Stephen Bryant
Stephen Bryant is the leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Royal College of Music, where he won every available prize. Now he is Senior Orchestral Tutor and Chamber Music Coach at the College’s Junior Department. He has been the BBC’s principal violinist since 1992, working with the world’s greatest conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Sir Michael Tippett, Maxim Shostakovich and Sir Andrew Davis. His radio broadcasts include the concertos by Korngold, Delius, Khachaturian, Mendelssohn and Lutoslawski. In the last year, Stephen has played the BBC Prom season, toured Spain, Poland and China and given two performances of the Grace Williams concerto.
Rhys Evans
Rhys Evans began playing violin at the age of 5, became a member of the National Children’s Orchestra at 6 and was awarded the Principal Director’s and Leverhulme Scholarships. He led the orchestra in 2016. Rhys is now a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and has played at the BBC Proms.At 7 years old Rhys was the youngest student to be accepted to study at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, studying violin with Kristoffer Dolatko. He achieved Grade 8 in piano, voice, and violin before he was ten years old, and Dip ABRSM (Distinction) in violin when he was 12. Rhys moved to the South of England in 2014. He is a music scholar at Westminster School and attends the Junior Royal College of Music where he is studying with Professor Maciej Rakowski and plays as a soloist and in numerous chamber groups.
Rhys has had a long list of success at Music Festivals, winning the junior title at the Wandsworth Borough Musician of the Year Competition and the American Fine Arts Festival Golden Strings of America International String Competition. He has played at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Robert Schumann Museum in Germany and Cadogan Hall and will be playing the Dvorak concerto at the Barbican in March this year.
Rhys plays a 1751 Landolphi violin, which is kindly on loan.
Molly Oldland
Molly Oldland (nee Parsons-Gurr) began her cello studies in Kent with Anne Smith at the age of thirteen. She
completed her undergraduate course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with David Kenedy
and Naomi Butterworth, then took a place at the Royal College of Music gaining a Master of Performance
degree, studying with Alexander Boyarsky and Amanda Truelove. Molly has performed in solo master classes
held by Natalie Clein, Rivka Golani, Timothy Gill and Nicolas Jones, and taken part in chamber music master
classes with the Endellion, Wihan, Danish, Carducci and Chilingirian quartets among others.
Molly's performances are varied and have included concerto performances, of which the first was in
Canterbury at the age of eighteen, performing the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto, which she performed again in
2018 with the Hitchin Chamber Orchestra. In September 2021 Molly performed Elgar';s Cello Concerto, and in
July 2022 the Lalo Cello Concerto. Molly has been involved in the JAM On The Marsh Festival, performing
Messiaen's Quartet For The End Of Time, the Poulenc sonata for cello and piano with pianist and husband
Adrian Oldland, and the London premier of Voices of Vimy for choir and solo cello with The Chapel
Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge at St Brides Church. She has given many recitals, including an
event held bythe then Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, at the First
International Festival of Music at Chateau des Jalesnes in France, as an on-stage cellist during a
performance of Dracula, at the Women of the World festival orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and during
an orchestral tour of North China.
Molly performs predominantly as a recitalist with pianist Jennifer Carter in venues all around the country, and is principal cellist with many freelance orchestras. Alongside her performing career, Molly teaches celo and piano at home and at St Christopher School in Letchworth. She is an instrumental teacher and orchestral coach with the Hertfordshire Music Service.
During her time at the Royal College of Music, Molly was the recipient of the Henry Wood Award(2012-2013), and has been funded by the Denne Gilkes Memorial Fund (2012-2013), the Lynn Foundation (2012-2013), the Kent and Medway Young Musicians Trust (2013), the Folkestone Decorative and Fine Arts Society (2012), the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust (2012), the Seary Trust (2012-2014) and a number of private sponsors.
Adam Heron
Acclaimed by The Sunday Times for the verve and spirit of his performances, Adam Heron is swiftly
earning a reputation as one of the most innovative pianists of his generation. Winner of the 2020 Harriet
Cohen Bach Prize, Adam rose to prominence following his television debut in 2018 as a BBC Young
Musician piano finalist. Through his unique artistry, coupled with an innate public appeal and flair for
communication, he has become a leading ambassador for classical music across the UK and abroad.
Born in Hong Kong of Nigerian-Filipino descent, then adopted into an Irish family, Adam commands a
demanding schedule of international engagements, featuring solo recitals at distinguished concert halls
such as the International Center for Arts in Cairo and the National Center for the Performing Arts in
Mumbai. Performances throughout the UK have encompassed esteemed venues such as Hampton Court
Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Southbank Centre, St Martin-in-the-Fields, The
Holburne Museum, and Wigmore Hall. Festival appearances include The Aegean Arts International
Festival (Greece), The Cayman Arts Festival (Cayman Islands), and The Cheltenham Music Festival
(United Kingdom).
In addition to being an established solo recitalist, Adam is also a devoted collaborative pianist, having
performed alongside eminent musicians such as double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, soprano
Francesca Chiejina, and cellist Laura van der Heijden. In 2016 the celebrated Chineke! Orchestra invited
him to become one of its first concerto soloists, and he has since worked with high-ranking conductors
including David Curtis, Jonathon Heyward, and Pete Harrison.
A laureate of the Stefano Marizza International Piano Competition in Italy and the International Piano
Competition HRH Princess Lalla Meryem in Morocco, Adam studied with Christopher Elton at the Royal
Academy of Music in London, where he held the Hargreaves and Ball scholarship. He has received
masterclasses from renowned pianists including Anne Queff lec, Imogen Cooper, John Lill, Paul Lewis,
Stephen Hough, and Yevgeny Sudbin. Generously supported by Irish Heritage, The Keyboard Charitable
Trust, and The Talent Unlimited Foundation, Adam is currently pursuing postgraduate study at the
University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Peter McMurray.
Twitter @AdamHeronPiano
Facebook @AdamHeronPiano
Instagram @adamheronpiano
Eleanor Corr
Eleanor is winner of the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition 2020, leader of English Touring Opera and a Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist. She has recorded Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat for Linn Records and performed at Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Oslo Chamber Music Festival.
This season she is recording Schnittke's Concerto Grosso no. 3 for Sky Arts at Abbey Road with Charles Hazlewood and Paraorchestra, performing concertos by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Kabalevsky, Mozart, Ravel and Sibelius with orchestras across the UK, and makes her WDR debut with Pocket Sinfonia, her award winning flute, cello, violin and piano/fortepiano quartet who have performed at REMA European Early Music Summit, Brighton Early Music Festival and National Centre for Early Music.
Eleanor has worked as an orchestral mentor at the Royal Academy of Music, working closely with the string principals as a mentor, and taking first violin sectionals.
Her violin is generously loaned to her by the Harrison Frank Foundation.
