Armand Djikoloum

& Iyad Sughayer

oboe & piano

Thursday 5th December 2024

7.30pm Morpeth Methodist Church

Programme (on occasion, the artist may make minor changes to the published programme)

Hindemith Sonata

Lili Boulanger Nocturne

Saint-Saëns Sonata

Marina Dranishnikova Poeme

Alma Mahler Die Stille Stadt

Robert Schumann Three Romances Op. 94

Ernest Chausson Le colibri Op. 2 No 7

Eugene Bozza Fantasie Pastorale

Oboist Armand Djikoloum and pianist Iyad Sughayer bring a diverse range of repertoire to Morpeth for their concert.  Both are current members of the prestigious Young Classical Artists Trust scheme and enjoy entertaining music societies around the country with their lively recitals.  The pair have also both been picked out as Rising Star Artists 2022 by Classic FM.   Armand is principal oboist with the Hannover Staatsoper but performs as a soloist in concerts and recitals around the world.  His frequent recital partner, Iyad Sughayer, will be making his second visit to Morpeth having previously delighted us with a solo recital in 2022.

Armand's programme will introduce us to Hindemith's oboe sonata - one of the twenty six sonatas he composed for each of the standard orchestral instruments - which the gifted composer could also play!  The familiar melodies of Schumann's Romances will follow, as well as a beautiful sonata by Saint-Saëns.  We can look forward to exploring less familiar composers and works to round out the duo's balanced programme.

'...the extraordinarily lovely oboe of Armand Djikoloum, sounding so smoothly mellifluous as to be almost seamless.'

Seen and Heard International 2023

More about Armand :

Born in France, Armand studied at Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon and with Philippe Tondre at the Hochschule für Musik Saar.

In 2021 he was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions.   

In the 2022/23 season, Armand was nominated as a 2022 Rising Star Artist by Classic FM, made his debut with London Mozart Players and returned as soloist with Chineke! performing Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Georges Bristol, Warwick Arts Centre and the Harrogate Festival. He also joined the Chineke! Chamber Ensemble at the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Edinburgh International Festival, Cartier Foundation in Paris and Chipping Camden Festival.

Armand has also recorded with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective for Chandos, and gave concerts with them at Wigmore Hall and the Dublin International and Lammermuir Festivals, including performances of Britten’s Phantasy Oboe Quartet. Solo and chamber music highlights have included recitals at Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. 

This season highlights include recordings with the Bayerischer Rundfunk and performances at the Bendigo Chamber music festival in Australia. Armand will also be giving concerts throughout the UK with his duo partner pianist Iyad Sughayer.

At the age of 22 Armand was appointed principal oboist at the Hannover Staatsoper. He regularly appears as guest principal with leading orchestras including the Dresden Staatskapelle, Southwest German Radio Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Frankfurt Opera and Oslo Opera Houses.

Passionate about education, he has given masterclasses at the Royal Welsh College, and Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London), and worked with students from the Benedetti Foundation. This season he will also be giving masterclasses at the Royal College of Music and Royal Northern College of Music.

A top prize winner, in 2018 Armand won 3rd Prize and the Audience Award at the International Oboe Competition in Japan performing the Strauss Concerto with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and giving recitals at Kioi Concert Hall. A year later he won two Special Prizes in the Muri Competition in Switzerland leading to a tour of Asia.

Armand is a scholarship holder of the Villa Musica Foundation in Germany and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb. He has participated in masterclasses with Maurice Bourgue, Alexei Ogrintchouk (Music Academy of Villecroze), Diethelm Jonas and Jean-Louis Capezzali.

More about Iyad :

Chosen as ‘One to Watch’ by International Piano Magazine, Iyad’s debut album Khachaturian Piano Works for BIS Records was described by Gramophone as “exhilarating and delivered with perfect clarity” and “an outstanding debut” by BBC Music Magazine. Iyad’s second recording for BIS with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Andrew Litton was released to critical acclaim in autumn 2022.

Nominated as a 2022 Rising Star Artist by Classic FM, Iyad was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions in 2021.

Highlights of Iyad’s 23/24 season include a return to the BBC National Orchestravof Wales for Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, performances at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lammermuir Festival and Barber Institute Birmingham, plus a series of recitals at the Leicester International Music Festival performing the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas alongside newly commissioned pieces inspired by these great works.

In the 2022/23 season Iyad returned to the Wigmore Hall, as soloist and chamber musician, and gave recitals in the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham International Piano series, Perth Concert Hall and Bath Festivals. Previous concert highlights include recitals at the Brighton Festival, Lake District Summer Music Festival, Bridgewater Hall & Stoller Hall in Manchester (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Leeds Town Hall, the Laeiszhalle (Hamburg) and Festival Musique D’Abord (France). 

Further afield he has given recitals at Steinway Hall (New York), Castleton Festival (Virginia) and Dubai Opera House. In 2020 he contributed to a BBC Arabic documentary ‘London Lockdown’, in which he took part as a character and recorded the soundtrack for the music.

Iyad regularly collaborates with oboist Armand Djikoloum, with forthcoming concerts across the UK including at the Lammermuir Festival and Leeds International Concert series.

As soloist Iyad has appeared with leading orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Cairo and Amman Symphony Orchestras. 

In 2022 Iyad co-founded and launched a new specialist music school, the Mashrek Academy of Music, with the Mashrek International School in Amman. The Academy welcomes students from across Jordan, discovering and nurturing a new generation of creators and musicians.

Born in Amman, the Jordanian-Palestinian pianist, Iyad studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he won the College’s prestigious Gold Medal. He completed his International Artist Diploma at the RNCM in 2019 and in the same year became a City Music Foundation Artist. In 2021 he was made an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM).