Sarah is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with Ian Clarke, Philippa Davies and Sharon Williams.  Whilst there she was awarded the Laurie Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, the Wolfson Award, and the Dove Prize for graduating with the highest mark in her year level.

Sarah recently held the Principal Flute position in Orquestra Do Norte, Portugal, and her other orchestral experience has included playing with the Symphony Orchestra of India, the Britten-Pears Orchestra, the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, and for the London Symphony Orchestra Discovery Concert Series.

Sarah is passionate about collaborating with other performing artists and has worked particularly closely with actors.  Her most notable collaborative performances have been Tales From Ovid by Ted Hughes [GSMD Silk Street Theatre, 2006], The 19^th Step [Roehampton University/Laban, 2008] and Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now [Barbican Art Gallery, 2008].

In addition to this, Sarah performs as a soloist and chamber musician. She is a founding member of the Circle of 5ths Wind Quintet – an ensemble which performs regularly and has established a large and diverse repertoire. Sarah recently performed the Nielsen Flute Concerto with Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Wynne Griffiths.

To watch Sarah’s video-blog, click here.

Lucía was born in Jalapa, México, to a musical Mexican-Polish family. She started to take private violin lessons at the age of four and was performing as a soloist at eleven years old in Mexico as well as in Belgium (Europalia ’93). In 1997 she won first prize in the “Hermilo Novelo V Nacional Violin Competition” in Mexico City.

Lucía has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Queretaro, Philharmonic Orchestra of Acapulco, Mexico, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. She played the European première of the Concert-Poeme for Violin and Orchestra Birth, Life and Death of a Being composed by her father Ryszard Siwy in 1992. Lucía is also a founding member of the Kaxan String Quartet, highly commended at the Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Prize in 2009, enjoying performances in the UK and a recent tour to the Middle East.

Lucía studied at the Faculty of Music at the University of Veracruz as well as at the Music School of the SEC, both in Xalapa, Ver., Mexico, with Professors Stanislaw Kawalla, Agnieszka Maklakiewic and Erasmo Capilla. She graduated in 2007 from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and in 2009 with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London (Master of Arts) studying under Professor Igor Petrushevski. She was awarded the FONCA scholarship from the Mexican Government and the Veracruz State’s Government scholarship in Mexico to support her studies in the UK. Lucía has also studied with Professors Andrzej Siwy, Robert Kabara, Zino Vinnikov and attended master classes with Professor Sergey Kravchenko.

Lucía has recently performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola in E flat major at a Rush Hour Concert, conducted by Stephen Barlow.

Katie-Bethan, 23, studied the viola with Matthew Souter and the violin with Nicholas Miller at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating in 2009. She became a member of the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music when she was thirteen and, on leaving, was awarded the Freida Dinn String Prize for best string player of the year. She was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Katie-Bethan divides her time between Newcastle and London and is beginning a mixed career of playing popular and African music as well as classical, singing, educational work, and travelling. She has recently performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola in E flat major at a Rush Hour Concert, conducted by Stephen Barlow.

Sophie has played the violin since she was 4 years old, growing up in a very musical home in Germany. At nine she played her first solo concerto with orchestra and continued as a soloist with concertos from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Lalo, Vivaldi and Mozart. At 14 she was accepted in the Junior Department of the College of Music in Trossingen, Germany where she finished her Bachelor of Music and Masters in Performance earlier than most students in February 2009 with Prof. Riza Yildiz. She also won the College Competition’s first prize. In that time she studied abroad for one year in San Francisco with a Fulbright Scholarship.

Sophie is very interested in orchestral playing and has been able to lead many orchestras: the Karlsruher Jugend Sinfonieorchester, the College Orchestra in Trossingen and the San Francisco Academy Orchestra amongst others. At 18 she attended her first international Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. She also attended the Tanglewood Music Center (Summer Academy of the Boston Symphony) in 2008 and was re-invited for the summer in 2009. Sophie is now studying at the Royal College of Music (Artist Diploma in Performance) with Prof. Berent Korfker alongside her work with Southbank Sinfonia.

Sophie lives in Brockley and in her spare time enjoys many opera performances at the Royal Opera House in London. One of her passions is designing and making clothes, and she has created her own concert dresses for most of her solo performances.

Gail has performed many recitals and concerts through the world. These include a recital tour in Puerto Rico as well as several performances in Europe as part of the Young Janacek Philharmonic, both as leader and co-leader. This past year Gail was a member of the Santiago Philharmonic in Chile for the 2007-2008 season at the Municipal Theater of Santiago. Her future objectives include the completion of her postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music and a job in one of the top chamber orchestras in the world. Gail specializes in both modern and baroque violin.

Gail was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. She began her violin studies at age three with the Suzuki Method. At thirteen she entered the Prep division of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. Her awards include winning the Youth Symphony Orchestra of America’s competition, as part of the Casals Festival, and the Toronto School of Music International Competition. Gail graduated with a performance degree from Temple University on a full scholarship and worked as a freelance musician in Philadelphia, USA.

Born in Malmö, Sweden, in 1984, Alexandra was accepted in 2002 at the Academy of Music in Malmö where she came to study with Alexander Fischer. Five years later she received her Master’s degree and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Erich Gruenberg. In 2009 Alexandra graduated with a distinction and was awarded a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. Besides her conservatory studies Alexandra has had lessons and attended several master classes with great violinists such as Helge Slaatto, Viktor Tretjakov, Tibor Varga and Thomas Brandis.

Alexandra has been the concert master of the Danish Radio’s Youth Ensemble, the Nordic Youth Orchestra, the Malmö Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Academy Opera Orchestra. She has worked and studied with musicians, conductors, and composers such as Gilles Apap, Sir Colin Davis, Luca Francesconi, Charles Hazlewood, Stefan Solyom, Matthew Trusler, and Dominic Wheeler. Together with the Danish Radio’s Youth Ensemble, conducted by Morten Ryelund, she has done several radio broadcastings and studio recordings as both leader and soloist.

In 2009 Alexandra performed Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto together with Lund City Orchestra. The review read: “The tricky solo passages were flawless, while all the beautiful cantilenas blossomed fully. There was a calm and stability in the playing that truly impressed.”

Julia studied at the Republican Lyceum of Music for Gifted Children, Moldova, with Moldovan composer and violinist, Boris Dubosarsky. Notable competition successes include second prize at the Republican Competition of Moldova, and the golden medal at The Edinburgh Music Festival Competition whilst at The City of Edinburgh Music School. She later pursued her musical studies at The Royal College of Music under Ani Scharch, Yuri Zhislin and Dona Lee Croft.

Since her graduation, Julia has been a regular leader of Helios Chamber Orchestra as well as leading second violins with European Opera Centre orchestra (touring Britain, Poland and Germany). She has also given solo recitals at St George’s and St Michael’s churches in Edinburgh. Julia maintains a special interest in performing Baroque and 20^th century music and is currently studying with Maciej Rakowski.

Born in Edinburgh in 1985, Elspeth began learning the violin aged 9. Three years later she accepted a scholarship to join the junior department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and subsequently continued her studies at St Mary’s Music School. She went on to gain a BMus from King’s College London in 2007 and was awarded the Purcell Prize for the top graduate of that year. Elspeth has recently completed her Masters in performance at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Richard Deakin, graduating in 2009 with Distinction.  While studying she performed in masterclasses for Dona Lee Croft, Erich Rosenblith, Benedict Holland, Yuko Inoe, Kate Gould, Ani Schnarch, Alexander Pavlovic, Zvi Zeitlin, the Allegri String Quartet and the Gould piano trio.

Elspeth enjoys playing a wide range of orchestral music and has led Britten Pears orchestra, Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra and King’s College London Symphony Orchestra as well as playing as a member of London Contemporary Orchestra. In her spare time, Elspeth can often be found in a café with a cup of coffee and a good book!

Jem has a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Music, where he studied the violin with Itzhak Rashkovsky and conducting with Patrick Bailey and Charles Peebles. As a violinist he has performed all over Europe and the UK as an orchestral member, concertmaster and soloist.

Jem is an alumnus of Royal Holloway University, where he was an instrumental scholar, recipient of several academic and performance awards and led the symphony, chamber and string orchestras. In June 2009 he the led the stage band in a live production of Channel 4’s ‘Modern Toss’ comedy shows and in the same month played with the Britten-Pears Orchestra, performing in Snape Maltings.

In addition to his classical activities, Jem once played the electric guitar as front-man of a Jimi Hendrix tribute for 3 years, has played in a traditional Andean band and plays and teaches the folk music of his native Cyprus. A protégé of his, Dogan Mehmet, reached the final of BBC Young Folk Musician of the Year 2008.

To watch Jem’s video-blog, click here.