Catherine Wilmers
Catherine Wilmers by John Plumb
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 Ilga Pitkevica and Catherine Wilmers
Melbourn 2015
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An excerpt was broadcast on German Radio WDR. Catherine has made a CD of lovely but neglected works by women composers from the last hundred years which was released worldwide by ASV. It received the rare Gold Award from the French recordings magazine ‘Diapason’ and was described as 'a remarkable disc' by the HMV website.
An excerpt from the CD, Dora Bright's Polka a la Strauss was broadcast on January 4th 2020 on WDR3 (West Deutsche Rundfunk), the cultural channel that offers mostly classical, jazz and world music.
John Plumb painted a super picture of Catherine, see above, in 1980.
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/apr/25/usa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Plumb
She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won several prizes, and later with Andre Navarra in Vienna ('Mlle Wilmers is a very talented young artist').
Milly Stanfield in The Strad 1979 'She seemed free to associate herself in depth with the works presented on her programme, both musically and technically'. She won a prize in the Royal Tunbridge Wells Young Artists' Competition. Her debut recital at the Wigmore Hall January 1979 was awarded by the Incorporated Society of Musicians. The Times hailed her as an "eminently serious, musicianly artist of firmly projected tone, reliable intonation and positive attack".
In 1981 she gave a lecture recital and a public concert in Sri Lanka for the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Association. She borrowed a cello and was up till 3.0 am on her first night in the country fitting a cello bridge and sand-papering the feet to fit the cello body!
She was awarded Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room concerts by the R.A.M. and the Kirckman Concert Society (founded to promote young artists of exceptional talent).
She gave the first performance of Ian Assersohn's Cello Concerto which was dedicated to her: 'I don't think I ever congratulated you on your Wigmore Hall concert-I enjoyed it a lot and hearing the good old 'Wilmers tone' brought back very happy memories: I have never since shown a piece to a player who has responded as enthusiastically as you did to the cello concerto.'
Mountain Airs by Sarah Rodgers (http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/sarahrodgers/) was dedicated to her in 1999 and Catherine gave the first performance at the International Association of Women in Music conference .
She was Sub-principal cellist in English National Opera for two and a half years; performances included many Czech operas with Sir Charles Mackerras and seven Ring Cycles conducted by Reginald Goodall.
For 25 years she played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, ten of them as sub-principal cellist. Rostropovich conducted her trial concert and was invited to make comments!
In 1981 Catherine was playing in Ariadne in Glyndebourne. The second cello has a part with many solos and the other cellists have different sheet music. The page before an important solo a string broke. You should have seen Sir Simon Rattle's face! She fixed a new string in record time, fished it out of her handbag and found the hole in the peg in the semi-dark pit.
LPO highlights included taking part in recording ‘Lord of the Rings’, Monteverdi’s ‘Ulysses’ at Glyndebourne (solo cello continuo), ‘Porgy and Bess’ with Sir Simon Rattle and giving concerts with top conductors in Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, USA, Mexico and all over Europe. There was a scary moment when the Orchestra Manager told Catherine Sir Georg Solti wanted to see her in a rehearsal interval. It turned out that he wanted her to teach his daughter the cello.
Catherine was invited to play in the World Orchestra for Peace Prom in 2000, conducted by Valery Gergiev; and let's not forget the Royal Albert Hall concert when she was spotlighted playing a solo with Englebert Humperdinck!
As a chamber musician she gave the first London performance of Andrjez Panufnik's piano trio at the Wigmore Hall, and her work has included a Brahms series with the pianist Leslie Howard at the Purcell Room and chamber concerts with singers Sarah Walker and Yvonne Kenny at the Wigmore Hall in 1982. Daily Telegraph 'Catherine Wilmers caught the evocative, eastern touches in the music' (Berlioz La Captive with mezzo soprano Sarah Walker).
Catherine has given recitals in many European countries as well as varied venues in Britain, for music clubs and societies, and for many charity fundraising events. She gave a live broadcast and interview on BBC Radio 3 relating to her CD, with the late Dame Thea King as pianist.
Catherine's CD was broadcast on WNYC Radio, New York's flagship public radio station.
Edith Vance (see photo below) was Catherine's first cello teacher and they used to race each other to school to get a longer lesson. She had been a pupil of Julius Klengel in Leipzig, so perhaps Klengel is Catherine's 'cello grandfather'.
Catherine was in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Ivey Dickson wrote to her in 1976 'I always felt you had an excellent talent and am glad you are getting opportunities to use it'.
Catherine particularly enjoyed giving 'Magic Carpet' concerts for primary schools. She loves to perform chamber music concerts and recitals.
She lives in Radwell, North Hertfordshire. She is devastated that her husband Graham Kingsley died in August 2023 after nearly 40 years together. He supported all her music making. They loved to grow yellow tomatoes, yellow courgettes, raspberries and giant thistles! They have two grown-up married children, Heather and Martin who live in London with partners and their own children. She tries to keep up with her amazing mother who taught English as a foreign language until Covid, in Cambridge, and never stops her active life, now into her late 90s. Catherine loves travelling and she and Graham have had exciting visits to Romania, India, Uzbekistan, Kenya and Cambodia.
Web links referring to Catherine's career:
www.lpo.org.uk/archive/behind.html - London Philharmonic Orchestra
www.worldorchestraforpeace.com - World Orchestra for Peace
An excerpt from the CD, Dora Bright's Polka a la Strauss was broadcast on January 4th 2020 on WDR3 (West Deutsche Rundfunk), the cultural channel that offers mostly classical, jazz and world music.
John Plumb painted a super picture of Catherine, see above, in 1980.
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/apr/25/usa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Plumb
She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won several prizes, and later with Andre Navarra in Vienna ('Mlle Wilmers is a very talented young artist').
Milly Stanfield in The Strad 1979 'She seemed free to associate herself in depth with the works presented on her programme, both musically and technically'. She won a prize in the Royal Tunbridge Wells Young Artists' Competition. Her debut recital at the Wigmore Hall January 1979 was awarded by the Incorporated Society of Musicians. The Times hailed her as an "eminently serious, musicianly artist of firmly projected tone, reliable intonation and positive attack".
In 1981 she gave a lecture recital and a public concert in Sri Lanka for the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Association. She borrowed a cello and was up till 3.0 am on her first night in the country fitting a cello bridge and sand-papering the feet to fit the cello body!
She was awarded Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room concerts by the R.A.M. and the Kirckman Concert Society (founded to promote young artists of exceptional talent).
She gave the first performance of Ian Assersohn's Cello Concerto which was dedicated to her: 'I don't think I ever congratulated you on your Wigmore Hall concert-I enjoyed it a lot and hearing the good old 'Wilmers tone' brought back very happy memories: I have never since shown a piece to a player who has responded as enthusiastically as you did to the cello concerto.'
Mountain Airs by Sarah Rodgers (http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/sarahrodgers/) was dedicated to her in 1999 and Catherine gave the first performance at the International Association of Women in Music conference .
She was Sub-principal cellist in English National Opera for two and a half years; performances included many Czech operas with Sir Charles Mackerras and seven Ring Cycles conducted by Reginald Goodall.
For 25 years she played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, ten of them as sub-principal cellist. Rostropovich conducted her trial concert and was invited to make comments!
In 1981 Catherine was playing in Ariadne in Glyndebourne. The second cello has a part with many solos and the other cellists have different sheet music. The page before an important solo a string broke. You should have seen Sir Simon Rattle's face! She fixed a new string in record time, fished it out of her handbag and found the hole in the peg in the semi-dark pit.
LPO highlights included taking part in recording ‘Lord of the Rings’, Monteverdi’s ‘Ulysses’ at Glyndebourne (solo cello continuo), ‘Porgy and Bess’ with Sir Simon Rattle and giving concerts with top conductors in Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, USA, Mexico and all over Europe. There was a scary moment when the Orchestra Manager told Catherine Sir Georg Solti wanted to see her in a rehearsal interval. It turned out that he wanted her to teach his daughter the cello.
Catherine was invited to play in the World Orchestra for Peace Prom in 2000, conducted by Valery Gergiev; and let's not forget the Royal Albert Hall concert when she was spotlighted playing a solo with Englebert Humperdinck!
As a chamber musician she gave the first London performance of Andrjez Panufnik's piano trio at the Wigmore Hall, and her work has included a Brahms series with the pianist Leslie Howard at the Purcell Room and chamber concerts with singers Sarah Walker and Yvonne Kenny at the Wigmore Hall in 1982. Daily Telegraph 'Catherine Wilmers caught the evocative, eastern touches in the music' (Berlioz La Captive with mezzo soprano Sarah Walker).
Catherine has given recitals in many European countries as well as varied venues in Britain, for music clubs and societies, and for many charity fundraising events. She gave a live broadcast and interview on BBC Radio 3 relating to her CD, with the late Dame Thea King as pianist.
Catherine's CD was broadcast on WNYC Radio, New York's flagship public radio station.
Edith Vance (see photo below) was Catherine's first cello teacher and they used to race each other to school to get a longer lesson. She had been a pupil of Julius Klengel in Leipzig, so perhaps Klengel is Catherine's 'cello grandfather'.
Catherine was in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Ivey Dickson wrote to her in 1976 'I always felt you had an excellent talent and am glad you are getting opportunities to use it'.
Catherine particularly enjoyed giving 'Magic Carpet' concerts for primary schools. She loves to perform chamber music concerts and recitals.
She lives in Radwell, North Hertfordshire. She is devastated that her husband Graham Kingsley died in August 2023 after nearly 40 years together. He supported all her music making. They loved to grow yellow tomatoes, yellow courgettes, raspberries and giant thistles! They have two grown-up married children, Heather and Martin who live in London with partners and their own children. She tries to keep up with her amazing mother who taught English as a foreign language until Covid, in Cambridge, and never stops her active life, now into her late 90s. Catherine loves travelling and she and Graham have had exciting visits to Romania, India, Uzbekistan, Kenya and Cambodia.
Web links referring to Catherine's career:
www.lpo.org.uk/archive/behind.html - London Philharmonic Orchestra
www.worldorchestraforpeace.com - World Orchestra for Peace
EDITH VANCE IN LEIPZIG, Catherine's first teacher