Ensemble Delta
FLUTE · CLARINET · PIANO
EDINBURGH
Ensemble Delta is an Edinburgh-based chamber trio bringing together flute, clarinet and piano. Formed by three musicians with wide-ranging careers in classical and contemporary music, the ensemble combines imaginative programming with a particular interest in storytelling, collaboration and new music.
From much-loved chamber repertoire to newly commissioned works, Delta creates programmes that connect music with ideas beyond the concert hall — including literature, visual art, folklore and the stories of the communities in which it performs. The ensemble is also committed to making chamber music accessible to new audiences through informal performances, workshops and creative projects with young people.
About Ensemble Delta
Musicians
Renate Sokolovska
FLUTE
Renate is an Edinburgh-based flautist spanning classical, contemporary and cross-genre performance. She has appeared at major venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and Buckingham Palace, and has performed with ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BCMG and 12 Ensemble, as well as touring with Floating Points.
Born in Siberia and raised in Latvia, Renate moved to the UK to study at the Purcell School before receiving a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with William Bennett, Kate Hill and Karen Jones, as well as baroque flute with Lisa Beznosiuk. She later completed a Master’s in Performance with distinction at the Royal College of Music and was selected for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s NEXT programme.
Renate has a particular love of chamber music and its collaborative, exploratory nature. As co-founder of the St James Quintet, she received recognition from organisations including the Royal Over-Seas League, Making Music’s Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme, the Leverhulme Trust and Park Lane Group. Her performances have included appearances for Queen Elizabeth II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Shola Sharbakova Miller
PIANO
Shola is a pianist, visual artist, and third-year Doctor of Performing Arts student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of St Andrews. A multifaceted artist of the 21st century, she has performed in major venues including Wigmore Hall, London’s Southbank Centre, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and St James’s Piccadilly, as well as across Europe and Central Asia.
Shola began playing the piano at the age of four and made her orchestral debut at twelve with the Almaty Philharmonic in her native Kazakhstan. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow under Grigoriy Gordon, and completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne, graduating with the Academy’s highest performance award, the DipRAM, and later receiving a Fellowship. She currently resides in Edinburgh.
Sally Day
CLARINET
Sally has worked for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Opera North, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Scottish Opera as well as on recording sessions at Abbey Road in London and for UK touring musical theatre. She is a member of the ’S Wonderful duo, performing a fusion of jazz and salon music and has played klezmer with She'koyokh at the Glastonbury Festival.
She has performed most of the great chamber repertoire for clarinet and been involved in the commissioning and performance of new works, including for unusual instrumentations such as four bass clarinets. She has brought chamber music performance into venues such as schools, hospitals and care settings and ranks these experiences among the most profound of her career.
Sally studied at St Mary’s Music School and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She later completed a Masters in Orchestral Performance and received further orchestral training with the BachAkademie in Stuttgart and with the Verbier Festival Orchestra