‘Pure chamber music heaven!’ was how the Gould Trio’s Wigmore Hall performance of Schubert’s great B flat piano trio was described in ‘The Times’. On tour in the USA, the Washington Post raved that they produce, ‘a musical fire that ignites from the very first bar.’

Clarinet

Robert Plane’s career as a solo and chamber clarinettist is rich and varied. Concerto appearances in Europe, Asia and North America have included performances of Mozart’s 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.

Violin

Lucy is a founder member of the Gould Piano Trio, one of the UK’s most respected chamber ensembles. International competition successes in Melbourne and Florence laid the foundations for the long-lasting career that she has enjoyed since dedicating her musical life to the genre.

Cello

Chamber-musician, solo-cellist, orchestral principal and renowned teacher, Richard Lester was a member of the award-winning Florestan Trio, a founder-member of the ensemble Domus and was a member of Hausmusik and the London Haydn Quartet.

Piano

Ben studied with Dame Fanny Waterman from the age of ten, culminating in many awards including top prize in the Busoni International Piano Competition and winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International  Piano Masters, Gold Medal.

Violin

Finnish violinist Sini Simonen enjoys an active international career as a chamber musician and soloist. She was the leader of the Castalian String Quartet, with whom she performed at the Carnegie Hall, Washington Library of Congress, Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Viola

Born in Los Angeles in 1999, Emma Wernig is a German-Austrian violist who has quickly become recognized for her expressive artistry and distinctive musical voice, establishing herself as a rising star on the international stage. She is viola player of the Doric Quartet.

Viola

Rachel Roberts is one of Europe’s leading violists and performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She is violist Ensemble 360

cello

Kate has devoted her career to chamber music, as cellist of the Leopold String Trio and the London Bridge Trio. She is a long-term member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and directs the Winchester Chamber Music Festival

Double bass

Driven by his desire to push the limits of his instrument, American double bassist Levi Andreassen is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician.

Flute

Amy is principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, having previously held the same position with the Hallé and Royal Northern Sinfonia. She has also appeared as guest principal flute with many other orchestras in the UK including the Philharmonia, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cimbalom

Ed is established as the leading cimbalom player of his generation. He has performed the solo cimbalom part in Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite on some 40 occasions including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2011 BBC Proms.

Piano

Heidi Rolfe is well known for her work in duo with her husband Benjamin Frith. They recently appeared at the Wigmore Hall in Holst’s two piano version of The Planets.

Author

Michael Symmons Roberts is a British poet, born in Preston, Lancashire in 1963. His books of poetry have won many awards including the Forward Prize (2013) and the Costa Poetry Award for Drysalter (2013) and the Whitbread Poetry Prize for Corpus(2004). His Selected Poems was published by Cape in 2016. As a librettist, his work with composers has been performed in concert halls and opera houses around the world.