A coffee morning recital given by Joji Hattori, violin and Alison Rhind, piano

Booking: This concert is free to attend, but space is limited, therefore we ask you to reserve a seat.

Programme:

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) - Marche miniature Viennoise

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) - Sonatina Op 100

Franz Drdla (1868-1944) - Souvenir

Fritz Kreisler - La Gitana

Fritz Kreisler - Preghiera

Fritz Kreisler - Caprice Viennois

William Kroll (1901-1980) - Banjo & Fiddle

Joji Hattori was born in Japan and spent his childhood in Vienna, where regularly attending the opera house and concert halls formed his musical development. Today, Joji Hattori is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Between 1994 and 1995 he was St Antony’s College, Oxford studying social anthropology. He continues to research the questions around the personal national identity of each human being.

Joji started playing the violin at the age of five and studied with Rainer Küchl at the Vienna Academy of Music, followed by further studies with Yehudi Menuhin and Vladimir Spivakov. In 1989 he won the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in England. After a decade of international activities as a violin soloist, he participated at the inaugural Lorin Maazel Conducting Competition in New York in 2002, where he was given a major award and the opportunity to study conducting techniques with the late Lorin Maazel for the following 2 years.

As guest conductor he has worked repeatedly with many distinguished orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra London, Slovakian Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker or many major symphony orchestras in Japan. From 2007 to 2008 Joji Hattori served as Principal Resident Conductor of the Opera House in Erfurt and from 2014 to 2018 he was Principal Guest Conductor and Co-Artistic Director of the Balearic Symphony Orchestra in Palma de Mallorca. In 2009 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera with three performances of The Magic Flute, conducting in fact the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit. He has also conducted at the New National Theatre Tokyo which is Japan’s leading opera house.

Apart from his performing activities, Joji Hattori is Vice President of the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and in 2003 he was made Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Since 2015 he has been the owner of Shiki, a Japanese Fine Dining restaurant in Vienna.

Alison Rhind is recognised as one of the leading collaborative pianists specialising in the repertoire for piano and strings. Her ability to accompany was recognised and nurtured at an early age whilst still at Chetham’s School of Music. She became increasingly in demand throughout her time at Oxford University where she read Music at Wadham College. Chetham’s invited her back immediately she had finished her degree, but she completed her studies with Edith Vogel at the Guildhall School of Music before returning there.

1994 – 2006 she worked at the Yehudi Menuhin School. She toured Israel and Germany with the students and was invited to accompany at the prestigious Kronberg Akademie after her recitals there. During this period, she coached many young instrumentalists with whom she has since forged notable recital partnerships, particularly the violinists Alina Ibragimova and Nicola Benedetti with whom she toured the USA and Japan.

From 2009 to 2018 Alison worked at the Royal College of Music, where a post was created for her as Coach for the String Department, which she combined with freelance recital work. Her work at the college also lead her to being invited to Norway, Sweden and Singapore to coach students there. She has a collaborative relationship with many teachers who send their students to her specifically for duo coaching.