9th International Violin Competition Henri Marteau
Our piano accompanists
Nigel Clayton
Nigel Clayton studied under Stephen Savage and Angus Morrison at the Royal College of Music in London, where he won prizes in almost every category of piano performance and was awarded for his bachelor degree with the annual college prize.
During his time in London, the interest of chamber and contemporary music evokes which was reinforced by several winnings at competitions. Since then, his worldwide travelling began and led him to India, Japan Iceland and USA.
Clayton performed as a soloist on British luxury cruise liners such as SS Canberra and Arcadia. He played the concerts of Beethoven, Grieg, Schumann and many others. Furthermore, he shone as a soloist at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
He worked with artists such as Gina McCormack, Elizabeth Anderson, Michael Cox, Silvia Marcovici and Bryan Rayner Cook.
His twenty year partnership with violinist Beth Spendlove has resulted more than one hundred recitals. Clayton used to be an official piano accompanist at the International Tibor Varga Competition in Switzerland.
Recently, he has a professorship at the Royal College of Music in London and in Switzerland and is principal teacher for piano at the North East of Scotland Music School.
Tomoko Nishikawa
Born in Japan, Tomoko Nishikawa and has been living in Germany since 1983. She studied piano with Prof. Ludwig Hoffmann and Prof. Margarita Höhenrieder at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where she graduated with a master's degree with chamber music as her second major. She also attended masterclasses with Rudolf Buchbinder, Arne Torger, and Bengt Forsberg.
Nishikawa has won prizes at solo and chamber music competitions, including first and special prizes at the international chamber music competition "Città di Finale Ligure" in Italy. In 1996, Tomoko Nishikawa was accepted into the "Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now" support program, where she is currently active as a volunteer in the organization.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in numerous concerts and radio broadcasts. Since 1995, she has been a lecturer for accompaniment at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater” in Munich, and from 2002 to 2007, Nishikawa had an additional teaching assignment at the “Hochschule für Musik” Nürnberg-Augsburg.
She is also in demand as an official piano accompanist at international masterclasses and competitions, including the Leopold Mozart Violin Competition, Internation Violin Competition Henri Marteau, Kloster Schöntal Violin Competition, and the Marvão Academy.
Natsumi Ohno
Natsumi Ohno was born in Japan and began studying in Tokyo. She later completed her Konzertexamen with Prof. Bernd Goetzke at the Hanover University of Music, Drama und Media. In addition to her soloist training, she specialized in song accompaniment in Justus Zeyen's class as well as instrument accompaniment for strings and woodwinds. During her studies, she received stipends from Tokyo College of Music as well as the Yehudi Menuhin foundation ‘Live Music Now’.
Natsumi Ohno is an awardee of the International Chamber Music Competition ‘Premio Trio di Trieste’ (with violinist Kana Sugimura) and of the International Piano Competition ‘Città di Sulmona’ in Italy.
She has appeared as an official pianist at a variety of violin competitions, music festivals and masterclasses, including the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover, Singapore International Violin Competition, Kloster Schöntal International Violin Competition, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the International Festival of Young Violin Masters Lindau, the IMAS International Music Academy in Germany, the Morges Music Academy in Switzerland, the Summer Academy Cervo and International Music Academy of Cagliari in Italy, the Strings Concert Academy in San Marino, Wenzhou String Musik Week in China.
Natsumi Ohno is full time faculty at the Hanover University of Music, Drama und Media.