Piano and Strings

🎶 Student Spotlight: Lucas 🎶

We are thrilled to celebrate the incredible achievements of one of our young talented Cellists, Lucas who has been studying with Alisa Liubarskaya at Piano and Strings since he was very young.

Lucas has recently reached some amazing milestones in his musical journey:

🏆 2nd Prize in the prestigious Jan Vychytil Cello Competition in Prague (pictured here, November 2024)
🎓 Distinction in his Grade 8 Cello exam (December 2024)
🎓 Music Scholarship at King's College School, Wimbledon (February 2025)

Lucas’s dedication, talent, and passion for the cello are truly inspiring. We can’t wait to see where his music takes him next!

Keep practicing, Lucas — the best is yet to come! 🌟🎻

Our next faculty spotlight post features one of our most popular and sought after piano tutors, Ana Manastireanu -

She has won multiple awards, including Accompanist Prizes in the AESS Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition, Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards and Ashburnham English Song Awards.

Ana is also the winner of the Alasdair Graham Pianist Prize in the RCM Lieder Competition, the First Prize for Pianists in the RCM Brooks-van der Pump English Song Competition and the Second Prize for Pianists in the RCM Joan Chissell Schumann Competition.

Together with mezzo-soprano Annabel Kennedy, she won the Press Prize and Junior Jury Prize at the 56th International Vocal Competition LiedDuo 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands as well as the Audience Prize in the Somerset Song Prize.

Ana was a Scholar of the International Summer Academy for Chamber Music Niedersachsen in Germany and a Fellow of the Toronto Chamber Music Institute in Canada. She is a former Britten-Pears Young Artist, Leeds Lieder Young Artist and a Musicians’ Company Young Artist.

Her recent collaborations include performances with tenor Mark Padmore CBE, baritone Roderick Williams OBE, violinist Paul Barritt, Jonathan Crow (Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra), Andrew Wan (Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra), Scott St. John (Director of Chamber Music, The Colburn School), Ani Aznavoorian (Principal Cellist of Camerata Pacifica), Marcin Sieniawski (Szymanowski String Quartet) and members of The Harlem Quartet.

Ana has also performed live on BBC Radio 3 - In Tune. Festival appearances include the Oxford Lieder Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, St. Endellion Festival, North Norfolk Music Festival, Brighton Festival, Lewes Festival of Song, London Song Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival and Orford Music Festival.

She has recently graduated with an Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Kathron Sturrock, Simon Lepper, Roger Vignoles, Niel Immelman and Leon McCawley.

🎉🎹 Piano and Strings are thrilled to share some amazing news! One of our students just received her final Grade 8 piano results and achieved an outstanding distinction of 142/150! 🌟🎶 We couldn't be prouder of her hard work and dedication, congratulations on this incredible achievement! 🎉👏



Ready to embark on your own musical journey? Whether you're a beginner or aiming for the highest grades, our tutors are available to guide you every step of the way. Contact us today to start your musical adventure! 🎵✨