Valerie Welbanks - cello
Fei Ren - piano

The Marsyas Duo met as postgraduate students at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  The duo's repertoire includes works of well-known masters such as Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert as well as rarely-heard music of composers both modern and old.

The Marsyas Duo takes its name from Greek mythology.  According to the myth, Marsyas dared to enter a musical contest with Apollo, God of the Lyre, losing the battle and saving his dying breaths for the instrument he immortalised.  The myth encapsulates the spirit of being a musician - symbolic of music as a passion.

Canadian Valerie started playing the cello at the age of eleven in Ottawa.  She then moved to Québec City, where she studied with Leslie Snider at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec.  She has appeared as a recitalist in Canada and the UK and has performed concertos with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Sinfonia de Quebec.  An active freelance musician, Valerie is currently based in London, also performing regularly with the Dionysus Ensemble and the Marsyas Trio.

Fei completed a Masters degree at the University of Auckland's School of Music, studying under Professor Tamas Vesmas.  In 2005, she won New Zealand's National Concerto Competition and last year won Third Prize at the International Concerto Competition in Romania.  In her home country of New Zealand, Fei has performed with the Auckland Philharmonic, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and the Auckland Youth Orchestra.  She is a busy chamber musician and has performed with various instrumentalists in venues such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. James's Piccadilly.  Fei is equally active as a choral accompanist and currently works with the Berkhamsted Choral Society.