Zivorad Nikolic is a Serbian accordion player. At the age of seven he joined the Milojevic School of Music where he studied with Vesna Djurdjevic, Radomir Tomic, Radenka Ristic and Snezana Vlastic. In 2002 he was accepted by the National Conservatory of Music in Marseille, France and in his first year was invited to play at the Napoleon Palace. Zivorad went on to study with Owen Murray at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating in 2009. During this time he received the Sir John Barbirolli Foundation Award.
Since 2007 Zivorad has been a member of Paprika, a six-piece band performing traditional music from Eastern Europe. He is also a member of the Fugata Quintet, Accordduo and She’koyokh Klezmer ensemble. He has performed solo as well as in chamber groups in some of the most prestigious venues including St. Martin in the Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, Royal Festival Hall, Kings Place, Royal Albert Hall, New Morning (Paris), The Forum (Melbourne), Enmore Theatre and Brisbane Powerhouse and at festivals including Glastonbury, WOMAD, Cheltenham, Norfolk& Norwich, Deal, Canterbury, Cambridge, Auckland and Edinburgh Fringe. In 2006 he was privileged to perform at Gyorgy Kurtag’s 80th Birthday concert in Budapest. Zivorad has recorded on the albums of several artists including David Gomez, Aiden Love& Forty Thieves Orchestra and Marti Pellow. In 2011 he performed in the premiere of Prophet and Loss, a community opera written by Julian Grant. He has also featured on Channel 4’s How Music Works and in a live performance for the BBC Radio 2 programme, Friday Night Is Music Night.
Natasha Briant has worked as a music therapist with children in special schools and in music education for the last 20 years. She studied at the Purcell School and Oxford University and learned the 'cello with Alexander Baillie, Raphael Sommer and Joseph Spooner. She mixes her work as a string tutor for Camden Music Service with chamber music and playing with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra. Natasha is delighted to be playing with Zivorad again after their last performance together as part of the Ignite series at the Royal Albert Hall. 'The cello and accordion work so well together and she is thrilled to be playing Bach and Piazzola at Crown Court before embarking on her PGDip in children's nursing in September. Natasha plays on a cello made by Wilbert de Roo in 2012.