Lunchtime Violin and Piano Recital

Alexander Harris is 13 years old. He is a Marsh Music Scholar at the Perse School, Cambridge and a student at the Junior Guildhall School of Music. He began his violin studies at the age of 6, initially receiving group tuition on Wendy Max's First String Experience Programme and subsequently receiving individual tuition from Errika Collins and Julia Frape. Since the age of 9, he has been a pupil of Erika Klemperer (and occasionally Gordon Back). Alexander has taken part in masterclasses with Natalie Clein, Pamela Frank and Ruth Palmer. In March 2010 he won the Kathleen Freeman Trophy for the best under 18 performance at the Cambridge Competitive Music Festival; in March 2011 he performed a selection of the Duöli (violin duos) by Heinz Holliger at the concert "Childhood and Encryptions" at Kings Place, London in the presence of the composer; and he currently holds an NCO Leverhulme Scholarship (awarded by the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain and the Leverhulme Trust).

Yukie Smith studied piano performance at Tokyo College of Music and Indiana University School of Music. Whilst in Japan, she worked for the Tokyo Chamber Opera Theatre and the British Embassy Choir as a piano accompanist. She now lives near Cambridge where she performs and teaches piano, using her own unique multi-sensory approach so that learners can have tangible musical experiences no matter what age they are. She also spends time composing piano music and eventually plans to write a book about her teaching style.