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), 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.

In demand 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 and will be releasing their debut EP in 2025.

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/voice duo composed by and recorded with Héloïse Werner; a words-and-music programme by Jessica Duchen celebrating the cross-cultural friendship between Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jewish violist Lionel Tertis, recently performed at Three Choirs Festival and featured in The Strad and on Scala Radio; a viola and electronics duo by Ben Nobuto; and a viola quintet by Errollyn Wallen (generously supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation, Hinrichsen Foundation and Marchus Trust), to be recorded for Delphian Records.

A dedicated pedagogue, Shiry joined the faculty at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2024, and has been teaching at Royal Holloway, University of London since 2013, alongside international masterclasses and courses. 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