Sofiko Tvauri
Director and Cello Teacher, Founder of Virtuosi method for young cellists.
Sofiko is a multi-award-winning performer who has played in concerts across Europe. Performances include playing in a chamber group with Julian Lloyd Webber and Valentin Erben.
Sofiko has played in such prestigious venues as WigmoreHall, the Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wagner Hall, St. James`s Church Piccadilly in London; the Culture Hall, President Hall, and Moscow Hall in Latvia; and Tbilisi State Conservatory in Georgia. Currently, Sofiko’s primary focus is on teaching and her deputy position at the Royal College of Music, which she has held since 2015. Sofiko has been a member of the teaching staff at the Oxford Cello School since 2022.
Sofiko’s students have won numerous national and international competition and festival awards, and regularly give concerts throughout England, including in central London. Students have successfully joined ProCoda, the London Youth Symphony Orchestra, andthe RCM and RAM Junior Departments.
Official Website: https://sofikotvauri.com/
Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay
Piano and Solfeggio teacher.
Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay is an award-winning pianist, avid ensemble player and passionate music educator based in London. She was born in Russia, raised in Belgium and trained as a musician in the United Kingdom.
Yulia started performing internationally after winning the 1st prize at the Steinway Piano Competition in Hamburg at age 13. She has since played across Europe and the United States. A passionate chamber musician, Yulia has been fortunate to collaborate with outstanding musicians. She has performed Brahms’ Horn Trio alongside Peter Cropper, participated in Britten Pears and Tunnell Trust residential courses with her former ensemble Trio Mise-en-Scène and performed twice as a collaborative pianist at Leeds College of Music as part of their international concert series. Yulia currently enjoys a close duo partnership with pianist Chiahu Lee (https://yvmpianist.com/duo/).
Their first album ‘(ré)inventions à deux pianos’ (https://listn.fm/bachreinventions/) was released with Divine Art in March 2024. It featured in Qobuz Grand Selection and received glowing reviews in the BBC Music Magazine and on BBC Radio 3.
In 2017, Yulia obtained her Masters of Music with distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied under the tutelage of Richard Ormrod. Since then, Yulia has combined her performing career with teaching and lecturing duties. Yulia is a member of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA). She served on the piano faculty at Luxembourg Conservatoire for five years and is currently working with talented young musicians as a deputy piano teacher at Junior Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Yulia is a highly experienced one-to-one and class teacher whose experience in different environments has helped her hone a flexible and visionary approach to teaching. A believer in the transcendental power of music and its ability to help us feel more empathy and embrace our shared humanity, Yulia feels that in our increasingly polarised world, music is key to a kinder and fairer society.
Official Website: https://yvmpianist.com/
