Winner of numerous awards and prizes, violinist Litsa Tunnah has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues. Highlights have included Litsa’s debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Paganini under Ben Pope, and Tchaikovsky at Farnham Malting’s with conductor Alexander Walker. She made her Russian debut in Moscow to huge critical acclaim and was invited to return to St Petersburg for further performances which were documented in a film recorded by ITV.
Litsa began her training at the Purcell School of Music and by the age of 12 had made her concerto debut playing Mendelssohn. After being offered scholarships to the top conservatoires she went on to study under Dr Felix Andrievsky at the Royal College of Music and Maurice Hasson at the Royal Academy of Music graduating with distinction and an honorary dipRAM for excellence. Litsa was subsequently accepted onto the prestigious International Artists (IAD) programme at the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Professor Yair Kless and was generously supported by the Dorothy Stone Award.
Litsa has been awarded numerous prizes for her performances including 1st prize in the Anglo Czech Trust competition, Gold medal at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, further prizes from Leverhulme Foundation, Lawrence Atwell’s Charity, Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship fund, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Louise Childs Trust, the Concordia Foundation, and a Sony EMI Music award. Litsa was finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, and as a result performed on BBC 2 and BBC4. Appearing in numerous radio and television recordings, Litsa has also broadcast for BBC Radio 3, BBC Southern, Classic FM, Israeli Radio, ITV –ITN and RT
As a concerto soloist Litsa has appeared in collaboration with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London International Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, Harlow Symphony Orchestra, St Bartholomew Chamber Orchestra and the Kensington Sinfonia and has toured internationally to France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Russia, Singapore and Greece.
Frequently in demand as a recitalist, she has performed in prestigious venues throughout the UK and overseas including the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, St James Piccadilly, King’s Place, Regents Hall, Martinu Hall Prague and Trieste Opera House. She has also performed more recently at the Palace of Westminster which led to a special request for a series of six performances in the capital for the Lord Mayor of London.
Litsa is committed to premiering new works in her programmes and collaborates with renowned composers. She was specially commissioned to record Boris Pigovat’s complete violin works and excerpts from the CD have been broadcast on the Israeli Classical Music Channel. Other notable collaborations include the premiere performance of Geoffrey Palmer’s ‘Hadassah Variations’ for violin and orchestra which was broadcast by the BBC, and a project working with the renowned British composer David Matthews performing his works for solo violin. Litsa also appeared at St Martin in the Fields performing the World Premiere of Pigovat’s ‘Birth of Venus’ for violin and orchestra which has since been dedicated to her by the composer. Upcoming dates include Litsa’s premiere of Peter Seabourne’s ‘Thread’s’ for solo violin which has been written and dedicated to her.
Highlights of the past season have included a USA tour where Litsa performed at Carnegie Hall, and filming in Mumbai for a documentary on Synaesthesia sponsored by Suzuki.
Repertoire
Unaccompanied
Bach
Partita no. 3 In E major (18’)
Biber
Passacaglia (10’)
David Matthews
‘4 Australian Birds’ 2004 (10’)
Peter Seabourne
‘Mote’ 2010 (8’)
Ernst
‘The Last Rose of Summer’ (10’)
Tarrega
‘Recuerdos de la Alhambra’ (5’)
Performed without traditional piano accompaniment
Saint Saens
‘The Swan’ (3.5’)
Paganini
‘Cantabile’ (5’)
Massenet
‘Meditation’ (5’)
Elgar
‘Salut d’amour’ (3’)
Wagner
‘Romance’ (5’)
Debussy
‘Clair de Lune’ (5’)
Glazunov
‘Grand Adagio’ from Raymonda (5’)
Shostakovich
‘Romance’ (4’)
Vaughan Williams
‘The Lark Ascending’ (Cadenza only- 3’) (or can be adapted to suit)