Tashmina Artists

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.

Robert Plane’s hugely varied career has seen concerto appearances in Europe, Asia and the USA, with performances of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in Madrid with the City of London Sinfonia, Beijing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and in the USA with the Virginia Symphony. He made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011 with Simon Holt’s double concerto ‘Centauromachy’. Exploring a wide range of repertoire and commissioning new works, highlights of past seasons have included Piers Hellawell’s Agricolas with the Ulster Orchestra and RTE Symphony Orchestra, Finzi with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Christian Jost with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker and Stanford with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Rob is principal clarinet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and has held the same position with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

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.

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.

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.

The combined ensemble can be booked through either Tashmina Artists or directly with the Goulds

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.

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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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 25th 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

‘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

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.

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.

The Aquarelle Guitar Quartet and Clarice Assad have known each other for many years, having discovered a striking musical affinity early on in their friendship. In 2009 the quartet commissioned Clarice to write a piece for their debut recording with Chandos Records entitled ‘Spirit of Brazil’. The resultant piece – ‘Danças Nativas’ – earned her a Latin Grammy nomination. Building on this success, they have now realised their long-held ambition to collaborate as performers and have developed an eclectic programme of genre-defying music full of rhythm, energy, humour and emotion.

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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.

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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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.