Founders of Classics with my Baby:
concert artists and mums, Miaomiao Yu and Philippa Mo
Miaomiao Yu, piano
Miaomiao is a pianist bursting onto today’s concert scene with her effervescent personality and versatility. She has performed as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral guest artist across North America and Europe in venues such as the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Cadogan Hall, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. Her broadcasts on television and radio include Channel 4 (UK), BBC London, BBC World Services, RTE (Ireland), CBC and Bravo TV (Canada). Miaomiao's international upbringing on three continents provided her with a unique set of experiences to create her rich sound palette. She received her first full scholarship at the age of 11, and has since garnered over 50 awards including the Wingate, Countess of Munster, and Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarships. She gained much recognition on the international scene with top awards in the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, London International Concerto Competition, Toronto Symphony Piano Competition, Bromsgrove International Young Soloists Competition, and Imperial Oils Young Performers Competition. Since 2007, Miaomiao has been a professor of piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She lives in an eco-house with her husband Jo, and sons Mercutio Hanhan and Aubrey Keyan.
Philippa Mo, violin
Philippa performs extensively as a chamber musician. Since her acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall, she has given concerto and chamber concerts at Lincoln Center, New York, The Louvre for Hiroko Koshino at the Paris Fashion Week, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and The Tate St Ives, The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, St John’s, Smith Square, London, The Deutsches Museum, Munich and the Ankara International Music Festival . She was invited as the only British musician to participate in the International Music Festival of Contemporary Music, Mongolia in 2002 where she gave a programme of new British works for solo violin. A champion of contemporary music, Philippa has given recital/discussions and workshops on British music at the Central Conservatory, Beijing and at Bilkent and Hacettep Universities in Ankara, Turkey. She also regularly returns to coach students of the Kurmangazy National Conservatory of Kazakhstan in Almaty. Philippa joined forces with violinist Harriet Mackenzie in 2007 as the violin duo Retorica and highlights of their performing schedule include recitals at the Barbican Centre as part of the Park Lane Young Artists Series, Mostly Mozart Festival, the 2D2N Festival of Contemporary Music in Odessa, Ukraine, the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London. Music has been written and dedicated to the duo by leading contemporary composers. Retorica gave a successful tour of China in November 2011. They have recently recorded their debut CD of British works for two violins which will be released by NMC and launched at LSO St Luke's in September 2012. They will be Artists-in-Residence at the Presteigne festival 2012.
Our Story:
Besides being mums to our darling boys, Philippa and Miaomiao are international acclaimed classical performers. One of the things we missed since having our boys is being able to pop out to concerts on a moment's whim. That's why we decided to start a concert series in our neighbourhood which welcomes both parents and babies.
Our idea is to provide top quality classical music to entertain adults, while giving children the chance to hear and explore live instruments up close during the crucial early years. Children have an innate ability to understand complexity almost through osmosis. It is our firm belief that the music our children listen to doesn't have to be dumbed down.