Robert Webb, violinist
with David Hammond, piano
Robert Webb
Robert Webb has performed recitals in many venues including the cathedrals at Ripon, Lichfield and Birmingham, and at York Unitarian Chapel. Programmes have included many of the major violin sonatas, and he is a founder member of Trio Rosalba, performing with them in York and elsewhere.
While at school and university, Robert performed as soloist in the violin concertos by Bruch and Mendelssohn. During 2023, he performed the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Beatriz Carbonell at Stamford Bridge.
Freelance orchestral work has included performances with the Orchestra of Opera North, Northern Ballet Sinfonia, Mowbray Orchestra, Amici Orchestra and York Opera.
Robert studied violin as a postgraduate at Birmingham Conservatoire, where he was awarded the first violin placement on the CBSO string training scheme. His teachers have included Peter Thomas and David Greed (leaders respectively of the CBSO and Opera North). In 2012 he was awarded Distinction in the LRSM Music Performance Diploma in Violin.
Robert teaches violin in several Leeds schools, and sings as a deputy in York Minster Choir.
David Hammond
David Hammond grew up in Thame, Oxfordshire, where he was taught piano by Judy Thompson.
He has been working in York as a musician since graduating from the University of York in 2002, where he studied piano with Liz Haddon. His career has taken him to all sorts of varied places, such as Castle Howard, York Minster, the Royal Festival Hall and Bridgewater Hall.
Much of his work involves accompanying soloists and groups on the piano, including concert work, exams and university assessments. Groups include the South Bank Singers, the Sounds Fun choir, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir and Fiddlers Wreck ceilidh band. He is a regular musician at the Unitarian Chapel in York, and recently performed the Beethoven Triple concerto with Catherine Strachan.
Aside from this he has run workshops in Javanese Gamelan in conjunction with the University of York, plays with two ceilidh bands and sings with the Clerkes of All Saints, a Yorkshire-based liturgical choir.