London Tango Quintet

David Juritz was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and began playing the violin at the age of five. He was awarded an Associated Board Scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he won the RCM’s top award, the Tagore Gold Medal.

On leaving the RCM, he joined English Chamber Orchestra before being appointed leader of the London Mozart Players, a position he held until 2010. He made many appearances as soloist and director with the LMP, including his debut at the 2006 BBC Promenade Concerts.

In October 2019, he was invited to direct the English Chamber Orchestra at their debut in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Other performances have included appearances as soloist and director at the Tonhalle in Zurich, performances of the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos in Tokyo, the Tchaikovsky concerto with the London Concert Orchestra at the Barbican and the world premiere of Tales from South America, a tango concerto written for him by Cecilia McDowall.

In 2018, together with his regular duo partner, pianist Sarah Beth Briggs and conductor/cellist Ken Woods, he formed the Briggs Trio. Their debut recording of piano trios by Hans Gal and Dmitri Shostakovich (for the Avie label) received glowing reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. His many other recordings include Vivaldi Four Seasons, re-released by Nimbus Alliance in 2012, and hailed by critics as one of the finest interpretations of that much-recorded work. David has also recorded  Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo and his transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for violin, guitar and cello was released by Nimbus in April 2021.

In 2005, David took on the role of Director of the Burton Bradstock Festival in Dorset. During a five-month sabbatical in 2007, David busked around the world. On the 60,000 mile journey through 50 cities in 24 countries on six continents, he paid for the entire journey with his busking earnings by playing Bach on the streets. He formed the charity Musequality and used the trip to raise funds for music education projects for disadvantaged children in developing countries. He remains deeply committed to encouraging young musicians in the developing world, working in Kurdistan with young musicians from the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq and students at Xiquitsi in Maputo, Mozambique.

David is a prolific arranger and has arranged many substantial works for a wide variety of instrumental combinations, including music by Couperin and Debussy for the London Tango Trio and most recently, Bach’s Goldberg Variations for guitar, violin and cello which he performs with Craig Ogden and Tim Hugh. David is regularly invited to perform on film and television soundtracks including Long Walk to Freedom, The Theory of Everything and Last King of Scotland. His fleeting on-screen appearances include the award-winning drama series Downton Abbey, Youth starring Michael Caine and Ammonite.

David plays on a violin made by J.B. Guadagnini in Piacenza in 1748.

Described by BBC Music Magazine as ‘A worthy successor to Julian Bream’, the Australian-born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the most exciting artists of his generation. He studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of thirteen. In 2004, he became the youngest instrumentalist to receive a Fellowship Award from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras and numerous composers have written works specially for him. He has given world premières of Andy Scott’s Guitar Concerto with the Northern Chamber Orchestra, followed by the Australian première in Perth; Il Filo with Miloš Milivojević, a double concerto for guitar and accordion by David Gordon and a Guitar Concerto by David Knotts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with the BBC Concert Orchestra which was recorded for BBC Radio 3 and filmed for BBC4 TV. In July 2022 Craig gave the world première of Isolation Songs (Without Words) a new guitar concerto written for him by William Lovelady with the English Chamber Orchestra for Music in Country Churches with HM the King in attendance. The work received its London premiere in November 2022 at Cadogan Hall. In January 2023, Craig gave the world première of a guitar concerto by Greg Caffrey with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, recorded by BBC3.

Craig Ogden is the most sought-after guitarist for chamber music in the UK performing with artists including the Carducci Quartet, Miloš Milivojević (accordion), Paul Edmund-Davies (flute) and the London Tango Quintet, of which he is a regular member. Craig also performs a new arrangement written for him of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellists Tim Hugh and Adrian Bradbury. Craig gave a recital with tenor James Gilchrist at the Edinburgh Festival which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, performed in the concert series devoted to Sir Michael Tippett at the Wigmore Hall and has given several concerts at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Craig was invited to be Visiting Musician at Oriel College, University of Oxford for two years.

One of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, he has accumulated an acclaimed discography for Chandos, Virgin/EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony and six chart-topping albums for Classic FM. His most recent recordings are a solo recital disc for Chandos, Craig Ogden in Concert and a new arrangement of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellist Tim Hugh for Nimbus Records. He frequently records for film and has presented programmes for BBC Radio 3, BBC Northern Ireland, and ABC Classic FM in Australia.

Craig Ogden is Director of Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music, Adjunct Fellow of the University of Western Australia, Associate Artist at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and Director of the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival. Craig Ogden plays a 2011 Greg Smallman guitar and strings made by D’Addario.

Following his studies in Serbia, award-winning accordionist Miloš was awarded a full scholarship from the Royal Academy of Music where he became the first accordionist ever to win the RAM Club Prize open to all instrumentalists and was the winner of the prestigious Derek Butler London Prize at the Wigmore Hall.

Miloš has premiered many works and appeared with the London Mozart Players, Russian Virtuosi, London Sinfonietta, Filharmonika Orchestra, Chroma Ensemble and the Chorus of Opera North. In 2021 he performed the Piazzolla Double Concerto with guitarist Craig Ogden and the Orchestra of the Swan and in 2022 he performed the Jonathan Dove Accordion Concerto ‘Northern Lights’ with St Paul’s Sinfonia, London. In 2023 he was selected to work with the London Symphony Orchestra for their Jerwood Composer + Showcase.

Miloš has performed at many venues and festivals across the UK and around the world.  In addition to his work as a chamber and solo artist, Miloš regularly works with leading opera companies including Opera North and Opera Holland Park. In 2017, he performed Brett Dean’s new opera of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Hamlet, with Glyndebourne Opera’s touring production and in 2022, Miloš performed in Graeae Theatre and the BBC Concert Orchestra’s production of Errollyn Wallen’s ground-breaking opera ‘The Paradis Files’ which was recorded for BBC Radio 3.

In October 2022, Miloš appeared with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall, which was also broadcast on Classic FM and in December 2022 he joined composer/songwriter Danny Elfman and special guests in the BBC Concert Orchestra performance of Tim Burton’s Disney classic film ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, a live cine-concert production presented to a packed Wembley Arena. He is a member of the London Tango Quintet, Kosmos Ensemble, Classical Kicks Ensemble, AccordDuo and the Balkan group Paprika and regularly performs with guitarist Craig Ogden and violinists David Juritz and Lizzie Ball. Live broadcasts include BBC Radio, Classic FM, ABC and the Serbian national radio and television networks and he has given accordion masterclasses in Serbia, Portugal and Scotland. His playing is featured on the award-winning Bollywood movie 'Barfi' and he has performed tango live in front of millions on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing TV programme.

Miloš was awarded an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music ARAM for his contribution to music and he was recently appointed as an external examiner for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is an official artist and exclusively performs on Pigini Accordions.

Miloš’s debut solo CD “Accord for Life” is available on the Nimbus label.

Harpsichordist, jazz pianist and composer David Gordon trained as a mathematician at Bristol University before turning to music full-time. David first began playing for dance, working for a time with many of the stars at the Royal Ballet. A self-taught jazz player, he was subsequently snapped up by a variety of jazz groups, including those of saxophonist Theo Travis and violinist Christian Garrick. He founded the David Gordon Trio in 1995: many of David’s compositions for the trio have been recorded by other bands and saxophonist Andy Sheppard, guitarist John Etheridge and singer Jacqui Dankworth have guested with the trio.

Straddling different musical worlds has been one of the themes of David’s career. A few years ago, he played a harpsichord concerto – complete with improvised cadenza – in a concert in St Martin in the Fields, walked down the road – still in his tails – to Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Soho, where he was playing for the week.

David has toured all over the world with the gypsy-tango band Zum, the baroque orchestra The English Concert, the piano-led jazz group David Gordon Trio and the early music/jazz group Respectable Groove together with violinists Nigel Kennedy, Christian Tetzlaff, Andrew Manze, David Le Page, Daniel Pioro and singer Jacqui Dankworth, to name but a few. His music is frequently given airplay on BBC Radio 3, Jazz FM and on radio stations around the world.

David Gordon appears on numerous albums as composer, leader and sideman; many of his works have been broadcast worldwide, and he has compositions regularly commissioned by festivals, publishers and fellow musicians. Amongst these are four concertos: 'Romanesque' for recorder and strings, premiered at the Ryedale Festival, ‘Inspired by Bach’ for jazz piano trio and chamber orchestra, premiered at Cadogan Hall by the London Chamber Orchestra, ‘Il Filo’ for accordion, guitar and chamber orchestra, premiered by Craig Ogden and Miloš Milivojević, and ‘Earthcycle’ a suite of four mini concertos for violin and strings for David Le Page and the Orchestra of the Swan. In addition, he has composed for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, with whom he has also appeared as soloist. David has directed the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Austrian baroque orchestra Concerto Stella Matutina and appeared as soloist with Concerto Köln.

As well as the London Tango Quintet, David is a member of many other ensembles across the musical spectrum.

Richard was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music where he won the Eugene Croft Solo Double-Bass Prize and went on to the post-graduate Jazz course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since then, he has been in demand as a classical, studio and jazz musician appearing at venues from Ronnie Scott’s to The Royal Opera House. Richard has worked with artists including The Dixie Chicks, Jamie Cullum, Nitin Sawhney and Shirley Bassey and he is regularly invited to play electric bass with ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra and The Philharmonia.

Richard was a member of the improvising string quintet ‘Basquiat Strings’ which was nominated for a Mercury award in 2007. During the past 5 years, he has been busy in London’s top studios recording film scores and working with artists such as Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, and Kanye West. He was recently working with the operatic baritone Simon Keenlyside performing jazz standards to opera fans across Europe.