Drostan Hall, Music Director

Lire en Français

Drostan Hall, Conductor, Music Director and Founder of Camerata Chicago, is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, where he studied violin with Yossi Zivoni and a graduate of Northern Illinois University where he studied with members of the Vermeer String Quartet including Shmuel Ashkenasi, Piere Menard and Mathias Tacke.

In June of 2013, the tenth anniversary of Camerata Chicago, Drostan undertook a major European tour conducting Camerata Chicago and cellist Wendy Warner as soloist, performing six concerts in ten days. The tour received rave reviews from European newspapers and the Litomyšl Festival.

In August 2013, Cedille Records released a recording of Haydn and Myslivecek Concertos with Wendy Warner and Camerata Chicago conducted by Drostan Hall, garnering fabulous reviews. The CD was nominated for an International Classical Music Award. Classic FM (UK) plays the CD regularly and it has been featured on 98.7 WFMT Chicago as well as WQXR New York, among many others.

Drostan came to the podium in 2003 when he was invited to conduct Handel’s Messiah at a local Chicago church. While studying the score of this sacred work he decided to found Camerata Chicago. Since then, as Music Director of Camerata Chicago, he has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Wendy Warner, Peter Van De Graaf and Michelle Arezaga, Suzanne Hou and Caroline Goulding.   Drostan has had a particularly close relationship with the internationally acclaimed Vermeer String Quartet, collaborating with the quartet’s leader Shmuel Ashkenasi with whom he performed and recorded the 5th violin concerto of Mozart. Mr. Ashkenasi subsequently became Artistic Advisor to Camerata Chicago in 2006.

This website has lots of information on Amlodipine and on how you can Buy Amlodipine Online or Purchase genuine Amlodipine.

Drostan Hall with Mathias Tacke, concert master

In 2008 Drostan was pleased to appoint Mathias Tacke, second violinist of the quartet to the concertmaster chair and since then has recorded well known Bach violin Concerti with him . Cellist Marc Johnson soloed with Drostan in 2008. In the US Drostan has conducted at well known festivals such as the Utah Music Festival and the Woodstock Mozart Festival and in December 2011 guest conducted the Lacrosse Symphony Orchestra, WI.

His work with Camerata Chicago has been very fruitful including numerous live radio broadcasts on Chicago’s radio station WFMT and compact disc releases on the Centaur and DMD classics labels. As Music Director of Camerata Chicago he has appeared at the Artist Series at Wheaton College, Art Institute of Chicago, The Harris Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, College Church, and St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Wheaton. Drostan collaborated with Michelle Areyzaga conducting the world premiere of Tenderness Songs by Gwyneth Walker.

Drostan began violin lessons at the age of 4 and at the age of 12 he received a Martin Musical Scholarship to continue his studies with Frederick Grinke. A year later he was selected to compete in the first Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. The Aldeburgh Foundation invited Drostan to participate in their internationally acclaimed master classes at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies where he studied with Ruggiero Ricci and Norbert Brianin. Drostan, at the age of 14, was the youngest ever violinist to participate in these master classes. In 1995 Drostan toured Germany with the Internationale Junge Orchesterakadamie performing the Bruch Violin Concerto. Drostan collaborated with pianist Lyudmila Lakisova giving many acclaimed recitals in Chicago and received invitations to give live radio broadcasts for Chicago’s WFMT radio station and in 2003 toured the U.K. In 2001 he produced Ferdinand & Friends an educational compact disc for children on the DMD Classics label which became a best seller in various educational catalogues.

	“Drostan Hall is clearly first class and conducts with tremendous energy and musical sensitivity.” The Late Sir Charles Mackerras, Conductor, CH AC CBE
	I am very impressed with both [Drostan’s] technique … and his expressiveness. Drostan makes music that comes alive in a way that is not at all typical, and is … exactly what one listens for. … He is also extremely enterprising and entrepreneurial. [Camerata Chicago] speaks to his energy, his determination, and his skill. Henry Fogel, Former President, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University
	Referring to Camerata Chicago’s CD of WFMT Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Drostan Hall: “If your taste in performance of Beethoven symphonies runs to those that are robust, bold, exuberant, passionate, sensitive, lyrical and, above all, played at a high artistic level you’re going to revel in the two symphonies on this recording. If that’s not enough, you should know that the two engineers, Mary Mazurek and Hudson Fair, are world-class classical music recording specialists that WFMT is fortunate to have worked with for many years. All told, this is a recording that will hold its own with any recording in your collection.” Steve Robinson Executive Vice President for Radio & Project Development, WFMT
	“Drostan Hall is a very gifted conductor and I found him to be one of the best accompanists I have ever worked with. In addition to his obvious skills at directing and inspiring the orchestra to play with great musical sensitivity, he is also able to produce a very high degree of precision in ensemble and technical execution. Shmuel Ashkenasi, Leader Vermeer Quartet
.	“Having worked with Drostan Hall I can attest to his sparkling and enthusiastic musicianship as well as his terrific leadership qualities .” William Billingham, Assistant Conductor, Lyric Opera of Chicago