Jelena Makarova is an award-winning Lithuanian pianist based in London. She is in high demand as a soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and an educator, currently employed by London's Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Educational Services (THAMES).
She received her piano training at the M.K.Čiurlionis School of Arts (Lithuania's top specialist music boarding school), Lithuanian Academy of Music and Drama (Master's Diploma in Piano Performance, Accompaniment and Piano Teaching, graduated with honours) and Royal Academy of Music (PGDip), where she studied piano with Colin Stone and was supported by the Kathleen Trust. During her studies at the Academy Jelena performed at a public masterclass with French pianist Pierre Laurent-Aimard and participated at “Games, Signs and Messages" György Kurtag’ s Music Festival, where she was coached by the composer and performed in Duke’s Hall for the festival's gala with guest appearance of Mitsuko Uchida. Jelena has been performing in the world's finest concert venues which include Carnegie Hall, Mozart Konzerhaus and London Southbank as well as for concert societies and festivals such as London Contemporary Music Festival, Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Summer Festival and Lidköping Festival in Sweden. Jelena is a co-founding member of the “Living Songs” project, Trio Sonorité and Chromatikon art/music collective. Both were recently featured on Women's Radio Station as part of the Future Classic Women Awards. Jelena was a pianist for Errollyn Wallen’ s opera ‘The Paradis Files’, touring UK with Graeae Theatre Company as part of BBC Concert Orchestra ensemble. She also collaborated with New London Orchestra, National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and Royal Ballet School. Alongside traditional repertoire, Jelena also actively promotes New Music. She premiered works by many established and emerging living composers. Jelena has been awarded several individual scholarships from the Lithuanian Council for Culture and premiered in the UK piano works by her native composers Medekšaitė and Bružaitė. She also premiered songs by Germanavičius with soprano Jessica Summers, released digital recordings of Čemerytė’s works for recorder and piano with Emily Baines, performed Vitkauskaitė’ s “The Edge of Time” online premiere with Trio Sonorité and live premiere of Colin Riley’s Concertino for piano and small ensemble on the Lithuanian folk songs themes, at Brunel University London. |
As part of the Lithuanian tour for Kaunas 2022 European Capital of Culture Festival, with Chromatikon collective, Jelena performed series of mixed media “The Music Shell” concerts about thriving musical life of interwar Kaunas Jewish community eliminated by Nazis. “The Music Shell“ was also recorded for an upcoming digital CD in collaboration with the Lithuanian Music Information Centre and Lithuanian National Radio and Television. Jelena future engagements include several recording projects and recitals in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Cambridge. For more information about Jelena’ s upcoming performances and projects follow her on Facebook, Twitter (jelena_makarova) and Instagram (jelena.piano), subscribe to Jelena’s YouTube channel. |
Canadian cellist Daryl Giuliano performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She is known for her expressive playing through which she embodies the music. Daryl specialises in Romantic and Modern repertoire and has worked with many contemporary composers. She also enjoys improvising as part of her performance. Daryl searches to find ways to bring colour and energy to her work through inspiration and collaboration with literature and visual art.
Daryl is a founding member of several chamber ensembles, including Trio Sonorité, Chromatikon, and her duo with pianist Guy Murgatroyd. She also performs with accordionist Iñigo Mikeleiz and as a member of Celia Quartet. Daryl has had the pleasure to work in masterclasses with Alain Meunier, Ilmari Hopkins, Xenia Jankovic, Peter Nagy, Sandro Meo, Adrian Brendel, Maria Kliegel, Anssi Karttunen, Robert Cohen, Colin Carr, Mihai Tetel, Michel Strauss, Valérie Aimard, Andres Diaz, Jeffrey Solow, Astrid Schween, and Manuel Fischer-Dieskau. She began her studies at the piano before starting cello at the age of twelve with Glenn Fischbach in the United States. In 2005, Daryl won the Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra's Concerto Competition and performed as soloist with them the following spring. Since that time, she has also appeared as soloist with the Amici Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Bourg-la-Reine/Sceaux. Her passion for music brought her to Paris, France to study with Étienne Cardoze and then to London where she received her Master of Music degree in the studio of Felix Schmidt at the Royal Academy of Music. She plays an unknown German cello from 1890. darylgiuliano.com YouTube: Daryl Giuliano Instagram: Darylgiuliano |
Neyire Ashworth is one of the UK’s most versatile clarinettists working as musician, improvisor, interdisciplinary artist, actor, creative facilitator and teacher. She studied clarinet in London, Rotterdam, Chicago and New York City. She was a BBC Young Musician prize-winner and her London solo debut was a recital at the South Bank for the Park Lane Group series.
As a busy chamber musician, she was founder member of the Britten-Pears Ensemble (CDs of Andre Jolivet and Frank Martin for ASV, Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, USA tour) and the clarinet quartet, No Strings Attached (winners of Royal Overseas League Chamber Music prize, prize-winners in Gaudeamus International Contemporary Music competition, British Council tours and one of first groups to work as animateurs in UK prisons in the 1990s). Currently she plays with the New London Chamber Ensemble (CDs of John Woolrich and of Carl Nielsen for Meridian, CDs of Martin Butler and of Ailis Ni Riain for NMC, Lennox Berkeley for Naxos and a RAM recording project of NLCE commission by Philip Cashian, working with Simon Callow and Dame Evelyn Glennie, plus commissioning new works regularly) and the Zimro Ensemble, playing music for strings, clarinet and piano and bringing music from Jewish diaspora past and present into focus. Other interesting projects have included National Theatre’s production of War Horse in the West End; tour of Bosnia with new opera by Nigel Osborne; European tour with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project; George Aperghis’ Little Red Riding Hood for Almeida Festival. |