presented by the Royal Academy of Music
Established in 2019 at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Kyan Quartet brings together four exceptional young musicians from Belgium, the US, Scotland and France. As current beneficiaries of the RAM Frost Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training scheme, they receive specialist coaching from Alex Redington of the Doric String Quartet. The quartet’s intensive study programme also includes regular coaching from members of the London Haydn Quartet. The Kyan Quartet were recently selected by the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme to be participants in the Chamber Music Lab course. They are Quartet in Residence at St Mary with All Souls, Kilburn, where they are involved both liturgically and are regular contributors to their concert series.
Michelle Dierx is a Dutch violinist from Belgium. She received a Bachelor of Music degree with First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied with Gina McCormack and Joseph Swensen. Michelle is currently completing a Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Richard Ireland. Michelle is principal second violin of the Broen Ensemble and made her London debut with the Turadh String Quartet at the Purcell Room in 2020. They are now on the Yeomen Programme for Young Artists with the Musicians’ Company. She received first place at the 24th Josep Mirabent i Migrans Chamber Music Competition and second place at the 2019 Cavatina Intercollegiate Chamber Music Competition.
Sydney Grace Mariano is a Masters scholarship recipient at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tutelage of Ying Xue of the Doric String Quartet. Whilst earning her Bachelor of Music at the USC Thornton School of Music under Dr. Lina Bahn, Sydney regularly performed in the Walt Disney Concert Hall and recorded in Hollywood spaces such as Warner Bros. Studios. Sydney began playing the violin at age six in Singapore. Her family then relocated to Southern California where Sydney studied at the Colburn Pre-college with Sam Fischer.
Scottish violist Rachel Spence is the Sir Elton John Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studies with Martin Outram. She won first prize in the 2021 Theodore Holland Viola Prize at the Academy, and has recently been principal viola of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra and the Berlin Opera Academy. Rachel is an Ambassador for the Benedetti Foundation and the Agar Trust. She plays a Panormo/Milanese viola c.1790, on generous loan from the Royal Academy of Music.
Simon Guémy is a French cellist from Paris. He began playing the cello at the age of seven with Marcel Bardon, going on to study with Dominique de Williencourt and Juliette Salmona the the CRR de Paris. He is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Robert Cohen. He has taken part in festivals including Violoncelleenseine and Musiques en Vivarais Lignon. Simon won first place in the Piatti Prize at the Royal Academy of Music in 2021.