CAVATINA Chamber Music Fellowship

CAVATINA endows an annual chamber music fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music.

The CAVATINA-Trio-In-Residence for the 2018-19 academic year is Trio Opal:

Yi-Shing Cheng (piano) · Eriko Nagayama (violin) · Joel Siepmann (cello)

Consisting of three prize-winning musicians, Trio Opal was founded in 2017 during the members' studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where they received coaching from world-renowned professors, violinist György Pauk, cellist Christoph Richter, and pianist Michael Dussek. Each player's extensive experience has led them to win competitions, be orchestral leaders, perform on live radio and more. As a trio, they were nominated by the Academy to represent the institution in the 2018 Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition in Birmingham, in which they were awarded first prize. They were also chosen to attend the Trondheim Academy 2018 in Norway and the inaugural Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Festival in this November. In 2018-2019, they will be the Cavatina-Trio-In-Residence at the Royal Academy of Music.

A highly active ensemble, Trio Opal has performed in venues including the Wigmore Hall, Colston Hall, St Mary's Perivale, St Barnabas Church, Ealing and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. They had over 15 concerts from January to June 2018, including three concerts in Dordogne, France, as well as two concerts in Cranleigh Arts Centre and Rothamsted Manor Recital club in April.

Their current repertoire includes Haydn's C major piano trio, Beethoven's E flat major and C minor piano trio, Brahms' C minor trio, Mendelssohn's C minor trio, R. Schumann's D minor trio, C. Schumann's G minor trio, Ravel's piano trio as well as Rachmaninoff's Trio Elegiaque No.1. In September, they will be performing Smetana's G minor piano trio for the Trondheim Academy 2018 in Norway and for the Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Festival. In October 2018, they will also perform Schumann's E flat major quintet with Nicolaj Znaider at the Royal Academy of Music.