14/10/2026
Meet the Maiastra Course Directors and Coaches performing together to celebrate 20 years of Maiastra!
Arisa Fujita - violin
Arisa Fujita has performed extensively worldwide as a soloist and as a member of the Fujita Piano Trio as well as the first violinist of the Gémeaux Quartett. Arisa has collaborated with artists including Joshua Bell, Alexander Rudin and Steven Isserlis. She has released CDs of chamber works by Toru Takemitsu, Ysaÿe Solo Sonatas and piano trios by Tchaikovsky, and more. Arisa was Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama for 16 years until she moved to The Netherlands where she holds a professorship at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. Arisa knew Aidan since she was a teenager and has been the course director for Maiastra since 2007.
Akiko Ono - violin
Akiko Ono launched her career after winning numerous prizes in prestigious competitions including first prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin, Viotti-Valsesia and Forval Scholarship Stradivarius Japan. She was also a laureate of the Concours Reine Elisabeth, Paganini and Szigeti Competition. In 2022, Akiko launched a chamber music workshop for young people in her hometown in Tokyo. Akiko teaches at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and at the Yehudi Menuhin School and is a member of the Chamber Principals of London, and the Covent Garden Sinfonietta. Akiko has been a Maiastra course director since 2006.
Simon Rowland-Jones - viola
Performer, editor, composer and teacher, Simon Rowland-Jones became the founder violist of the Chilingirian Quartet in 1972, with which he still plays today. His editorial work for Peters Edition includes viola transcriptions of Bach’s Cello Suites and Violin Sonatas and Partitas as well as a new Urtext edition of the Haydn String Quartets. To date his own works include ten string quartets, two string quintets, two piano trios, a piano quartet, a string octet, a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra, and several song cycles. He teaches viola and chamber music at the RCM and alongside Barry Cheeseman is co-director of the North Norfolk Music Festival.
Matthijs Broersma - cello
Versatile cellist Matthijs Broersma is in demand both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He has performed worldwide in venues such as the Concertgebouw and Wigmore Hall. Recent highlights include performances of concertos by Kabalevsky and Gulda, and the Saint-Saëns Concerto with the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Solo recitals have brought him to the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, and the Menuhin Hall. Matthijs is the cellist of the Gémeaux Quartett, a firmly established international prize-winning Swiss quartet. Matthijs is Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School and a Trustee of The Aidan Woodcock Charitable Trust. He has been involved with the Maiastra courses since 2006 and more recently as a Course Director.
David Waterman - cello
David Waterman studied philosophy for six years at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded an MA and PhD. He was cellist of the world-renowned Endellion Quartet for 42 years, recording for Warner Classics, EMI, and Virgin Classics, and Resident at Cambridge University for 28 years. David has performed chamber music with the Amadeus, Belcea, and Castalian Quartets, Joshua Bell, Michael Collins, Jeremy Denk, Julia Fischer, Ivry Gitlis, Isabelle Faust, Steven Isserlis, Sándor Végh and Tabea Zimmerman. He has taught all over Europe and the USA; and regularly for GSMD and IMS Prussia Cove.
🗓️Sunday 1 November at 19:30
📍Menuhin Hall
There are only a few tickets left for this very soecial concert, so get yours now before it’s too late!
Refreshments will be served before the concert and during the interval.
