Instrument: Piano

Carl Leighton graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a First Class Honours degree in the summer of 2022, having studied the piano under the tutelage of renowned performer, Dina Parakhina. In the summer of 2018, Carl’s performance of Saint Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto under Simon Wright was a great success – since then he has had the privilege to perform many other concertos, including Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto and Saint Saëns’ ‘Africa’. He has seen great success in many competitions, both local (East Coast Musician of the Year, Rothwell Competitive Music Festival) and conservatoire-affiliated. Over more recent years, Carl has had the opportunity to perform aboard in Verona, Venice, Bergen, Krakow, and Budapest. While much of his success in competitions has been in accompaniment and chamber music, Carl remains devoted to further study, and performance, of the solo piano repertoire.  

Rachel studied with scholarships to Pembroke College, Oxford and the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment and won many prizes for her collaborative work. Following her performance as a Leeds Lieder Young Artist 2018, Rachel was awarded the Hester Dickson Prize to study at Oxenfoord International Summer School with Malcolm Martineau. Following graduation, Rachel pursued some private study with Julius Drake. Rachel performs regularly across the UK and has been featured on BBC Radio 3. She has a particular interest in song and choral music.

Rachel works for the RNCM School of Vocal Studies and Opera as a collaborative pianist and teaches at Yorkshire Young Musicians, Sheffield Music Academy and on the Rodolfus Choral Courses. She is also passionate about musical outreach, and works regularly for Live Music Now, the Leeds Lieder Festival and SoundUp Arts to bring music to the community. She is in demand as a choral accompanist and works for Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Congleton Choral Society and Prestbury Choral Society. In 2023, Rachel was a prizewinner in the Stella Jockel Memorial Prize for choral composition.

Recent work has included repetiteur work to bring Julia Perry’s music to life as part of vocal tutor Michael Harper’s Arts and Humanities Research Council project, a French song project with Jackdaws Music Education Trust, a children’s opera with Clonter Opera Theatre and concerts at Oxford Lieder Festival and Leeds Lieder Festival. Rachel is also on the working group for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity for Live Music Now.

Sean is a passionate, enthusiastic and highly dedicated musician who loves to share music. His musical life includes teaching the piano, as well as performing recitals as a soloist and accompanist. Through these outlets, Sean is able to fulfil his purpose of guiding and inspiring the musicians of the future.

With great success, Sean has recently completed his higher education at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). He undertook the Bachelor of Music Degree (2019) and the Master of Music Postgraduate Degree (2021), achieving First-Class Honours and Distinction, respectively. On top of this, Sean earnt numerous awards during his studies, most notably, First Prize in the Fergal O’Mahony Piano Competition (2017), and the Clifford Hartley Pedagogy Prize (2021) in recognition of his emerging prowess in teaching.

Without a doubt, Sean’s most meaningful work is found within his teaching practice. During his time at the RNCM, Sean completed the Advanced Pedagogy (2019) and Practical Pedagogy electives (2021), where he discovered his passion for the art of teaching. Sean thrives off engaging, inspiring and helping children to cultivate their skills and enjoyment for music making at the piano.

Originally from York, Sean started to learn the piano when he was 7 years old with Heather Hammond. Two years later, he auditioned and was accepted into Yorkshire Young Musicians (YYM). He returned each year until he was 18, studying piano with Svetlana Pinegina and Benjamin Powell. At the RNCM, Sean’s principal piano teacher was Helen Krizos and he is very grateful for her wisdom and unwavering support throughout his time at the College. Also, Sean had many insightful and inspiring piano lessons with various internationally acclaimed pianists, including Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Kathryn Stott, Philippe Cassard, Paolo Giacometti, Bernard D’ascoli and Stephen Hough.

Sean is a reflective individual who is extremely grateful for all the people who supported and who continue to support him on his musical journey.

Silvia Lucas is a Spanish pianist and performer, educated up to PhD level at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, UK), where she was highly commended as a performer in the Gold Medal Weekend (2015). Ever since, she has been a very active performer of new music. As a contemporary pianist Silvia has premiered a large number of piano works, most of them dedicated to her, this includes three piano concertos and over 20 solo works. She has given solo recitals in the United States (Cornell University, New York), Spain, United Kingdom and Germany, amongst others.

As well as a pianist and performer, Silvia enjoys a busy teaching career in various institutions in the North West and is also private piano tutor. She is comfortable teaching a wide range of styles and abilities and tailors her lessons to the individual needs of each student.

Silvia is the artistic director and founder of noisescenes, a concert series which is funded by the Arts Council England, where she features new commissions of electroacoustic music and performance alongside her own performances of older and newer works.

Kristin Lien was born in Taiwan in 1978. She undertook her initial studies at the Kuang-Jen Music School as a pupil of Anita Cheung and won numerous prizes and awards for both piano and cello. In 1995 she was awarded a Music scholarship to Durham School and she later became Durham Young Musician after a recital in Green Palace, Durham.

In 1997, she was awarded an entrance scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music, where she learnt with Carole Presland. During this time, she performed in numerous concerts as both soloist and accompanist, also appearing in Masterclasses with Anne Queffelec, Ronan O’Hora, Martin Roscoe and Renna Kellaway. Kristin was awarded the Gordon Green memorial award and the “Anne Cantelo” Scholarship in 2001.

Between 2002 and 2003, Kristin achieved her Postgraduate Diploma and the Professional Performance Diploma at the RNCM. Since then, she has continued with her professional development training by completing her PGCE and was awarded Certificate of Teaching (CTABRSM) by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in 2012.

As a highly committed teacher, she is now a member of staff at Junior RNCM, Yorkshire Young Musicians, Bowdon Preparatory School and the Bolton School.

John is a graduate of Surrey University where he studied piano with Peter Croser and since then has worked solely in music. He has been involved in music education for thirty years and has considerable experience as both a classroom and instrumental teacher. He has worked as a peripatetic piano teacher for Hull Music Service, held the position of keyboard and musicianship tutor with East Riding College and taught Music Tech A level at Wyke College. His current work includes piano tutor at Pocklington School and A level examining for Edexcel.

Throughout this time John has enjoyed a busy performing schedule as a freelance pianist / synthesiser player, and has an artist management contract with The Animal Farm Music (London) for his original compositions.

John also maintains a private studio, teaching classical and jazz piano plus music theory and music technology / recording. He was recently awarded a diploma in piano performance.