In their tenth anniversary year, the Villiers Quartet are pleased to announce the arrival of two new members officially – Katie Stillman and Leo Melvin.
Canadian violinist Katie Stillman has an extensive career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral principal. Last season, she directed and performed as a soloist with Manchester Camerata and London Concertante as well as guest leading Opera North’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Katie was a founding member of the Barbirolli Quartet which performed extensively throughout Europe including at festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Verbier and Aldeburgh. She is Associate Leader of Manchester Camerata and a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Katie teaches violin and chamber music at Chetham’s School of Music, pedagogy at the Royal Northern College of Music and plays regularly in concerts for children in the acclaimed series Bach to Baby.
Katie comments “Joining a quartet during lockdown has been a completely new experience. It has all been about finding ways to work creatively without performances. We have become adept at online meetings, composition workshops with high school students online and intensive learning of string quartets through zoom! Not quite what I would have imagined for 2020, but it has been an unbelievable experience. I am looking forward to the New Year with the Villiers, full of newly commissioned music especially for us, Beethoven’s Op.135 quartet and a symposium on the Diversity in String Quartets. Bring on 2021!”
London-born cellist Leo Melvin graduated with honours from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied on full scholarship, with Richard Lester. Leo also studied in Hamburg, Germany with professors Kleif Carnarius, Claudio Bohorquez and Troels Svane. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, given solo and chamber recitals across the UK, and he also teaches cello and piano in London.
Leo has performed several Concerti (including Dvorak, Schumann, Haydn D and Brahms Double) with various orchestras such as Sinfonia D’Amici and Kings Sinfonietta and recorded a solo cello track for Howard Goodall’s CD release ‘Enchanted Voices.’ In October 2013, Leo was invited to play with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on their Academy Program and has performed with the orchestra in Dijon.
Leo comments “I am really honoured and hugely excited to join the Villiers Quartet. I have worked for some years now as an orchestral musician and a teacher, but all the while I was playing chamber music with friends and colleagues and it was always my favourite thing to do. I have dreamed of being in a professional chamber group for some ten years now, and despite finally achieving my goal at such a difficult time for professional music-making I am still extremely excited and feel so privileged to work on and perform such great music with such wonderful musicians as the members of the Villiers quartet. In short, I’m ecstatic to be here and can’t wait to get to work!”
The Villiers Quartet bids farewell to their two founding members, James Dickenson and Nick Stringfellow, who have departed the VQ to pursue other projects. James and Nick helped to define the Villiers Quartet as a leading force for British chamber music, bringing many world premieres and recordings to light. The Villiers celebrates and cherishes their outstanding and dedicated membership from the last nine years.
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