GRAHAM OPPENHEIMER

Graham Oppenheimer is one of the UK's foremost and respected violists. He studied with Atar Arad at the Royal Northern College of Music and Eastman School USA (as his Graduate Assistant), Thomas Riebl at Salzburg Mozarteum and Alberto Lysy at the Menuhin Music Academy. He was offered a position with the English Chamber Orchestra whilst still a student and he went on to become a founder member and principal viola of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado. As a soloist he has performed with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, East of England Orchestra and Lapeenranta Symphony Orchestra in Finland.

As a leading chamber musician Mr Oppenheimer has appeared with such artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Paul Tortellier, Murray Perahia, Imogen Cooper and Jack Brymer. He has also been invited to appear as guest violist on numerous occasions with some of the world’s leading quartets, including Vermeer, Lyndsay, Pacifica, St Lawrence, Vogler, Vanbrugh and Petersen. He was for several years violist of the Schidlof Quartet performing in some of the world’s leading international concert halls. With the quartet he can also be heard in recordings of Shostakovich, Dvorak and Schumann on Linn Records, as well as on RCA in an acclaimed recording of Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp with the legendary James Galway. He has also broadcast on radio throughout the world from the BBC in the UK to the ABC in Australia.

Mr Oppenheimer is also much in demand as a respected and dedicated teacher. He is Senior Viola and Chamber Music Tutor at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester and has taught in Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy and the USA, as well as giving master classes across the UK. He has been a visiting Professor at Bowdoin International Summer School, USA and is Director of the Repton International Strings Summer School which he founded in 2005.