Sukhwinder ‘Pinky-Ji’ Singh is an internationally acclaimed Indian playback singer, best known for his work in Bollywood. He is perhaps most famous for singing ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media.

Sukhwinder achieved his first break in Bollywood with the son ‘Aaja Sanam’ in the film Khilaaf. He later travelled in England and America to see, hear, and learn more about global music. After broadening his musical horizons, he returned to Mumbai to launch his own music career. He received great success for his song ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’, from Mani Ratnam’s 1998 film Dil Se.., composed by A. R. Rahman, written by Gulzar, and sung in duet with Sapna Awasthi.

He has been well received for providing playback singing for Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan. Of those songs, “Chaiyya Chaiyya” from Dil Se.., “Dard-E-Disco” from Om Shanti Om, “Chak De India” from Chak De! India, “Haule Haule” from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, “Marjaani” from Billu, “Satakali” from Happy New Year, and “Udi Udi Jaye” from Raees have become certified hits.

Sukhwinder has been awarded the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer at the 62nd National Film Awards for his rendition in the 2014 film Haider composed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Formed in 2013 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Marmen Quartet is fast building a reputation for the vitality and vigor of their performances. In 2019 they won the Grand Prize of the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition as well as the First Prize of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, with the Haydn and Canadian commission prizes in addition. Recent engagements have taken the Quartet to the Amsterdam and Barcelona String Quartet Biennales as well as the Hitzacker and Lockenhaus festivals.

Upcoming season highlights for the Marmens include debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie, Boulez Saal and the BBC Proms as well as extensive European tours including performances in Heidelberg, Belfast, Luberon, Stockholm and Graz. Festival engagements will take the Quartet to the Lucerne Festival, Gulbekian Biennale, Wonderfeel Helsinki and Estivales de Musique en Médoc. In the US the Quartet undertakes the first visit of its two-year residency at Southern Methodist University in Dallas; a relationship that will see the Quartet work closely with the students as well as giving performances and developing new projects. Other plans include tours to Japan, New Zealand and Canada in 2022. The Quartet will perform works by Haydn and Simpson at their BBC Proms debut on 16th August, live on BBC Radio 3.

Brian O’Kane is quickly establishing himself as one of the finest Irish musicians of his generation and is in increasing demand as both a soloist and chamber musician. He came to prominence by taking first prize at the Windsor Festival International String Competition and is also a former prizewinner of the Royal Overseas League Competition. a former winner of the Accenture Bursary Award and Camerata Ireland Young Musician Award. In 2008, Brian performed with Camerata Ireland in Dublin’s National Concert Hall under Barry Douglas and with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Highgrove before the Prince of Wales. He appeared again with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy at the 2009 Windsor Festival. Brian has recently been awarded the National Concert Hall of Ireland’s ‘Rising Star’ award.

An avid chamber musician, Brian has toured extensively throughout the Far East, Australasia and Europe. He has collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as the Vanbrugh Quartet, Michael Collins, Ian Bostridge, Pekka Kuusisto and Alison Balsom. He enjoys playing as a founding member of the Cappa Ensemble who are currently on the Young Artist roster of Ireland’s Music Network and as a member of the Navarra Quartet. Also a keen explorer of contemporary music, he has worked closely with composers such as Wilson, Kancheli, Auerbach and Widmann. Brian has appeared at many festivals and concert halls throughout the world, including the West Cork, Drumcliffe, Edinburgh, Verbier, Radio France-Montpellier and Clandeboye Festivals, Bridgewater Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, the Barbican, Bozar – Brussels, Suntory Hall – Tokyo and has been broadcast on RTE Lyric FM, BBC Radio 3, Radio New Zealand and Radio France. In 2012, Brian made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland live on radio and his Wigmore Hall debut as a Maisie Lewis Young Artist. He appeared again at the Wigmore Hall in 2013 as a Kirckman Concert Society Young Artist.

An award winning graduate of both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Brian‘s biggest influences have come from Louise Hopkins and at the International Musicians Seminars, Prussia Cove from studies with Ralph Kirshbaum, Gabor Takacs-Nagy and Steven Isserlis. During his studies, Brian was extremely grateful for the  generous support of the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Brian currently plays on a Grancino cello made in Milan in 1698, generously on loan from the Cruft – Grancino Trust which is administered by the Royal Society of Musicians.

Ruth Padel began as a Greek scholar a t Oxford,where she played chamber music as a student and sang in the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. Today she is Professor of Poetry at King’s College London and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has published twelve poetry collections, most recently Beethoven Variations on the composer’s life and music, which draws on five years’ work with the Endellion String Quartet. Her prose include three books on reading poetry,  a book on wild tiger conservation, a study of rock music and Greek myth, a wildlife novel set in India, and two books on Greek tragedy. She has recently updated The Mara Crossing, her prose-and-poems book on animal and human migration, to include work with Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj on refugees in the Greek island of Lesbos. She was the first Resident writer at Royal Opera House Covent Garden; the first money she ever earned was £5 playing viola in Westminster Abbey.