Carys Underwood, Cello 

Biography:

Carys Underwood is a cellist from West Sussex, studying at the Royal College of Music. She progressed through the West Sussex Youth Orchestra and then to the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She has performed in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall. 

In June 2024 she won both the Overall Cello Prize as well as the Bach Prize in the RCM Cello Competition. Carys is also the cellist of the Seion Quartet, winning the RCM String Quartet Competition in 2024 and a Hans Keller Ensemble in Residency for 24/25. The Seions also had the honour of playing for the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace last year for the Emperor and Empress of Japan, as well as His Majesty The King. The Seion Quartet enjoy a variety of recital opportunities in London and will play at Wigmore Hall in June as part of the RCM String Showcase. Carys plays on an 1839 German Deichsel cello kindly loaned from Benslow Instrumental Scheme. 

Biography:

Originally from Norfolk, Archie is the Adami Award Collaborative Piano Fellow at the Royal College of Music in London. A specialist in chamber music and song repertoire, he was a New Horizons Fellow in Collaborative Piano at the Aspen Music Festival and School 2024; a Britten Pears Young Artist focusing on French Song; a Shipston Song Young Artist, and a member of the Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange. He has performed at the Wigmore Hall, la Salle Cortot in Paris, Solingen and Cologne in Germany, and in New York.

Recent competition prizes include the pianist prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards at Wigmore Hall, and first pianist prize and best duo prize at the Ashburham English Song Award. 

After undergraduate studies at the University of York, he completed a Master's degree in Solo Piano and an Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano at the RCM in London. Archie is a Piano Tutor at Gresham’s School in Norfolk.