Filipino-American violinist Sydney Grace Mariano enjoys a varied career in chamber music, orchestral playing, and teaching. She first established herself in Los Angeles, where she performed at venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, recorded sessions in a number of Hollywood spaces like Warner Bros Studios and made her solo debut with orchestra at the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center. She has performed for a variety of renowned musicians, including Joseph Silverstein, Paul Kantor, Roman Simovic, Emmanuel Borok, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.
In 2019, Sydney came to London, where she graduated with a Masters from the Royal Academy
of Music (DipRAM). She is currently enjoying her post-graduate life in London, actively building upon her growing performance career as 2nd violinist of the Kyan Quartet whilst under the mentorship of Ying Xue of the Doric String Quartet. Established in 2020, the award-winning quartet enjoys a busy and vibrant career, having performed across Europe and Asia in countries including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Lebanon and China. As upcoming Tunnell Trust award winners, the quartet are looking forward to going on tour across Scotland in February 2025. They have held residencies with the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the European String Teachers Association, and the Borromeo Music Festival. Recent collaborations include guitar quintets with Ahmed Dickinson at Wigmore Hall, Mendelssohn’s famed Octet with the Carducci Quartet, and a programme of clarinet quintets with Chamber Orchestra of Europe member Marie Lloyd. In the past year, the quartet have won places on prestigious chamber music courses, including Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland’s 68th International Chamber Music Campus, and Chamber Studio’s inaugural Hans Keller Forum.
Recently, Sydney has taken part in the London Sinfonietta Academy, played alongside the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and continues to be a longstanding member of the Chineke! Orchestra. Sydney has given performances across Europe in world-renowned concert halls such as the Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie, and the Royal Albert Hall. Additional successes include performing in the BBC Proms, appearing at the Brit Awards, and recording Max Richter’s most recent album of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – Recomposed.
Alongside her flourishing life with the Kyans, Sydney is a proud teacher, maintaining a small private studio in London following her time as one of the Royal Academy’s fellows at First Strings Experience and having earned her teaching Licentiate at the Academy. She is passionate about cultivating a diverse community of young musicians and empowering them to find their own avenues of self-expression. Sydney has been under the support of St. James’s Church, Piccadilly, where she was a music scholar in 2021/22. Sydney is grateful to be playing on a 1787 Gragnani, generously loaned by the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation.