COFFEE CADENZAS
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Join us for a series of coffee morning sessions at the Barony Centre in North Ayrshire, taking place every Saturday from October 21st to December 16th, 2023 (exc. 18/11/23).
Enjoy the fusion of music and art in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Your contributions directly support our talented performers, making these sessions possible.
We look forward to having you join us!
Saturdays 10:15am-12:15pm
Barony Centre, West Kilbride Ayrshire
Support Us
Vote for us in the North Ayrshire PB Fund: Coffee Cadenzas - Community Coffee Concert Series! (communitychoices.scot)
Donate on GoFund Me: https://gofund.me/de3cf606
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21 | 10
Sòlás Collective
The Sòlás Collective is an emerging ensemble featuring Sarah Hanniffy on viola and Fionnlagh Mac A‘Phiocair on the Scottish small pipes. Hailing from their native places of the Outer Hebrides and Galway, the duo have a focus on both of their respective seannós cultures from Ireland and Gaelic Scotland. Mac A’Phiocair and Hanniffy harness the use of their instruments' extended techniques to create refreshing soundscapes which complement and highlight the nuances of the viola and small pipes.
21 | 10
Jacques Carrol-Leitao
Jacques is a classical guitarist, lutenist, composer and music researcher from greater Glasgow. He has studied guitar with Ian Watt, Sasha Savaloni, and Allan Neave at Douglas Academy and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Over the years Jacques has cultivated a wide range of musical skills to a high level. Throughout his career he has performed jazz, flamenco, rock, theatre, and Scottish traditional music. Jacques also composes many of his own concert pieces, and is passionately involved in promoting early music in Scotland.
28 | 10
Morris Begg Duo
Described as delivering “energetic and charming performances”, the Morris-Begg Duo of Ross Morris (guitar) and Ines Mayhew-Begg (soprano) began working together in 2019 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. They have already brought their shared enjoyment of the intimate and expressive nature of voice and guitar to several prestigious venues across the UK including Kings Place, the National Gallery of Scotland, St Giles Cathedral and the National Museum of Scotland.
They perform to a wide variety of audiences as Live Music Now Scotland Artists and International Guitar Foundation Young Artists. Next year they will be premiering new IGF commissions for voice and guitar. They aim to continue to bring a freshness to their
programmes through their own unique arrangements and commissions.
28 | 10
Virginia and Esther Piano-Singer Duo
Virginia Lafean, soprano, hails from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and is currently pursuing her masters at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Elizabeth “Mandy” McCormack. Her previous engagements include Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites (2018), Bernstein’s MASS (2019), Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (2019), and Puccini’s Suor Angelica (2020), as well as scenes recitals of Die Fledermaus (2022), Idomeneo (2022), and Così fan tutte (2023). In November, Virginia will perform her role debut as Santuzza in Fife Opera’s production of Cavalleria Rusticana.
Esther is currently in her final year of undergraduate study in classical piano performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studies with Graeme McNaught.
Esther began her musical studies at the age of five, and has since received tuition in piano, organ, voice, violin, and viola. She is a keen chamber musician, and is passionate about collaborating with other musicians both within and outwith the Conservatoire. She very much enjoys working with, and exploring vocal repertoire with singers at RCS.
In March of 2020, Esther performed in a masterclass led by Scottish pianist Steven Osborne which took place at the Music School of Douglas Academy, where she studied from the age of 12.
More recently, Esther has been performing in RCS Piano Festivals and keyboard concerts, a number of organ recitals, and in concert with her piano trio.
04 | 11
Classical Twist
Classical Twist is a Scots/French musical collaboration between Joanna Stark (Cello) and Melia Simonot (accordion). Current students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the two enjoy exploring lesser known classical repertoire originally written for cello and piano and arranging it for cello-accordion. They particularly enjoy exploring elements of folk in classical
music, which Joanna combines with her own arrangements of traditional music.
04 | 11
Vàgr
Vàgr, named for the Old Norse word meaning ‘sea’ or ‘wave’, is Claudia Edwards (US, fiddle) and Joanna Stark (UK, cello). Their dynamic, emerging duo explores the interplay between classical and folk music both—producing a sound both fresh and familiar, riveting and poised. Joanna is an eclectic musician from North-East Fife, who recently completed her MMus in Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Claudia Edwards is a Florida-born fiddler living in Glasgow, who graduated with an MMus in Traditional Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June 2022
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Quartet Meditace
Quartet Meditace formed in the Autumn of 2022 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Maya, George, Annabel and Tess are now all in their third year at the conservatoire and
initially formed the quartet to explore repertoire by Suk. They have enjoyed masterclasses
with David Dolan, Joseph Swensen and Pedro de Alcantara on one of his works, which they will be performing in the Coffee Cadenzas concert series. The piece is a meditation on the old Czech chorale ‘Saint Wenceslas’ and has been written for different arrangements of string ensembles, including string quartets and quintets. Meditace have since expanded their repertoire to include Haydn, Greig and Elgar, allowing them to explore the full range of string quartet colours and textures, and to create exciting programmes for their audiences. Looking forward, the quartet hopes to give more performances at events and concerts in communities around Scotland and are delighted to have the chance to perform in West Kilbride this term.
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Nikki Martin
Scottish Soprano Nikki Martin is in her final year at the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Lorna Anderson. Nikki is the proud recipient of a scholarship from the RCS.
In 2021, Nikki performed her debut title role with Buxton International Festival as Cendrillon in Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot. In February 2023, Nikki had the privilege of reprising the role, touring all over the UK.
Nikki is very much looking forward to performing the roles of Monica (The Medium) and Cendrillon (Cendrillon), in RCS’s upcoming opera productions
25 | 11
Karolina & Ugne
Ugne Viržonytė and Karolína Kubálkova are a newly established Lithuanian and Czech-Canadian piano and violin duo, brought together by their long standing friendship and love for chamber music. Both graduates of Royal Institutions (The Royal Academy of Music; The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), they have performed in over 40 countries throughout their solo careers in venues such as the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. Now in 2023, Karolina and Ugne will embark on a mini tour of Scotland to celebrate their fresh chamber partnership which they are so excited to bring here to Coffee Cadenzas in West Kilbride.
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Einheit Trio
As students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the unique piano trio took shape, uniting Santiago Gil Duarte from Argentina, Mariia Zhuravlova from Ukraine, and Jiayang Song from China. Santiago and Mariia, both in their second year of study in bachelor, and Jiayang, pursuing an artist diploma, formed a diverse blend of experiences and expertise, leading to a year of profound musical exploration. Throughout their collaborative journey, the trio discovered a common passion for music, affirming that their diverse backgrounds united cultures. Their ideal is to bring a fresh perspective to the pieces they played, infusing them with new ideas and establishing a profound emotional connection with the composer.
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Coillte Quartet
Exploring new collaborations and invigorating classics, the Coillte Quartet is an ensemble made up of internationally acclaimed recent graduates and final year students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Previous collaborations have allowed them to explore music from Latin America, traditional folk music from Denmark and premiere new works; whilst also performing beloved classics from Beethoven to Ravel around Glasgow. They will be joined by the Scottish Guitarist Luke Anderson for this concert. Whose concert highlights include Glasgow Cathedral, St Giles Cathedral and representing RCS at the renowned Wigmore Hall.
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Rionnag Quintet
Formed in 2022, the Rionnag Quintet are a new uprising ensemble in the Scottish classical music scene. This diverse group from around the world is united by Scotland, particularly with all members studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. They have a variety of experiences, from commissioned works to community projects in Glasgow, with the belief that classical music can be enjoyed by all when listening is made accessible.
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Barros Pereira- Alves
The Glasgow based Barros Pereira-Alves duo is formed by violinist Inês Soares and harpist Teresa Barros Pereira. Both musicians are passionate about making classical music accessible to wider audiences and about sharing the rich music culture of their home country of Portugal.
They strive to expand the existing repertoire for violin and harp by researching and arranging pieces from a wide range of styles as well as collaborating with composers and commissioning new works. Alongside their classical repertoire, the duo has also ventured into exploring the similarities between Fado singing accompanied by Portuguese guitar and the lyrical capabilities of the violin alongside the plucked strings of the harp.
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Angeliki Giannopoulou
Angeliki Giannopoulou is a pianist based in Glasgow, studying with Fali Pavri and Sinae Lee in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Born in Athens, Greece, she received her piano diploma from the Athenaeum Conservatory with Nelli Semitekolo, whilst also working with Alexia Mouza.
She enjoyed a busy year performing throughout Scotland, the US with a full scholarship at the Apple Hill centre in New Hamshire, Appenzel Piano internsive course in Switzerland. Additionally, she is having concert engagements in Greece, after winning a competition from the Kalou Foundation, chosen by a prestigious jury with head, Janis Vakarelis.
Apart from piano she is interested in harpsichord, curation and research on female composers.
She will be having her Megaron Mousikis debut this winter.
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Reese Carly Manglicmot
Reese Carly Manglicmot is a composer and performer, whose practice spans from early and classical performance to contemporary projects. She is a winner of the BBC Young Composer Competition 2023, prior to which she was a finalist in the NCEM Young Composers Competition 2023 and highly commended in the BBC Young Composer 2021. Reese has performed and self-premièred in Lithuania, Romania and across the UK, and is also active as a collaborative pianist. Currently, she studies on the Bachelor of Music course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under an RCS Trust Scholarship as a Joint Principal Study.
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Sòlas Ensemble
Sòlas Ensemble were formed in 2022 and are made up of 4 singers who are all recent graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Euan McDonald, Katie Carmichael, Caitlin MacKenzie and Christian Loizou have enjoyed singing and working together for the past 4 years in their Undergraduate degrees and look forward to a wide range of possible future opportunities. Previous performances include several weddings, funerals and other events. They have also performed at RCS Open Days and Reunion Events. Sòlas Ensemble are also excited to perform at the opening of Gleneagles Christmas Season 2023. The ensemble has a vast array of repertoire ranging from Classical to Popular Hits. From Tallis to the Beatles, Sòlas Ensemble brings a new dynamic to a spectrum of pieces. At Coffee Cadenzas they will be performing a mixture of Crowd Pleasers and Christmas Classics.
