The Institute of Contemporary Performance (ICP) in London is a creative musical and artistic space based in Central London; a community dedicated to anyone who wishes to experience classical music performance regardless of their instrumental level or previous performance experience.
The institute is also open to artists, particularly performance artists, to present their work. ICP hosts several projects and regular events from courses, to interviews, to concerts, all dedicated towards the expansion of the accessibility of classical music performance.
Our Team
LEONA CRASI | FOUNDER & PIANO
The courses at ICP are led by pianist and educator Leona Crasi, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. Her life-long experience as a classical pianist, with a passion for teaching, inspired the ICP project, aiming to offer an open-minded and creative platform for emerging young musicians, as well as those entering the exciting world of classical music for the first time.
Leona is a Romanian-American pianist, performance curator, and educator based in London. Her performances range from historical and classical repertoire to noise and jazz improvisation. In 2021 she founded ICP, a collective in central London dedicated to contemporary practices in classical music. Leona was part of DNA Contemporary Music Festival as project coordinator and performer, and in 2020 she worked alongside the cultural planning team at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London. Alongside her music activity, she works in cultural diplomacy.
BERNARDO SIMOES | MEDIA & COMPOSITION
Bernardo Simões is a Brazilian and Portuguese musician graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and works as a pianist, composer and as a conductor. He also holds a Licentiate of Piano from RAM and now is completing his Master of Music in Composition at the same institution.As a contemporary composer, his portfolio encompasses working with the Brazilian Embassy on the project “Marés – Journeys through Brazilian Music”, with the Riot Ensemble, writing for Milana Sarukhanyan and Ben Finlay’s duet, the Chroma Ensemble, Sylva Winds quintet, Hill String Quartet, being commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music to write for the “Composers in Residence” concert with Tansy Davies, among others.
As an educator, his experience & passion for all expressions of music supports his preparation of lessons suited for all levels and interests from his pupils. From Classical, Bossa Nova up to Jazz, he can also write piano pieces or arrangements exclusively oriented towards his pupils needs. Classes are developed and inspired by their unique necessities and desires in order to achieve the ideal development progression.
Artists
MILANA SARUKHANYAN | SOPRANO
Milana Sarukhanian is a London-based Ukraknian soprano, voice teacher and a founder of ‘DNA Music Festival’ who is passionate advocate of Contemporary Classical Music and whose professional style is well-known for its progressiveness, warm energy and creative qualities.
Career highlights include appearance on stages such as Royal Festival Hall in London, Palau De La Música Catalana in Barcelona, Glazunov Hall in St. Petersburg, Pereda Hall in Santander, Balkonas Theatre in Vilnius and more. During her studying for Bachelor of Music and Masters of Art Degree at the Royal Academy of Music, Milana’s voice teaching career began to grow rapidly and many of her students praise her for ‘holistic’ and ‘highly dedicated’ way of teaching. Her fields of expertise are Opera, Operetta, Song Repertoire in German, French, Italian, English and Russian languages, Jazz and Free Contemporary Improvisation.
BEN FINLAY | CELLIST, COMPOSER
Ben Finlay is a cellist and composer based in London, UK. He currently works as a freelance musician and teacher. As a soloist, Ben’s expertise ranges from historical performance to premiering new works.
He has had the chance to work under the baton amongst some of the UK’s finest conductors including John Wilson, Ed Gardner, and Thomas Ades, performing at the BBC Proms and in the nation’s top concert halls. His compositional language focuses on integrating live instrumental music with the sound worlds of synthesisers, field recording, and popular electronic music styles. As a member of the S.O.L. Collective, he recorded on the 2019 album Reveries and regularly performs with them as well as regularly recording music for films. This has also led him to collaborate with ex-Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender.