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Jan Schmolck

Professorial Staff - Violin

Music

Email: j.schmolck@trinitylaban.ac.uk

Jan Schmolck

Biography

In addition to being leader of the Orchestra of St. John’s, Jan is also Principal Second Violinist of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. He has worked as a guest leader of many orchestras in the UK, including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as well as the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland. In the last two seasons, Jan has been invited several times to lead the Orchestre de chambre de Paris.

As leader of the Orchestra of St. John’s, Jan’s solo performances have included Bach’s violin concertos, all the Brandenburg concertos, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Violin Concerto No. 5, Bruch’s Concerto No. 1 and the concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. Jan has also given many performances of Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, culminating in a live recording for the OSJ Alive label. Solo performances with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields have included the Schnittke’s Double Concerto at the Barbican Centre and a broadcast for French Radio of duo sonatas with Kenneth Sillito from the Chatelet, Paris.

In demand as a chamber musician, Jan has performed in many of the major concert halls internationally with the Angell Trio, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, the Schubert Ensemble of London and the Razumovsky Ensemble. He has broadcast for American networks, French and Swiss radio as well as most German radio stations and has appeared on NHK-TV, Japan.  His recordings have appeared on the Sanctuary, ASV, Guild, Lorelt and Chandos labels.

Since 2015, the Angell Trio has collaborated with operatic bass Matthew Rose and soprano Katherine Broderick to commission four new works for voice and trio by Martin Suckling, Kate Whitley, Jordan Hunt and John Woolrich.