HOPE SIMPSON & LESLIE DUO

Connected through their studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, pianist Phillip Leslie and cellist Clara Hope Simpson began collaborating in 2021. United by a shared passion for chamber music, they are finalists of the British Cello Society Keith Harvey Award and are committed to celebrating and championing overlooked composers and making classical music accessible to all. They hold an artist residency at the Two Moors Festival in Devon in the 2026/27 season. Winner of the John Barbirolli Memorial Prize for cello, Hope Simpson has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Asia including solo performances in Wigmore Hall, Kodak Hall, and Stoller Hall. A 2023-24 Britten Pears Young Artist, she is a former member of the Aestus Quartet and has appeared on Radio Slovenija 3 and Radio Television of Serbia. She has collaborated with composers Anna Clyne and Anna Thorvaldsdottir as well as Manchester Camerata and Manchester Collective. She is a recipient of the Arts Council England Exceptional Global Talent visa and currently teaches at Sheffield Music Academy. Described as possessing “culture and refinement” by the Liszt Society, Leslie is an award-winning pianist who has won prizes at the Anton Rubinstein, Göteborg, Vršac and Liszt Society piano competitions. Since making his Southbank debut in 2019, he has appeared on BBC Radio and RTÉ Radio 1, and performed at venues including Salle Cortot, Steinway Hall, Palau de la Música, St John’s Smith Square, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Göteborgs Konserthus, Castellón Auditorio and Cadogan Hall. He currently teaches at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Kingston University. As recent recipients of a Francis Routh Trust grant, the Hope Simpson & Leslie Duo will be releasing their debut album featuring music by Ethel Smyth and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in 2028.