Alex Aldren studied medicine at the University of Birmingham, and worked as a doctor at the Royal London Hospital, before joining the Royal Academy of Music Opera School in 2016. After graduating in 2019 Alex immediately went on to cover Vašek in The Bartered Bride for Garsington and D’Esparaudieu in Gerald Barry’s The Intelligence Park for The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He then performed the role of Alfonso in Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella (Opera de Baugé) and Alfredo in La Traviata (Hampstead Garden Opera). That year he also reached the finals of both Maureen Lehane and Emmy Destin competitions, as well as the semi-final of the international Clermont-Ferrand competition. During the Covid pandemic, Alex went back to work as a doctor in A&E departments around London. While working a shift, he sang Nessun Dorma for some colleagues, a video of which went viral on Twitter, receiving 100,000 views in just a few hours.  .....
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Katya Apekisheva is one of Europe's most renowned pianists, in demand internationally as both a soloist and as a chamber musician. Since becoming a prize-winner in the Leeds International and Scottish Piano Competitions and collecting awards such as the London Philharmonic 'Soloist of the Year' and the Terence Judd Award, she has been marked out as a pianist of exceptional gifts, performing with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Halle Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, working with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, David Shallon, Jan Latham-Koenig and Alexander Lazarev.
As a recording artist, Katya has received widespread critical acclaim for her interpretations. Her recording of Grieg solo piano works in .....
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Charlotte graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2015, with a First Class Honours and the “Principal’s Prize”. She attended the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, and The Purcell School for Young Musicians. She was made an “Associate of the Royal Academy of Music” in 2018, recognising outstanding contribution to the industry. She now holds the position of Section Leader Flute of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and previously spent five years as Principal Flute in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to her commitments with the RNS, Charlotte maintains a busy freelance schedule, appearing as Guest Principal with orchestras including the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  She also works regularly with the Sinfonia of London, appearing in all their recordings and concerts to date.  .....
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Born to an Armenian family in Riga, Anna was sent to violin lessons in the hope that every family feast would be accompanied by music. The satisfaction from bringing joy to the listener was transformed into a deeper interest while studying at the Latvian Academy of Music. During her exchange year in Budapest at the Ferenc Liszt Academy she purchased her first viola and never looked back. Anna enjoys a varied career performing as a chamber musician as well as with many of the UK’s leading orchestras. She has worked under the baton of prominent conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Semyon Bychkov, Sakari Oramo, Sir Andrew Davies and Marin Alsop. Recent highlights have included a European tour with Aurora orchestra and performing with Pynarello, a pioneering Dutch ensemble that transforms the traditional concert experience by performing from memory and without a conductor. .....
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One of the most versatile and original cellists of his generation, Adrian Brendel has travelled the world as soloist, collaborator and teacher. His early immersion in classical music inspired an enduring fascination that has led to encounters with many fine musicians at the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls. His discovery of contemporary music through the works of Kurtag, Kagel and Ligeti in his teenage years opened a vital avenue that he continues to explore with huge enthusiasm alongside his passion for improvisation and programme curation. In 2014 he became a member of the Nash Ensemble of London with whom he is resident at Wigmore hall throughout every season. Adrian has recorded a wide range of music for Philips, Hyperion, ECM new series, NMC, Bis and other labels. These include a survey of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and Piano with his father Alfred Brendel, a collection of pieces dedicated to him during many years of valuable collaboration with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and much of the core chamber music repertoire with Nash ensemble and other partnerships.  .....
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Chris has been an actor and television presenter for almost thirty years. Theatre credits include: The Pitman Painters, Friedman Theatre Broadway New York and National Theatre/Live Theatre. Brassed Off, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. Bouncers, Ambassadors Theatre Group. The Last Cyclist, Brundibár Festival. And A Nightingale Sang, Cheltenham Everyman. The Steal, York Theatre Royal. Aladdin Durham Gala, Close the Coal House Door, Northern Stage/Live Theatre, Wet House Soho Theatre/Live Theatre, Bouncers, Hull Truck Theatre. Loot, Hull Truck Theatre. Shooting the Legend, Theatre Royal Newcastle The Premiere of Cooking with Elvis, Live Theatre, Toast, Live Theatre. Nativities, Live Theatre. Studs, Up On Roof, A Kick in the Baubles, Cooking with Elvis Hull Truck Theatre. Black on White Shorts, Paines Plough. The Girls of Poppy Field Close Live Theatre, Peer Gynt, Three over Eden Theatre Company, Cuddy’s Miles, Customs House. You Really Couldn’t Make It Up, Live Theatre. The Fighting Bradfords, Gala Theatre Durham Television.  .....
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Aftab has a passion for composing music that transcends boundaries and encompasses a range of mediums and contexts, including concert music, film music, theatre music, and more. 2010 she moved to Amsterdam to study “Composing for Film” at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam. After receiving her master’s degree, in 2015, she graduated from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where she studied composition with Martijn Padding and Yannis Kyriakides. She has presented her music at various festivals in Europe, the United States, and Asia, working with multiple ensembles. In October 2016, she was awarded the “Tenso Young Composers Award 2016 for her piece” And the World Stopped Lacking You...” for A Cappella Choir. In 2017, she was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet to write a piece for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Since then, she has been regularly collaborating with the Kronos Quartet. In February 2019, her Opera “Turan Dokht” premiered at the Holland Festival 2019. .....
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One of Britain’s most respected pianists, Danny Driver is recognised internationally for his sophistication, insight and musical depth. His studies at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music inspired his holistic approach to performance and enabled him to cultivate a broad repertoire from J S Bach and Handel to the present day. Solo engagements have included orchestras such as the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, American Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestras, as well as two appearances at the BBC Proms. Recital highlights have included frequent visits to London’s Wigmore Hall, among them a three concert series focussed on György Ligeti in 2021-2022, and where a five-concert ‘Variations’ series is planned for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons. .....
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Dov Goldberg studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Alan Hacker. On leaving the RNCM in 1988 Dov became a founder member of Jane's Minstrels and subsequently joined the Northern Chamber Orchestra as principal clarinet. He has also played first clarinet with the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata and he is now a member of the Northern Sinfonia. In 1990 Dov made his London Debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the Park Lane Group Recital Series and has since made many solo and concerto appearances. In 1994 Dov was invited to join Psappha by Tim Williams and together they recently premièred and gave the first broadcast of Peter Maxwell Davies' Stedman Doubles (1955) in the original version which had been locked away in the British Library for forty years! Dov has played Principal Clarinet with BBC Philharmonic, BBC NOW, CBSO, Hallé, RPO, RPCO, BBC Scottish, SCO, Northern Sinfonia & Opera North. Dov has also worked with Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Opera, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Haffner Ensemble & Northern Ballet
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Michael Haas studied piano performance at Vienna’s Music Academy and Conservatory before accepting a position as producer at Decca Records in 1977.  Over the decades, he won numerous awards, including four Grammys. He worked closely with Sir Georg Solti and Claudio Abbado. From 1993-1994 he was Vice President of Sony Classical before returning to Decca. In the mid-1980s, he initiated and curated Decca’s “Entartete Musik” series, the first retrospective of important music lost during the Nazi years.  In 2000 he left Decca and took the position of Director of Suppressed Music at the Jewish Music Institute at SOAS, London University.  In 2002 he was appointed Music Curator at Vienna’s Jewish Museum. In 2016 he completed a doctorate and together with theory professor Gerold Gruber, co-founded the archive and research centre Exilarte based at Vienna’s University for Music and Performing Arts, (formerly Vienna’s Music Academy).
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Philip has been fortunate enough to be involved in a number of Brundibár festivals, and be part of the telling of some amazing and important stories: “The Last Cyclist” “War Mother” “Between Two Worlds”. More recently he has been the Nine thousand three hundred and sixty third person to play Sherlock Holmes! His TV appearances include, The Dumping ground, Emmerdale, Vera, George gently. And currently is in Smoggie Queens (Just don’t blink). Later in the year he will be Playing Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Robert studied Music at Newcastle and Acting and Directing at The School of the Science of Acting and the National Theatre in London . He has worked extensively in London and the North of England as Head of Theatre in Colleges, Theatre in Education, Schools, Youth Theatres and Community Theatre projects. He has directed many plays and music theatre but has a particular passion for early and contemporary opera. He is also a singer, instrumentalist and conductor working with and directing various early music ensembles touring the UK.

Award-winning British pianist Anthony Hewitt is well-known and respected as a musician of integrity, and a pianist of versatility and virtuosity. His performances and recordings have been met with critical acclaim (“a remarkably gifted artist”, The Gramophone), and his unique projects have captured the imagination and admiration of the public. Anthony has performed internationally with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C, with with orchestras in Germany, Poland, and Russia, and with many of the UK’s leading orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber, Orchestra of the Swan, Manchester Camerata and Royal Northern Sinfonia. Venues in the UK include London’s Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and no less than eight recitals at Wigmore Hall.
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Kyra Humphreys is an accomplished orchestral and chamber musician. She has performed with most of the major UK symphony and chamber orchestras and appeared as guest leader or director with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Orchestra of Opera North. She has appeared as a soloist in the BBC Proms and performed in music festivals around the world. Her world premiere of John Casken’s ‘Après un Silence’ (violin and orchestra version) was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and described as “authoritatively dramatic” by The Times. As the violinist/violist of the Zanfonia Trio Kyra was a finalist in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and the trio performed frequently throughout the UK as award winners in both the Munster and John Tunnell Trust concert scheme competitions. .....
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Lydia Kavina is a prominent figure in the world of theremin art. Russian-born and based in the UK, she studied music theory and composition at Moscow Conservatory, and the theremin under the direction of the inventor Léon Theremin, to whom she is related. As a theremin performer, Kavina has graced the stages of renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony, Radio France Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, among others. She worked with orchestra of Electronic Muisic Instruments of Soviet Radio and Television for many years, and collaborated with several prominent figures in the field of electronic music such as Robert Moog and Brain Eno.  .....
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Yoshie Kawamura was born in Japan, Nagoya and moved to the UK when she was 11. She was awarded a scholarship to study at Wells Cathedral School with Sanae Nakajima, before receiving Bachelor and Master of Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Joan Havill. A year later she auditioned to study with Prof. Gilead Mishory at Musikhochschule Freiburg in Germany. Yoshie has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician in England, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Japan. She was invited to join the Berlin Philharmonic Quartet in performing Schumann’s Piano Quintet on their tour of Japan; subsequently she received an invitation from the Poznan Philharmonia to perform as a soloist in a series of concerts in Poland. In 2013 Yoshie moved to Newcastle to study Cultural Management at Northumbria University where she received her second Master’s degree. This lead in co-founding Brundibár Arts Festival with Alexandra Raikhlina in 2016. Yoshie is one of the festival’s administrator as well as a performer. Since 2016, she has been actively involved each year in the festival’s organisation, management of the artists and audience, venue coordinator and as a performer. More

Born in Philadelphia, Bartholomew LaFollette has lived in Britain since the age of 13. He trained at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and later the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he received two first class degrees. At the age of twenty-six he was appointed Professor of Cello at the Yehudi Menuhin School.   Bartholomew is Artistic Director of the Marryat Players Chamber Music Festival, now in its sixth year, which takes place in Wimbledon Village and welcomes internationally renowned artists.   As a YCAT artist (Young Classical Artists Trust) Bartholomew gave numerous performances at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall, and Bridgewater halls. He went on to win first prize at The Arts Club's and Decca Records’ inaugural Classical Music Award. Bartholomew was also the first recipient of the Irish Chamber Orchestra's prestigious Ardán Award. Bartholomew's highlights with orchestra include performances of Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Walton and Elgar Cello Concertos in the Barbican Hall More

Jessica Lee was born in Chichester, West Sussex. She began to learn the clarinet aged nine whilst one of the first girl choristers at Salisbury Cathedral. Jessica graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2005 after which she had a busy freelance career in London working with the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the London Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English National Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Nash Ensemble. Jessica joined Royal Northern Sinfonia as Principal Clarinet in 2009.More

British/German violinist, director and festival director Jack Liebeck possesses “flawless technical mastery” and a “beguiling silvery tone” (BBC Music Magazine). Jack is the Royal Academy of Music’s first Émile Sauret Professor of Violin and Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, “A diverse and interesting program, giving voice to many of the festival artists, this was a terrific offering for this year’s Australian Festival of Chamber Music.” (Limelight Magazine). Jack’s playing embraces the worlds of elegant chamber-chic Mozart through to the impassioned mastery required to frame Brett Dean The Lost Art of Letter Writing and he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and chamber musicians. Jack’s fascination with all things scientific has led to two new concertos being written for him and regular collaborator Professor Brian Cox - Dario Marianelli’s Voyager Violin Concerto and Paul Dean’s A Brief History of Time commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of Professor Stephen Hawking. Upcoming engagements include Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Salieca Piano Trio at Wigmore Hall, a return to Savannah Chamber Music Festival More

German-born and London-based tenor Norbert Meyn enjoys a busy career as a singer, vocal coach, language coach and researcher. As a soloist Norbert has appeared at the Barbican Hall, the South Bank Centre, St. John’s Smith Square and the Royal Albert Hall in London, also at Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the Halle International Handel Festival, the Utrecht Festival of Early Music, with the Salzburg Bach Choir and in the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Howard Arman, Simon Halsey, Phillip Pickett and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. In opera, Norbert has performed the roles of Don Ottavio (Mozart, Don Giovanni), Almaviva (Rossini, Il Barbiere di Sevilla), Podesta (Mozart, La Finta Giadiniera), Don Giovanni (Gazzaniga, title role), Damon (Handel, Acis and Galathea), Magnus (Maxwell-Davies, The Martyrdom of St. Magnus) and Abaris (Rameau, Les Boreades). For 13 years he was a member of the Extra Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With London Voices he has recorded many film soundtracks for blockbuster productions including Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. More

Alexandra Raikhlina is a Moscow born young and exciting violinist with a passion for chamber music. After moving to Belgium in 1990 she was Laureate of the “Charles de Beriot” competition in Belgium before being awarded a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Later she received a full scholarship to complete her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Alexandra has performed extensively as a soloist and a chamber musician in Belgium, England, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Hong-Kong and Australia. She has appeared as a soloist and a chamber musician in Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Fairfield Halls, the Sage Gateshead, Centro Cultural De Belem and Helbphilharmonie. Amongst the numerous prices and awards she received are: Craxton Foundation, the Martin Scholarship Foundation and was awarded the LSO String Scheme Experience. She was a prize winner at the Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts festival and a finalist and special prize winner (for best performance of a sonata) at the International Koningin Sophie Charlotte competition.  .....
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Benjamin is a highly sort after chamber and orchestral musician. He studied in London at the Royal Academy of music as well as the Guildhall with Lydia Mordkovitch, Emanuel Hurwitz and David Takeno before a time at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Ilya Grubert. He also enjoyed many years working regularly with Ivry Gitlis in Paris. He has played in many of the orchestras in the UK in principal positions as well as all of the London orchestras, most recently in the position of principal viola with the BBC Symphony, Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a violinist he has frequently appeared as guest concertmaster of the Sinfonieorchesters Wuppertal, Aachen and Münster and as assistant concertmaster in Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra.  .....
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Julian Scott (born 1991 in Edinburgh) graduated from St. Anne’s College, Oxford with a first class honours degree in Musicology in 2012. Following this he studied oboe with Jonathan Kelly at the Musikhochschule „Hanns Eisler“ and the Karajan Academy in Berlin. Both during his time in the academy and since finishing in the summer of 2017, Julian has been freelancing, appearing as Guest Principal oboist with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Camerata Bern and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and as second oboist in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
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French violinist Alexandra Soumm is a multi-faceted, versatile artist who is equally at home in concerto and chamber repertoire. Alexandra has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI), Galicia Symphony, Danish National Symphony, NHK Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl among many others. She has given recitals at the Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Palais des Beaux- Arts (Brussels), and Wigmore Hall (London) and has also appeared at the City of London Festival, and the festivals of Deauville, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier, and Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad. A passionate supporter of the newest generations of musicians, Ms. Soumm has loved her work with Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Animato Foundation, the Sphinx Foundation, and Orchestre Français des Jeunes, and has maintained an involvement with the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland for over 10 years.More

Gabriel comes from Chichester in West Sussex. After being convinced he was going to be a concert pianist and then a sound engineer, Gabriel realised that Cello was the way forward and travelled north to Manchester where he studied with Eduardo Vassallo. At the RNCM Gabriel was a prize winning chamber musician in the Yeomans Quartet and with performances of The Quartet for the End of Time. Gabriel turned down a position with the Coldstream Guards in order to travel further north and work as a district musician in Mo I Rana, Norway. Here Gabriel performed regularly with guitarist Arne Brattland. After a few years working as a freelance musician in Glasgow, Gabriel joined the Royal Northern Sinfonia where he was joined by his wife Jane Nossek a year later. They live in Gateshead with their two daugters
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Simon Wallfisch made debuts in 2023 for the Royal Opera Covent Garden in the role of Deputato Fiammingi in Don Carlo and as the Fünfte Richter in Kongold’s Das Wunder Der Heliane at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and appears also in the roles of Kuusi in Elena Kats-Chernin’s Nils Holgerssons Wundersame Abenteuer and Barbavano in Offenbach’s Die Banditen at the Komische Oper Berlin. Wallfisch was initially engaged as a member of the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zurich from 2009 to 2011 and subsequently has appeared in such roles as Fieramosca in Benvenuto Cellini for Staatsoper Nürnberg, Marcello in La Boheme for Teatro Verdi Casciana Terme in Pisa, and as Escamillo in Peter Brook’s La Tragédie De Carmen for Nederlandse Reisopera.
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Dana Zemtsov is one of the most promising viola soloists of her generation. Gramophone Magazine has celebrated her playing as being “so perfectly tuned, so varied in colour and with such considerable distances in the intervals between the notes, that you would be forgiven for thinking it sounded more like a chamber orchestra”. Dana regularly performs in concert halls such as the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, St. Petersburg Philharmonia, The Opera House in Tel Aviv, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She has played chamber music with Janine Jansen, Giovanni Sollima, Martin Frost, Anna Fedorova, Ilya Gringolts, Boris Berezovsky, and many others. As a soloist, Dana has performed with symphony orchestras in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, US, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine and Estonia, under the baton of Leif Segerstam, Otto Tausk, Daniel Raiskin, Massimo Quarta, Marco Parisotto, and Fabio Mechetti. In 2011, she participated in the ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ tour in Germany, together with the most promising young talents of Europe.  .....
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