British pianist Nicola Eimer has performed as a soloist and chamber music across Europe, Asia and America and has played at the major UK venues including the Barbican, Kings Place and Wigmore Hall. A graduate of New York’s Juilliard School, Nicola held a Fulbright Scholarship to study with Joseph Kalichstein. Her previous teachers include Danielle Salamon and Christopher Elton.
Nicola’s passion for chamber music has led to a wide range of partnerships, in duos as well as larger ensembles. She has won both the chamber music and solo awards in the Royal Overseas League Music Competition. Nicola enjoys an active partnership with the Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, with whom she has performed in many of the major concert halls and Europe. Nicola is regularly invited to be a guest accompanist at international competitions, and has played for the Menuhin and the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competitions. In February 2019, Nicola’s CD “So Many Stars” was released on Stone Records, with acclaimed violinist Fenella. It was described as “hugely rewarding” by The Observer; “an absolutely exquisite album” by BBC Radio 3’s Record Review, and was The Strad’s Recommended Recording of the month. Nicola and Fenella perform together regularly, and have recently collaborated with the author and musicologist Dr Leah Broad in a series of concerts which combine words and music.
Teaching, adjudicating and lecturing are an important part of Nicola’s musical life. She has maintained a close connection with the Royal Academy of Music, having been made Associate of the Royal Academy in 2004, as well as having taught their Piano Pedagogy course for several years. She is currently a professor of piano accompaniment and chamber music at the Royal Academy. Nicola is also Head of Keyboard at Highgate School in London.
@nickyelisabet
Florence Cooke (violin) enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, soloist, and chamber orchestra member, and has performed extensively across Europe, the United States, Canada, China, South America, and Australia. She is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Myra Hess Award, Nigel Brown Prize and Razumovsky Trust Award. She held the Leverhulme Fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for two years, where her main teachers were Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno. A review in The Observer described her playing as “taut, precise and atmospheric… appeared flawless.”
Florence has performed at many international festivals, including Sommerklaenge Festival Zurich, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Wye Valley Festival, and IMS Prussia Cove. This summer she performed a recital of solo Bach at Southwell Festival, where she also guest-led the Festival Sinfonia. As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras including the Presteigne Festival Orchestra, Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, Oxford Sinfonia, Royal Orchestral Society of London, and the London Handel Orchestra. She has a keen interest in historical performance, frequently leading the Oxford Bach Soloists and performing with Arcangelo and the Dunedin Consort, as well as guest leading the Southwell Festival Baroque Sinfonia. She has also appeared as principal with Aurora Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and European Camerata, and has guest-led Chroma Ensemble and Ensemble Cymru.
Florence is a member of the Ferdinand Piano Trio, and in 2020 she founded the Pasqualati Quartet, with whom she has performed many of the Beethoven quartets. She directs and coaches the Maiastra Chamber Music Courses and is a guest teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Junior Guildhall in London. Florence is also Artistic Director of the Olivier International Recitals Oxford, which launched in 2024.
@florencecookeviolin
Described in The Times as “searching, searing and sublime,” cellist Christoph Richter studied with the legendary André Navarra and Pierre Fournier, and performs internationally as both a soloist and chamber musician. He has appeared as soloist with many leading orchestras, including the Munich Philharmonic and Prague Philharmonic, and in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, and the Rudolfinum in Prague, among others.
At the age of 23 he became the the youngest principal cellist of a major symphony orchestra, joining the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, and since then he has been guest principal of orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Munich and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In recital, he has performed complete cycles of works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Webern. His deep commitment to contemporary music has led to collaborations with composers including Penderecki, Kurtág, Henze, Lachenmann, Holliger, Reimann, Turnage, Beamish, and Widmann. His discography includes recordings of Schumann and Holliger for ECM, Klengel concertos for cpo, Mozart’s Divertimento for Naxos, and Brahms’s Sextet Op. 36 with Isabelle Faust for Harmonia Mundi, which was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Christoph was cellist of the Cherubini and Heine Quartets, performing in many of the world’s foremost concert halls. He has been principal cellist of Sir András Schiff’s Cappella Andrea Barca since its founding in 1999. In 2020, he established the Pasqualati Quartet, with whom he has performed many of the Beethoven quartets.
From 1987 to 2025, he served as Professor of Cello at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and he currently holds a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is frequently invited to give masterclasses at leading international festivals, including Marlboro and Ravinia in the USA, Encuentro Santander, and the European Chamber Music Academy.
@christophrichtercello