Yue Yu
Named as one of the 2022 Classic FM Rising Stars, violist Yue Yu was the winner of the 2021 Salzburg Paul Hindemith Viola Concorso and the 2019 Stockport International Young Musicians Competition. A finalist in the 2017 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, she was awarded a £5,000 silver mounted Guillaume viola bow for her outstanding performance of Bowen’s Viola Sonata No. 1 in C minor.

Yue studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Louise Lansdown, where she also won numerous prizes and awards, including the Principal’s Prize, and is currently a student at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, studying with Thomas Riebl. She is also a scholar at the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, and a member of Ensemble Esperanza.

Yue has given concerts in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, London; Town Hall, Birmingham and Solitär Hall, Salzburg. Chamber music is one of her greatest passions. She has worked with Pavel Gililov, Lea Hausmann and Sam Shepherd (of the Amatis Piano Trio), Krysia Osostowicz, the London Bridge Trio and the Primrose Piano Quartet, and has attended numerous leading international chamber music festivals.

Anthony Hewitt
Award-winning British pianist Anthony Hewitt has performed internationally with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and with leading orchestras in Germany, Poland, Russia and the UK. He has appeared at prestigious venues across the UK including Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room, London and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Hewitt’s discography includes his critically acclaimed debut album Live at the Wigmore (Master Musicians); Protégé (Divine Art), the first coupling on disc of the Liszt and Reubke sonatas, which received praise in International Record Review and Gramophone; and a 2015 recording of the complete preludes of Scriabin (Champs Hill Records), which was lauded in The Guardian, among others.

In 2004, Hewitt founded the Ulverston International Music Festival. He is also on the faculty of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In 2012, as the ‘Olympianist’, he cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats with a piano in his ‘BeethoVan’, giving a full-length recital at the end of each day and raising £13,000 for charity.

Jeffrey Armstrong
South African-born violinist Jeffrey Armstrong currently studies with Elisabeth Kufferath at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. He previously studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he received many accolades, including the Principal’s Prize. In 2021 he was awarded First Prize at the UNISA National Strings Competition.

Armstrong has performed as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra. He has participated in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa and Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival, and as part of Lawrence Power’s string ensemble Collegium has appeared alongside John Myerscough and Vilde Frang. During his Bachelor’s degree, Armstrong performed with the Continental and Fletcher String Quartets, with engagements at venues including Wigmore Hall, Cheltenham Town Hall and Windsor Castle.

In Hanover, he is often concertmaster of Ensemble Geräuschkulisse. He has been coached and mentored by musicians including Oliver Wille, Jian Wang, Eberhard Feltz, Anthony Spiri, Jonathan Kelly and Louise Lansdown.

Armstrong recently founded the Cape Chamber Music Collective, and has also been involved in the ARCO Project.