Geoffry Silver

HOMEBIOGRAPHY REVIEWSGALLERYWATCHDOWNLOADLINKSCONTACT

 

 

GEOFFREY SILVER

VIOLIN

BIOGRAPHY

For over two decades, Geoffrey Silver has been performing across the UK and abroad as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has earned critical and audience acclaim for his interpretative insight and tonal beauty, and was recently described in the British press as ‘a prodigious talent’.

Born in London, Geoffrey Silver began his violin studies at the age of four and performed the Bach double violin concerto in his first solo performance at the age of six. From age seven onwards, he studied over a ten year period with Professor Ken Piper from the Royal College of Music and laid the foundations of his technique throughout these crucial years. In those early years, he performed many solo recitals in collaboration with his now-conductor brother, Jeremy, but came to prominence in his early teens as leader of theNational Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He benefited hugely from this experience at such an early age, and from working with a raft of international conductors and soloists such asPierre Boulez and Jessye Norman, to name but two.

Still in his mid teens Silver made his concerto debut in the UK in a performance of the Sibelius violin concerto, and gave his Royal Festival Hall debut in a rapturously received performance of the Saint-Saens showpiece ‘Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso’. In the intervening years, he has performed much of the standard and less well-known concerto literature, and is keenly committed to performing and championing less familiar works.

As a recitalist, Silver has collaborated with a number of internationally recognized concert pianists over recent seasons, including Alberto Portugheis and Eduardo Hubert from Argentina, and the St Petersburg trained Russian pianist, Anya Fadina. Portugheis and Silver have performed a variety of programs ranging from the standard classical works to the more eclectic, innovative collections of South American repertoire. Geoffrey recently performed works by Ginastera and Ponce with Hubert to great acclaim at a shared solo concert with the legendary pianist, Martha Argerich.

Recent tours in various musical capacities have taken him all over the globe in the last season, performing in many of the most prestigious venues. Forthcoming highlights incorporate further recital and concerto appearances, including a performance of the British composer Naresh Sohal’s violin concerto, several chamber music recordings with the Schubert Ensemble, and a series of concerts planned with the eminent pianist and musicologist, Leslie Howard, to include Beethoven’s ten violin and piano sonatas and Liszt’s main violin and piano literature.

Along the way, Silver gained an Honours Mathematics Degree from Imperial College, London University and a postgraduate scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He was very fortunate to have studied with eminent teachers including David Takeno,Emanuel Hurwitz and Howard Davis and was hugely influenced by participating in and attending the masterclasses of revered pedagogues and soloists such as Zakhar Bron,Ida Haendel, Ruggiero Ricci and Dorothy DeLay, amongst others.

Geoffrey performs on a Joseph Curtininstrument which he acquired in 1998. Many famous luminaries of the violin perform on Curtin’s instruments including one-time Jascha Heifetz student, Erick Friedman, who performed on his Stradivarius and two Guarneri del Gesu instruments throughout much of his career, but in later years preferred to concertize and record on Joseph’s instrument instead.