Brandenburg Sinfonia

As well as its renowned work in the UK, the Brandenburg Sinfonia is also in great demand abroad and has, in recent years visited France, USA, Bermuda, the Channel Islands, Barbados, Cyprus, Malta and St Petersburg.

The varied range of activities undertaken by the orchestra include a major concert series at St Martin-in-the- Fields and a major Classical Music cruise on the QE2.

One of the recent highlights was an International Opera Gala conducted by Richard Bonynge in the presence of HRH Prince Charles.

A large number of artists of international standing have worked with the orchestra including Richard Bonynge, Yvonne Kenny, Emmanuel Hurwitz, Lesley Garrett, John Georgiadis, John Wallace, Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Gordon Hunt.

Its repertoire ranges from Bach to Lloyd Webber and its members give over one hundred performances of orchestral, chamber choral and operatic music during the year.

The orchestras for a number of touring companies are formed from members of the Brandenburg Sinfonia including Central Festival Opera, First Act Opera, London City Opera, and English Pocket Opera.

Mihkel Kerem - leader

Mihkel was born in 1981 in Tallinn into a family of musicians. At the age of six he began studying violin at the Tallinn Music High School with his mother Mirjam Kerem. In 1992 and 1993 he won diplomas both from the Dvarionas competition in Lithuania and the Kocian competition in the Czech Republic. Two years later he won the First Prize at the First National Competition for Young String Players in Estonia.

As a soloist Mihkel has appeared with many orchestras including the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Estonia Opera Orchestra, the Brandenburg Sinfonia and the Southbank Sinfonia, performing amongst others concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovski, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Saint-Saens, Vieuxtemps, Mozart and Trandafilovski.

As a recitalist he has performed in Estonia, Finland, Austria, Germany Latvia and England. In 2001-2002 he held a post of co-leader in Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and has since also appeared with them as a guest leader. In 2006 he was the leader of Southbank Sinfonia. Mihkel is now the leader of Charities Philharmonia (since 2006) and the leader of Brandenburg Sinfonia (since 2007). He also is a member of Camerata Nordica (Sweden) and London Musical Arts ensemble.

Mihkel began his composition studies at the age of twelve with Estonian composer Mati Kuulberg and continued at the Estonian Academy of Music with Jaan Rääts. In 1997 the Tallinn Music High School sponsored an evening exclusively dedicated to Mihkel’s chamber music. In addition to composing for more conventional combinations of instruments Mihkel enjoys the challenge of writing for more unorthodox ensembles. His compositions to date total over 100 works including 3 Symphonies, Concerto for two Cellos and Orchestra, 9 String Quartets and 3 Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Amongst others, his music has been played by The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamberorchestra, Oulu Sinfonia (Finland), Camerata Nordica and The Chilingirian String Quartet. His music has also been played in Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in Germany and Aurora Chamber Music Festival in Sweden.

Mihkel gained his Masters degree in 2006 from the Royal College of Music studying violin with Levon Chilingirian and composition with William Mival.