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.
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 Kirsty Taylor-Stokes
Award-winning British soprano Kirsty Taylor-Stokes has been described by Opera Now as “a really classy full-bodied voice .... who sings with spine-tingling delicate beauty” Kirsty studied at Birmingham Conservatoire (BMus Hons) and then at The Royal Academy of Music (MMus, Dip Ram).
She made her professional debut at Glyndebourne Opera singing the role of Cockerel in Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. During the same season, Kirsty performed smaller roles in L'enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel. Kirsty was subsequently invited back to Glyndebourne, to cover the roles of 1st Nymph, Rusalka, and Female Chorus, Rape of Lucretia.
Kirsty has also sung the roles of Mimi, La Boheme (Glyndebourne Education & cover for Grange Park) Tatyana, Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera First, Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro for Garsington’s Alvarez programme in the UK and Corfu, & Vrenchen in Delius’ A Village Romeo & Juliette at Cadogan Hall.
Most recently Kirsty made two exciting role debuts singing Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Minack Theatre, and Tosca for Opera Loki across France and the UK to great critical acclaim. Kirsty is also a regular performer of Leider, with Strauss, (notably his Vier Letzte Lieder) and Rachmaninov’s Songs being particular favourites.
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.
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.
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 Madama Butterfly with Bulgaria Stara Zagora State Opera.
In 2021 she made her debut at the 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.
Baritone Andrew Mayor
Andrew was born in Manchester and educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford, singing as a chorister and subsequently as a choral scholar at Magdalen College. He studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music. An early experience was as a soloist in a performance of “Messiah from Scratch” at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Sir David Willcocks.
Another milestone was singing as bass soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Maurizio Pollini conducted by Claudio Abbado in the Festspielhaus Salzburg. Andrew also has a busy operatic career, touring the USA as Danilo (Die lustige Witwe) and throughout Europe as Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) and Rigoletto for Compagnia d’Opera Italiana di Milano. Roles in the UK include Renato (Un ballo in maschera) and the Count (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Holland Park, Ford (Falstaff) for ETO, conducted by Ivor Bolton, and Don Giovanni for Mid Wales Opera. At the Royal Opera House, he sang Starveling in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Sir Richard Hickox. In 2023 Andrew sang Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte) on tour in the UK and France, including a performance with the Southbank Sinfonia at St John’s Smith Square. Future plans include Roderigo (Don Carlo) later this year and Donner (Rheingold) and Gunther (Götterdämmerung) leading to performances of the full Ring Cycle for Regents Opera in London in 2025.
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.
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.
Tenor Dominic J. Walsh
Aussie Tenor Dominic Walsh loves performing. His first performance was at a Queensland Eisteddfod at age 6 and discovered his voice in 2000 aged 15. Since then, he enjoys all performances with a special passion for Opera.
He’s lived in London, his spiritual home, since 2012 and performed with most major UK opera companies including Glyndebourne, ETO, Opera North and Scottish Opera. His recent roles include Ferrando for Regents Opera, Alfredo for Opera Brava and Turiddu for Lincoln Choral Society.
London-based Australian tenor Dominic J. Walsh has been singing and performing in the UK and Australia since 2007 and is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music. He has performed with most major UK opera companies and most recently in The Wreckers for Glyndebourne, Cosi fan tutte for Regents Opera, La Traviata for Opera Brava and a concert performance of Cavelleria Rusticana for Lincoln Choral Society. He has performed in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal and The Duke of Sussex and has sung from Fontainebleau to Adelaide and Kuwait City to New York.
Recently he has performed ‘A Night at the Opera’ across the UK and Ireland with the London Concertante. Dominic hails from rural Queensland and 2022 will make his role debut as Alfredo in La Traviata. This year has also seen him debut as Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino for Regents Opera and his first season at Glyndebourne in The Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smyth. 2021 saw his role debuts as Cavaradossi in Tosca for Opera Brava and Rodolfo in La Boheme for Outreach Opera. In September, he is touring with London Concertante across England, Scotland & Ireland.
He has been performing across the UK and Australia since 2009 with companies including English Touring Opera, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Wexford Festival, State Opera of South Australia and Opera Queensland to name a few. On the lighter side, he also enjoys comedy and operetta and has performed the role of Nanki-poo in The Mikado for State Opera of South Australia (’19), Scottish Opera (’16) and Opera Queensland (’12).
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.
Flautist Chiawen Kiew
Chiawen is a London-based freelance flautist performing regularly as a soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chiawen received his music degree from Stanford University in the United States where he was the principal flute of the US National Youth Orchestra, the California Youth Symphony, and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Since moving to Europe, Chiawen has maintained an active schedule of solo recitals, orchestral concerts, and chamber music performances. He is a founding member of the Paris-based wind quintet Quintitus and is also principal flute and a founding member of the London City Philharmonic.
Cellist Alexandra Fletcher
Alexandra Fletcher was born in West London, and began playing the cello at the age of eight. After moving to Boston, USA in 1994, she began studies at the New England Conservatory of Music junior department, under Laura Blustein, with coaching in chamber music from Colin Carr. On returning to the UK she studied with Robert Max and Philip Sheppard at the Royal Academy of Music, and later Mats Lidstrom, with masterclasses from Steven Isserlis and Alexander Baillie.
Alexandra was a category finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year, winner of the Marlowe Young Musician of the Year, Kingston Young Musician of the Year and Royal Academy of Music Junior Department concerto competitions. She has also won the Kent Music Festival Outstanding Achievement Award, and the Violoncello Prize, Instrumental Prize and Premier Award at the Kingston Festival of the Performing Arts. Previously a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Alexandra plays as a freelance orchestral cellist with a range of ensembles. Past solo performances have included Dvorak’s Silent Woods, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and the Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and she will be performing Richard Strauss’s Romanze for Cello and Orchestra in the new year.
Pianist Shkelzen Baftiari
Shkelzen Baftiari finished his primary and high school
in Skopje in the class of Professor Ludmilla Romanova graduating cum laude from the Faculty of Music in Skopje in the class of Professor Boris Romanov. He currently studies piano with the pianist Simon Trpceski. Shkelzen Baftiari has participated in many concerts in Macedonia and Abroad, and is also the winner of many international competition, including first prize in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria), Laureate at the Valentino Bucchi International Competition in Rome (Italy), second prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Competition (France), second prize in Torino (Italy), first prize at the Schumann-Brahms International Competition (Bulgaria). In april 2007 he was the winner of the
Special First Prize at The Republic Competition on Piano. He has given recitals in Skopje, Pristina, Tirana, Sofia, Belgrade, Ohrid
(Ohrid summer) and has performed as a soloist with Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Faculty of Musical Arts in Skopje. Beside his recordings at the Macedonian Radio - Television (MRT), at the Albanian Television (TVSH) and at the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) he is a regular follower of the seminars in Ohrid during "Ohrid Summer" held by professor, Boris Romanov.
Violinist Dacian Marin
Born in Braila, Romania, Dacian Marin began his musical preparation at the age of 7 in the newly founded Haricleea Darclee school of music in Braila.At the age of 13, he gave his first solo violin recital in the presence of Prince Paul of Romania and Princess Lia, who gave excellent reviews on the young interpreter artist. At 16, he decided to follow the violin under the watchful eye of the young teacher I. Filip and started successfully representing the city of Braila in violin competitions such as the International Music Competition George Georgescu, International Violin Competition Garabet Avachian among others. A year later, he performed works by Sarasate, Paganini, Bach, Mozart Saint-Saëns at the Pro Arte Concert Hall of Braila.
In 2006 he began working in Madrid, Spain as concertmaster of groups such as “Studio Lirico” and “Lirica Scene”. In April of 2012, he played the world premiere of the sonata of violin and piano by Ricardo Vidal Tolosa who favourably reviewed his interpretation of the piece. Until 2014 he played with “Studio Lirico”(Lisboa, Azores, Madrid, Zamora) and also the “Iberic Company”(France, Barcelona, Madrid, Leyda)as guest concertmaster. Dacian has also played as a soloist and guest concertmaster in France, Italy, Mexico, Romania and Portugal.