Our Team
The team subtitle.
Artist, Residency
Alfie Caine
Alfie Caine is a London based artist and musician. The former Cambridge architecture student, graduated from Gonville and Caius College in 2018. As an undergraduate, he received multiple prizes for his work including the Purcell Prize for exceptional drawing and representational ability, and the Schuldham Plate; his college’s highest academic accolade. In 2018 his work was selected to be displayed in the ‘Fresh Perspectives’ exhibition at the RIBA. Since then, Alfie’s strikingly vibrant paintings, depicting residential interiors and exteriors with stunning detail have caught the eyes of many collectors and are in high demand.
Performance (Music)
Ian Shaw
Multi-award winner as best jazz vocalist – BBC Jazz Awards 2007 and 2004 and Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2018, alongside nominations from the Jazz FM Awards 2013 and Downbeat Magazine 2017 – Ian Shaw has amassed a number of highly acclaimed internationally released albums and is a popular performer both in the UK and the US. He has been cited, along with Mark Murphy and Kurt Elling, as one of the world’s finest male jazz vocalists.
Shaw’s career in performance began unusually for a jazz musician on the Alternative Cabaret Circuit, alongside such performers as Julian Clary, Rory Bremner and Jo Brand. Shaw was spotted by Dave Illic, jazz critic for City Limits and was described as “the voice of the decade”.
During the next few years, Shaw moved from the singer-pianist format to working with his new band to an eventual move into jazz. Shaw has toured extensively in the UK – regular venues include the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Blackheath Concert Halls, Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Soho Jazz Club, The Vortex, the Jazz Café and The Barbican. Ian has played at all of the major jazz festivals in the UK including Brecon, Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh (where he was nominated for a Perrier Award), Grimsby, Glasgow, Cheltenham, Scarborough, Swanage and St. Ives.
In Europe, he has proved popular in France, Germany and Italy with numerous live appearances. He has also performed regularly in the States including Jazz at the Lincoln Center (New York), Cine Grill (Hollywood), the Fairmont (Chicago), The Nest (Washington DC), Fez Club (New York), the Ellington Church (New York), the Pasadena Auditorium (California), the Miami Film and Music Festival and the Arizona Jazz Party. He has also performed at the Hanoi Opera House and Ho Chi Minh City Opera in Vietnam. More recently Ian has become a frequent visitor to Canada, as result of regular play on the 24 hour JazzFM91 radio station where his Ronnie Scott’s Radio Show airs weekly.
His acclaimed 2006 album Drawn To All Things – The Songs Of Joni Mitchell saw him “Praised far and wide as the single greatest male jazz vocalist Britain has to offer” by Jazz Times. This was followed in 2008 by the autobiographical collection co-penned with David Preston, Lifejacket, also on Linn Records. In 2009 Shaw recorded his long-awaited solo album, Somewhere Towards Love (Splash Point Records) which continues to represent beautifully his increasingly popular solo shows.
In the summer of 2010, Shaw joined a historical legacy of artists and recorded his first Abbey Road studio album. Using a personal blueprint connection in the shape of legendary bassist Peter Ind, Shaw and his young guitarist collaborator, David Preston, assembled a stellar, international, cross-generational band resulting in a recording that led Jamie Cullum to say “the incomparable Ian Shaw… absolutely fantastic” and reflects Shaw’s position as one of the world’s leading jazz singers.
Shaw’s 2013 album, A Ghost In Every Bar, The Lyrics Of Fran Landesman (Splash Point Records)fulfilled a long-standing promise made to the late poet/lyricist Landesman to make an album devoted to her work. Ian was one of her favourite singers and his past discography includes many of her songs.
His appearances on TV include guest slots with Jools Holland, Top of the Pops, The Jack Dee Show, Christmas Night with the Stars (BBC), Channel 4’s The Happening, TVAM, BBC Breakfast Show, BBC 2’s A Night of Love, BBC 2’s Jazz at the 606 alongside numerous appearances on the Performance and Artsworld channels. More recently Shaw featured in the prestigious live session slot of BBC 2’s The Review Show and Channel 4 filmed him with Liane Carroll for their series Random Acts.
Collaborators over the years have been many and include Quincy Jones, Abdullah Ibrahim, Guy Barker, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Iain Ballamy, Mornington Lockett, Barb Jungr, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Cedar Walton, Joe Lovano and Joe Beck. Shaw’s ongoing and highly popular collaboration is a celebrated duet show with Claire Martin, the UK’s finest female jazz singer (he also guested on her 2002 album Too Darn Hot! (Linn AKD 243)). Together they have toured the world in an intimate duo setting with Shaw playing the piano and with the BBC Big Band. They co-hosted the 2004 BBC Jazz Awards.
Lifejacket, Shaw’s 2008 album, cemented his reputation as a fine songwriter as well as a great jazz singer. One of his recent self-penned songs, Somewhere Towards Love, has been a radio favourite, chosen by both style icon, Molly Parkin, on her Desert Island Discs (BBC Radio 4) and by fellow performer Julian Clary on the Jools Holland Show (BBC Radio 2) and Radio 4’s Saturday Live.
Shaw was for some time the presenter on BBC Big Band Special on BBC Radio 2 and is a regular on BBC Radios 2, 3 and 4, BBC Radio London and Jazz FM where he guest-presented their legendary Dinner Jazz show. In October 2012 Shaw presented a show called Miles Symphonic live from the Tower Ballroom Blackpool for Radio 3. Also for Radio 3, in June 2012, Shaw joined The BBC Concert Orchestra, alongside Pete Townshend and Jeff Beck at The Southbank Centre for London On Film and later was invited by Pete Townshend to revoice the songs from Quadrophenia (scored by composer, Rachel Fuller) for a new recording. In a similar vein, Gail Zappa invited Ian to play “Mark” in a fully orchestrated new version of 200 Motels, Frank Zappa’s cult 1972 movie which was performed on the Royal Festival Hall stage and broadcast on Radio 3 as part of Hear and Now in October 2013. Shaw then reprised this role for the Belgian premiere of the work, in Antwerp, with the Brussels Philharmonic, in March 2014.
Ian currently presents The Ronnie Scott’s Radio Show for Jazz FM in the UK (and he hosted the inaugural Jazz FM Jazz Awards in January 2013). The show is also broadcast on JazzFM91 (Canada), Jazz901 (Rochester NY) and Jazz88.FM (Minneapolis MN)and a special two-hour version forms the monthly-changing British Airways jazz show. Ian’s special “in conversation” guests have included Al Jarreau, Kenny Garrett, Patti Austin, Ruby Turner, Van Morrison, Fred Wesley and Marlena Shaw.
In 2011 Shaw joined Rory Bremner on a UK stand-up tour where he firmly returned to his roots by performing a mix of comedy and original songs. The tour continued into the following year with dates nationwide including the Glasgow Comedy Festival. A Bit Of A Mouthful – An Evening With Ian Shaw, Ian’s solo “sit-down” comedy show, a delicious confectionery of witty songs and stories, hit the Edinburgh Festival in August 2012 to great acclaim for a month’s run at the famous Stand comedy club. At the invitation of Barry Humphries, Ian took this show to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June 2015 before touring across Australia with local ace trios and gave two solo shows in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on his return. In October 2015 Ian performed A Bit Of A Mouthful in Berlin at the Bar jeder Vernunft.
To celebrate the landmark birthday of the legendary songwriter, Joni Mitchell, Shaw toured Joni at 70 – Ian Shaw Sings Joni Mitchell, in 2013-2014 sometimes inviting the award-winning jazz singer, Claire Martin, to guest. It played to New York’s 54 Below, Toronto’s Old Mill Inn as well as a packed Elgar Room (The Albert Hall) at the London Jazz Festival.
Recent European touring dates have taken Shaw to venues and festivals throughout Italy, Ireland, Germany as well as Belarus, to perform solo or with his trio. Ian’s return to working with the singer-with-trio format has seen him teaming up with the in-demand young pianist, Barry Green, the legendary UK bassist, Mick Hutton and old cohort, drummer David Ohm. Following their appearance in 2014 at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival, Ian returned to Hamburg’s Elbjazz in 2015 with the trio to showcase his new work.
Ian’s work with the trio is captured on the albums The Theory Of Joy and Shine Sister Shine, both on Jazz Village [PIAS] and released in all formats in 2016 and 2018 respectively to great acclaim (see reviews). Ian toured these works in Canada, the Far East and Australia and Europe in club dates and at festivals, both in solo shows and with the trio.
2019 saw Ian recording his next album What’s New with the legendary saxophonist and composer, Iain Ballamy and young piano player, Jamie Safir – released in April 2020.
Performance (Music)
Lucy Parham
Acknowledged as one of Britain’s finest pianists, Lucy Parham applies her sensitivity and imagination not only to concertos and recitals, but also to portraits in words and music of such composers as Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Rachmaninoff.
Her life-long passion for the music of Schumann inspired the original concept of the words and music evening, Beloved Clara. Two further evenings, Liszt – An Odyssey of Love and Nocturne – The Romantic Life of Frédéric Chopin also premiered in the London Piano Series at the Wigmore Hall. These musical portraits have toured the UK and abroad, also making their US debuts in Los Angeles and subsequently broadcast on NPR across the USA. The fourth programme, Rêverie – the life and loves of Claude Debussy was premiered at the Wigmore Hall London Piano Series with Henry Goodman. The CDs of Beloved Clara (Martin Jarvis/Joanna David), Nocturne (Samuel West/Harriet Walter), Odyssey of Love (Henry Goodman/Juliet Stevenson) and Rêverie (Alex Jennings) have all been released to critical acclaim.
Her fifth show, Elégie – Rachmaninoff, A Heart In Exile” is touring the UK and the CD (Henry Goodman) is now available.
The latest Composer Portrait I, Clara has been created for especially for 2019 – celebrating Clara Schumann’s 200th anniversary. The CD (with Dame Harriet Walter) was released in October 2019.
Celebrated actors who have collaborated with Lucy Parham in these composer portraits include Juliet Stevenson, Harriet Walter, Henry Goodman, Simon Russell Beale, Simon Callow, Henry Goodman, Dominic West, Joanna David, Sheila Hancock, Gemma Jones, Roger Allam, Alistair McGowan, Lesley Sharp, Patricia Hodge, Niamh Cusack, Rosamund Pike, Tim McInnerny, Edward Fox, Robert Glenister, Samuel West, Alex Jennings, Martin Jarvis, Timothy West and Charles Dance.
Lucy Parham has made numerous recordings including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (RPO/EMI Gold), concertos by Ravel, Fauré and Franck (RPO Records) and two solo Schumann CDs (ASV). Her CD of Clara and Robert Schumann Concertos (BBC CO/Sanctuary) won the BBC Music Magazine “Critics’ Choice of the Year”
Lucy Parham first came to public attention as the Piano Winner of the 1984 “BBC Young Musician of the Year”. Since her Royal Festival Hall concerto debut at the age of 16, she has played throughout the UK as concerto soloist with most of the major British orchestras and is a frequent recitalist at the Wigmore Hall. She has also toured the USA with the BBC Concert Orchestra on their 50th anniversary, as well as Mexico and Turkey with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom she has now given over 60 performances. Abroad, she has toured with the Russian State Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Polish National Radio SO and L’Orchestre National de Lille.
Lucy Parham is a regular guest and presenter on BBC Radio 3 and 4, BBC World Service and BBC TV. She has also broadcast several times on the BBC as the commentator on the Leeds International Piano Competition and has frequently been a judge and radio presenter for the Final of BBC Young Musician of the Year. She was invited to be the Director of the 2006 Schumann Anniversary Festival at Cadogan Hall and the Director of Schumann 200 Festival at King’s Place in 2010. In 2016 she was a member of the jury at the Robert Schumann International Piano Competition in Zwickau, Germany.
In 2017/18 she presented her second series of Sheaffer Sunday Matinees – comprising all her Composer Portrait concerts. She has been Artistic Director of the Kings Place Coffee Concerts (Word/Play series) and of the Guildford Spring Festival.
Lucy Parham is a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.
Performance
Tim McInnerny
Tim McInnerny was born on September 18, 1956 in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, England as Timothy L. McInnerny. He is an actor, known for Notting Hill (1999), MI-5 (2015) and Eddie the Eagle (2015).
After playing an essentially similar character called “Percy” in each of the first two “Black Adder” series, he declined to reprise the character in Blackadder the Third (1987), as he felt that the possibilities of playing a bumbling fool had been exhausted. After playing a guest role in one episode of the third series, writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton persuaded him back into the regular cast for Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) by offering him a role with a different name (and personality) in the shape of “Captain Darling”. He is, thus, the only one of the cast to play differently named regular characters in different series.
Along with Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, he is one of only three actors to appear in all four “Blackadder” series: Blackadder (1982), Blackadder II (1986), Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989).
Music Residency
Roman Kosyakov
Roman Kosyakov was born in a musical family and made his debut with an orchestra at the age of 12 with the Mozart Concerto No 23 in A Major. In 2012, he graduated from the Central Music School in Moscow where he studied with F.I. Nurizade and then in 2017 from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory with V. Ovchinnikov. Since September 2017, he has studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on a full scholarship with P. Nemirovski.
He is a laureate and a winner of many national and international competitions, among them “Young Talents of Russia” (Russia, Moscow 2006), the 1st International competition “Sforzando” (1st Prize, Berlin, 2007), the International Alexander Scriabin Piano Competition (1st Prize, Paris 2011), the 8th Open Competition of Musicians Performers N. Savita (1st Prize, Russia, Ufa, 2012), the International Piano Competition “Minsk-2014” (2nd Prize, Republic of Belarus, Minsk, 2014), the 4th International Piano Competition “ Russian season in Ekaterinburg “ (1st Prize, Russia, Ekaterinburg, 2015), the 4th International Piano Competition “Vera Lotar-Shevchenko” (2nd Prize, Russia, Ekaterinburg, 2016), the 4th Prize of the 1st Saint-Priest International Piano Competition Saint-Priest (Lyon-France, 2017), the Gold award for the 3rd Manhattan International Music Competition ( 2018 ) and 1st Prize and the Audience prize for 10th Sheepdrove Piano Competition ( 2018, UK).
He is regularly invited to give concerts in France, Italy, Germany, Republic of Belarus, Russia, UK, USA, and was guest soloist from 2014 to 2017 at the Kemerovsky State Symphony Orchestra. Roman has also participated in Berginos Music Festival as a guest pianist in Bergamo (2018, Italy). He has performed with the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and English Symphony Orchestra in 2018 in UK.
Most recently Roman won the prestigious 1st Prize and the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra Prize of the 14th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition (2018, UK).
Performance (Music)
Claire Martin
Linn recording artist Claire Martin has to worldwide critical acclaim established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene gaining many awards, including winning the British Jazz Awards eight times during her career which spans over three decades. In 2018 she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz.
Claire became a professional singer at 19 and two years later realised her dream of singing at Ronnie Scott’s legendary jazz club in London Soho. Signed to the prestigious Glasgow based Linn Records in 1990, Claire has since released 18 CDs with the label, collaborating with musical luminaries including Martin Taylor, John Martyn, Stephane Grappelli, Kenny Barron, Richard Rodney Bennett and Jim Mullen on many of these recordings.
with Seth MacFarlane, performing at Royal Albert Hall, London (BBC Proms 2015)
with Seth MacFarlane, performing at Royal Albert Hall, London (BBC Proms 2015)
Claire has performed worldwide with her trio and, until his death in 2012, worked extensively with the celebrated composer and pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in a cabaret duo setting both in England and the US where they played to sell-out houses at venues including the prestigious Algonquin Hotel in New York City.
Claire appears as a featured soloist with the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Claire co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flagship jazz program ‘Jazz Line Up’ from 2000 to 2017 and interviewed many of her musical heroes such as Pat Metheny and the late Michael Brecker. Her 2009 CD A Modern Art prompted Jazz Times USA to claim: “She ranks among the four or five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet”.
At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2011 Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for her Services to Jazz.
Her 2019 recording Believin’ It will be with her brand new all-Swedish trio and her twentieth album release. The quartet will tour throughout the UK during May and June.
Performance
Gen Li
Gen Li, British-Chinese concert pianist, visiting professor at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, jury member of numerous International Piano Competitions under Alink-Argerich Foundation, Artistic Director of London Young Musicians Award, St Petersburg International Piano Competition, Xiangyang Beethoven International Piano Competition, visiting Scholar at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, visiting artist and concerto competition adjudicator of Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance, founder of the TrueArt TV.
During his studying period, Gen won the First Prize at both Birmingham International Piano Competition and the Jacques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition. He performed at many of the world’s finest venues including Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, the Purcell Room in London, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Grand Hall of Casa da Música in Portugal, Fazioli Concert Hall in Italy, receiving high praise from both public and critics alike. BBC radio 3 presenter Sean Rafferty described him ‘the pianist with golden fingers’, after listening. As the third prize winner at the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition In 2018, he performed piano concerto with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,conducted by Jac van Steen.
He now regularly serves as a Jury member of many international piano competitions, such as Windsor International Piano Competition, Chopin International Piano Competition in South Africa, St.Petersburg International Piano Competition in Russia, Beethoven International Piano Competition in Xiangyang, China, Neapolitan Masters International Piano Competition in Italy.
He has been invited as a visiting artist to give masterclasses and concerts at the China Conservatory of Music (Beijing), Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance, Wuhan Conservatory of Music etc. He recorded piano concertos with Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra, Roma State Symphony Orchestra, London Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Barnet Symphony Orchestra, Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra etc. His other competition top-three prizes include Roma International Piano Competition, Malta International Piano Competition, Piano FVG Competition in Sacile, Eastbourne Soloists’ Competition, Santa Cecilia Piano Competition in Porto.
Born in China, Gen spent his early years pretty much in the practice room. He came to UK at the age of 15 for his career and finished his studies at Purcell School of Music, Royal College of Music, and Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance. His teachers include Deniz Gelenbe, Ian Jones, Nigel Clayton and Dmitri Alexeev.
Gen always gratefully acknowledges his generous sponsors and supports Fairlight Art Trust, S. W. Mitchell Capital, Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award, KNS Classical Recording, Joseph Clover Award, Nina Polani Award, Delina musician Award, Alfred Kitchin Award, and NOSWAD Charity Award.
Artist in Residence
Babajide Olatunji
About the artist
Born 1981, Okitipupa, Nigeria
Lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria
Originally trained as a botanist, Olatunji is a self-taught artist who spent considerable personal time researching art historical movements and modes of production. Recent projects draw from extensive research into age-old cultural practices of his indigenous Yoruba culture, resulting in the critically well-received series of drawings and paintings – Tribal Marks Series I – IV.
Newer projects have included the monumental paintings of “The History of the Yorubas” and intimate drawings of cryptic Yoruba messages called “Aroko”.
With numerous exhibitions in Lagos and London, and art fair participation in a number of cities globally (New York, Basel, Cape Town & Maastricht included), his paintings have been acquired by several private collections in Switzerland, the US, UK, Nigeria, and Turkey; and the Mott-Warsh Collection in Flint, Michigan.
In 2017, Olatunji was selected for inclusion in the curated element of the Royal AcademySummer Show in London, UK.
Babajide Olatunji is represented by TAFETA London
@art_tafeta
Meet the Artist
Book a time slot for yourself and a guest for a private view of the solo exhibition:
Singer (Wingspan)
Katie Brayben
Katie Brayben is an Olivier Award-winning actor. Katie’s theatre credits include: Girl from the North Country (Toronto and West End) A Walk on The Moon (The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco),Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), The Spoils (Trafalgar Studios), King Charles III (Almeida and Wyndham’s Theatre), American Psycho (Almeida Theatre), 13 (National Theatre). Her screen credits include A Serial Killers Guide to Life (Amazon) , Doctor Who (BBC), Luther (BBC), The Alienist (TNT), Vera: Changing Tides (ITV) and King Charles III (BBC).
Dancer (Wingspan)
Julie Ann Minaai
Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Julie is a freelance professional dancer, dance teacher, choreographer and rehearsal director based in London, UK. She has experience working in theatre productions, opera, music video, television, musicals and more. Credits include: Lynne Page (Pet Shop Boys music videos, Jess Glynne’s The BRIT Awards 2019 performance), Royal Opera House’s Die Zauberflote, Lucy Hind (Nick Frost & Simon Peg’s Truth Seekers), Caroline Pope (ITV’s Mr. Selfridge), Ellen Kane, Peter Darling, James Cousins Company, Flexer & Sandiland Company, English National Opera’s Madam Butterfly, Richard Malone’s LFW Presentation and more.