current young artists

Samuele Piccinini is an Italian pianist and répétiteur. After completing his Academic Diploma at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna, he obtained a Master’s degree in Piano from the F. Venezze Conservatory in Rovigo. He further honed his skills at the International Piano Academy of Imola, the Music Academy of Pinerolo, and the Felix Music Academy of Prato, studying with renowned teachers such as Roberto Prosseda, Ingrid Fliter, Roberto Giordano, and Roberto Plano.

His main solo engagements include a recital at the Teatro Comunale of Cagli and collaborations with orchestras at the Teatro Sociale of Rovigo and the Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna. Samuele worked for several years as an accompanist in conservatories, academies, masterclasses, and competitions before attending the Répétiteur course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he was a Leverhulme Arts Scholar and the recipient of the Margery & Frederick Stephen Wright Eisinger Award. During his time at Guildhall, he worked with distinguished teachers such as Dominic Wheeler, Elizabeth Rowe, and Susanna Stranders. He is currently a member of Mascarade Opera’s Emerging Artists Programme.

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Irish pianist Adam McDonagh is currently training as a répétiteur on the Young Artist Programme 2024/25 at the National Opera Studio in London. He is a Samling Artist and holds a BMus (Performance) from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, an MPhil in Music Studies from the University of Cambridge, and recently completed an MMus (Performance) in Répétiteuring at TU Dublin Conservatoire, supported by the inaugural Irish National Opera Répétiteur Scholarship.

As a member of the Irish National Opera Studio 2023/24, he served as assistant répétiteur for Faust, La bohème, Salome, and La traviata, and accompanied masterclasses with Ann Murray, Peter Whelan, Tara Erraught, and Elīna Garanča. Previous répétiteur work includes productions of Handel’s Susanna (DIT Conservatory), Le nozze di Figaro (Glasthule Opera), L’elisir d’amore (Lismore Opera Festival), Suor Angelica (Empyrean Ensemble), and Owen Wingrave (Opera Collective Ireland). Upcoming engagements include working as répétiteur for Der Schauspieldirektor at the Buxton International Opera Festival and conducting the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for a recording with RTÉ Lyric FM, following his First Prize win in the Feis Ceoil Orchestral Conducting Competition.

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Korean-born pianist and coach Ye In Kwak moved to Russia at six to study at the Moscow Gnessin Special School of Music and later at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

In 2014, she returned to Korea to complete a piano performance degree at Seoul National University and later pursued vocal coaching at Korea National University of Arts. She also holds a degree in collaborative piano from the Manhattan School of Music. Currently, Ye In is in her first year of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. In the summer of 2024, she was a Coaching Fellow at Wolf Trap Opera, where she worked on La Bohème under the baton of Grant Gershon and Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins. She also participated in the Aspen Music Festival, performing as a harpsichordist for Idomeneo and Haydn’s The Creation, and coached Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Eugene Onegin, Così fan tutte, and L’Elisir d’Amore in Korea. Beyond opera, she has performed in recitals at The Greene Space with WQXR LIVE and New York Public Radio and as part of Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall. This summer, she will be a Music Staff Pianist at the Ravinia Festival.

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Alicia Hernández Huebra (Spain) completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid under Maestro Iván Cítera. In 2023, she was selected as a répétiteur for the third edition of the Teatro Real Young Artist Programme Crescendo, receiving guidance from pianists Patricia Barton and Carmen Santoro. She accompanied masterclasses with Martin Winkler, Sabina Puértolas, and Jacques Imbrailo, and worked as répétiteur for Amahl and the Night Visitors in the Teatro Real Junior season. In July 2024, she was répétiteur for The Marriage of Figaro at the Berlin Opera Academy, playing harpsichord for the recitatives under conductor Tom Seligman and stage director Caterina Panti Liberovici.

She is currently in her second year of a Master’s in Piano Accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying with Andrew West and Sam Armstrong. She has accompanied masterclasses with Dominic Wheeler and Gerald Finley and collaborates regularly with pianists including Iain Burnside and Graham Johnson, being an active member of his Song Guild.

Ilan Kurtser is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, a Samling Artist, and a Leeds Lieder Young Artist. He has won numerous prizes in competitions in the UK and abroad, including First Prize at the Copenhagen International Lied Duo Competition, the Kathleen Ferrier Awards Accompanist Prize, and the Bampton Classical Opera Competition Accompanist Prize.

In 2024, he was a finalist at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition alongside baritone Jonathan Eyers. Ilan was a Bicentenary Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied Piano Accompaniment with Michael Dussek, James Baillieu, and Malcolm Martineau. Concert highlights include recitals with Gweneth Ann Rand and Stephen Whitford at the Aldeburgh Festival, violist Paul Silverthorne at the Museo del Violino in Cremona, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston at the Leeds Lieder Festival, and performances at Wigmore Hall, the International Lied Festival Zeist, Sage Gateshead, Leeds Victoria Hall, and the Jerusalem Music Centre. Ilan was also a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, where he curated over 20 concerts for the Academy Song Circle and Academy Voices concert series, teaching and coaching singers and pianists. He is currently a répétiteur for the Royal Academy Opera.

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Lyra Zihua Liu, a collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and soprano from China, is passionate about opera, chamber music, and writing.

During her first Master’s degree in opera coaching at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she served as a répétiteur fellow in the conducting department and as rehearsal pianist for Carmen at the China National Opera House. She is currently pursuing her second Master’s degree in collaborative piano at the Tianjin Juilliard School, where she holds a full scholarship and fellowship. Lyra began studying flute and singing at the age of 12 and later served as principal flutist of the Golden Phoenix Youth Orchestra. She went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree in classical voice at Xinghai Conservatory of Music. In addition to her musical pursuits, she has published several poems and essays, and contributed as one of the editors of the book series Chinese Art Songs in 100 Years, published by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press. She is an alumna of the 2024 Franz-Schubert-Institut “Poetry and Performance of German Lied” program in Austria.

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