European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Alexandra is the creator and producer of “The Nutcracker and I”, a ground-breaking multimedia performance created for a piano solo with dance and digital animation. She currently teaches piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Alexandra made her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York and has performed in many prestigious orchestras, including the Sydney Opera House, London’s Wigmore Hall, Dubai Opera House and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She was the first female Romanian pianist to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Alexandra is an Honorary Associate Artist at the Royal Northern College of Music, Patron of Music in Lyddington, Cultural Ambassador of Romania and Officer of the Romanian Crown. An activist for gender equality in classical music, she is a recipient of the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category and dedicates her life to education projects, building bridges and reaching out to the younger generation.

Janis is a Latvian author and literary critic. He is best known for his debut novel Jelgava’94, which explores the transition from the Soviet Union to a ‘new Europe’. His novel was a bestseller upon its release in 2013, and went on to win the European Union Prize for Literature, drawing attention to Latvian and Baltic literature. Evoking the youth of his country in the post-communist 1990s, the novel describes places of counter-culture, the sound of heavy metal, of saturated guitars and scary voices. Through his work he explores the role of subcultures, such as the heavy metal scene, in shaping Latvian national identity, how they interact with the dominant culture, and shape interactions between the new and older generations.

Beatrice is an Italian cultural strategist with over 15 years of experience developing urban and social impact programmes. Currently, she is the Director of MUDAC, Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne. She is an advocate of practical creativity for educational empowerment in sustainable futures. Prior to her current role, Beatrice co-founded B/Side Design, an urban and social impact organisation, which worked on the establishment of The Global School, the first independent design and multidisciplinary research institute in China. She has previously served as the creative director for Beijing Design Week, China’s largest and internationally renowned design and architecture event, and worked on the urban regeneration plan of Beijing’s Baitasi historic district. She is also a member of the advisory board for Design Trust in Hong Kong.

Nadia, better known by her stage name Imany, is a French pop-soul singer. After a successful modelling career in New York, she reinvented and established herself as a singer in Paris. Her debut album, ‘The Shape of a Broken Heart’, released in 2011, became soon platinum. Since her debut, Imany went on to write the soundtrack for the film ‘French Women’, released an acclaimed second album, ‘The Wrong Kind of War’, and toured extensively around the world. She has mapped out her route ploughing a furrow between soul, folk, blues and pop, whilst imposing her own style.