Introductions

Photo by Sarah Emma Smith

String Dimensions, founded by Bogdan Vacarescu in 2017, is a London-based chamber ensemble of international soloists.

String Dimensions is no ordinary chamber ensemble. United by a mutual interest in performing music all too rarely heard in today’s concert programmes, they have given the UK premieres of lost masterworks such as Karol Lipinski and Antonio Bazzini’s works and perform neglected repertoire such as Fritz Kreisler’s String Quartet and works by Enescu and Cherubini. Our programmes also include original arrangements of well-known classical works for string duos, trios, quartets and larger groups.

The ensemble features Allegri Quartet cellist Vanessa Lucas-Smith, Kreutzer Quartet viola player Clifton Harrison, Canadian violist Brooke Day, Japanese violinist Akiko Ishikawa and it is led by violinist Bogdan Vacarescu

Bogdan Vacarescu - violin

Bogdan is a London based Romanian concert violinist who has toured internationally since his teens as a concerto soloist, chamber and orchestra musician. His recent solo album "Violin and Piano Thrillers" is at the top of the Album of the Year in Romania and was given a 5 star review in Musical Opinion. He performed in halls such as the Sydney Opera House, Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romanian National Radio Hall, The United Nations Concert Hall in New York, New Morning in Paris, Kings Place and Purcell Room in London.

Bogdan also recorded soundtracks for films and documentaries, most notably in collaboration with Oscar winners Stephen Warbeck and Gabriel Yared. He has collaborated with Nigel Kennedy, Paprika, The Cat Empire, Graffiti Classics, She’Koyokh, Secret Cinema and as a free-lancer with many successful ensembles in the UK.

Bogdan is a graduate of the Conservatoire of Music in Bucharest and the Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Beno Schwartzman, Paul Ratz and Gyorgy Pauk.

Akiko Ishikawa - violin

Akiko Ishikawa has performed in several concert halls in Tokyo and Yokohama from a young age, most notably in front of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki Method. She moved to England in 1998, and promptly was invited with a full scholarship to the Berkshire Young Musicians Trust for five years.

She studied with noted chamber musician Ofer Falk and international soloist Rivka Golani at Trinity College of Music. As a chamber musician, Akiko won numerous prizes, including the Cavatina Chamber Music Competition and the John Barbirolli String Quartet Competition.

Recent performances include a recital at St. Martin in the Fields and as a soloist with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan.

Clifton Harrison - viola

Viola and viola d’amore player Clifton Harrison has performed as a chamber musician and recitalist throughout the United States, Central America, Asia, and Europe. He is the viola player in the acclaimed Kreutzer Quartet with whom he has recorded extensively.

A proponent of contemporary music, Clifton has collaborated with many of today’s leading composers and has premiered scores of works. He has given masterclasses throughout the United Kingdom, USA, and Asia and records widely for film and television. Alongside his commitments with the quartet, Clifton has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, London Mozart Players, Royal Philharmonic, Rambert Dance Company Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and most of London’s period performance ensembles.

Clifton studied at the Juilliard School with Dorothy Delay (violin) and Karen Tuttle (viola) and at the Royal Academy of Music with Yuko Inoue and Jane Rogers (baroque).

Recent performances include a recital at St. Martin in the Fields and as a soloist with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan.

Brooke Day - viola

Brooke Day led the viola section of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and was concerto soloist with the Lethbridge Symphony in Alberta.
He helped found the Windy Mountain Music festival youth programme there alongside the great Israeli violist, Rifka Golani.

He has a Masters degree from the Birmingham Conservatoire where he travelled to study with Rivka Golani. He now free-lances in the U.K. and tours with Graffiti Classics.
He loves to perform in almost any capacity, including for his most critical audience: his wife, his 1 year old son and 2 year old dog.

Vanessa Lucas-Smith - cello

Vanessa is the cellist of Britain’s oldest chamber group, the Allegri Quartet. A regular performer at the Wigmore Hall, QEH, Purcell room, Kings Place and at festivals throughout the world – Edinburgh, Kronberg, Orlando, Cervo, SoWeCa (Canada), she can be heard on radio – BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, Radio Netherlands and on TV and film as a frequent session musician. Vanessa is on the teaching staff at Junior Trinity and various courses (Benslow, ProCorda, English Camerata Soloists), and sits on competition judging panels (2015 Royal Over Seas League Competition).

Her studies began as a scholarship student at the Junior Dept of the RCM and then later at the RNCM. She is a prizewinner of competitions including the Royal Over Seas League, Zinetti (Italy), Charles Hennen (Netherlands) and has been awarded the Sir John Barbirolli Prize for string quartet. Vanessa has a life-long love of football and continues to play whenever possible!