Musicians from Lithuania, France, and Germany invite all Londoners to a beautiful evening of classical songs and arias.
Valerija Iljin (soprano), Sholto Biscoe-Taylor (tenor) and Francesca Lauri (piano) join the forces to perform at Longfield Hall on 22nd of April at 7pm.
"I am thrilled to have a chance to finally invite you to a live concert! Me and my dear colleague Sholto are preparing a delightful program. Please come - there will be lots of beautiful music, laughter and some wine! We all need it after covid and all other disasters ", says Valerija Iljin.
22nd April, 7pm.
Longfield Hall - Upper Hall, 50 Knatchbull Road, London, SE5 9QY
Tickets: https://ticketlab.co.uk/event/id/11321
Concession tickets: https://ticketlab.co.uk/event/id/11322
Performing artists:
Valerija Iljin is a Lithuanian spinto lyric soprano currently studying with Joan Rodgers CBE and Helen Yorke at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, she is also mentored by Sarah Pring and Janet Haney. Valerija is a winner of many international competitions and festivals in Italy, Poland, Latvia, USA, Russia, Belarus, Malta, Moldova, Ukraine, France and Germany and other countries. Valerija has performed with various orchestras including Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, ‘Trimitas’ orchestra, Panevezys musical theatre symphony orchestra, ‘Kaunas big band’, Belarus state symphony orchestra, Polish National symphony orchestra. In 2019 Valerija was awarded a bachelor's degree in theatre studies from Vilnius College and London College of Music, she has also studied at American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City and played in the operetta 'Gondoliers' production directed by David Henson. In May 2021, Valerija developed the roles of Susanna and Emma in Mussorgsky’s opera ‘Khovanschina’ (Bolshoi Theatre) working with creative team: Simon McBurney OBE, Gerard McBurney and Leah Hausman. Recently, Valerija was announced the winner of Roy Pleasance Competition 21-22 and attended masterclasses with Yvonne Howard, maestro Ubaldo Fabbri, Lynton Atkinson, Alison Wells, Nomeda Kazlaus, Kristian Benedikt, Asmik Grigorian, Joy Robinson, James Ottaway, Tom Primrose, and others. As a recognized artist of Lithuania she was invited to a special inauguration concert of the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda in 2019.
Sholto Biscoe-Taylor is a light lyric tenor studying with Dominic Natoli at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. After accepting a scholarship to study at TLCMD, Sholto moved to Berlin, studying with Scot Weir, where he developed a passion for the song genre, particularly Lieder. Since coming to TLCMD, Sholto has represented the college in the Junior Kathleen Ferrier competition, sang a leading role as a stand in for their postgraduate opera scenes, and also performed a leading role in the world premier of the contemporary opera, ‘Syllable’. Sholto has a growing interest in queer musicology, and is currently being mentored by Sophie Fuller. Sholto is interested in researching how music has historically pushed the boundaries of gender expression through the culture of publicly displaying emotions in music.
Francesca Lauri is studying piano at Trinity Laban on the undergraduate course and is the recipient of the Lee Family and Gladys Britton Scholarships. She is studying with Sergio De Simone, the head of the keyboard department and has just accepted a scholarship to study collaborative piano at the Royal College of Music next year. At present, Francesca is collaborating immensely with singers and recently won the Lillian Ash French Song Competition at Trinity with regular duo partner, Bethan Terry. She also won the English Song Prize with Imogen Burgess in 2021 adjudicated by Simon Keenlyside and in 2022 with Victoria Mulley adjudicated by Stephen Varcoe . She was previously a semi-finalist with baritone Michael Temporal Darrell in the 2019 Somerset Song Competition. Francesca spent two weeks repetiteuring in April for the Hurn Court production of Donizetti’s ‘Don Pasquale’ in Bournemouth and is preparing to repetiteur for St Paul’s Opera production of Albert Herring in July.
