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The Tutors
(October 2025)
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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 Kilkenny). 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.
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Ingrid Nicola was born in Bucharest and is a violinist of the RTE 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. |
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Sébastien Petiet was born in France but grew up in West Kerry, where he learned Traditional Irish music from local musicians. He studied Violin in Cork School of Music with Cornelia Zanidache, and at the Conservatoire of Lyon with Moses Sequerra; graduating in 1986. He then went on to study Harmony, Counterpoint and Conducting. He studied Guitar at the Conservatoire of St Etienne while leader of the St Etienne Chamber Orchestra.
Sébastien holds an MA in performance from CIT Cork School of Music where he studied with Adrian Petcu (2012). A multi-instrumentalist, he plays most acoustic string instruments, both bowed and plucked. Sébastien has toured extensively with various Bands and Ensembles, in many styles. He is based in Dublin since 1993. He was a Violinist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for 21 years, leaving in January 2020. He taught Violin and Viola at Maynooth University and conducted the Maynooth University Orchestra for 10 years. He is also a prolific composer, arranger and orchestrator, performed and recorded by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and many other artists.
Sébastien is now a freelance musician and a member of Robert Mizzell’s “Country Kings” where he plays Fiddle, Mandolin and Trumpet. He also has extensive experience in coaching youth, student and amateur groups, including Orchestras, Choirs, Chamber ensembles and Brass bands. Among others he has worked with Orchestres du Conservatoire de St Étienne, Orchestre de Chambre Molto Beynost, RIAM Orchestra, NYOI, NUI Maynooth Chamber Orchestra, Rathcoole Children's Choir, Scoil Crónáin Choir Rathcoole, the Stedfast Band, etc.
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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.
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