Relax and enjoy our lunchtime Coffee Concert. With a complimentary coffee (or tea) and biscuits, our daytime recitals are the perfect musical pit stop.

All musicians appear by the kind permission of the Royal Northern College of Music.

Xueer Wu - viola

Xueer Wu was born in 2002 in China, where she started playing viola with Donglei Hou at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, aged 14. In 2018, Xueer won the Third Guangdong (Canton) String Chamber Music Competition, Vienna Music Competition, Guangdong Division of Professional Viola Category, and the Second Prize in the Professional Category at the Sixth Antonio Vivaldi International String Competition in Vienna.

In 2020, she received a full scholarship from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC) and started studying with Professor Louise Lansdown. She was also awarded the RBC String Prize in 2023. In 2024, Xueer received a generous entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and began her postgraduate studies there. In 2025, Xueer reached the quarterfinals in the Lionel Tetris International Viola Competition.

She has given performances and recitals in the UK, Germany, Austria, and South Africa, including in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, St Endellion Easter Festival, National Youth String Orchestra, Internationale Sommerakademie Bad Leonfelden, and Wolfgang-Sawallisch-Musikakademie Grassau. Xueer has participated in masterclasses led by Thomas Ribel, Nobuko Imani, Robin Ireland, Jordan Bak, Timothy Ridout, Mathis Rochat, Francoise Gneri, Wenhong Luo, Lucy Nolan, Pregrag Katanic, Mario Gheorghiu, Li Sheng, and Andrew Filmer.

She is currently in her first year of her Master's degree st the RNCM studying viola. Xueer plays on a viola made by Antoine Gourdon in 2023, generously funded by the Wolfston Foundation.

Chichi Li - piano

Chichi Li holds a master's degree in Piano Accompaniment from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and currently works as a staff accompanist in the Department of Music at the University of Sheffield. She studied under Professor David Jones and Kathryn Stott.

With over a decade of dedication to the art of piano accompaniment, Chichi is currently focused on collaborations in wind and vocal music. As a professional collaborative pianost, she has extensive experience performing in various concerts and musical theatre tours. Since 2023, she has also initiated and organised a number of diverse chamber music concerts across the northern region of the UK