The Prince Consort Ensemble from THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC LONDON, ENGLAND



Violins

Dona Lee Croft

Peter Povey

Jae Yoo

Amanda Lake



Violas

Arun Menon

Lydia Bunn



Cellos

Lawrence Durkin

William Burrows

The Prince Consort Ensemble members with the exception of its leader, Dona Lee Croft, are current students or alumni of the Royal College of Music in London. Founded in 1882 by the Prince of Wales, later to be King Edward VII, this reputed conservatory is located on an avenue called the “Prince Consort Road,” which runs between its impressive building and the famous Royal Albert Hall in the Kensington area of West London.



Dona Lee Croft, Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music, leads the ensemble from the first violin chair. In addition to being a highly recognized teacher, she has given solo and chamber music performances and broadcasts on the international concert circuit. Her career has encompassed concerts throughout Great Britain, Europe, Mexico, and the United States and in most of the famous halls including Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall and St. Martin of the Fields in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and many others. Her CDs are available on the Karuna Record label. In 1991 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother conferred an Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music on Miss Croft in recognition of service and dedication to the College for her teaching.



Miss Croft has a particular connection with Texas audiences since she grew up and started her study of the violin in Odessa, Texas. Her first teacher was her mother, Dorothy Croft, whose many students include such professionals as Denise Taggart, concertmaster of the Houston Opera Orchestra and Cynthia Fleming, Leader of the BBC
Concert Orchestra in London. While in high school Miss Croft studied with the great violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian and then attended the University of Texas at Austin where she received the BM and MM in Violin Performance. Following graduation she moved to London to join the studio of Nathan Milstein and subsequently worked with Bela Katona in Budapest. Throughout her career, Miss Croft has been active in philanthropic concerts through an organization that she directs: Children Helping Children. To date over 25,000 English pounds have been raised to benefit twenty-five different children’s charities.



Under Dona Lee Croft’s direction, The Prince Consort Ensemble has performed with enthusiastic acclaim in such high profile venues as St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The National Gallery, and the Winchester Cathedral in England. The group has also toured the European continent with concerts in Prague and Budapest. It, too, has helped to raise funds for hospitals and hospice care. Additional outreach work by the Ensemble includes educational projects in which the members serve as tutors to chamber music groups and orchestras in the London schools.



This is the Prince Consort Ensemble’s first trip to the United States where they will play concerts in New York, Oklahoma, and Alaska as well as in several Texas cities.