Biography
Florian Rago was born (1988) in Italy. He has lived in the UK since the age of two and started to play the violin when he was five. He was awarded an instrumental scholarship to attend Lincoln Minster School at age eight and studied violin with Caroline Siriwardena. His concerto debut at age ten was in Lincoln Cathedral where he had his first solo recital a year later. Since 1999 he has been a pupil of Professor Dona Lee Croft with whom he continues to study as Regalian Scholar at the Royal College of Music. He undertakes masterclasses with Bela Katona (Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest) and Lewis Kaplan (Juilliard, New York) and has additionally participated in masterclasses with Gordon Back and Ofer Falk, Peter Herresthal and Annette Isserlis.
Prizes both national and international include Kingston-upon-Thames Young Musician of the Year and Premier Award, Nottingham and East Midlands Young Musician of the Year, Ibla Grand Prize, Ysaÿe Award, Italy and most recently the overall prize at the Hatfield and District Music Festival.
Solo appearances with orchestras include Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto, Paganini's No1 and the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Orchestra of the Restoration; Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Prince Consort Ensemble and later this year the Tchaikovsky Concerto in D major with the De Havilland Orchestra, resident orchestra at the University of Hertfordshire.
Florian has made numerous solo and guest appearances including in the British Federation of Music and Drama Festivals’ Centenary Royal Concert at the Amadeus Centre and the Inaugural Concert to the ISM Annual Conference, "We thrilled to a brilliant display of virtuosity… and… hypnotic panache“, ISM Music Journal. In 2008 he played at Nottingham's Albert Hall and the Royal Concert Hall for the centenary celebrations of the Carlton Male Voice Choir. He has performed in many venues across the country including, Leeds Town Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, both Southwell and Lincoln Cathedrals, Drill Hall(Lincoln), Bonnington Theatre, Djangoly Recital Hall, Purcell School, St John's College Cambridge and the Royal Netherlands Embassy.
Contemporary music forms an integral part of his repertoire, including works by John David Earnest and Vytaustas Barkauskas, most recently premiering a quartet by Nimrod Katzir at the Royal College of Music. The British composer Frank Stiles has composed for him as has Alexis Rago (1930-2009), his grandfather, who was one of Venezuela's most distinguished composers.
