ARTISTS
Thomas Fournil
Artistic direction, Composition, Hurdy-gurdy, Portative Organ
Thomas Fournil is a Corsican composer, researcher, singer, portative organ, and hurdy-gurdy player based in London. He founded the Idrîsî Ensemble during his fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music, after completing the Guildhall Artist Masters course (distinction) under James Weeks. His current doctoral research is concerned with practical applications of postcolonial medievalism in music making/pedagogy, with a unique conflation of spectral techniques and queer spectrality. Thomas specialises in Old Roman, Occitan, and Corsican heritage. He believes in the crucial role of medievalism in our structures of knowledge production and its potential for driving transformative change in contemporary investigations of identity, gender, class, ecology, pedagogy, and history. He is supervised by James Weeks, Julian Anderson, Marcel Pérès and Nye Parry. His studies are supported by the City of London Corporation and The Guildhall School Trust.
Noémie Ducimetière
Voice, Oud, Electric Guitar
Noémie Ducimetière (Noum) is a London-based French-Swiss singer, songwriter and producer. Her diverse and often unconventional path spans fronting bands, playing live scores for circus shows, and sound designing film and radio, most notably the eight-part BBC audio adventure Hold Fast!. Entirely intertwined with her songwriting, Noémie has immersed herself in vernacular music over the years, through her own digging and through her fruitful collaboration with Thomas Fournil who exposed her to troubadour, Corsican and Old Roman chant long before his founding of Idrîsî Ensemble and became a guiding force in her artistic growth. Her other mentors include Marcel Pérès, Evgenios Voulgaris, Kareem Samara and Spartimu. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her debut album.
Elsa Hackett Esteban
Voice
Elsa Hackett Esteban (elsas) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and vocalist born in Barcelona. She graduated with 1st Class Honours from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2019 in Jazz Vocals and Composition, where she also developed her practice in large ensemble writing and electronic production. Trained in classical piano and choral music from a young age, she founded the Catalan a cappella group In Crescendo, winners of the Spanish TV competition Oh Happy Day in 2014, before moving to London.
Since graduating, she has collaborated as a touring and recording musician and songwriter with artists including Sampha, Florence and the Machine, Little Simz, Duval Timothy, Jockstrap, Obongjayar, and Black Country, New Road. Since early 2023, she has been a core part of Sampha’s live band, touring globally and opening as a solo act on his U.S. tour.
Under her solo project elsas, she brings together Anglo and Latin musical worlds through poetic depth and sonic innovation, with her voice as the centrepiece. Her forthcoming release APORIAMOR is slated for February 2026. The influence of her South American and Mediterranean heritage has greatly informed her artistry and vocal expression, which she is exploring further through her work with Idîsi Ensemble. Instagram: @elsas_hi Learn more
Dunja Botic
Voice
Dunja Botic is a London-based singer, educator, bandleader, and actor known for her powerful performances and distinctive vocal style rooted in her Greek and Serbian heritage. She blends influences from Balkan, Mediterranean, and Near Eastern folk traditions with jazz and makam improvisation, creating evocative world-music and storytelling through song. Dunja performs both as a solo artist and with ensembles such as Mandalakia and vocal trio Alkanna Graeca, bringing intensity and cultural depth to every stage. In addition to performing, she teaches vocal technique, Balkan ornamentation, and performance expression through workshops informed by her holistic approach to voice and body. Dunja has also worked in theatre as a lead vocalist with companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company and has shared her music on platforms such as BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM.
Eliza Oakes
Voice
South London artist Eliza Oakes is a vocalist, writer and performer whose work offers a distinctive and expansive exploration of the voice, blending improvisation, classic songwriting and performance. Graduating from the Guildhall School of Music with a first-class honours degree in Jazz Vocal, she combines the learnings of her early gospel roots to her double-decade long study of jazz, classical, musical theatre and pop.
As a session vocalist and instrumentalist, she has toured and recorded with artists including Jordan Rakei, Florence + The Machine, Elbow, Gregory Porter and Disclosure. Previously supported by the PRS Women Make Music Fund she is currently developing her next original body of work, weaving together Americana, folk, and pop influences.
Irini Arabatzi
Voice
Irini Arabatzi is a Greek singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She developed a deep passion for jazz and improvisation after years of classical piano training. She studied law in Athens but pursued music simultaneously, performing with renowned jazz musicians across Greece. She was part of the vocal group "Fonés" and appeared in musical theater productions like "West Side Story" and "Shrek." She also collaborated with the BBC Radio-hosted Euroradio Orchestra during her time at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Irini completed her Master's Degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and joined the jazz vocal group London Vocal Project. She is set to release her debut EP with Alberts Favourites label in 2024 and continues to perform at major festivals and venues in the UK, Greece, and Belgium. Irini is equally passionate about teaching singing, working with choirs, vocal groups, and individuals, as well as providing musicianship and Kodaly training to young children.
Konstantinos Glynos
Kanun
Konstantinos Glynos is a London-based kanun player. He performs music spanning from Balkan, Greek, Turkish and Arabic traditions. Moreover London offered him the platform to expand his range of performance skills in jazz ensembles and experimental music. He has collaborated with numerous musicians, dancers, visual artists, composers and directors and he has performed in many world music festivals as well as London venues such as Green Note, Harrison's pub and Magic Garden as well as Ronnie Scott's, Union Chapel and The Place. He is currently a MA student at Goldsmiths university, pursuing a degree in Performance and Related Studies and his research is focusing on arranging, transcribing and performing western baroque music on the Turkish kanun.
Oliver Dover
Kaval, Ney
Oliver Dover is a saxophonist/clarinettist/kaval/ney player based in Leeds. He specialises in the crossover between jazz and the music of the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean, and has been fortunate enough to have studied with some of the great masters of Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian folk music. He has toured internationally with The Turbans, Beats and Pieces Big Band, Mohammed Alnuma, Hassan Eraji, HAWA,The Near East Collective, Kourelou, Polar Bear and many others.
Lucine Musaelian
Vielle, Voice
Lucine Musaelian is an Armenian-American viola da gamba player, singer, and composer. She graduated from Yale University in 2020 with a B.A. in Music. In July 2022, Lucine completed her M.A. in Historical Performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where she studied viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo and voice with Rosa Dominguez. She continued her viol studies with Jonathan Manson at the Royal Academy of Music, where she recieved a Professional Diploma in Viola da Gamba Performance as a recipient of the Enlightenment Award. Lucine is now a Royal Academy Chamber Fellow with the duo Intesa, which specialises in self-accompaniment and multi-genre performance. Her recent performances include a concert in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Night Shift series, and with Phantasm and Dunedin Consort. In March, she will play with the BBC Philharmonic in a performance of J.S.Bach’s St. John Passion.
CHORUS
PREVIOUS COLLABORATORS
Alexandra Achillea Pouta
Voice
Greek mezzo-soprano Alexandra Achillea Pouta has performed as a soloist at the Carnegie Hall, Barbican Hall, Snape Maltings, Milton Court Concert Hall, and Union Chapel among other venues. A keen improviser and collaborator, she is invested in premiering emerging music. She works closely with Idrîsî Ensemble, through which she is exploring the interconnections between her Mediterranean heritage, and her passion for ancient repertoires.
She is a two-time finalist in the Maria Callas Foundation Competition, a finalist in the 2023 Guildhall Gold Medal Prize, a Sybil Tutton Opera Award Holder, a Jane Ades Scholar, and an Athena Scholar. She is currently studying on the Guildhall School Opera Course. She has previously studied Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School, Musicology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and Historical Performance at the Early Music Centre of Athens Conservatoire.
Emily Baines
Recorders, Shawm, Bagpipe
Emily Baines is one of the most exciting and versatile musicians working in the UK today. A specialist recorder player, she is also a skilled multi-instrumentalist performing worldwide on shawms, bagpipes and other early reed instruments.
Emily’s work as a performer involves a myriad different roles, from concerto soloist and chamber musician to theatre band and actor/musician roles. As a musical director Emily is in increasing demand, her main work is currently in drama from the medieval, renaissance and baroque eras using both period and more contemporary musical styles…
Arngeir Hauksson
Theorbo, Cittern, Renaissance Guitar, Lute, Gittern, Saz, Hurdy Gurdy, Percussion
'Outstanding among the instrumental contributions' Early Music Today
I started making music in my early teens with a punk rock band. I soon wanted to play jazz but in Reykjavik, where I'm from, you had to learn the classical guitar before being allowed to enrol on the jazz course. So that's what I did, and I haven't looked back. I also started singing in a college choir and this, alongside my discovery of classical music, led me to the fascinating world of early music. After moving to London and having finished my post-graduate training in guitar and lute, I was invited to join a medieval group. With medieval music's open tunings…
Harry Buckoke
Vielle
Harry Buckoke studied at China Conservatory before attending the University of Cambridge (Holding a place as a cellist on their Instrumental Award Scheme). He completed his MA in Aesthetics at NYU receiving their “student performer award”. As a cellist and viola da gamba player, Harry maintains a varied and exciting schedule, performing in festivals and with groups such as Kontrapunkt, New York Theatre Workshop, the Vincas Grybas Festival (Jurbarkas, Lithuania), Latitude Festival, Wilderness Festival, St George’s Hanover Square, Cadogan Hall (for the RCM Rising Stars series), the Stroud Green Festival and Birmingham Opera Company. In June 2017 he performed Telemann’s concerto TWV 51:A5 in the Telemann Festival at St Mary at Hill. Harry plays and programmes for Lux Musicae London. Performances include Brighton Early Music Festival, Beverly Early Music Festival, the Utrecht Fringe and a tour of Ireland. Harry is committed to connecting music and other performance mediums, he recently founded The Kennings Project, a group dedicated to reviving ways of performing narrative poetry. He has also created music for political burlesque shows, and Dance. He has also written plays. He was the recipient of the RSC and Marlowe Society’s Other Prize for Playwriting 2013. His dramatic work has been performed, among other places, at the Edinburgh fringe, and FringeNYC. He has studied viol with Richard Tunnicliffe and Margaret Panofsky and is grateful for the support received by the Leverhulme trust, Dartington Summer School trust, the Robinson scholarship, and the Joy Dodson memorial fund, to participate courses and masterclasses across Europe.
Nilufar Habibian
Qanun, Composition
Nilufar Habibian was born in Iran. Aged 11, Nilufar entered the Tehran Music Conservatoire where she studied both Iranian and Western Classical music. She also started learning Qanun under supervision of the renowned Qanun player Ms Maliheh Sa’idi. Nilufar was awarded First Prize for playing “Solo Qanun” at the Student Music Festival in 1996 and First Prize at the International Fajr Music Festival in 1996 and 1997. She pursued higher education and studied French literature in Tehran. She was one of the members of the highly acclaimed “Sheyda Ensemble” directed by Grand Maestro Mohamad Reza Lotfi, where she performed in numerous concerts and recordings. She continued her advanced studies of Persian music repertoires (radif) with grand maestros Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Majid Derakhshani. She also attended master classes held by Goksel Baktagir the renowned Turkish Qanun player. Since moving to the UK, she has regularly performed and collaborated with different…
Elisabeth Flett
Medieval Fiddle, Recorders, Viola, Violin
Elisabeth Flett is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist who moved to London in 2013 to study a BMus Hons in Classical Recorder at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She graduated with a First in 2017 and now enjoys a wide-reaching portfolio career.
She has performed with a variety of bands and ensembles, including folk duo Shamblestone (BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards 2017 Semi-Finalist) and sea shanty band The Mead Men, supported bands such as Breabach (Letham Nights, 2013) and won the 2015 Cecil Sharp…
Claire Bournez
Voice
French-born mezzo-soprano, Claire Bournez graduated in 2105 from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she studied under Janice Chapman (Masters with Distinction). She returned to The Guildhall School as a fellow in 2015-2016. She previously studies in the High School of Lausanne (Haute Ecole de Musique) with Christian Immler, and in the CNSMD (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse) in Lyon.
A Britten-Pears and Franz Schubert Institute Artist, Claire is regularly enhancing her education by participating in masterclasses e.g. with Bernarda Fink, Thomas Quasthoff, Graham Johnson, Elly Ameling or Emma Kirkby….
Latana Phoung
Voice
Born in Paris to Algerian and Chinese parents the mezzo-soprano Latana Phoung graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Prof Laura Sarti and completed the intensive course with the National Opera Studio.
As a scholar, she was also awarded a Master's degree in Art History with distinctions from Sorbonne University / Freie Universität. She performed at the age of nine with the Maîtrise de Radio Franceas a soloist and chorister. She worked with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano in Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Salle Pleyel and Radio France and recorded as a soloist Jean Thibaudeau's Souvenirs de Guerre which received a mentioning at Italia Prize in 1998…
Balakrishnan Raghavan
Voice
Balakrishnan Raghavan is a classically trained musician and educator. He is intrigued by the sheer depth, openness and beauty of expression, in the music, dance and poetry of the past, their relevance today and how one could connect with them in the present day and age. Post his undergraduate studies and a six year stint in the corporate sector, he is now pursuing Music full time in the traditional Gurukulam Style from his mentor Sangita Kalanidhi Guru Smt. R.Vedavalli. His aim is to develop into a holistic artist grounded in music, while developing an understanding of dance, history and culture and become a performer, educator and researcher, both locally and globally.
Jack Michael Welch
Flute
Jack was introduced to the flute at the age of nine and is currently taught by Gareth Davies, Philippa Davies and Christopher Green at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he is studying Classical Flute. Jack has played principal with several orchestras including Neath and Cardiff Sinfonietta, British Sinfonietta, Welsh session orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Cardiff Music Festival Orchestra and previously the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He has toured to France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, and has performed in the Albert Hall, The Sage Gateshead, Millennium Centre Cardiff and Barbican Centre London. Next year Jack is continuing his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as a Masters student. Jack was recently added to the extras list of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Sarah McCabe
Viola
Sarah McCabe is a violist originally from Bowmanville Canada, now living in London, England. Sarah graduated with her MMUS in Viola Performance from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017. She studied viola with Matthew Jones, and chamber music with Gary Pomeroy. During her degree she was the violist of the Ember Quartet, which was invited to perform at the Festival de Torroella de Montri in Torroella Spain. While at Guildhall, she was a part of many interesting collaborations, including a project with the London School of Contemporary Dance, and creating and hosting Eine Kleine Queer Musik, a showcase of queer composers…
Caoimhe de Paor
Recorders
Having graduated top of her class from the Cork School of Music (B.Mus), Caoimhe moved to London, where she gained a distinction in her Masters in Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was also awarded the school's Concert Recital Diploma (for outstanding recital performance). Caoimhe went on to become an Artist Fellow at the conservatoire and was also invited to take part in the Handel House Talent Scheme (2014-15)…