Esther Williams & Alexandra Standing

Esther Williams - oboe 
Alexandra Standing - piano

Oboist Esther Williams and pianist Alexandra Standing’s programme shows the evolution of expressive chamber music writing from the Romantic period to the present day.

Born and raised in London of Vincentian and Jamaican-Indian heritage, Esther Williams completed her undergraduate studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, studying with world-renowned oboist, Nicholas Daniel OBE. She now has a burgeoning freelance career, performing regularly with orchestras such as the BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke!, Aurora, and the Heritage Orchestra.

Alex is a London-based award-winning pianist and chamber musician, known for her deep commitment to collaborative music-making. She graduated with distinction in 2020 from the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied collaborative piano with James Baillieu and Christopher Glynn. 

Reena Esmail is an Indian-American composer of Indian and Western classical music. Her piece Pranayam meaning ‘a harnessing of the life force’, features five short movements, each based on a different pattern of breathing used in yoga practice.