Artists
Emily Atkinson
Born in the Colorado Rockies, soprano Emily Atkinson studied music education in New York and singing in London, and now enjoys performing both as a soloist and consort singer.
She appears most frequently as a member of The Tallis Scholars, with whom she has toured five continents. Emily has been a featured soloist with chamber groups including Chelys Consort of Viols, Concentus VII, and the City Bach Collective, and she recently gave a recital of Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres with Dame Emma Kirkby.
Other recent performances include Iberian polyphony with La Grande Chapelle, Handel and Purcell with Freiburger Barockorchester, and Bolivian baroque music with Florilegium.
Sam Brown
“The Eric Clapton of the lute”, Sam Brown is one of the top lutenists of his generation, known for his imaginative approach and sensitive, understated style.
Sam first learned classical guitar with the inspirational Sasha Levtov. He discovered the lute at the Royal College of Music, where he trained with Jakob Lindberg. He later studied at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italia with Lorenzo Micheli.
For the last six years Sam has performed internationally as a solo and ensemble player, including at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Wigmore Hall. He has also given talks and played for TV, radio and theater. Sam is especially known as a performer of lute-song. He is a core member of Emma Kirkby’s ensemble Dowland Works, and a regular collaborator with duo Blackbird and ensemble Fair Oriana.
A devoted teacher, Sam is a founder and director of Dowland Youth Works, and coaches as part of the Arts Scholarship team at University of Bath.
Flauguissimo Duo
Yu-Wei Hu, flute
Johan Löfving, guitar/theorbo
"Flautist Yu-Wei Hu was sublime and her handling of Gluck and Paganini, accompanied sensitively by guitarist Johan Löfving, was my personal highlight..." Early Music Today
Flauguissimo Duo was founded by flautist Yu-Wei Hu and guitarist Johan Löfving in 2008 whilst studying at the Royal College of Music in London. Together they have dazzled audiences across UK and beyond, performing in venues such as Kings Place, Cadogan Hall and St. John’s Smith Square in London, Sage Gateshead in Newcastle and St George’s Bristol. Recently Flauguissimo was invited to perform in the Stratford-on-Avon Festival, Kings Lynn Festival and London Guitar Festival; abroad their performance highlights include Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe in the Netherlands, Swedish Guitar and Lute Festival and the Bach Hall in Taiwan.
Passionate about both early and contemporary music, Flauguissimo Duo performed and led composer’s workshop at Bristol University in the UK as well as master classes at Ingesund College of Music, Kalstad Unitversity in Sweden. Selected for Brighton Early Music Festival Live and International Guitar Foundation Young Artist Platform 2015, Concordia Young Artists and Live Music Now, theri performances were highly appreciated by both audience and music critics.
In 2019 Flauguissimo Duo's debut album ‘A Salon Opera’ was released under Resonus Classics and has been receiving reviews of great acclaim. They have recently recorded a new album featuring Swedish baroque composer J.H. Roman due to be released in 2022.
Besides Flauguissimo Duo, Yu-Wei and Johan have won many prizes in prominent competitions, including International Early Music Competition in Middelburg/The Netherlands 2011, Uppsala International Guitar Competition 2011 and London International Guitar Competition 2012. They have performed at MuTh-Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Radio France Festival Montpellier, Palace of Versailles, BBC Proms Cadogan Hall, Bachwoche Festival Vienna, Carinthischer Sommer Festival Austria, Opera Barga Festival Italy, London Handel Festival and London Festival of Baroque Music. Their performances have been broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 & Radio 4, Radio France, Austrian Radio Ö1 and Swedish Radio P2.
David López Ibañez
In 2017 David obtained a First Class Distinction for his Bachelors Degree at the Royal College of Music. He has performed all around Europe as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester. In 2017 He had the privilege of leading the RCM Symphony Orchestra at a concert for Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
David is the recipient of a Fellowship Programme with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund. He also had the support of the Countess of Munster Trust and the Leverhulme Arts Fund towards his Masters Degree.
In 2018 he was awarded the BBC Symphony Orchestra Pathway Scheme and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Academy. David is keen on contemporary music, he plays with the Explore Ensemble, the London Contemporary Music Festival Orchestra and took part in the London Sinfonietta Academy in 2017. In January 2019 he had the opportunity to play Mendelssohn Octet alongside violinist Maxim Vengerov and to play the solo violin part with the RCM Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Richard Strauss's "Ein Heldenlebes" Since October 2018 he plays on a violin made by Lorenzo Carcassi in Florence in 1740.
Masumi Yamamoto
Harpsichordist Masumi Yamamoto performs extensively as a soloist and continuo player. She has given solo recitals in the London Handel Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and has toured across Europe with ensembles such as the Gabrieli Consort & Players, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She was a prize winner at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges.
Now also active as a teacher, Masumi is Teacher of Harpsichord at St. Paul's Girls' School and James Allen’s Girls’ School in London, and was on the panel of judges for the Broadwood Horniman Harpsichord Competition in 2017.