Born in Japan, Ayako Yamazaki graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded Belmore Woodgate Scholarship, with Bachelor of Music and Postgraduate Diploma degrees. She performs throughout the UK, Italy and Japan as a soloist and chamber musician, in venues such as St. James’s Church Piccadilly and Ongaku-no-tomo Hall (Tokyo). Also as an active orchestra player, her experience includes leading positions in various orchestras including performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Ayako has been a prizewinner at several competitions in Japan.

Katya Lazareva was born in Belarus. Since 2004 she has been a student of the Belarusian State Academy of Music in the class of prof. L.L. Lastovka. and became a laureate of E. Kohu, International Music competition in Chisinau, Moldova and Kiev, Ukraine. Katya has taken part in various master classes with such outstanding viola players as Yuri Bashmet, Yuko Inoue, Yuri Zhislin and was an exhibitioner of a special presidential fund for the support of talented youth. In 2010 she entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study the Master of Music in Performance and was generously awarded with a full scholarship by the Guildhall School Trust. In 2012 she was awarded a £1,500 scholarship by an Anatole Mines & Anthony Elt Award towards her studies at the Royal College of Music for the Artist Diploma in Music Performance. Tonight’s programme of Mozart, Bach and Handel, which beautifully demonstrates both the light and depth of the timbres and tones of violin and viola was chosen by the duo to bring the audience into the sound-world of Joseph Haydn, whose music begins the evening performance by the Navarra Quartet.