Our cellist Siôn Dawson is a hugely talented cello, guitar, and bass player from Cardiff. He has performed in many European countries and, with Camenae de Cymru, in England and Wales. He is the concertmaster of the first violins of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Camenae de Cymru has delivered over 20 concerts with professional musicians playing classical music of different epochs and genres. Yuri Savkin is an invited virtuoso violinist from Riga, Latvia. Nicknamed ‘the velvet contralto’, she has performed heavily in Latvia, around Europe, Scotland, England and Wales. Kristina came to Scotland in 2005 and moved to Wales in 2010. The ensemble was founded in 2020 by Kristina Bitina, a deep dramatic contralto from Latvia, and Nichola Bojczuk, poet and compère, born in Ukraine and brought to Wales at three years of age. Their name relates to the Latin word ‘carmen’, which means ‘charm, song, poem, magical formula or prayer’. The Camenae were Roman water nymphs or deities of music, poetry and healing. A magnificent supplement to the show will be four virtuoso arias from Vivaldi’s hymn Gloria, oratorio Juditha Triumphans and opera Orlando Furioso. The concert is centred on Vivaldi’s best-known and famous work, The Four Seasons (Le Quattro Stagioni), a set of four string concertos for violin, cello and harp. An international ensemble based in South Wales, Camenae De Cymru presents the most favoured 18th-century music by Antonio Vivaldi, who wrote over 500 concertos and around 50 operas and 90 sonatas.

Vivaldi four seasons violin