Teresa de la Escalera Calderón, playing the first five works in this recital, was born in Madrid in 1996. She began her piano studies at the age of five with Professor Djurdjica Kovalj and then later with Professor Fe del Campo.
Between 2008 and 2010 she participated in three editions of the International Piano Contest Ciudad de San Sebastián, in four categories: ‘Four hands Elementary’, ‘Medio 2’, ‘Medio 3’ and ‘Superior 1’. She won one first prize and two second prizes. She has also participated in many notable concerts such as Winners Concerts in Teatro Victoria Eugenia de San Sebastián (2008 and 2009), Festival Horacio Icasto in Navia, Asturias (2008 and 2009), Civic Center of University of Zaragoza, a Concert Tribute to Juan Carlos Calderón at the Palacio de Festivales de Santander with the Sinphonic Orquestra Séptimo Art, under the baton of Inma Shara. In 2012, she finished her studies at the Conservatorio de Amaniel in Madrid two years early, earning the Professional Degree with two Honourable Mentions, for Performance and Chamber Music. As she did not have the legal age for higher education yet, so she carried on tudying with her professors, Fe del Campo and Miguel Baselga.
In December 2013, she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In January 2017, Teresa was awarded 3rd place in the Worshipful Company of Musicians Harriet Cohen Bach Prize at the Academy. Following that, in Febuary, she was awarded Second prize in her year, for her playing of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.15.
Teresa is currently in her fourth year for her BMus Degree, studying with Tessa Nicholson and hopes to pursuit a career as a musician.
The second half of the recital will be played by Melina Karagianni. Born in Rhodes in 1995, Melina started piano lessons at the age of six. In Greece, she studied piano with Katy Kastrouni, Maria Kanatsouli and Dora Bakapoulou. In 2007, Melina auditioned at the Royal Academy of Music where she earned a place to study in the junior department under a Greek Government Scholarship, and was taken on by Tessa Nicholson. The following year, she received a place at The Purcell School where she continued continue to study with Tessa Nicholson and received a full scholarship from the UK Government’s Music and Dance Scheme.
Since April 2008, Melina has returned to Greece annually to give solo recitals in Athens and Rhodes, including a performance in Athens’s biggest classical venue, ‘Megaro Mousikis’. These concerts were very well received and resulted in her being asked to play in the international EPTA conference in Rhodes in September, 2008.
Melina has performed, as a soloist and chamber musician, in many London venues such as Wigmore Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly, Steinway Hall, Christ Church, The Dukes Hall at The Royal Academy of Music and the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre. In 2008 and 2009, she was selected in the Jacque Samuels Intercollegiate Piano Competition to play at the Wigmore Hall. In 2009, she took part in the 2nd International Liszt Competition, where she reached the final and later that year won 1st prize in the Iris Dyer Piano Prize at the Royal Academy of Music. In June 2011, Melina had the great opportunity of playing at an Investiture Ceremony at Buckingham palace, in the presence of The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles. In March 2012, she performed Brahms Hungarian Dances on the BBC Radio 3 programme ‘In Tune’, followed by an interview with Sean Rafferty. Later in March, she performed at the Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile, Italy, for Purcell’s 50th Anniversary concert. In May 2014, Melina participated in the ‘Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition’ and was awarded 3rd prize. In March 2015, Melina won the piano prize at the AESS Courtney Kenny Award. In September 2016, Melina performed at the Piano Open Day at the Royal Academy of Music where she took part in a masterclass with the Head of Keyboard, Joanna MacGregor.
Melina has performed in masterclasses with Peter Nagy, Kathryn Stott, Mikhail Petukhov, Steven Osbourne, Andras Schiff, Paul Badura-Skoda and Dmitri Alexeev. In 2013, she took part in the Valencia International Piano Academy, where she had lessons with worldwide performers/teachers such as Julian Martin, Yong Hi Moon and Dominique Weber.
Melina is currently in her last year of her Bachelor of Music (BMus) Degree at the Royal Academy of Music under Tessa Nicholson, where she was awarded a scholarship from the ‘Trustee of the Athena Award’ as well as the Sir John Cass’s Foundation. From September 2017, she will be carrying on her studies for Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music.
Free recital (retiring collection)