Benjamin Frith was encouraged by his teacher, Dame Fanny Waterman, to pursue a musical career after winning the Dudley National Concerto Competition aged fourteen. Since then he has been a first prize winner in the Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition where he was also awarded the special prize for chamber music, and was awarded top prize in the Busoni International Piano Competition. With acclaim for his American and Edinburgh Festival débuts, he established himself as an international concert artist, and has given recitals and concerto performances throughout Europe, Northern America, India, Kazakhstan and the Far East. His diverse repertoire ranges from Scarlatti to James Macmillan and includes over fifty concertos, and much praise has been bestowed on his recordings.

The Northern Sinfonia, acknowledged as one of Europe’s finest chamber orchestras, performs major concert series in Newcastle, Carlisle and Teesside. From its base in Newcastle upon Tyne, the orchestra acts as cultural ambassador for the North of England through regular national and international touring. Releases for Naxos include a recording of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto, which won the Classic CD award for the Best Concerto Recording for 2000, and a series devoted to the piano concertos of John Field, with the pianist Benjamin Frith, in addition to award-winning releases for other major companies.

Born in Leicestershire, David Haslam began conducting at school. At the age of seventeen, he won the Walter Stokes scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied flute, piano and composition. As a student, he was offered the position of principal flute at the Scottish National Orchestra. He accepted and remained there until he joined the Northern Sinfonia, again as principal flute, in 1962. Today he is acknowledged as one of the most admired flautists in the profession. With the Northern Sinfonia, he was also involved in programme planning, composition, orchestration, solo-directing and conducting.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra was formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra and became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950. It was awarded Royal Patronage in 1991. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including George Szell, Sir John Barbirolli, Neeme Järvi, and Stéphane Denève. The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, receiving two Diapason d’Or de l’année awards for Symphonic Music and eight GRAMMY® Awards nominations over the last decade. For more information, please see www.rsno.org.uk.

Andrew Mogrelia has had a varied career of concerts, recording and work with major dance companies. He has served as Conductor-in-Residence at Birmingham Conservatoire (1992–2002), Co-Music Director at Dutch National Ballet (1992–1994), Music Director and Principal Conductor of San Francisco Ballet (2003–2005), leading the orchestra’s thirtieth anniversary concert (2005), Music Director of the Conservatory Orchestra in San Francisco (2005–2012), where he directed a residency for composer John Adams in 2007, conducting Harmonielehre in the composer’s presence and Music Director of Queensland Ballet (2013–2015). He has an extensive discography for Naxos and Marco Polo, with his complete Sleeping Beauty (8.550490-92) acclaimed as a ‘clear first choice’ by Gramophone magazine.