curriculum vitae

At the age of sixteen, Mark Messenger was awarded a scholarship to study violin at the Royal Academy of Music under David Martin and Sidney Griller. Three years later he made his Wigmore Hall debut. He has since played as soloist and chamber musician in all of London’s major concert halls and throughout the world, appearing in many national and international festivals. He has broadcast many times on television and radio, and has recorded for six labels.

1990 saw the launch of his immediately popular jazz/rock group, Mercury Jazz. However, it is in the world of chamber music where he has made his reputation. For eight years he was a member of the Bingham String Quartet, which championed the cause of contemporary music through its adventurous commissioning and performance programme. Currently he is a member of the internationally renowned Bochmann String Quartet with whom he has a busy international concert and recording schedule. He is also much in demand as a solo recitalist as well as leader of the European Chamber Opera and Docklands Sinfonietta.

At the age of seventeen, he was appointed violin professor at Goldsmiths College. For four years from 1993 he was director of Chamber Music at the Aberystwyth International Summer Music Festival and was influential in the development of educational policies for orchestras through his work with the English Symphony Orchestra where he was Education Projects Manager. In 1999, he initiated the Essex String Orchestras project, a raft of string ensembles at all levels designed to re-invigorate string playing within the county. He has also been a consultant on music education policies for the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and for Colchester Borough Council. He also has much practical outreach experience, not only through the education programmes with the Bochmann and Bingham string quartets, but also through his conducting work for many youth orchestras throughout the country including the Essex, Goldsmiths, E.S.O. and Brighton Youth Orchestras. In 2001 he was appointed conductor of the Essex Young People’s Orchestra.

In 1997 he was appointed Head of String Studies at the Colchester Institute of Music and in September 2002 he became Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music. In 2004 he was appointed artistic director of London String Quartet Week and has been invited back for 2005. He now travels across the globe as a performer, teacher, consultant and examiner.

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