Live viola masterclass with Benedict Hames | RJ Online Music Academy - Masterclass #26

Masterclass of the Riga Jurmala Online Music Academy – live viola by Benedict Hames, the deputy solo violist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

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Benedict Hames took his first violin lessons at the age of six.
From 1995 to 1998 he completed his studies of the viola with Eszter von Stralen at the Sydney Conservatory of Music. While still a student, Benedict Hames was engaged in the viola section at the Sydney Opera. In 1998, he moved up to a position as deputy leader of the viola section, and from 2003 on he played as first violist.

In addition he performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and was hired as guest solo violist by the Filharmonie in Antwerp in 2003.

Benedict Hames then became a member of the viola section in the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and in April of 2009 assumed the post of deputy solo violist.

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Student of the masterclass – Santa Circene, student of the Jāzeps Vīols Latvian Academy of Music

Student of the first masterclass Santa Circene, born in 2000, began her musical journey at the age of 7 at the Pāvuls Jurjāns Music School. She continued her studies at the Emīls Dārziņš Music Secondary School and recently completed her first year at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.

Santa has taken part in masterclasses given by various professors in Latvia, Germany and Italy; as well as chamber music festivals including Satikšanās Saulkrastos (Latvia) and Città Alta Chamber Music Week (Italy), the international youth chamber music festival IN CORPORE in Tallinn, Estonia, and the Orchestra And Chamber Music Summer Academy in Pommersfelden, Germany.

Santa has performed as a soloist with the Emīls Dārziņš Music Secondary School Orchestra and the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music Orchestra in Latvia as well as in Lithuania and Malta. She has performed as an orchestral musician with the Sinfonia Concertante chamber orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, and the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra.

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