CVs
Marina Solarek studied violin in Mannheim and Hamburg and completed her studies in London with Prof Yfrah Neamen. She has performed regularly in Britain and abroad with the Feinstein Ensemble and the Baroque Ensemble Kontraste. She has given concerts at the South Bank and has made several broadcasts for Classic FM and BBC Radio 3.
Marina was a member of the BBC Radio Orchestra in is now leading a busy freelance career, working with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, BBC Symphony Orchestra, West End Shows and for Film and Television. Marina leads the Richmond Orchestra.
Her experience in educational work include teaching at the Royal College Junior Department, Orchestral and Chamber music coaching and giving Masterclasses at the University of Belfast.
Miriam Lowbury studied at Bristol University, the Royal Collage of Music, and the Royal Academy of Music with the Amadeus Quartet on a Leverhulme Scholarship. As a chamber player she has toured widely, played on radio and TV, and appeared with artists including Raphael Wallfisch, Jack Brymer, Michael Collins and Peter Donohoe. Her highly acclaimed recordings have been nominated for a Gramophone Award, and gained the top rating of five stars in the BBC Music magazine.
As well as playing in the Solarek Piano Trio, Miriam is a member of Fourth Dimension String Quartet, and Double Image, which has held residencies at Southampton University and the University of the Third Age. She regularly plays in many orchestras including BBC Concert Orchestra, ENO, and City of London Sinfonia, and is regularly invited to play principal in many smaller orchestras including Bath Philharmonia and New London Sinfonia. Education work has included workshops in schools, universities and prisons, and teaching at the Junior Royal College of Music. Miriam plays on a cello by Thomas Dodd made in 1810.
Diana Brekalo - The Croatian pianist was born and brought up in Stuttgart (Germany), and is of Croatian descent. Formative studies in Germany with Ana Hartauer, Monika Giurgiuman and Prof.S.Rudiakov revealed her talents not only as in imaginative and thoughtful solo pianist, but also as notable accompanist and fine chamber musician.
By the age of twelve, Brekalo had already won four first prizes as soloist and two first prizes as a chamber musician in the German "Jugend musiziert" , and her precocious musical development was continued through generous grants from the "Oskar und Vera Ritter" foundation, the Baden-Württemberg Associations Patronage Price, and the ZEIT grant in the "Deutsche Sitftung Musikleben".
2001-2004 she was a Junior Student at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, where she started her studies in 2004 in the class of Prof.S.Rudiakov. In 2006 she came to London to undertake further studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under the guidance of Joan Havill, having gained a distinction in the Bachelor of music (Hons) as well as in her Master of Music (performance). She was grateful for the financial support of the Leverhulme Trust and the Worshipful Companies of Innholders and Insurers as well as the Simon Phillis Award and the Sergei Rachmaninoff award.
Diana Brekalo has performed in cities and major concert halls throughout Europe, USA, Japan, China (Oriental Arts Centre Concert Hall, Shanghai, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing), Croatia including live broadcasts on TV and radio.
She has performed in many cities in the UK including the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St.James Piccadilly, St.John´s Smith Square, St.Martin-in the-Fields, Bridgewater Hall, Fairfield Halls, and with numerous professional orchestras including the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphonie Orchestra and others.
Diana had her début with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall in April 2011. She performed two piano cocertos in one concert: A world premiere of English composer Peter Fribbins and D. Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.1 with great acclaim.
