Brahms Viola Sonata in E flat major, Op. 120 No. 2 – Rachel Roberts and Lars Vogt

Rachel Roberts is one of Europe’s leading violists and performs internationally as soloist and chamber musician.

As soloist she has collaborated with conductors Christoph von Dohnanyi, Andras Schiff and Richard Hickox, performing concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Koln Kammerorchester, Kammerphilharmonie Graubunden in Switzerland and the Manchester Camerata Chamber Orchestra amongst others. She was the featured viola soloist in the BBC TV documentary ‘The Passions of Vaughan Williams’ with Richard Hickox and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and has performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violinists Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas and Benjamin Schmid in Germany, Switzerland and London.

Rachel enjoys a busy schedule of chamber music. She has appeared as chamber musician at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Musikverein (Grand Saal) Vienna; Alte Oper, Frankfurt; Wigmore Hall; Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, St.John’s Smith Square and King’s Place. Rachel is a regular guest at international chamber music festivals including Salzburg Festival, Wiener Festwoche, Schubertiade – Schwarzenberg, Heimbach – Germany, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Hamburg “Oestertone”, Lofoten – Norway and Stift – Holland.

Prizes for her chamber music recordings include the Diapason D’or, the ‘Supersonic Award’ of Pizzicato magazine, Luxembourg, CD of the month in Fonoforum Magazine, Germany, and BBC Chamber Choice in Gramophone Magazine. Rachel Roberts has recorded chamber music for labels Hyperion, Champs Hill Records, Signum Classics, cAVI in Germany and Deutsche Rundfunk.

Following the success of her second solo CD (Schubert, Britten and Shostakovich) with pianist Lars Vogt on the cAVI label, along with piano quartet and string sextet performances in Japan in 2016, Rachel Roberts appears again this season with Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas and Isabelle Faust for further chamber music collaborations, both in Germany and the U.K. Rachel also looks forward to again collaborating with Steven Isserlis and Joshua Bell in the coming season, and performing chamber music with Amihai Grosz, Principal Viola of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Rachel Roberts is Professor of Viola at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In the UK she has given masterclasses at the Britten Pears Young Artists Programme, Dartington International Summer School, Chethams School of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Each summer, Rachel teaches at leading European summer schools such as Musique a Flaine in the French Alps, Aurora Chamber Music Festival in Sweden and at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music. She holds the Institute of Education qualification: Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education, and recently became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.