Charlotte Spruit (violin) and Xiaowen Shang (piano) take to the Great Hall stage at Aberystwyth Arts Centre next month.

Xiaowen is a pianist, harpsichordist and versatile musician, interested in early, classical and contemporary music. She has a wide range of repertoire from Renaissance composers such as Antonio de Cabezón and William Byrd to contemporary composers like Birtwistles and Brett Dean. She has worked with renowned musicians and composers such as Steven Isserlis, Joanna MacGregor, Rachel Podger, Brett Dean, Dame Imogen Cooper, Lawrence Power and Adrian Brendel. Xiaowen is also enthusiastic to collaborate with other genres of art discipline including live visuals, theatre and improvising with silent films.

Xiaowen is studying piano with Joanna MacGregor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, entering her second year of Master’s degree at the Academy as a Bicentenary Scholar. She received her Bachelor degree with First Class of Honours, and was awarded the Edwin Samuel Dove Prize for special merit during the studentship of her Bachelor degree studies. Her recent awards include winning the First Prize of Jacob Barnes Award with her trio, Temporal Harmonies Inc in November, the First Prize of Beethoven Piano Society Europe Senior Intercollegiate Competition in March 2023 and received the Beethoven Medal, and First Prize of the WCOM

Charlotte Spruit is a soloist and chamber musician, praised for her passionate and energetic performances. Charlotte won the first prize as well as the audience prize and the Genuin Classics prize at the Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in 2022. She also won the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions held at Wigmore Hall in 2023 and was named Classic FM rising star in 2024.

Recent solo engagements include performances at the Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Berlin, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. As a soloist, Charlotte has performed with renowned orchestras, including the Residentie Orkest The Hague, The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Les Ambassadeurs ~ La Grande Ecurie, the Pauliner Barockensemble, and Ensemble Esperanza.

Charlotte Spruit and Xiaowen Shang at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Sunday, 2 February.