The Linden Trio   Pianist Danny Driver and cellist Oliver Coates met at the Royal Academy of Music in 1998 and have been working together regularly ever since. In 2003 they were joined by violinist Takako Yamasaki forming the Driver-Yamasaki-Coates trio, which gave its debut performance at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival and was a prizewinner at the 2003 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition. Alexander Sitkovetsky joined the trio under its new name, the Linden Trio, in 2004. Since then the trio have appeared as guest artists aboard P&O's Music Festivals at Sea and Peter Deilmann's musical holidays on the river Danube, as well as at festivals and music societies in the UK.   Alexander Sitkovetsky – violin Born in Moscow in 1983 into a family with an established musical tradition. In 1991 Alexander made his debut performance as a soloist with the chamber orchestra in Montpellier, France, and later that same year he was invited to become a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Since their first meeting in Moscow in 1990, Lord Menuhin became a great inspiration for Alexander and supported him through his school years. Alexander has performed in some of the worlds most famous concert halls, including the Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebow in Amsterdam. His two critically acclaimed CD recordings with the Angel/EMI label are out now. “Sitkovetsky has a terrific technique to be sure, but his confident, entirely natural musicianship, is what sets him apart from the crowd.”  - Gramophone   Oliver Coates – cello Oliver Coates attained the highest degree result in the Royal Academy of Music's history and went on to achieve an MPhil with distinction at Oxford University (New College). He studied the cello with Colin Carr. Oliver is a winner of the 2006 Philip & Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists, awarded by the Making Music Federation, and has twice been awarded a 'Star Award' by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, in addition to a Myra Hess Trust award and an Oxford Philomusica Research Grant. Oliver made his London debut at the age of 15, with the Haydn C Major Concerto in St. John's, Smith Square. Since then, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world, including three solo concert tours of Japan, performing concertos with the 'Hibiki Strings'. He has given the world premieres of works for solo cello written for him by Elena Firsova, Alicia Grant, Graham Williams and Stèphane Altier, and has given the UK premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Changing Light for soprano and cello, written to commemorate the anniversary of September 11 2001. Much more new music written for Olly is forthcoming, and in January he performs Sofia Gubaidulina's Seven Words for cello, bayan and string orchestra at the Royal Academy in the presence of the composer.   Alexander Sitkovetsky   Oliver Coates

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