Her festival appearances include Aldeburgh, Ryedale, Menton, Jersey, Buxton, Anghiari, Mallorca, Tenerife. And recent concert highlights include recitals with pianist Angela Hewitt; Sheherazade with the St Petersburg Philharmonic; a Viennese galas with the CBSO, Halle and Brighton symphony orchestra; Mystic Trumpeter by Holst with BBCCO, appearances on radio 4 on ‘Woman’s hour’ and a live Radio 3 broadcast for International Women’s Day with the BBCCO premiere of 3 songs by Müller-Hermann and Martinez.
Born in St. Petersburg, she studied piano before being spotted by the legendary singing teacher Vera Rosza, who brought her to London on a vocal scholarship at the RCM. Since then she has developed close relationships with the Southbank Sinfonia (Brahms Requiem, Mendelssohn Lobgesang, Gilda/Rigoletto, Tatiana /Onegin), OSJ and John Lubbock and the Oxford Lieder Festival (recitals with Sholto Kynoch).
Her recordings include an opera CD, Surrender, with the baritone Leo Nucci on Signum, and Vaughan Williams’ film score for Scott of the Antarctic with the RSNO; Le secret with Quartz, Schostakovich CD with Braga records and Faure songs with Orchestra of S.John’s; Budapest songs by Michael Czany – Wills for soprano and orchestra for Toccata classics.
Coming up, she has Weinberg song series at Wigmore Hall, War Requiem with the RPO in Coventry Cathedral, concerts at Usher Hall and Royal Glasgow Hall with the RSNO and Martin Yates, recitals with Alexander Melnikov, Benjamin Frith, Schubert Stabat Mater and Brahms requiem and a tour of her own one-woman cabaret show based on songs sang by Marlene Dietrich, Jacques Brell and Edith Piaf.
Ayo Vincent
Ayo Vincent is a jazz pianist and arranger from London performing regularly across the UK having appeared in many of London’s top venues including Ronnie Scott’s, The 606 Club and The Barbican. A versatile and creative musician, he has played alongside Japanese bassist Hideaki Kanazawa (Hank Jones) and Vibraphonist Lewis Wright (Empirical).
Ayo made his EFG London Jazz Festival debut in 2017 performing “Beyond Haiku”, an improvised performance inspired by Japanese haiku poetry. He returned the following year playing for vocalist Cookey’s EP release at Hampstead Jazz Club. In 2018 he appeared at the Brecon Jazz Festival for a sold out performance at the Brecon Guildhall as part of the Hannah Grace Trio. Under the mentorship of Julian Joseph, Ayo studied at the Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama, graduating in 2017.
Ayo is dedicated to passing on his skills onto the next generation through his teaching at World Heart Beat Music Academy where he works alongside Byron Wallen, Tony Kofi and Trevor Watkis.