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We caught up with Basil Alter to find out more about him…

What is your main occupation at the moment?

I am currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, so a student!

What made you choose to play your instrument and how old were you when you started?

My mother is a violinist and she started my sister and I when we were three. I didn’t consistently play all that time – I was interested in many things as a child and my parents never pushed me into violin, but no matter what I would do I would always end up back with the violin. I think I found it the most rewarding out of all the instruments and other music things I was doing, even though it was also the most challenging.

What made you choose the concerto that your will be playing?

The Korngold is a really brilliant piece that captures a specific moment in history. For those unfamiliar, Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austrian composer that sought refuge in the late 1930s in America. He found success writing film music, and some say his unique style essentially created the genre of Hollywood cinematic composition as we know it today. The Violin Concerto incorporates themes from many of his classic film scores, titles which you may recognise: Juarez, Anthony Adverse, and The Prince and the Pauper, to name a few. The piece was dedicated to Alma Mahler (Korngold studied with Gustav Mahler as a child) and was premiered by Jascha Heifetz and the St Louis Symphony in 1947.
To me, the concerto says so much about the human experience – the original themes and motifs from the music that Korngold wrote for the movies were crafted to enhance specific storylines, tropes, and the emotions that came with those ideas. Many of these emotions resonate with me these days, and so in that way, the piece allows me a special opportunity to express myself truly and fully. I do this best with violin in-hand anyway, but in every piece it could be said the interpreter’s job is to express the composer’s intentions – with Korngold’s concerto, it is just lucky that he and I want to say the same things.

What do you feel you would gain from the experience of winning this competition and playing your concerto with ERSO and Chris Stark?

I’m very grateful to have made it to the finals! I would be so honoured to play with the ERSO because it would be my first time performing the Korngold with an orchestra, and the opportunity to work in-depth on the piece with Chris Stark would be invaluable.

After a day of auditions, when we had listened to 13 amazing players, we found ourselves having to pick only 4 for the big Final day on April 13th. We are so excited to be working 4 fabulously talented young soloists:

Basil Alter playing the Korngold Violin Concerto

Mio Takahashi playing Prokofiev 1^st Violin Concerto

Emily Ambrose playing the Hummel Bassoon Concerto

Alice Knight playing Mozart’s 2^nd Horn Concerto

After 30 fantastic submissions for our competition for emerging composers, and a great workshop final with three composers who all brought something special and very different, it was time for a very difficult decision.

Following much consideration, we are thrilled to announce the winner – Nicholas Gawley’s Vienna c. 1825, colourised. We can’t wait to work with Nicholas on the piece which will be performed in our concert on 22 June, 2025.

The three finalists – Pierre Fontaine, Eric Davis and Nicholas Gawley

We are excited to work with Finalist Eric on his piece To the Bone. We asked Eric to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

I am a multidisciplinary composer and performer originally hailing from Austin, Texas. Now based in London, I am completing Master of Music degree at the Royal Academy of Music under the direction of Helen Grime and David Sawer. I initially began my studies as a mechanical engineer and French Horn player, before finding my way into composition while at the University of Oklahoma. I enjoy working in small motivic spaces, generating intricate and interconnected pieces from limited source material or strict programmatic guidelines. Much of my recent and upcoming concert work explores the relationship between music and memory, across both acoustic and electronic mediums. Recent collaborations include work with the Riot Ensemble, PHACE ensemble, Trio Immersio, and the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra. 

We are excited to work with Finalist Pierre on his piece Bransle. We asked Pierre to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

“After receiving a general music education in the conservatory, I decided to pursue a career focusing on classical composition. One of Nadia Boulanger’s last student, Dr. David Conte, happen to be a teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and introduced me to the music of Maurice Ravel, Debussy, Chabrier … and I realized that they all wrote dances. Being very deeply attached to my roots in French Massif Central, Italy, Martinique and Ireland, I decided to write my own dances, in homage to the past, and the culture of these regions. As a result of this, I recently finished my Dance Suite (six European dances), while honoring three commissions due in early 2025, orchestrating for the cinema, as well as teaching. As I am writing the libretto, a secret dream would be to write a full scale ballet based on a modernized ancient myth … .”

We are excited to work with Finalist Nicholas on his piece Vienna c. 1825, colourised. We asked Nicholas to tell us a little more about himself and his composing.

My initial path into composing was through pop music songwriting and arranging in my
teens, where my first experiments with notated music were located. At some point I fell
down the rabbit hole of classical music, first falling in love with Mahler and the
Impressionists, then finding the music of Stravinsky and the Second Viennese School. Since
then, I’ve explored the whole range of post-1900 music, trying to combine the best
innovations of that music with a lyricism derived from my activity as a choral singer. I was
able to indulge both of these interests when I wrote (and staged!) a chamber opera last year,
which I hope will be a stepping stone to future operatic projects.
I am currently a master’s student in composition at RAM, taught by Helen Grime and David
Sawer. Before this I studied Music at the University of Cambridge.

We’re excited to be able to announce our programme for the 2024/5 season – it’s going to be amazing!!

We would love to hear from experienced string players who might want to join us for a concert or more permanently. The dates for the season can be found at Rehearsal schedule.

We’re a friendly group (with a lot of good cake) playing to a very high standard with Principal Conductor Christopher Stark, our professional leader and the young professional players leading the strings.  We perform three main concerts each season and two side-by-side workshops with Camden children.  We also take great pride in providing opportunities for young professional musicians at the start of their careers.

We perform and rehearse on Sundays.  Rehearsals are at Camden School for Girls and the 3 main concerts are at St John’s Waterloo.

Players taking part in events are eligible to enter our Soloist of the Year competition and win the chance to be our June 2025 soloist. 

Interested? Get in touch on ersoinfo@gmail.com

An amazing evening of wonderful opera with our 5 favourite singers Guy Beynon; Phoebe Rayner; Jack Dolan; Michael Temporal Darrell and Dominic Felts under the baton of conductor Chris Stark. Our cast brought the characters life with expert direction by Jasmine Ricketts and it was clear that our appreciative audience had a great time! (Photographs by Gabriella Meade)

Ravel’s comedic opera L’Heure Espagnol tells the tale of a clockmaker whose unfaithful wife attempts to see other men while he is away, leading to them hiding in, and eventually getting stuck in, her husband’s clocks. It’s hugely funny! Join us for a very affordable evening with tickets only at £12 in advance and £5 for students/children. https://www.wegottickets.com/event/607742#

• Torquemada, the clockmaker played by Guy Beynon
• Concepción, Torquemada’s wife played by Phoebe Rayner
• Ramiro, the muleteer or delivery-man played by Michael Temporal Darrell
• Don Iñigo Gomez, the banker played by Dominic Felts
• Gonzalve, the poet played bv Jack Dolan