Charlie Siem
'... a player of remarkable promise.' BBC Music Magazine
Charlie Siem is a young British violinist who is already a popular performer at international festivals and will tour the UK with the Moscow Philharmonic this Autumn.
The top-flight of classical music beckoned from a very early age, and despite a contract with international agent IMG and countless other offers, Charlie chose to spend the last three years focusing on both his academic studies at Girton College, Cambridge and his continuing violin studies with his musical mentor, acclaimed Israeli soloist Shlomo Mintz.
The first time Charlie ever heard a violin playing was at the age of three. A radio broadcast of the Beethoven violin concerto with Yehudi Menuhin held him entranced. “It’s extraordinary to think”, says Charlie, “that I now play the same instrument which Menuhin was so fond of.” Legend has it that Menuhin loved this, the 1735 Guarnerius del Jesu ‘d’Egville’ violin so much that its then owner, Otto Lutz, had to sue him to get it back. On its return he had a gold nail engraved with his initials (O.L.) driven into the center of the instrument's saddle, which remains intact to this day since removing it would affect the structure of the instrument. Charlie plays this remarkable violin thanks to the generosity of the Elderberry Foundation.
Not long after hearing the broadcast Charlie began violin lessons. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and subsequently at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of Itzhak Rashkovsky and currently studies with renowned violinist and conductor Shlomo Mintz. “I am lucky to have such inspirational teachers and I remain captivated by the recordings of the greats, especially Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh and Ida Haendel. There are other legends of the past like Wieniawski or Paganini, whom we only know through their music who I would say have enhanced the romance of the violin for me. Also the great Norwegian Ole Bull.”
Charlie has appeared at the Windsor, Spoleto and St Moritz festivals and has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Israel Camerata, Bergen Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Vilnius and Petrobas Sinfonica Orchestra (Brazil).
His recent performance at the New Year’s concert at the Bergen Festival drew praise with the Bergens Tidende newspaper calling his performance simply ‘brilliant playing'’.
Charlie has strong a interest in contemporary music and will premiere a new piece written for him by Robin Holloway in 2008. He recently worked with Ballet Rambert, performing music by Gabriel Prokofiev for Ballet Rambert’s recent ‘New Choregoraphy at The Place’ where the daily Telegraph described Patricia Okenwa's Sleeveless Scherzo, as ‘a wittily heated conversation between a violinist (playing a bracing original score by Gabriel Prokofiev) and Okenwa herself’. Charlie’s violin playing features on the haunting soundtrack by Guy Farley for ‘Modigliani’.
His repertoire includes the virtuosic Wieniawski Violin Concerto No 1, which Charlie recently performed in Poland for a live broadcast on national radio and which he also performed in Cambridge at the personal request of Professor Stephen Hawkins.
“I love so much music: of Bach, Scriabin, Brahms, Schumann, Carter and Britten. And there is so much repertoire out there to explore. I’d go as far to say that music is my inspiration for everything. Playing is totally exhilarating. My second love is skiing, but when you’ve just played a great concert it feels even better than standing on top of a mountain having skied the perfect line through deep powder snow.”
Charlie’s debut recording, a disc of Elgar and Grieg with pianist Andrei Korobeinikov
'Charlie Siem - a violinist who's really going places' Classic FM Magazine
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR DEBUT RECORDING
'convincingly thought through and beautifully delivered'
'a wonderful tone...spacious and beautiful'
Classic FM Magazine ****
'His Elgar sonata is by turns confidential and quick-witted, perfectly shaded and full of sweet-sour regrets'
'Siem... manages to focus unerringly on the musical core of each.'
The Guardian ****
'...these are performances of remarkable freshness and spontaneity.'
'The Elgar Sonata is especially beautifully done, at once mercurial and intimate, as if Siem is plucking the music straight from the air...Elgar would surely have approved...'
BBC Music Magazine*****
LIVE REVIEWS
‘Siem’s powerful performance will leave many wondering where this talented musician is heading.’
Cambridge Evening News
‘… the membrane between listener and music entirely vanishes. Such moments are rare but one certainly happened when Signor Guarneri and this extraordinarily good-looking player came together in conversation with Grieg in his Sonata no 3 in C minor. ’
Newbury Weekly News