Artists

At the Royal College of Music he won all guitar prizes from the college and was the first guitarist to be awarded a Junior Fellowship. In 2002 Morgan won first prize at the National Guitar Competition in Mexico and continues to be a top prize-winner at international competitions.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Music in 2004 (with distinction), Szymanski has performed as a soloist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, and the Scottish Sinfonia amongst others. Morgan's devotion to chamber music has led to collaborations with many artists including John Williams and Harriet Mackenzie. Morgan's performances as a soloist and with orchestras have taken him to concert halls and festivals all around the globe.

In the UK, Morgan can often be heard on BBC Radio 3. His recordings with his ensemble Machaca on Sarabande Records, have all been very well received. In 2012 Morgan collaborated with twenty visual artists from the UK, Mexico, Portugal and China to produce a visual and auditory journey entitled ‘Sketches of Mexico.' Gramophone Magazine has called it ‘a gorgeous and original tribute to Szymanski's homeland' with Morgan's playing ‘of the highest order.' Morgan is a Live Music Now alumni, the scheme started by Lord Yehudi Menuhin to reach audiences that would otherwise have no access to live music.

... and has performed across five continents. A multi-faceted virtuoso, she performs music from Baroque to the 21st century, the strictly Classical to Gypsy, Klezmer, Argentinian, Balkan and Japanese music.

Harriet has taken part in many world premieres playing music specifically written for her as a soloist, including Robert Fokkens' violin concerto premiered at the Southbank Centre in London and Deborah Prichard's 'Wall of Water' violin concerto, inspired by the paintings of Maggi Hambling.

In addition to her solo work she is a lover of chamber music and is a founder member of the innovative trio ‘Kosmos Ensemble' and violin duo ‘Retorica. The Classical range is explored in Retorica's internationally acclaimed CD of British Violin Duos, which was chosen as ‘Editor's Choice' in Gramophone Magazine, cited for Harriet's “superbly responsive playing … faultless technique and unfailing insight.”

Future highlights include a disk with four solo violin works to be released on the Nimbus label, a third album by Kosmos and new works being written for Retorica by Gabriel Prokofiev and Robert Fokkens.

After performing at the Liberation International Music Festival Harriet will be performing concerto and chamber music in Scotland, Wales, Poland, Germany and Japan. When she is at home Harriet is improvising in diverse styles as well as enjoying arranging and composing music.

...with whom he subsequently embarked on a twenty concert tour in Italy as well as a recital at the Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall. He is also a member of the prestigious "Chamber Music Society Two" program at the Lincoln Centre in New York.

Chamber music has always been very important to Alexander. He is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio with the pianist Wu Qian and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, with whom he has won various prizes including the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Kammermusik Prize and has performed all over the UK and Europe including at the Frankfurt Alte Oper, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall in London. The trio's debut CD of Czech Repertoire for BIS had stellar reviews and their follow up recording of Mendelssohn Trios will be released in 2015.

Since 2012, he has also played in a String Quartet project with Julia Fischer, meeting once a year to perform in some of Europe's most prestigious venues.

The orchestra appointed Daniel Cohen, the young Israeli conductor as its Musical Director and Principal conductor after the second concert and together the musical partnership has been thrilling and enriching. As Daniel has developed from a young rising star who was a protégé of Daniel Barenboim to an established international conductor so the orchestra has developed alongside him.

The orchestra has also worked with a series of conductors from Christopher Seaman, to Howard Blake and looks forward to future concerts with Michael Collins and Daniel Cohen over the course of 2015 to 2016.

The orchestra has worked regularly with such instrumental soloists as Alison Balsom, Nicola Benedetti, Leonard Elschenbroich, Michael Collins, Alexander Sitkovetsky, and Wu Qian, as well as vocal soloists Elizabeth Watts, Sophie Bevan, Graeme Danby, and Lawrence Zazzo. Linked to each concert are opportunities for masterclasses and educational works for young local students. The leader of the Jersey Chamber Orchestra is Anna Smith.

At fifteen she performed Mozart's E flat Major Concerto (K449) in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and again at the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. In the same year she also played the Saint-Saens Concerto No.2 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in St. John's, Smith Square. She made her debut recital at the South Bank Purcell Room in 2000 and has since played there again on several occasions, including a recital broadcast by BBC Radio 3 the following year.

Qian gave recitals throughout Europe and the US including the Steinway Halls of Hamburg and New York, where her performance was broadcast by NHK throughout Asia. She has appeared in many of the UK's major venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival and Bridgewater Halls, and she has made her debut recital in City Hall Hong Kong. Qian's debut recording was released in April 2009 on the Dal Segno label to unanimous critical acclaim.

This season she has made her recital debut at the Chamber Hall of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and has performed other recitals in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Padova and Koblenz. Qian has represented China at the Europalia Festival in Belgium performing Chopin's 2nd Piano Concerto on tour with the Brussels Philharmonic and has just come back from Toronto where she performed the "Yellow River" Piano Concerto at the National Arts Center.

...she realised just how unrealistic this was and how hard she would have to work if she ever wanted to become a principal. From then on she became self-disciplined, driven and 100% focused on her goal.

In her first year in the Royal Ballet Upper School she won the Young British Dancer of the Year and also the Silver Medal at the Adeline Genée Awards. After this she was invited to perform at an RAD gala in Japan. Upon her return she found herself thrown in at the deep end with the third years, skipping the second year entirely.

She joined The Royal Ballet in February 2002, as a member of the corps de ballet. In 2003 she was asked to dance Juliet in Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s Romeo and Juliet. Her performances were exceptionally well received and in the same year she was promoted to soloist.

In 2008 at the age of 23, she was awarded principal status in the company. As a principal she has originated the title role in the Royal Ballet’s first new full-length ballet in 16 years; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and last year she originated the role of Queen Hermione in a second full-length ballet, The Winter's Tale.

Maxim has long been recognised by the international music scene and his list of prizes affirm that status. These include the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award and the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Award, as well as the Geneva, Lionel Tertis and Valentino Bucchi competitions.

Maxim's commercial CD have continually gained awards including Gramophone Editor's Choice and ECHO, ICMA, Gramophone and Grammy nominations as well as reaching the top of the iTunes charts in the USA. His recent recording of the Martinu Rhapsody – Concerto was shortlisted for the Gramophone Award. Maxim also featured as both soloist and conductor on the debut disc of composer Dobrinka Tabakova (ECM) in 2013 - a disc that reached number 2 in the UK classical charts and was shortlisted for a Grammy Award.

Originally from the Ukraine, Maxim has made London his home. He studied viola with Maria Sitkovskaya in Moscow and John Glickman in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Fresh from sell-out concerts at London's Ronnie Scott's, 2012 has already seen Ray and the Giants swing the people out of their seats everywhere from Moscow to Turin and New York to Milan!  With a list of awards, movie soundtracks and festival appearances to his name, Ray's music is guaranteed to make you feel happy and uplifted.