Representing the Royal College of Music

Programme

Stravinsky – Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss
Britten – Suite for Violin and Piano
Efrem Zimbalist – Concert Phantasy on Le Coq d’Or

Performers

Joo Yeon Sir Violin
Irina Andrievsky Piano

Described by Strad Magazine as “exuberant…seductive…with bravura and oodles of personality”, Korean-born British violinist Joo Yeon Sir is a former winner of the prestigious Arts Club Karl Jenkins Classical Music Award (in association with Classic FM), and, on completing her studies, the Royal College of Music President’s Award. She has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Fairfield Halls and at St. James’s Palace for HRH The Prince of Wales.  She was a St John’s Smith Square Young Artist 2015-16 and recorded her debut recital disc there during the residency: Suites & Fantasies(released by Rubicon and described as “dazzling” by The Guardian) features music by De Falla, Britten, Milhaud, Schnittke and Frolov/Gershwin (accompanied by Irina Andrievsky) and has already been featured by the BBC and RTE.  Her repertoire is striking and diverse.   In recital, she is equally at home in solo violin repertoire (Bach, Ysaÿe, Kreisler and Paganini) as she is in close collaboration with piano (in major works ranging from Haydn and Beethoven to Elgar and Debussy) or guitar, as one half of the Snowden-Sir Duo. Joo Yeon plays on Matteo Goffriller violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel. www.jooyeonsir.com

Irina Andrievsky was born in Ufa, Russia. She began learning the piano at the age of seven, going on to win First Prize in the Ufa Piano Competition at the age of ten. At the age of eleven, she went to Moscow to study at the Central Music School for Specially Gifted Children, a branch of the Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. She then went on to complete her music degrees with distinction at the Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, and also her Doctorate qualification. Among her teachers were Professors E. Malinin, L. Timofeeva and M. Mijlumoff.

In 1991, Irina immigrated to Israel and continued her music career performing solo recitals and chamber music concerts. Over a period of fourteen years before moving to England, Irina developed an impressive career as a piano teacher in Israel, raising a generation of promising young pianists. During this time, she participated in the Radio France and Montpellier Festival, as well as other prestigious chamber music festivals worldwide.

Irina frequently works with renowned violinists, violists and cellists from all around the world.