Lunchtime Concert - Amber Emson, violin; Dafydd Chapman, piano
Tue 22 Apr
|St Pancras Church
An exciting programme by passionate chamber musicians. Amber is the First Prize winner of the International Music Competition Hohenpriesnitz


Time & Location
22 Apr 2025, 13:10 – 13:50
St Pancras Church, Euston Rd., London NW1 2BA, UK
About the Event
Programme:
L.v. Beethoven - Sonata for Violin and Piano No.8 in G Major, Op.30 No.3I.
Allegro assaiII.
Tempo di minuetto, ma molto moderato e graziosoIII.
Allegro vivace.
C. Debussy - Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Minor, L.140I.
Allegro vivoII.
Intermede - Fastaque et legerIII.
Finale - Très animé.
M. Ravel - Tzigane M.76
Presented in association with Talent Unlimited
Biography:
Amber is the First Prize winner of the International Music Competition Hohenpriesnitz, and Germany’s national “Jugend Musiziert” competition, as well as Second Prize at International Competition “Szymon Goldberg”, amongst others. She has been invited for chamber and solo performances at major concert halls worldwide, such as Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Singapore Victoria Hall, ANAM Quartethaus in Melbourne and Rheingau Musikfestival.
A passionate chamber musician, she took part in ‘Mit Musik – Miteinander’ at Kronberg Academy in 2018, and regularly participated at ‘MusicWorks’ under the guidance of mentors including Catherine Manson, James Boyd, Robert Max and Alasdair Beatson. She has been invited to projects and classes including at the Stauffer Center for Strings, Yellowbarn, the Saline Royale Academy, Festival Resonances Academy, Rome Chamber Music Festival, International Summer Academy Mozarteum University, Maiastra, and the British Isles Music Festival. Between 2019 and 2022, she was a member of LGT Young Soloists, with whom she appeared playing Phillip Glass’s Echorus on their most recent album, which is available on various global streaming platforms.
Amber started playing violin at the age of 5 as a pupil of Margaret Norris and later Natasha Boyarsky. She was a student at Chetham’s School of Music 2014-16 and attended the Royal College of Music’s Junior Department between 2016 and 2019, where she took lessons with Maciej Rakowski. She currently studies violin at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of So-Ock Kim, where she will graduate with her Bachelors’ degree in 2025.
In addition, Amber has a strong interest in historical performance practice and is studying baroque violin with the guidance of Nicolette Moonen. She also plays viola, as member of the Toccata Quartet.
During recent years, Amber has taken part in masterclasses with such professors as Gerhard Schulz and András Keller at IMS Prussia Cove, Mauricio Fuks at the Kronberg Academy Masterclasses, Pavel Vernikov, and Kolja Blacher at the Carl Flesch Akademie.
Amber has been supported by a number of trusts and foundations, amongst those the National Youth Arts Trust, Kathleen Trust, the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust, Awards for Young Musicians, EMI Music Sound Foundation, the Gerald Finzi Trust, the Rhone Reid Charitable Trust, the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, Spoff’s Chamber Music Scholarships, Talent Unlimited and the Hattori Foundation.
Amber plays on a violin by William Taylor from 1806.
Dafydd Chapman is in his first year of masters at the Royal Academy of Music studying Ensemble Piano under Mei-Ting Sun and James Baillieu. Originally from Cardiff, he spent most of his childhood studying at the Junior Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he studied with Nicola Meecham for 9 years. During his time there, he became the first recipient of the Junior Conservatoire ABRSM Scholarship, won several prizes such as the Junior Conservatoire Prize for Solo Piano and won the Junior Conservatoire Chamber Prize. Most notably at his time there, he won the 2015 Junior Conservatoire Concerto Competition, in which he was given the opportunity to perform Chopin's Concerto No.1 with an orchestra at the conservatoire.Dafydd has also competed in several competitions including becoming a semifinalist at the Gregynog Young Musician Competition and winning the national Urdd Eisteddfod 3 times. In 2012 and 2017, he also won the Piano Solo and the Repertoire classes at the Mid-Somerset Competitive Festival and also went on to win the Piano Concerto competition there in 2019. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music, Dafydd has gone on to perform a wide range of chamber and ensemble repertoire and internal competitions, notably, the Harold Craxton prize and performing with Trio Arisonto. In future he hopes to continue to build a successful career as a chamber musician, accompanist, and musical director.
Entry
Not ticketed. Free Entry. Retiring collection - suggested donation £5