Directory
Kim Vaughan and Simon Leach
The breathless verve and terrific bite from Kim Vaughan’s cello. Everything here feels alert and vibrantly alive.
Leach is a fine player, more than capable of managing the virtuosic demands of this music.
Duo - Instrumental
Instrumentation
- Kim Vaughan - Cello
- Simon Leach - Organ, Piano and Harpsichord.
Repertoire
J S Bach. Three Sonatas
Vivaldi. Sonatas for cellos and Basso continuo.
Nadia Boulanger. Three Pieces
John Taverner. Svyati
Vivaldi. Nulla in mundo, pax sincera
Max Bruch. Kol Nidrei.
Anton Weber. Two pieces
Helen Leach. Out of the Depths and The Royal Swan.
Gabriel Faure. Andante
Saint Saëns. Priere
Biography
Kim Vaughan is a cellist, founder member of the Benyounes String Quartet and Artistic Director of Quercus Ensemble. She studied cello in Derry and Dublin and in 2000 was awarded the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year prize. She continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music from 2003, where her teachers included Kim Bak Dinitzen, Emma Ferrand and Gregor Horsch. In 2009 she was a recipient of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Young Musicians Platform, which led to concerto performances with the Ulster Orchestra and a recital at the Belfast Festival at Queens, both recorded for BBC Radio Ulster.
Whilst at the RNCM she was a founding member of the Benyounes String Quartet, with whom she studied at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva under Gabor Takacs-Nagy, with the support of the prestigious RPS Julius Isserlis scholarship. Here they won the conservatoire’s most esteemed Prix d’Exellence and went on to win the 2012 1st International Sandor Vegh String Quartet Competition in Budapest and second prize at the 2014 Orlando String Quartet Competition. They have given concerts to critical acclaim across the UK and Europe at venues such as Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, King’s Place, Vienna Konzerthaus, St Martin in the Fields, LSO St. Lukes and the Budapest, Mondsee, Verbier, Gstaad New Year, West Cork Festivals and Aix-en-Provence Festivals. The Quartet held the Richard Carne Junior Fellowship at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for two years.
Kim plays an English cello made by William Forster from ca. 1770 for which she is grateful for the support of Harriet’s Trust.
Simon Leach accompanies Kim Vaughan on the organ, piano and harpsichord. He is a prize winning graduate from the Royal Northern College of Music and a former Organ Scholar of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool. He has performed throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, most notably at Westminster Cathedral, London and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. He has made many trips to give solo recitals in New York and has played at both St Patrick’s Cathedral and The Church of St Thomas, 5th Avenue. He has played harpsichord, organ and piano with several leading British orchestras, including RLPO, Halle, Camerata, Northern Sinfonia, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the London Festival Orchestra.
Simon and Kim have performed on BBC Radio 3 playing music by Helen Leach and have also recorded music for the composers website.
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