St John’s Chamber Orchestra – Concert for Midsummer’s Day

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A Midsummer Celebratory Concert

Join us for this special concert featuring two of the most popular of all concertos. St John’s Chamber Orchestra – Concert for Midsummer’s Day is at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts on Friday 21 June at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20.

This concert is played by outstanding soloists from the Royal Academy of Music.

Sicilian-born violinist Olwen Miles plays the Bruch. She was born in Palermo in 2002 and began playing the violin when she was seven. She studied with the Romanian concert master Luliu Hamza until she was 15 before going to London to study with the renowned concert violinist Remus Azoitei. In 2017 she won a scholarship to study at the Purcell School with the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme.

At the age of 14, Olwen had her first recital as overall and youngest ever winner at the XIV International Competition Citta di Paola. She has won numerous first prizes in national and international competitions.

The Grieg will be performed by pianist Khrystyna Mykhailichenko who is a Ukrainian refugee studying with Joanna MacGregor.

Khrystyna was born in 2006 and has been called a musical prodigy. After winning her first contest at the age of five, she has been a first-prize winner in a number of national and international competitions. In 2016 at the age of 10, she was awarded first prize in two categories of the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz. In the same year, she was awarded first prize in her age category in the inaugural Merci Maestro! competition for young pianists in Brussels. After Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces in February 2022, Khystyna, her mother and young sister fled to Krakow in Poland, then to the UK. While staying with a family in Northumberland, she was awarded a full bursary for four years to study piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The concert is conducted by Maidenhead resident Nigel Wilkinson. Nigel is an examiner for the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was also a senior producer on BBC Radio 3.