Francesca attended Chetham’s School of Music from the age of 10, where she was awarded the Arthur Kolbert Prize for Outstanding Progress in cello playing two years running, and is currently in her third year at the Royal Academy of Music studying with Josephine Knight. Throughout her studies, Francesca has had masterclasses with many distinguished cellists including Guy Johnston, Hannah Roberts, Korean cellist Sung Won Yang, and most recently American cellist Alisa Weilerstein. She has performed solo recitals at various venues around the UK {including a previous recital at St James’s in 2016} and has also performed across Europe including France, Germany, Norway and Italy. In 2016 she had the opportunity to play Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Chester Philharmonic Orchestra. Francesca is an active chamber musician performing around the UK with The Melete Quartet. They have recently performed at the beautiful Draper’s Hall in London with Leeds International Piano Competition finalist Anna Geniushene and in Lincoln Cathedral along-side pianist and broadcaster David Owen Norris and tenor Marke Wilde. In March 2018, The Melete Quartet were awarded second prize in the Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Prize at the Academy. Francesca’s previous quartet, formed at Chetham’s, played together for 7 years. They were regularly invited to perform around the UK, including a performance of Ravel’s String Quartet at Wigmore Hall. In 2014, they were invited to play for Richard Ireland in his masterclass program at Kings Place, being the first school aged group to be accepted for the scheme. In March 2016 the quartet won the Fiona Ord String Chamber Music Competition and were awarded the Mozart Scholarship for quartet playing. They also collaborated with the prestigious London Russian Ballet School performing at the London Palladium and Cadogan Hall. Francesca has performed major orchestral works at the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Bridgewater Hall working with world-renowned conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Paul Mann and Jac Van Steen. Fran was also lucky enough to be involved in James Newton Howard’s 3 Decades of Music for Hollywood tour performing at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
Lysandre Ménard is currently doing her Master of Music degree in Piano Accompaniment with Ian Brown at the Royal Academy of Music. She has recently graduated from Montreal Conservatory of Music where she studied with the pianists André Laplante and Richard Raymond.
Lysandre won several prizes, including the second prize of the Thousand Island International Music Competition for Young Pianists in Thousand Island (New York) as well as the second prize at the Julia Crane International Piano Competition in Potsdam (New York). She performed the Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto with several orchestras in Canada. She also made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2011, when she was part of the annual Adamant Music Festival concert in Weil Recital Hall. She also performed in numerous European countries such as France, Spain, Vienna and Germany.
In 2016, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra nominated her as their new Youth Ambassador, which gave her the opportunity to perform in Quebec, introducing young people to classical music.
Alongside her career as a musician, she made her cinema debut in 2015 as one of the leading actresses in the movie The Passion of Augustine, directed by Léa Pool. She received numerous awards and nominations for this performance, including best supporting actress at the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Festival Revelation prize at the Waterloo Historic Film Festival in Belgium.
Lysandre now specializes in the art of song accompaniment and chamber music, collaborating with several musicians and ensembles including the renowned cellist Stéphane Tétreault, the Pentaèdre Ensemble and the Pantoum Trio.
Free recital (retiring collection)