BEETHOVEN  

SCHUBERT

BRAHMS
RACHMANINOFF

Sonata no.3 in A major, op.69 

Arpeggione sonata in A minor, D.821

Brahms sonata no.1 in E minor, op.38

Vocalise

 Hannah was born in Watford and started learning the cello at the age of 5. She gained a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with David Smith, and since graduating has developed a busy career as a freelance cellist and teacher.

She has always had a special passion for chamber music and in 2012 she formed the Cygnus Piano Trio with two fellow students at the Academy, Javier Montañana and César Saura. Over the last ten years, the trio has studied with internationally famous performers, competed successfully in various competitions, and performed widely in Europe and the UK. From 2017 to 2020 they participated in the specialised chamber music courses run by the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona (Italy), working closely with members of the Quartetto di Cremona. They have attended many other chamber music courses and masterclasses in the UK and Europe, and have been coached by world renowned musicians such as Pascal Devoyon, Raphael Wallfisch, Krzyzstof Smietana and Sergei Bressler. In 2018 and 2019 the trio was invited to take part in a series of masterclasses with Alfred Brendel in Pistoia (Italy).

The Cygnus trio has performed in numerous festivals and concert series, including the Santander International Festival, the Panticosa International Festival (as resident ensemble in 2017), the Archipelago series at the Auditorium Lo Squero in Venice, and the Omaggio a Cremona series at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona. In 2018, they were invited to join as members the Dimore del Quartetto organisation, providing them with an opportunity to perform all over Italy. The trio has also received prizes in various international competitions. In the summer of 2022 they were awarded the Recording Prize at the Filippo Nicosia Award, and as a result will be releasing their first commercial CD for Da Vinci Records in 2024.

In addition to her work with the trio, Hannah has performed extensively at recitals and concerts in many London venues – including various solo recitals at St James Piccadilly, the opening night of the new St James Theatre in Victoria, a complete cycle of the Beethoven string quartets at St Stephen’s Kensington and a tour of ‘The Lost Words’ project, which set Robert Macfarlane’s poetry to music with choir and chamber group. In July 2022 she performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Watford Symphony Orchestra, and is looking forward to performing Haydn’s C major Cello Concerto with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra in May 2024.

Yorkshire pianist and composer Neil Crossland began playing the piano at the age of six and studied at the Royal College of Music, where he won major prizes in both piano and composition. Since then he has performed extensively at home and abroad, and written pieces in all genres.

Neil has played at many major London venues including the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin in the Fields, and has made frequent appearances at Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room as well as performing all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in

a concert series at St James’s Piccadilly. He has also performed throughout the UK as well as in France, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Tunisia and Singapore – giving concerts of the unfinished Schubert sonatas and providing workshops and masterclasses there

in 2014.

Neil’s concerto performances include Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the British Chamber Orchestra at the Southwark Festival. He has also been active as a chamber musician, founding the piano trio Trilogy as well as performing his own works for piano trio – Trio Requiem and Damage.He has made over 20 recordings on the Deltatel label, including the complete cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas, as well as works by Haydn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Poulenc. One of his many other projects has been to revive and record the piano compositions of the late astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore.
As a composer, Neil is known for his original, but accessible style. One of his pieces, Requiem, Op 43, is for soloists, chorus and orchestra – other noteworthy works include the Yorkshire Suite for piano, Op 41, the Variations for piano duet on Paganini’s 24th Caprice and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, and the Piano trio No 2, Damage. His latest compositions

include songs set to poems by the three Brontë sisters for piano and soprano Op 52 (performed at St James’s Church, Piccadilly) as well as Ave Maria Op 53 for soprano, chorus and piano (first performed in Hammersmith at St Augustine’s Church). He is also recognised

for his ability to write successful transcriptions and convincing works in older styles.

A return to the Royal College of Music in 2014 performing Schubert’s Unfinished Sonata in F# Minor (D.571) (completed by Neil in 2005) was greatly received alongside his popular masterclasses.  Earlier in 2014, Neil gave his first performance at the Ruislip & Harrow Music Festival

performing the entire Beethoven sonatas, plus works by Haydn, Brahms, Schubert and Rachmaninoff. The festival continued in 2015 with Neil performing Schubert’s late Sonata in G Major (D.894), alongside two of his own compositions – Yorkshire Suite and Funk the Fugue. That same year, Neil completed his Op 54 set of songs for soprano and piano.

Having completed Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony in B Minor in 2005, the orchestration of the symphony quickly followed, and a recent solo piano version was transcribed for performance. Neil also worked on transcribing his choral work Ave Verum Corpus for SATB and organ. In April 2016, he began recording Mozart’s piano sonatas – the first two CDs of this project are now available.