Hanover Square Lunchtime Concert - Eugenie and Henrietta Dalgleish

Todays Hanover Square Lunchtime Concert is given by violinists Eugenie and Henrietta Dalgleish and pianist Victor Wang performing the following programme:

Moskowski - Suite for two violins and piano
Shostakovich - 5 pieces for two violins and piano
Sarasate - Navarra

As ever admission is free with a retiring collection.

Eugenie Dalgleish is 22 years old and has recently completed her MSt in Music (Master's Degree) at Keble College, University of Oxford. Eugenie received her Bachelor's degree in music from King's College London in July 2022. She previously attended the Purcell School of Music and the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

With a following of over 16,000 on instagram (@eugeniedalgleishviolin), Eugenie is in high demand as a soloist, teacher and advocate of the arts. Eugenie utilises her platform to create an accessible environment for classical music by sharing a variety of content, including tips and advice on different violin techniques and facts about classical music. Eugenie really enjoys this aspect of being a musician. Further to this, she also has a joint instagram account with her younger sister Henrietta, who is also a violinist. Their account name is @twoviolinsisters and together, since the start of lockdown on 23rd March 2020, they have been online busking everyday to raise money for the National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal. This initiative consists of them learning a new violin duet everyday and posting a video of it on instagram. As a result of this, they appeared on BBC Three Counties Radio to talk about this initiative. They have been online busking for over 1,000 days straight.

At the University of Oxford, Eugenie was a scholar with both Ensemble ISIS and St Anne's Camerata. Eugenie also won a place on the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Apprenticeship Scheme and was co-convenor of the Graduate Music Colloqiua Series at the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford.

Eugenie won the Keble College Arts Leadership Award for her contributions to musical life at the University of Oxford and for her achievements on social media.

Eugenie has taken part in solo violin masterclasses with Maxim Vengerov, Krzysztof Smietana and Alina Ibragimova.

As a soloist, Eugenie has given many concerts across England. These include performances of Mendelssohn's violin concerto with both the Lichfield Sinfonia and the Watford Symphony Orchestra, Barber's violin concerto with the Purcell School Sinfonia, and Glazunov's violin concerto with the King's College London Symphony Orchestra.

Eugenie is also a returning soloist with the Hitchin Symphony Orchestra at the Hitchin Festival. Eugenie will be performing Mendelssohn's violin concerto with the Hitchin Symphony in the coming concert season.

Eugenie is particularly interested in performing modern works, a most memorable concert being when she performed Ed Nesbit’s violin concerto with the KCL Modern Music Society’s Sinfonietta at the KCL Chapel.

At KCL, Eugenie was the President of the King’s College Symphony Orchestra and the Marketing Manager of the King's College Modern Music Society.

Previously, Eugenie won the Purcell School’s Junior Concerto Competition performing Barber’s Violin Concerto. Eugenie was then chosen by BBC TV to perform the concerto on the TV programme ‘Melody and Friends.’ The programme is repeated regularly on the BBC. Eugenie recently performed solo recitals at Great St Mary’s Church and St Andrew’s Church in Cambridge. She has also performed solo at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, the Holywell Music Room and various chapels in Oxford.

Eugenie is an established orchestra leader. She successfully led the RCMJD String Orchestra and Sinfonia, the RCMJD Chamber Orchestra and the NCO Main Orchestra. She has also lead the Purcell School Chamber Orchestra performing various cello concertos with Steven Isserlis at the Deal Festival. She was also the leader of the King's College London Symphony Orchestra.

Eugenie is also an accomplished Chamber musician. Her string quartet performed for HRH Prince Charles at Sandringham and at the RAH’s Elgar Room. Additionally, her quartet has performed for Sir John Major at Bush House. Eugenie has also had chamber music perfomances at St James’s Piccadilly, Winchelsea Arts Festival and the Deal Festival of Music and Arts. Eugenie has received chamber music masterclasses from Levon Chilingirian and Guy Johnston.

Eugenie is extremely grateful for the support the late Paul Adrian Rooke and the Hitchin Symphony Orchestra have given her over the past few years.

Eugenie is kindly sponsored by Thomastik- Infeld.

Henrietta Dalgleish (Violin) was born in 2005 in Royal Tunbridge Wells and started playing the violin at the age of six. She was accepted into the Royal College of Music Junior Department when she was only nine years old. A year later, Henrietta joined the Purcell School of Music and the following year led both the Purcell School and RCMJD String Orchestras. She now studies violin with the RCM Head of Strings, Mark Messenger.

At ten years of age, Henrietta joined the National Children’s Orchestra as first violinist. Henrietta was one of only eight musicians in the UK to be awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship. She went on to lead the orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz.

Henrietta has won many competitions and prizes as a soloist. In 2017, she won first prize in the prestigious Hugh Bean Violin Competition which featured over thirty of the UK’s best young violinists. Henrietta also won first prize in the Cambridge Competitive Music Competition as best solo violinist. Gaining in reputation, Henrietta was approached by the Mackenzie Music Society to perform a solo at their annual concert. She also led her string quartet to the finals of the Pro-Coda Chamber Music Competition. As a result, Henrietta was featured in the Cambridge News which reported upon her many achievements.

In the summer of 2017, Henrietta toured Northern Italy with the International New Virtuosi, where she performed to audiences in various locations, including Trieste, Palmonova and Monfalcone. In 2019, she won the Purcell Middle School Concerto Competition playing Barber’s Violin Concerto. Following this, she performed the concerto accompanied by the Purcell School Sinfonia.

Throughout 2020/21, Henrietta has been online busking with her sister on Instagram (@twoviolinsisters) for the National Emergencies Trust ‘Coronavirus Appeal’ and have almost 10,000 followers. She has been doing this every day without fail for over 440 days. Henrietta started this initiative because she wanted to help people affected by the virus. Not only has she been able to raise money for the appeal, but has also been able to raise people’s morale, enabling them to feel more connected and less alone. This has been an extremely rewarding experience for Henrietta who specifically chose to raise money for the NET because they support many smaller charities which offer support in many different areas.

In the future, Henrietta would like to build a music school for less privileged children with her sister because she believes all children should have the opportunity to enjoy and study music.

Henrietta’s great-grandfather was the violinist and conductor, Lionel Falkman.

Host or Publisher St George's Hanover Square