ECHO Rising Stars Festival
Fresh. Bright. The stars of tomorrow.
Who’s on stage
Four of the best young classical musicians around, chosen by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) as their Rising Stars of 2024. Matilda Lloyd (trumpet), Benjamin Kruithof (cello), Sào Soulez Larivière (viola) and Carlos Ferreira (clarinet) will fill The Glasshouse with beautiful sounds all day long.
What they’re playing
Our four Rising Stars are all performing a mix of traditional and contemporary classical music chosen to showcase their incredible talents. Each programme includes a new work commissioned by ECHO for the Rising Stars tour. As well as the main recitals, there’ll be mini-concerts on the Concourse throughout the day and a panel discussion hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Linton Stephens.
Need to know
Price: £18
Running time: 10am – 5pm, timings for each performance below
Age: under 14s must be accompanied by an adult.
Who you'll hear
Matilda Lloyd
Matilda Lloyd is a true champion of her instrument: the trumpet. Not only does she impress audiences with her virtuosic skill and panache, but she also “produces a seamless legato, a wide range of colour and shapes the music like a fine singer.” (Fanfare Magazine). These lyrical capabilities are showcased to their full extent in Casta Diva, her debut album of opera aria transcriptions for Chandos Records. The disc was BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Month in June 2023 with a five-star review describing it as an “album full of delights… Lloyd plays with intense expression and immense warmth.” A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, Matilda Lloyd went on to study under Håkan Hardenberger at the Malmö Academy of Music. In 2014, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Final and made her BBC Proms solo debut two years later with Alpesh Chauhan and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Benjamin Kruithof
Luxembourgish cellist Benjamin Kruithof is emerging as one of the most promising instrumentalist talents of his generation. His first-prize winning performance of the Dvořák Cello Concerto at the George Enescu International Competition (2022) was praised as being “noble, singing, beautiful” (Bachtrack). As a soloist, recent highlights for Benjamin include performances with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie Herford, Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, and the East-West Chamber Orchestra at the Enescu Festival. In recital, he has performed at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gasteig in Munich, Kings Place in London and the Salle Cortot in Paris. Benjamin Kruithof was born in Luxembourg into a family of musicians and started playing the cello at the age of 5 at the “Conservatoire du Nord” with Raju Vidali.
Sào Soulez Larivière
Franco-Dutch violist Sào Soulez Larivière is quickly building himself a thriving career as a versatile musician. Captivating audiences with his playing and original programming, he endeavours to broaden the accessibility and perception of classical music in our modern world. He was named as the 2023 ‘Young Artist of the Year’ by the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), and recent competition successes include first prize at the 2023 Prague Spring International Competition, along with top prizes at the Tokyo, Oskar Nedbal, Max Rostal, Cecil Aronowitz, and Johannes Brahms competitions. An advocate for expanding the horizons of the viola repertoire, he enjoys arranging works for his instrument as well as promoting contemporary music. Born in Paris in 1998, Sào began his musical journey playing the violin, and at a young age received a scholarship to study with Natasha Boyarsky at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. It was there that he discovered the viola through chamber and orchestral music, deciding to fully commit to the instrument in his later school years.
Carlos Ferreira
Praised for his “magnetic playing”, Carlos Ferreira is hailed as one of the most proclaimed clarinettists of our time. In 2020, Carlos Ferreira joined the Orchestre National de France as Principal Clarinet. Previously he held the same position with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Orchestre National de Lille. In addition to his engagements with the Orchestre National de France, Carlos enjoys an extensive international career as soloist and chamber musician, performing at the at the world’s major festivals and venues. Born in Paredes, Portugal, he received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation while studying at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, in the class of professors Michel Arrignon and Enrique Pérez Piquer. He later joined the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the class of Arno Piters, and the HEMU of Lausanne in the class of Florent Héau. In Portugal, he was a student of José Ricardo Freitas at the José Atalaya Music Academy and ARTAVE, having completed his degree with Nuno Pinto at the Porto Superior School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE).
11.15 - 11.30 | Concourse
Benjamin Kruithof cello
Zhora Sargsyan piano
Astor Piazzolla Grand Tango (12′)
12 - 12.50pm | Sage Two
Matilda Lloyd trumpet
Kunal Lahiry piano
Cecilia McDowall Framed: A choir of angels (2’30)
Dani Howard New commission* (15′)
Claude Debussy L’isle Joyeuse (5’30)
Cecilia McDowall Framed: Marilyn diptych (3′)
Larry Bitensky From Those Beginning Notes of Yearning (10′)
Enrique Granados La Maja y El Ruiseñor (6′)
Deborah Pritchard Seven Halts on the Somme (10′)
* commissioned by The Barbican Centre London, Konserthuset Stockholm and the European Concert Hall Organisation
1.10 - 1.25 | Concourse
Carlos Ferreira clarinet
Pedro Emanuel Pereira piano
Adolf Schreiner Immer Kleiner (6′)
Bella Kovàcs Homage to Manuel de Falla (3′)
1.35 - 1.50 | Concourse
Sào Soulez Larivière viola
Christoph Sietzen percussion
Steve Reich Cello Counterpoint (11’)
Igor Stravinsky Elegie (6’)
2.15 - 3.05pm | Northern Rock Foundation Hall
Benjamin Kruithof cello
Zhora Sargsyan piano
Nadia Boulanger 3 pieces for Cello and Piano (7′)
Sally Beamish Reverie * (10’)
Sergei Rachmaninov Cello Sonata (35′)
* commissioned by Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie du Luxembourg and the European Concert Hall Organisation
3.30 - 3.45pm | Concourse
Matilda Lloyd trumpet
Kunal Lahiry piano
programme to include:
Cecilia McDowall Framed: Nocturne in blue and gold (2’)
4.15 - 4.30pm | Concourse
BBC Radio 3’s Linton Stephens chats with Matilda, Benjamin, Carlos and Sào about their musical experiences and highlights of the ECHO Rising Star concert hall tour so far.
5 - 5.50pm | Sage Two
Carlos Ferreira clarinet
Pedro Emanuel Pereira piano
Charles-Marie Widor Introduction et Rondo (8’)
Claude Debussy Première Rhapsodie (8’)
Lanqing Ding New Commission * (c.10’)
Pedro Emanuel Pereira Suite Duas Igrejas (7’)
Joseph Horovitz Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano (15′)
* commissioned by Casa da Música Porto, Fundação Gulbenkian Lisbon, The Glasshouse and the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO)
