Yixuan Ren (violin) and Markus Sadler (piano)

Programme

Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No.8 in G major

Chinese violinist Yixuan Ren (Kassia) was born in 2003. She started playing the violin at the age of four with Yi Liu. In 2013, she was accepted by the Primary School affiliated to The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with the highest mark where she studied with Hong Wang. Yixuan was then accepted with the highest mark by the Middle School affiliated to The Central Conservatory of Music in 2016 and the Curtis Institute of Music in the United States in 2017. She studied at the Chetham’s School of Music with Jiafeng Chen in the U.K with a full scholarship from 2018 and has graduated in July 2023. She is now an undergraduate student at Royal College of Music in London, studying violin with Radu Blidar and second study viola with Jonathan Barritt. She is a Joan Weller Scholar supported by William Temple House.

Yixuan has won many prizes including the First Prize at The Yilan International Music Festival Competition in Taiwan 2016; Special Prize at The 16th International Competition for Violinists, Kloster Schontal, Germany 2015. She also participated in the First Zhuhai International Mozart Competition For Young Musicians, China 2015. In February 2019, she won the Chetham’s Concerto Competition and has performed the Tchaikovsky violin Concerto with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra in October 2019. In 2022, she won the Chetham School of Music Concerto Competition again and performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra in the Stoller Hall in February 2023. In November 2023 she won Third Prize and Special Prize for the Best interpretation for the French Sonata with Poulenc Violin Sonata in the 7th edition of Mirecourt International Violin Competition in France. She played in the North London International Music competition and won First Prize in April 2024. Later in May, she won the Strings sections First Prize and Audience Prize for Tunbridge Wells International Music Competition.

As a very active young musician, she performed at The Kloster Schontal Violinist Summer Camp in Germany in 2014, and was invited to perform in The Singapore Violin Festival in June in 2016 and Alps Music Festival in Germany in August in 2016. She was also invited to perform solo at the St. John’s Smith Square in London in July in 2019. She also performed at the Bridgewater Hall as principal of Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra. In November 2023, she performed at the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at Royal College of Music and St Bartholomew the Great as principal of the RCM String Band. She has performed as a soloist with the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra. She performs regularly with the Clio Project as co-principal violinist. She will be performing a concerto with Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra in 2026.

The British-German pianist and harpsichordist Markus Sadler is an undergraduate student at the Royal College of Music, where he is a Steel Charitable Trust Scholar. He studies piano in the class of Gordon Fergus-Thompson—his mentor since his time at the RCM Junior Department (2021–2023)—and harpsichord with Jane Chapman.

During his years at the RCM JD, Markus was awarded prizes for solo and concerto performances. He also studied the Trumpet with Philip Bainbridge, and was a member of the Trumpet section of the National Youth

Orchestra of Great Britain in 2022 and 2023. Highlights of his time at the RCM JD include playing continuo in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and a solo piano recital at the Elgar Room of the Royal Albert Hall.

Markus has participated in masterclasses with Melvyn Tan, Peter Donohoe, and Noriko Ogawa. His recent engagements include performances at the 2024 Ticino Music Festival, where he performed in masterclasses led by Ulrich Koella, and a concert with the Sacconi String Quartet. Markus is an increasingly sought-after chamber musician, and regularly benefits from the guidance of Simon Lepper and Nigel Clayton in this field.

Presented in association with Tunbridge Wells International Music Festival