Sinfonia Smith Square Reveals New Members of its 2024/25 Fellowship

Fresh from their recent rebrand, Sinfonia Smith Square has announced the members of its 2024/25 Fellowship programme. Each year, the renowned arts organisation welcomes 34 of the world's most promising emerging musicians to form an orchestra. This prestigious annual Fellowship scheme provides unparalleled opportunities for up-and-coming professional musicians, giving them crucial orchestral experience under the guidance of esteemed artists within the profession. 

The 34 musicians in this year’s programme will immerse themselves in the world of orchestral music, performing in series of concerts throughout the year. The unique cohort deriving from across the globe brings a range of experiences and musical knowledge to this fresh ensemble. 

Every Fellowship place is free, and every player receives a bursary. More than just an orchestra, it is a community where promising young talents can find their own voice and develop their creative strengths, fulfil personal goals, make lasting contacts to take their musicianship to new frontiers.

For the first time the orchestra will welcome an Organ Fellow, Ben Collyer. Ben gained his Associateship of the Royal College of Organists whilst at Chetham’s School of Music, before going on to be the University of Oxford’s Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral. Alongside his Masters’ degree at the Royal College of Music, under the Newton Scarth Scholarship, he was the Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral from 2021-22, where he was involved in the national Platinum Jubilee Service for HM Queen Elizabeth II. He finds nothing more rewarding than trying as many different interpretive choices as possible and moulding a piece into a product that shows your own unique sound and personality.

Bassoonist Vladyslav Demianov was born and raised in Zaporizhzhia, a city in south-eastern Ukraine. His passion for music grew whilst attending after-school clubs, inspiring him to eventually audition for the first-ever Young Symphony Orchestra in his city. From 2020 to 2022, Vladyslav worked as Principal Bassoon at the Kyiv Opera, whilst still a conservatoire student. Overnight, his life changed when Russia invaded Ukraine, and he was forced to flee to the UK for safety, where he continued his studies. After relocating to Birmingham, Vladyslav joined the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and was selected for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Training Scheme. 

Coming from a musical family, Eliza Talman’s love of performing was fostered during her time in her local Frome Town Band, which led to her securing a scholarship to Wells Cathedral School. After six months locked down at home during the pandemic, which comprised family-wide concerts for the neighbours, Eliza took up her place at the Royal Academy of Music, where she performed the Haydn trumpet concerto three times and won the brass ensemble prize in her first year. Coming full circle and following in her parents’ footsteps, since then Eliza has worked as an actor musician, most recently in Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas in the Lyric Hammersmith over Christmas. She has also performed with her brother as a marimba and trumpet duet, as well as with her group, Solis Trio.

Once an aspiring Olympic swimmer before pursuing her passion for music, violinist Flora Yeung joins the programme. Her first taste of being a professional musician was at the Hong Kong Baptist University, where she worked hard to establish the foundations of her musical career. During the pandemic isolation, Flora used her free time to explore different possibilities, sharing her musical journey with students from across the world, which made her eager to travel and see the world, thus leading her to postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2022. This year, Flora was invited to join the 97 Ensemble, which is dedicated to championing music by underrepresented composers and making music more accessible to people from different backgrounds through performances and outreaches. 

Isabella Ward Ackland picked up a French horn for the first time at a ‘Try an instrument’ day at her local music service, Bromley Youth Music Trust (BYMT). Between the age of 10 to 18 she played in ensembles at BYMT with the large cohort of horn players and rehearsals were always the highlight of her week. This culminated in her BYMT group getting to compete at the Kerkrade World Music Contest in 2017. Isabella recently completed her Masters’ degree on the Orchestral Artistry course at Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied with Jonathan Lipton, Angela Barnes and Sue Dent. She has been delighted to have won trials with Royal Ballet Sinfonia and the English National Ballet this year, gaining the exciting opportunity to explore both ballet and opera repertoire, which she loves playing. 

 

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