About — Shiry Rashkovsky

Lauded by The Strad for her ‘thrilling and exuberant’ Royal Festival Hall debut, Shiry pursues an international and diverse career.

Her recording of Kate Whitley’s Viola Concerto (dedicated to her) with the Multi-Story Orchestra and Christopher Stark for NMC Recordings was hailed as ‘fearless’ by the Guardian, while her latest EP, ‘Erlkönig/Erl-King’ (October House Records), which presents a feminist retelling of the Erlking legend and includes a new commission by Héloïse Werner in celebration of 30 years to Angela Carter’s death, was featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘New Music Show’. She regularly performs in the world’s greatest concert halls, and has broadcast for BBC1, 2 and 4, WQXR, and RAI.

As a chamber musician, Shiry is frequently invited to Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, where she has performed with Adrian Brendel, Ian Brown, Thomas Gould, Viviane Hagner, Pekka Kuusisto, Min Jin Kym and David Waterman. She has broadcast live for national radio in ensembles with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Atar Arad, Stephan Barratt-Due, Vadim Gluzman, Rudolf Koelman, Shlomo Mintz, and has featured in Cadogan Hall’s ‘Rising Stars’ series. She is a founding member of Trio Klein, whose groundbreaking ‘Trio Klein’s 80s Night’ programme which draws inspiration from night clubs was recently featured on BBC Radio 3 ‘In Tune’; they were Artists in Residence at University of Surrey in 2023/2024.

Shiry is the founder and Artistic Director and of Up Close and Musical festival, which in its inaugural year, 2021, featured some of the biggest names in the classical, jazz and electronica scenes in an intimate setting, to critical acclaim. In 2022 the festival featured a stellar all-female roster, and since its inception its audiences have enjoyed sell-out performances by Abel Selaocoe, Hélöise Werner, Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE, Alice Zawadzki, Matilda Lloyd, Gabriel Prokofiev, Fenella Humphreys, Chloë Hanslip, Huw Watkins, Clare Hammond, Misha Mullov-Abbado and others. The festival has been featured on BBC Radio 3, Scala Radio, Classical Music Magazine, and The Strad, among others.

Committed to innovating and expanding the viola’s repertoire, recent commissions include a viola quintet by Errollyn Wallen (generously supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation, Hinrichsen Foundation and Marchus Trust) which was premiered with the Solem Quartet, and is slated to be recorded alongside Mendelssohn’s A major quintet, which the ensemble performed at Kings Place in early 2024, for Delphian Records; and a words-and-music programme by Jessica Duchen, celebrating Ralph Vaughan Williams’s 150th. ‘Seeking Utopia’ focuses on RVW’s unique friendship with pioneering Jewish violist Lionel Tertis, which crossed cultural, religious and economic borders to generate some of the greatest viola music of the 20th century; performance highlights include London’s Conway Hall and Three Choirs Festival, and features in The Strad and on Scala Radio.

Shiry read Social and Political Sciences at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and obtained her MMus and ArtDip at RCM, studying with Natasha Boyarska and Ian Jewel.

Do not reproduce without permission