Ugne Zuklyte (violin) & Dina Duisen (piano)

Free admission | Donations welcome

Programme

L van Beethoven: Sonata for violin and piano no.3 in E-flat major, op.12
i. Allegro con spirito
ii. Adagio con molta espressione, in C major
iii. Rondo: Allegro molto
C. Franck: Sonata for violin and piano in A major
i. Allegro ben moderato
ii. Allegro
iii. Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato
iv. Allegretto poco mosso

St James’s is grateful for the generous support of Rolex for this music programme.

Artist Bio

Lithuanian violinist Ugnė Liepa Žuklytė made her solo debut with orchestra at the age of eight and performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra at twelve. In recognition of her outstanding achievements, she was awarded the Medal of Queen Morta. Honorary conductor of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Professor Juozas Domarkas, has praised her as “an exceptionally gifted and serious young artist with excellent natural technical and emotional qualities, and most importantly, a serious attitude towards the subject matter of the music she is performing, as well as the original idea of the composer, which is rarely representative of musicians of a young age.”
Ugnė received support from the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation from 2012 to 2018 during her early musical development. Between 2017 and 2019, she studied at the Junior Department of the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany. She graduated from high school in Lithuania in 2020, studying violin with Professor Rūta Lipinaitytė. In 2024, Ugnė completed her undergraduate degree in Professor Radu Blidar’s class at the Royal College of Music in London, supported by an ABRSM scholarship. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree under Professors Lyutsia Ibragimova and Esther Yoo at the same institution as an RCM Scholar.
In the summer of 2024, Ugnė was awarded a full scholarship to participate in the six- week fellowship program at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, USA, focusing on chamber music and solo performance. She has participated in competitions, masterclasses, and music festivals across Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, the UK, and the USA, studying with renowned violinists such as Maxim Vengerov, Zakhar Bron, Mihaela MarBn, Boris Garlitsky, Lynn Chang, Pavel Berman, Miriam Fried, Marianne PikeTy, Eszter Haffner, Sergey Krylov, and Alina Ibragimova. She was recently awarded second prize at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition and received a special prize for the best performance of a work by J.S. Bach at the Vaclav Huml International Violin Competition. During her bachelor’s studies in London, Ugnė received the Henry Wood Accommodation Trust Award and the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation Award. Currently, as a master’s student, she has been named the London Symphony Orchestra Conservatoire Scholar for the academic years 2024/26, the Drake Calleja Trust Scholar for 2025/26, and has been selected for the LSO String Experience Scheme 2025/26.

British pianist Dina Duisen was born into a family of musicians in Almaty, Kazakhstan. At the age of five, Dina started studying piano at Kulyash Bayseitova State Special School for Gifted Children together with her two brothers Ordabek and Ilyas, who are both violinists. By the age of thirteen she had made her debut with the Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from school, Dina continued her studies at the Kazakh National Academy of Music, graduating with distinction in 2005, before being awarded a full scholarship on the Artist Diploma programme at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, from which she graduated in 2008. At the same time, Dina was invited to work as a teacher of music at the Texas Wesleyan University. In September 2008, Dina started studying for the new Master of Arts Degree in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tutelage of Christopher Elton, Hamish Milne and Kathryn Stott, and graduated with distinction in 2011. She took part in IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses and Open Chamber Music. Twice Dina participated at Sergei Babayan Piano Academy in Cleveland Institute of Music. Dina was a regular participant of the Oxford Piano Festival and played at the 20th Anniversary Alumni Concert in 2018.  

Along with her brother Ordabek, Dina has been playing chamber music as part of the Duisen Duo in the UK, Italy, USA and at The Presidential Centre of Culture in Kazakhstan. Dina has performed is at Jacqueline du Pré Music Building in Oxford, Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, King’s Place, Milton Court, Cadogan Hall, The Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall. In April, 2011 Dina had a concert as a guest artist at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, USA, and in 2012 Dina performed Prokofiev’s 1st Piano Concerto at the Season Opening Concert of Astana Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014, she gave the Asian premiere of ‘Mazurkas’ by British composer Thomas Adès. She has been the resident class pianist at the IMS Prussia Cove and Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, currently working at the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music. In October, 2016 Dina performed with two principal clarinetists of Cleveland and London Symphony Orchestras – Franklin Cohen and Chris Richards. In 2017 Dina joined Sinfonia Cymru for Twisted Rhythms: Mark-Anthony Turnage Birthday Concert at the Vibrate Festival. Dina was invited to make her debut at George Enescu Festival in Bucharest with the Mercury Quartet. She regularly works with violinist Nicola Benedetti. In October, 2018 she made her debut at Cadogan Hall in a dramatised concert ‘Byron: Angel & Outcast’ with actors Simon Russell Beale and Rob Heaps, the same concert was given in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

​

Dina released her solo debut album ‘Mazurkas from Chopin to Adès’  which was recorded at Kings Place with the Grammy-award winning producer Andrew Keener.

Presented in association with Royal College of Music