Soloists

Àánú was born in East London to Yorùbá parents and is proud of the way her heritage and its rich culture influences her music. She incorporates her classical training on the violin and her love for jazz with elements of Yorùbá culture through arranging and co...

Christopher grew up in rural Lincolnshire in a musical household and studied piano and clarinet from a young age. He completed his undergraduate degree on piano at Trinity Laban learning with Raymond Banning and Mikhail Kazakevich. He then gained a scholarship...

Dean Foley studied French horn under Jeffrey Bryant at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama from 1986–89. He went on to freelance predominantly with the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Covent Garden Royal Opera orchestras. He also appeared a...

British/Romanian pianist Florian Mitrea was born in Bucharest but has been based in the UK since 2008, when his early passion for the piano led him to a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Florian’s piano studies started in B...

Iain Gibbs began playing the violin at the age of six and went on to study with Erik Houston at the Royal College of Music, Junior Department from 2001–09. He studied with John Crawford at Trinity Laban Conservatoire before completing the Masters C...

Irina Lyakhovskaya Pianist Irina Lyakhovskaya is a highly regarded pianist performing as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. She has given many performances at leading international venues including...

Katie Tweddle was born in Romford, Essex and is currently completing her third year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Daniel Jemison. She is thus following in the footsteps of her mother, Karen Tweddle, and Karen’s passion for m...

Lee Travers French Horn Lee Travers started learning the French horn, with Mike Magee, when he was 5. He studied with Jeff Bryant before and through Trinity College of Music, and with Roger Montgomery on natural...

Madeleine Mitchell, described by The Times as "one of the UK’s liveliest musical forces (and) foremost violinists", has performed in a wide repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician in 50 countries, in major festivals including the BBC Proms, and i...

Matthew Strover, 23, began learning the cello at an early age at Havering Music School and then at the Coopers’ Company and Coborn School, progressing to the Junior Royal Academy of Music at 15. While at JRAM he was a member of the Symphony Orchestra u...

Paul Cott studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Richard Bissill, Jonathan Lipton and Jeffrey Bryant, graduating in 2007. The following year he was a member of Southbank Sinfonia, with whom he appeared as a soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia C...

Simon Tatnall Simon is a professional opera singer, writer, director of his own opera company and of several musical groups, as well as being our Conductor’s father. Simon narrated the story of Peter and the Wolf in our Spring Family Concert in March 2...