Described by The Strad as a "virtuoso with a truly Romantic temperament", Yuri Zhislin is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. Equally at home on both violin and viola, Zhislin enjoys an active and illustrious career as soloist and chamber musician, performing in his native Russia, as well as throughout Europe, Japan, the US and South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Born in Moscow in 1974, Yuri Zhislin began playing the violin at the age of six, joining the Moscow Music Gnessin School for gifted children where he studied with Irina Svetlova. From his early years, Zhislin took part in numerous public concerts, representing the School both in Russia and abroad, performing as a soloist with orchestras such as The Kishinev Philharmonic, The Ermitage Chamber Orchestra and The Yaroslavl Philharmonic. He recorded for Moscow Radio and appeared on national radio and television.

Yuri Zhislin is the recipient of many prizes and awards and in 1989, won the Balis Dvarionas International Competition for Young Musicians in Lithuania. In January 1990, he took part in the "Young Talents" concert in Moscow. A major prize-winner in the 1991 Sarasate International Violin Competition in Spain, Yuri entered the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with his father, Grigory Zhislin and subsequently with Dr. Felix Andrievsky. He won major college prizes, including the prize for "Outstanding String Player of the Year", and gained his ARCM Diploma with Honours. He has represented the College in several European cities, including Madrid, Helsinki, Oslo and Brussels and appeared as a soloist with the RCM Orchestras.

As a member of the Rosamunde Quartet, founded at the College in 1994, Zhislin has won chamber music prizes and toured extensively throughout the UK, taking part in the Tippett Festival in Berlin in January 1995, performing in the composer's presence and giving a quartet recital by invitation of HRH The Prince of Wales at Highgrove. In 1993, Yuri Zhislin became the BBC Radio 2 "Young Musician of the Year" and in 1994, won the Malcolm Sargent Award. In 1996, he was a prize winner at the Douai International Violin Competition in France and in 1997, received Special Prize for the best performance of the Mozart Violin Sonata at the Premio Trio di Trieste Chamber Music Competition in Italy.

These achievements led to invitations to work as a soloist with numerous ensembles and orchestras, including the BBC Concert Orchestra (with regular appearances in live broadcasts and recordings on BBC Radio 2), the London Mozart Players, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Oldenburg Chamber Orchestra, the London Soloists, the London Schubert Players, the Russian Chamber Orchestra of London and the Arpeggione Chamber Orchestra, performing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room, the Wigmore Hall, The Croydon Clocktower, Fairfield Halls, St.John Smith Square and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. His performances have been broadcast on the BBC Radio Three, Radio Dos Clasico (Spain) and several other European and American networks.

A dedicated chamber musician, Zhislin is regularly invited to appear in international music festivals throughout the world including the Bath International Music Festival, Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music, Seattle International Music Festival, Dubrovnik Chamber Music Festival, Cadaques Festival and Asturias Festivities (Spain), Silk Path International Chamber Music Festival in Baku (Azerbaijan), Windsor Festival, Halifax Chamber Music Festival (UK), Southwark and Canterbury Festivals, Cheltenham Festival, Korsholm Festival (Finland), Chichester Festivities and IMS Prussia Cove among others. He has collaborated with such

artists as Barry Douglas, Dmitry Sitkovetski, Sergei Nakariakov, Phillip Dukes, Priya Mitchell, David Juritz, the Chilingirian Quartet, Roger Vignoles, Konstantin Lifschitz, James Boyd, Caroline Dale, the Belcea Quartet and Alexander Chaushian.

In 2004, Zhislin formed the Russian Virtuosi of Europe, an ensemble comprising musicians with an enviable list of international awards and prizes including the Paganini, Michael Hill, Brahms, Lipizer and Queen Elisabeth International Violin competitions. The ensemble recently completed successful tours to both South America and Russia. Between 2000 and 2005, Zhislin was an Artistic Director of the Evaristo Valle International Chamber Music Festival in Gijon (Spain).

Zhislin recorded his debut recital CD with the Greek pianist George Lazarides in 2005 for the SOMM label and recently released for Linn Records, a CD of violin/viola duets with Natalia Lomeiko on the Naxos label. In 2012, on the Nimbus label, Zhislin recorded with Luigi Piovano and Dmitry Sitkovetsky, a transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Amongst Zhislin’s objectives is to advance classical music to younger audiences. Apart from the numerous master-classes and educational concerts he has given, he has also promoted classical music to non-classical audiences by collaborating with a number of distinguished jazz musicians such as Guy Barker, Clark Tracey and Tommy Smith, and pop artists, such as Nick Cave, Vanessa Mae and Sash.

His future plans include tours with the Russian Virtuosi of Europe and more concerts as a soloist and recitalist throughout the UK, Europe and the US.

Katya Apekisheva is one of Europe's foremost pianists, in demand internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, and has been described by Gramophone Magazine as "a profoundly gifted artist" who has "already achieved artistic greatness".

Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, she studied at the Gnessin Music School for exceptionally gifted children under Ada Traub and Anna Kantor (teacher of Evgeny Kissin). At the age of 12 Katya performed Mozart's Concerto No.17 with the Gnessin School Orchestra which was recorded for Moscow Classical Radio. In 1992, Katya continued her studies at the Rubin Music Academy in Jerusalem with Irina Berkovich. There she won an America-Israel Foundation scholarship and was awarded Second Prize at the Young Talents Competition in Jerusalem. In 1994, Katya moved to London to study with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music and, in 1995, she was awarded President's Rose Bowl which was presented to her by HRH the Prince of Wales.

A finalist and a prize-winner at the Leeds Piano Competition and Scottish Piano Competition, Apekisheva appeared as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic, The Philharmonia Orchestra, The Halle Orchestra, The Moscow Philharmonic, The Jerusalem Symphony, The English Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has collaborated with such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, David Shallon, Jan Latham-Koenig and Alexander Lazarev. In 1996, Katya won The London Philharmonic Soloist of the Year and the prestigious Terence Judd Award.

Equally at home as a chamber musician, Katya Apekisheva has collaborated with Janine Jansen, Natalie Clein, Maxim Rysanov, Jack Liebeck, Boris Brovtsyn, Alexei Ogrinchouk, Nicholas Daniel among others. In this capacity she is a regular guest at major chamber music festivals around the world.

Katya Apekisheva has given concerts in Utrecht (Netherlands), Ancona (Italy), Leicester, Oxford, Lincoln, City of London, Elverum (Norway), Music in Country Churches Festival and Berlin Spectrum Concert Series. She recently toured South Africa, where she performed with all the major orchestras. Most recent performances include concertos with Santiago Philharmonic, Wiesbaden Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and OFUNAM Orchestra (Mexico) and collaboration with Jan Latham-Koenig, Paul Watkins, Emmanuel Siffert and Jason Lai.

Apekisheva’s solo CD release of Grieg solo piano works on Quartz label in 2008 has received overwhelming critical acclaim. It was chosen by Classic FM as CD of the week and selected by Gramophone Magazine as Editor's Choice. It received a Rising Star Award in International Piano Magazine and was Critic's choice for the year 2008 in Gramophone Magazine. In May 2012, she released a solo CD on Onyx label with works by Mussorgsky and Shostakovich to a great critical acclaim.

Recent highlights include Bach Solo recital at Kings Place, performances with Belcea Quartet at the Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh, recitals and recording projects with Jack Liebeck and Maxim Rysanov amongst others.

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