Author: danwyn

PROGRAMME OF MUSIC

Programme (to be confirmed)

Biographies

Tilly Coulton is a flute player, improviser, and teacher from Devon, UK. A graduate with distinction from the Royal College of Music (MPerf 2024), and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (BMus(Hons) 2022), her skills range from orchestral playing and solo/chamber recitals to contemporary/experimental music and improvisation. 

Tilly is the recipient of several major awards, including the ABRSM Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award, and John MacGregor Flute Prize, as well as achieving first prize in both the RCS Concerto Competition and RCS Governor’s Recital Prize for Woodwind within the same week. She has played in recitals alongside Tim Carey and Sophia Lim at venues including St Dunstan’s-in-the-West, St Michael’s Highgate, and the Yamaha Music School and had her concerto debut in 2024 performing Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears. 

As a freelance orchestral player, Tilly has performed throughout the UK and taken part in professional schemes with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Scottish Opera. She served as principal flute with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in 2022. Recent highlights include Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie at the Royal Festival Hall and John Adams’ Harmonielehre at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.  

A keen supporter of contemporary and experimental music, Tilly is Creative Director and principal flute player of the contemporary ensemble Standard Issue: a group that prioritises inclusivity, accessibility, and bringing music by living composers to new audiences. Previous projects also include Ensemble Modern’s Young Ensemble Academy (2024), Hylozoic/Desires – An Omniscience: an atmos-etheric, transnational, interplanetary, cosmist bird opera, spanning seven continents and the many verses (bass flute) performed at the Finish National Opera (2024), Sound and Music UK Ensemble in Residence (2024), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s NEXT Programme (2023-24), Floating Worlds: ”The Seaweed Gatherers” by Daryl Jamieson (composer) and Graham Eatough (theatre director) (2022), and performing free improvisations regularly with the London Improvisers Orchestra and others.

Sophia Lim

Sophia Lim is a Malaysian pianist from Sabah, North Borneo. She had studied under the tutelage of Danny Driver at the Royal College of Music. In Kota Kinabalu, she studied with her mentor, Krzysztof Slomiak. Her experiences learning the erhu and growing up in Sabah enriched her musical insight and versatility through the influence of diverse cultures.

She has made several appearances in the UK, including at the Pallant House Gallery as part of the Pallant Proms, as well as performing at the Mátyás Seiber 120th celebratory concert at the Liszt Institute in London, alongside musicians from the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Sophia also frequently collaborates with flautist Tilly Coulton as a chamber musician. Sophia is the pianist of the Atlas Trio formed in 2025, a clarinet trio focusing on contemporary repertoire.

A keen advocate for new music, Sophia has premiered several new works in the UK. Recent highlights include Amuse Bouche by Nien Chin Chai as part of the Rude Health Festival of New Music, performance at Milton Court Concert Hall with the premiere of Eluned Davies’ new piece from Collaborative Voiceworks. She gave her debut performance of the complete Java Suite by Leopold Godowsky in 2025 and was Ambassador of the Benedetti Foundation for the 2024 cohort

PROGRAM OF MUSIC

Programme: to follow

Biography

The emerging Swiss pianist Susanna Braun made her debut at the Tonhalle Zürich in 2024, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto KV 466 and earned praise for her “sensitive touch, high virtuosity, and expressiveness” (Schaffhauser Nachrichten). In June 2025, she appeared with the BBC Philharmonic, performing Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto, which was also recorded for a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast. The Arts Desk described her interpretation as “gentle, bittersweet and evocative”. Her collaborations also include the Manchester Camerata, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Sinfonietta Schaffhausen, the Jena Philharmonie, and the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, among others.

She regularly performs at renowned venues across Europe, including including TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Tonhalle Zürich (Great and Small Hall), BBC Philharmonic Studio, RNCM (Royal Northern College of Music) Concert Hall, St Mary’s Perivale, St James’s Church Piccadilly, London’s Steinway Hall, Manchester’s Bridgewater and Stoller Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Weimarhalle, Bechstein Centrum Hamburg, Spiegelzaal of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, and Ehrbar Hall in Vienna.

She has already earned significant international recognition. In 2025, she reached the semifinals of the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht; in 2024 she was a top ten candidate at the Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition in Monza and one of only 36 participants selected for the Concours Géza Anda. For her artistic achievements she has received numerous awards – among them the Brigitte Engerer Prize “Jeune espoir” at the 2023 Piano Campus in Paris.

Her early achievements include first prizes at the 2018 International Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede, the Ferrara International Piano Festival, and the Swiss Youth Music Competition, as well as the Encouragement Prize awarded by the Neues Orchester Basel and the RNCM Chopin Prize.

A passionate chamber musician, she is the founder and artistic director of “BlenioMusica”, the annual chamber music festival held in Valle di Blenio (Switzerland), now in its fifth year (2025) and recognized for its innovative programming featuring young artists from around the world.

PROGRAMME OF MUSIC

Biography

Alex Clarke, a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2020, winner of the Rising Star  category in the 2019 British Jazz Awards and three-time Parliamentary Jazz Awards nominee, is  recognised as one of the most in-demand saxophonists on the British jazz scene. Rooted in the  bebop traditions, her powerful, melodic playing draws inspiration from the likes of Phil Woods,  

Sonny Stitt & Cannonball Adderley. Alex has performed with notable names such as Alan Barnes,  Alex Garnett & Mark Nightingale and regularly works with top ensembles including The Ronnie  Scott’s Jazz Orchestra. 

Leading her own quartet featuring some of the UK’s finest musicians, namely David Newton, Dave  Green and Steve Brown, she released her latest album Only A Year in 2022. 

Alex’s upcoming quartet album, Out of the Woods, celebrates the legacy of alto great Phil Woods.  Set for release in Autumn 2025, the album features a selection of classic repertoire, lesser-known  gems associated with Woods, and original compositions inspired by his unmistakable sound. 

Biography

Award winning Harpist, Katie Sherratt, has performed all around the UK and Europe in competitions and concerts. She has competed in several years at places such as; Mid-Somerset, Taunton, North Devon and Bristol Festival. Katie has won prizes including ‘Harp Solo Repertoire Advanced’, ‘Advanced Performance Harp Class and more. In 2022 she won the ‘Renié Harp prize’ at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. 

As a soloist and orchestral player, Katie has performed in many prestigious venues such as Symphony Hall Birmingham, Wells Cathedral, Exeter Cathedral, Birmingham Town Hall, Bath Pump Rooms and the Howard Opera Centre in Leeds. Notable orchestral highlights in playing for the City of Birmingham Youth Orchestra was playing ‘Mahler’s 5th Symphony’ under the baton of Kazuki Yamada and Jaume Santonja Espinôs, with coaching from CBSO Harpist; Katherine Thomas. Another Highlight was playing Holsts’ ‘The Planets’ in Wells Cathedral and Debussy’s ‘La Mer’ in Exeter Cathedral.

Throughout her musical career, Katie has a great passion for Musical Theatre and has played in the pit band for ‘Ragtime’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Sweeney Todd’ and more. In 2022, Katie released her Debut album of ‘A Night with the Stars’, which consists of Musical Theatre and Film music arranged for Harp and Strings. 

Katie graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where she obtained her Master of Arts degree, studying with Suzy Willison-Kawalec. In 2022 she graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with a First Class ‘Bachelor of Music with Honors’ degree in July 2022, studying with Rita Schindler. Katie’s secondary education she was offered a scholarship as a specialist musician at Wells Cathedral School for 5 years where she studied with Ruth Faber.

PROGRAMME OF MUSIC

Programme to follow

Biography

Communication, bond, connection…

Trio Legame is a dynamic and passionate chamber ensemble formed by three highly accomplished musicians: violinist Emma Arizza, cellist Ludovico Colombo, and pianist Ana Bursac. Despite being a newly established trio, each member brings a wealth of professional experience, having studied at world-renowned institutions such as the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London.

Individually, the members of Trio Legame have performed in prestigious venues across Europe, including major concert halls in the UK such as Steinway Hall, County Hall and Wigmore Hall. They have also been involved in successful duo partnerships, with Emma Arizza collaborating with both Ludovico Colombo in violin-cello performances and Ana Bursac in violin-piano recitals at Villa d’Este and Sala Carducci at Como, Italy. These collaborations have deepened their connection to chamber music, now serving as the foundation of their shared artistic vision. Trio Legame is now focusing on exploring the vast and inspiring repertoire for piano trio.

Their debuts at the Bloomsbury Festival in London and Oxford Chamber Music Festival marked exciting milestones in their career, and they are eagerly preparing for more performances throughout the UK and Italy in the coming year