Recent soloists
Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson
British clarinettist Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson played Weber's clarinet concerto No 2 in our Spring 2026 concert.
He is recognised for his stylistic versatility, magnetic stage presence, and deeply expressive artistry. With a fast-growing international profile, he is committed to widening access in classical music and championing the work of living composers and artists from the global majority.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Mebrakh has appeared at leading venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Verbier Festival, Adelaide Festival, and the Edinburgh International Festival. He made his U.S. concerto debut in 2024 with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, performing David Baker’s Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra.
Highlights of his 2025/26 season include recitals at the University of Birmingham, St George’s Bristol, the Athenaeum, Harrogate International Festival, and Whittington Music Festival, as well as Weber’s Concerto No. 2 with St Bart’s Chamber Orchestra.
Mebrakh graduated from the Royal College of Music with a BMus (Hons), First Division, as an RCM and Robey Scholar, studying with Richard Hosford and Peter Sparks. He completed his Master of Music at The Juilliard School under Anthony McGill, supported by the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, the Julius Isserlis Scholarship, and The Munster Trust, and served as Chair of the Juilliard Student Congress.
Beyond music, he has volunteered in hospitals and pharmacies, observed open heart surgeries, and published zoological research through The Nuffield Foundation. He is an avid traveller, linguist and foodie.
Izy Cheesman
Izy Cheesman played Ruth Gipps's oboe concerto with us at our Spring 2025 concert.
She held a Scholarship at the Royal College of Music from 2015, and left with a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Performance with Distinction in 2021, studying oboe with John Anderson, Juliana Koch, Olivier Stankiewicz and Fabien Thouand. Since then, she has given a number of recitals in London, some including premieres of brand-new works for the instrument, and has appeared as a soloist playing the Strauss and Vaughan Williams oboe concertos. She has previously been on trial for Principal Oboe with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, and was a member of Southbank Sinfonia 2022/23. She currently freelances with professional classical orchestras, opera companies, and in London's West End.
Nicholas Austin
Nicholas Austin played Brahms's first piano concerto with us at our Winter 2025 concert.
As a teenager, he was a competitive swimmer, regularly representing Northern Ireland as a junior. He learned piano at age 10 with Douglas Brown and Thomas Davidson at the Belfast School of Music, within 15 months becoming able to tackle some of Rachmaninoff’s works, and later progressing to becoming a regional winner in the annual BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
Coming to London, his teachers were John Bingham and Alex Kelly, and while still a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music, he made several broadcast recordings for BBC Northern Ireland. His speciality is Russian and unusual Late Romantic piano music, including Godowsky and some of the more exotic transcription repertoire, and he has played programmes of this in London, Germany and Japan.
He teaches piano, sending his pupils on to study music at Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music. He also has a BSc in Physics and is active in valve amplifier design.
Gabriel Thomas
Gabriel Thomas played Mozart's clarinet concerto with us at our Spring 2024 concert.
He is the orchestra's former Principal Clarinet. He studied clarinet with Victoria Samek through the Pimlico School Special Music programme, a unique project that taught gifted young musicians from every corner of the capital, within a comprehensive setting. Gabriel furthered his studies through his teenage years at the Centre for Young Musicians with their school holidays Symphony Orchestra.
Having founded a successful construction business after leaving higher education, Gabriel returned focus to his clarinet studies in 2018, and continues his learning with Victoria Samek. When time off clarinet practice allows, he likes to escape to the country lanes on his bicycle. He lives with his partner Fiona and young son Percy.
Matina Tsaroucha
Matina Tsaroucha sang with us at our Summer 2023 concert.
She is a Greek soprano studying for a Master of Performance as an Elaine Hugh-Jones scholar at the Royal College of Music, London. She holds a Bachelor of Music with Honours from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where also she was a scholar. Matina won 2nd prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards 2023, arguably the most prestigious singing competition in the UK, which takes place at Wigmore Hall. Since her debut with the Greek National Orchestra of ERT in 2018, Matina has played many roles, including Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Magda (La Rondine) and Leila (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) at the Britten Theatre, as well as Adele (Die Fledermaus). Matina has participated in opera galas with world-renowned singers from the Greek National Opera, sung in Verdi’s Requiem at the Barbican Centre, and was a semi-finalist in the Mozart Singing Competition 2022. In the recent 2023/24 season, Matina made her role debut as Mimì (La Bohème) in London.
