Kettering Concerts

Kettering Concert 2025-08-17

Békés & Cassomenos
Jonathan Békés (cello), Stefan Cassomenos (piano)

Cello & Piano

Programme:

Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major Op 102 No 1 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Time Transfixed – Maria Grenfell (1969 -)
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Sunday 17 August 2025, 3pm
Kettering Community Hall
Tickets will be available on-line
$20 on-line, $25 at the door (cash only)
Stay for the post-concert afternoon tea, meet and chat with the musicians.

Jonathan Békés

Jonathan Békés started playing the cello at 10 years old and has studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Australian National Academy of Music. He has learnt with cellists such as Howard Penny, Julian Smiles and Susan Blake and won numerous awards for his performance including the ANAM Director’s Prize, and First Prize in the ANAM Chamber Competition. He is recipient of the 2016 Accenture Australia Scholarship, the Sydney Conservatorium’s Corinna d’Hage String Scholarship, and has attained his AMus and LMus, both with distinction.

Békés is in great demand as a performer, chamber musician and teacher across Australia and has taken his cello across the world, having performed and taught across four different continents. He is member of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, a founding member of the award winning Clarendon Trio and plays regularly with the Australian World Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Békés has performed chamber music alongside such artists as Anthony Marwood, Stephan Dohr, Ole Bøhn, and Timothy Young and has performed in masterclasses for Steven Isserlis, Pieter Wispelwey, Nicholas Aldstaedt and Alban Gerhadt.

Békés has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras around Australia including the Hobart Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Youth Orchestra. In 2011 he played for a full house at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall as part of the HSC ENCORE program.

In his spare time, Békés is a passionate Sydney Swans supporter and a committed Hobart Hurricanes enthusiast. He is a keen squash player, an avid golfer and loves to get outside to go hiking and mountain biking. For more information go to www.jonathanbekes.com.

Stefan Cassomenos

Melbourne pianist and composer Stefan Cassomenos is one of Australia’s most vibrant and versatile musicians. He has been performing internationally since the age of 10, and is now established as one of Australia’s leading pianists. In 2013, Cassomenos was a grand finalist and recipient of both the Second Grand Prize and Chamber Music Prize at the International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition Bonn. He has been a grand finalist and prize winner in various other competitions. Cassomenos gave the world premiere of his own Piano Concerto No 1 with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the age of 16. His concerto repertoire now exceeds thirty works, and has led to engagements with Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Opera Australia Orchestra, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. Cassomenos has given solo recitals at many international venues and festivals, including Tonhalle Zurich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Sydney Opera House, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Bunkamura Orchard Hall Tokyo, and Junge Stars der Klassik Kirchheimbolanden. Cassomenos now performs regularly in Australia, Germany and the UK. Cassomenos’ compositions are commissioned and performed in Australia and overseas. His music has been commissioned and performed by many ensembles and organizations including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, 250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven Bonn, and the Festival Neue Musik Rockenhausen. Cassomenos is active as an artistic director of various festivals, projects and collaborations. He is a founding member of chamber ensemble PLEXUS, which since launching in 2014 has commissioned and premiered over 110 new works. Cassomenos is joint Artistic Director of Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, with violinist Monica Curro. Born in 1985 in Melbourne, Stefan studied with Margarita Krupina, Stephen McIntyre, Ian Munro and Michael Kieran Harvey. Cassomenos is generously supported by Kawai Australia.