Viola Competition. Â After her study at Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Guildhall School of Music, Ching also gained a PhD Degree from the University of Leeds, funded by British Woman Foundation Fund.
Ching has been invited to play with the Macau Orchestra, Chiemi Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Leeds Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, London Charity Orchestra, Asian Young Orchestra and toured in Europe and Asia.
Ching plays a beautiful modern viola by French maker, Yann Besson.
Whilst every effort is made to use the above two musicians there may well be occasions when this is simply not possible. This may be due to other work commitments, illness etc. We will substitute as necessary using only high quality musicians, and we will inform you of the substitution. If you wish as a result of this substitution to cancel your booking you may of course do so and if a deposit has been paid we will refund it. All our musicians are professional performers and individually chosen by Urban Birdsong.
Other Musicians:
Ilias Devetzoglou
Ilias was born in Greece in 1981 and learnt violin from the age of 6 and piano from 8. In 2001 he gained a Violin Soloist Performance Diploma from the Athens Conservatoire and went on to take a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music, London. He is currently studying for a PhD under the guidance of Professor Clive Brown at the University of Leeds; his research involves in-depth study and reconstructive performance in the playing style of the ‘Franco-Belgian’ school.
Having won the Greek national violin competition for music scholarships in 2004, Ilias has been funded by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation for the last three years. He was also awarded, in 2000, a special prize in the Greek National Radio and Television competition for young musicians; in the same year he was also accepted into the European Union Youth Orchestra.
