Wethersfield Chamber Concerts

“It was indeed very illuminating to see with what intelligence and passion this young man has created his own ensemble and brought them so happily together.”

Christopher Axworthy - The Keyboard Trust

Press

"Pianist Adam Heron, winner of the Irish Heritage Bursary 2017, impressed through his approach to Chopin and Scriabin."

Michael Dervan - Irish Times

“A superb recital, a truly outstanding young talent, one who'll deepen the shadows he's already plumbed here.”

“Throughout his performance, Adam showed great understanding and love of the music he played and his technical mastery allowed him to convey this to his listeners.”

Elaine Gould - Edinburgh Society of Musicians

“Every time I go to write, something magical about the performance makes me stop and look straight back up.”

Jasper Domett - Budleigh Music Festival Review

Biography

Adam Heron is rapidly establishing a reputation as one of today’s foremost young musicians. Since his critically-acclaimed appearance in 2018 as a Piano Finalist on BBC Young Musician of the Year, he commands a demanding schedule of international performances. Especially renowned for his interpretations of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Adam is the 2020 winner of the prestigious Harriet Cohen Bach Prize, endowed by The Musicians’ Company.

Born in Hong Kong in 1999 of Nigerian-Filipino descent, then adopted into an Irish family, Adam has performed in fifteen countries worldwide, including recent solo recitals at distinguished music festivals such as the Cheltenham Music Festival (United Kingdom), The Cayman Arts Festival (Cayman Islands), and The Aegean Arts International Festival (Greece). He received his formative musical training as a chorister in Gloucester Cathedral Choir under the directorship of Adrian Partington, and subsequently won a scholarship to attend Wells Cathedral School. Highlights of the Winter Season 2019/2020 included an invitation from the British Council in Egypt to perform at the International Center for Arts in Cairo, and a tour of India during which he presented a masterclass for the students of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, as well as a recital at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai.

In addition to his engagements as a soloist, Adam is a devoted collaborative pianist, composer, and conductor. Recent collaborative engagements include a tour of his native Hong Kong with British cellist Jamie Walton, and his New York debut alongside the Nigerian-American soprano Francesca Chiejina. Adam has performed as a concerto soloist with the lauded Chineke! Orchestra, and he has worked with eminent conductors such as Jonathon Heyward, David Curtis, and Pete Harrison. In 2019 he founded his own chamber orchestra, The Boyce Camerata, which he has since co-directed with the Moroccan conductor Yassine Taoudi Benchekroun.

Adam is a laureate of both the Stefano Marizza International Piano Competition in Italy, and of the International Piano Competition HRH Princess Lalla Meryem in Morocco, where he additionally received the Special Prize from the Embassy of France in Rabat for his interpretation of French music. Further competition successes include the Irish Heritage Music Award, which he won following a performance at Wigmore Hall in London. He has gratefully received support from The Hattori Foundation, The Tillett Trust, and The Macfarlane Walker Trust.

Adam has received tuition from several prominent pianists including Stephen Hough, Paul Lewis, Anne Queffélec, and John Lill. Generously supported by The Musicians’ Company Young Artists’ Programme and by The Talent Unlimited Foundation , he currently studies with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he holds the prestigious Hargreaves and Ball scholarship.

Alexander Ullman did remarkable things in the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. He heard the score with immense clarity and vision, and brought it to life as if the composer were watching over his shoulder.

Huffington Post, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, June 2014.

Press

'He displayed a delicate touch, technical finesse and graceful phrasing. His affinity for the piece came through in assured, communicative playing from its bright, fleet passages through mysterious, yearning melodies and charming, playful diversions.'

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in Trenton, October 2012

'Played brilliantly by the young British pianist Alexander Ullman... The orchestra, under Musical Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya, caught Ullman's every nuance and change of mood, thus unifying the performance. The famous slow movement…is wonderful in Ullman's hands. His legato touch made you forget that the piano is basically a percussion instrument.'

North West Texas Performing Arts review, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestr, November 2011

'His performance of the Chopin fourth Ballade will live in my mind’s ear for ever: every nuance perfectly judged, poised and placed...His sound is unique.'

Seen and Heard International, Pontino Festival Italy, 2010

Biography

Born in 1991 in London, Alexander Ullman studied at the Purcell School of Music with William Fong, and at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Leon Fleisher, Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Robert McDonald. In 2014 he was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT). This autumn he completes his Masters in performance at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev.

During his studies Alexander has won numerous awards at international competitions including 1st Prize at the International Competition in Memoriam Ferenc Liszt (2011), the Lagny-sur-Marne International Competition (2013), the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition (2012), and 2nd Prize at the Isidor Bajic Memorial International Competition (2014).

Some of the works in his programme are in preparation for his participation in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in June.

He has given concerts throughout Europe, Asia and America, taking him to venues and festivals in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark and India. Recent engagements include a tour of China and recitals at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Archive Nationales (Paris), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Copenhagen), Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante, the Festival Pontino & Teatro Rossini (Italy), La Jolla Arts Festival (California), and concerts in the UK, Spain, Germany and France with the Dover Quartet.

As a soloist Alexander has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Centre, the New Jersey and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Oxford Philomusica, Southbank Sinfonia, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Danubia and Budapest Radio Orchestras. He has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Radio France and MDR Classic.

During the 2014/15 season Alexander returns to China (Gulangyu, Shanghai and Beijing), Italy and the USA to give a series of recitals. He has been invited to take part in the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. In the UK Alexander gives recitals at the Purcell Room and Kettles Yard Cambridge and performs Liszt’s Concerto No.1 with the Cardiff Philharmonic at St. David’s Hall and Mozart with the Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra.

Alexandra Dariescu is fast becoming one of the most recognised pianists of her generation, winning international competitions and performing to sell-out audiences at venues throughout the world.

Royal Northern College of Music.

Press

“It was a pleasure to see and hear this talented and highly enthusiastic pianist, so attractively decked out in her sparkling silver gown, actually looking as if she wanted to be there...Romanian born Dariescu revelled in this wonderful music of might, breadth and resonance with deliciously sparkling playing that had real gravitas. With profound concentration Dariescu’s sensitive playing of the Andante conveyed a satisfying sense that everything was well with the world. Responsive playing from the Liverpool Phil, easily keeping their shape under Wigglesworth, exhibited their splendid glowing tone.”

Michael Cookson, Seen and Heard International April 2013

"Alexandra Dariescu, a princess among pianists, displayed exquisite touches in Mozart's Concerto in D (KV 537), nicknamed the Coronation. The composer wrote it for himself to play; bringing freshness to every bar, the Romanian guest made the solo part sound agreeably off the cuff."

Peter Palmer, This is Nottingham December 2012

"Magnificently projected playing", "enormously impressive", "very promising debut".

BBC Music Magazine September 2012

"Fleet of finger, elegant of phrase and pianistically bright, Dariescu uses rubato freely but intelligently...She brings luminescence and a sense of wistful joy."

Music Web International August 2012

"Alexandra Dariescu was amazing. This vivacious Romanian pianist has already cut her first CD, and possesses a formidable technique; so what better way to show it off than in the Chopin Preludes. She started off dangerously with No 16 marked presto fuoco – and presto fuoco is what she delivered; and there was more of the same in No 21 (molto agitato) and the allegro appassionato of the final prelude. Yet she proved herself capable of far more than mere pianistic pyrotechnics, showing her expressive skills in No 20 in C minor (largo) and the ability to make the piano sing in No 21 in B flat (cantabile). She finished with Bacchanale by one of her compatriots, Constantin Silvestri. Does the name ring a bell? Yes, he was the legendary conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and judging by this piece was no mean composer either. The Bacchanale was jolly, exuberant and wildly virtuosic, and Alexandra’s performance of it should serve as her calling card in the best circles."

Roger Jones, Seen and heard International, 10 July 2012, live broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Biography

Named BBC Music Magazine ‘Rising Star’, Alexandra Dariescu made her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York, where she joined András Schiff during his “Perspectives” residency. Alexandra performs regularly in Great Britain with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Sinfonia ViVA, Northern Sinfonia and collaborates with conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Jiri Belohlavek, Ryan Wigglesworth, Andrew Litton, Andrew Gourley, André de Ridder, Jamie Phillips, Barry Wordsworth among others. She has appeared in venues all around the United Kingdom including the Royal Albert Hall, where she is the first female Romanian pianist to perform, London’s Southbank Centre, Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Brigewater Hall in Manchester, Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

Having directed the EU Chamber Orchestra in Germany as well as Northern Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, Alexandra toured Argentina and the Channel Islands, joined the faculty of the Geneva International Summer Festival and Academy and gave concerts in the Les Nouveaux Interprètes series in Switzerland. She appears with the Mecklenburgische Staatskappelle in Schwerin in Germany and with Durban Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa.

Alexandra released her debut CD on Champs Hill Records in July 2012 to critical acclaim, including a 4 star review in BBC Music Magazine and top 10 best CDs of the year in Manchester Evening News. As a result, Champs Hill Records invited her to record a set of 3 discs with complete preludes starting with Chopin and Dutilleux in 2013. Committed to contemporary music, Alexandra gave the world premiere of Mesmerism, a new piano concerto written for her by British composer Emily Howard. The concerto won the British Composer Award 2012 and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Alexandra also gave the UK premiere of Dinu Lipatti’s Concertino in Classical Style with the Orchestra of St Paul’s at LSO St Luke’s, supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London.

Selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2008, Alexandra was a Laureate at the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland where she won the Verbier CUBS Prize. She went on to win the Guildhall Wigmore Prize and the Romanian Ambassador‘s award for her outstanding contribution to promoting Romania’s image in the UK, as well as the Prix Maurice Ravel in France. Alexandra is the first pianist to be mentored by Imogen Cooper through the Royal Philharmonic Society/YCAT Philip Langridge Mentoring Scheme and she appeared at the Cheltenham Festival in the PLMS Gala, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Born in Romania, Alexandra Dariescu studied in Iasi (Romania), Pocklington School and at the Royal Northern College of Music (UK) where her teachers included Nelson Goerner, Mark Ray, Alexander Melnikov and Dina Parakhina and was supported in full by the Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She graduated in 2008 with distinction and the highest distinction College offers, the Gold Medal. Alexandra graduated with distinction holding a Masters’ of Performance degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London where she studied with Ronan O'Hora. She was awarded the GSMD Piano Fellowship for 2010/2011. Alexandra was also part of András Schiff’s class at the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Switzerland.

Bartholomew Lafollette has recently given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh, Leeds International Concert series, Lichfield and Paxton festivals and appeared as soloist with the City of London Sinfonia. This season he records his debut CD for Sonimage.

Press

'Bartholomew LaFollette was the young soloist in Dvorák's Cello Concerto. The concerto is on the scale of a symphony with a full orchestral exposition before the cello makes its dramatic entrance, and what an entrance. LaFollette played with huge conviction and attack, drawing an enormous range of colours from the many fabulous tunes that characterize this lovely work.'

Newbury Weekly News, November 2007.

'Bartholomew LaFollette was spellbinding in Sibelius' impressive and rarely-heard Malincolia Opus 20 and fully captivating in Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, before Dinicu's hora Staccato ended the evening brilliantly.'

Musical Opinion, Purcell Room, September 2007

'The Haydn cello concerto proved a stunner, not least because it introduced to Dublin an outstanding new talent in cellist Bartholomew LaFollette. He is the first recipient of ICO's Ardan award, as recently introduced patronage by the ICO for outstanding talent.'

Sunday Business Post Agenda, National Concert Hall Dublin with ICO, April 2007

Biography

Born in Philadelphia in 1984, from 1997 Bartholomew LaFollette was a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School. In 2003 he won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he continued his studies with Louise Hopkins, graduating in 2008. He was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2007 and was a Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama until 2011.

During his studies Bartholomew won numerous prizes including the Guilhermina Suggia Gift which led to performances of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme with orchestras throughout Europe and the USA. In 2007 he was the first recipient of the Irish Chamber Orchestra's prestigious Ardán Award which offers a young emerging international soloist a platform.

As a concerto soloist highlights have included Haydn with the Irish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Gabor Takacs, Dvorak with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jugend Sinfonie Orchester des Landes Hessen, Brahms Double with Daniel Stabrawa and the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland, Elgar with Sian Edwards in Helsinki and a performance of the Walton at the Barbican. He has appeared at major venues and festivals throughout the UK including an IMS Prussia Cove Ensemble tour, and concerts at Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, King's Place, St. George's Bristol, the Brighton, Paxton, Sheffield and Ravinia Festivals.

Over the last year Bartholomew has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh, the Leeds International Concert series, Lichfield, Music at Paxton and Northern Chords Festivals and appeared as soloist with the City of London Sinfonia. He also performed solo Bach with the Henri Oguike Dance Company at the ROH Linbury Studio and gave the premiere of George Lloyd's Concerto. Bartholomew regularly collaborates with the Doric String Quartet and in 2011 recorded with them for Chandos. This season he records his debut solo disc for Sonimage.

In 2007 Bartholomew participated in workshops with the Emerson Quartet in New York culminating in a performance of Dvorak'sPiano Quintet in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared in masterclasses at IMS Prussia Cove and with Steven Isserlis, and elsewhere with Mstislav Rostropovich, Alexander Rudin and Natalia Gutman.

He is grateful for support from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and the Hattori Foundation.

"...it’s Goldscheider’s horn, golden and glorious, that properly takes the crown."

BBC Music Magazine / Legacy: A Tribute to Dennis Brain - Three Worlds Records / 2021

Press

“Goldscheider, walking partly in Brain’s footsteps and acquitting himself brilliantly … He makes no attempt to mimic Brain’s playing but in every bar of the programme his debt to and inspiration from his renowned predecessor are manifest. Goldscheider’s intonation and phrasing are impeccable throughout."

Gramophone / July 2021

"...the horn soloist, Benjamin Goldscheider, was superb."

The Times / Halle Orchestra - Sir Mark Elder - Siegfried / 2019

“Ben Goldscheider’s horn-playing alone is a joy, particularly in the theatrical, improvisatory gestures of Quasi Una Cadenza.”

BBC Music Magazine, August 2019

“The audience were treated to a remarkable display of horn pyrotechnics and uncompromising technique.”

Martin Leadbetter, Rotary International

“The Strauss was exquisite…simply beautiful.”

Richard Sisson, Radio 3

“To put it mildly, this is a heck of a debut recital. Young Goldscheider shows off almost everything he can do, and he can do an awful lot.”

Lynn René Bayley, Art Music Lounge USA

“In the hands of 18 year old Ben Goldscheider, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Horn Etude is an exhilarating thrill ride, Goldscheider becoming a musical Bear Grylls, fearlessly leaping through its dangerous terrain. You find yourself with him every step of the way."

James Murphy, Huffington Post, May 2016

Biography

At the age of 18 Ben was a Concerto Finalist in the BBC Young Musician Competition performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.

Highlights since then include his debut at the BBC Proms in 2018, appearances as soloist with the Lucerne Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, English Chamber, City of London Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, the Prague Philharmonia and Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2018 his debut album was released to critical acclaim, and he was selected as a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star and Gramophone Magazine One to Watch. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2019.

A committed chamber musician, Ben has collaborated with Julian Prégardien at Wigmore Hall, Sergei Babayan at the Verbier Festival, Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich at Salzburg Festival (Haus Für Mozart) and in Buenos Aires, Matthias Pintscher at the Pierre Boulez-Saal and with Elena Bashkirova and Karl-Heinz Steffens at the Intonations Festival in Berlin.

Nominated by the Barbican as an ECHO Rising Star, during the 2021/22 season Ben gives recitals at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Elbphilharmonie and Koln Philharmonie, including an especially commissioned new work by Mark Simpson.

This autumn he makes his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo at the Barbican performing Ruth Gipps Concerto and in 2022 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ed Gardner at the Royal Festival Hall performing the Knussen Concerto.

In 2022 he returns to the Pierre Boulez Saal to give a solo recital and to Wigmore Hall with Mahan Esfahani, Nicholas Daniel and Adam Walker.

Highlights over the last year have included the release by Three Worlds Records of Legacy: A Tribute to Dennis Brain, and a solo concerto recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra to be released this autumn. He returned to Wigmore Hall and made his debut at the Aldeburgh Festival.

Ben is a member of the Pierre Boulez Ensemble and principal horn of the West- East Divan Orchestra. Born in London, in 2020 Ben completed his studies with honours at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin with Radek Baborák.

Castalian String Quartet makes the simplest things we hear into the most important things we could ever want to hear.”

Calgary Herald, September 2016

Press

'They seize motives with the core of their sound and press them into a service of thematic contiguity that is enviable, like an orator who knows how to convince with both passion and persuasion.'

Calgary Herald, Banff International Competition, September 2016

'Their level of ensemble inter-connectedness in the Adès and at times in the subsequent movements of Brahms and Schumann was truly remarkable in evincing a physics most rare and special, overlaid with an emotional world of similarly surpassing sublimity. There were times that I simply could not believe my ears.'

Calgary Herald, Banff International Competition, September 2016

Biography

Sini Simonen began to play the violin at the age of 4 and went on to study music in Helsinki, Hannover and Basel with among others Lara Lev and Krysztof Wegrzyn.

She has won top prizes in several major international violin competitions including the Flesch, Lipizer, Cremona and Sibelius violin competitions. She has also won first prizes in the international Brahms and Citta di Pinerolo chamber music competitions.

In addition to the Castalian String quartet, Sini devotes her time to the love of chamber music as a violinist in the renowned Esbjerg Ensemble in Denmark, one of the few professional ensembles earning their year-round living from chamber music. Before moving to Denmark she was a member of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

Sini has played as a soloist with, among others, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She has given acclaimed recitals in many European countries as well as USA, and has toured in Asia in a string quartet with violinist Midori.

Her cd recordings as a soloist include Bach’s double violin concerto with Helsinki Strings (Warner) and Vivaldi’s concerto for 3 violins with Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (tacet).

She plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin from 1760 on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Daniel Llewellyn Roberts (b.1987) studied with Nigel Murray and Jan Repko. He is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, holds Masters degrees from the Royal College of Music, London (as a Yehudi Menuhin Scholar), and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien, Hannover, and has twice been a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

As a soloist, Daniel has appeared in Hong Kong City Hall, the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, the Hindemith Cabinet, Frankfurt, and the Sudler Recital Hall, Yale University. He was the recipient of the 2009 Musicians Benevolent Fund ‘Emily English’ Award for ‘most outstanding violinist’, and the 2010 Philharmonia Orchestra MMSF ‘John E. Mortimer’ prize.

Alongside his role as violinist with the Castalian String Quartet, he performs internationally as a chamber musician and has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Levon Chilingirian and the Primrose Piano Quartet.

Daniel is in demand as both a violin and chamber music teacher, holding positions at Birmingham Conservatoire and St. Paul’s Girls’ School, London, and giving masterclasses at St. Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh, and in various music schools and conservatoires in China.

He is a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and is extremely grateful to them for the loan of a fine violin by Joseph Guarneri filius Andrea of 1705.

Having studied in her native France at the Grenoble Conservatoire and the Schola Cantorum, Paris, Charlotte was awarded a full scholarship to study violin with Professor György Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she obtained a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours and a Master of Arts with Distinction. Whilst at the Royal Academy, Charlotte also studied viola with Matthew Souter.

Aged 16, she won 2nd Prize at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition (Junior Category) and subsequently performed as a soloist in the Maison de Radio France, the Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), the Salle Cortot (Paris), the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris) and the Festival Radio-France in Montpellier. In 2011 she made her recital debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, as part of the Holland Music Session’s ‘New Masters on Tour’ programme.

As a concerto soloist, she has appeared with Orchestre National de Lorraine, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Kazakh State Philharmonic Orchestra, Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Royal Academy String Orchestra and Royal Academy Concert Orchestra, performing works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Schnittke.

Christopher Graves studied the cello with Melissa Phelps at the Royal College of Music, and with Johannes Goritzki at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana. He also studied chamber music with Oliver Wille at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien, Hannover. His other teachers have included Bernard Greenhouse and Kate Beare. He was supported in his studies by scholarships from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund.

Aside from his activities with the Castalian Quartet he has performed as a chamber musician at the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and Kings Place, and played at festivals such as the Kings Place, Heidelberg, and Middelburg festivals. As a soloist he has been heard on BBC Radio 3 playing in the BBC Proms Plus festival with an RCM chamber orchestra, and has given recitals widely in the UK and Europe.

He has played principal cello with orchestras such as Scottish Opera and Sinfonia Cymru, and other orchestras he has worked with include Philharmonia and London Chamber Orchestra.

“With a sparkling and stylistic performance, Charlotte Spruit is convincingly establishing herself as one of the most promising young talents, and deserves her place on stage.”

Het Kersjes Fonds

Press

Biography

Charlotte Spruit is a passionate chamber musician and soloist, and was a winner at the 2023 Young Classical Artists Trust international auditions. 

Further prizes Charlotte has won include the first prize and audience prize and the Genuin Classics prize at the Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Following this success Charlotte will be making a recording with the Genuin Classics label. 

Charlotte plays frequently at chamber music festivals across Europe, including the Chamber Music Connects the World festival at the Kronberg Academy and the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival where she performed with the Doric String Quartet. She has performed chamber works with acclaimed musicians including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, and Christian Tetzlaff. She has also made her debuts at the Concertgebouw in the Netherlands, the Wigmore Hall in London and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. 

Charlotte also enjoys exploring different ways of bringing music to the audience, for example by bringing together different forms of art. She has collaborated with artist Jérémie Queyras, creating performances combining painting and music. Together they won the first prize at the Goodmesh Concours in 2022.

This season highlights for Charlotte include performing at the Rheingold Festival Wageningen, in the AVROTROS Vrijdagconcert in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht and the Bachfest Münster.

As a concerto soloist, Charlotte has played with numerous orchestras, including the Residentie Orkest The Hague, The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pauliner Barockensemble, and Ensemble Esperanza. 

Charlotte studied at the Guildhall School of Music with David Takeno and at the Royal Academy of Music with Ying Xue. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Rachel Podger and Pavlo Beznosiuk.

Charlotte plays an 18th-century anonymous Italian violin, kindly on loan from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.

Christine Zerafa has been described as ‘a natural musician’ by pianist and musicologist Peter Hill and ‘a musician with a warm and very communicative personality’

The Times of Malta

Press

Biography

London-based Maltese pianist Christine Zerafa has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in various venues and festivals in Malta, the United States and across the United Kingdom. She has frequently appeared at major London venues including Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields, and she has performed live on BBC Radio 3. Christine has been recipient of various awards including the Bice Mizzi National Competition, RNCM Clifton Helliwell Prize, the RAM Scott Huxley prize for piano accompaniment, Schumann Lieder accompanist prize, the Eric Brough Prize and the John B McEwen Prize. She is a Park Lane Group Artist and a Tunnell Trust Artist.

Christine gained a Master of Music in solo performance from the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Norma Fisher and Paul Janes, after which she moved on to study with Andrea Lucchesini at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence. Passionate about collaborating with singers and instrumentalists, Christine then read for a Master of Music degree in piano accompaniment, which she recently completed with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music under the tuition of Michael Dussek, Malcolm Martineau and Ian Brown.

Christine is currently reading for a PhD in performance at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is focusing on her role as a collaborative pianist through a series of live performances and recording projects. Christine has been kindly supported by the Malta Arts Scholarship, BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation, Janatha Stubbs Foundation, Silverstone Bursary, Royal Academy of Music and Gilling Family Scholarship.

'He brought narrative sweep and youthful abandon to the piece, along with power, poetry and formidable technique.'

Anthony Tomassini, The New York Times, March 2016

Press

'Daniel Lebhardt Shows Daring Command in a New York Debut
Liszt’s visionary Sonata in B minor is an epic fantasy lasting nearly 30 minutes, shifting from bursts of wildness to passages of profundity. Just playing it commandingly, as Mr. Lebhardt did, is difficult enough. He brought narrative sweep and youthful abandon to the piece, along with power, poetry and formidable technique. '

New York Times, Merkin Concert Hall NY, March 2016

'Pianist Daniel Lebhardt's powerful playing is 'Gift' to full house at Kleinhans Sunday’s “Gift to the Community” recital (sponsored by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society) showcased Daniel Lebhardt, a young pianist with substantial technical chops and an impressive tally of wins in numerous prestigious international competitions. The audience at Kleinhans (a full house) responded to his playing with standing ovations and bounteous applause after every piece played. He began by whipping into gear with a steely fingered approach to the opening Allegro vivace of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 16 in G major (Op. 31, No. 1)....this was a good way to lead into the next work on the program, the premiere of Tonia Ko’s “Games of Belief.” Ko is this season’s Young Concert Artist Composer in Residence, and she wrote this score specifically for Lebhardt. It took into account his prodigious skills and meshed them with her own distinct approach to create an interesting work…. Franz Liszt’s massive and powerful Sonata in B minor was, in many ways, a perfect topper for the concert….It is inarguably a great piece, one that seems tailor-made for Lebhardt and one that he embraced. '

Buffalo News, February 2016

Biography

In 2014, at the age of 22, Daniel Lebhardt won 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artists auditions in Paris and New York. A year later he was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in London and in 2016 won the Most Promising Pianist prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition.

Over the last year Daniel has made his debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Usedome Music Festival in Germany, Palais Lichtenau in Potsdam, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Steirisches Kammermusikfestival. He recorded music by Bartók for Decca and attended IMS Prussia Cove working with Ferenc Rados.

Future engagements include recitals at Wigmore Hall, the Gardner Museum in Boston, Morgan Library in New York, the SJE Oxford International Piano Series and Nottingham International Piano Series. He continues to give recitals throughout the UK, and performs Rachmaninov Concerto No. 2 with the Auburn and Dearborn Symphony Orchestras in Washington and Michigan.

Born in Hungary, Daniel studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with István Gulyás and Gyöngyi Keveházi and, since 2010, at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher Elton, and currently Pascal Nemirovski. He has participated in masterclasses with Alfred Brendel, Leslie Howard, Ferenc Rados, Natalia Trull, Maxim Vengerov and Mikhail Voskresensky.

Concert highlights include recitals at the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and the Béla Bartók Memorial House in Budapest. He has also given recitals in Austria, Japan and the USA. As a chamber musician, Daniel took part in the BBC Proms Composer Portrait of Olga Neuwirth broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in 2012 and has given recitals with clarinettist Mark van der Wiel (principal of Philharmonia Orchestra).

During his studies Daniel has won numerous international awards including 1st Prize at the 2009 Russian Music Competition in California, 2nd Prize at the 2011 Lagny-sur-Marne International Competition in France and 5th Prize at the 2013 China International Piano Competition.

At the YCA Auditions Daniel was also awarded the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and four concert prizes: the Usedom Music Festival Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, the Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series Prize, and the Paramount Theatre Prize.

"Music is my middle name"

davidmusicgordon.com

Press

Biography

David Gordon studied mathematics and logic before embarking on a career as jazz pianist, harpsichordist and composer.

As harpsichordist, he plays with many of the leading baroque orchestras, including appearances at the BBC Proms, the Musikverein in Vienna, and Carnegie Hall, New York. He has also performed with violinists Andrew Manze and Nigel Kennedy, and leads the early music/jazz group Respectable Groove, whose most recent projects, their ground-breaking versions of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and of ‘Bach and the Organist’s Daughter’ have been critically acclaimed both in the jazz and early music press. His solo harpsichord recitals usually include a large element of improvisation, and he has twice appeared as guest artist and director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra at the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway.

As jazz pianist, he tours and records with his own international jazz trio, including festival appearances in the UK and Denmark, on BBC Radio 3 and a debut at London’s King’s Place in December 2011. In addition he regularly collaborates with violinist Christian Garrick and singer Jacqui Dankworth, and with spoken word in the jazz/poetry collective Riprap. He is also joint musical director of, and an explosive pianistic force in, the gypsy tango band Zum, which has toured Croatia, Finland, France, and the United States. In spring 2013, he premiered a specially-commissioned work at London’s Cadogan Hall he wrote for his trio and the London Chamber Orchestra.

As composer, his jazz style interweaves with his knowledge of the baroque and vast understanding of innumerable diverse musical influences, and his works appear on around 20 CDs, with regular commissions to write for various groups, the award-winning community opera Semmerwater, written and premiered in 2009, and winner of an AMI award, being the result of one of these. A firm advocate of the power of improvisation, he believes that improvising – in groups or alone – allows us access to parts of the human spirit other forms of music-making cannot reach.

"BBC Young Musician of the Year Finalist"

2018

Press

Biography

Violinist Elodie Chousmer-Howelles is establishing herself as one of the most versatile young musicians of her generation. She was recently awarded the Len Lickorish Memorial Prize for ‘a string player of promise’ in the string final of the 2021 Royal Overseas League competition. Upcoming concerto performances will see her as soloist with The Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square in Coleridge-Taylor’s violin concerto and The Brentwood Philharmonic Orchestra in Glazunov’s violin concerto. Last year’s calendar included noteworthy performances, leading the Chineke! Quartet for the 2020 Booker Prize ceremony, and collaborations with high profile pop artists, including 2020 Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka, Becky Hill, Kano and Freya Ridings.

A 2018 BBC Young Musician category finalist, the following year saw her make her BBC Radio 3 debut with The BBC Singers, performing an arrangement of 'The Lark Ascending' , for solo violin and mixed choir. Elodie has showcased her talents in a variety of musical settings, including appearing at the opening show of BBC One's 2019 Strictly Come Dancing season. Chamber performances have taken her to The House of Lords, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room. A keen advocate for music education, Elodie is currently an Ambassador for the Benedetti Foundation.

A Calleva Trust Scholar at The Royal Academy of Music, Elodie is currently under the tutelage of Sasha Sitkovetsky and is now in her final year of undergraduate study. She began violin studies with Michael Gurevich and Jan Repko at The Chetham’s School of Music. She later went on to study with Maciej Rakowski and in 2017, was chosen to lead the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. She has received guidance from distinguished artists; Chloë Hanslip and Nicola Benedetti.

Elodie is grateful to have received support from Future Talent, The David Randall Foundation and Awards for Young Musicians.

"The Young Soloist of the Year” International Istanbul Music Festival"

2012

Press

Biography

A graduate of Maestro Pinchas Zukerman’s prestigious violin class, Emre Engin has won a number of awards including the 2012 International Istanbul Music Festival ‘Young Soloist of the Year’, ‘Best Emerging Artist’ by Donizetti Classical Music Awards and 1st prize at the Ilhan Ozsoy Presidential Violin Competition, among others.  

Since completing his bachelor’s degree at the Royal College of Music with the generous support of the Yehudi Menuhin Award Scholarship and his master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship, he recently earned his doctoral degree from the State University of New York, Stony Brook University Music Department. Emre was appointed concertmaster of the New York City based orchestra New Manhattan Sinfonietta by conductor Gurer Aykal in 2018 and has performed solo and chamber performances around the world, including Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.5 “Turkish” with Tekfen Philharmonic at the opening concert of 2020 International Istanbul Music Festival. 

Emre is a fellow tutti member of the 1st violin section at the English National Opera since 2021. 

Winner the piano section of BBC Young Musician of the Year

2008

Press

Biography

British-Turkish pianist Erdem Misirlioglu is in demand as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. He frequently appears in UK venues such as Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Snape Maltings and Wigmore Hall and has had numerous invitations to play across Europe, North and South America and Asia. 

In 2006, Erdem was a prize-winner in the International Rachmaninov Competition for Young Pianists and in 2008 went on to win the piano section of BBC Young Musician of the Year, subsequently performing Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In 2011, Erdem was awarded 1st prize in the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe's intercollegiate piano competition.

A passionate chamber musician, Erdem is also a member of “Trio Isimsiz”, a piano trio formed with friends at GSMD. In 2013, they were selected by Young Classical Artists Trust for representation and in 2015, they won first prize and the audience prize in the Trondheim International Chamber Competition. They have released two CDs, which have gained wide critical acclaim. 

Erdem completed his undergraduate and postgraduate courses in performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with pianists Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora. He was awarded the Lord Mayor’s Prize for the highest scoring final recital. During this time, he also enjoyed lessons with distinguished pianists including Richard Goode, Stephen Kovacevich, Lang Lang, Menahem Pressler and Andras Schiff.

Rarely appearing to take a breath, he swept through all moods with rather hushed aplomb...he seemed utterly at one with his instrument and music.

BBC Young Musician Final / The Times / May 2021

Press

'The outstanding principal oboe part, played by Ewan Millar, danced with exquisite elegance and sombre yearning beneath the rich warmth of the strings and woodwind.'

Oxford Sinfonietta / Oxford University Music Society Journal / November 2019

Biography

Oboist Ewan Millar won the Woodwind Category Final of the BBC Young Musician competition 2020 at the age of eighteen. He performed ‘Legacy’ by Óscar Navarro with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth at Bridgewater Hall in the Finals, broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and 4. 

In 2022 he appears as soloist with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra having won their 2020 Senior Concerto competition. Previous highlights include performances at Windsor Festival and at The Royal Albert Hall in ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ with Berkshire Youth Symphony Orchestra, in addition to concerto performances with Reading Symphony Orchestra and Windsor & Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra.

Ewan is currently reading Music at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and performs regularly with numerous ensembles including Oxford University Orchestra, Oxford Sinfonietta, the Holywell Wind Trio, the Oxford Baroque Players, and contemporary music group ‘Ensemble ISIS’. 

Originally from Reading, Ewan has been playing the oboe since he was eight, firstly with Nicky Fairbairn and now with Melanie Ragge at Royal Academy of Music. He has participated in masterclasses with Gilles Silvestrini, Celia Craig and Jonathan Small in addition to one-off private lessons with Nicholas Daniel and Gordon Hunt. 

Ewan is grateful to the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) for their generous support in their aftercare scheme for BBC Young Musician Finalists.

“This piece is linked to all the emotions Beethoven was feeling when he found out that Napoleon Bonaparte coronated himself the emperor of the French Empire. Beethoven had dedicated his Eroica Symphony to Napoleon at first, and the story tells that he was so angry at the fact that he crossed the dedicatory so violently that he broke his pencil. From this point I put myself in Beethoven’s mind and tried to imagine all the thought process he had gone through after the news: rage, confussion… and this is what made the structure of the piece. I also added motifs from the symphonic masterpiece, in its original form as well as inverted with negative harmony, giving it a direct link to what it was going to be the Bonaparte Symphony.”

Gorka Plada-Giron about his piano piece “Lettres à Napeoléon”

Press

Biography

Born in 2002 in El Puerto de Santa Maria (Spain), Gorka showed his interest in music at a very early age. He began teaching himself the piano from the age of five, before joining the local music school three years later where he received piano tuition from Maria Jesus Duran. In 2016, Gorka joined the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studies piano with Marcel Baudet and was awarded a scholarship by the UK’s Music and Dance Scheme.

Gorka has performed throughout Spain, UK, Germany and Holland participating in festivals including the Wimbledon Festival, Segovia Music Festival and Maryat Players Festival. He has had considerable success in numerous competitions, concerts and festivals as both soloist and chamber musician. He was awarded 1st prize and Chopin prize in the Julio Casas International Piano Competition, 2nd prize in Enschede Piano Competition 1st prize and audience prize in Lorenzo Palomo chamber music competition, 3rd prize in the Intercollegiate Beethoven competition and 1st prize in Santa Cecilia Piano Competition. Gorka has received masterclasses from Robert Levin, Cordelia Hoffer, Paul Roberts, Claudio Martinez Menher and Angel Sanzo, among many others.

"Great debut at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Schwelm.
Giuseppe Guarrera is …..an extraordinary young talent... A breathtakingly differentiated technique and a great ability to own artistic design dominated the pianist's playing."

Westfalen Post / Klavier Ruhr Festival / July 2019

Press

"While the audience at Bourgie Hall was going wild after Guarrera’s performance of Liszt’s Rhapsonie espagnole, which concluded his semifinal recital, we were still trying to recover from the beauty of Beethoven’s Op. 10, No. 3, which opened it . Guarrera resisted the temptation to “place his own stamp” on the work, instead using a crisp touch and careful attention to detail to simply reveal the beauty in Beethoven’s score. The slow movement was especially powerful."

Robert Rowat - Producer at CBC/Radio-Canada / Montreal Competition / May 2017

"As soon as he started playing, I was conquered… the Italian Giuseppe Guarrera was in my favorites from the beginning."

Caroline Rodgers - Ludwig-van.com / Montreal Competition / May 2017

"With Guarrera, the dialogue with the orchestra led to a wealth of expressive nuances and moods. Energy, melancholy, delicacy, objectivity and humour were all heard in an animated conversation. There was virtuosity in the cadenzas, and an encore of Scarlatti. I listened entranced."

Lausitzer Rundschau / Cottbuser Orchesterklang / Beethoven 3 / April 2019

Biography

In 2017 Giuseppe won 2nd Prize at the Montréal International Competition along with five other awards including the People’s Choice.

Over the last year Giuseppe has won a prestigious Klavier Ruhr Festival scholarship and the Tabor Foundation Award at the Verbier Festival Academy. He completed his studies at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin with Nelson Goerner and has now joined the Faculty.

This season Giuseppe makes his debut with the McGill Chamber Orchestra at the Salle Bourgie in Montréal, the New Generation Orchestra in Florence, the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Cremona and at the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon. He gives recitals at Wigmore Hall, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Scherzo series in Madrid, Societa dei Concerti in Milan, Festival Armonie in Valcerrina and Lingotto Giovani in Turin, among many others. Giuseppe has performed widely in Europe, recent highlights including concerts at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Klavier-Ruhr Festival, the Luis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Estivales de Musique en Médoc, the Bologna and Lerici Festivals. In 2017 he premiered a concerto by Benjamin Attahir with the Pierre Boulez Ensemble conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Solo appearances include the Philharmonische Orchester des Staatstheaters Cottbus, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (with Vasily Petrenko), the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (with Claus Peter Flor) and the Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice.

As a chamber musician Giuseppe has collaborated with Ramon Ortega Quero, Pascal Moragues, Benjamin Goldscheider and Elena Bashkirova at festivals in Jerusalem, Alderney and Berlin. He frequently works with violinist Mayumi Kanagawa and in 2018 recorded with cellist Alexander Warenberg.

Born in Sicily, Giuseppe studied with Siavush Gadjiev and Giuseppe Cultrera in Italy, the Hochschule für Musik Hans Eisler with Eldar Neblosin, and the Barenboim-Said Academy with Nelson Goerner in Berlin. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust in 2018.

Awards include 2nd Prize at the 2015 James Mottram Competition in Manchester and 1st Prize at the 2010 Concorso Nazionale Premio Venezia. He has taken part in masterclasses with Daniel Barenboim, Ferenc Rados, Mikail Voskresensky, Sergei Babyan, Richard Goode and Michel Beroff.

"vibrantly intense yet hypnotic playing"

Edward Bhesania, The Strad

Press

“violinist Harriet Mackenzie lived up to expectations and more with her sturdy vibrant tone and gift for communicating the most diverse of pieces..searing intensity...a performance full of panache...captivating”

Catherine Nelson, The Strad

"violinist Harriet Mackenzie is formidable"

Simon Broughton, Songlines

"A knock-out from start to finish"

The Guardian

"......violinist Harriet Mackenzie is onstage throughout like the spectre at the feast, her playing by turns tender, plaintive, mocking or jarring, signalling the mood, the atmosphere by the lake, the characters. This bold and experimental touch adds to the manic energy of the production. "

Jersey Evening Post Jaqueline Mezec, November 2006

Biography

Harriet has toured Europe, America, China, South America, South Africa and Japan as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Harriet made her highly acclaimed Purcell room debut as part of the Park Lane Young Artists Series. Since then she has given recitals worldwide in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw and the Expo Dome in Japan, NCPA and Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre in China. She premiered Robert Fokkens violin concerto, written and dedicated to her, at the South Bank Centre, London and in 2012 gave the premiere of Graham Coatman’s violin concerto at the Swaledale Festival, which was also written and dedicated to her. She has broadcast recitals 'live' for BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Hungarian National Radio. She frequently performs concertos both in the UK and abroad.

Harriet graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where she was supported by numerous awards: the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, Tillett Trust, Hattori Foundation and the Manoug Parikian Award. Harriet is passionate about contemporary music and has collaborated with composers such as Anthony Payne, Mauricio Kagel, Paul Patterson, Marc Yeats and Gyorgy Kurtag. Harriet collaborated with number of musicians; the Carducci Quartet, guitarist Morgan Szymanski and with pianists Anna Tilbrook, Christopher Glynn and in the 'Sutherland Duo' with Christina Lawrie (winners of the Enterprise Music Scotland Award 2012). She is a founder member of the innovative, unique string trio Kosmos and Retorica Duo.

2012 saw Harriet releasing three CDs - her debut CD with Retorica - an all English album released on the NMC label with the premiere recordings of pieces written for the duo by David Matthews, John McCabe and Jim Aitchison, as well as works by Rawsthorne and the debut recording of the Sonata for two violins by the esteemed composer Moeran; the second CD of Kosmos - 'Pomegranate'; and the debut recording of John McCabe's double violin concerto to be released on the Dutton label with conductor George Vass and Orchestra Nova.

Recent performing highlights include Retorica being Artists in Residence at the Prestiegne Festival performing Paul Patterson Double concerto and recitals and a new commission by Cecilia MacDowall; a new piece for the Sutherland Duo written by Gareth Williams; concerto performances in China and South Africa. Harriet is also the artistic director of the Jersey Liberation Music Festival.

The Heath Quartet is rapidly emerging as an exciting and original voice on the international chamber music scene. In 2011 they were awarded a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship.

Press

The delicate perfection of the sound was a marvel, and in leader Oliver Heath’s hands the recurring dropping figure had an exquisite tenderness [Schumann Quartet No.3].

Daily Telegraph Wigmore Hall March 2012

Brahms scales new heightsI never know whether to be cross or thrilled when I’m blown away by music that I know I don’t like. It happened at the Wigmore Hall on Thursday. Stephen Hough, masterly pianist (and Telegraph blogger), was paired with the youthful Heath Quartet to play the Brahms Piano Quintet. Normally this composer’s dark brown chamber music bores me senseless, but the Heath played with a demonic energy that sent Hough into a frenzy of his own. As the two of them charged at each other, the Italian lady next to me clutched my arm. And when the piece finished, she clapped like a nervous tourist applauding the pilot at the end of a turbulent flight. Honestly, I never knew Brahms had it in him.

Damian Thompson/Daily Telegraph Wigmore Hall March 2012

Quintessential chamber music returned to the hall soon after Christmas in the form of the excellent young Heath Quartet’s concert of string quartets by Beethoven and Schubert, with, in between, the premiere of a work commissioned by the hall from its composer in residence, Luke Bedford (b1978). Their account of Beethoven’s Quartet in E flat, Op 74 (Harp) was suavity itself, and they found the true note of hushed ominousness for Schubert’s haunted A minor “Rosamunde” Quartet (D804).

The Sunday Times Wigmore Hall (30 Dec) January 2012

Biography

The Heath Quartet is rapidly emerging as an exciting and original voice on the international chamber music scene. Selected for representation by YCAT in 2008 they immediately went on to win 1st Prize at the Tromp International Competition in Eindhoven and 2nd Prize at the Haydn International Competition in Vienna. In 2011 they were awarded a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship and in the same year undertook two complete Beethoven Quartet cycles at the Fàcyl Festival in Salamanca Spain and at Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh. The Quartet were presented with a Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Award after unanimous praise from The Herald’s music critics in Edinburgh.

Engagements this season include recitals at Wigmore Hall as part of the Emerging Talent scheme (supported by the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust), including the premiere of a new work by Luke Bedford and collaborations with Stephen Hough and Ian Bostridge. They make their debut at the Kissingen Winterzauber Festival in Germany, the deSingel Arts Centre in Antwerp as part of a Britten Day, return to the Netherlands and Banff, tour throughout Argentina and record their second CD of quartets by Janacek and Schulhoff. Future plans include a complete Tippett cycle at Wigmore Hall.

Over the last two years the Quartet has given recitals at major festivals and venues throughout Europe including Barbican, Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead, Perth and Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, Musikverein, Konzerthaus and Esterhazy Palace (Vienna), Vara Konserthus (Sweden), the Schwetzinger and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festivals and BBC Radio 3 broadcasts from Birmingham Town Hall and Bath Festival. They have returned to Italy and the Netherlands (where they collaborated with the Tokyo Quartet and Colin Currie), were resident at the Brighton Dome and studied with Andras Schiff and Erich Hobart at IMS Prussia Cove. In 2010 they recorded their first CD at the Muziekcentrum Frits Philips and undertook a two week residency at The Banff Centre in Canada. Further afield they have given concerts in Shanghai.

The Heath Quartet was formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the guidance of the late Dr. Christopher Rowland and Alasdair Tait, with whom they continued their studies at the Reina Sofia in Madrid. During their studies at the RNCM the Quartet won all the major ensemble prizes and were Leverhulme Junior Fellows between 2008-10. Other teachers have included Gabor Takacs-Nagy and members of the Alban Berg, Smetana, Endellion, Lindsay and La Salle Quartets. The Quartet are currently Senior Chamber Music Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, supported by the Fidelio Trust.

The Quartet has enjoyed working with several leading composers including Louis Andriessen, Sofia Gubaidulina, Anthony Gilbert and Hans Abrahamsen, the latter in a Radio 3 broadcast from the Proms. They took part in the European premiere of Steve Mackey’s ‘Gaggle and Flock’ for string octet, and received unanimous critical acclaim for their performance of Ligeti’s Quartet No.2 and Thomas Ades’ Arcadiana for The Park Lane Group at the Purcell Room.

Oliver Heath studied at the RNCM with Yossi Zivoni and Cerys Jones studied at the Juilliard School and RCM with Nicholas Kaplan and Gordan Nicolich. South African Gary Pomeroy studied with Mark Knight at the RNCM and Christopher Murray studied at the RNCM with Hannah Roberts and Gregor Horsch.

Teenage pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason hailed by Elton John

bbc.co.uk 2014

Biography

Isata Kanneh-Mason is twenty-one years old and is an undergraduate at The Royal Academy of Music, studying piano with Carole Presland, having been awarded the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship. She performed with Elton John in Los Angeles in 2013.

Isata was in the Piano Category Final of The BBC Young Musician 2014, winning The Walter Todds Bursary for the most promising musician before the Grand Final. She has won The Royal Academy Iris Dyer Piano Prize four times and won the Mrs Claude Beddington Prize for outstanding recital results in her second year as an undergraduate at The Royal Academy.

Isata held the Elsa and Leonard Cross Scholarship at The Royal Academy of Music, Junior Department, studying piano with Patsy Toh. She won two ABRSM Gold Awards at age 10 and 11 for the highest marks in the UK for grades 7 and 8 Piano.

She has performed around the UK and abroad, with concerto appearances, in chamber ensembles and in solo recitals, including at the Wigmore Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, St Martin-in-the -Fields, The Duke’s Hall (Royal Academy), The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, Kings Place, London. She has performed several concerti, including Mozart K466, Haydn Hob XVIII, Grieg Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2 and Schumann Concerto. In 2014, Isata performed Mozart’s Triple Concerto with two of her sisters. She has given solo recitals at The Hebden Bridge Music Festival, Belper Music Festival, Lincoln Music Festival, Grantham and Newark Music Club Recital Series. She performed in the Piano Series at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall, The Colour of Music Festival in Charleston, USA, Yellow Lounge, Amsterdam, in The Barbican Sound Unbound Festival, The Elgar Room at The Royal Albert Hall, Cheltenham Music Festival, Leicester International Chamber Music Festival, the Caribbean, The Cayman Islands and Canada. She plays Errolyn Wallen’s Concerto Grosso with Chineke! Orchestra in Autumn 2017, at Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, and St George’s, Bristol. Isata will play a piano recital for the Rising Star series in Portland, Oregon, USA, in January 2018.

Isata has performed several times on BBC television and radio, including Radio 3 In Tune, The Proms Extra, Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Al Jazeera TV, BBC World Service, Channel 4, The One Show, the BBC4 documentary: Young, Gifted and Classical, ITV Born To Shine, BBC2 Classroom Heroes, and BBC Young Musician.

Isata is very grateful to the Nottingham Soroptimist Trust, the Nottingham Education Trust, to Mr and Mrs John Brydon, to Frank White of Ladystone Violins and to Elton John.

Exhilarating and delivered with perfect clarity

Gramophone 2020

Press

'He captures the music’s essence with such a close sense of recreative identity that it feels on occasion as though he could be composing it as he goes along. An outstanding debut.'

BBC Music Magazine / Khachaturian: Piano Works CD (BIS Records) / March 2020

'Exhilarating and delivered with perfect clarity ... It’s a release that leaves one eager to hear Sughayer in other repertory while eloquently arguing that Khachaturian’s piano music deserves re-evaluation as something more than teaching pieces.'

Gramophone / Khachaturian: Piano Works CD (BIS Records) / February 2020

'…this Jordanian-Palestinian player shines.'

International Piano Magazine / Khachaturian: Piano Works CD (BIS Records) / February 2020

'…his wonderfully confident pianism unfolds with a sense of ease.'

Piano Journal / Khachaturian: Piano Works CD (BIS Records) / December 2019

Biography

In 2021 Iyad was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions. This autumn he recorded his second CD for BIS with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Andrew Litton including Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto and Masquerade.

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.

He has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall & Stoller Hall in Manchester (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Leeds Town Hall, the Laeiszhalle (Hamburg), Festival Musique D’Abord (France), Steinway Hall (New York), Castleton Festival (Virginia) and Kings Place in London, among many others.

Recent highlights include an invitation to contribute to the BBC Arabic documentary ‘London Lockdown’, in which he took part as a character and recorded the soundtrack for the music.

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 with Murray McLachlan, Martino Tirimo and Graham Scott and in the same year became a City Music Foundation Artist.

Iyad Sughayer is an inaugural YCAT Concordia Artist.

There’s a heartfelt quality to Jamal Aliyev’s playing (BBC Music Magazine)

Press

'The tender cello solo ... is in my ear still.'

Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph / BBC Proms / July 2017

'Thoughtful, expansive readings of the two great Soviet cello sonatas from a young artist possessed of enviable technique and a rich broad palette.'

Classical Music Magazine, April 2017

'… countless little touches of imaginative colour… whirling and shimmering… Thought-provoking.'

Gramophone, April 2017

Biography

In 2017 Jamal Aliyev made his solo debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC Concert Orchestra, won the Arts Club – Sir Karl Jenkins Music Award and was selected for representation by YCAT UK. His debut CD with pianist Anna Fedorova; “Russian Masters” was released by Champs Hill records to critical acclaim.

Jâms is... gifted with the ability of precise decision-making with sounds, who caught the right signal and momentum ... (Breinton.com)

Biography

From Anglesey, North Wales, Jâms Coleman is a pianist who enjoys a rich and varied musical life performing as a soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist. He finds it inspiring and fascinating to collaborate with different musicians and values the rewards of this process.

Chamber-music engagements include performances in the UK and across Europe with instrumentalists Luke Hsu, Clio Gould, Maggie Faultless, Timothy Ridout, Laura van der Heijden, Jamal Aliyev, Joy Lisney, Marcin Zdunik and Peter Moore. He has performed live on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service, BBC 2’s Proms Extra, BBC Radio Cymru and S4C.

As a vocal accompanist, he enjoys collaborating with many singers and his engagements include recitals with Ailish Tynan, James Gilchrist, Sir John Tomlinson, Robert Murray, Nicholas Mulroy, Robert Murray, Andrew Kennedy, Nicholas Mogg and Katie Stevenson at festivals such as the Leeds and Oxford Lieder Festivals. Recent highlights include performing the three Schubert song cycles at the Two Moors Festival and performing at Wigmore Hall in a showcase for Samling Arts alongside Nicky Spence, James Newby, Elin Pritchard, Olivia Warburton and Christopher Glynn.

Jâms enjoys performing solo recitals and as a concerto soloist. He has performed repertoire including Beethoven’s Third, Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos and concertos by Chopin, Brahms and Mozart.  

Jâms read Music at Girton College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. In 2016 he completed a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music where he then stayed on as a Fellow. He also has experience of working as a Musical Director and repetiteur and in 2014 he conducted fifteen performances of Tchaikofsky’s Eugene Onegin across Wales. In 2018 he was the Artistic Director of a concert series based in St Clement Danes Church in Central London which featured twenty-four lunchtime concerts and five evening concerts.

Jâms is an Oxford Lieder Young Artist, a Live Music Now Artist, a Park Lane Group Artist, a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Samling Artist. He is grateful for the support of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, the Elizabeth Evans Trust, the John Fussell Award, the Arts Council of Wales and is grateful to the English-Speaking Union for providing funding to attend IMS Prussia Cove.

James Baillieu is described by The Daily Telegraph as 'in a class of his own... a remarkable pianist'.

Press

'... he was upstaged by his prodigiously gifted pianist. James Baillieu is surely the leader of the new generation of accompanists and will no doubt occupy the elite position currently held by such as Graham Johnson, Julius Drake, Malcolm Martineau and Roger Vignoles.'

Classical Source Wigmore Hall April 2011

'James Baillieu is in a class of his own, he is in the Gerald Moore/Graham Johnson bracket, a remarkable pianist.'

The Daily Telegraph Wigmore Hall International Song Competition September 2009

'The Pianist's Prize was awarded to that magician of the keyboard James Baillieu.'

Musical Pointers Wigmore Hall International Song Competition September 2009

'Expertly accompanied by James Baillieu.'

The Daily Telegraph Wigmore Hall Allan Clayton January 2009

Biography

Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘in a class of his own’ James Baillieu has been the prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition (in both 2009 & 2011), Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber Competitions. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 won a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award.

Over the last year James has recorded for BBC Radio 3 with the Elias Quartet, Allan Clayton and Ben Johnson. He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield, collaborating with singers Jared Holt, Gerard Collett, Sir Thomas Allen, Mark Padmore, Pumeza Matshikiza, Katherine Broderick, Marcus Farnsworth, Martene Grimson, Jacques Imbrailo, Sarah-Jane Brandon and Kishani Jayasinghe. Festivals and venues have included Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, National Concert Hall Dublin, Festpillene i Bergen, the City of London, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Aix-en-Provence, Derry and Norfolk & Norwich Festivals.

During 2011 James gave several performances of Brahms’s Piano Quintet with the Heath Quartet including Spitalfields and Music in Paxton Festivals, and attended the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove working with Gerhard Schulz. Engagements this season include a concert with Annette Dasch at the Berlin Konzerthaus; recitals at Wigmore Hall including Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Ben Johnson broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and collaborations with flautist Adam Walker, cellist Timothy Lowe, mezzos Kathryn Rudge and Helen Sherman; and solo recitals in the Nottingham International and Leeds International Series. In 2012 James records with Adam Walker for Sonimage.

An experienced coach, James works regularly at the George Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy (working with Mirella Freni and Leo Nucci), is a repertory professor for the Encuentro de musica y Academia de Santander in Spain, and a music coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He is an alumnus of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, a scholar for the Samling Foundation (working with Sir Thomas Allen and Yvonne Kenny) and has participated in the European Liedforum in Berlin.

Born in South Africa, James graduated from the University of Cape Town with distinction in 2004. He went on to win a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with Michael Dussek, Malcolm Martineau and Kathryn Stott. In 2007 he graduated with a Dip.RAM and received the Christian Carpenter Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements. He was appointed a Hodgson Junior Fellow during the 2007/08 season and in 2011 was appointed a Professor of Piano Accompaniment.

In 2004 James participated in the International Russian Music Piano Competition in California at which, as a laureate, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Vienna International Pianists Academy, where he won the prestigious Rosario Marciano Prize.

During his studies James won numerous prizes and awards including the Royal Over-Seas League Competition Prize. He has taken part in masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, Thomas Quasthoff, Kiri Te Kanawa, Philip Langridge, Jan Philip Schulze, Sherrill Milnes, Richard Stokes, Helmut Deutsch, Pavel Vernikov, Rudolf Jansen and Maxim Vengerov.

In 2022 Jaren Ziegler won the BBC Young Musician 2022 String Final becoming the first violist in the competition's history to do so.

BBC Young Musician 2022

Press

Biography

In 2022 Jaren Ziegler won the BBC Young Musician 2022 String Final becoming the first violist in the competition’s history to do so. In the Grand Final, he performed William Walton’s Viola Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

Jaren was the youngest semi-finalist in the 2021 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition.  Jaren has also been awarded 1st prize in the Junior Academy Viola Prize, Bromsgrove Young Musicians’ Platform and the North London Music Festival String Recital.

In 2021 he joined and toured with the renowned international string ensemble  LGT Young Soloists and has recorded with them at Abbey Road Studios. He will be performing with them in Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok later this year. He has also performed as a soloist at the Royal Festival Hall and as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Jaren has won numerous awards with Parkview Chamber as well as performing at St John’s Smith Square with his UCS trio.

Jaren began playing the viola at age 6 and joined the Primary and then Junior Royal Academy of Music, studying as a scholarship holder with Jacky Woods. He has participated in masterclasses with Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Maxim Rysanov, Timothy Ridout, Thomas Selditz, Jonathan Barritt, Martin Outram and Juan Miguel Hernandez. He has also taken further studies with Matthew Jones, Professor of Viola at Guildhall School.

Jaren is grateful to the Young Classical Artists Trust for their generous support in their aftercare scheme for BBC Young Musician finalists.

Jaren plays a Stefano Scarampella viola, kindly loaned to him by the Beare’s International Violin Society.

'Jess gave a great show with her hot licks, lustrous tone and winning passion.'

BBC Young Musician 2016

Press

'A true inspiration, she frankly rocks.'

Huffington Post Entertainment, May 2016

'Her stage presence is charismatic, infectiously extrovert, and highly expressive as is her sound which ranged from vibrantly coloured and imaginative to haunting and delicate.'

Bachtrack, May 2016

'The exceptionally gifted young saxophonist, Jess Gillam, swung and troubadoured this smiling and catchy miniature for all it’s worth. She really should take it into the recording studio. Gillam is a lively player and physically in constant motion onstage following the momentum and swing of the orchestra even when her saxophone is silent. Her quiet playing is remarkably controlled and damask-smooth. I hope that the concert world will not lose her to the jazz world which lays competing claim to her talents and gifts (lots of clips on YouTube). She won me over with a work I love last year when she played the Glazunov Saxophone Concerto in Worthing. Let’s hear more from her please – how about Nyman’s Where the Bee Dances and the Maurice Johnstone Ballade?'

Seen and Heard International, October 2015

Jess featured as a “Rising Star” in BBC Music Magazine, September 2016

Jess on cover of Music Teacher Magazine, August 2016

Biography

18 year old saxophonist Jess Gillam from Ulverston, Cumbria, began playing saxophone 11 years ago, aged 7.

Jess made history as the first ever saxophonist to win the Woodwind Final of BBC Young Musician of the Year and after competing in the Semi Final, she reached the Grand Final where she performed a concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Barbican to critical acclaim.

Jess was also recently awarded Musician of the Year at the Cumbria Culture Awards presented by Melvyn Bragg. She has a busy performance schedule and has made a guest appearance with Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and has performed as a concerto soloist with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra (in the same series as Nicola Benedetti, Emma Johnson and Julian Bliss). Upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Southbank Sinfonia and the Northern Chamber Orchestra.

Recently, Jess was the youngest of 2,600 delegates to perform at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg. She performed a recital consisting entirely of world premieres by some of the world’s leading saxophonists: Barbara Thompson, John Harle and Rob Buckland as well as one of her own compositions.

This year, Jess is proud to be the Young Ambassador for the Ulverston International Music Festival.

Jess was accepted into the Junior Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music Scholarship in 2011 and has since won awards for demonstrating outstanding talent. She studies saxophone at JRNCM with Ruth Bourn and with Rob Buckland and gained an ABRSM Diploma aged 15. She will continue her studies full time in September at the RNCM with the ABRSM Scholarship.

Awards for Young Musicians have helped Jess greatly with her musical development and Jess has performed in concerts for AYM in venues from the Charterhouse London to Jon O’Groats. Jess was awarded a special award from AYM as the most promising young musician in the North West.

As well as having a passion for performance, Jess also has an interest in promoting live music and she has been running an annual concert series in her hometown of Ulverston for the past five years, bringing international names such as Courtney Pine, Snake Davis, Tommy Smith and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet. Aged 13, Jess became the youngest ever endorsee for Yanagisawa Saxophones, one of the finest saxophone manufacturers in the world. She is also a Vandoren UK Artist.

Ji Liu studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia with Dmitri Bashkirov and the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton.

Press

'Here is a young pianist with a rare sense of inborn musicality. The London-based, Shanghai-born Ji Liu has a technique to match any virtuoso, however, it is his sensitive and unpretentious musicality that shines forth in this well-recorded debut album. How rare it is to hear a pianist satisfied with presenting the music as written and not forcing any personal idiosyncrasies on the performance… … Yes, there are too many pianists around these days, but way too few of them are anything like Ji Liu.'

Pianist Magazine, Editor’s CHOICE 5 stars Classic FM Debut CFMD33, May 2014

'…there was much to impress in Ji Liu’s fearless glissandos and a saturnine lyricism that attracted supernatural suggestion…. Ji Liu remained as cool as a cucumber as his fingers played with fire….this was a fine performance of a masterpiece and established Ji Liu as one to watch.'

www.classicalsource.com / Queen Elizabeth Hall / Liszt’s Totentanz / January 2014

'It was fitting that the concert series went out on a high with a recital by pianist Ji Liu. With a mixed programme of well-known piano standards and a few lesser known works he demonstrated skills beyond his 22 years... he performed with extraordinary concentration and understanding.'

This is South Wales, Gower Festival, July 2013

'Ji Liu, had his audience experiencing a whole range of emotions... The Beethoven ‘Moonlight’, Chopin Nocturnes and the Prokofiev Sonata No.7 were all despatched with consummate control.'

thelatest.co.uk, Brighton Festival, May 2013

'In Rhapsody in Blue….pianist Liu Ji finds comedy and tenderness.'

Gramphone, Royal Academy of Music RAM042, September 2012

Biography

In 2014 Ji’s debut CD Piano Reflections was released by Classic FM and immediately went on to become No.1 in the classical charts.

Born in 1990, Ji Liu studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2005 and 2006 he took part in the Verbier Festival & Academy where he received the Tabor Piano Award and CUBS Prize from the UBS Bank. He went on to study with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton where he completed his Masters on piano and composition. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013. Engagements during the 2014/15 season include his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and appearances as soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko at the Royal Albert Hall, and in China. He gives a series of performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Wigmore Hall, the Bristol Proms and at the Holywell Room in Oxford, and takes part in the Nottingham International Piano Series. Earlier this year Ji performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No.2 at the Barbican and Liszt’s Totentanz at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and gave recitals at The Sage Gateshead, the Newbury Spring, Lichfield, Dart and Beaumaris Festivals.

From a young age Ji has appeared as soloist at major venues and festivals internationally including Royal Festival Hall, Concertgebouw, Auditorium du Louvre, Salle Cortot, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, 92nd Street Y (New York), Rachmaninoff Hall (Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow), Salle Garnier Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Hong Kong Town Hall, the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre and Stavanger Chamber Music Festival. He has performed JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Gstaad Festival and the complete piano music of Isang Yung at the Tongyeong Music Festival in South Korea.

A hugely creative artist, Ji has worked on cross arts collaborations, particularly with visual art, including film and sand animation. Over the next few years he will be exploring the complete Schubert Sonatas and working on a multi-media approach to Schubert’s unfinished works.

As a concerto soloist Ji’s performances have included the Ravel Concertos with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and the French Republic Guard Orchestra (Canada), Rachmaninov’s Concerto No.2 with the Academy Concert Orchestra conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, Mozart’s Concerto K.488 with the London String Ensemble and Beethoven Concertos with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. In 2010 he recorded Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for the Royal Academy of Music’s own label and won 1st Prize in the Sheepdrove Competition in association with Newbury Spring Festival.

During his studies Ji won numerous prizes and awards including 1st Prize in the Brant Competition in Birmingham, the Audience Prize of the Friends of the RAM Wigmore Hall award, the Martin Musical Trust, Yamaha Music Foundation and the Hattori Foundation’s Debut Prize. Further afield Ji won 1st Prize in the 2003 Pinault Competition in New York, 1st Prize in the Ludmila Knezkova-Hussey Competition in Canada and 2nd Prize in the 2004 Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Bucharest.

Ji has received invaluable guidance from Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Boris Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Imogen Cooper, Barry Douglas, Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Setephen Hough, Zoltán Kocsis, Fou Ts’ong, Lilya Zilberstein, Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Yuri Bashmet and Salvatore Accardo.

"This was a magnificent performance that showed for me ... the colours, the innovation, the melody, the passion, the persecution — they were all there and more.”

Simon Broughton, Music and Vision Magazine (18th Feb 2013)

Press

"Young string quartet gives outstanding performance in the St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Music Competition"

www.makingmusic.org.uk 28 March 2013

"The finale was Janácek’s String Quartet No 2, Intimate Letters, played by the all female Jubilee Quartet – Janácek would probably have enjoyed that. This was the ‘Passion’ part of the programme and the girls brought out all the drama – the pleading violins, answered by a cold sul ponticello viola phrase, complete with a turned up nose from Stephanie Edmundson, and a look of steely indifference, from Lauren Steel on the cello. This was a magnificent performance that showed for me what a uniquely brilliant composer Janácek was — the colours, the innovation, the melody, the passion, the persecution — they were all there and more"

Music and Vision Magazine 18th Feb 2013

Biography

First prize winners of the ‘Val Tidone International Chamber Music Competition’ and recipients of the Tillett Trust ‘Young Artists’ Platform’ and the Philharmonia Orchestra MMSF ‘Charles Henderson Ensemble Award’, the Jubilee Quartet was formed in 2006 at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where they currently hold a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship. During this time, they were given instruction under professors such as Thomas Brandis, Garfield Jackson, Martin Outram, and Jon Thorne, and have received masterclasses from the Skampa and Chilingirian Quartets, Pierre Colombet, Miguel da Silva, Hatto Beyerle, and Sylvia Rosenberg.

The quartet have performed extensively in the UK and their continental tours have included a performance in the presence of former Czech president Vaclav Havel. They also enjoy a variety of outreach work as part of the ‘Live Music Now!’ scheme.

In May 2012 the quartet performed Chausson’s ‘Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet’ with Jack Liebeck and Katya Apekisheva at the Purcell Room, and last summer participated in the Lake District Summer Music and St Magnus Festivals.

In November 2012 the quartet were finalists in the ‘Joseph Joachim International Chamber Music Competition’, Weimar. Recent engagements include concerts around the UK and Italy, including a Purcell Room recital in May 2013 and in September the quartet will attend the ‘Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition’, having been preselected.

The quartet currently play on fine instruments kindly on loan from the Royal Academy of Music for the duration of their fellowship.

"The instrumentalists exuded energy, excitement, colour and virtuosic flair in their playing"

Bachtrack

Press

"Gussaroff played brilliantly, with lots of attention to detail"

Bachtrack

Biography

The Kammerphilharmonie Europa is an ensemble made up of some of the most talented young musicians from across Europe who tour and perform around the world with award-winning soloists Andrej Sur (violin) and Cyrill Gussaroff (trumpet).

In the 2022-2023 season, the European Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra gave over 40 concerts worldwide. Our musicians have performed in many prestigious concert halls and opera houses, including: Civic Theatre, Dublin, Musikhuset Aarhus, Neumünster, Zürich, Conway Hall, London, Kulturkvarteret Kristianstad, The Hawth, Crawley, the Palladium, Malmö and opening concert at the Vendsyssel Festival.

The Kammerphilharmonie Europa (Chamber Philharmonic Europe) was founded 2006 in Cologne Germany. The orchestra engages talented young musicians from 18 European nations. Our musicians have performed in many prestigious concert halls and opera houses, including: Civic Theatre, Dublin, Musikhuset Aarhus, Neumünster, Zürich, Conway Hall, London, Kulturkvarteret Kristianstad, The Hawth, Crawley, the Palladium, Malmö and opening concert at the Vendsyssel Festival. Its outstanding high artistic level was confirmed by many concerts and festivals as well as press and critics.

Soloist Andrej Sur (Violin) was born in 1959 in Perwouralsk (Russia) in a musician's family. From the 7th year he received at the state music school. He studied violin in the conservatoire in Yekaterinburg under Professor L. Mirchin. He was as leader and soloist of the orchestra (Ural State Symphony Orchestra), chamber musicians and pedagog for violin in Ural Academie of Music (Yekaterinburg, Russia). Since 1994 lives in Berlin, is a leader of the symphony orchestra Berlin, the member of the Berliner Symphoniker. Works as a soloist and chamber musician.

Soloist Cyrill Gussaroff (trumpet) was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia where he received his first trumpet lesson from the famous trumpet player Professor V.Margolin, in whose class he graduated from the Saint-Petersburg Conservatoire with distinction in 2002. He continued his education at the Conservatoires of Hanover and Essen, where he was taught by such influential people as Professor S.Goehtel and Prof. U.Koeller. In his career Mr. Gussaroff has gained awards at international competitions including the International Competition Citta di Porcia, the Dokshitzer Competition Vilnius, the Competition of Calvia Mallorca and the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire International Competition, Moscow. He started his career as a trumpet soloist at the Staatskapella Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg. At present he is a soloist with the Lower Rhine Symphony Orchestra and is an artist of the Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival. In addition, Cyrill Gussaroff has worked with seceral different orchestras such as the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bochum Symphonie, the Camerata Budapest, the Chamber Philharmonic Europe and the Philharmonika Venezia.

'Kathryn Rudge as Carmen was the temptress to silence all temptresses. Her voice, fluid, rich and wonderfully coloured, is reminiscent of a young Victoria de los Angeles with an intuitive acting style and sheer musicianship to boot.'

Press

Kathryn Rudge, who plays Sesto, was so moving, so passionate and sang with such forthright ardour. Spectator Opera North/Giulio Cesare January 2012 Kathryn Rudge's plucky Sesto manages to be both stylish and moving.

Financial Times Opera North/Giulio Cesare January 2012

Kathryn Rudge made a brightly spunky and impassioned Sesto, whose duet of parting from her mother Cornelia (an eloquent and dignified Ann Taylor) was one of the evening's highlights.

The Daily Telegraph Opera North/Giulio Cesare January 2012

Rudge overcomes the handicap of an ill-fitting uniform to sing an absolute blinder as the boy bent on revenging his dad, as auspicious a Leeds debut as she could possibly have hoped.

The York Press Opera North/Giulio Cesare January 2012

‘The star performance comes from Kathryn Rudge’s Cherubino – chaotically sexy, charismatic, totally compelling’.

Financial Times English National Opera/Marriage of Figaro October 2011

'It [Erika] was sung by Kathryn Rudge with her mellowest and most lustrous tone. She is a splendid actress. Already this charismatic singer, with her immaculate diction, knows how to stir the heart, and one hardly dares to predict what is to come.'

Opera RNCM / Vanessa, May 2011

Biography

Born in 1986 in Liverpool, in 2004 Kathryn Rudge took up a scholarship to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Susan Roper, graduating with 1st class honours and distinction. She was selected by YCAT in 2010 and over the last year has completed her studies on the International Artist Diploma Scheme.

On graduating last summer Kathryn immediately joined English National Opera as part of the Young Singers programme, making her debut in the role of Cherubino in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro directed by Fiona Shaw. She went on to take the role of Sesto in Giuilo Cesare with Opera North and in Autumn 2012 joins Glyndebourne Touring Opera in the role of Cherubino (Le Nozze de Figaro). She returns to Wigmore Hall (3 April) and takes part in a Kathleen Ferrier centenary event at Bridgewater Hall (3 March).

During her studies Kathryn's operatic roles included a critically acclaimed Carmen, Erika in Barber's Vanessa, Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Sorceress (Dido & Aeneas) and Olga (Eugene Onegin), the latter for Haddo House and the RNCM. She also covered the role of Hélène (La Belle Hélène) and sung excerpts from Handel's Ariodante.

Over the last year Kathryn has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, the Chester and Spitalfields Festivals and taken part in masterclasses and concerts as a Samling Scholar. On the concert platform she has appeared as soloist on several occasions with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra working with conductors Vasily Petrenko, Carl Davis and John Wilson. She has sung Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel at the Royal Festival Hall, Mahler's Das Knaben Wunderhorn at Bridgewater Hall, Karl Jenkins The Armed Man with Manchester Camerata, Mahler's Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen with the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, and Berio and Hesketh Songs with the RLPO Ensemble 10/10.

While at the RNCM Kathryn won numerous prizes and awards including a Silver Medal, the Allcard Award and the audience prize for The Prince's Prize from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, an MBF Sybil Tutton Award, the Annie Ridyard, Amanda Roocroft and Bridgitte Fassbaender awards; and the Alexander Young, Frederic Cox and Joyce and Michael Kennedy Strauss prizes. Nationally she has won a Susan Chilcott Scholarship, a BBC Fame Academy Bursary, Yamaha MFE Scholarship, Kathleen Ferrier Bursary and the Bruce Millar/Gullivar Prize.

"Lucy Nolan is outstanding, she is such a talented lady."

Press

Biography

Lucy Nolan began studying the harp at the age of seven with Eira Lynn Jones after being inspired when it was featured in an episode of the children’s television show, Teletubbies.

After graduating from Oxford University in 2013 with a BA in Music, she continued to study for a Masters in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction. During her time at Oxford she was awarded the Margaret Irene Seymour Award, the Archibald Jackson Prize for outstanding postgraduate results, an Alice Horsman Scholarship and the Oxford Philomusica Young Artists’ platform. She was subsequently awarded an entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music for an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction. Whilst at the RNCM Lucy was selected to perform as a finalist in the 2019 Gold Medal weekend, the highest accolade the RNCM awards for performance.

Lucy’s work to date has been eclectic and ranges from giving solo recitals and performing Handel's Harp Concerto with New Chamber Opera to appearing on Hollyoaks performing her arrangement of Abba’s ‘I do, I do, I do’ and ITV’s drama, Victoria. As well as featuring in performances for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, Lucy has had the honour of working with many inspirational musicians including, Sir Mark Elder, Markus Stenz, Gabor Takacs Nagy and Ian Bostridge and has performed in renowned music venues such as Cadogan Hall, The Sage, Bridgewater Hall and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Lucy is a keen orchestral player and regularly performs with professional orchestras such as the Hallé and Royal Northern Sinfonia. She recently worked with Manchester Sinfonia to record a CD featuring new works for string orchestra and harp and performed in a new multimedia opera with Liverpool Philharmonic players. During her postgraduate studies she was selected to participate in the BBC Philharmonic’s competitive orchestral placement scheme, held the reserve place for the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Future Firsts Scheme and toured with the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra in Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands.

Lucy is particularly interested in helping to develop new music for the harp and in 2021 won a Developing Your Creative Practise Award from the Arts Council to enable her to explore new collaborations and artistic partnerships and create more of her own music. She was invited to work closely with the composer, Paul Patterson, to prepare his solo work, Armistice, for a performance at the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong. She also gave the European premiere of his harp duet, ‘Scorpions’, as part of the Chroma Harp Duo, a piece for which they were awarded first prize in the ensemble class at the Camac Harp Competition in London and the UKHA prize for the best performance of a work by a British composer.

She is a founding member of the contemporary music group, SHOAL, who were selected to work with the Norwegian composer, Eyvind Gulbrandsen, as part of a Moving Classics project. They have since enjoyed working with a variety of composers and have premiered new works at a number of events, including New Music North West Festival, Bury Light Festival and Hull City of Culture. Most recently they were invited to compose and record music for a short film for Channel 4.

Lucy also enjoys collaborating with the singer, Supriya Nagarajan for Manasamitra, an arts organisation specialising in delivering a range of South Asian arts in innovative ways. They have performed at venues such as The Sage, Gateshead as well as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and for the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace.

Lucy is passionate about bringing classical music to a wider audience. She worked closely with staff and patients at the Intensive Care and High Dependency Units at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, performing and introducing them to a variety of harp music in a study measuring the impact of music in hospitals. She spent two years working at a school in North London as part of the Teach First Leadership Development Programme where she helped to establish an orchestra and secured positions and funding for 5 pupils in the National Orchestra for All, rehearsing with them in preparation for performances at Alexandra Palace and Leeds Arena. She is an enthusiastic teacher and has been awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship for her work as a harp tutor for the Junior RNCM department and RNCM Young Harps’ Scheme. As well as having private pupils, she is currently the harp tutor for Uppingham School and the Transpennine Branch of the Clarsach Society.

Lucy is grateful to the WM & BW Lloyd Charity Trust, Rotary Club of Darwen, Hilda Clarke Memorial Trust, John Frederick Leach Trust and RNCM Scholarship who have helped to fund her studies.

"A wonderful pianist" Katie Derham In Tune BBC Radio 3 05/05/2020

Press

'Aiding and abetting her was the excellently perceptive Lynn Arnold  ...with her limpid pianism.'

The Straits Times, Singapore

'Played with terrific accuracy and verve...'

St Albans Symphony Orchestra

'Wow! A million thank you's are not enough.. Your artistry on the notes is truly sublime...bordering the surreal. Wow again.'

Online audience member May 2020

‘Lynn put her very soul into the drama ... of this extraordinary piece.  A very fine finale to this exceptional concert, when our new piano was superbly showcased by a fine pianist.’

Hertford Music Club

'Your accompaniment was perfect; so beautifully attentive to and blended with the singing. Altogether it was a wonderful evening at Burton Dassett Church.'

Audience member 2018

'Thank you...for such a wonderful and memorable concert This [work] was new to me. Hearing you play it was a life changing event, no less.'

Audience member 2018

Biography

Pianist Lynn Arnold is well-known for her collaborative musicianship and for her commitment to advocating and performing British music. Recognised for the breadth, scope and depth of colour of her interpretations, Lynn performs frequently both across the UK and internationally as a chamber musician, soloist and accompanist. Since 2009, Lynn has been the Founder Director of the Butlers Marston Concert Society, bringing outstanding chamber music to rural, and most recently, online, audiences since 2009.

A founding member of the Warwick Piano Trio, the Arnold Ensemble and the piano duet "Four Hands" with Charles Matthews, Lynn also collaborates with individual artists including Roderick Williams, Gabriela Demeterova, Roger Coull and Peter Mallinson. “Four Hands: Lynn Arnold & Charles Matthews” have recently released two CDs for Albion Records, and Lynn is delighted to be collaborating with the Tippett Quartet for Dutton Epoch in a series of CDs.

An alumna of Cambridge University where she held a celebrated Instrumental Award, Lynn won much recognition in various competitions during her subsequent study at the Royal Academy of Music, not least the prestigious Sir Henry Richardson Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund. A former Park Lane Group Young Artist, Lynn studied with Vanessa Latarche, Michael Dussek and Patsy Toh.

Lynn is on the staff of the Royal Academy of Music, Junior Department and has coached chamber music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. A member of the ABRSM grade examining panel, Lynn also nurtures her select private teaching practice.

Martin James Bartlett is not only a prodigy of the piano but an accomplished artist who counts among the greats of his generation - Nice Matin

Press

‘Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch.’

Daily Telegraph

‘The wit and colour in pianist Martin James Bartlett’s playing was thrilling.’

The Times

"Immensely assured, this 17-year-old artist seemed to pour his heart and soul into his eloquent and expressive playing. From start to finish, the audience were captivated."

Helen Bomgardner

"The wit and colour in pianist Martin James Bartlett's playing was thrilling"

The Times, BBC Proms 2015

"Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue gave us the Proms debut of last year's BCC Young Musician: joining the Royal Philharmonic, the pianist Martin James Bartlett brought maximum feeling to the music and played with astonishing delicacy and punch"

The Telegraph, BBC Proms 2015

"It was the music that did the talking, with, for my money, the centrepiece being a full bodied performance of Gershwin's big bellied, nimble footed Rhapsody in Blue, with the fabulously flamboyant 2014 Young Musician of the Year Martin James Bartlett on piano"

The Telegraph, Cheltenham Festival 2015

"I was astounded at how movingly he played – a really beautiful performance. From where we sit, you can clearly see the reflection of the pianist’s hands in the black panel above the keyboard, and it’s always fascinating to see how deftly they move up and down the instrument. At the grand old age of 18, Mr Bartlett is the current BBC Young Musician of the Year. It was a highly entertaining, skillful and moving performance. We sat two rows behind his parents – not difficult to see how proud they are of him; and indeed if he continues to develop his skills he has a most amazing future ahead of him."

Chris Sparkle, A Night with the Stats Gala Concert

"Bach’s Toccata in C minor was played with detail, care and tenderness, while within the piece, changes of mood were abundant. There were some sensitive moments that were breathtaking; his imagination was pouring out, and the beautiful tones shone through. I had heard him perform Liszt’s Sonetto del Petrarca earlier this year, and had described it then as “strikingly poetic”. This time was no different, it was poetic, and offered much depth and picturesque beauty. Prokofiev’s Sonata brought a complete different dimension to this programme. Precitipato, the explosive toccata-style finale was rock’n’roll, absolutely fantastic. Martin is beyond just a young talented pianist. He has the core and essential quality and character of a performer, which attracts audiences without trying hard. He is definitely the one to watch – let’s look forward to his development in the next several years"

Kumi Smith-Gordon, Wimbledon International Music Festival

"He is a wonderfully sensitive musician with an astonishing technique and is destined for great things."

John Gibbons, conductor, Wimbledon International Music Festival

Biography

In the 2021/22 season, Bartlett gave a European tour with the LGT Young Soloists, performing Philip Glass’s ‘Tirol’ piano concerto at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie culminating in a gala performance for the Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein in London. Bartlett also debuted with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in March 2022 and The Times wrote: “the performance that matters is Bartlett’s splendidly dashing and tender account of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”.

This season, Bartlett also plays recitals at the Festival International de Piano de La Roque d'Anthéron, International Chopin Piano Festival at Duszniki Zdrój, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Salle Cortot Paris, Dresden Music Festival, Stadtcasino Basel and the Warsaw Philharmonic for the Ludwig Van Beethoven Easter Festival. Furthermore, Bartlett embarked upon an American tour in the Young Concert Artists Series this season, which included debut performances in New York and The Kennedy Centre, Washington DC. 

His first album was released in 2019 and received 5 stars in The Times: “Bartlett's ability to think long-term, rather than give in to immediate excitement, is probably his most impressive trait. No.2 on his score card may be his unaffected delicacy of touch, colour and tone, brilliantly shown in the three Petrarch sonnet settings from Liszt's Années de pèlerinage... Everything works to illuminate the music."

Martin James Bartlett’s early public success was as the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2014. This led to engagements with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra and in 2015 Bartlett made his BBC Proms debut performing Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In the following year, he performed at Her Majesty The Queen's 90th Birthday thanksgiving service, which was broadcast live on BBC One from St. Paul's Cathedral.

In August 2020, Bartlett was announced as the inaugural winner of the Virtu(al)oso Global Piano Competition by Piano Cleveland. In 2018 he was awarded 2nd prize and the Audience Award at the Kissingen Piano Olympiad. In 2021 he was awarded the Queen Mother Rosebowl by HRH Prince Charles and graduated with a first class Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and an Artist’s Diploma from the Royal College of Music, having studied under Professor Vanessa Latarche. Bartlett is the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow from 2020 until 2022.

Recent and future highlights include recitals at the Elbphilharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus and Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent and invitations from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Bartlett's ability to think long-term, rather than give in to immediate excitement, is probably his most impressive trait. No.2 on his score card may be his unaffected delicacy of touch, colour and tone, brilliantly shown in the three Petrarch sonnet settings from Liszt's Années de pèlerinage... Everything works to illuminate the music." The Times, 5 Stars, June 2019

British cellist Maxim Calver made his concerto debut with the CBSO in Symphony Hall, Birmingham as part of the Grand Final of BBC Young Musician 2018. He has performed in major venues throughout the UK and Europe, including Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and BOZAR (Brussels). In September he takes up a scholarship at the Royal College of Music.

Press

The lasting impression from this performance was of a finely graded balance between the score’s Classical reserve and Romantic expression.

BBC Young Musician Final, The Arts Desk, May 2018

[Maxim Calver] played with a depth of tone and passionate intensity which speaks for a remarkable career.

Yehudi Menuhin School at Wimbledon Festival, Planet Hugill, November 2014

Biography

British cellist Maxim Calver made his concerto debut in Symphony Hall, Birmingham as part of the Grand Final of BBC Young Musician 2018. His performance of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 4, was praised for its ‘natural ease’ and ‘emotional lyricism’. Earlier in the competition he won the Strings Category Final performing works by Lutoslawski, Brahms and Stravinsky.

Highlights this season include a performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto in Cadogan Hall, London with Tianyou Ma, finalist of the International Menuhin Violin Competition 2018, and recitals throughout the UK and Guernsey. Maxim has performed at Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and BOZAR (Brussels). Festival appearances include the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, Southwold Arts Festival and the Wimbledon International Festival, where his performance of Delius’ cello sonata was singled out for its ‘depth of tone and passionate intensity’ (Planet Hugill, 2014).

Also a committed chamber musician, in 2018 Maxim toured the Netherlands as part of Trio Pantoum, appearing at venues in The Hague, Ede and Amsterdam. Their performance of Ravel’s Piano Trio was broadcast live from the Concertgebouw on Dutch Radio. Maxim has released a CD of Schoenberg’s String Quartet No.1, recorded with fellow participants of the chamber music course ‘MusicWorks’, with whom he was invited to perform the work at the Lewes Chamber Music Festival.

Originally from Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk, Maxim studies at the Royal College of Music with Professor Melissa Phelps, where he is proud to be the Hargreaves and Ball Trust Scholar supported by a Herbert Howells & Thomas Fielden Scholarship. Maxim was previously a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied with Thomas Carroll for ten years. He has participated in masterclasses with leading cellists including Steven Isserlis, Heinrich Schiff, Julian Lloyd Webber, Paul Katz and Guy Johnston.

Maxim is grateful to the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) for their generous support in their aftercare scheme for BBC Young Musician Finalists.

Maxim plays an Alberto Aloysius Blanchi cello, dated 1906.

Press

Biography

Meera Maharaj enjoys a diverse performing career. Her duo with pianist Dominic Degavino has enjoyed much success, featuring as Countess of Munster Recital Scheme, Tunnell Trust and Park Lane Group artists. Since 2013, she has frequently performed with guitarist James Girling, as the Meraki Duo. They recently won the II Concurs Internacional de Música Cambra Flauta & Guitarra and they were finalists in the 2019 Royal Overseas League competition (mixed ensembles category), as well as International Guitar Foundation Young Artists. She also plays with harpist, Lucy Nolan as Hathor Duo and formed her own flexi-ensemble – Meliora Collective.

Meera strongly believes that outreach work is an important element of her musical life and all her duos are Live Music Now ensembles. Competition successes include first prize in the Royal Academy of Music Flute Competition and Dutch International Flute Competition and 3rd prize in the British Flute Society Competition. She recently won the Sussex Prize for Woodwind in the 2023 Royal Overseas League competition.

She graduated with Distinction in her Masters, studying with Michael Cox at the Royal Academy of Music, receiving generous scholarships supported by Sir Elton John, Countess of Munster Musical Trust and Help Musicians. In 2017, she graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with first class honours, having studied with Wissam Boustany and Laura Jellicoe. Previously, she spent six years at the Junior RNCM.

Meera has played at the Southbank Centre, Elbphilharmonie, Bridgewater Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, and Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. She is Co-principal flute of the Chineke! Orchestra.

Mishka Momen was described by the “Cambridge Summer Music Festival” as a gifted young artist and a recitalist of distinction. As the youngest student ever admitted to the Purcell School (at age six) she has already won a handful of UK and EU competitions. She has performed in masterclasses with Lang Lang, Steven Hough and Paul Lewis, to name a few, and performed at Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Merkin Hall (NY), and St. Martin’s in the Field.

Press

The programme showed what strides Mishka has been making since coming to the Guildhall to study with Imogen Cooper: Beethoven's two-movement Opus 90 with its first a minuet by any other name, and its second a Rondo which rippled on like a lullaby in an unbroken chain of semiquavers lulling the listener into a state of resigned beatitude -- both movements beautifully rounded and nuanced with no mannered exaggerations to mar their perfectly chosen tempi -- was an excellent choice for this demure interpreter. She caught to perfection the delicate play between augmentation and diminution which announces the first movement's recapitulation'

Malcolm Troup, Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Summer Festival 2009

Biography

Mishka Rushdie Momen, (born in London in 1992) Described by the 2010 Cambridge Summer Music Festival as “An extraordinarily gifted young artist and a recitalist of distinction- audiences have been both enchanted by her performance and that such a young player should bring such maturity and depth to her interpretations”. She is the youngest pupil ever to have been admitted by the Purcell School at the age of six on a full scholarship where she was a pupil of Ilana Davids. Mishka has recently graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and had been studying externally with Imogen Cooper as her only student since 2006. She is also supported by the Hope Hambourg Musical Trust.

Mishka won First Prize of the Piano section in the prestigious Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists 2010 Competition. Previously, at the age of 13, Mishka was unanimously selected by the jury as the First Prize winner of the Leschetizky Association’s Gifted Young Pianists Concerto Competition held in New York. Mishka represented the UK at the first EU Piano competition in Prague in June 2009 and was awarded the Director’s Special prize for her rendition of Chopin.

Her debut solo recital was at the age of ten following which her concert experience includes most of London’s major venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Barbican Centre, Britten Theatre, St. James’s Church Piccadilly, St. Martin in the Fields, Steinway Hall, Regents Hall, Spencer House and Leighton House. She has also played recitals at the Proms at St Jude’s in London, Winchester Festival, Congress Theatre Eastbourne, Holywell Music Room in Oxford, Clivedon, St Olave’s in the City of London and St. Mary’s Church Perivale. She is regularly invited to give recitals hosted by the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe and the Chopin Society UK. In 2010 Mishka performed in both the Chopin and Schumann Festivals in London and was invited to give a solo recital in the excellent Cambridge Summer Music Festival in July.

Mishka has also performed abroad at the Liszt Salon in Altenburg, Germany, Merkin Hall, New York where she played Beethoven 3rd piano concerto as soloist with the Camerata New York, at the Nostitz Palace in Prague and in April 2010 gave a major solo recital at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai.

Mishka has performed chamber music in Wigmore Hall, The Spirit of Youth in Music Festival, Rochdale, in a piano Quintet at Chamber Music Concerts in Yehudi Menuhin Hall, Surrey and St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico in 2009 and plays regularly with singers at the Guildhall.

Described as ‘a player destined for future glories’ (Classical Guitar Magazine) Morgan Szymanski has been highlighted as ‘One to Watch’ by both Gramophone Magazine and the BBC Music Magazine. A featured artist on the cover of Classical Guitar Magazine, Morgan Szymanski was recently selected as a finalist for the ‘Outstanding Young Artist Award’ by MIDEM Classique/IAMA.

Press

"What is beyond criticism is Szymanski’s playing, which is of the highest order…‘Sketches of Mexico’ is a gorgeous and original tribute to Szymanski’s homeland, its artists and its music."

William Yeoman, Gramophone Magazine – August 2012

"The outstandingly talented classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski brought Latin American sunshine to the Gower Festival."

South Wales Post, July 2010

"Morgan is a born communicator. He has the rare gift of being able to make his instrument sing. Any arts festival organiser should grab Morgan now, before his diary is full."

The Irish Times, November 2006

Biography

Born in Mexico City in 1979, Morgan Szymanski started playing the guitar at the age of six. Early studies at the National Music School (Mexico) and the Edinburgh Music School led to a scholarship to study under Carlos Bonell and Gary Ryan at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, graduating in 2004 with first class honours. During his studies he won all guitar prizes from the RCM as well as scholarships from the Tillett Trust, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Leverhulme Trust, Wall Trust, FONCA and a scholarship to study at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He immediately went on to become the first solo guitarist to be selected by Young Classical Artist Trust and was the first guitarist to be awarded a Junior Fellowship at the RCM, where he completed his Masters with distinction.

A top prize-winner at international competitions, in 2002 Morgan won first prize at the National Guitar Competition in Mexico. Performances as a soloist and with orchestras have taken him to concert halls and festivals in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, China, Chile, France, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Scotland, UK, USA and Zimbabwe.

In recent years Morgan has given recitals at major UK venues and festivals including at the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, King’s Place, The Sage Gateshead, Royal Opera House, Lichfield Festival, Salisbury Festival and London International Guitar Festival. He has appeared as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Swan, Southbank Sinfonia, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Sinfonia, the Cervantes Choir and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Morgan continues to build his international reputation with performances around the world, most recently including performances at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus and Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Morgan’s devotion to chamber music has led to collaborations with artists such as John Williams, Celso Machado and Carlos Bonell (guitar), Mark Padmore (tenor), Alison Balsom (trumpet), Priya Mitchell (violin), Marcelo Nisinman (bandoneon), Adam Walker (flute), the Sacconi, Doric and Carducci Quartets, Phuong Nguyen (accordion), Adam Walker (flute) and Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano) amongst others.

Regularly broadcast live on TV and radio worldwide, Morgan can often be heard on BBC Radio 3. Described as ‘top class in every respect’ (Classical Guitar Magazine, 2005), Morgan’s first CD ‘The Unicorn in the Garden’, was released in 2005 including works by Iannarelli, Ritter, Ponce and Barrios as well as works especially written for him by Alec Roth. Morgan’s second CD, ‘Songs in Time of War’ (Signum), is a stunning collaboration with Mark Padmore (tenor), Philip Honoré (violin), Alison Nicholls (harp), composer Alec Roth and the words of Vikram Seth. His recordings with his ensemble Machaca, ‘Mano a Mano’ and ‘Los Ambulantes’ on Sarabande Records, have been described as ‘a jewel’ by Gramophone Magazine.

Collaborations with composers have led to new works for guitar dedicated to Szymanski by Simone Iannarelli, Stephen McNeff, Julio César Oliva and Alec Roth whose Concerto for Guitar and Strings was premiered with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 2010.

Morgan’s latest project is a visual and auditory journey entitled ‘Sketches of Mexico’. Released on Sarabande, this is a unique collaboration combining Mexican music from Julio César Oliva and Manuel M. Ponce and the work of twenty visual artists from the UK, Mexico, Portugal and China. Gramophone Magazine has called it ‘a gorgeous and original tribute to Szymanski’s homeland, its artists and its music’ with Morgan’s playing ‘of the highest order.’

The season 2012/13 sees Morgan return tours to Mexico, China, Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales and Spain as well as return visits to London´s Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Spitalfields Festival and his debut with Dublin´s RTÉ Orchestra. April 2013 also sees the release of ´Sometime I Sing´on the Signum Label, a new CD of the music for tenor and guitar by Alec Roth.

Morgan Szymanski plays on a guitar by the Chinese master guitar luthier Yulong Guo. He is a Live Music Now alumni, the scheme started by Lord Yehudi Menuhin to reach audiences that would otherwise have no access to live music.

"A little cracker"

The Times, Richard Morrison

Press

"Philippa Mo reviewed 24 Miniatures (2000) by Laurent Perrenoud, for violin and percussion, was riveting. Philippa Mo stood stock still, playing all manner and style of phrases in all 24 keys – in snatches of less than 12 bars each. David Jackson, meanwhile, kept busy running from drum to triangle to tubular bells and many other instruments besides. The ingenuity of the writing was quite dazzling; so was the playing – the expertise of Mo’s near-instantaneous transitions from one style to another was often startling and always impressive."

Classical Source, Kenneth Carter, 2007 – The Wigmore Hall

"Carried off with exquisite point and finesse:

The Independent, Bayan Northcott, July 2003 – St John’s, Smith Square

Biography

Philippa studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing with Professor Lin Yao Ji. Her studies were supported by the Belmore Woodgate Scholarship and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Since finishing her research studies culminating in the award of an MMus degree, Philippa now performs extensively as a chamber musician. She has given concerto and chamber performances all over Europe; including her acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall, the premiere of the revised Fugue Refractions by Jim Aitchison at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, the Beethoven Series at St John’s, Smith Square, and performances at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, Ulaan Bataar, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and The Tate St Ives in the UK and televised performances in Turkey as part of the Ankara International Music Festival with Orkestra@Modern.

As a founding member of Convergence Quartet based jointly in London and New York, she gave recitals at Lincoln Center, New York and across London.

She was invited as the only British musician to participate as soloist in the International Music Festival of Contemporary Music, Mongolia in 2002 where she gave a programme of new British works in the State Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Palace of Culture, Ulaan Bataar and also amongst the dunes of the Gobi Desert and at Erdene Zuu Khiid, the capital of Genghis Khan.

A champion of contemporary music, Philippa has given recital/discussions and workshops on British music at the Central Conservatory, Beijing and at Bilkent and Hacettep Universities in Ankara, Turkey. She also regularly returns to coach students of the Kurmangazy National Conservatory of Kazakhstan in Almaty where she has given televised interviews and performance of British contemporary music.

Philippa plays a violin by Julius Cesare Gigli from 1786.

Selected for representation by YCAT in 2010, last summer the Rhodes Piano Trio won 2nd prize in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.

Press

Selected for representation by YCAT in 2010, in the Summer of 2011 the Rhodes Piano Trio won 2nd prize in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition

Newbury Weekly News, November 2007.

‘…the string highlight of the festival, for me, was the Rhodes Piano Trio in Dvorák’s Piano Trio in F minor op.65, at the Royal Over-Seas League. Although the group was only formed in 2003 at the Royal Northern College of Music, it felt as though its members had been playing together for decades. It was impossible not to be caught up in their intense, passionate playing, full of colour and variety, and there a compelling sense of discovering the music afresh with them. Violinist Michael Gurevich played each phrase as if his life depended on it, and cellist David Edmonds had some gloriously syrupy moments in the first movement, with powerful yet supple contributions from pianist Robert Thompson. This was thrilling, edge-of-your-seat playing, delivered with real sincerity, and best of all, the three performers actually seemed to be enjoying themselves’.

The Strad / ROSL Edinburgh Fringe Festival / November 2011

4 star review **** It is easy to tell that a group of players are entirely comfortable and practiced with one another… The audience loved this Beethoven [Archduke].

Edinburgh Guide.com Edinburgh Fringe Festival/Royal Over-Seas League August 2011

Musizieren auf die feine britische Art: …their music-making is of the very finest…the Dvorák [Op.65] was full of energy and the most expressive contrasts.

Ostsee Zeitung Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern August 2011

'A performance of suave brilliance by the Rhodes Trio, a fine ensemble, of whom one needs to hear more.'

The Guardian, RNCM ChamberFest/Boris Tchaikovsky Trio, January 2006

Biography

In 2011 the Rhodes Piano Trio won 2nd Prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Selected for representation by YCAT in 2010, over the last year the Trio has given recitals at Purcell Room, Bridgewater Hall, the Chester, Lake District Summer Music, Edinburgh Fringe and Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festivals. Earlier this year the Trio took part in masterclasses with Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida in Aldeburgh and with Ferenc Rados and Andras Keller at IMS Prussia Cove. Engagements this season include debut recitals at Wigmore Hall, Barbican and Schwetzinger Festspiele. The Trio are Chamber Music Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and in March are resident ensemble as part of the One to Watch series at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore.

Formed in 2003 at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of the late Dr. Christopher Rowland and Alasdair Tait, the Trio won all the RNCM's major chamber music prizes, toured Scotland as Tunnell Trust Award winners twice and won the 2008 Elias Fawcett Award in the Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Finals. The Trio has been coached by the Florestan Trio and the Ulysses Ensemble as part of the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme and studied with Andre Emelianoff at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in the USA. They have also taken part in classes with Charles Rosen, Alexander Melnikov, Gábor Takács-Nagy, members of the Chilingirian and Endellion String Quartets and the Gould Piano Trio and been taught by Ian Brown, Carole Presland and Jeremy Young.

Over the last four years the Trio has performed widely at venues and festivals across the UK, including the Halifax Young Artist series and a residency at the Lake District Summer Music Festival. They have appeared on BBC Radio 3 and ABC Classic FM in Australia and from 2005-2009 took part in the RNCM's ChamberFests, in 2006 performing the Boris Tchaikovsky Trio to critical acclaim. Further afield they have given concerts in the USA, Australia, Lithuania and The Netherlands.

All three members of the Rhodes Piano Trio enjoy great success individually, Robert Thompson completing his solo studies with Peter Frankl at Yale University, David Edmonds with Gregor Horsch in Dusseldorf and Michael Gurevich as a Junior Fellow at the RNCM and member of the London Haydn Quartet.

"…seizing the music with amazing decisiveness… I would never have imagined a mere piano could have captured that world, but Richard Uttley’s tumultuous performance soon persuaded me."

Ivan Hewett : The Daily Telegraph

Press

"Some of the day’s most arresting moments came in a recital by Richard Uttley. I was enthralled by his composure, lyricism and ability to hold a moment without forcing it."

Kate Molleson : The Guardian

"Two of the most inspired concerts came from young British pianist Richard Uttley."

Kate Makin : Vancouver Classical Music

"… evangelical enthusiasm … assiduous clarity … lyrical poise … a brilliant recital."

Neil Fisher : The Times

"I wouldn’t use this term of many pianists but, both from a purely aural perspective as well as watching him perform, Uttley comes across like a ballet dancer. His movements are graceful, lyrical, acrobatic; keys are sprung from, landed upon, tickled, urged, encouraged, coaxed—but rarely, it seems to me, merely struck."

Simon Cummings : 5:4

"… musical intelligence and pristine facility interlock seamlessly … compendious capacity for touch control … extremely refined, well considered and emotionally selfless … a pianist with something to say."

Mark Tanner : International Record Review

Biography

British pianist Richard Uttley studied at Cambridge University, graduating from Clare College with a Double First in Music, and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Martin Roscoe. Noted for the integrity of his musicianship as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist in a wide range of repertoire, Richard has been recognised for his ‘musical intelligence and pristine facility’ (International Record Review), ‘amazing decisiveness’, and ‘tumultuous performance’ (Daily Telegraph). 

His playing has frequently been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has featured on BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC World Service, Classic FM and Sky Arts. He won the British Contemporary Piano Competition in 2006 and was a prize winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions in 2011.

Richard has released several solo recordings to critical acclaim and appeared at venues and festivals including Auditorium du Louvre, Banff Centre, Bath Festival, Bridgewater Hall, Cadogan Hall, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, Modulus Festival (Vancouver), Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, and has toured in China and Columbia. Highlights this season include appearances at Kings Place and Wigmore Hall.

Richard’s long-term chamber music collaborators include composer-clarinettist Mark Simpson, violinists Savitri Grier and Callum Smart, and horn player Ben Goldscheider. He also works with artists such as cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, trumpeter Simon Höfele, trombonist Peter Moore, and oboist Olivier Stankiewicz, and has participated in Open Chamber Music at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove. In 2019 Richard won the Yvar Mikhashoff pianist/composer commissioning prize with composer Kate Whitley.

Robert Burton won the BBC Young Musician 2018 Woodwind Final, which was broadcast on BBC TV.

Press

[Rob Burton’s] bright, rich tone and intelligent phrasing made even the runs and ornaments sound like song.

BBC Young Musician final, The Arts Desk, May 2018

Biography

Hailing from a farming family in Cambridgeshire, saxophonist Rob Burton won the Woodwind Category Final of BBC Young Musician 2018 at the age of eighteen. He went on to secure a place in the Grand Final at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, where he performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, broadcast live on BBC 4 and BBC Radio 3.

Recent highlights include performing the Glazunov Saxophone Concerto after winning the Silk Street Sinfonia Young Artists Concerto Competition, and recitals at the Cheltenham Festival and the Charles Wood Festival in Armagh.

Rob studies Classical Saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music with Simon Haram and Huw Wiggin. He was a pupil at Hinchingbrooke School in Huntingdon alongside studies with Paul Stevens (saxophone) and Derek Hannigan (clarinet) at Junior Guildhall, where he was a Sax.co.uk Scholarship holder. Rob has also achieved Grade 8 Distinction in Saxophone, Clarinet, Piano and Recorder.

Rob was a finalist in Junior Guildhall's 'Lutine Prize' competition for three consecutive years. He has won titles of Wellingborough Young Musician of the Year and Oundle Young Musician of the Year. He was also a National Finalist in Rotary Young Musician of the Year 2016 and highly commended in the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain's composition prize.

A keen chamber musician, Rob also enjoys playing with his saxophone quartet 'Kumori Quartet' and his reed quintet. He was Principal Saxophone with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain, and has played with the Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra. Rob is grateful for the support of YCAT in their aftercare scheme for finalists of BBC Young Musician.

"“Armstrong’s credentials are impressive, but it is as an interpretive musician that he made the bigger impact: any pianist who could plan and bring off a programme such as this clearly is one to watch.”"

Musical Opinion

Press

"Regards sur l'Infini review – glowing, intriguing French chamber music. 
Katharine Dain and Sam Armstrong have used lockdown to produce a memorable, effortlessly polished album"

The Guardian, November 2020

"Following Sam's recital for Weltklassik in Bald Pyrmont, a reviewer praised him as "ein Ausnahmekünstler am Klavier" (an exceptional artist at the piano)."

April 2016

""The past few months at the Wigmore have seen a cavalcade of such brilliance that some names are in order: Konstantin Lifschitz and Alexej Gorlatch from Ukraine; Michail Lifits from Uzbekistan; Ashley Wass and Sam Armstrong from Britain; Konstantin Soukhovetski from Russia; Bertrand Chamayou from France; Shai Wosner from Israel. All young, all wonderful. The future of concert pianism is in good hands."

The Financial Times, July 2011

Biography

Hailed as 'a major new talent' International Piano and a ‘pianist of splendid individuality’ Arts Desk English pianist Sam Armstrong has made solo recital debuts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in New York as well as at the Wigmore Hall in London, and as concerto soloist with the National Symphony of Ecuador.

Passionate about chamber music, he has performed with musicians including Ralph Kirshbaum, William Bennett, Hannah Roberts, Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer and Randall Scarlata in festivals such as Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Ravinia and in venues such as Seoul Arts Centre, Esplanade Singapore, Kumho Art Hall Seoul, and Manchester's Bridgewater Hall. He has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio Suisse-Romande/Espace 2, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago and Radio New Zealand.

He was a prize winner in the Porto International Piano Competition, the Brant Piano Competition, Beethoven Society of Europe Competition, and was also laureate of the Epinal International Piano Competition in France. He has received awards from the Philharmonia Orchestra/MMSF, MBF/Help Musicians Fund, Wingate Foundation, Kirckman Concert Society and the Solti Foundation.

He studied with Helen Krizos in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music and later in New York with Richard Goode at Mannes College of Music. He also worked with John O’Conor in Dublin and in masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Mitsuko Uchida.

"Grier's tone was sweet and elegant, and surprisingly mellow...wonderfully technically assured. She sang Elgar's line effortlessly but brought welcome flashes of temperament…[and] gave us a thoughtful, inward account of the concerto."

Planet Hugill / St John’s Smith Square - Elgar Concerto / February 2019

Press

"...a formidable violinist of full tone and strong personality"

Arcana-Ben Hogwood / Wigmore Hall / March 2018

"...the highlight of the evening: an account of Chausson’s Poème for violin and orchestra, in which Savitri Grier was the wonderfully assured and lyrically poised soloist."

The Guardian

"...it was her playing that took the spotlight - a deep, eloquent tone, making every line sing, and all delivered with remarkable poise and flair."

Birmingham Post

Biography

During the 2019/20 season Savitri makes her debut as soloist with the Concerto Budapest, City of Birmingham Youth and Qatar Philharmonic Orchestras. She gives recitals in Mumbai and concerts across Europe at the Podium Festival (Stuttgart), in Warsaw, Sendesaal Bremen, Chapelle Royale Brussels, Royal Welsh College of Music and Cambridge Music Festival. In 2020 she guest leads the Budapest Festival Orchestra at major venues across Europe.

Over the last year Savitri has undertaken a British Council chamber project in Qatar, given a series of concerts in China, collaborated with the renowned sarod players Amaan Ali and Ayaan Ali Bangash at The Times Swarsangam Music Festival and worked closely with a youth orchestra, within their community in Balanyá, Guatamala.

Other highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall, a collaboration with the Dvořȧk Quartet at Berlin Konzerthaus and Laeiszhalle Hamburg, an IMS Prussia Cove tour, and a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas.

As a soloist Savitri has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, English Chamber, London Mozart Players, Welsh National Opera, Barbican Young and Oxford Philharmonic Orchestras, among many others. She has given recitals at major venues and festivals across the UK including the St Magnus, Bury St. Edmunds, Newbury, Norfolk & Norwich, Portsmouth, Harrogate and Roman River Festivals.

Sought after as a chamber musician she has taken part in numerous festivals including the East Neuk Festival retreat, the Holland International Music Sessions, Musique à Marsac in France, Krzyzowa Chamber Music in Poland and Avigdor Classics in Bern. She has collaborated with Susan Tomes, Christoph Richter, Steven Isserlis, Kryzstof Chorzelski, Tom Poster and the Kaleidoscope Collective, Richard Uttley, Andrew Marriner and Alasdair Beatson, and regularly gives recitals with the Grier Trio.

Savitri studied at Oxford University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with David Takeno, and the Universität der Künste Berlin with Nora Chastain. She was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust in 2015.

During her studies she participated in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Johannes Goritski, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Thomas Adès, and was especially grateful for guidance from Ana Chumachenco and Andras Keller. Awards include 1st Prize at the Oxford Philomusica and Tunbridge Wells International Competitions.

Savitri plays on a Matteo Goffriller violin on generous loan from the Aidan Woodcock Charitable Trust.

Kanneh-Mason gave an astonishingly assured performance. The strength of Kanneh-Mason’s approach was that it was so nuanced; this, plus his technical command, led to a memorable account.

Classical Source, April 2017

Press

“[Kanneh-Mason’s] own cadenzas have compelling musical logic, his pianissimos were magical, his encore arrangement of a Jewish folksong spellbinding; … you aren’t ever going to hear this Haydn concerto more engagingly performed.”

The Arts Desk, May 2017

“Last year’s BBC Young Musician winner, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, returned to the scene of his victory with the same work, the Russian composer’s First Cello Concerto. Digging in with gripping attack yet also plenty of nuance, he showed what a remarkable musician he already is, bringing other-worldly tone to the haunting slow movement and displaying mature musicianship in his handling of the extended cadenza”

The Telegraph, April 2017

“Technically superb and eloquent in his expressivity, he held the capacity audience spellbound with an interpretation of exceptional authority.”

The Guardian, April 2017

“Kanneh-Mason is a player who makes you tune in to every nuance of articulation, every subtle shading, every eloquent turn of phrase. Here, joined for this same concerto by his fiercely talented peers in the National Youth Orchestra, he showed us why he won the competition. He performed with urgency and bite, impeccable technique and, in the second movement, exquisite line as the cello sang its sotto voce hymn to the night.”

The Times, April 2017

“Many of the enthusiastic audience had clearly come to see last year’s BBC Young Musician winner, the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. They were rewarded with a stylish performance as the soloist in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C (Hob VIIb/1). In the central adagio, Kanneh-Mason balanced expressive singing tone with careful, instinctive, dynamic shading. He took the allegro molto at fearless, breakneck speed, the passage work impressively controlled. A solo encore was further testimony to his prodigious gift, and his arrangement of a traditional Jewish song was plangent and subtly elaborated.”

The Guardian, April 2017

Biography

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is the 2016 BBC Young Musician, a title he won with a stunning performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto at London’s Barbican Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In April 2017, Sheku returned to the hall for another performance of the concerto, this time with the National Youth Orchestra and Carlos Miguel Prieto after which the Guardian wrote that “technically superb and eloquent in his expressivity, he held the capacity audience spellbound with an interpretation of exceptional authority” and the Telegraph acknowledged “what a remarkable musician he already is, bringing other- worldly tone to the haunting slow movement and displaying mature musicianship in his handling of the extended cadenza”.

Only eighteen years old, Sheku’s international career is developing very quickly with engagements in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons including the CBSO, the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Newbury Spring Festival, a return to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (his debut at the Concertgebouw), Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Sheku’s concerto debut in North America), Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Seattle and Atlanta symphonies. He will also return to the BBC Symphony Orchestra to perform the Elgar Concerto in his hometown of Nottingham and make his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Japan Philharmonic.

In recital, Sheku has several concerts across the UK with highlights over the next two seasons including his debuts at Kings Place as part of their Cello Unwrapped series, Milton Court, and Wigmore Hall. He will also perform a series of concerts in Canada in December 2017, and further recitals at the Zurich Tonhalle, and the Lucerne Festival.

In 2016, Sheku performed at the BBC Proms in the Park in Wales and returned to make his Proms debut at the Albert Hall in summer 2017 with the Chineke! Orchestra, an ensemble with which he enjoys a special relationship having taken part in their debut concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 2015, returning as soloist to perform the Haydn Concerto with the orchestra in April 2017: “You aren’t ever going to hear this Haydn Concerto more engagingly performed” The Arts Desk.

In February 2017, Sheku performed an arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for Cello and String Trio at the BAFTAS Awards show at the Royal Albert Hall, an interpretation which brought the celebrity- filled audience to their feet and which has subsequently been shared and viewed by nearly two million people on social media sites. He has an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics and his first concerto recording for the label will be released in 2018.

Sheku began learning the cello at the age of six with Sarah Huson-Whyte and then studied with Ben Davies at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music where he held the ABRSM Junior Scholarship. In September 2017, he started a full-time degree course at the Royal Academy, studying with Hannah Roberts. He has received masterclass tuition from Guy Johnston, Robert Max, Alexander Baillie, Steven Doane, Rafael Wallfisch, Jo Cole, Melissa Phelps and Julian Lloyd Webber and in July 2017, participated in the Verbier Festival Academy in masterclasses with Frans Helmerson and Miklos Perenyi. A keen chamber musician, Sheku performs regularly as a member of the Kanneh-Mason Trio with sister, Isata and brother, Braimah.

Sheku is passionate about the importance of making classical music accessible to all and is the first London Music Masters Junior Ambassador. With his siblings, the Kanneh-Mason seven-piece ensemble, he has performed in many venues across the UK including at Marlborough House in front of HRH Prince Charles for Commonwealth Day and on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, both in the semi-finals in 2015 and then as special guests on the final show in June 2017 performing with dance group, Diversity.

He plays an Antonius and Hieronymus Amati cello c.1610 kindly on loan from a private collection.

Sophie Westbrooke, BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014 Finalist

Press

"I too had picked out Sophie Westbrooke as an outstanding musician who deserves to have a great professional future."

Mary Cohen, Mary's Music Cupboard.

Biography

Sophie began playing the recorder with her mother at the age of five, as a way of learning to read music to aid her violin and piano studies. She moved to formal lessons a year later and passed her Grade 8 at the age of nine. Sophie studies recorder with Barbara Law at the Junior Royal Academy of Music and often plays alongside 2012 BBC Young Musician Finalist Charlotte Barbour-Condini. In 2013 Sophie passed her ABRSM Performance Diploma with Distinction, and she has also gained distinction at Grade 8 on both piano and violin.

Sophie was the second-ever recorder player to reach the Concerto Finals of the BBC Young Musician Competition, performing Gordon Jacob’s ‘Suite for recorder and strings’ arranged for chamber orchestra by David Knotts. Following the competition, Sophie has performed concertos with Henham Chamber Orchestra and National Youth Recorder Orchestra. This summer she toured Germany and Belgium as concerto soloist with the Lydian Orchestra.

Sophie aims to expand awareness of the recorder through the performance of a wide repertoire of music from the medieval to the modern. She is experimental in interpretation, often using improvisation and different combinations of instruments to accompany her ever-growing collection of different instruments. A music scholar at Sevenoaks School, Sophie also participates in many choirs, orchestras and chamber groups. Her string quartet was chamber champion in the Pro Corda National Chamber Music competition 2014.

A keen composer, Sophie wrote a Christmas carol 'Music of Christmas Day' which won both the Junior Carol Competition at RAM and was the overall winner of the Sevenoaks School carol competition in 2012. The following year, she was invited to compose a piano piece and perform at the Hastings International Composers' Festival alongside pieces by Nigel Hess, Stephen Warbeck and others. She is currently working on a set of pieces for recorder to premier in upcoming concerts. Sophie also enjoys studying conducting at school, where she has conducted orchestras and choirs.

Sophie is involved in music production, and co-wrote, recorded and produced a pop album with her band, playing guitar and keyboards with a school friend on vocals and her brother on drums, raising over £800 for the charity HopeHIV. Having studied jazz piano at a young age she regularly accompanies bands and singers in local charity concerts and events. When not at school or practising, Sophie likes running and cooking.

"Named a Young Artist at the Leeds Lieder Festival 2021"

Press

Biography

Stella Marie Lorenz is a German chamber musician and song accompanist who has performed on international stages in Germany, Austria (Konzerthaus Wien, Musikverein Wien), France, Spain and the UK, at The Leeds International Concert Series and the Wigmore Hall.

In Vienna, she was awarded a Master of Vocal Accompaniment with first class distinction at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Having previously studied with Roger Vignoles, Gerold Huber and Markus Hadulla, she has participated in master classes with Graham Johnson, Helmut Deutsch and Christa Ludwig.

Stella is passionate to juxtapose the known and unknown in classical music, encouraging listeners to engage and discover new music. Regularly playing classical standards alongside 20th/21st century music, she has performed several world premieres.

In 2021, she was awarded the Historical Female Composer Prize, a Help Musicians Postgraduate Award and was named, A Young Artist at the Leeds Lieder Festival.

Currently supported by a generous scholarship, Stella is completing her Advanced Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music with professors Malcolm Martineau, Michael Dussek and James Baillieu.

The masterful playing of the Villiers String Quartet left a great impression.

Press

"The Villiers are cagey about when they first got together. They needn’t be. Although it can barely be five years, they already had deep experience of playing in other ensembles. It showed throughout their programme of Beethoven, Elgar and Glass for the British Music Society of York (BMS) on Friday. For this is no quartet of young tyros. The opening Allegro of Beethoven’s Op 18 No 6 was confidently, but not condescendingly, signposted. There was an engaging serenity to the Adagio. Although its trio was a little rough at the edges, the Scherzo’s cross-accents were joyously precise. But it was the mystical melancholy which opens the finale that took the breath away, brilliantly balanced by a feather-light Allegretto. This movement rarely sounds so persuasive. Philip Glass’s Fifth String Quartet (1991) depends heavily for its effect on a rock-steady cello line. Nick Stringfellow provided that and more: a solid foundation off which his colleagues could bounce their theatricality. The potential for monotony of Glass’s minimalism was thus neatly sidestepped, the upper voices matching his commitment and concentration. After such metronomic tempos, it was a relief to encounter Elgar’s late E minor quartet, which gives the lie to the composer’s sometimes starchy reputation. In the Villiers’ hands, this was English romanticism in full flood. Especially effective were the slow movement’s heartfelt pastorale, finely chiselled, and the finale’s race for the tape. Experience will out. We shall hear more of this group."

The York Press, November 18, 2013.

Biography

The Villiers Quartet is one of the most charismatic and "adventurous" quartets of the British chamber music scene (The Strad). Nothing is outside of the VQ's repertoire as they define the string quartet for the 21st century. Dedicated to the established works of Beethoven, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, they are also renowned for their interpretations of English composers including Elgar, Britten and Delius. Having toured across the UK and internationally, they have been declared "one of the best young quartets around today" (Jerry Horner, Fine Arts Quartet), and their performances of Shostakovich and Tischenko have been hailed as "masterful playing" (Classical Source).

They have been a featured quartet in numerous festivals including the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, the Brit Jazz Fest, the English Music Festival, and the British Music Society. Known for championing the works of British composers, the VQ has been invited to present masterclasses on British music at Dartmouth College, Syracuse University, Goshen College, and the University of Nottingham. Their internationally acclaimed digital VQ New Works Competition encourages audiences to interact with contemporary music performance online, and supports the creation of new works for string quartet.

Named after Villiers Street in London's colourful musical epicentre, the Villiers Quartet encompasses the grand and iconic spirit of the extraordinary music tradition in London. Their debut CD for Naxos, The Complete Quartets of Robert Still, was praised for their "sublimely articulate and concentrated readings" (Gramophone), and received 5-stars in Classical Music Magazine. In 2015, Somm Recordings releases their recording of Shostakovich and David Matthews piano quintets with pianist Martin Cousin, and they are the featured quartet on the soundtrack to the BBC television drama, Lady Chatterley's Lover. The Villiers Quartet are winners of the 2015 Radcliffe Chamber Music Competition and have been appointed Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Oxford for the period 2015-18.

Biography

Tomos Boyles is a young Welsh musician developing a career as a pianist. He has performed in numerous venues, including St Martin in the Fields, the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, the Wales Millennium Centre, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

He has enjoyed success in competitions, having recently been awarded the first prize at the Wales International Piano Festival in Caernarfon; this came with a generous scholarship to help fund future studies. Other top prizes include the Blue Ribband at the National Eisteddfod, and first place in the EPTA competition.

Tomos graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University in 2022 with a first-class degree in music, having been the recipient of an academic scholarship during his studies. While at Oxford, he gave recitals at many of the University’s colleges, including Christ Church, Mansfield, and Jesus; he also live-streamed recitals from Christ Church Cathedral during the Covid-19 pandemic when there were restrictions on live music-making.

As a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music, Tomos studies under pianist Rustem Hayroudinoff, having previously studied with Alison Bowring at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s junior department. Tomos has also benefitted from one-off lessons and masterclasses with pianists such as Joanna MacGregor, Piers Lane, and Artur Pizarro, among others.

"I've heard this trio more than once before and they seem to get better with each recital. They have consummate collective and individual talents across the board, from sound, intonation, dynamics, articulation and ensemble right through to the loftier points of interpretation and expression, with the benefit of an exemplary balance." Jonathan Lane

Press

"Having perfectly created for us the rhapsodic near stasis of the Notturno, now they embraced, with equal conviction, the constant changes of the Dvořák Trio. These arresting performances by Trio Isimsiz put vividly before their audience works perfectly expressive of two of the constant poles of Romanticism. Though they may call themselves the Trio “without a name”, these three young musicians, by the sensitivity and intensity of their performances, are rapidly making a considerable name for themselves – a name likely to grow bigger yet."

Seen and Heard International - Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. February 2017.

"The real highlight of this year’s festival were the performances of the Trio Isimsiz….they are well-matched players who demonstrated exquisite ensemble playing in their performances. From the Trio Isimsiz we will certainly hear a lot in the future."

wIOCO - Kultur im Netz - Festival de Stavanger Norway. August 2016.

"The Schubert B flat trio is a glorious work and the Isimsiz did justice to it…. the slow movement achingly beautiful."

www.stringsattached.com, Brighton Dome, February 2014.

"The trio (Isimsiz means “without a name” in Turkish) performed the Haydn with expressive delicacy. But the Beethoven was immediately full of tension, as if musical elastic bands connected the players. The C Minor came out sounding utterly radical and unexpected. The musicians also brought out the best in Schubert’s substantial take on the piano trio, giving it vibrancy and colour, with a beautifully played slow movement."

The Argus, Brighton Dome, February 2014.

Biography

Formed in 2009 at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, in 2015 the Trio Isimsiz won 1st Prize and the Audience Prize at the Trondheim Competition, and in 2017 2nd Prize at the Haydn International Competition in Vienna. They were selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013.

The Trio has performed widely in Europe, highlights including recitals at the Stavanger, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Peasmarsh and Gower Festivals (broadcast by Radio 3), the Tivoli Concert Hall, Snape Maltings, Fundacion Juan March in Madrid and Marianischer-Saal in Lucerne. Further afield the they have undertaken tours in China and Argentina.

In 2017 the Trio returned to the Aldeburgh Festival and completed their first CD due for release on the Rubicon label in November. Future engagements include an all Beethoven programme at the Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris, concerts at the Köln Philharmonie, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival and recitals at Wigmore Hall, Brighton Dome and Saffron Hall.

The Trio Isimsiz are currently Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. They have collaborated with Anthony Marwood, Krysztof Chorzelski, Richard Lester and Aleksander Madzar and attended IMS Prussia Cove working with Ferenc Rados.

During their studies the Trio undertook residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada, Jeunnesse Musicales Chamber Music, Germany and Mozarteum, Salzburg, and participated in masterclasses with András Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Menahem Pressler, Thomas Riebl, Wolfgang Reddick, the Gould Piano Trio, Belcea and Takács Quartet.

All three members of the Trio Isimsiz Piano Trio enjoy great success individually. Erdem Misirlioglu was a Concerto Finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition in 2008, Pablo Hernán Benedí is a member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, formed by Alina Ibragimova, and Michael Petrov represented the UK in the European Concert Halls Organisation Rising Star series.

Pablo Hernán Benedí was born in 1991 in Madrid.  He studied at the C.I. Padre Antonio Soler Conservatory in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and at the GSMD with David Takeno.  In 2010 Pablo became a member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, formed by Alina Ibragimova, Emilie Hornlund and Claire Thirion, appearing at major venues throughout Europe. The Quartet’s debut recording was released in 2011 to critical acclaim.  
 
Michael Petrov was born in 1990 in Bulgaria.  He studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and at the GSMD with Louise Hopkins, winning the Gold Medal in 2014.   Over the last year he has made his debut with the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestras.  During 2014/15 he gave recitals at major concert halls throughout Europe as part of his nomination by the Barbican Centre as an ECHO Rising Star.  
 
Erdem Misirlioglu was born in 1990 in Suffolk.  He studied with Mark Fielding at the Junior GSMD and since 2008 with Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora at the GSMD.  In 2008 he was a Concerto Finalist in the BBC Young Musicians Competition, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganiniwith the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.  He recently won 1st Prize in the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe’s Intercollegiate Piano Competition.

Biography

Will Harmer is a composer and pianist who recently graduated from Worcester College Oxford University, where he studied piano with Anna Tilbrook and composition with Robert Saxton.

In 2017, he won the BBC Proms Inspire Competition with his composition ‘The Whole Heaven on Fire’ performed by the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon.  

He was subsequently commissioned by the BBC Singers to compose ‘Voyage of the Soul’, a piece commemorating the Apollo 11 Moon Landings broadcast by Radio 3.

In 2020, his work for French Horn ‘Cetus’ was performed on BBC radio and television by Annemarie Federle as part of the BBC Young Musician. Will also won the Association of English Singers & Speakers Composition Competition 2021 and participated in the 2021 Cheltenham Composers Festival Academy..

Will’s works have been performed in venues such as Snape Maltings, Wigmore Hall and The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and have been broadcast on BBC radio and television. 

A keen singer, he has sung with Genesis Sixteen and Keble College Choir, and works with Oxford Youth Choirs as an accompanist and conductor.

This year, he looks forward to commencing postgraduate study in composition at the Royal Academy of Music.

Biography

Yundu Wang is an American classical pianist, currently based in London. She is equally committed to solo, collaborative, and chamber music, and has performed throughout the U.K. and U.S., as well as inFrance, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Russia, Israel, and the Netherlands.

Her festival participation includes the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, the Itzhak Perlman Music Program’s Chamber music workshop, and the Aspen Music Festival. She is a member of the Clara Trio and won the Honors Chamber Music Competition at New England Conservatory, leading to a full concert debut in Boston’s Jordan Hall. She has worked with and performed alongside esteemed musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, Peter Frankl, and the Weilerstein Trio. She has also taken part in masterclass courses and festivals including the Holland Music Sessions, the International Musical Enghien Master Classes in Belgium, the Hellens Music Festival, and Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland.

Yundu has participated in solo masterclasses with Jonathan Biss, Richard Goode, Imogen Cooper, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Polina Leschenko, and Boris Berman, among others. This past year, Yundu has worked on chamber music with Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Weilerstein, Heime Müller, Ralf Gothóni, David Waterman, and Jonathan Brown and Abel Tomàs of Cuarteto Casals.

Her prizes in solo piano competitions include the Honors Competition at New England Conservatory, the Seiler International Piano Competition in Germany, the Julia Crane International Piano Competition in New York and Gavrilin International Piano Competition in Russia. Recently, she was awarded the Glass Sellers’ Beethoven Prize at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Yundu is currently in her writing-up year as a doctoral candidate at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Her research investigates the possible influence of speech prosody upon musical expression in piano performance. Her supervisors are Ronan O’Hora, Martin Roscoe, Dr. Cormac Newark, and Dr. Elinor Payne of the University of Oxford. Her studies are generously being supported by the Guildhall School Trust.