Having dedicated 13 years to the quartet repertoire, recording and performing internationally in the worlds finest concert halls,  the Badke Quartet are excited and thrilled to start their next musical adventure, The Oculi Ensemble.

Capitalising on their rich history of musical collaborations they have invited some of the finest chamber musicians to join them to form The Oculi Ensemble branching out into larger and smaller combinations from two to eight players.

Members of the Oculi Ensemble hold numerous international prizes as individuals and chamber musicians and have recorded for labels such as Hyperion, Chandos and Champs Hill. The Ensemble also consists of current or previous members of Doric Quartet, Navarra Quartet, Albion, Piatti and Idomeneo Quartets.

Future projects include collaborations with voice, wind and piano and BBC singers where they will  explore the breadth of chamber music written for a flexible ensemble.

The Oculi Ensemble perform on a stunning range of instruments including those from Stradivari, Guarneri and Grancino

DIMENSION performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the Cadogan Hall in London. They also performed this piece with Orquesta Odissea in Madrid's Teatro Monumental, Armenian National Opera Orchestra in Yerevan as well as withthe Wroclaw and Lodz Philharmonic Orchestras in Poland conducted by Daniel Raiskin and Otis Kleiber respectively.Other highlights have included performances on Spanish National Television and critically acclaimedappearances at the Kastav International Festival in Croatia, Bastad and Helsingborg Festivals in Sweden, Lancut Festival and the Warsaw Beethoven Festival in Poland, as well as at the Wigmore Hall, St. John's Smiths Square and the Purcell Room as a result of winning the Parkhouse Award and Audience Prize.

The trio has also performed alongside Tasmin Little as part of her Dream Hunter's Festival in Leeds, and at the Royal Northern College of Music for the Manchester Chamber Concerts.

In 2006 DIMENSION premiered Richard Hyung-KI Joo's Triology Dimension and in 2003 Malcolm Singer's Piano Trio, the premiere of which was given at the Wigmore Hall and a few days later at St. John's Smith Square as part of the composer's 50thBirthday Concert.

"...the Dimension Trio play as one - the level of unanimity both technical and musical is amongst the very finest..."
"The Dimension Trio evoke a tender rapture that is as exquisite as it is rare.."
Nick Barnard, MusicWeb International

Huw Watkins was born in Wales in 1976. He studied piano with Peter Lawson at Chetham's School of Music and composition with Robin Holloway, Alexander Goehr and Julian Anderson at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. In 2001 he was awarded the Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, where he now teaches composition.

As a pianist, Huw Watkins is in great demand with orchestras and festivals including the London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, the BBC orchestras and Aldeburgh and Cheltenham Festivals. Huw has also developed a strong relationship with the Orchestra of the Swan where he is 'Composer in the House' and with whom he has performed regularly over the years. Strongly committed to the performance of new music, Huw has given premieres of works by Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Zev Gordon and Mark-Anthony Turnage. He recently presented a programme of Hans Werner Henze's piano works at the BBC's Total Immersion day at the Barbican.

A favourite partner for chamber collaborations, Huw Watkins performs regularly with his brother Paul Watkins, as well as Alina Ibragimova, James Gilchrist, Daniel Hope, Nicholas Daniel, Sebastian Manz, Mark Padmore, Carolyn Sampson, and Alexandra Wood. Recently Huw has featured as both Composer in Residence and pianist at festivals including Presteigne and Lars Vogt's 'Spannungen' Festival in Heimbach, Germany.

Huw Watkins is one of Britain's foremost composers. His music has been performed throughout Europe and North America.

Huw's works have been performed and commissioned by the Nash Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Belcea Quartet, Elias Quartet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Highlights include his acclaimed Violin Concerto premiered at the BBC Proms by Alina Ibragimova and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, Piano Concerto premiered by BBC NOW,London Concerto premiered to mark the London Symphony Orchestra's centenary,Double Concertopremiered at the BBC Proms with BBC NOW conducted by Jac van Steen and In My Craft or Sullen Art for tenor and string quartet premiered at the Wigmore Hall by Mark Padmore and the Petersen Quartet.

Huw Watkins is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, both as a performer and as a composer. His recordings include a disc of Mendelssohn's cello and piano works with his brother Paul Watkins (Chandos), British sonatas for cello and piano with Paul Watkins (Nimbus), Alexander Goehr's piano cycle Symmetry Disorders Reach (Wergo), and Thomas Ad's' song cycle The Lover in Winter with the countertenor Robin Blaze (EMI Classics). Most recently, NMC Records have released a disc dedicated to Huw Watkins' work entitled In my craft of sullen art (NMC). The disc showcases Huw's 'outstanding pianism' (Andrew Clements, The Guardian) and reveals him as "one of the most rounded composer-musicians in the UK" (Andrew Clark, Financial Times).

Tamsin Waley-Cohen is currently associate artist with Orchestra of the Swan and performs as a soloist with others including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St John's, London Concert Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra, and the Brighton Philharmonic, under conductors including Andrew Litton, Jose Serebrier, Shlomo Mintz and Nicolae Moldoveanu. She has played at the Cadogan, Queen Elizabeth and Barbican halls in London, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, the Liszt Academy Hall, Budapest and in venues across the UK and the Continent. This season will see performances at the Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, as well as concerto and chamber music concerts in Italy, France and Sweden,

In demand as a recitalist, Tamsin's partners include Huw Watkins, Tom Poster and Time Horton. She has worked with artists such as Andreas Haefliger, Heinz Holliger and Anssi Kartonnen and premiered works by composers including Torsten Rasch and Richard Causton; at a recent Presteigne festival she gave the premiere of a new "Concertino" written for her by Huw Watkins. Tamsin values her experience as a chamber musician and has formed the Honeymead Ensemble, resident at the Tricycle Theatre in London as well as the Honeymead Festival on Exmoor. In its first four years it has included Adrian Brendel, Guy Ben-Ziony, Leon McCauley, Thomas Carroll, and Sarah-Jane Bradley. Tamsin has performed in many festivals - Cheltenham, Academia San Felice, Florence Chamber Music, The Red Violin, The Two Moors, Stift and Presteigne, three years ago making her American debut with the Mendelssohn Concerto in the Bowdoin Festival.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen was born in London in 1986. She became a Foundation Scholar, studying with Itzhak Rashkovsky, at the Royal College of Music where she won all available awards, including - twice - the concerto competition, and was their String Player of the Year in 2005. Numerous competition successes include winning the 2005 Royal Overseas League String Prize and the 2007 J&A Beare Bach competition.

Tamsin has been a regular participant at the International Musicians' Seminar at Prussia Cove since she was 16. She has also participated in master classes given by Ida Haendel, Igor Ozim, and Ruggiero Ricci, the latter describing her as "the most exceptionally gifted young violinist I have ever encountered."

She is the Artistic Director of London's Tricycle Theatre's Chamber Music Series, and of Music at the Bargello Chamber Music Festival in Florence, Italy. Since 2007 she has played the 1721 ex-Fenyves Stradivarius violin.

"There is no doubt that Tamsin Waley-Cohen is supremely talented. Her technical mastery is allied to superb musicianship and a luminous sound"
Anna Michel, Musical Pointers.co.uk

"Tamsin Waley-Cohen, the violin soloist for "The Four Seasons", who seems to be a fixture in Florence (to our great delight), overwhelmed us with a pressing and strongly felt interpretation of Vivaldi's music: the countless colours and phrasings required of the soloist, now elegiac, then virtuoso, now tempestuous, then popular, seem to be part of the genetic make-up of the young English artist and of her superb instrument ... the utter tenderness of the Winter's middle movement was one of the most moving moments of these Seasons"
Associazione Musicale Mario Tiberini

"Another fantastic concert from Charities Philharmonia. The evening began with Bartok's Rhapsody No.1 for Violin and Orchestra. Tamsin Waley-Cohen poured sweetness into Bartok's customary ragged, biting sound-world, also coaxing humour from the piece with a broad palate of muted and luminous tones. Prokofiev's 1st Violin Concerto was on another level, both as a piece and as a performance. Prokofiev seems to be wryly testing the violinist in the opening few bars: just how softly, how breathlessly can you play this? Waley-Cohen answered in a whisper ... but for all the bravura and show-stopping electricity, Waley-Cohen manages to root her sound within the orchestra, never dominating it or overpowering it."
Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion

"The sheer professionalism, dedication and joy in playing of Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) and Gregorio Nardi, (piano) was exemplary. . . Frederick Delius's "Sonata in B Major" begins like a new dawn-fresh-with a flowing melodic line and full rich piano accompaniment. . . Tamsin's beautiful tone, perfect vibrato and intense feeling would have won the admiration of Delius himself a talented violinist."
Jill Bacon, Gloucestershire Echo

"With playing that emphasized inherent musicality over the display of virtuoso technique for its own sake Waley-Cohen proved a persuasive and enchanting soloist. . . .In respect of the tone Waley-Cohen produced, this was possessed of an unforced singing quality that was notable in the higher register, which contrasted well with the rich chest voice of her instrument's lower ranges."
Evan Dickerson, Seen and Heard International

He continued studying with David Sanger as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music and also spent a year as Organist of Marylebone Parish Church. He worked in the United States as Director of Chapel Music and Staff Accompanist at the College of Wooster, Ohio, before becoming Assistant Director of Music at Uppingham School. He became Sub-Organist at Winchester Cathedral in November 1991 and subsequently performed with Winchester Cathedral Choir in concerts, broadcasts, recordings and tours to Brazil, USA and Australia. He assisted David Hill with the Waynflete Singers, taught at Southampton University and is a previous conductor of the Southampton University Chamber Choir and Winchester Music Club.

He is a busy organ recitalist both here and abroad and also regularly accompanies singers and instrumentalists on the organ, harpsichord and piano. He features on numerous recordings as conductor, soloist and accompanist and has given recitals in Europe, USA and Russia.

He became Organist and Master of the Music at Norwich Cathedral in January 1996. He is the Choral Conductor of the Norwich Philharmonic Society, a previous part time lecturer at the UEA and a busy examiner.

As one of the most established chamber pianists of his generation, Alasdair collaborates in a wide and varied repertoire with some of today's finest musicians. During 2012 he appears in festivals in Belgium (Resonances), USA (Charlottesville, Virginia), Switzerland (Ernen), Aldeburgh, Plush and Oxford Chamber Music Festival; he plays alongside such musicians as Adrian Brendel, the Doric String Quartet, Guy Johnston, Pekka Kuusisto and Pieter Wispelwey. A regular participant of IMS Prussia Cove, Alasdair was invited to join their touring groups in 2007 and 2011. He is Artistic Director of the chamber music festival Musique Marsac.

Alasdair enjoys a regular association with the Scottish Ensemble. In addition to numerous chamber music projects, he has twice toured with them as concerto soloist in Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings alongside Alison Balsom, culminating in a sold out performance at Wigmore Hall, and with violinist and artistic director Jonathan Morton in Mendelssohn's double concerto, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Often attracted to less familiar repertoire, Alasdair's approach to programming has been described as canny and uncompromising (Classical Source). His debut solo CD 'the opus 1?s of Schumann, Brahms, Grieg and Berg'was released on SOMM Recordings in 2009 to critical acclaim. Other uncommon works explored include Debussy's own arrangement for solo piano of his ballet Jeux, Faur's rarely performed Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, Hindemith's Four Temperaments, the complete solo piano music of Ludwig Thuille, and piano trio arrangements of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and Janacek's Kreutzer Sonata. Keen to collaborate directly with living composers, Alasdair has worked closely with George Benjamin, Harrison Birtwistle, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Heinz Holliger.

Jennifer's engagements in the 2013-4 Season include Hedwige/Guillaume Tell in a new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Lady de Hautdesert/Gawain with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Brabbins for Birtwistle's 80th Birthday, Mrs Sedley/Peter Grimes in Beijing, Mrs Noye/Noye's Fludde with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Brabbins, Bruckner's Mass No.1 with the Bayerische Rundfunks/Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Hong Kong Philharmonic/Van Zweden, the world premiere of Payne's orchestration of Vaughan Williams' Four Last Songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Vänskä at the BBC Proms 2013, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the ORR/Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Lucerne, Missa Solemnis with the CBSO/Ex Cathedra, Copland's In the Beginning with the BBC Singers/Hill, Mahler 3 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Mandeal at the Enescu Festival, Mahler's Second Symphony with both the Philharmonia at the Three Choirs Festival and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with both the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Bach Choir, Mozart's Requiem with both the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, Handel's Messiah with the English Concert/Bicket, Haydn's Paukenmesse with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Durufle's Requiem with the Britten Sinfonia/Cleobury, Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen at the London Song Festival, and recitals at the Wigmore Hall with the Prince Consort.

Joan Rodgers made her professional debut in 1982 as Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at the Festival of Aix en Provence, following which she rapidly established herself throughout Europe. International operatic engagements have included Paris (Pamina and Zerlina with Barenboim and Ponnelle, Mélisande, Susanna, and Donna Elvira with Solti); Munich (Ginevra in Ariodante) and also on tour to Japan in 2005; Florence (Susanna with Mehta); Vienna (Mitridate with Harnoncourt), Zurich, Lyon, Turin, Brussels (Countess, Fiordiligi, and Hero in Beatrice et Benedict), Geneva, Frankfurt and Oviedo (Governess The Turn of the Screw), Netherlands Opera (Countess in Figaro and Blanche Dialogues des Carmélities), and The Metropolitan Opera New York (Pamina).

In the UK Joan Rodgers has sung for all the principal opera companies, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, highly acclaimed performances of the Governess and Duchess in Thomas Ad's Powder her Face; English National Opera, Countess in Graham Vick's Figaro's Wedding, Ginevra (Ariodante), Blanche (The Dialogue of the Carmelites), Mélisande, Alcina and Titania (The Fairy Queen)  Titania also in Barcelona with ENO; Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Susanna with Sir Simon Rattle and the title role in Theodora); Opera North (operas including Poulenc La voix humaine directed by Deborah Warner, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, repeated in the 1992 Edinburgh Festival and Mélisande in a new production by Richard Jones conducted by Paul Daniel); Welsh National Opera, (Sandrina in La Finta Giardiniera); and Scottish Opera (Cleopatra in Handel's Julius Caesar, Donna Elvira and, in 1999, to great critical acclaim, her first Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) returning there in this role in 2002 to even greater critical acclaim).

Joan Rodgers enjoys an equally successful career as a concert and recital singer and engagements have included regular appearances with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Frans Bruggen, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder, Sir Andrew Davis and Sir Simon Rattle. She appears regularly in London with all the leading orchestras and has been a frequent guest at the BBC Proms, including the internationally televised Last Night. She returned to the Proms in 2001 for Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Overseas engagements have included tours of the USA and Spain with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen and a nationwide tour of Australia. Her London recitals have attracted the highest critical acclaim and other recent recital engagements have included the Musikverein in Vienna, Paris, Moscow, Budapest and New York.

Recordings include the roles of Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Despina (Così fan tutte) with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for Erato, the Governess (The Turn of the Screw) with Daniel Harding for Virgin, Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Mackerras for EMI, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony, also for EMI, and Mahler's Das Klagende Lied for Chandos Records, solo discs of Tchaikovsky and Mozart songs and Wolf's Morike Lieder on the Hyperion label, Haydn's Creation for Philips with Bruggen and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Shostakovich's Symphony No 14 for BIS, Rachmaninov Songs with Howard Shelley for Chandos and Shostakovich 7 Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok with the Beaux Arts Trio for Warner Classics. In June 2006 she recorded Shostakovich Symphony No 14 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo with Vladimir Ashkenazy and in January 2009 Pushkin Romances with Malcolm Martineau on Hyperion.

Recent and future engagements include the world premiere of Xavier Dayer's Mémoires d'une jeune fille triste in Geneva, Gianni Schicchi for Covent Garden with Richard Jones and Antonio Pappano, and Saariaho L'amour de loin for English National Opera, various recitals and concerts across the UK and Europe including with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and at the Edinburgh International Festival, Derry City of Song Festival, Brighton, Ryedale, Oxford Lieder and Solent Music Festivals, Kings Place, the Wigmore Hall, Kings' College Cambridge, Dartington International Summer School and in Paris, Vienna, Aarhus and Moscow. She will also give a series of masterclasses at Dartington International Summer School in the summer of 2013.

Joan Rodgers received the Royal Philharmonic Society award as Singer of the Year for 1997, the 1997 Evening Standard Award for outstanding performance in opera for her performance as The Governess in the Royal Opera's production of The Turn of the Screw, and an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Liverpool University in July 2005. Joan Rodgers was awarded the CBE in the 2001 New Year's Honours List.

In 2010 Joan Rodgers took up the post of International Chair in Singing at Royal Northern College of Music.

Formed in 2003 at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of the
 late Dr. Christopher Rowland and Alasdair Tait, the Rhodes Piano Trio won Second Prize at the 2011 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Selected for representation by YCAT in 2010, the Trio has performed widely at venues and festivals across the UK and abroad, giving recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Purcell Room, Bridgewater Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, and the Edinburgh Fringe, the Aldeburgh, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Cordes sur Ciel, Festspiele-Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Schwetzingen festivals. They have appeared on BBC Radio 3, SWR2 in Germany and ABC Classic FM in Australia. During the 2011/12 season the Trio was the resident ensemble as part of the One to Watch series at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, and they were Chamber Music Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

The Trio have regularly worked at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, taking part in masterclasses with the Florestan Trio, the Ulysses
Ensemble, Menahem Pressler and Mitsuko Uchida. They also worked with Andr's Keller and Ferenc Rados at IMS Prussia Cove, the Aix-en-Provence and Verbier academies.

Whilst at the RNCM, the Trio enjoyed great success, winning all the RNCM's major chamber music prizes, touring Scotland as Tunnell Trust Award winners twice and winning the 2008 Elias Fawcett Award in the Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Finals. From 2005-2009 they took part in the RNCM's ChamberFests, in 2006 performing the Boris Tchaikovsky Trio to critical acclaim. They studied extensively with the Endellion String Quartet, the Gould Piano Trio and Ian Brown as well as taking classes with Charles Rosen, Alexander Melnikov and Gabor Takacs-Nagy.

Robert Thompson (piano) studied with Carole Presland at the Royal Northern College of Music and went on to complete his solo studies with Peter Frankl at Yale University. Since then Robert has enjoyed great success as a recitalist and chamber musician collaborating with artists such as Philip Higham, Thomas Gould, Bartosz Woroch and the Heath Quartet. Robert is also Head of Piano at Bedford School.

Michael Gurevich (violin) is a member of the London Haydn Quartet, with whom he appears worldwide in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and Esterhaza Palace, and has recorded with them on the Hyperion label. He has been a guest leader with several orchestras including the Glyndebourne Orchestra and Manchester Camerata. He also has a violin class at Chetham's School of Music and has taught chamber music at, amongst others, the Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music and Yale University.

Following a position on the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Academy and studies with esteemed cellist Gregor Horsch, David Edmonds (cello) has been in high demand as chamber musician and orchestral player with some of the finest ensembles and orchestras in the UK. David has performed solo in venues such as the Royal Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal and has collaborated with musicians such as Marcia Crayford, Bjarne Fiskum and the Benyounes Quartet. Passionate about teaching, he has been working with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq since its inception.

In Latvia, Reinis performs regularly with all the leading orchestras and as a soloist and chamber musician. His performances are broadcast live on national radio and TV, and in 2012, he has been awarded the Great Music Award, and has been chosen as the Interpreter of the Year by the national radio.

As an international artist, Reinis performs on both sides of the Atlantic, and recently also in South Africa. Exhilarated audiences have heard him as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras in the Baltic States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Russia, and United States, in such venues as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, London's Wigmore Hall and St. Petersburg's Glazunov Hall. Reinis has been invited to perform in Lucerne Festival, Bath MusicFest, Yale-Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk&Norwich Festival (UK), MasterWorks, Kremerata Baltica festival, and Holland Music Sessions. Collaborations with P.Boulez, Peter Eötvös and Ensemble Intercontemporain have strengthened Reinis' interest in the contemporary repertoire and its relationship with the classics.

Reinis Zarins is the recipient of M. Dole, M&D Whyte, E.B.Storrs, B.Simonds, G.W.Miles, Adams, H.Day and J.Burgess scholarships. Presently, he resides in London with his wife and two children.