Last night members and their guests gathered at our London clubhouse for this popular staple of the ROSL event calendar. Starting in the central lounge, there was a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones over a glass of wine, before the concert started. 

Our concert was performed by this year’s Annual Music Competition String Finalist, Mathilde Milwidsky violin with accompanist Andrei Iliushkin.

Mathilde has been described as ‘an exceptional talent’ by Maxim Vengerov and was recently praised for her ‘surprisingly mature lyrical insight and compelling nuances and colours’ by Bachtrack.com. She has performed as a soloist at venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room as well as across Europe. She has been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, Radio Swiss Classic, Classic FM and appeared live on the BBC One Show.

Andrei is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with professor emeritus Christopher Elton. He is the winner of many International competitions in Russia, Italy and the USA. He has also had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with symphonic orchestras of Moscow, Rostov and Yaroslavl. In honour of his talent, Andrei was honoured to give a recital in Tchaikovsky’s house and play the piano owned by Tchaikovsky.

Last night they played for members Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 45 and Kreisler’s Altwiener Tanzweisen No. 3, Schön Rosmarin.

Following the concert, members were then invited to make their way up to the Hall of India to continue the evening. We were honoured to have grace said by Central Council member Judith Fisher and our Loyal Toast by the Secretary of the Bournemouth Branch, Gordon Irving.

Sir David Brewer rounded off the evening with a speech about the new dawn ROSL was about to enter under the guidance of Diana Owen, who will be starting as Director-General at the start of December.

We would like to once again thank all the staff and members for such a fantastic evening, and look forward to seeing you all again for the Chairman’s lunch on Thursday 10 May 2018. Take a look at some of the photos from the evening below.

Pin It