SUMMER SCHOOL 2025
AT WYCOMBE ABBEY SCHOOL
DATES - August 4 - 10
This programme is open to students aged 8-18 years, strings grade 4/piano grade 6 and above
PROFESSORS
Professor Leonid Kerbel teaches at the Royal College of Music, and the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, Belgium. He performs regularly in Western and Eastern Europe and the United States as soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician. He has recorded for BRTN, RTBF and National Radio. In 1999 he founded Musica Mundi, an international chamber music course and festival for young talented musicians. He is also one of the judges of the Wieniawski International Violin Competition.
Susie Meszaros is a professor at the Royal College of Music and Royal Northern College of Music. She made her Wigmore Hall debut with Yehudi Menuhin. She won a Gold Medal at the Royal Overseas League Competition and was a finalist for the BBC Young String Musician of the Year. Susie is also co-founder and co-founder of the Villiers Piano Quartet and spent many years as leader at Kent Opera House.
Gaby Lester, Professor of Violin and Associate Director of Strings at the RCM, was born in London and studied at the Wycombe Abbey School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Mozarteum Salzburg. At the invitation of Sir Simon Rattle, she became second violinist of the European Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Catalonia Youth Orchestra and Spanish National Youth Orchestra.
Uruguayan-born violinist Gonzalo Acosta graduated from the Royal College of Music, RCM. He first served as second violinist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 21, and then became deputy concertmaster of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Simon Rattle, and later served as deputy concertmaster of the English National Opera.
Gonzalo served as violin, chamber music and orchestra instructor at King's Junior School for 13 years. He currently teaches in the Junior Department of Guildhall Conservatory of Music and has been Head of Strings at Wycombe Abbey Abbey for four years.
James Halsey is a cello teacher in the RCM Junior Department. He joined the Oriol String Quartet while still a student. With a passion for chamber music, he served as cellist with the Birmingham String Quartet, Tagore String Trio and the Dartington Piano Trio. He has performed in venues around the world and made numerous recordings, toured extensively as a soloist in the British Isles, and performed Beethoven sonatas and unaccompanied Bach in Japan and Australia.
Kathron Sturrock is a piano professor at the Royal College of Music, the founder and artistic director of the Fibonacci Chamber Ensemble, now in its 24th year, and a two-time winner of the Sofia International Opera Competition's Best Pianist Award. As a soloist she has appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and in 1994 she performed Alan Rawsthorne's Concerto for Two Pianos with Piers Lane, in her first appearance at the Proms. She is also a prolific recording artist. Kathron joined the keyboard faculty of the Royal College of Music in September 2003 and has taught there ever since.
Nigel Clayton works in the keyboard department of RCM Royal College of Music. While studying at RCM he won awards in various categories of piano performance and received the Bachelor of Music Annual Award. His interest in chamber music and accompaniment continued to develop and he won numerous awards at international competitions in London, New York, the Concert Artists Guild and the English League. He performs around the world, giving over 80 concerts each season and appearing regularly on BBC Radio, Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre.
TUTORS TEAM
Violinist Sherry Shen is the founder of Sherry Music Academy. She received a master's degree in violin from the RCM in 2020, having formed the Aeolian Quartet and Duo Inspiro, and performed any concerts. As well as in the UK, Sherry has performed in France, Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Sherry Music Academy was established in London in 2021 as an education charity. It has successfully organized 10 concert-based events, including summer camps, training camps and other music activities.
Italian violinist Emma Arizza is the winner of the 2019 Musicians’ Company Award competition. She graduated with honors from the RCM in 2019, now performing regularly as soloist and with various orchestras throughout Italy and the UK. She was elected to the Musicians' Club Division Young Artist Program, received the Gladys Bratton and Alan Nickok Scholarships, and earned a Master's degree at Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music.
Reonel (Ray) Rafols is a Filipino-American violinist with a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance from Florida State University and a Master of Music from Guildhall. He has performed with various orchestras and ensembles in the United States and the UK, and is an experienced music educator. In addition to classical music, Ray explores his musical interests as a jazz violinist and singer on various London music stages, and is actively involved in music education, both privately and as a public school teacher.
Xu Xiaoqing graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatory of Music. During her overseas studies, she served as first violin of the London City Philharmonic Orchestra and first violin of the London Firebird Orchestra. She has also has coached many students to win silver and bronze medals in the London Youth Music Competition. After obtaining her Master's degree in violin performance from RCM in 2020, she returned to China where she has been engaged in music performances and educational activities.
Ludovico Colombo is an Italian cellist who graduated from the Italian Conservatoire in Switzerland and received a Master's degree in Music Education from Trinity Laban College. Ludovico is familiar with the Suzuki method and is a teacher with rich experience who is passionate about teaching. He is also a chamber musician who has performed in many prestigious London venues, and his Metamorfosi Piano Quartet was rated as outstanding by the Carne Trust.
Yang Bingwen is the deputy principal double bass player in the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and director of the String Society of the Hangzhou Musicians Association. He was also a guest tutor at the National Symphony Orchestra Music Festival and the Hawaii Pacific Music Festival; nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for "Best Orchestral Music"; appointed Artistic Director of Hangzhou Xuejun Middle School; and Permanent Expert of Hangzhou Grand Theater Youth Symphony Orchestra.
.jpeg)
Pianist James Liu, who lives in the UK, holds a doctorate in concerto piano performance from the Royal College of Music and currently works there as an artistic instructor. James was employed by Xinghai Conservatory of Music, and won the title of Leeds Lieder Young Artist. He was also Second prize winner in the Lies Askonas competition. His students have won places in well-known domestic and foreign music schools such as RCM, RNCM, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, and the Central Conservatory of Music Gulangyu Piano School.
Italian pianist Stefano Marzanni holds an MA in Piano Performance from the RCM and performs regularly at venues including the Royal Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. He frequently appears as a pianist in theatrical productions, and also is an active international jazz and pop musician who collaborates with Egyptian jazz singer Ahmed Hafoush and Italian cabaret performer Elena Lorenzi.
Dave Davies holds a master's degree in linguistics from the University of Cambridge and trained as an English teacher at the University of London. As one of the first IELTS examiners in the world, he was responsible for English language tests in Canada, Hawaii, Japan and South Korea before 2010, and served as a senior IELTS examiner in Shanghai and Nanjing from 2011 to 2015.