Representing the Royal Academy of Music

Programme

Schumann – Five Pieces in Folk Style
Brahms – Sonata for Cello and Piano No 1 in E minor

Performers

Margarita Balanas Cello
Mateusz Duda Piano

Latvian cellist Margarita Balanas is considered to be one of the most promising and versatile artists of her generation. Mentored by cellist Lynn Harrell, she has been selected as one of the 6 cellists to take part in this year’s third edition of Gautier Capuçon’s Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Louis Vuitton Foundation.

Her 2016-2017 season included her debut recital at the Royal Festival Hall, performances at Wigmore hall and appearances at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles.

Margarita is a prizewinner in numerous international competitions has won awards from the Drake Calleja Foundation, The Tillett Trust, The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and is supported by The Little Butterfly Trust.

She was awarded The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music Scholarship to undertake her undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music where since 2013 she studies under Mats Lidström.

Mateusz Duda is a prize-winning polish pianist.  He is a laureate of many piano competitions including: Eighteenth International Bach Piano Competition in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Sixth International Juliusz Zarebski Completion in Łomianki – Warsaw, XV National H. Czerny-Stefańska Piano Tournament in Żagań, XVIII International Chopin Festival in Mazovia in Sochaczew, Morningside Music Bridge Chamber Music Competition – Calgary.

He has also made many commercial recordings including Brahms Quartet in C minor and Szymanowski Variations in B flat minor (Mount Royal University Conservatory, Calgary, Canada) as well as Piano Concerti with Silesian Symphony Orchestra in 2015. Mateusz collaborated with many orchestras including Calgary Philharmonic, Czestochowa Philharmonic, Silesian Symphony Orchestra ; perfoming Rachmaninoff’s third concerto, Brahms’s second concerto and Chopis’s first piano concerto.

He also gave many recitals, including a recital at the Szczecin Academy of Art in 2013 and a recital in Żelazowa Wola, at the Fryderyk Chopin’s family manor, 2013.