Carlisle Beresford is an exciting young artist and the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. A recent laureate of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition and the Moray Piano Competition, Carlisle holds the MIFCO Scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he is a pupil of Graeme McNaught. In 2010, Carlisle won the Academy’s most prestigious prize for solo piano, the Bamber-Galloway Competition.
Carlisle began studies in music at the age of three. He completed the performance diploma of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada, and relocated to the United Kingdom in 2008. Carlisle has performed for such artists as Stephen Hough, Louis Lortie, Jerome Lowenthal, Anton Kuerti, Hamish Milne, and Martino Tirimo. Praised by Tirimo as ‘an exceptional talent’, Carlisle is also an alumnus of the Piano Masterclasses at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Toronto Summer Music Festival.
Polina was born in 1986 in St. Petersburg. She started playing the piano at six and studied with Natalia Browerman and Marina Wolf at the Special Music School for highly talented children. In 1998 Polina made her debut with the St.Petersburg Symphonic Orchestra and signed a contract with Melodia Records for the production of a CD of Skriabin’s music.
International competition successes include 2nd prize at the International Piano Competition in Paris (2004), 1st prize at the Garts Stiftung trio competition in St. Petersburg (2004), a diploma at Andorra Piano Competition (2006), 2nd prize at Rachmaninov Competition in Morcone, Italy (2007), 3rd prize at the Thailand Piano Competition (2008). In 2009 she won the 3rd prize at the BPSE Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition in London.
Polina graduated with distinction from the Saint-Petersburg Conservatoire and currently she studies with Norma Fisher on the MMus course at the RNCM supported by The Leverhulme Trust. She has participated in international masterclasses with Professors Michail Woskresenskij, Stanislav Igolinskij, William Brons, Carl Kammerling, Vincenzo Balzani, Stephen Kovacevich and others. She takes part in many ensembles and has undertaken tours in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and France.
Pearl-Lynne was born in New York City in 1990. She began studying the piano with her mother at the age of 3. At 6 she began studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with Marina Geringas who enabled her to perform with several orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 1999. Pearl has also played with the Bulgarian Youth Orchestra in 2001 and the Scarborough Bluffs Orchestra in 2003.
In 2004, she entered the studio of Marc Durand with whom she studied before taking a year-long hiatus from the piano. Pearl continued her piano education with Shoko Inoue from 2006 until her acceptance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music as an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music scholar. She currently studies with Fali Pavri.
After secondary education at Tbilisi Z. Paliashvili Music Gymnasia, Georgia, Irakli Chumburidze studied for B Mus Degree at Tbilisi V. Saradjishvili State Conservatory. In 2007 he undertook PGDip Degree at the Royal College of Music, London followed by PGDip Degree in Advanced Performance. He is now enrolled on the Masters in Performance at Trinity College of Music, London.
Irakli was awarded the Henry Rudolf Meisels Bursary at Leeds International Piano Competition in 2009; he was a semi-finalist at the Bromsgrove Music Festival 2008, finalist and Special prize winner, Enschede young pianists competition (Netherlands-2006); prize winner Rome International Piano Competition (2004) and at the ‘Il Circolo’ Piano Competition (Great Britain-2010).
He has given solo recitals in the Tbilisi and Batumi State Conservatory Halls, Georgia, in Turkey and in London at the Britten Theatre at the RCM, St. Mary Abbots Church, St. Mary Perivale Church, St. Barnabas Church and Chappell of Bond Street Yamaha Hall.
He appeared at the Eskishehire and Bursa Music Festivals, Turkey and has given orchestral performances with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra, Tbilisi Radio Orchestra; Tbilisi Mickeladze Chamber Orchestra and the Batumi Symphony Orchestra, Georgia
Alexandra Dariescu is quickly establishing herself as one of the most versatile pianists of her generation. Selected by the Young Concert Artist Trust in 2008, Alexandra immediately went on to win the prestigious Prix Maurice Ravel at the Academie Internationale de Musique Ravel in France.
Alexandra’s busy 2009/2010 season includes concerto performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia ViVA, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Nottingham, Norwich and York Symphony Orchestras, performing Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Brahms 1, Beethoven 3 and Mozart K 414 with the European Union Chamber Orchestra in Germany.
In June, Alexandra will be appearing at St. John’s Smith Square in London with the newly formed International Orchestra for Freedom in Tchaikovsky’s Concerto no 1. Solo appearances include the Verbier Festival and Academy in Switzerland, return visits to the Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Holywell Room and Jacqueline du Pré Hall in Oxford, Bath, Exeter and Leicester International Festivals and City of London Festival.
Alexandra graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with first class honours and the prestigious Gold Medal and is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Ronan O’Hora.
Following her debut in a recital at age 7 and her orchestral debut at age 11 with the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Orchestra, Edit-Maria Fazakas has performed in important venues across Europe (Austria, Germany-including the 2000 Hannover World Exhibition-Italy, France, Belgium, United Kingdom), in Japan and the USA.
Her most recent appearances include Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, as a result of winning the school’s concerto competition. This season’s engagements include a recital in Lima, Peru and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano concerto with the Newton Symphony. In Romania, her native country, she has performed in the George Enescu International Music Festival and has made special recordings for the National Radio and Television. Edit Fazakas graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Peter Takacs and received the Dean’s Talent Award. In 2010, she was awarded Master of Music degree at the Boston Conservatory, under the tutelage of Michael Lewin. For her high academic achievements, Ms. Fazakas was invited to become a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Society.
Australian pianist David Fung has performed extensively with orchestras in Israel, the USA, Australia and Japan. He has also been invited to give recitals at important music festivals in the US, the UK, Germany, Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands, including débuts at the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo and the 2006 Edinburgh International Festival.
Mr. Fung was a laureate at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv, and was awarded the Prize for Best Classical Concerto, and Best Performance of Chamber Music. In 2002, David Fung won the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Award, which culminated in the concerto finals with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Subsequently, he recorded his début CD with the ABC Classics label and has appeared as soloist with the major symphony orchestras in Australia.
Mr. Fung holds a Bachelors degree and an Artists Diploma from the Colburn Conservatoire. He is currently pursuing further graduate studies at Yale University with Peter Frankl.
Ivan was born in Ukraine in 1983 and began his piano studies with his mother at the age of 5. He studied at Krushelnytska Music High School until 2001 when he entered the Lysenko Music Academy in Lvov. His first public performance was at 9 years old and his first performance with an orchestra was at 12. Since then he has been invited to perform each year with Lvov Symphony Orchestra.
In 2004 he was awarded a scholarship to study with Norma Fisher at the Royal Northern College of Music and is currently studying for his Masters at RNCM under Graham Scott. He has taken part in masterclasses with Stephen Hough, Howard Shelley, Charles Rosen, Imogen Cooper, Nelson Goerner and Barry Douglas and has also taken part in the RNCM’s Brahms, Beethoven and Rachmaninov Festivals.
Recently, he was chosen to perform with the RNCM Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and the RNCM Wind Orchestra. Ivan was awarded the Myra Has prize from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, a scholarship from the Hattori Foundation and recently won 2nd prize in the Sheepdrove Piano Competition at Newbury Festival.
Fuko Ishii has studied piano with her parents since she was 4 years old. She currently studies with Professor Genichro Murakami at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. Fuko Ishii is a laureate of many competitions including the International Chopin Competition in Asia, the All Japan Student Music Competition, the Ettlingen International Competition, SEILER International Piano Competition in Japan, International Chopin Competition for young pianists in Beijing and the Tokyo Music Competition.
As Artist-in-Residence of Swedish Radio P2, Peter has emerged as one of the most outstanding young performers from Scandinavia. Recent awards include winning ‘Ljunggrenska Tävlingen 2009’, Second Prize in the International ‘Nordic Piano Competition 2008’ and the ‘Swedish International Duo Competition 2008’ and being given the ‘Franz Liszt Award’ from the first EU Piano Competition.
Peter performs regularly at Sweden’s most important venues including Berwaldhallen, Stockholm as well as giving concerts in the Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonie in Cologne and Palais des Beaux-Artes in Brussels. Besides performing as a soloist, Peter is a passionate chamber musician and has established collaborations with clarinetist Emil Jonason, and cellists Andreas Brantelid and Jakob Koranyi, with whom he has recorded cello-sonatas by Britten and Brahms for Caprice Records. The recording was later marked as ‘Recording of the year 2008’ by Music Web International.
Since 2008, Peter has worked with maestro Konstantin Bogino and Professor Ander Kilström. He holds a Concert Diploma and Bachelor and Masters Degree from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where he studied with Professors Kilström and Mats Widlund.
Alexander Karpeyev began playing the piano at the age of 7, studying at the Children’s Music School in Saratov. In 2000 he entered the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory graduating in 2005 with the highest honours. He won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he is a student of Professor Joan Havill.
Alexander has been a major prizewinner in many international competitions and has won 1st Prize at the 2006 Oxford Music Festival, the 2007 Dudley International Piano Competition and the Norah Sande Award 2008. He was awarded The Worshipful Company of Musician’s Silver Medal in 2008.
He has given recitals in many of the major venues in the UK and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Belgium, Greece, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.
He has featured on the Performance Channel of Sky Television and BBC Radio 3.
Pavel was born in Novosibirsk, Russia in 1989. He began to study piano and violin at the age of 6. After studying with Professor Mary Lebenzon from 2004 to 2007, he entered the Moscow State Conservatoire where he continues his education with Professor Sergei Dorensky, Professor Andrei Pisarev, Professor Pavel Nersessian and Nikolai Lugansky.
Pavel is a prizewinner of 15 national and international competitions including the 7th International Piano Competition in Andorra (1st), the 3rd International Gilels Piano Competition in Odessa (1st), the 1st European Piano Competition in Poznan (3rd), the 16th International Piano Competition in Pinerolo (4th) and the 29th International Piano Competition Delia Steinberg in Madrid (1st). He took part in the International Casalmaggiore Festival in 2005 and 2006 and also in the Verbier Festival and Academy in 2007 and 2009.
He has participated in masterclasses with D. Bashkirov, S. Bishop-Kovacevich, R. Capucon, C. Frank, E. Naumoff, M. delli Ponti, G. Takacs-Nagy, S. Zakharian-Rutstein. In 2007 he was awarded with the national order “The Young Talent of Russia”. Pavel has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Germany, UK and Poland.
Bing Bing Li was born into a musical family in China in 1987. She began her piano studies at the age of five and at the age of 10 took first place at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, Junior School Division. In 1999 she was invited to perform in master classes by Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling. In 2001, Bing Bing was awarded a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music and is now at the Royal Academy of Music studying for a Master’s Degree with Professor Christopher Elton.
Bing Bing won the UK Benslow Young Pianist of the Year award and was the concerto winner of the International Marlow Music Festival. In 2003, she was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Chetham’s International Piano Summer Course. She has given frequent public performances appearing at the London Paganini Festival and was featured on the Purcell Chamber Orchestra’s Concerto Concert in St. John’s Smith Square.
Engagements outside the U.K. have included performances in New York, the New England Conservatory, and Boston, as well as in Paris, Canada, Italy, Switzerland and Holland.
Olga was born in Ukraine in 1982 and began her piano studies at age 5. In 2001, she graduated from Chernigov Music College and entered the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music in Kiev. She competed successfully in competitions in Russia and Italy and performed widely in Ukraine. She participated in masterclasses with pianists Vadim Rudenko, Norma Fisher and Bernd Goetzke.
In 2006 she was offered an Entrance Award at the Royal Northern College of Music. At RNCM, she was 2nd in the Piano Recital Prize in 2008 and 1st in the Concerto Audition in 2009 and performed with Manchester Beethoven Orchestra in 2008. She participated in masterclasses with Anton Voight, Charles Rosen, Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Michel Dalberto, Nelson Goerner, Jerome Rose and Norma Fisher.
In 2008 she made her London debut at St Martin-in-the-Fields and appeared at the Wigmore Hall performing James McMillan’s music in a study day. In 2009 Olga completed her postgraduate course at RNCM with Distinction and joined the Masters Programme. She holds the Emmanuel Prize as a soloist and was a finalist of the Kenneth Loveland Gift and RNCM’s Gold Medal Weekend in 2010.
Born in China, Meng Yang Pan started to play the piano at the age of three. She was accepted by the Central Conservatoire of Music in Beijing in 1996 and in 1999 was awarded a scholarship to study at the Purcell School. During her three years there she appeared both as a soloist and chamber musician at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Purcell Room and the UNESCO in Paris.
In 2003, Meng Yang was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. She participated in Master Classes with John Lill, Barry Douglas, Dmitri Alexeev and Ferenc Rados, Ronan O’Hora and Jonathan Plowright. In 2006, she won numerous prizes and competitions.
At the graduation ceremony in 2007, Meng Yang received one of the most prestigious prizes at the RCM, the Tagore Gold Medal, for making an outstanding contribution to College life. The medal was presented to her by HRH The Prince of Wales the following year. Meng Yang is currently studying with the RCM’s Head of Keyboard Vanessa Latarche.
At the age of 16 Dimitri Papadimitriou won first prize at the Moscow International Chamber Music Competition. His studies include a Piano Diploma from the “Athenaeum Conservatory”, a BA from the University of Indianapolis, Athens Campus, under the tuition of Alla Halapsis, a Masters of Music and a Performance Diploma from Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, under the tuition of Emile Naoumoff and Menahem Pressler. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin under the tuition of pianist John O’Conor.
Dimitri Papadimitriou has appeared several times with the Greek National Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the most recent collaboration he made his Live Radio debut playing Tchaikovsky’s B-flat minor Concerto. Other appearances with the NRSOG include Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Greek National Opera Theater, as well as Beethoven’s C minor Piano Concerto at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall; the concerts were filmed by the Greek National Television. Other significant appearances include the “Union of Russian Musicians” in Moscow and a guest artist performance at the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of Indianapolis.
Born in 1987 in Moscow, Nadezda studied at the Central Music School for Gifted Children from 1994 to 2005 before moving to the Moscow State Conservatoire where she studied until 2010. She continues her studies at the University of Arts in Berlin in October 2010.
Nadezda won 2nd Prize at the International Competition “Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte” in the Czech Republic in 1998 and 3rd Prize (as well as prizes for virtuosity and best performance of French music) at the 6th International Piano Competition, Adilia Alieva, in France in 2008.
She has performed with the Central Music School Orchestra and Arpeggione Orchestra in Moscow and throughout Russia. She has also performed in Austria, France, Germany, Latvia, Japan, Italy and Norway. She took part in the Mozarteum Summer Academy in 2007, the Holland Music Sessions in 2009 and the Kawai Academi in 2010 as well as numerous piano festivals in Russia.
Wu Qian was born in Shanghai in 1984 and began her training at Shanghai Conservatoire of Music. At 13 she entered the Menuhin School before studying with Professor Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music. She completed her Masters Degree with Distinction in 2009. Qian has participated in masterclasses by Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia, Stephen Kovacevich, Charles Rosen, Leon Fleisher, Mstislav Rostropovich, Stephen Hough and Alexander Satz.
At 15, she performed in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. She made her debut recital at the South Bank Purcell Room in 2000 and has given recitals throughout Europe. She has appeared in the Wigmore, Royal Festival and Bridgewater Halls in the UK and made her debut in City Hall, Hong Kong. She recently appeared at Harrogate, Grassington, Norfolk and Norwich, and London Chopin Festivals.
At London’s Messiaen Festival, she performed “Un vitrail et des oiseaux” with Pierre-Andre Valade and the Royal Academy of Music’s Manson Ensemble. International engagements include return visits to Koblenz and appearances at the Santander Festival, the Yale Summer Music Festival and the Hong Kong Cultural Arts Festival. Qian represented China in the Europalia festival touring Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic. Her debut recording was released in 2009.
Scipione graduated in piano in 2006 at the Conservatory Tito Schipa of Lecce and currently studies with Ippazio Ponzetta at the International Piano Academy F. B. Mendelssohn in Taurisano. He has followed masterclasses with Emilia Fadini, Franco Scala, Aldo Ciccolini, Vincenzo Balzani, Marcello Abbado, Sergio Perticaroli, Natalia Trull, Vsevolod Dvorkin, Enrico Pace and Leonid Margarius. He played for the Furcht Pianoforti in Milano.
Prizes include 1st prize in the 23rd International Piano Competition “Città di Marsala”, 19th International Piano Competition “Camillo Togni” (2nd), 4th International Piano Competition “Mendelssohn Cup” (2nd), 2nd Concurso Internacional de Piano de Campillos (2nd), 15th International piano competition “Ricard Viñes” (2nd), 57th International Piano Competition “Ferruccio Busoni” (Semifinalist) FMCIM, 55th International Music Competition “Maria Canals” (3rd) FMCIM, 4th Tbilisi International Piano Competition (5th) FMCIM, 19th “Premio Chopin” International Piano Competition (2nd), 52nd “Premio Jaen” Concurso Internacional de Piano (2nd, Contemporary Prize, audience prize) FMCIM 13th International Piano Competition “Premio Monopoli” (1st).
He has given recitals across Italy and in Madrid (Auditorium Joaquin Rodrigo), Miami (Steinway Hall), Barcelona (Palau de la Musica Catalana, Ajuntamento, Casa Pedrera, Conservatorio Municipal), Tbilisi (Grand Hall of the Conservatory) and Zagabria (International Music Academy).
Born in Manila, the Philippines in 1986, Oliver started playing piano at age 7 and gave his first solo public recital at age 9. He won the Philippines’ National Music Competition for Young Artists in 1998 and 2001 and graduated from the Philippine High School for the Arts as Most Outstanding Graduate Artist for Music.
He has performed in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea, and the Philippines. He won the 2004 Lynn Concerto Competition and was Grand Prize winner in 2003 and 2004 of the Madelyn Savarick Annual Scholarship Competition of the Centre for the Arts in Boca Raton, Florida.
In 2005 he performed with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Lynn University Philharmonia and made his debut with Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. He has participated in masterclasses with Sarah Davis Bueckner, Yoshikazu Nagai, Rebecca Penneys, Cecile Licad, Jon Nakamatsu, and Philip Evans.
At Lynn University, he graduated summa cum laude under the tutelage of Dr. Roberta Rust. He recently obtained his Master of Music in Piano Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was awarded the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize. He won Silver Medal in the 2008 Joenju International Piano Competition in South Korea and continues his studies at CIM as an Artist Diploma candidate.
Daniil Sayamov was born in 1983 in Rostov-on-Don into a family of musicians. From 1992 to 1999 he studied at the Rostov-on-Don State Musical Lyceum. When he was 15, Daniil entered the Rostov State Rachmaninoff Conservatoire where he studied until 2000. Then, until 2009, he studied in the class of Professor Vera Gornostayeva at the Moscow State Conservatoire where he undertook his doctorate from 2005 on the piano music of Alfred Schnittke. From 2000 to 2005 Daniil was the recipient of “Sviatoslav Richter” Scholarship. During this time he became a Laureate and prizewinner of several international piano competitions.
Daniil Sayamov has taken part in a number of master classes including “The Hamamatsu International Piano Academy” (Japan), “Bayerische Musikakademie Marktoberdorf” (Germany), “Eusebiuskring” (Netherlands). In 2009 he entered the postgraduate course of the Royal College of Music (London), having won a scholarship, studying with Professor Dmitri Alexeyev. As a soloist, he has a wide repertoire of Russian and European classical and modern music and has given concerts in Russia, USA, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine under a number of distinguished conductors.
Ben Schoeman was born in Pretoria in 1983. He has won all the major national music competitions and in 2008 won first prize in the UNISA Vodacom International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa – the first South African to do so. In 2009 he won the gold medal and first prize in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in London.
He regularly performs concertos with the leading South African symphony orchestras, including the Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. He also regularly gives solo and chamber music recitals throughout South Africa, recently undertaking a nationwide tour of 23 concerts. He has also given performances across Europe, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Ben Schoeman recently obtained a Masters in Performing Arts from the University of Pretoria and in 2005 moved to Imola in Italy, where he continued his studies at the Accademia Pianistica ‘Incontri col Maestro’. He is currently undertaking a Doctorate at City University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studies with Ronan O’Hora.
Born in 1984, Mohamed started his music instruction at the age of 7 at the Cairo Conservatory. Graduating with distinction in 2004, he was awarded a full scholarship to attend Brevard Music College, studying with Professor Douglas Weeks. He won 1st Prize in the Brevard Music Festival Competition in the USA in 2000 and 2002 and in the BMC concerto competition in 2001. He played with the BMC Orchestra in 2003 and was granted the Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in the USA with Professor Marilyn Neeley.
He has appeared as soloist with Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Cairo Opera Orchestra, Cairo Conservatory Orchestra, London Chamber Players, Repertory Symphony Orchestra, BMC Orchestra, The Egyptian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and University of Bonn Orchestra. He performed in the Beethoven Festival in Bonn with the Cairo Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in 2007 and took part in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s tour to Egypt. In 2009, he gave the Egyptian premiere of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd piano concerto with Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
He is a Masters student at Manhattan School of Music studying with Professor Marc Silverman and will continue his Professional Studies Diploma there in the Autumn.
Oxana was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 1987 and studied at the Special Music School at Kazakh State Conservatory from 1994 until 2002. In 2002 she entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory moving in 2005 to study at Moscow State Conservatory.
Oxana won 2nd prize at the P.Serebryakov International Piano Competition in Russia in 2002, was winner of the B.Dvarionas International Piano Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2004 (with a special prize for the best interpretation of 20th century music), won 3rd Prize at Sendai International Music Competiton in Japan in 2007 (with a special prize for the best interpretation of the 20th century concerto) and won the public prize at Panama International Piano Competition in 2008.
She was awarded 4th prize, the International Music Critic Prize and a Special Prize for the best interpretation of F.Busoni’s work at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy and 3rd Prize in the International China Shanghai Piano Competition in China, both in 2009.
Oxana has performed as a soloist and with orchestra in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Japan, Panama, Columbia and Syria.
Slava began his musical education at the age of 5 with Irina Bazarova in Kharkov, Ukraine and later studied with Victoria Lazovaya and Igor Prihod’ko. In 2003 he was awarded a scholarship to study with Norma Fisher at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he won many major awards, including the coveted RNCM Gold Medal. He has participated in masterclasses with Stephen Hough, Alexander Melnikov, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nelson Goerner and Richard Goode. Until 2010 he studied on the first RNCM International Artist Diploma Course.
Competition successes include 1st prize in the Luzenko International Piano Competition in Ukraine, Moray International Piano Competition, Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year, the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship and Jacques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition. He was a finalist in the Busoni International Piano Competition in 2007 and awarded the Silver Medal of The Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2008.
Slava has appeared as recital and concerto soloist in Ukraine, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Sebastian, 25, was born in southern Spain and moved to Britain aged 4 where he now resides in Hertfordshire. He had his first piano lesson aged 13 and in 2008 graduated with Distinction from the Royal College of Music with his Advanced PGDip. Sebastian’s tutors included Emily Jeffrey, Niel Immelman, Ruth Nye and Christopher Elton with whom he still studies.
Since graduating Sebastian has pursued a performing and teaching career and has given masterclasses around England. Sebastian has given solo recitals in the USA, Germany and in over 80 UK venues and performed with the Worthing Philharmonic, Hertfordshire Philharmonic and the Capella Amadeus Orchestra in Germany.
Sebastian has won several international prizes including the coveted Chappell Medal at the RCM (2006) and 1st Prize in the International Louise Henriette competition in Germany (2004). He has received masterclass tuition from Claude Frank, Gary Graffman, Olga Kern, John Lill, Joanna MacGreggor and Stephen Kovacevich. He has released two CDs and will perform in UK festivals as a soloist and with his duo partner Jonathan Parkin on clarinet in 2010/11.
Cordelia Williams began piano lessons at home as soon as she could climb onto the piano stool. She gave her first public recital to celebrate her eighth birthday. Since becoming the Piano Winner of BBC Young Musician 2006, she has given recital and concerto performances throughout Great Britain, France, Italy, and the Gulf States.
Performance highlights have included a Wigmore Hall début in 2006; in the same year she made her first foreign tour in the Gulf States. Her ‘BBC Young Musician 2006 Final’ performance of Saint-Saens 2nd Concerto with The Northern Sinfonia under Yan Pascal Tortelier led to an invitation from the orchestra to return in 2008 for Shostakovich’s 1st Concerto with conductor Thomas Zehetmair. She recently made her Chinese début at the Century Theatre in Beijing.
Cordelia spent seven years at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, studying with Bernard Roberts. She went on to read Theology at Clare College, Cambridge, while also having piano lessons with Hamish Milne in London. She graduated last summer and now studies as a postgraduate with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
James Willshire appears as concerto soloist, solo recitalist and chamber musician throughout the UK and abroad. He has performed a wide-ranging concerto repertoire with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and The Ensemble of London. He has given solo recitals throughout the UK, in Barcelona, New York, Ekaterinburg, Kiev, given the opening concert of Il Festival di Londra in Italy, performed in the Paxos International Festival and has toured India three times.
At the age of fifteen James was awarded an Educational Scholarship in the 2000 London International Piano Competition, the youngest British pianist to receive the award. He has won a great many scholarships including the Julius Isserlis Scholarship, the MBF Myra Hess Award, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and The Martin Musical Scholarship. He was a winner of the Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Award.
James has performed at many festivals throughout the UK, including the Lichfield, Edinburgh and Cheltenham Festivals, and has appeared at the Bridgewater, Barbican, and Royal Festival Hall where he gave his début recital in 2008. Broadcasts include live performances on the Performance Channel and Indian National Radio.