Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and studied at the Royal College of Music.

Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel.

He has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall (a Britten and a Poulenc series and Decade by Decade – 100 years of German Song broadcast by the BBC) and at the Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Wolf). He has appeared throughout Europe (including London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Opera House; La Scala, Milan; the Chatelet, Paris; the Liceu, Barcelona; Berlin’s Philharmonie and Konzerthaus; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein), North America (including in New York both Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall), Australia (including the Sydney Opera House) and at the Aix en Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh, Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg Festivals.

Recording projects have included Schubert, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn Terfel (for Deutsche Grammophon); Schubert and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside (for EMI); recital recordings with Angela Gheorghiu and Barbara Bonney (for Decca), Magdalena Kozena (for DG), Della Jones (for Chandos), Susan Bullock (for Crear Classics), Solveig Kringelborn (for NMA); Amanda Roocroft (for Onyx); the complete Fauré songs with Sarah Walker and Tom Krause; the complete Britten Folk Songs for Hyperion; the complete Beethoven Folk Songs for Deutsche Grammophon; the complete Poulenc songs for Signum; and Britten Song Cycles as well as Schubert’s Winterreise with Florian Boesch for Onyx.

This season’s engagements include appearances with Simon Keenlyside, Magdalena Kozena, Dorothea Röschmann, Susan Graham, Christopher Maltman, Thomas Oliemanns, Kate Royal, Christiane Karg, Iestyn Davies, Florian Boesch and Anne Schwanewilms.

He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder Festival.

Born in Yorkshire, Sarah Fox is one of the leading English sopranos of her generation. She was educated at Giggleswick School, London University and the Royal College of Music. A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award, she is also an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway College, London University. She is equally at home in many musical genres including opera, folksong and musical theatre.
Roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden have included Micaela/Carmen, Asteria/Tamerlano, Zerlina/Don Giovanni and Woglinde/Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other highlights include Asteria in Munich and Barcelona (opposite Domingo); Zerlina at Glyndebourne and in Cincinnati; Woglinde for Salzburg & Aix-en- Provence festivals; Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne & The Royal Danish Opera; Ilia/Idomeneo with De Vlaamse Opera; and Mimi/La Bohème for Opera North.
Her prestigious concert career has taken her worldwide. Highlights have included engagements in Denver, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, The Faeroe Islands and Bermuda as well as tours throughout the UK, Europe & Scandinavia. She has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, Berlin Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Concerto Cologne, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia, the San Francisco Symphony and the Vienna Tonklunster Orchestra with conductors including Elder, Hickox, Maazel, Mackerras, Pappano & Rattle. She has appeared several times at the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival & the Three Choirs Festival and is a regular guest with the Classical Opera Company and at London’s Wigmore Hall. She is also a highly accomplished recitalist with a particular affinity for French Song.
She performs frequently with John Wilson and his Orchestra; she is a regular guest on BBC Radio 2’s “Friday Night is Music Night”; and has performed a series of concerts with Rufus Wainwright in Europe. She was a judge on the second series of BBC TV’s “The Choir : Sing While You Work” with Gareth Malone.
Her discography includes Poulenc Songs (with Malcolm Martineau) for Signum Classics; Mahler’s 4th Symphony (Philharmonia/Mackerras and Philharmonia/Maazel) both for Signum; Vaughan Williams’ 3rd Symphony (Hallé/Elder) for the Hallé label; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem (Colorado Symphony Orchestra/ Litton) and Poulenc Songs (with Graham Johnson) both for Hyperion; Leighton’s 2nd Symphony (BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Hickox) for Chandos; “That’s Entertainment” (John Wilson Orchestra) for EMI classics; and “Cole Porter in Hollywood” (John Wilson Orchestra) for Warner Classics.

Simon Desbruslais is a British trumpet soloist, whose performances have been critically acclaimed as ‘steel- lipped’, ‘musically compelling’ and possessing ‘supreme confidence and flair’. Equally active in baroque and contemporary music, Simon has recorded extensively for Signum Classics including most recently Psalm: Contemporary British Trumpet Concertos, an album of trumpet works written for him by John McCabe, Robert Saxton and Deborah Pritchard. Radio and Television broadcasts form an integral output to Simon’s work and over the last four years he has performed live on BBC 1 Television, BBC Radio 3 & 4 and German Radio SWR2 to millions of viewers and listeners worldwide.

A crucial element of Simon’s career involves working with composers to create and champion new works involving the trumpet. This has ranged from chamber works, such as trumpet and piano, to full-scale concertos and more unusual combinations such as trumpet with choir, or with string quartet. Simon has a particular commitment to British music – composers who have written with his sound and technique in mind include, among others, Edwin Roxburgh, John McCabe, John Traill, Deborah Pritchard, Lola Perrin, Luke Bedford, Toby Young, Tomas Yardley and Tom Armstrong. More recently, he has begun to collaborate with composers from further afield, including a new concerto for trumpet, piano and strings by American composer Geoffrey Gordon as a partner to Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto.

Since his breakthrough season in 2012/13, Simon has given concerto performances in China and Brazil, appeared as soloist with Royal Northern Sinfonia, English Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan, Charivari Agréable, Brook Street Band, Ensemble Diderot and London Concertante, and as a guest chamber musician with the Ligeti Quartet, Austral Harmony, Little Venice Ensemble and Ensemble Perpetuo. He gave solo performances at the Ryedale, Wymondham, Bangor New Music, North York Moors, Deal, and Rheine Vokal festivals, and appeared as a concerto soloist on the natural trumpet at the Wigmore Hall. Simon is fortunate to maintain active duo partnerships with pianist Clare Hammond and organist Stephen Farr, among many other fine musicians.

Simon was educated at King’s College London and the Royal College of Music, winning numerous prizes and scholarships. He was then a private student of Eric Aubier in the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Rueil-Malmaison. Keen to expand on the relationship between performance and musicology, Simon holds a doctorate from Christ Church, Oxford, on the music theory of Paul Hindemith, which will soon be published in monograph form. He is Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull, where he is also Director of Performance, and he has lectured at the universities of Bristol, Nottingham, King’s College London and Surrey. His research into historical trumpets led to a recording on artefacts held by the Oxford Bate Collection, which included the first recordings of music on the nineteenth-century, long ‘Bach’ trumpet, among other historical curiosities.

Simon acknowledges the generous support of Arts Council England, Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, Britten Pears Foundation and Help Musicians UK.

Born in London in 1986, Tamsin Waley-Cohen enjoys an adventurous and varied career. In addition to concerts with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and BBC orchestras, amongst others, she has been associate artist with the Orchestra of the Swan and works with conductors including Andrew Litton and Tamás Vásáry. She enjoys a duo partnership with Huw Watkins, whose Concertino she premiered, and together they have recorded for Champs Hill and Signum Records, for whom she is a Signum Classics Artist. With her sister, composer Freya Waley-Cohen, and architects Finbarr O’Dempsey and Andrew Skulina, she holds an Open Space residency at Aldeburgh. Her love of chamber music led her to start the Honeymead Festival, now in its ninth year, and she is also artistic director of the Sunday Series at London’s Tricycle Theatre. In 2016-2017 she will be a recipient of the ECHO Rising Stars Awards. She studied at the Royal College of Music and her teachers included Itzhak Rashkovsky, Ruggiero Ricci, and András Keller.

Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest clarinettists excelling as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, jazz artist, masterclass leader and tireless musical explorer. He has inspired a generation of young players as guest lecturer and creator of his Conn-Selmer range of affordable clarinets, and introduced a substantial new audience to his instrument.
Born in the UK, Julian started playing the clarinet age 4. The breadth and depth of his artistry are reflected in the diversity and distinction of his work. In recital and chamber music he has played at most of the world’s leading festivals and venues including Gstaad, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Verbier, Wigmore Hall (London) and Lincoln Center (New York). As soloist, he has appeared with a wide range of international orchestras, from the São Paulo Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Paris, and Auckland Philharmonia, to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2012 he established the Julian Bliss Septet, creating programmes inspired by King of Swing, Benny Goodman, and Latin music from Brazil and Cuba that have gone on to be performed to packed houses in festivals, Ronnie Scott’s (London), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and across the U.S.

Amsterdam born winner of the 2013 Prix d' Amis of The Netherlands Opera for his portrayal of Papageno in Simon McBurney's production of Die Zauberflöte, Thomas Oliemans made his professional opera debut aged 24 as the Father in Hans Werner Henze’s Pollicino with the Nationale Reisopera of the Netherlands where he also sang Minos in Händel’s Arianna in Creta and Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes.

In 2005 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Gonsalvo Fieschi in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. Further important debuts followed in 2006 as Papageno in Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Nantes/Angers to great public and critical acclaim, and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte.

His most recent operatic engagements have included his debut at Teatro Real in Madrid with Ivor Bolton and Krysztof Warlikowski (Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste) Donner in Das Rheingold under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, reprisal of his Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Amsterdam. Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro in Gothenburg, Ramiro in L'Heure Espagnole in concert conducted by Charles Dutoit. He appeared as Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse partnering Natalie Dessay, had his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden singing Schaunard alongside Joseph Calleja, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in La Bohème conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Papageno in a new production of Die Zauberflöte staged by esteemed director Simon McBurney and Fritz Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Marc Albrecht at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Marcello in La Bohème and Gunther inGötterdämmerung at the Nationale Reisopera, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus and Marcello in La Bohème at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Scottish Opera, Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. His strong ties to The Netherlands Opera have resulted in parts in Don Carlo, Un Ballo in maschera, Die Zauberflöte, Meistersinger and Rameau’sCastor et Pollux. He also sang leading roles in three world-premiere productions of contemporary Dutch operas by Wagemans (Legende), Zuidam (Adam in Ballingschap) and Martijn Padding (Laika).

Lisa spent her early years growing up in America where she studied with Renee Siebert of the New York Philharmonic. At 17, she won a scholarship to study with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music and continued her postgraduate studies as a 'Martin Music Scholar' with the late Alain Marion of the Paris Conservatoire.British flautist, Lisa Friend has gained recognition as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.

Lisa Friend has appeared as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Prague Philharmonic, Virtuosi Pragenses Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic and has toured throughout much of Europe, Asia and the USA.
She has given live broadcasts for Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and BBC London. Solo recital highlights include performances for Steven Spielberg and his Foundation ‘Shoah’, the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, LG Arts Centre-Seoul, Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall Concert - Children & the Arts '10th Anniversary Concert' in collaboration with Classic FM.

Lisa wrote original arrangements for her trio based on some of the great film scores as well as her own compositions, performing at venues such as St Martin- in-the-Fields, St. John’s, Smith Square, and the British Embassy in Paris.
Lisa spent her early years growing up in America where she studied with Renee Siebert of the New York Philharmonic. At 17, she won a scholarship to study with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music and continued her postgraduate studies as a 'Martin Music Scholar' with the late Alain Marion of the Paris Conservatoire.

She has given masterclasses in South Korea and the UK, and runs an annual international flute masterclass in London, ‘The Friend Flute Academy London’.