Charmian Keay is a New Zealand born violinist from Auckland. Born to musician parents Miranda Adams (Assistant Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra) and Nigel Keay (Paris-based composer), she has freelanced with all of the major orchestras in New Zealand and in 2021 won a permanent violin position in the Auckland Philharmonia. Taught first mainly by her mother, other teachers included Justine Cormack (NZ Trio Founder), Kevin Lefohn (director of the Queenstown Violin Summer School) and Tessa Petersen (Concertmaster of Dunedin Symphony Orchestra).

 

Charmian studied a Postgraduate Diploma in violin performance in 2012 as a Trinity Laban Scholar studying with acclaimed soloist Matthew Trusler, at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Prior to this she graduated from the University of Otago with First Class Honours in Performance Violin in 2008, after which she was invited to be 2009 Elman Poole Fellow of the prestigious graduate orchestra, the Southbank Sinfonia, based in Waterloo, London.

 

European performances included a solo recital in Oxford of Mozart’s Concerto No. 5 in A Major, as well as various chamber music recitals in venues such as the Royal Opera House and Wigmore Hall, and in festivals including the 2010 Paris Oboe Festival, and the Anghiari Festival, Italy.

 

Since coming back to Auckland she has performed regularly as a soloist with the Blackbird Ensemble, which did a national tour of their ‘Bjork’ show in 2019. She has led Auckland-based chamber music ensembles Moonshine Quartet, Korutet (which toured to Paris in 2015), and is currently leader of Auckland String Group. She is also violinist for the historically-costumed Wellington-based string trio, Quantum Femmes.

 

Charmian plays on a violin by Dimitri Atanassov, Cremona and bow by Doriane Bodart of Paris.

Currently a violinist for the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand, Lydia Sewell was previously an Associate Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has played with the Pittsburgh Ballet, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, and the Illinois, South Bend, Quad City, and Wheeling Symphony Orchestras. Prior to moving to New Zealand, Ms. Sewell toured with Lincoln Center Stage, a crossover piano quintet, on Holland America Line Cruise ships. Ms. Sewell received her Masters in Violin Performance on full scholarship from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she served as both Concertmaster and Principal Second, and her B.M in Violin Performance from Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles.  Beyond classical violin, Ms. Sewell is experienced in many styles, from rock to Celtic and world music. She has recorded and performed with a number of indie bands in Los Angeles including Sleeping At Last and Sucré at the ABC and MTV Networks, and has performed with the Hanson Boys, Lindsey Stirling, and Evanescence back in the US. Her interests outside of music include painting, acting and photography.

Ben leads a varied musical career, balancing his chamber music work and orchestral projects around his enthusiasm for coaching young musicians.

 

Ben studied at the Royal College of Music, London with Ivo-Jan van der Werff, Jonathan Barritt, Simon Rowland-Jones and Lawrence Power. Ben then joined Southbank Sinfonia in 2011 subsequently performing in many concerts both as orchestral player and as chamber musician. As a chamber musician he has performed throughout the UK and Europe and attended International Music Seminar Prussia Cove, working closely with the Endellion Quartet’s David Waterman and participating in the Winter Residency Programme at Banff, Canada.

 

Ben made his Wigmore Hall debut with his string quartet in 2017. He has also performed at the North Norfolk Music festival with the Arienski Ensemble and performed Schumann's Quintet with Raphael Wallfisch. Since Moving to New Zealand in 2022 Ben has performed with the Auckland Philharmonia, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

Karen French was based in London as an orchestral and chamber musician before she returned to New Zealand in 2021. She began playing the cello aged 9 and went on to study with David Chickering while at school and later with Edith Salzmann at the University of Canterbury, graduating with a Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2008.She then moved to Germany to study with Professor Mario De Secondi at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen.

 

In 2011 Karen was selected to play in Southbank Sinfonia. With Southbank Sinfonia Karen has performed with Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, BBC Concert Orchestra and in the National Theatre performing in Jonathan Miller’s staged version of St. Matthew Passion and at the Royal Opera House. She has also performed in Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth hall and LSO St. Luke’s and other venues around the UK. She has also played with NZSO, Orchestra Wellington and the Christchurch Symphony in New Zealand.

 

As a chamber musician Karen is a founding member of the Alke Quartet and the Enceladus Ensemble. The Alke Quartet have performed throughout the UK including, Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Field, St James, Piccadilly, Bath Pump Rooms and the Barbican. The quartet were finalists in the St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Competition and the Royal Overseas League Chamber Music Competition. They were participants at International Music Seminar Prussia Cove and were selected for a Banff Winter Residency. They werealso selected for a residency at the Royal College of Music on the Chamber Music Course from 2015-2017, kindly supported by a legacy from the late Albert and Eugenie Frost.