BIOGRAPHIES
Klio Blonz ~ Flute
Klio began her studies in Greece. She continued in the class of Catherine Cantin and Pierre Dumail at the Paul Dukas Conservatoire in Paris, gaining a Premier Prix at the U.C.E.M 92 flute competition. At the same time she completed an Aesthetics / Philosophy of Art Degree, at the Paris I - La Sorbonne University. Klio was then awarded a scholarship for Trinity College of Music where she successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance and a Master in Music Degree in the classes of Alan Baker and Wissam Boustany.
Since the beginning of her career Klio has performed extensively both as a soloist and ensemble player in France, Greece, Bulgaria, Ireland and the UK. She has appeared with numerous orchestras and ensembles such as the Wallace Ensemble, Classical Soloists, Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Orion Orchestra, Tempus Orchestra and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Denmark. Festival appearances include the Mayfield Festival collaborating with Theatre Alive! and theatre director Andrew Visnevski, the Festival of Dodekanison, Demetria Festival and the International Music Festival of Cyclades in Greece. In 2006 she gave with Blaue Reiter Ensemble a first performance in Drill Hall, Lincoln, of Schoenberg's masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire. More recently she has completed Glimpse of Japan, a series of concerts in the UK inspired by Japanese traditional and contemporary artforms. Her special interest in contemporary music has led her to work with new composers and artists such as SPMN shortlisted composer Evelyn Ficcara and Japanese composer Yoko Kubo. She has thus commissioned and premiered works at the Queen Elizabeth Hall/Foyer, the Blackheath Halls, St James's Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St John's Smith Square and the Hellenic Centre in London. Klio also performs regularly with concert pianist Gareth Owen and has recently formed the very successful Persephone Duo with cellist Rebecca Hews represented by Alive Network. Future performances include concerts in the UK, Germany and Greece.
As an educator Klio has been very busy for the past few years teaching the flute, leading workshops and coaching chamber music ensembles in the U.K. and abroad. Specialising in early years music education she has worked extensively as a visiting musician in nurseries all around London as well as in organisations such as the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Klio is currently teaching at the Blackheath Conservatoire and leads educational projects at Trinity College of Music.
Shelley Levy ~ Clarinet
Clarinettist, Shelley Levy, was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She started her studies at the University of Cape Town, graduating with a performer's diploma in 1992. She was then awarded a prestigious Swiss government scholarship to study at the Geneva Conservatoire where she graduated with a Prix de Virtuosite (Premiere Prix) in 1996. Shelley continued at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, where she received a Postgraduate Diploma in Orchestral Training in 1997. Her teachers have included Oliver de Groote, Walter Boeykens, Thomas Friedli, Joan Enric Lluna, Thea King and Michael Whight. She has also participated in clarinet masterclasses with soloists Antony Pay and Michael Collins as well as in chamber music masterclasses with Maurice Borgue, Lamar Crowson and the Floristan Trio. During her student years Shelley was principal clarinet of the South African National Youth Orchestra, the Rotterdam Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, the Geneva Conservatoire Orchestra and the Young Musician Symphony Orchestra, UK. In 1991 she won the Oudemeester comptition for wind instruments, the Natal 75th Anniversary Prize for Orchestral Instruments and the wind category of the ATKV Forte Competition in South Africa. In 1994 she was a finalist in the South African Broadcasting Corporation of Music competition and in 1997 a woodwind finalist in the Royal Overseas League Competition, London.
Shelley has performed both as a soloist, orchestral and chamber music player in the U.K. and abroad. Her solo appearances include the Mozart and Weber concerto's No's 1 and 2 as well as the Krommer double concerto with all major South African Symphony orchestras and with the Geneva Conservatoire Orchestra. She has performed as an orchestral freelancer in the Cape Town Symphony orchestra, the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Brunel Ensemble, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra amongst others. She has given numerous solo and chamber music concerts in South Africa, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada, including all the major duo clarinet sonatas as well as chamber ensemble works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruch, Poulenc and Stravinsky. Her appearances in the UK have included venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican. Future performances include concerts in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Greece.
Shelley is also involved in education and is an experienced clarinet teacher and chamber music coach, she has also given masterclasses at the university of Newfoundland, canada. She works in various schools in London and currently teaches at the Centre for Young Musicians(CYM) and at Camden School For Girls.