Melinda Hughes, soprano

Cum Laude degree from the Maastricht Conservatory of Music and master’s degree from the Royal College of Music, Melinda Hughes completed her voice studies at the Brussels Opera Studio. She toured with the André Rieu Strauss Orchestra for three years, after-which she pursued her operatic career, which has taken her to more than forty countries. She has sung many lead roles including Madama Butterfly, Aida, Fiordiligi La Contessa, Violetta, Tosca, Mimi, Nedda, Gilda & Pamina. Melinda is a specialist in Weimar Cabaret having released two CDs ‘Smoke & Noise’ and Weimar & Back under the Nimbus Alliance Label. She received critical acclaim at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe for Margo, half woman half beast, a dramatic musical co-written with Jeremy Limb (directed by Sarah Sigal) about the Weimar Berlin cabaret singer Margo Lion. Melinda and Jeremy are best known for their satirical songs and comedy, which have led them to perform regularly on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio London. They have performed at festivals such as Hay on Wye, The Al Bustan Festival Lebanon, Holders Festival Barbados, The Cotton House, Mustique and are regulars at London’s foremost cabaret venue, The Crazy Coqs in Zedel, Piccadilly. Aside from her writing and performing, Melinda curates the winter season of concerts at The Chelsea Arts Club, she is the Artistic Director of a festival in Barbados, encouraging collaboration between local and international musicians and she is currently writing an opera comedy radio series spearheaded by her new comic opera character Clemeniza Von Trunksale with Jeremy Limb and Kevin Day (producer of the BBC satirical show Have I got news for you).

Alexey Zhilin, cello
One of the most talented and recognized Russian cellists of our time, Alexey Zhilin performs regularly not only as an acclaimed soloist in Russia, Japan, Korea, and Europe, but also as a member of the David Oistrakh Quartet and First Solo Cello of the MusicAeterna ensemble under the direction of Teodor Currentzis.
Born in 1987 in Leningrad, at the age of 11, Alexey won his first victory at the International Music Competition in Moscow.
Alexey Zhilin is a winner of many prestigious international competitions such as the International Youth Tchaikovsky Competition in Japan, the International Isang Yun Competition (South Korea), the International Competition Dr. Luis Sigall (Chile), the International Elsky Competition in Minsk (Belarus), among others.
His final victory at the International Brahms Competition in Austria (2018) was acclaimed by the public and the press.
His most notable performances include debuts as soloist with the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra (dir. art. Yury Bashmet), Russian Philharmonic.
Mr. Zhilin has played under the direction of renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Teodor Currentzis, Dimitris Botinis, etc. In addition, Alexey is a passionate chamber musician and performs regularly with Eliso Virsaladze, Denis Matsuev, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, Liana Isakadze, Eduard Bruner, Boris Brovtsyn.
He is regularly invited to major festivals in Europe and renowned concert halls such as the Philharmonie in Paris, Flagey Hall in Brussels, Wigmore Hall in London, Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, Auditori in Barcelona, among others.
Since 2013 Alexey Zhilin has been teaching as Professor of Cello at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory.

Nimrod Borenstein, conductor
Recent years have seen Nimrod Borenstein establish himself as one of the most successful contemporary composers through a succession of commissions, recordings, and acclaimed premieres of his works in the world’s most important concert halls, from the Royal Festival Hall and Royal Opera House in London to the Salle Gaveau in Paris, from Carnegie Hall in New York to City Hall in Hong Kong. His music is regularly performed in Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, Israel, South America, and the United States, and his compositions are featured in international competitions such as the Hong Kong International Piano Competition (2019) and the Jeunesses Musicales International Cello Competition (2020), which have commissioned him to play their obligatory pieces. His ballet music Suspended, commissioned by the Gandini Juggling company that premiered it at the Royal Opera House, has had more than 250 performances. Among the greatest supporters of Borenstein’s music is the name of Vladimir Ashkenazy, who has conducted his works on several occasions-a fruitful collaboration that culminated in the recording of an album entirely devoted to his orchestral works published by Chandos and widely praised by international critics, so much so that it was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s “Choice.” Many other leading musicians and ensembles have performed his music, among them appear such names as Pascal Rogé, Roberto Prosseda, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the Oxford Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Israel Camerata, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Cieli d’Italia, a piece for string quartet recently commissioned by the Cremona Quartet, appears on their latest album “Italian postcards.” Increasingly in demand on the podium, Borenstein has several projects that will see him conduct orchestras in the United Kingdom, Romania, Germany, Finland and Italy. His latest album released by Somm and featuring him on the podium of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was a great success with audiences and critics. Nimrod Borenstein was a winner of the Cziffra Foundation Competition and is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, where he trained in his youth. His extensive and eclectic musical catalog is constantly evolving and currently has more than 100 compositions spanning orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrument works.