Stephanie Waite
Stephanie grew up in a musical household and started playing the violin when she was 2 years old. She went to Junior Guildhall at the age of 14 where she studied with Felicity Lipman and played in many chamber ensembles and orchestras. When she was 18 Stephanie continued her studies with Levon Chilingirian. Stephanie played Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D, K218 with the Sutton Chamber Orchestra, and was a regular soloist with the orchestra of Corpus Christi College Cambridge whilst a student there.
Jenny Gowman
Jenny, originally from Streatham in South London, began playing the violin at the age of 7. She joined her first orchestra at 10 and has been playing in student and amateur orchestras since. While still at school she appeared as soloist in Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ from ‘The Four Seasons’ at Addington Palace and Bach’s Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe at St. John’s, Smith Square, both with the Whitgift Chamber Orchestra. Remaining in London, Jenny completed a BMus at King’s College, London and graduated with first class honours in 2004. During her time at King’s she studied violin with Tamás András at the Royal Academy of Music and was appointed leader of many student symphony and chamber orchestras.
Michael Bennett
Michael started to play the viola (and not the violin) just under ten years ago. He taught himself for a year, had two years of terrible lessons, then studied with a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, which made him realise he hates auditions and competition. He now enjoys playing in a wide range of orchestras such as Charities Philharmonia, Philharmonia Britannica, I Maestri and Kensington Symphony Orchestra. His favourite composers are Rachmaninov, Sibelius and Mahler, and by the end of 2010 he will have played in the first five Mahler symphonies. His favourite musical experience so far was playing Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony at the Royal Academy of Music. Michael joined the quartet earlier this year, and plays a modern viola kindly donated by a mysterious benefactor.
Brad Hale
Brad is a New Zealander by birth. Taking up the cello at the rather late age of 13 Brad auditioned to attend Auckland University four years later. There he studied violoncello under Coral Bognuda graduating with a Batchelor of Music in Performance Violoncello with Honors. While in New Zealand, Brad was a member of a string quartet, a number of orchestras, chamber groups and also taught. He moved to London in 2003 and joined the London Gay Symphony Orchestra, in which he has held the position of principal cellist for the last 3 years. In 2009 he played the first solo part in Vivaldi’s concerto for 2 cellos with the LGSO. Brad plays a custom built cello from New Zealand by local luthier Noel Sweetman.