The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music and the performing arts are invited to join the festival. Visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops are also hosted.
The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good acoustics. It specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals, and hosts over five hundred concerts each year, as well as a weekly concert broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Richard Napier Luce, Baron Luce, is a British politician. He is a former Lord Chamberlain to the Queen, serving from 2000 to 2006, and has been Governor of Gibraltar, a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1971 to 1992, and government minister, and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
The Hawks' Club, founded in 1872, is a members-only social club for the leading sportsmen at the University of Cambridge. Membership is by election only, and the usual criterion is that the candidate should have his Blue. Many notable individuals have been, or are, members, including King George VI, King Charles III, Rob Andrew, Mike Atherton, Chris Brasher, Gavin Hastings and Hugh Laurie.
The Caledonian Club is a prestigious Scottish-focused London members' club located at 9 Halkin Street SW1, near Belgrave Square in Belgravia, London, SW1.
Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench was a British author and journalist who was editor of The Spectator. He was the founder of the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) and the English-Speaking Union (ESU), both established to foster international communication and education. His initial gamble in the postcard business, due to the popularity of postcards, proved a great success. By the turn of the century, half of all the postcards sold in Paris came from his stores. He later became a prominent author on matters relating to the British Empire.
Sir William Perkins's School is a private day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Chertsey, Surrey, England. Founded in 1725, it is situated on 13 acres of greenbelt land on the outskirts of Chertsey. The Good Schools Guide described the school as "a friendly school with very good academic standards - ideal for girls who enjoy healthy competition and getting stuck into what is on offer."
The Sacconi Quartet is a UK-based classical music string quartet founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music, London, UK. The Quartet has achieved widespread recognition, having given recitals in leading British concert halls and at music festivals in Britain and across Europe. They have also won several major prizes in string quartet and chamber music competitions. The Quartet is named for the outstanding twentieth-century Italian violin maker and restorer Simone Sacconi, who wrote The Secrets of Stradivari a reference work for violin makers.
Paul Lewis is an English classical pianist.
Scottish Ensemble is a professional string orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland and led by Artistic Director and violinist Jonathan Morton.
The Henschel Quartet is a German string quartet comprising the Henschel siblings; Christoph and Markus (violinists), Monika (viola) and Mathias Beyer-Karlshøj (cellist), who joined them in 1994. Brother Markus left the quartet in 2010, and was succeeded by Daniel Bell in 2012. In 2016–2018 Catalin Desaga took the place of the second violin. Today the Quartet consists of following members: Christoph Henschel and Teresa La Cour (violinists), Monika Henschel (viola) and Mathias Beyer-Karlshøj (cello).
Konstantin Lapshin is a London-based Russian - British pianist. He is a prize-winner in numerous international competitions.
Lynne Walker was a British music and theatre critic. Walker was a regular broadcaster for the BBC.
The Castaways' Club is a dining club for retired warfare officers of the Royal Navy who left the service while still junior officers, typically with the rank of Lieutenant or Lieutenant Commander. The club has no permanent rooms but meets once a year for dinner to which members invite guests who must be serving or retired warfare officers.
Sean Shibe is a classical and electric guitarist from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He is of English and Japanese ancestry. He studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and with Italian guitarist Paolo Pegoraro. His debut album was described as "not just great guitar playing... the best [the jury] had ever heard" by BBC Music Magazine, and "the best solo guitar disc I've heard" by The Arts Desk.
Yelian He is an Australian/Chinese classical concert cellist and martial arts teacher. Born in Shanghai, China, and raised in Melbourne, Australia, he began studying the cello at the age of five, almost two years after he commenced studies on the piano with his father. He was hailed as a "consummate master of the bow" by The Strad magazine on his Wigmore Hall debut, He was the winner of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League String Competition in London, as well as the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Australian Cello Awards competition in Sydney.
Clive Blackmore Barda OBE, FRSA is a London-based, British freelance photographer best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage. During his career spanning over five decades, Barda has created a collection of over a million photographs of performers, composers, and conductors.
Alexandra Ioana Dariescu is a Romanian British classical concert pianist, educator, mentor and producer. She is best known for her multimedia project The Nutcracker and I and her focus on promoting the works of female composers.
John Gilhooly,, OSI is a British and Irish arts administrator. He is currently artistic and executive director of Wigmore Hall.
Joseph Middleton is a British classical pianist and lied accompanist.
