Katie Yao Morgan – piano

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Katie Yao Morgan (2000) is of British and Chinese descent began to play the piano when she was four years old. In 2010 she won the ABRSM Sheila Mossman Memorial Prize for achieving the highest mark in Grade 8 piano exam and additionally received a Gold Award in 2011. 

 

In 2010 she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Marcel Baudet. In 2011 she won second prize in Category B (12-16) section of the Pianist of the North Competition, and in 2014 she was awarded ‘Mention of Honour’ in the International Piano Competition in Enschede, Holland. In 2016, she was awarded Diplôme de JEUNE ESPOIR in the 10th Adilia Alieva Competition held in Annemasse, France. In 2019 she won 1st prize at the Amsterdam Regional finals of the Princess Christina Concours in the Netherlands.

 

Katie has performed at The Wimbledon Festival and in duos at the Wigmore Hall. In 2013 she performed Mozart’s Concerto KV449 with the Menuhin School Orchestra, and in September 2014 two performances of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 with a chamber ensemble. In spring 2015 she toured the Southwest of England, performing in Bridport and Dartmouth, and later in Scotland, including New Lanark, Edinburgh and Blair Atholl. In 2016 she performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Dorking Chamber Orchestra and in 2017 with the Mihail Jora” di Bacau OrchestraFilarmonica in Cantu, Italy. 

 

She has taken part in summer courses at Tignes, France and Blonay, Switzerland with teachers including Marcel Baudet, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Edith Fischer and Jorge Pepi-Alos. She has also received masterclasses from Dmitri Alexeev, Ronald Brautigam, Ronan O’Hora, Idil Biret and Dominique Merlet. 

 

Katie was a member of ‘Trio Pantoum’ with SongHa Choi (violin) and Maxim Calver (cello). The trio won 1st prize in the Intercollegiate Piano Trio Society Competition held in Birmingham Conservatoire in 2018. In February they toured The Netherlands, performing in a number of venues including Akoesticum and the Conservatory in Amsterdam, also appearing on Dutch radio Spiegelzaal. She is currently a member of ‘Peter Trio’ with Marta Pedreira (clarinet) and Ines Gallagher (cello) and the trio have performed in multiple venues across the Netherlands. 

 

Katie completed her Bachelor’s of Classical Piano in 2022 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, under the guidance of Frank Peters. She is currently in her first year of Master’s in Repititeurship. From 2020 Katie also started her Bachelor’s in Psychology in the University of Amsterdam. She appeared on the Dutch Classical TV Show ‘Podium Witteman’ as part of the Jonge Helden (Young Talent) in 2020 and 2022. In 2022, she toured the Netherlands with the Utrechtsch Studenten Concert Orchestra in which she performed Ravel’s Left Hand Piano Concerto at multiple cities - the finale being at Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam. 

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Noëlle Drost – zang

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Sopraan Noëlle Drost (1999) is een veelzijdige klassieke  zangeres.

Ze won meerdere prijzen bij onder andere het Prinses Christina Concours, de International Student Liedduo Competition 2022 en is ze laureaat van Classic Young Masters. Onlangs heeft Noëlle haar debuut gemaakt als solist bij het Orkest van de 18e Eeuw waar ze onder leiding van Daniël Reuss de sopraansolo zong van Händel’s Messiah met Cappella Amsterdam.

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In februari 2020 zong ze de titelrol tijdens de première van de opera ‘Carattaco’ van J.C. Bach, samen met het Neue Mannheimer Orchester. Daarnaast was ze december 2021 te zien als Sesto in de productie ‘Cesare e Cleopatra’ van de Dutch National Opera Academy. Ook nam ze in 2022 de rol van Euridice in ‘Orphée et Euridice’ van Glück met barokorkest La Sorpresa op zich en zong ze bij de Saluzzo Opera Academy de titelrol in ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea’ van Monteverdi.

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In 2021 heeft Noëlle deelgenomen aan een masterclass met Philippe Herreweghe en Peter Kooij, georganiseerd door Collegium Vocale in de Opera van Gent. Daarnaast was ze in augustus 2021 te horen tijdens een masterclass van Elly Ameling, die ook op nationale televisie werd uitgezonden tijdens de seizoensopening van het programma Podium Witteman. Verder is Noëlle in 2023 Young Artist bij het Leeds Lieder Festival (UK).

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Noëlle studeert nu aan het Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag waar ze in het vierde jaar zit, bij Rita Dams, Noa Frenkel en Maurice Lammerts-van Bueren. Daarnaast studeert ze ook Oude Muziek bij Peter Kooij, Francesca Aspromonte en Pascal Bertin. Volgend schooljaar zal zij haar studie vervolgen aan de Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlijn.