Charlie was born in London in 1989 and began learning the violin at the age of six under Aidan Massey and later with Sheleigh Webb.
At the age of 11 he was accepted into the Royal College of Music Junior Department, studying under Erik Houston. At the Junior RCM,
Charlie led their symphony orchestra, took part in various chamber music activities which involved public performances and studied
conducting part time under the renowned conductor Richard Dickins. Outside of RCM, Charlie led Orchestras including the Surrey County
Youth Orchestra and the Reigate String Orchestra. Charlie was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Redhill
Sinfonia. In 2006, Charlie was awarded the Aidan Massey Memorial Prize for services to Surrey County Arts. In the same year Charlie was
awarded a place at the Purcell School of Music, where he spent his sixth form years. It was also at Purcell where Charlie discovered and
developed his passion for jazz, studying under Simon Colam and composing his own jazz repertoire. In his final term at the Purcell School,
Charlie conducted the Purcell String Chamber Orchestra in performance of Tchaikovsky’s String Serenade and Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et Profaine
for Harp and String Orchestra.
In 2008, Charlie began his undergraduate Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied with the Internationally renowned
Maciej Rakowski. It was also at the RNCM where Charlie was able to explore further his lifelong passion for chamber music, giving performances
around the UK and Wales in venues including London’s Wigmore Hall with the Aves and Torre Quartets. Charlie has taken part in public masterclasses
with distinguished musicians such as Ivry Gitlis, Yair Kless, Gabor Tackacs-Nagy, Ani Schnarch, Katherine Macintosh and the Gould Piano Trio.
Charlie works as a freelance musician, working in all parts of the UK with, to name a few the London Pops Orchestra, Surrey Art’s Melody Line
Orchestra and in pit orchestras in performances of shows such as Dogfight by Pasek and Paul, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, Purcell’s Dido
and Aneas, Britten’s The Little Sweep and Noel Gay’s Me and My Girl. Charlie has worked with numerous distinguished jazz and contemporary musicians
including Alexander Markov, Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Asaf Sirkis, Astilerro Tango, Bobby Wellins, Don Weller, Christian Garrick, Martin
Taylor, Guy Barker, Colin Matthews and Simon Colam. Television appearances include with the National Youth Orchestra, ITV’s ‘The X Factor’
and the Royal Variety Performance. Charlie regularly performs with the comedy string quartet ‘Graffiti Classics,’ with whom he plays on cruise
ships and other venues, combining classical music, singing, comedy and movement.
Charlie currently resides in the Southampton area with his wife and cats and recently toured Germany with an ABBA! tribute group.
Charlie now owns a thriving sports massage therapy practice and loves to work out at the gym!
Hannah started to play the violin aged two, encouraged by her professional violinist mother. She attended St. George’s College,
Weybridge, on a music scholarship for violin, piano and singing. From the age of fourteen she was a member of Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra
and took part in tours to Spain, France and Italy and from there went on to play in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra which played
in the Royal Albert Hall and toured to Prague.
Hannah graduated with a BMus (Hons) in 2017 from the University of Leeds where she studied with Raimonda Koco from the Opera North and
Northern Ballet Orchestras, and spent a year abroad at the Conservatorio di Verona studying under Roberto Muttoni. She will begin a Masters
of Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in September 2019, studying with Rivka Golani and Simon Smith.
Having freelanced throughout her college and university years she is no stranger to a variety of settings and enjoys getting involved in a
wide range of musical endeavours. She led the Musical Theatre and Stage Musical Society orchestras at University of Leeds for productions of
Cabaret, Evita, Jekyll and Hyde and The Last Five Years and Opera Society’s Carmen and Don Giovanni. From musical theatre pit bands, to opera
orchestras, electric Bollywood trios, flash mobs, classical string quartets and symphony orchestras she has relished the varying opportunities
her musical talents allow, not only on the violin but also performing in roles such as Rapunzel in Sondheim’s Into The Woods. Hannah has led
the Hounslow Symphony Orchestra, co-led the Kingston Third Age orchestra with Madeline Easton and is now leader of the Illyrian Ensemble and
Orchestra Nouveau. Hannah freelances in and around London and runs Music Time, music classes for toddlers in West London. She is thrilled to
be a part of the newly-formed Marino Strings team and hopes to collaborate with the group in ways not limited to the classical quartet.
Jessica graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales in August 2017, where she spent two years studying full-time
for a Masters of Music in Solo Performance (violin). This course involved extensive orchestral, solo and chamber music performance. Jessica took
lessons with Lowri Porter (co-principal violin in the Welsh National Opera) and performed across the UK in iconic venues with world-class
conductors. Since her postgraduate studies at this prestigious National Conservatoire, she has worked as an upper strings teacher (violin and
viola) for Berkshire Maestros, one of the UK's leading music services. Prior to qualifying as a Master of Music, she spent one year year running
a small teaching business and continuing her studies with university violin teacher, Caroline Balding. A total of 3 years was spent studying for
a BA (Hons) in Music from the University of Southampton.
Jessica began playing violin at school aged 8 after having been on the waiting list for almost 1 year! Jessica attended an incredibly supportive state
college/sixth form where she received free violin, theory and piano tuition for two years. During those two years, Jessica also sung in the college choir
and all-female chamber choir, achieved ABRSM Grade 8 Distinction in violin, took piano and theory exams, led the Fareham and Gosport Area Youth Orchestra,
and played in the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra and their Chamber Orchestra. Jessica's highlight in this orchestra was their performance of Mahler's 2nd
Symphony at Winchester Cathedral.
Following college studies Jessica undertook a BA (Hons) in Music at the University of Southampton, where she performed in SUSO (Southampton University Symphony
Orchestra, including two foreign tours to Nice/Cannes then Valencia), the Southampton University Sinfonietta (Chamber Orchestra), and other music department
historical projects. Conductors she worked with during this time were Robin Browning, Jonathan Lo, Dane Lam and Maxime Tortilier. Jessica has performed in string classes
with cellist Paul Cox and received Baroque training from Adrian Chandler 'La Serenissima'. Jessica also played 1st violin in a string quartet named 'Euphoria' for
two years. For the culmination of 3 years of education, she played a Russian recital of Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
Jessica is grateful for the overwhelming support and assistance which she has received throughout her student years: postgraduate bursaries from the William Price Foundation
and the Wessex Society for Young Musician's Trust, a string scholarship onto an Easter orchestral course, a bursary to Dartington International Summer School (where
she led the Dartington String Orchestra), two co-principal bursaries to perform with the Rehearsal Orchestra in Trinity Square London, and finally the Gillian Halse
bursary as co-principal at the Rehearsal Orchestra's Edinburgh course in alignment with Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2016.) Jessica also received full funding to perform
Wagner's Tannhauser with the Edinburgh Opera Players Group in Portobello.
Jessica studied for two years under Lowri Porter (co-principal of the Welsh National Opera) at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and occasionally took
tuition also with Itzhak Rashkovsky and Rachel Podger. She worked with Wyn Davies, David Jones and Carlo Rizzi at the Sherman Theatre, the Dora Stouzker Hall and St
Davids Hall. Jessica performed with the RWCMD Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Orchestras, REPCO orchestras, Opera Orchestras and Conductors Showcase Orchestras. Jessica co-led a
production of Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro, and during this time had the pleasure of performing on a £10,000 George Hudson Violin kindly on loan from the Benslow
Instrumental Loan Scheme. Jessica also played in a contemporary, five-piece ensemble - The Nightingale Ensemble, who gave performances in Wales and London to high
critical acclaim. One of the highlights of her time at college was a 3-night run of Kurt Weill's gritty opera, 'Street Scene.'
Jessica currently lives in Mitcham, Surrey and runs a small instrumental teaching business (violin, viola and piano) and reallys enjoy performing in her spare time.
She play viola in the Havant Symphony Orchestra for fun and play violin in numerous local orchestras, including the Charity Symphony Orchestra, the Havant Chamber
Orchestra and the Solent Symphony Orchestra. Jessica borrows a beautiful Lowendall viola and a Lucci Workshop contemporary violin kindly on loan from a nearby teacher
and mentor.
Southampton-born Manikka began learning music at the age of 5 and a half when she started having piano lessons. It wasn’t until later,
at the age of 7, that she picked up the cello having found out that the school’s flute lessons (her then instrument of choice) were
already fully booked.
Throughout secondary school, Manikka became involved in numerous ensembles on both instruments, performing in symphony, pops, and
chamber orchestras, as well as jazz ensembles. Manikka then studied Music at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, where she received extensive
chamber music coaching through her place on the college’s Hampshire Specialist Music Course during which she studied both the piano and cello
under Roger Owens and Michael Mace respectively.
In 2016, Manikka graduated from the University of Southampton with a First-Class BA(Hons) in Music, where she was fortunate enough to continue
performance studies on both instruments under Duncan Honeybourne and Paul Cox. She led the Southampton University Symphony Orchestra as well as
the Southampton University Sinfonietta; an orchestra she also managed during her final year of her degree, which gave her the opportunity to
directly liaise with conductors such as Jonathan Lo (Birmingham Royal Ballet), George Jackson (Vienna Chamber Orchestra) and Frank Zielhorst
(Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra). Her time at the University of Southampton also allowed her to perform alongside David Owen Norris, Adrian
Chandler, Pee Jee Ng, and Norwegian jazz tuba player Daniel Herskedal. Manikka has also performed in pit orchestras for Hello, Dolly!,
Thoroughly Modern Millie, Into the Woods and Fiddler on the Roof as well as The Pajama Game and Guys and Dolls, both of which were shows that
she also produced with the youth theatre production company RicNic Hampshire.
Manikka works as a freelance musician and private piano and cello teacher. She has also been General Manager of SÓN - Southampton’s only professional
orchestra and the Turner Sims Orchestra in Association - since 2017, with which she coordinates performances and educational projects across Hampshire.