International Concert Series 2024-25

Violinist Maja Horvat communicates the spiritual power of music through her performances, offering joy and comfort which enable her audience members to develop their own unique and meaningful connection with music. Royal Holloway have partnered with Illuminate Women's Music to feature her and pianist Joseph Havlat for an evening celebrating the music of Sofia Gubaidulina, Angela Elizabeth Slater, and Royal Holloway's very own, Tonia Ko. 

This event is presented as part of the International Concert Series 2024-25 at Royal Holloway, in collaboration with Illuminate Women's Music. 

About the performers

Maja Horvat explores the full range of magic and versatility of which the violin is capable through her work as a soloist, chamber musician and in collaboration with ensembles, orchestras and composers all over the world. While constantly exploring masterpieces of all eras, Maja’s true passion is giving contemporary works a good start in life and finding fresh resonance in lesser-known gems of 20th-century repertoire. Maja gave her debut performance at Wigmore Hall in 2021 as first violinist of the Brompton Quartet, of which she is a founding member and with whom she gives frequent world premieres. They won the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition and have collaborated with record producer Andrew Keener and many currently active composer.  She has performed with some of the world’s most prominent chamber musicians including Sir Andras Schiff, Tabea Zimmerman, Christian Tetzlaff, Vladimir Mendelssohn and David Cohen. Read more. 

Joseph Havlat is a pianist and composer from Hobart, Australia, based in London. Working as a soloist and chamber musician for music very new, very old and some things in between, he has performed in major concert venues around the UK, Europe, America, Japan and Australia. Joseph is a leading interpreter of new music, having collaborated with such composers as Hans Abrahamsen, John Adams, Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Brett Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Michael Finnissy and Thomas Larcher. As a chamber musician he has performed with William Bennett, James Ehnes, Steven Isserlis, Katalin Károlyi and Jack Liebeck, alongside regular duo partners Lotte Betts-Dean and Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux. He is also a member of the LSO percussion ensemble with whom he has released a CD on the LSO Live label, featuring the premiere recording of John Adams’ two-piano work ‘Roll Over Beethoven’. Read more. 

Maja Horvat