Martin Saving
Martin Saving was born in 1975 to mixed
Estonian/Swedish parentage. He initiated his studies in 1994 at the
Edsberg Institute of Music, where he studied viola with Björn
Sjögren. He made his solo debut in 1999 by performing the
Walton viola concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and
giving a solo recital at the Concert Hall of Stockholm. Martin
continued his studies as scholar at the Royal College of Music, London,
with Simon Rowland-Jones.
Martin has performed with artists such as Kungsbacka piano trio,
Vertavo Quartet, Rivka Golani, Lawrence Power and Truls Mörk.
He opened the 2000 International Viola Congress with a solo recital,
and he has toured Europe and Asia, including venues in Berlin, Soul and
Manila as leader of the viola section of the World Youth Symphony
Orchestra. As a member of the RCM Chamber Ensemble he made several
radio recordings and toured Germany. He has also played in Festivals in
Sweden, Finland and Great Britain. Martin has performed on radio and TV
in Sweden and Britain.
He has received a number of scholarships and awards including the Guido
Vecchi-prize, the Johannes Norrby Scholarship, the LSO PROMIS award and
scholarships from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.
Martin is passionate about baroque music, and studied baroque viola
with Jan Schlapp.
He is a member of the Elias String Quartet and Ensemble 360.
The Elias String Quartet acted as Junior Fellows and then "Associated
Quartet" at the RNCM. They also spent a year at the Hochschule in
Cologne with the Alban Berg quartet.
The Quartet received second prize and the Sidney Griller prize at the
9th London International String Quartet Competition in 2003 (as the
Johnston String Quartet). They were finalists in the Paolo Borciani
Competition in 2005 and have twice been awarded scholarships from the
Hattori Foundation.
They have performed extensively in the UK, and in France, Germany,
Sweden, Austria, Italy, and the USA, in venues such as the Wigmore
Hall, Purcell Room, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Bridgewater Hall,
Fairfield Halls, Stockholm Concert Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre, and
Jordan Hall. They are currently Ensemble in residence at Kettle's Yard
in Cambridge and have broadcasted live on National Radio in the UK,
France and Sweden. They look forward to a residency at the Wigmore
Hall, London, beginning next year. They are also planning a five week
long tour in Australia that will take place in September 2009. They
have performed with artists such as Andrew Marriner, Ralph Kirshbaum,
Joan Rogers, Mark Padmore, Roger Vignoles, Michel Dalberto, Peter
Cropper, Bernard Gregor-Smith, Robin Ireland, and with the Endellion
and Vertavo quartets.
They have been resident string quartet at the Britten Pears
School three times where they worked closely with Hugh Maguire, and
were subsequently invited to the International Academy of String
Quartets. Other mentors in the Quartet's studies include members of the
Amadeus, Endellion and Vermeer Quartets, György Kurtag, Gabor
Takacs-Nagy, Paul Katz, Rainer Schmidt, Kim Kashkashian and Milan
Skampa. In Febuary 2006 they held a week-long residency at the New
England Conservatory in Boston.
The Quartet has released a disc of Mendelssohn Quartets with Sanctary
Classics, a disc of French harp music with harpist Sandrine Chatron for
the French label Ambroisie, and will soon release Goehr's Piano Quintet
for Meridian Records.
In 2005 the Elias were appointed resident String Quartet at Sheffield's
Music in the Round as part of the Ensemble 360. The ensemble brings
together 11 musicians from accross the globe; five wind players, a
pianist, a double bassist and the Elias. Their home is at the Crucible
Theatre in Sheffield, but they also tour nationally and are now also
resident at Sheffield and York Universities. They have a series at the
Wigmore Hall, London.
Ensemble 360 has released a discs of Mozart's ans Spohr's chamber music
with Sanctuary Classics.
(click
photos for larger images)