Lunchtime Recital - Idlir Shyti (cello) and Simone Tavoni (piano)

Presented by the Royal College of Music

Albanian cellist Idlir Shyti is currently studying for a Master of Performance degree under the tutelage of Richard Lester at the Royal College of Music. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Sudwestdeutsche Kammerorchester, RTSH Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia collaborating with conductors such as Giovanni Pelliccia, Silvia Massarelli, Hannes Kramer. Idlir has performed in venues such as the Muziekgebow aan t’IJ Bimhuis Zaal in Amsterdam, Palazzo Barberini in Rome, National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania amongst many others. He has also performed in festivals such as the Rome Chamber Music Festival, the Festival Atlante Sonoro, the Festival Musica a Roma per Roma in Italy, the Festival de Saint-Lizier en Couserans in France and the Rutesheim Cello Festival in Germany. Competition success includes First Prize at the International Competition Mozartiana and the receiving the ‘Il Portico d’Argento’ and ‘Adriana Gianuzzi’ Awards. Idlir has participated in numerous masterclasses with cellists such as Gary Hoffman, Giovanni Sollima, Wen Sinn Yang amongst many others, as well as chamber music masterclasses with Thomas Gould, Raphael Oleg and Laurence Dutton. Idlir plays on a cello by Joseph Hill, London 1770 which has been generously loaned to him by the Royal College of Music.

Simone Alessandro Tavoni is currently studying for a Master of Performance degree under the tutelage of Niel Immelman at the Royal College of Music. He previously studied at the Conservatory of Music ‘Giacomo Puccini’ in La Spezia the Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luigi Cherubini’ in Florence where he also studied composition with the composer Rosario Miriglianio and also the ‘Franz Liszt’ Academy in Budapest. He has participated in festivals such as the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival and Music Fest of Peruggia where he attended masterclasses with Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Boris Slutsky and Ilana Vered amongst others. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and in orchestras across Europe. In London Simone has performed in venues such as St. James’s Church Piccadilly, V&A Museum and Italian Institute of Culture.