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Soloist Victoria Soames Samek is one of the most exciting and versatile clarinettists playing in the UK today. Born of Czech and Hungarian parents, she won a foundation Scholarship to The Royal College of Music where she won the coveted Frederick Thurston Memorial Prize. She has since performed internationally as a soloist, in duo recitals and in numerous chamber ensembles, notably the New Mühlfeld Trio, East Winds, and the new contemporary group FourSight currently enjoying an Ensemble in Residence position in association with Newham and the 2012 Olympics As well as performing clarinet music from the 18th and 19th centuries, her long-standing commitment to contemporary music has resulted in over twenty commissions and dedications from notable composers including Thea Musgrave whose bass clarinet concerto she performed, broadcast and subsequently recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. With her great enthusiasm for the clarinet, in 1992 she launched the celebrated CD label Clarinet Classics which has quickly established itself as a unique showcase for the clarinet in all its richness and diversity. Her own recordings for Clarinet Classics include the world première recording of Copland’s Clarinet Sonata, voted "most sheerly seductive record of the year" by the Sunday Times. She has also recorded for Hyperion and Meridian Her first CD for Naxos with The East Winds of wind chamber music by Sir Malcolm Arnold which, includes several World Premieres, will be released later this year. In addition to her playing commitments Victoria is professor of clarinet at Trinity College, London, The Guildhall School of Music & Drama Junior School and Goldsmiths College. She runs many workshops, master-classes and special clarinet and saxophone events and is Artistic Director of The International Clarinet and Saxophone Performance Course.
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