Leah Leong is a cellist currently in her first year of postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music under the tuition of Josephine Knight.
Originally from Bristol, Leah began learning the cello with her mother before studying intensely with Bruno Schrecker, former pupil of Pablo Casals. She later gained an entrance scholarship to study at the Academy, where she graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in July 2018.
Leah has played in masterclasses with cellists such as Guy Johnston, Hannah Roberts and Adrian Brendel. As an experienced orchestral player, Leah has performed under the baton of Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner and Semyon Bychkov to name a few. She is principal cellist in the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra and recently played side by side with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed in the Royal Albert Hall for James Newton Howard’s 3 Decades of Music concert as co-principal cellist with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra.
Leah has a strong passion for chamber music, and is a member of the Amanzi Piano Quartet, who are Concordia Foundation Artists for 2019/20 and winners of the Audience Prize in the 2018 St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition.
Leah has performed as a soloist with many orchestras in the Bristol area, with highlights including performances of the Schumann and Saint-Saens concertos.
Future engagements include playing side by side with the Nash Ensemble in the Wigmore Hall as well as concerts with the Amanzi Quartet in London.
Harry Rylance is a pianist studying at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Pisani Piano Award and K M Bayfield Scholarship. He studies with the Academy’s Head of Piano, Joanna MacGregor.
His recent engagements have included performances at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to an audience including the current Prime Minister and four former Prime Ministers, performances at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Sinfonietta and Royal Manson Ensemble, and as a piano scholar at the Heidelberg Lied Academy Festival in Germany.
Although British, Harry has an international background having studied in Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Hungary, and the USA before returning to the UK in 2015.
He started learning the piano at the age of 7 and four years later entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest where he studied with a number of outstanding teachers including the late Zoltán Kocsis.
At 12 years old, he performed Mozart’s 4th Piano Concerto with the Liszt Chamber Orchestra in the Grand Hall of Budapest and also toured Asia as a featured soloist with the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra. His performances in the USA include numerous solo recitals and acclaimed performances of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra. He also performed live on “From The Top,” America’s nationwide classical music radio programme.
Harry will complete his BMus degree in July 2019 and has accepted a scholarship to commence postgraduate studies towards an MA, also studying with Professor MacGregor.
Free recital (retiring collection)