FCWA – Athena Trio

Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonti, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today on Future Classic Women Awards, we will be talking to Ellen Williams from the Athena Trio. It's a new crossover opera group composed by classical sopranos Gwara Edwards, Sion Terry, and Ellen Williams. Hello, Ellen. Hi, Stefania. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me in the studio with you today. It's a pleasure. Did they pronounce the other name properly? Yes, they're both very Welsh names. Gwara, which means the sunrise, and Sionedd. And Sionedd. So you gave it away. So you're all the three from Wales? Yes, all three of us come from Wales. Me and Gwaud live in South Wales and Shonaid in North Wales, but we managed to make it work and see each other. We are all three classical soloists from Wales. We've known each other, you know, sort of in Wales it's very small who sings classical music. So everybody, if you don't know each other, you've heard of each other. And we met one day and decided to form Athena Trio about a year ago now. Amazing. Amazing. Where did you study? Maybe at the same college or? Actually, no, no, I stayed in Wales and Gwawr went to London and Seanad, you know, we were all in different places. So it just happened to be that one day sort of we did this concert together and somebody said, oh gosh, that was brilliant, you singing together, why don't you do this more often? And we thought, oh, come on then. So we had a bit of fun and here we are a year later and it seems to be going well. Wonderful. So you are a crossover. What would you say about What's the definition of crossover? So classical crossover, or crossover for me, is just a mixture of so many different musical genres. We sing a bit of opera, for example. Our audiences love when we sing "O mio papino caro" from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, which is obviously one of those arias that's become so well known on TV programs, etc. But we also sing songs from the show, and of course a few Welsh numbers in there as well, as our Welsh audience is very important to us. And hopefully Welsh— it doesn't have to be— you don't have to understand Welsh to appreciate the music. It's nice to sort of share our different take in our arrangements with, uh, with the world and put it out there. And were you born— were you dreaming when you were younger? Uh, you're very young already, but you know, before actually forming the Athena Trio, did you ever thought you could become a crossover opera singer, or were you just training, for example, to just be an opera at all? Um, I think all three of us at some point during our careers— I mean, we trained classically, but we've all dabbled in a more crossover field. Um, for example, I put out a CD in 2014 as a solo artist actually, which, uh, was a crossover CD. It's called Skylark. Um, more recently I tend to sing opera, but it's such a breath of air to come together as the three of us and sing all these pieces that are basically a huge list of our favorite songs, which is so recording in a concert to get to sing exactly what you love singing, and we really enjoy it. So you are the three sopranos, and it reminds me of the group of the three tenors, for example. Are you the female answer to the three tenors? Well, we hope so. Um, you know, the thing is, I think we noticed at some point that there are so many male groups in crossover singing. You have, um, G4 and Yl Tenorë and the Three Tenors, um, even the Welsh Three Tenors as well. But, um, so we thought, you know, there's no female equivalent out there, which is why we put Athena together. Amazing, amazing. Shall we listen to something maybe from the fact that, um, you know, what would you choose that most represents the group? Perfect. Well, I've, um, sent a few songs to you today. I guess at this point, as I've talked about Wales and the Welsh group and things, it would be great to pay tribute to one of our Welsh icons, and we've had such fun recording this Shirley Bassey medley. It features songs from the Bond films Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger, and also Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me, and of course the anthem that has become I Am What I Am. Wonderful. Let's listen to it then. Diamonds are forever. Hold one up and then caress it. Touch it, stroke it, and undress it. I can see every part. Nothing hides in the heart. To hurt me, I don't need love. For what good will not do me. Diamonds never lie to me. For when love's gone, when love's gone, they will stop. Diamonds are forever, diamonds are forever. Diamonds are forever. Diamonds are forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Father, Father, Goldfinger. He's the man, the man with a Midas touch. A spider's touch. A cold finger, Baba, beckons you to enter his web of sin. But don't give in. More than once he will pour in your ear, but his voice can't Disguise what you fear, for a golden girl knows when he's kissed her. It's the kiss of death from Mr. Goldfinger. But, ah, ah, ah, pretty girl, beware of his heart of gold. This hat is cool. He loves Only Gold. Only Gold. He loves gold. He loves Only Gold. Gold. He loves gold. Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me. Thrill me, honey, honey, thrill me. Don't care even if I blow my top, but honey, honey, don't stop. I'd like to play a little game with you. A little game especially made for two. If you come close, then I will show you how. Closer, closer now. Kiss me, honey, kiss me, honey, honey. Thrill me, thrill me, honey, honey. Don't care even if I blow my top, but honey, honey. Don't stop. We've never played this little game before. Relax, then you will enjoy it more. Just settle down and let me teach you how. Closer, closer now. Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me. Thrill me, honey, honey, thrill me. Don't care even if I blow my top, but honey, honey, don't stop. I am what I am. I am my own special creation. So come take a look. Give me the hook of the ovation. It's my world that I want to have a little pride in. My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in. Life's not worth a damn till you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am." I am what I am, and what I am needs no excuses. I deal my own deck, sometimes ace, sometimes the deuces. There's one life and there's no return and no deposit. One life, so it's time to open up your closet. Christ Lord, whether dead or alive, till you can say, "He would I am." And this was the Athena Trio playing a medley by Shirley Bassey. Um, we will be back after a short break. WRS Women's Radio Station, voice of women worldwide. Sarah's Universal Soul Show. What does your soul or spirituality mean to you? Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station. Welcome back, I'm Russ Kane. You're listening to In Conversation With on Women's Radio Station. I'm Angie. And I'm Patsy. And we're open. To see what other programs we have on Women's Radio Station, head to our website womensradiostation.com. I'm Isabelle Manivi, an executive coach. Do you want to change a negative into a positive? We can do this by coaching you to rewire your brain using simple visualization techniques. In 20 years of practice, I've seen this transform lives. For more information, look on Women's Radio website. Call me on 07984 422 171. I'm listening. Mirai B Limited. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar, we update your client database, we take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077 868 48 998 for further information. Mireille Bill Limited, making the life of the business owner successful. Let Women's Radio advertise your brand or business. It's so affordable. Comfortable and effective, reaching out to all women. Call us on 020 7437 7066 now. Are you struggling with money? Turn to us as a national charity helping people struggling to make ends meet. Job loss, illness, or bereavement can cause a real financial crisis. We give practical help to get people back on track. Whether you're thinking of having a baby, Trying to get out of an unhappy relationship, or just unsure what benefits you may be entitled to? We can help. Visit turn2us.org.uk. I'm Angie and I'm Patsy and we're open to share our own personal stories. Dealing with life events, staying positive through the tough times. Share your stories too. What worked? What didn't? Join us each week for Open. We know you're gonna love it. Women's Radio Station is a not-for-profit community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Welcome back to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today we are talking to Ellen Williams from the pop opera group Athena Trio. Ellen, what would you say it means today to be an opera singer? Or crossover opera singer? Is it different? Yes. Well, I mean, the genres mix a lot more today than they used to, I would say. And I guess that's why crossover music sort of has become so popular. Even as an opera singer, you still have to be able to sing these modern pieces which have influences from jazz and blues even, and all kinds of music in them. And I mean, we always try and put influences from sort of Welsh folk music. In our concerts, we always try and have a huge range of repertoire, so we sort of— the audience get to hear what they like, and we aim to please. But I guess I would say I think all the genres are merging much more today than they used to. So, you know, I'm a classical pianist, And I remember there was a big division between— there is still— between a classical pianist or a jazz pianist. There is very few cases when you get a pianist that does concert with Chopin, Brahms, you know, Beethoven, and then does jazz. Is there any kind of ostracism, if you like, you know, division between the genre, between opera to court or opera crossover? Do you feel a sort of separation still nowadays, because it has been changing a lot recently, I can see that. But, you know. Having sort of studied classically, all three of us, I think, would be cautious about changing classical pieces too much. For example, we were very wary about harmonizing on classical operatic arias, but we tried it in concert and it went down so well. So then you think, well, obviously there is a want for this kind of music out there. Which is why we carry on doing it. But if anything feels like it strays too far or feels uncomfortable or, you know, the boundary is too close, then we wouldn't push it, we wouldn't do anything like that. But as long as what we're doing is received warmly, then we'll keep on doing it. Absolutely. Well, on my personal point of view, I really love crossover opera because it's bringing opera out of its place, it's bringing opera to a different audience, it's bringing classical music in general, and there is nothing like opera that can really do that because you're speaking, because you're talking. So I wonder, what do you think about— do you sing always in the original language when you do arrangement of Puccini, for example, or you do like the English National Opera where you're actually translating the words in English? Let me think now. I'm trying to think whether we have done that. I don't think as of yet we've sang not in the original language, but we wouldn't be opposed to doing that. I mean, there is something to be said about translating an aria so that it's more understood by the audience. So, you know, that could be something that we look at in the future. Very good. So is there any opera, aria opera that you are yet to do that you would love to do? Personally, in the world of opera, there are so many roles that I would absolutely love to sing. I'm currently looking at Adina from Les Lisières d'amour and, you know, having a lot of fun learning that piece. In terms of the trio, it's more difficult to pick out operatic arias because some of them just don't lend themselves well to be manipulated or changed or added harmonies to, you know. So we also look at loads of different genres to pick our pieces. Say we hear even a pop song or something that's in the charts and we think, do you know what, that might sound really lovely with harmonies and a more classical sound. So a lot of the time we just test it out and see if it works. I would say that our signature piece in this past year has actually been Nella Fantasia by Ennio Morricone, which is the theme of Gabriel's Oboe. Of course made most famous by Sarah Brightman. And we've loved performing that piece. It's kind of become our signature piece because it was one of the first ones that we recorded on television. It went out on national Welsh television for a lot of our audience, are Welsh-based at the moment. So— I'd love to listen to it. Shall we? That would be great. Okay then, nella fantasia. I, I don't know. And this was Nella Fantasia by Ennio Morricone, sung by The Athena Athena Trio. Ellen, what— why is it called Athena Trio? Oh my goodness, well, we had so much fun coming up with a name. I think that's possibly one of the most difficult challenges we faced as a group because we had so many ridiculous choices, but we settled on Athena because, uh, the Greek goddess Athena is the daughter of Zeus, and she was born already in female form, and she came out wearing armory suit in gold. And many of her attributes— she was known as a goddess of war, which obviously isn't the only thing that we wanted to associate with. A war to destroy Thanors? No, not at all. Not at all. But she also had many attributes that we admired. So she was kind of— She was very clever, wasn't she? She was very clever. She was the right-hand woman. She was well respected and people listened to her. So basically we were going down the line of looking for a strong independent woman figure and we came across Athena and thought that was exactly it. That's amazing. So would you say you have a mission with your trio apart from making beautiful music? Do you know, it's great to come into the women's radio station and talk about being strong and independent and as a group of females, you know, it's great to put a message out there that It's— this isn't— it doesn't have to be a male-dominated industry. I mean, hopefully we will do well as the group, and let's just see where it takes us. Absolutely, I totally agree with you. Okay, so last question before the break. Um, you said you played in the Welsh television, right? And so is there any difference between performing on the television or performing live in a concert in front in front of a live audience? In theory, I would like to say no, but obviously you're aware when the cameras are there and you want to get it right and perfect the first time, whereas when you're performing live, it's more about feeling it and making sure the audience feels something as well, which is lovely. Wonderful. We will talk more about this after the break. WRS, Women's Radio Station, voice of women worldwide. This is Amy Liu, voice of China at Women's Radio Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Woman's Radio Station. After a long day, I like to sit in my bath with a glass of wine and listen to Woman's Radio. Come, Russ, Kate, you're listening to In Conversation With on Woman's Radio Station. To see what other programs we have on Woman's Radio Station, head to our website, womensradiostation.com. Do you need mediation? We are the A-Project Charity. We provide conflict resolution and community engagement services. Our services include community mediation for neighbour disputes, family mediation for separating couples, special education needs for parents, carers, and their children and young adults, as well as workplace mediation and restorative services. To find out more, head to womensradiostation.com or theaaproject.co.uk. Mireille Bill Limited. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar. We update your client database. We take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077 868 48 998 for further information. Mireille Bill Limited making the life of the business owner successful. Would you like to host your own radio show? Would you love to be doing what I'm doing right now and be a radio presenter on women's radio station? 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Our guest today is Ellen Williams from the Welsh pop opera group Athena Trio. Helen, so we were talking about, you know, performing on television, the difference between performing live or performing on the television. You've been touring a lot as well with the trio. Is there any place that you like the most, you know, maybe for the audience, maybe for the theater where you performed, or for the place itself? Yes, I mean, over the past year we've been fortunate to perform in some wonderful places. We performed to the Wales Football Awards in Hensall Castle. That was one of our first performances, and it was, it was such a great evening, just high energy. And, you know, we've also performed— we've just, we're currently in the middle of our sort of, I mean, I call it a summer tour, but we've left the summer far behind now, but we're still touring. And we took our concert to sort of West Wales, where it was lovely for Gwau'r to perform to her home audience. And then North Wales, where Sioned was sort of at home there. We had a sellout audience and a standing ovation in the Gallery Theatre in North Wales, which is a place, sort of one of those Welsh venues that people would know of. So it was, it was great to perform to a sellout audience there. Of course, performing and sort of timing our schedules together can be difficult. We're all sort of working as soloists, of course, and trying to get our schedules to work, it can be quite difficult. We have— it's multiplied by 3, isn't it? It is difficult for one. Yeah, multiplied by 3. And then of course both, um, Gwawr and Seanad have children to think about, so it's obviously juggling a lot of things, but it's exciting when we can make it work. Absolutely. And, um, any— so would you say this is the most challenging, uh, you know, side of your career? Um, yes, it can be difficult to organize the concerts, but I mean, we're all really keen for this to work and to keep performing as Athena, and we've had really positive feedback to get it out there, and really excited about our new album that's coming out soon. So we have so much in the pipeline that we, you know, we make it work. Possibly one of the biggest challenges is deciding which dress to wear. Ah, really? I mean, you can't just think of yourself and think, I want to wear red tonight, or I want to wear blue. I mean, we have to coordinate the dresses and think who's wearing what and does it all match. And then, I mean, in our tour we actually changed 4 times Oh wow, it's slightly on the ridiculous side, but the audience loved it and we have a lot of fun dressing up. So absolutely. So, um, where do you get your dresses? Where? All over the place. If I told you, it's a secret. Exactly. But do you ever get the audience coming up and say, oh, I loved your dress so much? Do you know, my— one of my favorite things when we're performing is is when you come out in the second half or the next section and you've changed and you hear just little whispers of "Ooh!" from the audience that they enjoy the next dress. That's very good, that's very good. So together with choosing the dresses, do you do anything else, like, you know, choosing the pieces, arranging them? How does that work? Yes, we do a lot of the arranging ourselves. We sit down and sort of put our heads together. Seanad, in fact, has written a few pieces for us. Oh wow. She's very good with arranging. She writes beautiful harmonies. And also Gwawr has also sort of arranged the harmonies for us. They're both very— Gwawr works with them by hearing things with her ears, and she's very in tune at picking out what sort of— what's happening in the chord and what note we need to fill in the perfect harmony, etc. And my background is in languages, so I actually— oh, you asked me earlier, have we translated anything? I guess it's not translated, but I did write some Spanish words to a theme tune from, from the film The Notebook. If you, if you've seen it, it's a film that has me in tears every time. But yeah, anything language-based, or if we need to check Italian or something. That's sort of my role, and we all sort of have our own, our own roles within the group. One of the ones we enjoyed working on on the CD was Ave Maria by Puccini, which is obviously such a beautiful piece in its own right. And we really didn't know where to begin with these harmonies, so we sort of put our heads together and sort of saw what came naturally, and hopefully we've come up with something fresh and new on the song that pays it justice. I really want to listen to the Ave Maria by Caccini. Normally people, you know, when you talk about Ave Maria, think about Schubert. They do, yes, or the Bach Gounod. But in fact, Caccini has been recorded so many times in the crossover market. It seems to be a favorite, I think. Caccini, we say it's by Caccini, actually we don't really know if it was composed by him. He was a composer and a singer living in 16th century in Florence. And it was only in sort of the 1970s that this Ave Maria started to pop up everywhere and be recorded much more. And sort of we began to question then if it was actually written by Caccini, but that's how it's become known anyway. Wonderful, let's listen to it then. Aah, Mariya! Aah, Mariya! Moriya! Moriya! Ahh— ahm? Moriya! Mmm... mmm... mm-hmm. How beautiful this was. This was Ave Maria by Caccini, sung by the Athena Trio. So this was in Italian. Do you have any other song maybe that is in your more special language? In Welsh? In Welsh? Yes, we love singing in Welsh. We have a song, Calon Lân, which means pure heart. And it's not the Welsh national anthem, but it is an anthem in the world of rugby in Wales, which is our sort sort of national sport and very important to us. And it's so special when you hear sort of the whole stadium singing along to these rugby songs. So this is Calon Lann, but not to the tune of Calon Lann. It's actually to the tune of The Rose, which you may recognize from hearing Bette Midler sing. Amazing. Okay then, let's listen to Calon Lann with the Athena Trio. And this was Kalun Lan, sung by the Athena Trio. I will be back after a short break. WRS, Women's Radio Station, voice of women worldwide. Sarah's Universal Soul Show. What does your soul or spirituality mean to you? Welcome to Future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station. Welcome back, I'm Russ Kane. You're listening to In Conversation With on Women's Radio Station. I'm Angie. And I'm Patsy. And we're open. To see what other programs we have on Women's Radio Station, head to our website womensradiostation.com. I'm Isabel Manivi, an executive coach. Do you want to change a negative into a positive? We can do this by coaching you to rewire your brain using simple visualization techniques. In 20 years of practice, I've seen this transform lives. For more information, look on Women's Radio website. Call me on 07984 422 171. I'm listening. Mirai B Limited. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse We manage your calendar, we update your client database, we take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077 868 48 998 for further information. Mireille B Limited, making the life of the business owner successful. Let Women's Radio advertise your brand or business. It's so affordable and effective, reaching out to all women. Call us on 020 7437 7066 now. Are you struggling with money? Turn to us as a national charity helping people struggling to make ends meet. Job loss, illness, or bereavement can cause a real financial crisis. We give practical help to get people back on track, whether you're thinking of having a baby, trying to get out of an unhappy relationship, or just unsure what benefits you may be entitled to, we can help. Visit turn2us.org.uk. I'm Angie and I'm Patsy and we're open to share our own personal stories dealing with life events, staying positive through the tough times. Share your story stories too. What worked? What didn't? Join us each week for Open. We know you're gonna love it. Women's Radio Station is a not-for-profit community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Welcome back to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio Station. Our guest today is Ellen Williams from the Welsh pop opera group Athena Trio. Ellen, it's time now for the fun questions. So do you have— that you can remember— what was the funniest, most embarrassing moment moment in your career? Um, okay, both as a soloist or with the trio? That's really what I think. I mean, as the trio, we have many laughs. There's got to be something. Um, I mean, there's been a few. Sioned, for example, she listens to this, she's gonna kill me. Uh, she, she has been known to forget, um, an item of clothing quite often in our concerts. Um, so undergarments in particular she will leave behind at certain venues. Oh really? Which is always amusing when she realizes. Um, I mean, just the other day we had— gosh, it was a bit of a car crash in one of our performances. We had a lovely sound man, but bless him, he thought that our track had come to an end because it came to a quiet bit, and with the audience applauding he couldn't hear that the track was carrying on, so he pressed stop and we were standing there waiting to sing the next section of the song and the next intro never came and we thought, "Where's it gone? Where is it?" And he said, "Oh, is that not the end?" So I said down the mic, I was like, "Oh no, that wasn't the end of the song." So then while he proceeded to try and find the moment in the track where we'd stopped, we thought, "Oh gosh, we need to save this." So we thought, we'll just sing a bit of a cappella and It was my idea, that one, and Charlotte and Gweld looked at me like I was crazy for a second and went, "What? Like, sort of this, we can't do that." And then, yeah, we just gave it a go, and actually it worked really well, and I'm so glad we did it. But there's, uh, we do have a lot of fun together. And being together when you tour, for example, do you have any pro and con of being 3 ladies, for example, like with too many luggages, or I don't know? Fighting for the best room with the best light. Oh yes, there is that actually, because if we have photos or anything, Gwaura and I both have the same best side, so to speak. I don't know a woman who doesn't have a preference to their best side, and sadly ours is the same. So it's a bit of a fight over who gets which left side of their face. All right. I've been told recently that they have best side. I don't know which one is it of the two, but that's very, you know, conscious. Yeah. Oh no, taking the picture of my latest album, it was like, you know, it's better this side because that one is not your good side. Like, what? In all these years you never told me? I can't imagine you have a bad side. That's so sweet. Okay, and do you have any, um, strange hobby, um, that you, you know, to relax or to free your mind when you're off the concerts? Strange hobbies? Oh gosh, I don't know if I do anything that strange, to be honest. I do like to practice Pilates, maybe a bit of yoga. It's always good in quite a stressful industry where you have to sort of be proactive and make sure you're doing everything for yourself, just to have a bit of of sort of mental space, and it's always good to relax, I think. Yeah, absolutely. For example, I love cooking, so that's something that our latest singer, she, she actually opened the bakery. Did she? Then she closed it because she realized that cooking for others, it wasn't as fun as cooking for yourself. Oh, but she showed me the cake, it was amazing. So, you know, why not? And, um, I need to do yoga. I will do it one day, but I never find the time. But exactly, it's finding the time, isn't it? But you have to make time for yourself. And do you do anything together as a trio before going on stage? Any superstition? Maybe you don't wear a certain color, or, um, what do we do? I don't know. I think we just tend to drink coffee. All right, it tends to be, have you got your coffee? You've had a tea, coffee, etc. Um, you know, I never drink coffee before concert. Really? Because it's too much adrenaline. Oh, actually me too, but I'll have it in the morning or when we're there, if we meet up for a discussing meeting. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. And bananas, bananas before concerts. That's for everybody, isn't it? So for the pianist, we use— we were talking with violinist too, you know, it give you, um, it prevents to get cramps. So somehow you find yourself with your fingers in all cramps, you can't play, you can't go fast. But with the singer, I mean how do you do with the voice? Like— Is that because there's potassium in bananas? Absolutely, yes. Oh, wow. It's like the tennis player, so it gives you the endurance and everything. Yeah. I think it also, the potassium calms you, so it's helpful before a performance. All right. So we were talking about your upcoming album. Yes. We have our debut album coming out next month. It will be available from the 13th of October, which is when we have our next concert in Cardiff. Wonderful. And we're really excited about it. I would also like to tell your listeners that we also have a concert coming up in London on the 2nd of November, if anybody has enjoyed our tracks and would like to hear us. So we have all the information available on our website, which is athenatrio.com. Now I can't wait to come actually to that concert, so definitely we will remind you about this concert. Wonderful. Well, what shall we listen to then to close up our little interview today? So our last piece is the wonderful Moon River. Okay, let's listen to it then. Oh, river wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style someday. Old dream maker, you are Heartbreaker, wherever you're going, I'm going away. To drift us off to see the world, it's such a lot of work.— to see where I've got the same red boards and waiting round the bend, my huckleberry friend. Moon River and me. Lift us off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. Where are you? I see you. And this was Moon River, sung by the Athena Trio. Ellen, if you had to give a piece of advice to a young student that is listening to our programme today, what would that be? My advice would be keep practising, work hard, put in the hours and, you know, the technique will sort itself out eventually across all instruments, voice types, anything. You have to practice and put in the hours. That's my advice too. I can agree with that. And as long as it's enjoyable, then that's fine. The hours will fly away, isn't it? Exactly. Well, Ellen, it was a pleasure talking to you today. To the audience, if you have any questions question that you would like to ask our guest or nomination for our Future Classic Women Awards, please email presenter@womensradiostations.com or tweet us @WomensRadioStn for a chance to win 2 tickets at our concert of the finalists of Future Classic Women Awards. Again, a big thanks to our guest Ellen Williams of the Athena Trio. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure for the really beautiful music played today. You've been listening to Future Classic Women Awards on Women's Radio live every day at 10 AM and 10 PM London time. If you want to listen to it again or catch up on our previous programs, you can head to the presenter page Stefania Passamonte at Future Classic Women Awards on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening. WRS, Women's Radio Station, voice of women worldwide. This is Amy Liu, voice of China at Women's Women's Radio Station. 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