Melissa began playing at the age of 4 in Kagashima, Japan, having been encouraged by musical parents. She then moved to England aged 14 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and is currently on her gap year. Melissa hopes to further her education at a music conservatoire, and is keen to study the history of music and to gain more experience in performing chamber and solo works.
Kausikan, a Purcell School student since the age of 9, was born in London from a family of Sri Lankan extraction. He grew up with a piano at home and wanted to learn to play from an early age. Initially learning by ear and improvisation he then began formal piano lessons aged 7. Kausikan already has A*s in French and Music and hopes to do well in his GCSEs and A levels. His future plans are to become a concert pianist or composer.
Lydia, a pupil at Wells Cathedral school, began studying piano aged 7 and comes from a musical family with three brothers who also play musical instruments. Lydia is currently taking her AS levels and hopes to go either to music college or to Cambridge to study English. Her career ambitions include joining a professional chamber group, travelling and performing around the world and music journalism. She also enjoys busking and doing Su Dokus.
David originally played guitar, recorder, violin and flute first, but discovered the piano at the age of 10 and knew instantly that this was the instrument for him. A pupil at Wells Cathedral School from the age of 13, David hopes to attend music college to study piano and composition hoping ultimately to become a professional pianist. David also finds time to play chess, tennis and table tennis and to draw cartoons.
Hearing her mother teach piano Cordelia wanted to learn to play too, and began lessons at the age of 3. She now attends Chetham's School of Music and is hoping to attend the Royal Academy or a music college in America following her A levels next year. Cordelia's many other interests include snowboarding, learning Russian and watching Disney movies, she also enjoys jazz and world music and would like to travel the world as a soloist and experience different musical cultures.
Rolf Hind has earned an enviable reputation as one of today’s foremost interpreters of new music. Many of today’s leading composers have written concertos for him, including Poul Ruders, Simon Holt and Unsuk Chin. He has recorded extensively on disc and for radio, with recent sold-out recitals in the BBC’s Elliott Carter festival and the South Bank’s Xenakis Weekend, broadcast on Radio 3.
Rolf plays frequently at festivals throughout the world, and has has toured Korea, Taiwan, Cuba, New Zealand and Australia. In 2005 he made his Carnegie Hall debut playing works by John Adams at the composer’s invitation. Rolf continues to win acclaim as a composer, and has received commissions from the BBC, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Brighton Festival, West-German Radio and others. He is currently working on a piano concerto, MAYA-SESHA, for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Rolf is Artistic Director of SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music), for which he is planning a series of concerts over two years. He is also Chairman of the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) British Section.
Steven Osborne’s repertoire embraces a wide range of works, from Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms to Messiaen, Tippett and Alkan. In the UK he works regularly with the major orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, and the Hallé. His concerts are regularly broadcast by the BBC and he performs every year at the Wigmore Hall and at the Edinburgh Festival. He has made five appearances at the BBC Proms, most recently in 2005 when he performed Tippett’s Piano Concerto.
Concerto performances take Steven to orchestras all over the world including the NHK Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum and the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hannover. Steven has given recitals in many leading venues worldwide including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, Kennedy Center Washington and Carnegie Hall, New York. His CD of Messiaen’s complete Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus was met with staggering praise and was nominated for both a Gramophone Award and a Schallplattenpreis in Germany. Other recordings include Piano Concertos by Tovey, solo works by the contemporary Russian composer Kapustin and a CD of solo works by Ravel. Future recording plans include solo, chamber and orchestral works by Tippett, Britten, Shostakovich and Debussy.
Since studying at the Royal College of Music and completing her training in the USA and Paris, Vanessa’s career as a pianist has been interestingly varied. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Vanessa’s recital work has taken her to Europe, the USA and the Far East, as well as many festivals within the UK. She has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, the most recent recital of works by Faure and Chopin was relayed live from St. George’s Brandon Hill, Bristol. She has also made a study of less well-known piano works of Mendelssohn which are recorded on CD. Other broadcasts have been for the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. Vanessa’s love of chamber music has involved her partnering many well-established artists over the years including Michael Collins, Isabelle van Keulen, Tasmin Little, Wissam Boustany and John Amis. Internationally she has toured Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy and Ireland. Vanessa has a strong commitment to teaching. She is Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music in London, having been previously a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London for fourteen years, where she was made an Honorary Associate in 1997. An examiner and lecturer for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music since 1991, Vanessa is now a diploma examiner, a moderator, and a trainer of new examiners.
Melissa began playing at the age of 4 in Kagashima, Japan, having been encouraged by musical parents. She then moved to England aged 14 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and is currently on her gap year. 
Lydia, a pupil at Wells Cathedral school, began studying piano aged 7 and comes from a musical family with three brothers who also play musical instruments. Lydia is currently taking her AS levels and hopes to go either to music college or to Cambridge to study English. Her career ambitions include joining a professional chamber group, travelling and performing around the world and music journalism. She also enjoys busking and doing Su Dokus.
David originally played guitar, recorder, violin and flute first, but discovered the piano at the age of 10 and knew instantly that this was the instrument for him. A pupil at Wells Cathedral School from the age of 13, David hopes to attend music college to study piano and composition hoping ultimately to become a professional pianist. David also finds time to play chess, tennis and table tennis and to draw cartoons. 
Hearing her mother teach piano Cordelia wanted to learn to play too, and began lessons at the age of 3. She now attends Chetham's School of Music and is hoping to attend the Royal Academy or a music college in America following her A levels next year. Cordelia's many other interests include snowboarding, learning Russian and watching Disney movies, she also enjoys jazz and world music and would like to travel the world as a soloist and experience different musical cultures.
Rolf Hind has earned an enviable reputation as one of today’s foremost interpreters of new music. Many of today’s leading composers have written concertos for him, including Poul Ruders, Simon Holt and Unsuk Chin. He has recorded extensively on disc and for radio, with recent sold-out recitals in the BBC’s Elliott Carter festival and the South Bank’s Xenakis Weekend, broadcast on Radio 3.
Rolf plays frequently at festivals throughout the world, and has has toured Korea, Taiwan, Cuba, New Zealand and Australia. In 2005 he made his Carnegie Hall debut playing works by John Adams at the composer’s invitation. Rolf continues to win acclaim as a composer, and has received commissions from the BBC, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Brighton Festival, West-German Radio and others. He is currently working on a piano concerto, MAYA-SESHA, for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Rolf is Artistic Director of SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music), for which he is planning a series of concerts over two years. He is also Chairman of the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) British Section.
Steven Osborne’s repertoire embraces a wide range of works, from Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms to Messiaen, Tippett and Alkan. In the UK he works regularly with the major orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, and the Hallé. His concerts are regularly broadcast by the BBC and he performs every year at the Wigmore Hall and at the Edinburgh Festival. He has made five appearances at the BBC Proms, most recently in 2005 when he performed Tippett’s Piano Concerto.
Since studying at the Royal College of Music and completing her training in the USA and Paris, Vanessa’s career as a pianist has been interestingly varied. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Vanessa’s recital work has taken her to Europe, the USA and the Far East, as well as many festivals within the UK. She has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, the most recent recital of works by Faure and Chopin was relayed live from St. George’s Brandon Hill, Bristol. She has also made a study of less well-known piano works of Mendelssohn which are recorded on CD. Other broadcasts have been for the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. Vanessa’s love of chamber music has involved her partnering many well-established artists over the years including Michael Collins, Isabelle van Keulen, Tasmin Little, Wissam Boustany and John Amis. Internationally she has toured Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy and Ireland. Vanessa has a strong commitment to teaching. She is Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music in London, having been previously a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London for fourteen years, where she was made an Honorary Associate in 1997. An examiner and lecturer for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music since 1991, Vanessa is now a diploma examiner, a moderator, and a trainer of new examiners.