Season’s soloists

Emily Sun

“Possessed of a superb talent” (The Australian), violinist Emily Sun is in demand internationally for her compelling and captivating interpretations.
Her genuine connection with audiences and engaging presence have thrilled her growing audiences, as she performs as a concerto soloist with leading orchestras, and as a chamber musician and recitalist in major concert halls around the globe.

  • Emily was the 23/24 Artist-in-Association with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, with several concerto appearances during the season including the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin Violin Concerto, which received 5 star reviews; she made her debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and a return to Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony and Western Australia Symphony Orchestra.

    In recent seasons, she has worked with conductors Andrew Litton, Vasily Petrenko, Mark Wigglesworth, Jaime Martin, Ascher Fisch, Benjamin Northey and Johannes Fritzsch. She made her China debut with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tan Dun, and has performed with the South Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Arlington Symphony and Garland Symphony (USA), and the European Union Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Orchestre de Royal Wallonie and Orchestre de Chambre Namur in Europe.


    Emily’s debut album, Nocturnes, (ABC Classic/Universal) reached No. 1 on the ARIA Classical Charts, and her recent release ‘Film Fantasia’ featuring the concertos of Korngold and Kats-Chernin recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra was Editor’s Choice in Limelight Magazine and received critical acclaim: ‘Sun’s tone is luxurious.. with style’ (BBC Music Magazine); ‘poetic and colourful’ (CD Choice); ‘Sun is in charge, a master of the aural canvas (Musicweb International).

    Since her Wigmore Hall debut in 2016, Emily has performed in venues worldwide including the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Tchaikovsky Great Hall and Seoul Arts Center. She was invited to perform for King Charles III alongside Maxim Venverov in Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in Buckingham Palace, and also performed for the King and Queen of Belgium in the Royal Palace of Brussels.

    Awards and prizes have included the Tagore Gold Medal from the Royal College of Music, the 2018 ABC Young Performers Award (Australia), the 2016 Royal Overseas League Music Competition (UK), and the Brahms (Austria), Yampolsky (Russia) and Lipizer (Italy) international violin competitions. She was a Young Concert Artist for the Tillett Trust, The Worshipful Company of Musicians and City Music Foundation.

    Emily studied with Dr Robin Wilson (Sydney Conservatorium of Music), Itzhak Rashkovsky (Royal College of Music, London), Augustin Dumay (Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Belgium), and received further mentoring from Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov and Ivry Gitlis.

    Emily is currently Violin Professor at the Royal College of Music, London, and she performs on a 1753 G.B. Guadagnini ‘The Adelaide’ violin, kindly loaned to her by the UKARIA Cultural Trust.

Clara Rodriguez

Clara Rodriguez is a renowned pianist, celebrated internationally for her captivating performances and her deep connection to Latin American piano repertoire for which she has been hailed by BBC Radio 3 as "The Queen of Latin American Piano Music".

  • Her solo career has flourished across continents, gaining her critical acclaim in countries such as the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Venezuela, the United States, India, Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia. In London, she is a highly sought-after artist, performing in prestigious venues like the Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, and St Martin-in-the-Fields.

    Clara Rodriguez has had notable collaborations, including with the globally renowned Simón Bolívar Orchestra, with whom she has performed concertos regularly for several decades. She has shared stages with luminaries such as Paul Badura-Skoda and Chick Corea, Michael Collins, Alirio Díaz, Stephen Bryant. 

    Her work is frequently broadcast by the BBC, and her discography—six solo albums for Nimbus Records—features important works by composers such as Moisés Moleiro, Federico Ruiz, Teresa Carreño, and Ernesto Lecuona. Additional albums include "Venezuela", "Americas Without Frontiers" and on the Ulysses Arts label further showcase her versatility with recordings of Chopin.

    Clara Rodriguez’s pedagogical impact is equally impressive. Teaching at the Royal College of Music’s junior department, she has nurtured students who have won international prizes and performed at venues like Wigmore Hall and the Elgar Room of the Royal Albert Hall. She is also an international adjudicator and frequently performs at Arundells, the historic home of former UK Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath in Salisbury.

    Her contributions to music have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the LUKAS Prize for Classical Music Act in 2015, and she has been honored by Venezuelan media as ‘Woman of the Year.’ Clara Rodriguez also plays a pivotal role in preserving and promoting Venezuelan piano music through her editorial work on the Venezuelan Treasures for Piano series, published by Clifton Editions.

Charlotte-Anne Shipley

Born in Wimbledon, Charlotte-Anne Shipley began her musical studies as a pianist, flautist and clarinettist. She began singing in the chapel choir during her degree in Music at the University of Oxford, and hasn’t looked back!

  • She went on to the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she studied for two years with Renata Scotto, and then with Monserrat Caballé at the Liceu, Barcelona. She has won numerous prizes in international competitions, including the Concorso Riccardo Zandonai, Concorso Umberto Giordano, Concorso Benvenuto Franci, the Salvatore Licitra Comptetition, the La Fenice International Competition, Voci InCanto, Spazio Musica, and the Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition.

    An active oratorio and concert soloist, her concert performances have included Britten’s Les Illuminations, Mozart’s Mass in C and Requiem, Bach’s St John’s & St Matthew’s Passions, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Dvorak’s Te Deum, Strauss’ Four Last Songs, and Mahler’s 2nd and 8th Symphonies.

    Following her Italian debut as Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème in Orvieto in 2017, she sang Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the title role in Suor Angelica in Padova. Following this, the sang the title role of Tosca in Como, Cremona, Bresia, Bergamo, Pavia and Reggio Emilia, and then the title role in Catalani’s La Wally in Bolzano, which was broadcast on the national radio (RAI). More recently, Charlotte sang the role of Anna in Puccini’s first opera, Le Villi, for the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, and returned to Tosca and Leonora in Il Trovatore for the National Opera of Estonia and Teatro Coccia, Novara. She then had the pleasure of singing Verdi’s mighty Requiem in Pisa Cathedral under the baton of Harmut Haenchen and opening the season at the Shanghai Grand Opera as Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin.

    This year she has reprised Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin for the National Opera of Estonia, and sung the role of Miss Wingrave in the Italian premiere of Britten’s Owen Wingrave for the Festival della Valle d’itria. She then returned to Ellen Orford for a concert performance of Peter Grimes, - Baltic premiere - which is to be staged there in the spring of 2027, and will debut her Gurtrune in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (concert performance) at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in the autumn.

    She is thrilled to be singing with the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Cristian Cimei