Anna Garde was born in Grenoble, France. From a family of musicians, Anna quickly showed interest for classical music and began playing the cello at the age of 3. She later studied the cello at the Regional Conservatories of Grenoble and Toulon, and in 2012 she moved to Paris to study with Helene Dautry at the Regional Conservatory of Paris, where she received her Musical Studies Diploma (DEM) at the age of 14.
Anna moved to London in 2014, where she entered the Junior Royal Academy of Music, studying with Penny Driver and in 2016 she was awarded a scholarship to begin undergraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, in the class of Louise Hopkins. Anna is currently in second year in the class of Rebecca Gilliver. She was cello prizewinner (1st prize with honor and congratulations) three times at the Vatelot-Rampal Competition, and won 2 gold medals at the Mouans-Sartoux competition. Recently she was finalist of Les Musicales du Centre competition in Paris and she has been selected to participate in an intensive masterclass in May 2018 at the Berlin Philharmonic with Martin Löhr.
For two years, she was involved in the festival of the Young Orchestra of Royan, and received intensive orchestra sessions with the conductor François Xavier Roth. She has performed frequently as soloist, chamber and orchestra musician in France and London, in major venues such as Barbican Hall, Milton Court, Cadogan Hall and Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician, Anna is a member of the Gorbanoff String Quartet. They have had the opportunity to work with numerous distinguished musicians such as Simon-Rowland Jones, Adrian Brendel, Bartosz Woroch as well as members of the Endellion, Dante and Heath quartets. The quartet has performed in venues such as the LSO St-Luke’s, Drapers’ Hall, Haberdashers’ Hall, Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London and they recently gave a recital in France in April 2018.
The quartet’s diary is completed with educational concerts. Recent representations were given in Lark Hall and Yerbury Primary Schools in London and Domène in Isère (France). Anna has also performed with the ensemble Accord Parfait, and has performed in several festivals and chamber recitals in France. She is grateful for the support of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Anna plays on a German modern cello made by Krattenmacher from 2001.
Arda Karakaya was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1991. He took his first violin lessons at the age of 9 from Alaaddin Canbay in Van. In 2002, he entered the Ankara State Conservatory and continued his studies with Reyyan Yücelen Basaran. He gained his Bachelor’s degree one year earlier than expected, by virtue of his outstanding achievements as the most successful student of the violin department in 2011. He continued his studies at the Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria with Silvia Marcovici. Later, he studied with Ildiko Moog in Ankara.
The prominent Turkish violinist Cihat Askin has been coaching and supporting Arda from the beginning of his musical career. During his training, he participated in many masterclasses and studied with violinists such as Joshua Epstein, Alexander Vinnitski, Mincho Minchev, Lutsia Ibragimova and James Buswell. He has appeared many times as a soloist with the Hacettepe Youth and Academic Orchestras. In 2012, he performed several concerts as a soloist with National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Turkey as part of the Eurochestries International Music Festival in France. His performances received highly rated reviews from the French press.
Arda appears regularly as a guest artist at many concerts and recitals throughout Turkey. He also worked as a research assistant at the Yüzüncü Yil University Turkish Music State Conservatory in Van where he gave violin lessons between 2015-2017.
He is currently studying with internationally renowned pedagogue Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music, London where he is an ABRSM International Scholar supported by an ISH Award. He is also generously supported by “ÇEV Young Talents Project” with the financial support of “QNB Finans Bank” and Talent Unlimited.
Callum McLachlan is 19 years old and from Manchester. He started piano lessons with his father at the age of 7, and after 4 years passed grade 8 at the age of 11. He was accepted into Chetham’s School of Music in 2010 where he studied with Russian pedagogue Dina Parakhina, until leaving in 2017, after 7 years of study. He has performed at many prestigious concert venues around the country, including performing Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2 with Robert Dick, Mozart sonatas for Piano and Violin at The Bridgewater Hall, Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto with Paul Mann and CSO at RNCM concert hall and receives repeat re-engagements at these leading venues and festivals across the UK. In May 2018, he performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra. He has also had much success in competitions throughout the UK, winning 1st prize in the Welsh International Piano Competition, The Youth Scottish International Piano Competition, as well as reaching the national finals of the EPTA piano competition. Callum is a prize-winner of the Musical Odyssey Masterclasses Talent Unlimited Prize and is grateful for the support of Talent Unlimited in helping his musical endeavours. He also receives funding from the Royal Philharmonic Society. He also won 1st prizes in the RNCM Chopin Competition, The Bosendorfer Competition, and The Bach competition. He performed a recital consisting of largely unknown works by Ronald Stevenson and Percy Grainger at the ‘Bartolomeo Cristofori Festival’ in Padua, Italy, which he later repeated in the newly opened Stoller Hall in Manchester. In early 2018 he performed Mozart’s ‘Jeunehomme’ Concerto arranged for Piano and String Quartet with students from the Royal College of Music. He was awarded the highest diploma from Trinity College – the FTCL. He has received funding to study on summer music courses in Mallorca, Spain and Alberta, Canada. An avid chamber musician, he has performed chamber works of Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Schumann, Field and Mendelssohn. He has played in numerous masterclasses to esteemed musicians such as Andre Gavrilov, Stephan Hough, Leon McCawley, and Peter Donohoe.
Free recital (retiring collection)