Thursday Lunchtime Concert – Mandy Liu, Yiyao Lu

Mandy Liu is a Hong Kong born coloratura soprano who has recently graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with Distinction under the tutelage of Teresa Cahill and Panaretos Kyriatzidis as a Kathleen Roberts Scholar in Professional Diploma, and at the same time the choral scholar of The Old Royal Naval College Chapel Choir. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Music major) and obtained both her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Master of Research degree in Cultural Geography from Royal Holloway University of London with distinction. During her time at Royal Holloway, she was one of the soprano choral scholars of the Choir of Royal Holloway and won the Second prize in the Royal Holloway Concerto Competition. Mandy’s recent roles include Monkey King in The Monster of Gao Village (Tête à Tête 2023); Soprano Ensemble in Turandot (Grimeborn Opera Festival 2023); Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sussana in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gilda in Rigoletto and Ariel in Try me, Good King (Trinity Laban Opera). She has won the Herbert Howells prize this year with her pianist Phoebe Lu. Mandy will play the role of L’Amour in Transgress Opera’s inaugural production of Orphée et Eurydice.

Pianist Yiyao (Phoebe) Lu was born in China and started playing the piano at the age of five. She studied with William Chan(Weiling) from the junior department of Shanghai Conservatory before coming to England. Phoebe went to Wells Cathedral School with a full music scholarship at the age of fifteen under Hilary Coates and then, joined Trinity Laban Conservatoire with scholarships for both undergraduate and postgraduate study. Phoebe completed her master’s degree in 2023 under professor Douglas Finch. During her study, Phoebe has been taking parts in various concerts, competitions and collaborations. For example, she has won the mid-somerset festival, being finalists in the John Longmire Beethoven competition and was highly commended in the Alfred Kitchin Competition. She has also been performing in many concerts in China, Italy and England. Phoebe will start her PhD study in music education at University of Glasgow this autumn, 2024.