Recital Spotlight Series: Aaron Azunda Akugbo (trumpet) & Zeynep Özsuca (piano)
Hailed as a ‘Rising Star’ in Classic FM’s 30 under 30 in 2024!
Programme
Vivaldi: “Agitata da due venti”
Lily Boulanger: Nocturne
Jean Hubeau: Trumpet Sonata
Florence Price: Song to the Dark Virgin
Sunset
Turnage: True Life Stories: Elegy For Andy
Mahler: Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft!
Ropartz: Andante and Allegro
About the artists:
Aaron Azunda Akugbo, trumpet
Born in 1998 and of Nigerian-Scottish descent, Aaron Azunda Akugbo hails from Edinburgh and is poised as a future leading exponent of his instrument. He brings a wide-ranging musical taste to his artistry and despite being classically trained, cites Louis Armstrong as his biggest musical inspiration. He is a charismatic performer with an abundance of natural humour which translates into an effortless engagement with people and audiences.
In the summer of 2023, Aaron made his BBC Proms concerto debut performing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with Chineke!, Europe’s first Black and Minority Ethnic orchestra. This followed his third visit to the Lucerne Festival where he joined the Lucerne Festival Strings for a performance of Planel’s Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and an ex-principal of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Aaron can often be seen as guest principal in the chairs of some of the most prestigious orchestras in the UK including the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras.
Other recent and forthcoming highlights include recitals at St George’s Bristol, the Bath International, Lichfield, Glasgow Cathedral, Petworth, Ryedale, St Magnus, Lammermuir and Lucerne Festivals. The latter of which saw him perform the world premiere in 2022 of a new piece by Joy Guidry commissioned for him by the I&I Foundation entitled They know what they’ve done to us. In November 2023 he will embark on an extensive tour of Scotland with duo partner Zeynep Özsuca.
Akugbo made his London concerto debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 2020 playing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with Chineke! As part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Behind Closed Doors’ concerts series. His performance received glowing reviews with the Arts Desk describing him as ‘a refined soloist… His sound was sweet, often lyrical… with perfect clarity and intonation’. He has also performed as soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the Orchestra of the Swan. He made his Wigmore Hall debut playing Saint-Saëns Septet Op. 65 for trumpet, piano and strings with members of Chineke! as well as participating in the orchestra’s tour of Europe playing in halls such as the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Kölner Philharmonie.
Besides his solo and orchestral performances, Akugbo is also a founding member of Connaught Brass. In 2022 the group were finalists at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) awards in London and were also selected to be Artists of the Tillett Trust, City Music Foundation and Kirckman Concert Society. They were the inaugural winners of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Award in 2019 and attended the prestigious Britten Pears Chamber Music Residency in March 2022.
Akugbo was a finalist in the Girolamo Fantini International Trumpet Competition in 2019 whilst also being awarded the special prize for best performance of ‘Vulcano Club’ by Piergiorgio Ratti. He was subsequently invited by competition panellist and trumpet soloist, Tine Thing Helseth, to the Risør Kammermusikfest in Norway. Akugbo has received both lessons and masterclass tuition from many of the top trumpet players including Urban Agnas, Reinhold Friedrich, Jeroen Berwaerts, Gabor Tarkovi, Guillaume Jehl and Eric Aubier. He plays on a combination of Vincent Bach Stradivarius and Scherzer instruments.
About Zeynep Özsuca, piano
The Turkish pianist Zeynep Özsuca has performed worldwide as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. Born in Ankara, she began piano lessons at the age of four and continued her studies at Ankara Conservatory of Hacettepe University. After winning Istanbul Symphony’s Young Soloists Competition in 2001, Zeynep moved to the United States to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance
at the Oberlin Conservatory under Prof. Peter Takács. She then majored in accompaniment and vocal coaching at Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”, Berlin with Prof. Alexander Vitlin and graduated with an MA in 2013. Zeynep currently lives in London and pursues her career as concert pianist, repetiteur and educator.
Zeynep has worked with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Francois-Xavier Roth, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Antonio Pappano, and acted as rehearsal pianist and recital partner for singers Sir Willard White, Magdalena Kozená, Rolando Villazón, Gerald Finley, Annette Dasch, Michael Schade to name a few. She has been working as a repetiteur and orchestra member with renowned opera companies and orchestras like London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatsoper Berlin, Aix-en-Provence Music Festival, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
As a chamber musician, she has performed on prestigious stages including the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie, The Concertgebouw as well as live radio broadcasts on Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandradio, RBB Kulturradio (Germany), RNE (Spain), BBC 3 and 4(UK), alongside co-hosting the BBC Young Musician Podcast. She also regularly appears in concert with her duo partners saxophonist Jess Gillam, clarinetist Sacha Rattle and trumpeter Aaron Akugbo as well as her wind and piano sextet Berlin Counterpoint.
Zeynep has a close working relationship with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she has acted as accompanist, music director of opera scenes and currently as lecturer of the Opera Skills course.
