“The Calvert-Turner Cello and Harp Duo brought unlimited energy and virtuosity.”

Herts Essex News, September 2006

Rowena Calvert

About the Calvert-Turner Cello and Harp Duo

The Calvert-Turner Duo gave its first concert in 2003 and has performed in numerous venues across the UK to public acclaim. They have just released their debut CD El Paño Moruno. The soundworld of the cello and harp duo knows no boundaries and this is an inspiration to Rowena and Eleanor.

Eleanor Turner

Born in Essex in 1982, Eleanor Turner started learning the harp at the age of five and went on to study at the Royal College of Music Junior Department with Daphne Boden. In 1997, aged fifteen, Eleanor won the Audi Junior Musician Strings Final, which led to her concerto debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. It was this performance, with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Daniel Harding, which inspired Eleanor’s career as a harpist.

Since 2000 Eleanor has studied with Alison Nicholls and won the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition Award for Strings and Marisa Robles Harp Prize in 2002. Eleanor was chosen for a Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists in 2005 and won First Prize in the Cardiff European Harp Competition 2007, winning an outstanding £20,000 concert harp by Italian harp-makers 'Salvi'.

Eleanor lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where she composes and teaches as well as giving performances in the UK and abroad, both as soloist and as duo partner to her cellist, Rowena Calvert. She released a solo album called Childsplay in 2006, enjoys walking, dancing, listening to detective stories in the car and is mum to Iñaky.
www.eleanorturner.com

Rowena Calvert was born in 1983 and began to play on an eighth size cello that her father restored for her when she was five. Having been awarded a scholarship to study with Ruth Beauchamp at St. Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh, Rowena left her parents’ croft in Scotland at the age of seven. Another Scholarship took her to The Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Leonid Gorokhov and had masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich, Steven Isserlis and Bernard Greenhouse. Rowena was a BBC Young Musicians 2002 National String Finalist and has given solo performances at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the UNESCU Celebrations (Paris), the British Council (India), Kronberg Cello Festival (Germany) and a concerto with the London Mozart Players.

Her college years began in London where she studied with Paul Watkins at the Royal Academy Of Music. Before long, Rowena’s passion for travel took her to India where she performed in festivals and on television. As well as collaborating with Indian musicians she also taught the cello there for six months. On her return she received a scholarship to study with Hannah Roberts at the Royal Northern College of Music. After receiving 100% in her undergraduate Final Recital, Rowena was awarded the Leonard Rose Award 2006. She then went on to study for a PGDip at the RNCM with Hannah Roberts. Rowena has been honoured with numerous awards including the Busenhart – Morgen Evans Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Haworth Trust for cellists, an Ian Flemming Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, a Countess of Munster Award and the Jellineck Award. www.rowenacalvert.com