The Players

ANDREW BROWN - VIOLA Andrew Brown was a prize-winning student at the Royal Academy of Music and the recipient of the Munster Trust Scholorship for advanced study in Germany with Bruno Giuranna. He made successful debuts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room and toured as a soloist in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. As a recitalist he has given several premieres, including a solo capriccio by American composer Charles Eakin which he later recorded for USA releasae. Andrew is an experienced chamber musician, performing regularly with the Thaxted String Trio, the Chamber Music Players of London and the London Metropolitan Ensemble (of which he is artistic director) in concerts and for television, radio and commercial recordings.

CHUCHO MERCHAN - BASS Chucho Merchan, from Bogota, Columbia, has been active as a musician in London for over 20 years. He has played with The Eurythmics, The Pretenders, Pete Townsend, Thomas Dolby, Mose Allison, Allan Holdsworth and The Ronnie Scott Quintet. In addition he has produced many artists in South America. Chucho is currently working with Kirsty Macoll.

DAVID JURITZ - VIOLIN David Juritz was born in Cape Town, South Africa and began violin lessons at the age of six with Noel Travers. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Hugh Bean and Jaroslav Vanecek on scholarships from the Associated Board Scholarship and the Leverhulme Trust. Whilst he was there he won all the top prizes for violin and was the recipient of the college's highest award, the Tagore Gold Medal. On leaving college he joined the English Chamber Orchestra, which sponsosred his South Bank debut at the Purcell Room in 1985. Since then he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in all the major concert halls of the UK, and has performed widely throughout North America, the Far East, Europe and, most recently in Brazil with the London Mozart Players. In1991 he was appointed leader of the UK's longest established chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players. David makes frequent appearances with the LMP and other orchestras as soloist and director. In 1998 he was invited to the USA for concerts with the Philadelphia Virtuosi and as musician in residence at the Mount Dora Music Festival in Florida. His recordings of quartets by Szyamanowski and Schubert with the Maggini String Quartet were released by ASV to enthusiasstic reviews and his recently released recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the London Mozart Players has been acclaimed as one of the finest interpretations on modern instruments. David recently acquired a violin by J. B. Guadagnini made in Piacenza in 1748. He has been muttering about forming a tango band for the last ten years and lives in a chaotic house in West London with his wife, Jane, a graphic designer, their two children, Joycelyn and Jordan, two rabbits and two exceptionally stupid cats.

MARK WOOD - GUITARIST, COMPOSER, ARRANGER & FASHION VICTIM Mark has spent an undocumented number of light years splitting his personality between sonic terrorism and Brazilian music. He is currently writing an album of songs in order to reconcile these differences. In the recent past Mark has been working on two projects in Los Angeles, recording and playing live with a new band "Itch: as well as co-producing singer/songwriter Jonathan Nesmith. He was also recently featured on two American independent movies, "She Loves Me - She Loves Me Not", which appeared at the Sundance Festival and "When". He was a Polygram recording artist with the international cult band The Mystics. Having previously gone through a chromatic twelve step programme to distance himself from a career in Jazz, Mark consumated this separation in 1998 by releasing the critically acclaimed free improvisation album, "Bodywork" (by Marshall, Travis, Wood). He has arranged and conducted orchestral sessions for albums by "Ledger" on Island Records and "Espiritu" on BMG records and has co-written songs released on the new "Animal House" album on Boilerhouse/BMG records. Concerning the distant past, in 1983 Mark was named Capital Radio and Greater London Arts "Jazz Musician of the Year" and was a long term member of Ian Carr's NUCLEUS. Amongst others, he has toured worldwide and recorded with Hermeto Pascoal, Art Garfunkel, Mike Gibbs, Dudu Pukwana, Charlie Matiano, Johnny Dyani, Thomas Dolby, Roger Daltry, David Gilmour and Phil Manzanara. He has composed and arranged extensively for film and television, winning the 1988 Rodin prize for best original score for the feature length film on the life of sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi. Mark's solo albun, "La Mezcla", was released in 1989/90 on EMI Records.

NICK COOPER - CELLO Nick Cooper was born in Warwickshire, England and lived in London 20 for years. He and his family now reside in Sussex but he does come to London on request. Nick was formerly with the London Symphony Orchestra (85-92) which he left to join the Balanescu String Quartet (92-94). This led to more contemporary playing situations including work with artists such as Michael Nyman & Kevin Volans. He then left the quartet in order to be an active father. He is no longer an active father as he getting older. In the middle of his work with the LSO he studied in Moscow at the Moscow Conservatoire and afterward did a concerto tour of what was then the USSR. This tour culminated in a performance with the Leningrad State Chamber Orchestra. Nick is involved with ongoing projects with 2 String Quartets: 1 - Solid Strings, with which he recorded CD's with For All The Same & Orchestra Mahatama on Village Life Records, and 2 - Trans4mation, with which he recorded with John Surman on ECM Records. He is also in The Chris Wood Trio, performing English, folk based original material.

RALPH DE SOUZA - VIOLIN Ralph de Souza ws born in Bombay and began violin lessons with his father at the age of five. He came to England to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and continued at the Curtis Institute in the USA, where he worked with Ivan Galamian, and later Jaime Laredo and Yascha Brodsky. In 1977 he won the Royal Overseas League Competition in London, and his solo career has included appearances with Yehudi Menuhin. He has been especially busy as a chamber musician, and has worked regularly at the IMS in Prussia Cove. Ralph left his position as member of the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia to join the Endellion string quartet in June 1986. When free from the quartet, he is usually found playing or watching cricket.