About Us
Lisa Friend
RCM BMus(hons)
Flautist
Lisa Friend (Flautist) has appeared as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, City of Prague Philharmonic, Virtuosi Pragenses Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra.
In January 2020, she performed as a soloist with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum, Salzburg for the opening concert of 'Mozart Week 2020'.
She has toured throughout Europe, the USA and Asia and has been broadcast on radio stations around the world including Classic FM, Scala Radio, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 2, BBC London, RTE Lyric FM, ORF Radio, WQXR Classical Radio-New York, WFMT Radio-Chicago and with the Brodsky Quartet live in the Classic FM Studios and on BBC One TV 'The Andrew Marr Show'.
Her many recordings as a solo/chamber artist include Voyage (Chandos), Essence-Lisa Friend and Rohan De Silva (Chandos), Mozart Quartets-Lisa Friend & the Brodsky Quartet (Chandos), Cinema Affair (Silva Screen), Luminance (Champs Hill Records) and Deep in My Soul (Signum Records). All have been widely praised in the press including the BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone and the Mail on Sunday and many of her CDs have been chosen as Classic FM’s Album of the Week/Weekend and Drive Discovery. Both her CDs ‘Cinema Affair’ and ‘Essence’ have also been featured albums on board British Airways 'Highlife In Flight Entertainment'.
She has also featured on a recording for Malcolm Martineau and friends of songs by Poulenc (Signum Classics) and as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on a CD by Ian Mulder.
Solo recital highlights include performances for Steven Spielberg and his USC Shoah Foundation, for the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, at the LG Arts Center in Seoul, at the Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall in London. She has also performed live on stage as a soloist with Principal dancers of the Royal Ballet for Sergei Polunin’s 'Project Polunin' and appeared at the Tenth Anniversary Concert for Children and the Arts in collaboration with Classic FM.
After signing a deal with Universal Publishing, Lisa wrote original arrangements for her trio based on some of the great film scores as well as her own compositions, performing at venues such as St Martin- in-the-Fields, St. John’s, Smith Square, and the British Embassy in Paris.
She has given master-classes in South Korea and the UK, including, most recently (January 2019), a woodwind performance masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music, and runs an annual international flute master-class, The Friend International Flute Academy. In April 2017, she was a jury member for the Concours du Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste at the École Normale de Musique de Paris ‘Alfred Cortot’.
Having spent her early years in the USA, Lisa Friend studied with Renée Siebert of the New York Philharmonic before winning a scholarship, at seventeen, to study with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music; she pursued her postgraduate studies as a ‘Martin Music Scholar’ with the late Alain Marion in Paris.
Lisa Friend is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and the Children and the Arts Trust, and a Powell Artist, playing a Verne Q. Powell gold flute.
Anna Stokes
RCM BMus(hons)
Flautist
Anna Stokes (Flautist) has worked with numerous orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Brandenburg Sinfonia, Arts Symphonic, National Theatre Orchestra (‘Light Princess’ by Tori Amos) and session work for EMI, Universal, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Mercury.
She has also performed in a number of duo recitals with flautist Lisa Friend. In 2014, she released a CD entitled 'Luminance - Solo & Duo Works for flute and piano' – Lisa Friend, Anna Stokes (Flutes) & Mark Kinkaid (Piano) under Champs Hill Records (Jan 2014 Release). Their CD was chosen as 'Classic FM CD of the Week' (Jan 2014), David Mellor's Album of the Week (5 Star Review) in the 'Mail on Sunday' (Jan 2014) and aired on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 2, BBC London, Classic FM and RTE Lyric FM.
Anna founded the Emanuel Ensemble in 2001 and they have since gone on to perform in recitals at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, National Gallery, V & A Museum, Conway Hall, Leighton House and various UK concert societies. Anna recorded her debut CD with the Emanuel Ensemble (John Reid, pianist and Louisa Tuck, cello) for Champs Hill Records (released in 2011). She has also given solo flute / piano duo performances for the Qatar Foundation in Doha, at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, the Cheltenham International Festival, various UK concert societies and performed concertos and solo works by Bach, Chaminade, Mozart, Quantz, Reinecke and Rouse.
Awards and sponsorship include; Haynes International Flute Competition Prize Winner (USA), David Bowerman Charitable Trust Sponsorship, Sir James Galway International Masterclass Award for ‘Best Performer by popular vote’ 2007, Marc Rich Scholarship for Artistic Achievement, LPO Future Firsts (2006-2007), Solti Foundation Award, EMI Sound Foundation Award and a Brannen-Cooper Flute awarded to her from the ‘Foundation for Sport and the Arts’. She has given workshops in the UK, Hong Kong and Qatar and assists on the annual ‘Friend International Flute Academy’
Anna was awarded a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music where she studied with Anna Pope. She was subsequently awarded a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music where she studied flute with Susan Milan and Stewart McLlwham, graduating in 2004 with First Class Honours. Anna was selected to participate in the Sir James Galway International Masterclass, Switzerland 2006-2008.
Anna plays on a silver Powell Flute. She is grateful for the kind support from the David and Mary Bowerman Charitable Trust.
Anna teaches flute privately, at private schools in London and Bucks prep school and has been a deputy flute teacher at the Royal College of Music Junior Department since 2007. She has also given workshops and masterclasses in London, Hong Kong, and Qatar and co-runs the annual 'Friend International Flute Academy'. Anna is an ABRSM Performance Grade Examiner.
She also has much experience as a piano accompanist playing for ABRSM/Trinity grade exams, exam practice/coaching rehearsals, and auditions.
* Anna is a member of the Musician's Union. She has completed the NSPCC's EduCare series of distance learning courses produced by the NSPCC and the Musicians Union, in partnership with Music Leader, and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).