Jonathan Bager, flute, Laura Riccardi, violin and Andrea Bressan, bassoon
In a programme of Joseph Haydn: London Trio No. 1 in C major Hob. IV; Beethoven: Duo for violin and bassoon No. 3 in B flat major, WoO 27 and Theme and 12 variations on ‘Ein Weibchen oder Mädchen’, Op. 66; Giuseppe Tamplini: Fantasy on themes from Don Pasquale; Igor Stravinsky: Les Cinq Doigts; Carey Blyton: After Hokusai for flute and violin, Op. 89; Jean Francaix: Sept Impromptus (selection) for flute and bassoon and Julius Röntgen: Trio in G major, Op. 86
Andrea Bressan currently holds the principal bassoon chair of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He has also played as principal with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Cappella Barca, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, I Solisti Veneti, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai. He has played baroque and classical era music on period instruments with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Il Concerto Italiano, Il Pomo d’Oro and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. He has performed in all the main concert halls around the world (Asia, Europe, America) with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding, Franz Welser-Möst, Fabio Luisi, Jordi Savall and Cristopher Hogwood. Since 2003 he has regularly collaborated as principal bassoon with the Orchestra da camera di Mantova. As soloist he won 1st prize at the Tradate International Competition (1990), 2nd prize at the Concorso Internazionale “Riviera del Conero” (1999) and 1st prize at the Sàndor Vegh competition in Budapest (2014). Andrea has recorded for the labels Egea, Brilliant, Velut Luna, CPO, Channel Classics among others. In the field of chamber music he has worked alongside musicians such as Alexander Lonquich, Igor Roma, Domenico Nordio, Franco Petracchi, Enrico Bronzi, Roberto Prosseda and Silvia Careddu. Over the years he has explored and developed other musical genres, including jazz improvisation and ethnic music, playing with Paolo Fresu, Markus Stockhausen, Saverio Tasca, Patrizia Laquidara and Mario Arcari. He is currently a tenured bassoon teacher at the “F. Dall’Abaco” Conservatory in Verona, Italy.
Laura Riccardi began violin studies with her father, the violist Tito Riccardi, before continuing at the Conservatorio Guiseppe Verdi in Milan where she graduated in 1992. Following her love of chamber music she specialised in the genre with Riccardo Brengola at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena where, in 1993, she was awarded the Diplome de Merit and, in 1995, an Honours Degree. In the same year she graduated from the Accademia del Trio di Trieste. In 2013 she graduated in Chamber Music studies from the Accademia di Santa Cecila in Rome. She has also studied violin and viola with Dejan Bogdanovich and Pierre-Henri Xuereb. She obtained a Diploma in Viola from the Conservatorio di Piacenza in 2006. Laura Riccardi has collaborated with orchestras such as the RAI Symphony Orchestra of Milan, the Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swiss Italian Radio Orchestra, the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genova, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra of Turin, the Festival Strings of Lucerne, the Human Rights Orchestra of Lucerne and the Teatro San Carlo of Naples. From 1993 until 2007 she was a permanent member of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano as leader and co-leader, playing under conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Rudolf Barshai, Valery Gergiev, Luciano Berio and Christopher Hogwood. She is currently a permanent member of the Mantova Chamber Orchestra and of the International Festival Orchestra of Stresa. Laura Riccardi is a highly active chamber musician, exploring the different dialogues of both violin and viola in various formations. She has also collaborated with the contemporary chamber group Sentieri Selvaggi, and with Ludovico Einaudi has toured the most prestigious festivals and concert halls of Italy and Europe. Besides her concert activity, Laura is professor of Chamber Music at the Angelo Corelli Conservatorio in Messina, Sicily, and teacher of the Suzuki method for violin and viola. She also devotes time to the training of amateur orchestras, convinced that musical experience is crucial to human and cultural enrichment, independent of technical ability.
Jonathan Bager entered the Royal College of Music, London in 1975 to study with Sebastian Bell. He graduated in 1979 and took up a post as flute and piano teacher at the Akureyri Music School, Iceland. In 1983 he moved to Reykjavik to become a member of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. During the following years Jonathan played an active part in Reykjavik’s busy musical life, dividing his time between symphony orchestra, opera orchestra, ensemble and recital work, as well as flute teaching in local music schools. Jonathan returned to the United Kingdom in 1987. The move also saw him take a new professional direction: in 1989, following a course in information technology, he secured a post with a major U.K. bank in London. Alongside this new commitment he continued to pursue his musical interests with chamber music, recitals and involvement in London’s rich amateur orchestra scene. In 1991 Jonathan moved to Switzerland. There he balanced a day job developing banking systems with musical activity in his leisure hours. Now retired from banking, he continues to hold the position of principal flute in the Orchestre Symphonique et Universtaire de Lausanne and the Orchestre de Ribaupierre in Vevey, Switzerland. A frequent visitor to India, and Pune resident between 2011 and 2012, he gave a recital there in June 2012 with the Icelandic pianist Kristinn Kristinsson. In 2013, together with his two sons, Frederic and Jeremy (piano and bassoon), he returned to India to make music across the country, playing concerts in Bombay, Goa, Calcutta, Bangalore and Pune. With Laura Riccardi and the pianist Angela Feola, he embarked on another tour of India in 2016, performing in Bombay, Goa, Chennai, and again in Bangalore and Pune. 2019 saw Jonathan and Laura visit Goa to collaborate with the Child’s Play Foundation. More recently, in January 2024, Jonathan performed a joint recital with the pianist Tatyana Dichenko at Furtados’ Steinway showroom in Mumbai.
