Lunchtime Music: Yagisawa, Bach, Ysaÿe

Alicia Hillman saxophone (MMus 2)
Charles Matthews piano

Satoshi Yagisawa Vongole
Charles Matthews It really happened (for Mady) [solo piano piece]
JS Bach Cello Suite No.2 in D minor, BWV 1008

Currently in her final year of her Master’s degree at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Alicia graduated from RBC in 2020 with a first-class bachelor’s degree and has continued her studies with Naomi Sullivan and Kyle Horch. Having received tutelage from a variety of international performers, including Alicia Arno Bornkamp, Mariano Garcia, Otis Murphy, Kurt Bertels, Jonathan Radford, Masahito Sugihara and Lars Lien, as well as studying abroad at ArtEZ Conservatorium (the Netherlands) with Johan van der Linden, Alicia combining international performance practices,

Alicia is a keen chamber musician, collaborating with others and finding ways to make four voices sound as one. She has premiered works as part of the RBC Saxophone Octet at the World Saxophone Congress (Croatia) 2018.

Alongside chamber music, Alicia is versatile performer, winning the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Prize 2021. She is also a Postgraduate Award Holder from Help Musicians (2020-2022), a UK Universal Music Sound Foundation Bursary sponsee and is supported by the John Clemmence Trust.

Hanji Fan violin (MMus 2)

JS Bach Solo Violin Partita in D minor, BWV 1004 (mvts i-iv)
Ysaÿe Solo Violin Sonata in E minor No.4

Hanji was born in Wuhan China and began to learn the violin at the age of five with Mojia Yuan, the concertmaster of the Hubei symphony orchestra. In 2008 he was admitted to the affiliated primary school of Wuhan Conservatory of Music as the first-place student where from 2010, he studied with professor Li Guo, head of the string department of Wuhan Conservatory of Music. In 2011 he participated in the youth group of the CCTV Violin Competition held by China Central Television and was awarded the performance prize. In 2014 he went to the China Central Conservatory of Music to study with professor Weidong Tong. In the same year, Hanji participated in the adult group of the CCTV Violin Competition and was awarded the performance prize.

Hanji  joined the BMus (Hons) course at RBC with in 2016, where his violin teachers were Jiafeng Chen and Wen Zhou Li. He is currently studying on the MMus course at RBC with Nathaniel Vallois and Oliver Wille.