London City Philharmonic

Soprano Roberta Salvati

Roberta was born in Chieti, Italy. She graduated in singing and piano and was the winner of the international competition “William Walton” and of the international competition “Una Voce per Verdi-Pietro Mongini”.

Roberta debuted in the role of "Emilia" in Antonio Salieri's opera "The Rich of a Day" in the world premiere with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona Foundation (conducted by Tiziano Severini, directed by Gilbert Deflo).

At the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, she participated in the production of the opera "Don Carlo" by G. Verdi as "Voce dal cielo" (conducted by Fabio Luisi, directed by Stéphane Braunschweig). Also at the La Scala Roberta sang the Christmas concert "Elias" by Felix Mendelssohn directed by Daniel Harding and broadcast in Eurovision by Rai 1. With the Arena di Verona Foundation Roberta has collaborated in numerous concerts of chamber and sacred music including the Requiem by Mozart directed by Maestro Marcus Bosch. She made her debut in the role of “Suor Angelica” by G. Puccini with the orchestra of the Puccini Theater of Torre Del Lago (conducted by Valerio Galli, directed by Vivien Hewitt), the role of “Tosca” by G. Puccini at the Teatro Marrucino in Chieti (conducted by M° Marcello Bufalini, directed by Pier Paolo Pacini) and performed the role of “Violetta Valéry” in Verdi's “La Traviata” in Asti, Geneva and at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan. Roberta also performed the role of "Leonora" in G. Verdi's "Trovatore" conducted by Maestro Lorenzo Passerini and the role of "Nedda" in the opera "Pagliacci" by R. Leoncavallo at the Teatro Marrucino in Chieti under the direction of Aldo Tarabella.

Roberta carries out intense concert activity in Italy and abroad, soon engaged in a tour with Verdi's Requiem, in Switzerland and cities in Italy.

Violist Laura Vallejo

Laura Vallejo obtained a Master of Music degree in viola performance from Yale University (USA) and completed her musical education at The Cleveland Institute of Music.

She made her solo debut in 1999 with the Amalur chamber orchestra and has been invited to participate in numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Spoleto. 

Since 2004 Laura is a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra performing with internationally acclaimed conductors, and has served as guest principal violist in the English National Ballet, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Orquestra del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra and Aarhus Symfoniorkester. She has been a teacher at the Matisse International Music Course in Madrid.

Violinist Ariel Lee

Ariel Seung Hyun Lee, born in Seoul, South Korea, is currently pursuing the degree of Doctoral of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University, with a full-ride doctoral scholarship. She is currently under the tutelage of Kathleen Winkler, and also serves as the Benjamin Armistead Shepherd Teaching Fellow at the university.

She received her Bachelor's and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Li Lin, and as an avid chamber and orchestral musician, Ariel has participated in the Verbier Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Aspen Music Festival in past years. In her orchestral career, she has served the position of concertmaster in major orchestras such as the Juilliard Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

She is a former prize winner of the WDAV’s Young Chamber Musician’s Competition as well as the New York Concerti Sinfonietta Concerto Competition. She is a current fellow of the Young Artist Program at Houston’s DACAMERA, and her passion for expanding the classical music audience leads her to participate in many community engagement programs.

She is currently playing on the “Kubelik” Stradivarius 1687 on a generous loan from the Shepherd School of Music.

Soprano Bing Bing Wang is a young Chinese soprano who actively sings in Europe. She was named on of the Top Ten Sopranos in China by CCTV, appearing in concerts on TV broadcasting worldwide. She is the first Chinese national to graduate with a master’s degree from Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. While in Europe She has sung many roles such as Liu in Turandot, Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly, Nedda in Pagliacci, Micaela in Carmen, Mimi in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata, and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, in opera houses in Italy, France, Australia, United States, Israel, Latvia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, etc.

In June 2022, she performed a concert in Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma. In April, she sang the Beethoven Mass in C in Bologna. In September she will reprise the role of Nedda in Pagliacci in the Guangzhou Opera House. In October she will reprise the role of Madame

Butterfly with Bulgaria Stara Zagora State Opera.

In 2021 she made her debut at Slovenian National Theatre Opera & Ballet Ljubljana as Nedda in Pagliacci.

In 2019, Sony Classic Label signed with her to release her first Italian Arias Album, the first Chinese soprano to release a CD with Sony. In March she returned to Latvian National Opera for Liu in Turandot, in April a recital in Ravenna , Italy. In July 2019, she performed a concert tour in China with the Italian Verona Quartet.

Violinist Alina Hiltunen

Finnish-born Alina has been playing the violin since she was five. She held her first solo recital at the age of 14. She took her degree in music education at the North Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Finland under the guidance of Dr. Tapani Yrjola, and studied her Master Degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Diana Cummings and Erich Gruenberg, graduating in 2011. 

Alina has attended many masterclasses by famous violinists, such as Jack Liebeck, Hu Kun, Almita Vamos and Rodney Friend. She is a member of FeMusa String Orchestra, London Arte Chamber Orchestra and Collaborative Orchestra, and done successful tours to Oman, Azerbaijan, France, Hong Kong, China and Germany. Alina is currently the first violinist of Konvalia String Quartet, and has worked professionally with the Joensuu City Orchestra in Finland and Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. In 2015 she was a member of the Southbank Sinfonia in London and has continued to work with them on numerous occasions.

Pianist Angela Szu-Hsuan Wu is a Taiwanese pianist currently based in London. During her early years of living in Canada, she has attended the Academy for Young Artists at Mount Royal University in Calgary. She has received prizes and scholarships at local, provincial, and national levels in Canada, including the first prize at the Canadian Music Competition in 2012. After winning the Calgary Concerto Competition, she has collaborated multiple times with the Calgary Civic Symphony.

Angela has participated in masterclasses of distinguished pianists and attended numerous summer music festivals in the US, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany. Being selected amongst the participants of the Adamant School of Music, she was invited to perform at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in 2016. Most recently, she was a finalist in the 2022 Montecatini International Piano Competition and received the first prize at the 2023 Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition.

Angela has obtained a bachelor’s degree in performance with the distinction of “Outstanding Achievement in Piano" in 2016 and an Artist Diploma in 2018 from McGill University. She was a recipient of the Lubka Kolessa piano award, along with numerous other scholarships. At the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she has been generously sponsored by the Guildhall Trust, The Worshipful Company of Barbers, and The Adelaide E Alexander Memorial Scholarship, Angela has completed her Master’s in Performance, Artist Diploma with Distinction, and Advanced Certificate. Her teachers include Ronan O’Hora, Martin Roscoe, André Laplante, Kyoko Hashimoto, and Sara Laimon.

Pianist Victor Maslov 

Russian pianist Victor Maslov was praised as “one of those people who is close to all-round mastery of his repertoire” by the New York Concert Review, following his performance at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall), New York.

He gave his concerto debut at the age of nine with the State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow and has since performed with orchestras such as RCM Symphony, RCM Philharmonic, Symphonic Orchestra of Czech Radio, Astana Opera Symphonic Orchestra, and others. Victor has given solo performances at international music festivals across the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, Israel, and the USA. Venues have included Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, Smetana Hall and Rudolfinum.

In 2021, Victor graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, having completed his Artist Diploma as a Carne Trust Junior Fellow. Victor also has received masterclasses from Sir András Schiff, Dmitry Bashkirov, Peter Donohoe, Marios Papadopoulos, Tatiana Zelikman, and Leslie Howard.

Violinist Mikako Shimatani

Mikako Shimatani is a Japanese violinist who is 3rd prize winner of the 32nd Japan Classical Music Competition, 18th Romanian International Music Competition (special incentive award), North London Festival of Music Concerto Competition (1st place), Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Competiton (2nd place) and Concorso MusicArte organized by the Italian-Japanese Association (Gold award). Through this association, Mikako had the opportunity to perform at the Theatro Olympico in Vicenza and the Kodai temple in Kyoto at the age of nine.

Mikako’s recent achievement includes two recitals at Wigmore Hall. She is also a keen chamber musician and her quartet was selected for the prestigious Frost Trust Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble (A.S.S.E.T) at the Royal Academy of Music in 2021, where she had regular lessons from Gyorgy Pauk and gave over twenty concerts across the UK last year. With the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, she worked with numerous conductors including Semyon Bychkov, John Wilson, Karina Canellakis and Edward Gardner.

Mikako studied at the Purcell School for Young Musicians with Charles Sewart and is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Levon Chilingirian, where her study is supported by a scholarship from the conservatoire. She currently plays on a Hannibal Fagnola 1926 kindly loaned by a Japanese violin collector through the Nippon Violin Co.

Violinist Kamila Bydlowska 

Polish violinist Kamila Bydlowska graduated from the Royal College of Music with an Artist Diploma in Performance where she was under the tutelage of Ani Schnarch, supported by Jacqueline Ward Award. She previously studied at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, USA with Mauricio Fuks and Kevork Mardirossian, where she was awarded a full scholarship.

Her solo and a chamber performances include : the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly, the National Gallery, St Martin-in-the Fields, Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Center, Victoria & Albert Museum in London , National Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Grand Hall of the Tbilisi State Conservatory. As a soloist she recently appeared with the Angel Orchestra, Chamber Academy Orchestra, Croydon Symphony Orchestra ,

Ealing Symphony Orchestra , Guilford Symphony Orchestra, North London Sinfonia, Worthing Symphony Orchestra and the nearets engagements include Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Northampton Symphony Orchestra as well as recitals for Oxford Music Society and in London.
She performed at Tengiz Amirejibi International Music Festival in Tbilisi (Georgia ), iPalpiti Festival of International Laureats in Los Angeles, Bowdoin International Music Festival ( USA), Orford Music Festival ( Canada). A winner of multiple awards, she is the recipient of the Ministry of Culture of Poland scholarship and Artistic Excellence Award from Indiana University. As a soloist she performed in Austria, Canada, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Israel, Poland, Sicily, Slovenia, UK, USA. 

Pianist Emil Duncumb

Born in Sheffield in 1990, Emil moved to Norway when he was seven. He started playing the piano in 1999, and in 2002 was accepted onto the Barratt-Due’s Young Talents Program as a student of Mark Nippierd. In 2008 Emil won the Senior Class in the Sparre Olsen Competition in addition to an overall Honorary Award and became a student of Liv Glaser. From 2009 to 2013 Emil studied with Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor for his BMus at the Royal Academy of Music and from 2013 to 2015 took a Masters in performance at the Norwegian Academy of Musicunder the direction of Håvard Gimse.

After a brief period at the Juilliard School in 2015, Emil has now returned to the Royal Academy of music for a professional diploma.
Emil has performed in various concerts and festivals both at home in Norway and abroad, with outstanding reviews. Amongst these are appearances at the Northern Lights Festival (Tromsø), Olavsfestdagene (Trondheim) and International Arts Festival (Gozo). He has performed at Gamle Logen and the Konserthus in Oslo and London’s Wigmore Hall. Emil's final 2 years of study are kindly funded by a scholarship from the Ingvar Dobloug stiftelse.