Sara Trickey & Daniel Tong
Biographie Sara Trickey & Daniel Tong
Sara Trickey
enjoys an exciting and diverse career as a solo violinist and chamber musician. Noted for her “fiery and passionate” performances (The Strad) and her “beautifully refined tone” (Musical Opinion), she performs at many of the major UK festivals and venues, including in the Presteigne, Alwyn, Oxford May Music, York, Ashburton and Wye Valley Chamber Music festivals. She plays regularly with pianist Dan Tong with whom she has recorded the Schubert Sonatinas to critical acclaim (“Irresistible!” – Barry Millington). A CD of Fauré and David Matthews has recently been released by Deux-Elles. She also made a world premiere recording of Mathias’ violin sonatas with Iwan Llewelyn Jones.
Sara has performed most of the repertoire for violin and orchestra, with orchestras that include the City of London Sinfonia and the Orchestra of St John’s (“The Beethoven violin concerto was quite simply perfection” – Seen and Heard International). She recently recorded the David Matthews double concerto for violin and viola with the English Symphony Orchestra and violist Sarah-Jane Bradley.
She is a founder member of the Odysseus Piano Trio and is currently a member of The Rossetti Ensemble. She plays in a violin duo with Andrew Watkinson, leader of the Endellion Quartet. Prior to forming these groups, Sara led the Bronte String Quartet for six years, winning the Royal Overseas League competition and second prize in the Cremona International Quartet competition.
Sara recently curated her own project Dancing With Apollo at Kings Place as part of the Spitalfields Festival. This was a multi-media project based around Greek myth. As well as music for violin and piano it included narration and dance involving collaborations with Dame Marina Warner, choreographer Kim Brandstrup and pianist Ivana Gavric.
She has also collaborated recently with Joffrey Ballet, based in Chicago, and choreographer Cathy Marston to create the short film Bertha with a score written for her playing solo violin accompanied by hand pans by Errollyn Wallen
Sara studied with Camilla Wicks and also was very much influenced by her studies at IMS Prussia Cove. She read Classics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and this continues to be a passion. She also enjoys teaching, primarily at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Daniel Tong
Daniel's life is spent with music, as solo and chamber pianist, teacher and writer. He has played at all the major venues and festivals in the UK, and is frequently heard on BBC Radio. He is founder member of the acclaimed London Bridge Trio and director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert at the Wigmore Hall in London. The festival attracts a group of leading international artists every year to an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Daniel is particularly associated with the music of Beethoven, having given countless performances and made multiple recordings of his music. His book, Rereading the Beethoven Violin Sonatas was published in 2025 by Boydell & Brewer. His Beethoven Plus project with violinist Krysia Osostowicz commissioned ten new works to partner the Violin Sonatas; they performed this cycle numerous times and recorded it for SOMM Recordings. He has also built major projects around the music of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Fauré.
A recent discovery has been the joy of playing music on historical instruments. Daniel's recording of the Beethoven Op. 10 Piano Sonatas is on a copy of an 1815 Walter fortepiano, and he has also recorded the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven, Brahms and Fauré with Robin Michael on instruments of the time, all for Resonus Classics.
Daniel is Head of Performance at Junior Academy (Royal Academy of Music), having previously spent a wonderful decade as Head of Piano in Chamber Music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He runs his own chamber music summer course as part of the Wye Valley Festival. Daniel lives in London with his wife, daughter and cats. Click on the links above for more information about each facet of Daniel's musical life.
“An extraordinarily sympathetic Schubertian with his crystalline sonority and wonderful tiny rubatos” (GRAMOPHONE)
