Thriving in the spotlight

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, hailed for its “exhilarating performances” (The Times), was dreamed up in 2017 by Tom Poster and Elena Urioste, who met through the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme. Kaleidoscope’s flexible roster features many of today’s most inspirational musicians, both instrumentalists and singers, and its creative programming is marked by an ardent commitment to celebrating diversity of all forms and a desire to unearth lesser-known gems of the repertoire.

In 2020, Kaleidoscope was appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall, where the group makes multiple appearances each season, and was invited to give the Hall’s 120th birthday concert in May 2021. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recently been ensemble-in-residence at Aldeburgh Festival, Kettle’s Yard, Ischia Music Festival, Chamber Music by the Sea (Maryland USA), and Cheltenham Festival, where the group gave several world premieres and collaborated with Sir Simon Russell Beale and the cast of The Lehman Trilogy.

Kaleidoscope’s debut recording for Chandos Records, American Quintets, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award nomination, and immediately led to an invitation to record a series of albums for the label. A subsequent album of Coleridge-Taylor chamber works was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award, and a Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn disc was included in The Times ’10 best classical records of 2022’. The most recent album, Transfigured, featuring music of Alma Mahler, Schoenberg, Webern and Zemlinsky, was released in September 2023, with a three-disc series of the piano quartets of Brahms and his female contemporaries to follow.

Passionate about inspiring the next generation of musicians, Kaleidoscope has featured in Wigmore Hall’s Learning Festival, directed courses for the Benedetti Foundation, and held a visiting professorship at the Royal Academy of Music for the 2022-23 academic year. Recent and forthcoming performance highlights include concerts in London and Dortmund with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.

For more information, please visit www.kaleidoscopecc.com, where you can also find links to the individual musicians’ websites

Eric Clarke is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, and an Emeritus  Fellow of Wadham College. He studied music at the University of Sussex and completed a PhD in psychology at the University of Exeter. He held posts at City University, London, the University of Sheffield, and was Heather Professor of Music at Oxford. He has published on topics very broadly within the psychology of music. He is a member of Academia Europaea, and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Elena Urioste is a musician, yogi, writer, and entrepreneur. As a violinist, Elena has given acclaimed performances as soloist with major orchestras throughout the world, including the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras; the New York, Los Angeles, and Buffalo Philharmonics; the Boston Pops; the Chicago, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, National, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras; the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Malaysia Philharmonic, and Chineke! Orchestras; and the BBC Symphony, Philharmonic, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and National Orchestra of Wales, among others. She has performed regularly as a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kennedy Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Sage Gateshead, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, and Mondavi Center. Elena is a former BBC New Generation Artist (2012-14) and has been featured on the covers of Strings, Symphony, and BBC Music magazines. 

An avid chamber musician, Elena is the founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music by the Sea, an annual festival on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She has been a featured artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia, La Jolla, IMS Prussia Cove, Cheltenham, Bridgehampton, Moab, and Sarasota Music Festivals, and appears regularly in recital with pianist Tom Poster. Elena is co-director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble of Wigmore Hall in 2020.[Text Wrapping Break] 

Elena is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. Notable teachers and mentors include Joseph Silverstein, David Cerone, Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Claude Frank, and Ferenc Rados. The outstanding instruments being used by Elena are an Alessandro Gagliano violin, Naples (c.1706), and a Nicolas Kittel bow, both on generous extended loan from the private collection of Dr. Charles E. King through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.[Text Wrapping Break] 

Elena has being practicing yoga for over a decade and received her RYT-200 hour certification from the Kripalu Center in June 2019. She is the co-founder of Intermission, a program that combines music, movement, and mindfulness, aiming to make music-making a healthier, more holistic practice for students and professionals alike through yoga and meditation.  

Savitri Grier combines her passion for chamber music with a love of making music on a large scale, and divides her time between performing with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Upcoming highlights include a tour of the USA with Kaleidoscope, and the release of their new CD of music by Reynaldo Hahn in February 2025.  

Born and raised in London, of mixed Indian/English heritage, Savitri has been based in Europe since 2017. She has held permanent Principal and Leader positions in the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, and most recently as Principal Second Violin of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. Savitri has been invited to Play/Direct with Kammerakademie Potsdam and Chineke! String Ensemble. She is in regular demand as Guest Leader with orchestras including Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Orchestre National d’Île de France.  

Savitri collaborated with the renowned sarod players Amaan Ali and Ayaan Ali Bangash at The Times Swarsangam Music Festival in Bangalore, India, led a British Council chamber project in Qatar, given a series of recitals in China, and worked closely with a youth orchestra, within their community in Balanyá, Guatamala. 

Savitri is regularly invited to chamber music festivals including IMS Prussia Cove and Krzyzowa Music in Poland, and has performed in venues including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. As soloist, Savitri has played with orchestras including the Budapest Festival, Qatar Philharmonic, Concerto Budapest, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, English Chamber, London Mozart Players, Welsh National Opera, among many others. In 2019 she undertook a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Richard Uttley.  

Savitri is a graduate of Oxford University, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama London, and the Universität der Künste Berlin, where she studied with David Takeno and Nora Chastain. She was represented by the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) between 2015 and 2021.  

Laura van der Heijden’s first album on Chandos Records, Pohádka, features works by Janacek and Dvorak and was released in 2022 to critical acclaim with further releases including Mozart Piano Quartets with chamber partners Francesca Dego, Timothy Ridout and Federico Colli and ‘Transfigured’ with Kaleidoscope in 2023. Laura was the winner of the BBC Young Musician competition aged 15. Her 2018 debut album 1948 won the 2018 Edison Klassiek Award and the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year Award. The disc, featuring Russian music for cello and piano with pianist Petr Limonov, has been hailed as a “a thought-provoking debut disc from an impressive and intelligent young cellist” (Gramophone). 

Also a passionate chamber musician, Laura is a key member of the member of the critically-acclaimed Kaleidoscope Collective, who perform a wide variety of captivating repertoire across the UK and beyond. She also regularly collaborates with the likes of Jâms Coleman, Timothy Ridout, Katya Apekisheva and Max Baillie, and has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, West Cork and Beverley Chamber Music Festivals, Harrogate International Festival, the Cheltenham Festival, Music In The Round, Oxford’s Holywell Music Room and at the Oxford Lieder Festival. In Summer 2023 she will also perfom in the Miesbach Festival, Germany. 

Laura is a graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge and currently studying for a Masters with Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler in Berlin. She plays a late 17th-century cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, on generous loan from a private collection.