Tashmina Artists

Timothy Orpen is the Principal Clarinet of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He is also a founder member and Principal Clarinet of Aurora Orchestra. Prior to joining the Royal Opera Orchestra, Timothy spent 3 years as Principal Clarinet of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. A previous overall winner of the Royal Over-Seas League, he has been described as a ‘blazing talent’ by The Times and as ‘one of the best young British musicians today’ by The Telegraph.

Karina Lucas trained primarily at the Royal Northern College of Music and continued her studies at the National Opera Studio. As a Park Lane Group Young Artist Karina made her debut at the Purcell Room in January 2007 with duo partner Simon Lane, since when she has given recitals at festivals and venues such as Leeds Lieder Festival, Ripon Cathedral, St. John’s Smith Square and Oxford Lieder. Karina recently sang her first Das Lied Von Der Erde with the Mahler Players.

Renowned clarinettist Robert Plane has become particularly known for his performances and recordings of the magnificent English repertoire for clarinet. His benchmark recording of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto (BBC Radio 3 Building a Library recommendation and part of the Naxos British Music Series which won a Gramophone Award in 1999) is still a regular feature of the playlists of both Radio 3 and Classic FM nearly twenty years after its initial release. He subsequently recorded discs of music by Bax (a further Gramophone Award shortlisting), John Ireland, Howells, Alwyn, Holbrooke, Robin Milford and Stanford, including Stanford’s Clarinet Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Future plans include premiere recordings of British concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the premiere of a new work for clarinet and piano trio by Huw Watkins at the Three Choirs Festival and a performance of Boulez’s rarely heard epic masterpiece, ‘Dialogue de l’Ombre Double’ at Belfast Sonorities Festival.

Daniel Rowland (violin) and Alberto Mesirca (guitar)

Daniel Rowland and Alberto Mesirca met at the Kuhmo Festival some years ago and discovered a shared love of the transparent, lyrical and colourful repertoire for violin and guitar.

The Monte Piano Trio has performed in major concert halls such as Berliner Philharmonie, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Covent Garden in London, Daning Theater in Shanghai and the Romanian Atheneum. Their television and radio broadcasts have included BBC, WDR, CBS, DLF, SWR, TVR and Radio Clasica.

Some of Thomson’s notable successes include winning the Harp Finals at the world renowned Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales Competition in 2003 and performing as a Finalist in the London International Harp Competition in 2005. In April 2007 she was short-listed to audition for HRH The Prince of Wales for the position of Royal Harpist at Clarence House and performed for HRH Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at The Royal Variety Performance in the same year.

Recognised as one of the world's leading guitar quartets, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet is a dynamic and innovative ensemble known for its extraordinary ensemble in performance and expansive repertoire.

Mezzo Soprano and Guitar

Karina and Rory present a wonderful programme of English and Spanish songs. See the clips from a recent concert on their videos page.

Goran Krivokapić and Danijel Cerović

The Montenegrin Guitar Duo is frequently invited to eminent international venues around the world, such as Saint Petersburg Philharmonia Hall in Russia, Manuel de Falla Hall in Madrid and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Violin and Piano

The Rowland Kudritskaya partnership brings together two of the most exciting, adventurous and colourful artists performing today. They have released two CDs to great acclaim.

Saxophone and Harp

Having been invited to give a concert of music for saxophone and harp, which was then extremely well received, Huw and Oliver decided to form a regular duo. They will also be collaborating with pianist and organist Timothy End in future seasons.

Former BBC New Generation Artists, the Galliard Ensemble is established as one of Britain's leading chamber groups, with repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Berio and Birtwistle. Currently in its 24th year, the ensemble has performed in many of the world’s leading venues and festivals, including the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead and at the BBC Proms.

Winner of the 2014 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition, the Solem Quartet was formed in 2011 at the University of Manchester. The quartet takes its name from the university’s motto “arduus ad solem”, meaning “striving towards the sun”.

The quartet enjoys a busy concert schedule performing at venues both across the UK – including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bridgewater Hall and Holywell Music Room – and internationally. In keeping with its name, the Solem Quartet’s first project was to play the Haydn Op. 20 “Sun” Quartets. Their repertoire is now extensive, spanning the period from early Haydn to living composers such as Emily Howard, whose quartet ‘Afference’ they performed in a BBC Proms Extra broadcast, live on BBC Radio 3.

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Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi

As students of the late Yonty Solomon at the Royal College of Music, Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi met in 2003 and since then have had a thriving duo partnership, giving concerts throughout the UK, Europe and Japan.

Karel Bredenhorst and Simon Callaghan first met in 2013 when they collaborated at the Whittington Chamber Music Festival. A strong friendship developed and Duo Verzaro now gives regular recitals in the UK and on the continent. Their debut CD, recorded in Cervo, Italy, was released in September 2016 and their second recording followed in December 2017.

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First Prize and Audience Prize winner of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition 2015, the Linos Piano Trio has achieved recognition as an extremely dynamic and creative young chamber ensemble.

The Gould Piano Trio is represented by Nicholas Curry at Clarion/Seven Muses. Robert Plane is represented by Sally Richardson at Tashmina Artists. The combined ensemble can be booked through either agency.

Rachel Roberts is one of Europe's leading violists and performs internationally as soloist and chamber musician.

As soloist she has collaborated with conductors Christoph von Dohnanyi, Andras Schiff and Richard Hickox, performing concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Koln Kammerorchester, Kammerphilharmonie Graubunden in Switzerland and the Manchester Camerata Chamber Orchestra amongst others. She was the featured viola soloist in the BBC TV documentary 'The Passions of Vaughan Williams' with Richard Hickox and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and has performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violinists Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas and Benjamin Schmid in Germany, Switzerland and London.

As one of the leading British saxophone quartets among the new generation of artists, the Ferio Saxophone Quartet has received deservedly enthusiastic reactions from audiences and critics alike.

Commonwealth Musician of the Year, First Prize and Gold Medal winner of the 2014 Royal Over-seas League Annual Music Competition, Huw Wiggin is one of the most popular saxophonists of his generation.

Daniel Rowland (violin) and the superb Serbian/French cellist Maja Bogdanovic form this exceptional duo.

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‘One of the most luminous scores in twentieth-century music [Copland: Appalachian Spring – complete ballet], Vass shaped the work as if in one single, unbroken paragraph of inexhaustible melody, crowned at the centre with the ubiquitous Shaker hymn […] It was a hugely affecting account, beautifully played by the 19 musicians on stage and expertly balanced by George Vass. It concluded a wonderful concert and resounded in my memory for days afterwards’. (Orchestra Nova - Americana ’18 Festival, 2018) - Music and Musicians Quarterly