John Mills, Bozidar Vukotic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Alexander Walker
Biography John Mills, Bozidar Vukotic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Alexander Walker
John Mills
studied at the Royal College of Music as a scholar under professor Rodney Friend, one of the great orchestra leaders.
As well as being one of the leaders of the Sinfonia of London, he works as a guest leader with groups including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra and others.
John is well known as a chamber musician and for 20 years has been the leader of the highly acclaimed Tippett Quartet, performing, and broadcasting across the UK and worldwide. He has recorded extensively, releasing 40 discs with the quartet for EMI, Decca, Somm, Naxos, Signum, Classic FM, Dutton and Guild record labels. Recent releases include highly acclaimed discs of Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn string quartets for Somm, and Gorecki and Penderecki for Naxos.
John has a fine reputation as a soloist, appearing with the English Chamber Orchestra and performing double concerti with Maxim Vengerov, and with Stephanie Gonley around the UK and abroad. Over the last 10 years John has been performing and broadcasting the major violin repertoire worldwide including performances at the Liszt Hall in Budapest and concerts across New Zealand. Other recent performances include Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto Grosso with the Refugee Orchestra project, Brahms, Elgar and Glazunov concertos around the UK.
John is leader of the major studio orchestras with whom his work includes leading soundtrack sessions for The Batman, Jurassic World, Nightmare Alley, Mathilda, Disney’s Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins Returns, and Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. He has worked closely with composers including Michael Giacchino, Marc Shaiman and Alan Menken. The Tippett Quartet is heavily featured on the soundtrack for the movie Knives Out and Glass Onion by director Rian Johnson.
John plays on a c.1720 violin by Francesco Goffriller of Venice.
Božidar Vukotić
A prize-winner in the National Federation of Music Societies and Jeunesses Musicales International Cello competitions, Bozidar has performed throughout the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East.
Following his studies with Stefan Popov at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix, Bozidar learned with William Pleeth and completed his training with Alexeander Kniazev in Moscow.
Bozidar made his debut solo recording for EMI Classics on Howard Goodall’s ‘The Seasons’. He has performed as soloist with Lawrence Power and the English Chamber Orchestra and has played Continuo in concerti with Pinchas Zukerman and Angela Hewitt.
He has recently released a recording of Stravinsky and Schnittke for Somm Recordings with the pianist and composer Alissa Firsova.
Bozidar is the founder member of the Tippett Quartet, with whom he performs regularly at Kings Place, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, on BBC Radio 3 as well as playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Opera House, Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead and at the BBC Proms. The Quartet's latest recording, Penderecki Complete Music for String Quartet and String Trio, was Gramophone's Recording of the Month and was nominated for an International Classical Music Award.
Bozidar has recorded extensively with the quartet to much critical acclaim, for EMI Classics, Decca, Naxos, Vivat, Signum, Guild, Dutton Epoque, Somm, Boosey & Hawkes, Classic FM Records and Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, covering a diverse repertoire, from Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky through to the complete quartets of Tippett, Gorecki, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Rozsa and Bernard Herrmann.
Bozidar was the Principal cello of the Oxford Philharmonic for 10 years and has been invited to play as guest Principal with many of the UK’s finest orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and the Ulster Orchestra.
He was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2012.
'A glorious individual player…Vukotic's playing lit up the bass line' - The Times
