Laura MacDonald - cello & Anastasia Kulikova - piano

Assembly House Classical presents

Laura MacDonald - cello & Anastasia Kulikova - piano

Thursday, 16th October 2025 at 1:00 pm

The Assembly House, Norwich

Programme

D. Shostakovich: Cello and piano sonata, op. 40 in d minor

I. Allegro non troppo - Largo
II. Allegro
III. Largo
IV. Allegro

B. Britten: cello and piano sonata, op. 65

I. Dialogo. Allegro

II. Scherzo-Pizzicato. Allegretto

III. Elegia. Lento

IV. Marcia. Energico

V. Moto perpetuo. Presto

Laura MacDonald

British cellist Laura MacDonald, is now based in Germany enjoying a varied musical career. She studied in London at the Royal College of Music Junior Department with the late Michal Kaznowski, before completing her undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy with First Class Honours and the Regency Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2020. She then achieved her Master's degree with distinction in the class of Adrian Brendel at the Guildhall School of Music in 2022. Following her time in London she then continued her studies at the Hanover Hochschule für Musik.

A passionate chamber musician, she has performed throughout the UK, including at Wigmore Hall, Milton Court and St James Piccadilly. Recently she has participated in the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclass and Open Chamber Music seminars, Maiastra Chamber Music, Whittington Festival, ChamberLab Montecastelli, Ensemble Modern Academy and the International Holland Music Sessions. She has also performed with chamber ensembles in Europe including O Modernt and Das Neu Ensemble. Laura also performs with Mad Song, a contemporary music ensemble based in London with upcoming engagements including the semifinals of Royal Overseas League Competition, High Barnet Chamber Music Festival and recording their debut CD. She also is a member of the newly formed Trio Claudel, a piano trio based in Salzburg.

As an orchestral musician, she has performed with the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the CBSO. Since September 2024, she is a member of the Kurt Masur Academy of the Dresdner Philharmonie.

Laura plays a Dutch c.1720 Pieter Rombouts cello on kind private loan.

Anastasia Kulikova

Russian-Canadian pianist Anastasia Kulikova is a collaborative artist and teacher based in Salzburg, Austria. Her extensive career features performances throughout Europe and North America, as well as many prizes at numerous national and international competitions, including the Citta Di Pesaro Competition in Italy, the Hopes-Talents-Masters-Festival in Bulgaria and the Thousand Islands International Competition in the USA. Most recently, she was awarded the Audience Prize at the International Ravel Competition in Fontainebleau, France. She is a past scholarship holder of the Woman's Art Association of Canada and a recent winner of the University of Toronto Concerto Competition, which granted her orchestral debut with Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 in Toronto, Canada. Anastasia holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in solo piano performance from the University of Toronto, where she studied with the late Marietta Orlov and Lydia Wong. In 2024 she completed another Masters degree specializing in chamber music and song interpretation in the class of Connie Shih and Pauliina Tukiainen at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. In 2023 she took part in the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses with Prof. Claudio Martinez-Mehner, and in ChamberLab Montecastelli Intensive in Italy. Her important musical influences include Dmitry Nesterov, Cordelia Höfer-Teutsch, Ronan O'Hora and Dang Thai Son. As a sought-after collaborative pianist, she has served on faculty at the Casalmaggiore International Festival (Italy) and the Musiktage-am-Rhein (Germany) in 2023, as well as at the International Summer Academy at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz (Austria) in 2024. Anastasia currently works at the Mozarteum University as a collaborative pianist and coach for the strings department. As a chamber musician, her career highlights include two successful tours of England (2022, 2024) and Second Prize at the international chamber music competition La Follia Nuova (Italy) with cellist Felix Rosenboom. She has performed at festivals such as the Barnes Music Society, the Herbsttöne at the Mozarteum and the Erika Frieser Kammermusiktage. She is an active member of Trio Claudel and the Lied duo Turkheimer-Kulikova, and her 2024/25 season includes performances with various chamber music partners throughout Germany, Austria, Italy and England.