Saturday 3rd October 2026 – 1:45pm – 2:30pm
Sophie Iliaifar – Mezzo Soprano and Tsukushi Mitsuda – Piano
Programme
Henry Purcell – Music for a While
George F Handel – Quell Amor
Pietro Mascagni – O Pallida che Un Giorno mi guardasti
Robert Schuman – Dichterliebe (1-7)
Clara Schuman – Lorelei
Francis Poulenc – 1) Hotel – 2) Voyage a Paris
Benjamin Britten – A Charm of Lullabies
Harry T Burleigh – The Jungle Flower
Cole Porter – 1) The Physician – 2) The Tale of the Oyster
Madeleine Dring – Can’t You Come in Softly, Mr Brown?
Biographies
Sophie Iliaifar is an American-Iranian mezzo-soprano, who is originally from Saltburn, England. She is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Vocal Studies and Opera. She performed in three opera choruses at the RNCM, Le Nozze Di Figaro (2022), Die Fledermaus (2022), The Snow Maiden (2023), and she was in the street chorus of the performance of Bernstein’s Mass at the Bridgewater Hall.
She also recorded the Queen’s Coronation Anthems in Ely Cathedral (2018), and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Fairfield Halls (2023) both alongside the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh. She was previously awarded third prize in the Young Musician of the Year Competition in Huddersfield (2024 & 2025), and first prize in the international division of the George Shirley Competition, which is based in Michigan, USA (2023 & 2024).
Previous engagements include a solo recital in the Bridgewater Hall as part of the Re:Discover Festival (2024), a solo recital as part of the Classical Cafe Series in Middlesbrough Town Hall (2025), and portrayed the role of Flora in Preston Opera’s La Traviata in 2025.
Tsukushi Mitsuda studied piano at the Royal Northern College of Music, supported by a FW Wright Piano Scholarship. She has gained a wide range of repertoire through her studies with Mayumi Inaba, Yoshiko Onishi, Jeremy Carter, and Sally Ann MacLeod. She also studied violin with Noriko Yamamoto and Fiona Gosling.
Tsukushi has performed several solo and duo recitals including those at the Pittville Pumproom and Cheltenham Town Hall. In June 2026, as part of a piano duo, she performed at Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals with the Haffner Orchestra.
In 2025, she won RNCM Piano Duo Prize with Minsung Park and was awarded Amanda Ira Aldridge Honourable Mention with Glesni Jones the singer at RNCM Williams-Howard Prize. As a soloist, she was a finalist in the Wales International Piano Festival.
Next week’s concert on 10th October 2026 is the Tricola Trio:
Alvin Wong – Saxophone, Johanna Leung – Clarinet, Anna Hoi Ching Chiu – Piano