Introducing the performers…

Roman Simović (violin)
Milena Simović (viola)
Tim Hugh (cello)

Roman Simović

Roman Simović began his music education in Lviv, Ukraine. After continuing studies with his father, conductor Igor Simović, he attended the Cetinje Music Academy, the Academy of Music and Arts in Novi Sad (Serbia), and, later, the Moscow State Conservatorium, where he gained his Master’s degree. Having previously been Leader of Camerata Salzburg, he was appointed Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2010.

Roman has appeared at many of the world’s leading music venues, including the Bolshoi Hall of the Tchaikovsky conservatory; the Mariinsky hall in St Petersburg; the Grand Opera House in Tel Aviv; the Victoria Hall in Geneva; the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague; the Barbican Hall in London; the Art Centre in Seoul, the Grieg Hall in Bergen; and the Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow. He has been awarded prizes at numerous international competitions, among them Italy’s Premio Rodolfo Lipizer; the Sion-Valais in Switzerland; the Yampolsky Violin Competition in Russia; and the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poland.

As a soloist, Roman has appeared with some of the leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra; the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Teatro Regio Torino; Symphony Nova Scotia; the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra; Camerata Bern; Camerata Salzburg; Turkey’s CRR Chamber Orchestra; Poznan Philharmonia; and the Prague Philharmonia. He has worked with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Harding, Gianandrea Noseda, Kristian Jarvi, Jiri Belohlavek, Pablo Heras Casado and Nikolai Znaider.

Roman is a regular performer at various international festivals such as the Verbier Festival; the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg; Valery Gergiev’s Easter Festival Moscow; the Dubrovnik Summer Festival; Kotor Art Montenegro; the BEMUS and NOMUS Festivals in Serbia; Sion Valais in Switzerland; the Bergen Festival; the Moscow Winter Festival; Italy’s Portogruaro Festival; and the Granada Music Festival. He has collaborated with such renowned artists as Leonidas Kavakos; Yuja Wang; Gautie Capuson; Tabea Zimermann; Misha Maisky; Schlomo Mintz; Francois Leleux; Itamar Golan; Simon Trpceski; Janine Jansen; and Julian Rachli.

Besides his solo work, Roman is an avid chamber musician and is a founding member of the Rubikon String Quartet. As an educator, he has presented master classes in the US, UK, South Korea, Serbia, Montenegro and Israel.

Milena Simović (viola)

Currently serving as principal violist in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade-born Milena Simović completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Belgrade University’s Faculty of Music and Arts under Professor Maja Jokanovic, with whom she continued studying as a Phd student. She also pursued a Master of Music degree at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, gaining a Distinction as a student of Professor Krzysztof Smietana. At the Guildhall, Milena received coaching from the Belcea Quartet and collaborated with renowned conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel and James Gaffigan. She also recorded several radio and TV programmes in Serbia, Italy and Brazil.

Milena has taken part in many master classes around the world, working with Sergey Kravchenko, Grigory Zhislin, Pavel Vernikov and David Takeno. She is a “Keshet Eilon” alumna, where she worked with renowned musicians such as Shlomo Mintz, Vadim Gluzman, Ani Schnarch, Haim Taub, Ida Haendel and Hagai Shaham, and performed at concerts in Tel Aviv’s Opera House.

As well as many performances in her native Serbia and Montenegro, Milena has played at concerts halls in Austria, Sweden, Italy, USA, Brazil, Israel and the UK, where she was praised as a “unique talent with wonderful musicality”. She is regular participant in Serbia’s leading music festivals in Serbia, Brazil, Italy and Switzerland.

Milena is grateful for the generous support of the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust, the Leverhulme Trust and the Leathersellers Company throughout her studies in London, and for the scholarship she received from the Rotary Club in Belgrade and the Young Talent Award from the government of Serbia.

Tim Hugh (viola)

Following success at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, London Symphony Orchestra principal cellist Tim Hugh has enjoyed an international career as a soloist as well as ensemble player. Tim has worked and recorded with many of the greatest conductors, including Valery Gergiev; Andre Previn; Bernard Haitink; Sir Colin Davis; Sir Andrew Davis; Mstislav Rostropovich; Yehudi Menuhin; Daniel Harding; François-Xavier Roth; and Yan Pascal Tortelier.

Tim studied at Yale with Aldo Parisot and afterwards with Pleeth and Jaqueline du Pré whilst gaining his MA in Medicine and Anthropology at St John’s College, Cambridge. His developing interest in contemporary music led to performances of Boulez’s Messagesquisse with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the LSO; Dutilleux’s “Tout un Monde Lontain”, the Britten Cello Symphony; and Hugh Wood’s cello concerto – all at the BBC Proms. He has recorded the three Britten Cello Suites twice – for Hyperion and Naxos – the latter a live performance. His other recordings include concertos by Walton, Bliss, Finzi, Boccherini, Hoffman, Holst, and CPE Bach. The Bach Suites released in 2006 on LSO iTunes were praised by BBC Music magazine as “the best performance on a modern cello”. Tim has also recorded the Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple concertos together with Nikolitch and Lars Vogt under the baton of Bernard Haitink, and has lately returned to the Beethoven Triple with Tasmin Little and Howard Shelley. He has also released recordings of the Saygun and Tabakov concertos with the Ankara Symphony Orchestra.

As a chamber musician. Tim plays regularly with the Nash ensemble and has recorded a large part of the piano trio repertoire with the Solomon Trio. Earlier recordings include Gabriel Fauré’s piano quartets as a member of Domus and numerous recital discs, the latest being his album “Hands on Heart” on NAIM Records in memory of his brother Steve, which features a live performance from Wigmore Hall of the Kodály Cello Sonata.

As solo cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Tim has performed the Elgar, Shostakovich, Haydn, Dvořák, Messiaen and Walton concertos, and Strauss’s Don Quixote. At the Barbican, he has given recitals with Andre Previn, Helen Grimaud, Nikolai Znaider and Andrew Marriner. Tim has also toured the UK playing the Elgar and Brahms concertos with Moscow Philharmonic, and with the LSO at Alhambra Palace, Granada and Almeria; the Saint-Saëns concerto with Pamplona Symphony; the Tabakov and Saygun concertos in Ankara, Turkey and Rousse Bulgaria. He has given recitals too in Beirut, Dubai, New York and Portugal.