Join Eleanor Penfold, Yuliya Ostapchuk and Elena Toponogova for a wonderful programme of music by Grieg, Bach, Berg, Rachmaninov, Medtner and Skoryk.

All proceeds go to DEC Humanitarian Appeal.

Eleanor Penfold, soprano

Praised in Opera Magazine for having ‘the vocal equipment to dazzle’, Eleanor Penfold graduated from the Royal College of Music as a Ruth West Scholar. Eleanor was awarded the Schubert Song Prize at the London Song Festival by Dame Felicity Lott.

​Eleanor has performed roles with Opéra Bastille in Paris (Naïade/Bergère in Rameau’s Les Fêtes d’Hébé), Opera Zuid (Elle in Jan-Peter de Graaff’s Bonsai Garden), English Touring Opera (Vénus in Rameau’s Dardanus and Soprano 2 in Bach B minor) and Waterperry Opera Festival, where she was recognised as a ‘forceful and note-perfect’ Königin der Nacht (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte).

A Britten-Pears Young Artist and Iford New Generation Artist, Eleanor performed the role of Rossignol in an award-winning online production of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the London Philharmonic and VOpera.

Eleanor was recently awarded an honorary Associate Fellowship of Van Mildert College for contributions to the arts while returning to Durham University for their Opera Gala performing as a soloist alongside Sir Thomas Allen.

​https://www.eleanorpenfold.com/

Yuliya Ostapchuk, violin 

From a young age, Ukrainian violinist Yuliya Ostapchuk was awarded prizes at several international competitions across Europe and has participated in masterclasses with leading instrumentalists such as Tasmin Little, Igor Ozim and Mikyung Lee as well as performed concerti across the continent. At the age of 12, Yuliya moved to England to study at the Purcell School of Music where she studied with Charles Sewart. In that time, she performed recitals at Milton Court and Wigmore Hall, and led the Symphony Orchestra on two occasions. Yuliya won the Arthur Felsenstein Leaver’s award before joining The Royal Academy of Music in September 2017, under the guidance of So-Ock Kim and Philippe Honore, graduating with First-Class Honours. During this time she worked with esteemed conductors including John Wilson and Semyon Bychkov. From September 2021, Yuliya is a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music in London, studying with Itzhak Rashkovsky. She is a Frederick Johnston Scholar and a recipient of The Stephen Bell Charitable Trust Award and Harrison Frank Family Foundation Bursary as well as a Benedetti Foundation Ambassador. Yuliya is extremely grateful to The Royal College of Music and Lady Lichfield for kindly loaning her the 1775 Storioni violin that she is very honoured to be playing on.

Elena Toponogova, piano

“Her performance was mesmerising!”
— Musical Opinion Magazine

Elena is a concert pianist and chamber musician based in London. Her main interest is Russian repertoire with an especial focus on the music of Nikolai Medtner.

In 2017, Elena received a Master of Performance degree from the Royal College of Music, studying under Norma Fisher. Her studies were generously supported by the Norah Seary Trust, Altrusa Careers Trust, the Future of Russia Foundation and Tsukanov Family Foundation.

She was selected to study at the Academie de Musique Riviera in Switzerland with Pavel Gililov and was supported by Help Musicians UK Transmission Fund grant.

Elena has taken part in many international festivals including Chichester Festival, Bloomsbury Festival and Timani Music Festival in Oslo. She has been performing as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Russia and appeared at the prestigious Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, Salzburg Wiener Saal, Amaryllis Fleming Hall, V&A Museum, St.Martin-in-the-Fields among many others.

In 2017, with the support of Oleg Prokofiev Trust she performed Prokofiev’s Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova at the Regent Hall together with soprano Eleanor Penfold. The concert was described as “an inspiring performance” by Musical Opinion Magazine.

Elena is proud to be a part of Live Music Now initiative that brings live music to care settings and hospitals across the UK.

 http://elenatoponogova.com/

Programme:

J.S.Bach Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier 

Alban Berg “Die Nachtigall”, “Im Zimmer” 

Mykola Lysenko “A Prayer for Ukraine”

S. Rachmaninov Etude-tableaux op.39 no 2 and 5

N.Medtner Sonata-Reminiscenza op.38

Myroslav Skoryk “Melody”

Edward Grieg Sonata no 2 for violin and piano, op.13, 1st movement Lento doloroso — Poco allegro — Allegro vivace — Presto

All proceeds from the concert go to DEC Humanitarian Appeal 

https://www.dec.org.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjw0a-SBhBkEiwApljU0sZYNwSvosholGvAuxDS75EttM4N9i3zTmajPV8YW3I_Rc0bwdgowRoCIUsQAvD_BwE