Meraki Duo / Thu 1 Oct
William Grant Still arr Girling Three Songs
Tōru Takemitsu Toward the Sea
Miroslav Tadić Four Macedonian Pieces
Interval
Astor Piazzolla ‘Café 1930’ from Histoire Du Tango
Olivier Messiaen arr Girling 5 Leçons de solfège (movements I, III and V)
Dominique Le Gendre arr Girling Songs and Dances of the Islands
Eleanor Alberga Animal Banter *
This event will finish at approximately 9.15pm. There will be a drinks reception with Meraki Duo outside the Carole Nash Recital Room after the concert.
Performers
Meraki Duo:
Meera Maharaj flute
James Girling guitar
with guest Roberto Carrillo García double bass *
About
RNCM hosts the official Northern launch show for Meraki Duo’s debut album, Notes from the Living Room, following its worldwide release on Delphian Records (Fri 11 Sep 2026). (London launch: Mon 7 Sep 2026 at Ronnie Scott’s). Hear the internationally sought-after, prize-winning duo of British flautist of Trinidadian heritage Meera Maharaj (Chineke! Orchestra, Meliora Collective) and Oslo-based British guitarist James Girling (Agbeko, The Easy Rollers) perform their record in full. Autumn 2026 marks 13 years since the duo formed as first-year undergraduate students at the RNCM, making this an especially meaningful homecoming for Meraki Duo.
Joined on stage by Spanish bassist Roberto Carrillo García to reprise their premiere recording of Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga’s Animal Banter in its original conception, the record also features: James Girling’s premiere arrangements of Trinidadian composer Dominique Le Gendre’s Songs and Dances of the Islands, of Three Songs of William Grant Still, and of a young Messiaen’s 5 Leçons de solfège; and masterpieces for alto flute and guitar from Bosnian guitarist Miroslav Tadić’s enthralling Four Macedonian Pieces to contemporary Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea.
Recently awarded First Prize at the Concurs Internacional de Música de Cambra Flauta & Guitarra in Spain, Meraki Duo have spent over a decade performing extensively across the UK, from Wigmore Hall and Kings Place to Buxton International Festival and London Guitar Festival, while giving their debut performances over the continent this past year. The duo has been International Guitar Foundation Young Artists, Live Music Now artists, and finalists in the Royal Over-Seas League Competition.
Acknowledgments from Meraki Duo
With deepest thanks to all early supporters, Kickstarter Project Supporters and pre-purchasers of this album. We simply wouldn’t have been able to complete this project without you.
Additional thanks to:
Craxton Studios, London, and The Yard, Manchester, for kindly hosting our Kickstarter campaign’s launch concerts;
our almae matres, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music;
Live Music Now, Cavatina Duo, Craig Ogden, Andy Scott, Wissam Boustany, Laura Jellicoe, Michael Cox, Rory Russell, Tom McKinney, Lisa Pring, Rafael Marino Arcaro, the International Guitar Foundation, Thérèse Wassily Saba, Delphian Records: Polly Gamble, Paul Baxter, Jack Davis, Will Coates-Gibson, Lucy Walker, John Fallas, Eliot Garcia and countless others who have offered generous support, advice and mentorship to Meraki Duo over the years.
