In 2004, she began her undergraduate studies with Professor Hie-Yon, Choi as a scholarship student at the Seoul National University. In 2008, she was awarded the ‘Barbara Stringer Scholarship’ for postgraduate studies in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied firstly with Professor Philip Jenkins continuing later with Senior Professor of Piano, Joan Havill supported by the ‘Leverhulme Trust’. She is also a recipient of an award from The Craxton Memorial Trust in 2009.

 In Korea, Grace won numerous prizes including First Prize in the 35^th Newspaper of Music Education Competition, First Prize in the Sung-Jung Music competition, First Prize at the C.Bechstein-Samick Piano Competition and First Prize in Hanmi Junior Competition. In November in 2009 she won First Prize at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Beethoven Intercollegiate Piano Competition.

 She was invited to perform at the ‘Young Artists Concert Series’ in Seoul and has performed in many famous venues such as Young-San Art Hall, Ceramic Palace Hall and Concert Hall at Seoul National University in Korea. She has performed concertos by Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann and in January 2008 she played ‘Liszt Piano Concerto No.1’ with the ‘Mostly Philharmonic Orchestra’ in Korea.

 She has played with masterclasses of Dominique Merlet, Meng-Chieh Liu, Paul Lewis and Sergio Perticaroli.

 Forthcoming dates include recitals of Concordia Foundation and Beethoven Piano Society of Europe in many venues in around London and she will perform Grieg Piano Concerto in the Royal Albert Hall in May, 2010.

Norah King, soprano, hails from Naas, Co. Kildare. In 2002 she graduated from NUI Maynooth with a BA Honours degree in Economics and Mathematical Studies then began full time music studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music under Dr. Veronica Dunne obtaining a 1^st Class Honours degree in Music Performance. Norah continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), London, studying under Elizabeth Ritchie and Ingrid Surgenor, where she completed a postgraduate diploma, DipRAM, and was awarded the Ernest Butcher Prize and Clifton Prize for best final year recital. She also trained at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice under the direction of renowned tenor, Dennis O’Neill, CBE. Norah is a Bank of Ireland Millennium Scholar and Samling Scholar. Norah’s awards also include an MBF Music Education Award and a Travel and Training Award from the Arts Council of Ireland 2008. Norah was an Opera Theatre Company’s Young Associate Artist in 2006/7.

Norah has performed in concert for, Irish Heritage, Criccieth Festival, Down’s Opera Fringe Festival, Dublin Handel Festival, Belfast Festival, Trinity Arts Festival, New Ross Piano Festival,  and the CIMA Festival in Tuscany. Past performances also include radio broadcasts on RTÉ’s Lyric FM as part of their Summer and Christmas Lunchtime Choice Concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, performing live from the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Radio broadcasts also include a broadcast for BBC Radio Ulster from The Great Hall, Queen’s University. Her television appearances include an in depth profile on RTÉ national television programme “Capital D” on aspiring young Irish artists.

Norah’s performance in the world premiere of Stephen McNeff’s Image in Stone with the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble at the 13^th WASBE Conference received great acclaim. Roles performed include Countess, La nozze di Figaro for Opera East 2008; Rosina, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Dido, Dido and Aeneas. Norah has also performed Vitellia, La Clemenza di Tito and Nerone, L’incoronazione di Poppea in Opera Scenes staged in The Jack Lyon’s Theatre, RAM, London

Norah has participated in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Patricia Bardon, Ileana Cotrubas, Philip Langridge, Marie McLaughlin and Ann Murray. Norah has worked under many internationally acclaimed repetiteurs such as, Brenda Hurley, Michael Pollock and Phillip Thomas.

Future engagements include a Lunchtime concert with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, a recital in St. James’s Piccadilly, London for the Concordia Foundation and concerts in Japan.

Ashok Klouda

As a founding member of the Artea Quartet, Ashok has performed in the Wigmore Hall, on BBC Radio 3, in the BBC Proms and at many other concert venues throughout the country. His duo with Slovenian accordionist Borut Zagoranski has also performed on television and radio.

Recent competition successes have included 1^st prize in the 2007 Royal College of Music Cello Competition and the 2006 J. & A. Beare Solo Bach Competition, and being selected as a ‘Recommended Artist’ for the 2007 Making Music Philip & Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists.

The quartet is currently working under the guidance of Levon Chilingirian and Simon Rowland-Jones. They have also studied with Gabor Takacs, Siegmund Nissel, Bernard Greenhouse, and the Chilingirian Quartet.

The Vardanyan Quartet has performed at a number of prestigious venues, including the British Library, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the St Jude’s Proms, and Wolterton Hall in Norfolk. For the last two summers they have been quartet scholars at Lake District Summer Music, giving recitals in the festival.  Future concert engagements include festivals in Norway, Portugal and Italy.

Astghik Vardanyan graduated from the State Conservatoire in Yerevan in 2005 and continued her studies at the RCM with Levon Chilingirian, receiving an Artist’s Diploma in June 2006. She won First Prize in the Chilingirian All-Armenian Competition in 2001. She led the RCM Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink in 2005 and 2007, and her studies were supported by a personal scholarship from Haitink. She currently leads the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra in London.

Rowan Bell grew up in the Scottish Borders and he studied with Rosemary Ellison at the junior department of the RSAMD.  Whilst in Scotland, Rowan led most of the major youth orchestras including NYOS and Camerata Scotland.  Rowan is currently a Douglas Downie Scholar at the Royal College of Music where he studies with Dona Lee Croft.  He leads Scottish Connection – a young professional string ensemble – and plays in the Arthas Ensemble, a string quintet/sextet led by BBC New Generation Artist, Jennifer Pike.  Rowan regularly performs recitals across the UK and an interest in conducting has led to performances in London and Edinburgh.

Arun Menon gained his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the RCM, studying viola with Simon Rowland-Jones and Andriy Vytovych, and violin with Dona Lee Croft. In 2004 he was the co-principal viola of Southbank Sinfonia, and has performed around the UK with the Prince Consort Ensemble. As an orchestral musician he has worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as guest co-principal, as well the LSO, Halle, RPO and CBSO.

Steffan Rees studied music as an academic scholar and music exhibitioner at Christ Church, Oxford, before pursuing his cello studies with Melissa Phelps at the Royal College of Music, supported by an RCM bursary. He was awarded diplomas in Performance (2005) and Advanced Performance (2006), both with distinction. He performs regularly as a chamber musician and was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2007.

The Mercury 4tet is supported by the Concordia Foundation.