The Tutors
The tutors listed below will be coaching at our next weekend. 
 
Bogdan Sofei  
Bogdan Sofei, was born in Bucharest and is the leader of the ConTempo String Quartet, and the holder of a residency programme in Galway, since January 2003. He graduated The University of Music in Bucharest where he studied with Ladislau Csendes and Stefan Gheorghiu. He continued his studies at the Banff  Centre for the Arts in Canada, Royal Academy of Music in London, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, European Academy  of Music in Aix-en Province,Britten -Pierce School for Advanced Music Studies in Aldeburgh and  Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid with Rainer Schmidt, Siegmund Nissel, Norbert Brainin,Gunter Pichler ,Philip Setzer ,Stephanie Gonley ,Heime Muller, Christoph Poppen, Howard Davis and Hugh  Maguire. Bogdan Sofei has taken his Master of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at Cork School of Music, in the academic year 2004-2005. As the leader of ConTempo Quartet, he had studied with  the most celebrated string quartets of the world, such as  Amadeus, Alban Berg ,Tokyo, Emerson and Hagen quartets ,and with musicians as Diemut Poppen, Petra Mullejans ,Piero Farulli ,David Takeno ,Laurence Lesser, Gilbert Kalish. Bogdan Sofei won several international and national competitions in Italy and Romania in addition to the international prizes he won as first violinist of ConTempo Quartet:1st  Prize at GrosserForderpreise  Competition in Munich-Germany,1st Prize at Valentino Bucchi competition in Rome-Italy,1st Prize at Tunnel Trust Competition  in London-UK,1st Prize at Mozart competition in Cluj-Romania,2nd Prize at Johannes Brahms International Competition in Hamburg-Germany ,Audience Prize and 3rd Prize at London String Quartet Competition in UK,3rd Prize at Schubert und die Musik der Moderne Competition in Graz-Austria,3rd Prize at Max Reger Competition in Weimar-Germany, The Wigmore Award and The Romanian Musical Critics Union Prize in Bucharest. Bogdan Sofei has toured the world extensively ,performing at many major international festivals in Berlin, Munich, Eisenstadt, Belfast, Dublin, Cork, London, Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Paris, Aix-en -Province, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Venice ,San Marino ,Los Angeles, Toronto, Tel-Aviv, Tokyo, Kyoto and Bucharest. Bogdan Sofei sustains also a busy career as soloist, in UK, Italy, Romania. As the first violinist of ConTempo Quartet, he performed  with Vellinger and  Vanbrugh Quartets ,Kungsbacka Piano Trio(Sweden), Emma Johnson (UK)John O’Conor(Ireland),with Garth Knox-Arditti quartet(Paris) ,Yuko Inoue(UK),Chen Zimbalista (Israel),Garfield Jackson-Endellion quartet, Martin Outram(Maggini Quartet),Jerome Pernoo (Paris),James Lisney(UK),Gilbert Kalish (USA) and Douglas McNabney(Canada).He worked closely with composers such Alec Roth-UK and Jane O’Leary-Ireland. Bogdan Sofei has been teaching in Royal Academy of Music-London, gave chamber music master classes in Royal Irish Academy Of Music-Dublin, in UK(Reading and Devon)and in Ireland( Galway and Kilkeny).
The ConTempo string quartet has its own festival in Galway, and is preparing its 6th  edition of ConTempo Summer School next  year. Recordings as a member of Contempo include labels and names such as Deutsche Schallplatten, BBC, RTE,ORF, TVR and TG4. As the first violinist of ConTempo, Bogdan Sofei performed for personalities such as the Pope John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo in Italy, in 2001, in 2002 for Prince Charles in UK (the second concert at Highrove), in 2003 they were invited to perform for Nelson Mandela, the ex-President of South Africa and EU Ministers, and in 2005 they performed in Los Angeles for Angelica Houston and Merv Griffin. As the first violinist of ConTempo Quartet, Bogdan Sofei also recorded the Adagio from Beethoven’s Opus 131 for the television drama “Band Of Brothers”, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, arranged the music for the silent movie  “Aufgrunden”, and featured in the documentary film “ConTempo goes  West” by Bob Quinn, having its launch in July 2006. The ConTempo quartet is waiting for the release of their cd with works of Enescu and Janacek, recorded with SOMM, UK.
 
Ingrid Nicola  
Ingrid  Nicola was born in Bucharest and is a violinist in the ConTempo String Quartet.  ConTempo became Galway’s first ensemble-in-residence in January 2003. She graduated from the University of Music in Bucharest where she studied with Ladislau Csendes and Daniel Podlovschi. She continued her studies at the Banff  Centre for the Arts in Canada, Royal Academy of Music in London, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, European Academy  of Music in Aix-en Province,Britten -Pierce School for Advanced Music Studies in Aldeburgh and  Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid with Rainer Schmidt, Siegmund Nissel, Norbert Brainin,Gunter Pichler ,Philip Setzer ,Stephanie Gonley ,Heime Muller, Christoph Poppen, Howard Davis and Hugh Maguire. Ingrid Nicola has taken her  Master of Arts in Music with First Class Honours at Cork School of Music, in the academic year 2004-2005.
 
As a member  of ConTempo, she had studied with  the most celebrated string quartets of the world, such as Amadeus, Alban Berg,Tokyo, Emerson and Hagen quartets, and with musicians as Diemut Poppen, Petra Mullejans, Piero Farulli, David Takeno, Laurence Lesser, Gilbert Kalish.
 
Ingrid has won several  competitions in Romania in addition to the international prizes s he won as a  violinist of ConTempo:  1st  Prize at GrosserForderpreise  Competition in Munich-Germany, 1st Prize at Valentino Bucchi competition in Rome-Italy, 1st Prize at Tunnel Trust Competition  in London-UK, 1st Prize at Mozart competition in Cluj-Romania, 2nd Prize at Johannes Brahms International Competition in Hamburg-Germany, Audience Prize and 3rd Prize at London String Quartet Competition in UK, 3rd Prize at Schubert und die Musik der Moderne Competition in Graz-Austria, 3rd Prize at Max Reger Competition in Weimar-Germany, The Wigmore Award and The Romanian Musical Critics Union Prize in Bucharest.
 
Ingrid has toured the world extensively, performing at many major international festivals in Europe, Canada, and the United States. She performed with Vellinger and Vanbrugh Quartets, Kungsbacka Piano Trio (Sweden), Emma Johnson (UK), John O’Conor (Ireland), with Garth Knox-Arditti Quartet (Paris) ,Yuko Inoue (UK),Chen Zimbalista (Israel), Garfield Jackson-Endellion quartet, Martin Outram (Maggini Quartet), Jerome Pernoo (Paris), James Lisney (UK),Gilbert Kalish (USA) and Douglas McNabney (Canada).
 
She worked closely with composers such Alec Roth (UK), Jane O’Leary (Ireland) and Fred Popovici-Romania. Ingrid has been teaching in Royal Academy of Music-London, gave chamber music master classes in Royal Irish Academy Of Music-Dublin, in UK(Reading and Devon) and in Ireland.
 
Recordings as a member of Contempo include labels and names such as Deutsche Schallplatten, BBC, RTÉ, ORF, Mezzo,TVR and TG4.
 
Ingrid has performed for personalities such as the Pope John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo in Italy, in 2001, in 2002 for Prince Charles in UK (the second concert at Highrove),in 2003 for Nelson Mandela, the ex-President of South Africa and EU and in 2005 for Angelica Houston and the late Merv Griffin.
 
As a violinist of ConTempo, Ingrid  recorded the Adagio from Beethoven’s Opus 131 for the television drama “Band Of Brothers”, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, arranged the music for the silent movie  “Aufgrunden”, and featured in the documentary film “ConTempo goes  West” by Bob Quinn, having its launch in July 2006.
 
 Andreea Banciu   
Andreea Banciu,  is the violist/founder of the ConTempo Quartet, quartet in residence at the Royal Academy of Music London 1999-2002, Galway Ensemble in Residence since 2003 and RTE ensemble in residence between 2015 and 2019.
Andreea is a lecturer in viola at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, TU Dublin and since 2019, she has been a guest principal viola with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Andreea has been invited to perform as lead violist with orchestras such as INO orchestra, Wexford Opera, Luminosa, Vespera, Ulster Belfast.

As a soloist, Andreea has performed with NSO, RTÉ Concert Orchestras, Luminosa Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, UK National Youth String Orchestra, Irish and Romanian National Youth Orchestras.

As a member of Contempo quartet, Andreea has won 14 International Prizes in Chamber Music Competitions (London, Munich, Berlin, Prague, Graz, Hamburg, Rome). She has performed over 3000 concerts around the world in 40 countries (in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonic, Tel-Aviv Opera, Carnegie Hall, Gedai Tokyo, NCH).Andreea had the honour to perform in front of great personalities (Michael D Higgins, Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Nobel Prize Winners & Hollywood Stars).
She took part, as a supporting actress, in the "Trop Tard" film (selected for Cannes Festival) and recorded the music for Steven Spielberg & Tom Hank's "Band of Brothers". Her recordings can be found on the Universal, Sony, Quartz, Deutsche Schallplatten & NMC labels.

In 2016, Andreea, together with pianist Aileen Cahill, formed duo Anima, who keeps a busy performing schedule with recitals as part of Clifden, Fermanagh and Clonmel Arts Festivals, as well as performances in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Mullingar, Omagh, Maynooth University, TU Dublin, University of Limerick, DCU. The duo has also performed in France and Belgium. 


Andreea is an active performer of contemporary music and her quartet has premiered over a hundred works by Irish composers.

In recognition of their immense cultural contribution, Andreea and her colleagues from Contempo quartet were conferred as Doctors in Music, Honoris Causa, by NUI Galway, and in January 2022 were awarded the distinction of Cultural Merit, in the Order of Knighthood, by the President of Romania.
Adrian Petcu  
William Dowdall was born in Dublin and trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music and returned to Ireland at the age of 21. Principal flute in the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland from 1979 to 2004 and appointed Professor of flute at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, he now combines a busy career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. In addition to a wide ranging repertoire, he has a keen interest in contemporary music and many composers have written works for him. As a solo artist he has made critically-acclaimed recordings for Goasco, Naxos, Marco Polo, Black Box, and Celestial Harmonies labels. He plays on gold and platinum flutes by Brannen, a wooden flute by Abell, and an alto flute by Eva Kingma.
 

© 2000 - 2023 powered by
Doteasy Web Hosting