Conductor | Russia
Mikhail Kirchhoff is the principal conductor of Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra, the principal conductor of the Kaliningrad Music Theatre, the Artistic director and the principal conductor of the festival “Eurasian stars”, the principal conductor of the festival “Ak Ertis”.
Teacher at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named M.M. Ippolitova-Ivanov (Moscow).
Mikhail Kirchhoff was born in 1982 in Moscow. He began his education in the Victor Popov Academy of Choral Art. In 2009 he graduated with honors from the Moscow State P.İ. Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
2010-2012 worked in Istanbul State Opera.
2012-2017 worked in Samsun State Opera.
2018-2020 is the main guest conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra “Academy of soloists” (Kazakhstan).
Performed with various orchestras in Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Latvia, Malta, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan and many others.
Cello | UK
Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a uniquely varied and distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster.
As a concerto soloist he appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, London Philharmonic and Zurich Tonhalle orchestras, He gives recitals every season in major musical centres, and plays with many of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras, including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Australian, Mahler, Norwegian, Scottish, Zurich and St Paul Chamber Orchestras, as well as period-instrument ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello.
He works with many contemporary composers and regularly premieres new works on the international concert stage.
Recent performing highlights include his debut with Dresden Staatskapelle, and as Artist-in-Residence with Kammerakademie Potsdam. On 21 June 2019 Steven performed with his close friend Radu Lupu at Lupu’s final-ever concert with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, where Steven directed pieces including Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 23 in A, K488, with Lupu as soloist. Other appearances include with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Salzburg Mozartwoche; the US premiere of Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, following world and UK premieres in Lucerne and at the BBC Proms, and a further performance of the work in Amsterdam with the Britten Sinfonia, all conducted by the composer; Prokofiev’s Concerto Op. 58 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, in London and at the Dresden Music Festival; Haydn’s C major Concerto with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Adam Fischer; and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1 on an Australian tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, he has curated series for many of the world’s most famous festivals and venues, including the Wigmore Hall, the 92nd St Y in New York, and the Edinburgh, Verbier and Salzburg Festivals. Recent highlights include a major exploration of two musical visionaries to whom he feels particularly close and is an enthusiastic champion: Gabriel Fauré and Robert Schumann, performed over a series of four concerts at the Wigmore Hall. A specially-devised new programme ‘Composers and their Muses’, exploring three pairs of composers who provided mutual inspiration for each other’s compositions – Clara and Robert Schumann, Vitezslava Kaprálová and her teacher Martinů and Augusta Holmès and her teacher César Franck, was performed with pianist Connie Shih and performed at Wigmore Hall and on tours of the US and Japan. Other specially devised programmes have included ‘In the Shadow of War', a major four-part series for the Wigmore Hall to mark the centenary of the First World War and the 75th anniversary of the Second World War; explorations of Czech music; the teacher-pupil line of Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Ravel; ‘Cello and Voice’, a unique series of three programmes exploring the affinity of the cello and the human voice; varied aspects of Robert Schumann’s life and music; and the music of Sergei Taneyev (teacher of Steven’s grandfather, Julius Isserlis) and his friends and students. For these concerts Steven was joined by a regular group of friends which includes the violinists Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Pamela Frank, and Janine Jansen, violist Tabea Zimmermann, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Stephen Hough, Alexander Melnikov, Olli Mustonen, Connie Shih, and Dénes Várjon. In 2019, he also undertook a major US tour with his longtime friends and collaborators Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, performing trios by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Ravel and Rachmaninov
On his 60th Birthday on 19 December 2018, Steven was joined by a group of his closest musical friends Radu Lupu (in a rare guest appearance), Sir András Schiff, Connie Shih, Ferenc Rados, Joshua Bell, and Sir Simon Keenlyside, both performing with and for him. Isserlis also performed the world premiere of For Steven Isserlis 60, composed especially for him by Márta and György Kurtág. The concert was preceded with favourite literary readings by actor Gabriel Woolf. He also takes a strong interest in authentic performance. Recent Hyperion releases include a recording of the Chopin Cello Sonata, Schubert’s Arpeggione sonata and other works by the two composers with Dénes Várjon, using an Érard piano of 1851. In recital, he gives frequent concerts with harpsichord and fortepiano. With harpsichordist Richard Egarr, he has performed and recorded the viola da gamba sonatas of J.S. Bach as well as sonatas by Handel and Scarlatti. Past seasons have featured a special performance with Sir Andras Schiff at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, using Beethoven’s own cello; and recordings with Robert Levin of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano (selected for the Deutsche SchallplattenPreis), using original or replica fortepianos from the early nineteenth century, as well as performances of the cycle in London, New York, San Francisco, Norway and Tokyo. Steven and Robert recently toured extensively in the US and Europe with Beethoven recitals, including performances of the whole cycle in Florence, Milan and Chicago.
He is also a keen exponent of contemporary music and has premiered many new works including John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil (as well as several other pieces by Tavener), Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, Stephen Hough’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Left Hand (Les Adieux), Wolfgang Rihm's Concerto in One Movement, David Matthews' Concerto in Azzurro, and For Steven and Hilary’s Jig by György Kurtág. In 2016, he gave the UK premiere of Olli Mustonen’s of Frei, aber einsam for solo cello at the Wigmore Hall.
Writing and playing for children is another major enthusiasm. He has written the text for three musical stories for children - Little Red Violin, Goldiepegs and the Three Cellos, and Cindercella - with music by Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley; these are published by Universal Edition in Vienna. He has also given many concerts for children, for several years presenting a regular series at the 92nd Street Y in New York. Steven Isserlis’ books for children about the lives of the great composers – Why Beethoven Threw the Stew and its sequel, Why Handel Waggled his Wig – are published by Faber and Faber, and have been translated into multiple languages. His latest book, a commentary on Schumann’s famous Advice for Young Musicians, was published by Faber and Faber in September 2016, and in the US by Chicago University Press in 2017. The UK paperback edition will be published by Faber and Faber in March 2020.
As an educator, Steven Isserlis gives frequent masterclasses all around the world, and since 1997 he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, where his fellow- professors include Sir Andras Schiff, Thomas Adès and Ferenc Rados. He is also a regular participant, alongside Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff and Sir Andras Schiff, in the bi-annual series ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’ at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.
As a writer and broadcaster, he contributes regularly to publications including Gramophone, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, has guest edited The Strad magazine, and makes regular appearances on BBC Radio including on the Today programme, Soul Music, as guest presenter of two editions of Saturday Classics, and as writer and presenter of a documentary about the life of Robert Schumann. Most recently for BBC Radio 4, he presented a documentary about his hero Harpo Marx - ‘Finding Harpo’s Voice’, described by The Guardian as “sheer charm ... a winner”; and a conversation, ‘Only Artists’, with playwright and novelist Sebastian Barry, which The New Statesman reviewed as “perfect ... strikingly and joyously something from an earlier time”.
His diverse interests are reflected in an extensive and award-winning discography. His recording of the complete Solo Cello Suites by J.S. Bach for Hyperion met with the highest critical acclaim, and was Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year and Critics’ Choice at the Classic BRITS. His latest recordings include the Brahms Double Concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and – as director and soloist – concertos by Haydn and CPE Bach with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Grammy Nominee for Classical Instrumental Solo in 2017, winner of Limelight Magazine’s Orchestral Disc of the Year in Australia 2017, and shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in the Concerto category in 2018). A special First World War-inspired disc with Connie Shih was also released in 2017, including works performed on a travel cello - now known as “the Trench Cello” - played in the trenches by WWI soldier Harold Triggs. Other recent releases include the Elgar and Walton concertos, alongside works by Gustav and Imogen Holst, with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Paavo Järvi; Prokofiev and Shostakovich concertos with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, also under Paavo Järvi; Dvořák’s Cello Concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding; and recital discs with Stephen Hough, Thomas Adès and (for BIS) a Grammy-nominated album of sonatas by Martinů, as well as works by Mustonen and Sibelius, with Olli Mustonen. His 2019 release with pianist Olli Mustonen Shostakovich & Kabalevsky: Cello Sonatas, entered the UK classical chart at Number One.
The recipient of many awards, Steven Isserlis’s honours include a CBE presented by the Queen in recognition of his services to music, the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, and the Piatigorsky Prize in the USA. He is also one of only two living cellists featured in Gramophone’s Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was awarded the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award in Dresden, the Wigmore Hall Gold Medal, and the Walter Willson Cobbett Medal for Services to Chamber Music. In 2018, Steven was awarded with the Gold Medal and Certificate of Merit by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, and received the prestigious Maestro Foundation Genius Grant, awarded in recognition of his work as a dedicated educator.
He gives most of his concerts on the Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music.
Piano | Canada
“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries – in concert and on disc – earning his place as a true icon of the piano.
During the 2020/21 season, Mr. Hamelin appeared with the Detroit and Montreal Symphony orchestras and the Cleveland Orchestra in their digital concert performances, performed in a live recital at the Festival International de Launadiere as well as online recitals for Western University of Canada, Candlelight Concert Society, and People's Symphony Concerts.
Mr. Hamelin's abbreviated 19/20 season included the Brahms Piano concerti with the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Le Festival de Lanaudière, and the world premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth’s piano concerto at the BBC Proms, led by the composer. Recital appearances included a return to Carnegie Hall for the Great Artists Series; Wigmore Hall; the George Enescu Festival; the Moscow State Philharmonic; at the Elbphilharmonie for the Husum Rarities of Piano Music Festival; the Heidelberg Festival; and in Ascona (Switzerland), Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Monte Carlo, and others. Mr. Hamelin was the inaugural guest curator for Portland Piano International, where he opened that season with two solo recitals.
An exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, his discography includes more than 60 albums, with notable recordings of a broad range of repertoire. In 2020, Hyperion released two acclaimed albums by Mr. Hamelin – one a solo disc of Liszt and Thalberg opera transcriptions, and the other piano sonatas of composer/pianist Samuil Feinberg.
Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with nearly 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works – including the Études and Toccata on L’Homme armé, commissioned by the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition – are published by Edition Peters. His most recent work, Suite à l’ancienne (Suite in the old style), was premiered in February 2021 by pianist Rachel Naomi Kudo with funding from her Gilmore Young Artist Award.
Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller, a producer and host at Classical WCRB. Born in Montreal, he is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association and has received seven Juno Awards and eleven GRAMMY nominations, the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance awarded by Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and in December 2020 was awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
PIANO, VIOLIN, CELLO | France
Trio Wanderer’s stage-name is entirely appropriate. “Wanderer” pays homage to Schubert and more widely to German Romanticism which is often imbued with the leitmotiv of the wandering traveler. These three French musicians are avid, openminded wandering travelers who explore the musical world, spanning the centuries from Mozart and Haydn to the present. Acclaimed for its extraordinarily sensitive style, almost telepathic mutual understanding and technical mastery, the Trio Wanderer is one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles.
Called a “Wandering Star” by the Strad Magazine, the Trio performs on the most prestigious music stages: Musikverein Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Opéra of Pékin, Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Place des Arts in Montreal, Herkulessaal in Munich, Library of Congress in Washington, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Tonhalle in Zürich. They have also performed at major festivals including Salzburg, Edinburgh, Montreux, Schleswig Holstein, la Roque d’Anthéron, Stresa, Feldkirch, Granada, Osaka, Folles Journées de Nantes, Rheingau Musiksommer and Schwetzinger Festspiele.
In triple concertos, the Trio Wanderer has collaborated more than a hundred times with international orchestras such as Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, orchestras of Toulouse, Nice, Pays de Loire, Picardie, Pau-Pays de Béarn, Montpellier, Liège, Tenerife, Santiago de Chile, La Coruna, the Radio Symphonie Orchester in Berlin, Malaysian Philharmonia Orchestra, Württembergische Philharmonie, Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, Sinfonia Varsovia, Grazer Philharmoniker Orchester, Nürnberger Philharmoniker, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Moscow, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin, Christopher Hogwood, James Loughran, François-Xavier Roth, Luis Langrée, Arie van Beek, Marco Guidarini, Ken-David Masur, Ion Marin, José Areán, Charles Dutoit and James Conlon amongst others.
In addition to records for Sony Classical, Universal, Cyprès, Mirare and Capriccio, the Trio Wanderer began a collaboration with Harmonia Mundi in 1999. Twenty recordings have been issued since then: trios by Chausson, Ravel, Haydn, Shostakovich, Fauré, Pierné, Arensky, Tchaïkovsky, Copland, Saint-Saëns, Mendelssohn, Smetana; the complete trios by Schubert, Brahms and Beethoven; Schubert and Hummel’s piano quintet; triple concertos by Beethoven and Martinù with the Gürzenich-Kölner Philharmoniker; and pieces by Liszt and Messiaen.
These recordings have received many awards and commendations: Choc of the year by Le Monde de la Musique, Editor’s Choice by Gramophone, CD of the month by Fono Forum, CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine, Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Midem Classical Award. Their interpretation of trios by Mendelssohn was chosen as a standard reference by the New-York Times on the occasion of the bi-centenary of the composer’s birth, as was their interpretation of Schubert’s trio opus 100 in 2016 by the BBC, from amongst fourteen contenders. Their most recent recordings are devoted to the trios of Rachmaninov (may 2019) the Quintet op. 57 and Romances op. 127 of Shostakovich (August 2020). The next album will be dedicated to Schumann (trios op. 63, 80 & 110, Phantasiestücke op. 88, Quartet with piano op. 47, Quintet with piano op. 44).
With a particular fondness for contemporary music, the Trio Wanderer has premiered works by composers including Thierry Escaich, Bruno Mantovani, Frank Michael Beyer, Christian Rivet, Matteo Francescini and Philippe Hersant. In addition to their numerous radio and television recordings (Radio France, BBC, ARD, Mezzo), the Trio Wanderer was the subject of a film made by the French-German television company ARTE, broadcast in June 2003. In 2017, for the Trio’s 30th anniversary, a book written by Olivier Bellamy, tracing the history of the Trio, was published by Art3 Edition.
Acclaimed by the professional music world, the Trio Wanderer was awarded for the third time in February 2009 (previously in 1997 and 2000) a Victoire de la Musique as “Best Instrumental Ensemble of the year”.
In 2015, Trio Wanderer’ members were bestowed with the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres).
Trio Wanderer’s members all graduated from the Paris’ Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. In 1989/90 they studied in Bloomington’s School of Music and New York’s Julliard School. During this period, they participated in masterclasses with such masters as Jean-Claude Pennetier, Jean Hubeau, Janos Starker, Menahem Pressler from the Beaux-Arts Trio, and the Amadeus Quartet. In 1988, they won the ARD Competition in Munich and, in 1990, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the USA. Their career quickly rose to major international heights and they have enjoyed many years of music-making at the highest level.
Piano | Russia/France
Roustem Saitkoulov was born in Kazan (Russia). He started playing the piano at the age of four and entered the Kazan Conservatory junior classes when he was six years old. He went on to study with Elisso Virsaladze at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he received a Diploma in Solo Piano Performance, and furthered his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich, where he received his Masters degree.
He is the prizewinner at numerous international competitions:
Grand Prix of the Montecarlo World Piano-Masters, presented to him by the late Prince Rainier III of Monaco; F. Busoni Competition, Bolzano, Italy; UNISA (University of South Africa) Competition, Pretoria; Concours Géza Andà, Zurich, Switzerland; Marguerite Long Competition, Paris; First Prize in the Rome Piano Competition.
Roustem Saitkoulov performs frequently with world’s renown orchestras, such as Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, RAI Symphony Orchestra Torino, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, St-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo New City Orchestra and Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
His recitals take him all over the world: to Russia, China, Japan, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, the United States, Canada, South Africa, and through Europe.
He has taken part in many music festivals throughout Europe including Montreux Festival, International Festival of Piano in La Roque d’Anthéron (France), Bologna Festival, Festival Brescia-Bergamo, Merano Festival, Piano aux Jacobins (Toulouse, France), Festival de Radio France-Montpellier, Printemps des Arts de Montecarlo and Menton Festival.
He has given many concerts for subsequent radio broadcasts: France Musique, Radio Classique, DRS 2 (Switzerland), NDR Kultur (Germany). He frequently appears on television programs devoted to classical music: France 2, France 5 and Mezzo in France, and the international European channel 3SAT.
He does many CD recordings, which include albums released by EMI Classics and Dinemec Classics. More recently Master Chord Records has released his recording of the two Piano Concertos of Chopin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and IndéSENS label has issued his recording of the Piano Concerto n° 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Roustem Saitkoulov has an important activity in chamber music. He is a regular partner of the violinist Maxim Vengerov and performs with such artists as Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Pierre Amoyal, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Olivier Charlier, Xavier Phillips, Laurent Korcia, Svetlin Roussev, François Salque, Mayuko Kamio and Sayaka Shoji.
Violin | Monaco
Universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today, Grammy award winner Maxim Vengerov also enjoys international acclaim as a conductor and is one of the most in-demand soloists.
Born in 1974, he began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five, won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15 respectively, studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron, made his first recording at the age of 10, and went on to record extensively for high-profile labels including Melodia, Teldec and EMI, earning among others, Grammy and Gramophone artist of the year awards.
In 2007 he followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Mstislav Rostropovich, and turned his attention to conducting and in 2010 was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. June 2014 saw Mr Vengerov graduate with a Diploma of Excellence from the Moscow Institute of Ippolitov-Ivanov with professor Yuri Simonov and he has since finished a further 2-year program of opera conducting.
Highlights of recent seasons saw Mr Vengerov opening the season of the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala with Maestro Chailly, a Residence with Monte Carlo Philharmonic and the Philharmonie in Paris as well as a world wide recital tours. Highlights of the 22/23 season saw him in an extensive US and Canadian recital tour including Berkeley, Kansas City, New York and Toronto, and an 11 concerts tour in the UK. Other orchestral performances as a soloist include Montreal, Vienna, London, Paris and Taiwan and chamber music concerts with Evgeny Kissin and Stephen Isserliss at Carngie Hall, and in Switzerland with Simon Trpcesky and Stephen Isserliss. He also joined Aspen and Bravo Vale Festival in the States this summer in Recital, Masterclasses and Concerto performance with Fabio Luisi and the Dallas SO and celebrated 40 years on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in a big gala concert in April 2023. In 2023/24 he will open the Shanghai International Festival with Christoph Eschenbach, will embarque on another world wine Recital tour including America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia and will perform orchestra concerts in amongst others in Vienna, Paris and Milan.
In 2020 Maxim Vengerov became Classic FM’s first solo Artist in Residence and released a new recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, coupled with works by Saint-Säens and Ravel as well as a live recital from Carnegie Hall.
As one of Mr Vengerov’s greatest passions is the teaching and encouraging of young talent, he has held various teaching positions around the world. He currently holds the Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny Stiftungsprofessor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and since September 2016 he is also the Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2018 Maxim Vengerov became the Goodwill Ambassador of the Musica Mundi School - a unique institution, which supports young talents. With the vision of democratising the access of music learning, he launched his own online platform in January 2021:www.maximvengerov.com and created an impact across 170 countries and over 190 million reach. His first year programs include partnerships with musical institutions from around the world, the Lottery Ticket program, guest artist series inaugurated with Brett Yang from TwoSet Violin, as well as his new global community group who’s initiatives include the world leading Mentoring program, rural musical communities initiative and the Musical Pen Pals program for children.
Mr Vengerov has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999, and Living the Dream, which was released worldwide and received the Gramophone Award for Best Documentary in 2008.
Mr Vengerov has received prestigious fellowships and honours from a number of institutions. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Visiting Fellowship at Trinity College Oxford and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and the Order of Cultural Merit from the Palace Monte Carlo.
Mr Vengerov has also received numerous awards including Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) (2003), two Gramophone awards (1994, 1995), a Classical Brit Award (2004), five Edison Classical Music Awards (1995, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004), two ECHO awards (1997, 2003) and a World Economic Forum Crystal award (2007) - honouring artists who have used their art to improve the state of the world.
He plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727).
Piano | Uzbekistan
Behzod Abduraimov’s performances combine an immense depth of musicality with phenomenal technique and breath-taking delicacy. He performs with renowned orchestras worldwide including Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Concertgebouworkest, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) with prestigious conductors such as, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Gustavo Dudamel, Semyon Bychkov, Gianandrea Noseda, Juraj Valčuha, Vasily Petrenko and Constantinos Carydis.
2023/24 performances include Chicago Symphony, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Houston Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, Oslo Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra including a tour of Spain and Belgian National Orchestra performing at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Behzod will also appear with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Conductor collaborations include Osmo Vänskä, Juraj Valčuha, Constantinos Carydis, Robin Ticciati, Manfred Honeck, Yoel Levi, Han-Na Chang, Hannu Lintu and Andris Poga.
In recital Behzod has appeared a number of times at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and has recently been presented by Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Toppan Hall, Tokyo, Teatro alla Scala and La Società dei Concerti di Milano. In 2023/24 Behzod will appear twice at Carnegie Hall – returning to the Stern Auditorium for solo recital, followed by a duo recital with Daniel Lozakovich at the Weill Auditorium. The duo will present recitals elsewhere in North America including Bing Hall, Stanford, and the Vancouver Recital series. Behzod will also perform in recital at the Seoul Arts Centre, Shanghai Concert Hall, Amare Hall, Hague and the Tuesday Evening Concert Series, Charlottesville. Regular festival appearances include Aspen, Verbier, Rheingau, La Roque Antheron, Lucerne and Ravello festivals.
Behzod’s second recording for Alpha Classics, featuring works by Ravel, Prokofiev, and Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova, was released on 12 January 2024. The album won the Gramophone Editor’s Choice award and was named one of the Apple Music ‘10 Classical Albums You Must Hear This Month’ of February 2024. 2021 saw the highly successful release of his first recital album for Alpha Classics based on a programme of Miniatures including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In 2020 recordings included Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under James Gaffigan, recorded on Rachmaninov’s own piano from Villa Senar for Sony Classical and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 with Concertgebouworkest, for the RCO live label. Both recordings were nominated for the 2020 Opus Klassik awards in multiple categories. A DVD of his BBC Proms debut in 2016 with Münchner Philharmoniker was released in 2018. His 2012 debut CD of Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Prokofiev for Decca won the Choc de Classica and Diapason Découverte, and his first concerto disc for the label featured Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No.1.
Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1990, Behzod began the piano aged five as a pupil of Tamara Popovich at Uspensky State Central Lyceum in Tashkent. In 2009, he won first prize at the London International Piano Competition with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3. He studied with Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri, where he is Artist-in-Residence.
“Behzod Abduraimov has the magic touch” — The Times
Piano | Belgium
A pianist of exceptional technique, emotional depth, and sophistication, Denis Kozhukhin has gained significant recognition through his powerful performances, establishing himself as one of the most accomplished musicians of his generation.
Highlights of the last two seasons include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Frankfurt’s hr-Sinfonieorchester, BBC Symphony, Orchestre National de Belgique, Danish National Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and WDR Sinfonieorchester. He has worked with conductors such as Rafael Payare, Alain Altintoglu, Cristian Macelaru, Hannu Lintu, Dalia Stasevska, and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, among others.
Kozhukhin’s 2023/24 season includes returns to the Oslo Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Washington’s National Symphony, and Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona, alongside debuts with the Dallas Symphony, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and Melbourne Symphony. Denis will also perform recitals and chamber music at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Elbphilharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and Zurich’s Tonhalle. Since winning the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2010, Denis has performed with the London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Staatskapelle Berlin. A sought-after recitalist and chamber musician, Kozhukhin regularly appears at prominent music festivals including Verbier, Gstaad, Grafenegg, Dresden, Intonations Festival, Tsinandali, Klavier Ruhr, Lanaudiere, and Jerusalem Music Festivals, as well as the BBC Proms.
As a Pentatone recording artist, his discography spans works by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Ravel, and Gershwin.
A graduate of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid under the guidance of Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martinez-Mehner, Kozhukhin further honed his skills at the Piano Academy at Lake Como, where he received advice from notable pianists such as Fou Ts'ong, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, Charles Rosen, Andreas Staier, and Kirill Gerstein in Stuttgart.
Soprano | Egypt
Egyptian soprano Fatma Said is one of the most exciting young artists of her generation. Hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “a discovery”, Fatma has not only distinguished herself in opera houses and on concert stages, but also in a humanitarian capacity, regularly representing her home country as an ambassador for culture and education.
In 2016, Fatma made her sensational role debut at Teatro alla Scala as Pamina in Peter Stein’s critically acclaimed new production of Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Adam Fischer. The production, in which Fatma was described as “luminous”, “warm and mature” and full of “incredible depth”, was broadcast by ARTE and has since been released on DVD.
Fatma will begin her exciting 2021-22 season with a gala concert in Istanbul with Rolando Villazón, followed by recitals at the Schubertiade, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, deSingel Antwerp and DeutschlandFunk Cologne. Fatma will also appear in concert with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Le Concert Spirituel, DSO Berlin and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. Fatma ends her busy season with a debut at the Opéra de Rouen as Pamina and Zerlina Don Giovanni at the Verbier Festival.
Fatma has established a reputation as an extraordinarily gifted musician and was previously a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. In 2019, Fatma became an exclusive Warner recording artist. The 2019/20 season saw performances of Mahler 4 with Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Fauré Requiem with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and performances as Pamina in China with the Teatro alla Scala. Highlights of Fatma’s 2020/21 season included concert appearances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Orchestre national de France, a gala concert for Rolex with Sonya Yoncheva at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and recitals at Wigmore Hall, Leeds Lieder and the Victoria de los Ángeles Festival Barcelona. Fatma was recently named BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year, in addition to winning the Vocal Award for her critically acclaimed debut album with Warner Classics, El Nour.
Previous highlights include Mozart Requiem at the BBC Proms under Nathalie Stutzmann, Die Schöpfung and a recording of Mahler 8 with Adam Fischer at Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Strauss lieder with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, plus Suor Angelica with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Omer Meir Wellber. Fatma has also given recitals in Perth, Dresden, Bonn and Mallorca, concerts in Lucerne, Vienna and Salzburg with Rolando Villazón, and gala concerts at The United Nations in Geneva and in Muscat with Juan Diego Flórez. Fatma also appeared as L’Amour in the new John Fulljame/Hofesh Schechter Orphée et Eurydice at Teatro alla Scala, in addition to making her debut at the Salzburg MozartWoche in a production of Mozart’s T.H.A.M.O.S by La Fura del Baus.
Fatma is an alumna of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler and the prestigious Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where she was the first Egyptian to ever have debuted at the house. Fatma represented Egypt twice at the United Nations to highlight children’s right to education and dignity through music and was part of the 2018 “Silk Road Concert” at the Temple of Luxor. In 2016, Fatma Said received an honorary award from Egypt's National Council for Women and was singled out for one of Egypt’s highest accolades during the first National Youth Convention: she became the first opera singer ever to be awarded the state’s Creativity Award for her outstanding artistic achievement on an international level.
Violin | Russia
After bright successes at the most precious violin competitions Sergei Dogadin acquired international fame as one of the best violinist of his generation.
In 2019 Sergei was awarded First Prize and Golden Medal at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Among his other significant victories such major contents as IX Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover and Singapore International Violin Competition.
Sergei is the grant-holder of the Russian Ministry of Culture, Prize-winner of the Mozart Society in Dortmund (Germany), winner of the award established by Maestro Yuri Temirkanov and winner of the Prize of the President of Russia.
Since making his major debut in 2002 at the Grand Hall of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonie under the button of Vasily Petrenko and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra, Dogadin has performed on world’s most renowned venues such as Golden Hall of the "Musikverein" in Vienna, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Cologne Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, "Herkules-saal" and "Gasteig" in Munich, "Liederhalle" in Stuttgart, "Concertgebouw" and "Muziekgebouw" in Amsterdam, "Suntory Hall" in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Concert Hall "Kitara" in Sapporo, "Esplanade" Concert Hall in Singapore, "Festspielhaus" in Baden-Baden, Grand Theatre and Symphony Hall in Shanghai, "Auditorio Nacional" and "Palacio de Congresos" in Madrid, "Alte Oper" in Frankfurt, "Tonhalle" in Zurich and Dusseldorf, "Tivoli concert hall" in Copenhagen, Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, "Berwaldhallen" in Stockholm, collaborated together with London Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Frankfurter Museum Orchestra, Nordic Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, "Kremerata Baltica" Chamber Orchestra, Munich Kammerorchester, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, "Bruno Walter" Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestras of Estonia and Latvia, State Symphony Orchestra of Russia as well as other foreign and Russian orchestras.
Many of Dogadin’s performances have been broadcasted worldwide - on Mezzo classic (France), «Medici.tv», European Broadcasting Union (EBU), BR Klassic, WDR and NDR Kultur (Germany), YLE Radio (Finland), NHK (Japan), BBC (UK), Australian Radio, Polish Radio, Estonian and Latvian Radio.
Sergei has taken part in festivals «Stars of the White Nights», «Musical collection», «Musical Olympus», «Arts Square», «Crescendo», Trans-Siberian Art Festival, Mstislav Rostropovich festival, George Enescu festival, Tivoli festival, Herbstfestspiele Baden- Baden, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, «Festival International de Colmar», Oleg Kagan Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, «Vladimir Spivakov Invites», «Chopin and his Europe», Baltic Sea Festival, «Vivarte», Singapore Violin Festival etc.
He has collaborated with such prominent conductors as Yury Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazi, Vassily Sinaisky, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Yuri Simonov, Manfred Honeck, Andrew Manze, Shlomo Mintz, Aldo Ceccato, Thomas Sanderling, Vasily Petrenko, Anu Tali, Muhai Tang, Ken Takaseki, Dmitry Liss, Alexander Sladkovsky, Alexander Dmitriev, Nikolay Alekseev, Saulus Sondeckis, Michail Tatarnikov, Alexander Rudin, Nicholas Carter, Ken-David Mazur, Kevin Griffiths, Fabio Mastrangelo, Michał Nesterowicz, Jack Martin Haendler and many others.
Sharing the stage with an outstanding musicians is an important part of Sergei's concert life. Among his partners: Elisabeth Leonskaja, Viktor Tretiakov, David Geringas, Boris Kuschnir, Denis Matsuev, Daniil Trifonov, Pierre Amoyal, Alexander Kniazev, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Maxim Rysanov, Plamena Mangova, Nikolai Tokarev, Tatiana Vasileva, Dimitri Illarionov, Vadim Holodenko, Julian Milkis, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Boris Andrianov, Lars Anders Tomter, Gil Shohat, Anna Vinnitskaya and others.
Dogadin had studied in the most famous and significant musical institutions: at the St.Petersburg Conservatory (with Prof. Vladimir Ovcharek), at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad (with Prof. Maxim Vengerov), at the High School of Music in Cologne (with Prof. Mihaela Martin) and at the University of Music in Graz (with Prof. Boris Kuschnir).
Currently, Sergei improves his skills with Prof. Boris Kuschnir at the Music and Arts University in Vienna.
In 2008 he has released his first CD album on the «Solo Musica» label (Munich, Germany), including the compositions by Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergey Rachmaninov, Sergey Prokofiev and Alexander Rosenblatt.
The 2017/2018 season brought the release of two CD albums:
- Shostakovich - Violin concerto № 1 with the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan under the direction of Maestro A. Sladkovsky, («Melody» label); - Shostakovich - Sonata for violin and piano and his 24 preludes (arrangement for violin and piano by D.Tsyganov/L.Auerbach), («Naxos» label).
Since 2017 Sergei Dogadin is a guest professor at the Liangzhu International Arts Academy (China) and the Gracias Music Academy at the School of Mahanaim (USA). At the same time he constantly gives masterclasses in South Korea, Singapore, Latvia and Azerbaijan.
Sergei was invited as a jury member at the 4th Yankelevitch International Violin Competition and Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition.
Sergei Dogadin had enjoyed the honor of performing during several festivals on Niccolo Paganini’s and Johann Strauss’s violins.
At the moment he plays the Domenico Montagnana violin (Venice, 1721) provided by "The Rin Collection" (Singapore).
Piano | USA
Few musicians epitomize the term of the ‘exceptional artist’ better than Kit Armstrong. Born in 1992 in Los Angeles, he is described as “the amazement-causing artist who can only be described as a musical phenomenon” by German magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung. With 27 years he not only demonstrates extraordinary aptitude at the piano but also at the organ, at the conductor’s desk as well as being a composer in great demand. Since earliest youth Armstrong fascinates the audience in major international venues such as Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, NHK Hall Tokyo, and Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels.
Armstrong collaborates with many of the world’s most sought-after conductors including Christian Thielemann, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, Manfred Honeck, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mario Venzago, and Thomas Dausgaard. He has been a guest at some of the world’s finest orchestras, among them the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In Summer 2018 Kit Armstrong was artist-in-residence at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and has been appointed as “Artist-in-Resonance” by the Musikkollegium Winterthur. In the same year he received the Beethoven-Ring by the German society “Bürger für Beethoven” following the footsteps of Igor Levit, Gustavo Dudamel, and Lisa Batiashvili.
Highlights of season 2019/20 include concerts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. He will tour with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra in Europe. Piano recitals will bring him to the Vienna Concert Hall, Lincoln Centre in New York, Rheingau Music Festival, Munich Prinzregententheater, Piano Festival Ruhr, and Schubertiade Hohenems among others. Engagements as organist include concerts at the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Konzerthaus, and at the Bruckner Festival Linz. He gave his acclaimed debut as conductor at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in 2018 with an outstanding rendition of Händel’s oratorio Theodora. In 2020 he will be a guest conductor with the Bochumer Symphoniker.
Being a passionate chamber musician Kit Armstrong works regularly with other leading instrumentalists and singers such as Renaud Capuҫon, Daniel Müller-Schott, Quatuor Ebène, Armida Quartett, Christiane Karg, and Julian Prégardien. As an organist he appeared in recitals at the Berlin Philharmonie, Mosel Musikfestival, and the Cologne Philharmonie. The versatile artist established a great reputation with his compositions which are published by Edition Peters. Commissioners include the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Schubertiade Hohenems, BASF Ludwigshafen, Dortmund Concert Hall and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. His debut recording with works by Bach, Ligeti and Armstrong was released in September 2013 by Sony Classical as “one of the very few CDs that the world was waiting for” (Kulturradio RBB). His second album Symphonic Scenes was released 2015 by Sony Classical and received enthusiastic reviews for his interpretation of an exceptional program of piano works primarily composed for orchestra by Liszt.
Kit Armstrong studied music at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and continued and finished his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At age of seven, he started studying composition at Chapman University and physics at California State University, later also chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and mathematics at the Imperial College London. He earned a master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI. At the age of thirteen, Armstrong met Alfred Brendel who has guided him as a teacher and mentor ever since. Their unique relationship was captured in the film Set the Piano Stool on Fire by Mark Kidel. Today Armstrong resides in Vienna nearby Salzburg as well as in the former church Sainte-Thérèse-de- l’Enfant-Jésus in the French city of Hirson, organizing concerts on a regular basis.
Violin | Germany · Armenia
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
In recent seasons, Sergey has performed with the Südwestrundfunk Symphonieorchester (Christoph Eschenbach), Bamberger Symphoniker (Herbert Blomstedt and Jonathan Nott), Münchner Philharmoniker (James Gaffigan), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Juraj Valčuha), Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev) and Orchestre de Paris (Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda). He has also collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.
Sergey’s recent appearances in the US include with the Seattle Symphony (Ludovic Morlot), Cleveland Orchestra (Jakub Hrůša) and National Symphony Orchestra Washington (Vasily Petrenko). He has also visited the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony as well as the Ravinia, Aspen, Blossom and Mostly Mozart Festivals.
This season Sergey’s international presence is sustained by performances with Dresdner Philharmonie (Cristian Măcelaru), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Yuri Temirkanov), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Alondra de la Parra), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (Yuri Simonov), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Jonathan Nott), Cleveland Orchestra (Jakub Hrůša), Prague Radio Symphony (Alexander Liebreich), San Francisco Symphony (Dima Slobodeniouk).
Highlights of the past season included Sergey’s residency at the BOZAR, Brussels which comprised of a pair of recitals and concert with Orchestre National de Belgique and Hugo Wolff. Sergey also embarked on a tour of the US and Europe with Alisa Weilierstein and Inon Barnaton with a programme entitled Transfigured Nights featuring the music of Beethoven, Schoenberg and Shostakovich.
The 2017/18 season saw Sergey’s debuts at the Aspen Festival in Colorado, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with the Hamburger Symphoniker and at the Salzburger Festspiele performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Re-invitations included the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam and Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestras, St Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Other recent projects included a tour of Japan with the Nippon Foundation and in 2014/15, Sergey performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Lucerne Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel as the latest recipient of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.
Violin | Ireland
The violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for 30 years and is celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes. Winner of the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music, whose previous recipients include Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Hope appears as soloist with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, also directing many ensembles from the violin. Since the start of the 2016/17 season Hope is Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra – and from the 2018/19 Season also Music Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco.
In 2019 he became Artistic Director of the Frauenkirche Cathedral in Dresden, and from 2020 he will assume the role of President of the Beethovenhaus Bonn, an honorary position following in the footsteps of Kurt Masur and Joseph Joachim.
Daniel Hope was raised in London at Highgate School and the Royal Academy of Music, studying the violin with Zakhar Bron, Itzhak Rashkovsky and Felix Andrievsky. The youngest ever member of the Beaux Arts Trio with whom he performed over 400 times during its final six seasons, today Daniel Hope appears at all the world’s greatest halls and festivals: from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, from Salzburg to Schleswig-Holstein and from Aspen to the BBC Proms and Tanglewood. He has worked with conductors including Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann, and with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras including Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Paris, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Devoted to contemporary music, Hope has commissioned over thirty works, enjoying close contact with composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Toru Takemitsu, Harrison Birtwistle, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Peter Maxwell-Davies and Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Daniel Hope is one of the world’s most prolific classical recording artists, with over 25 albums to his name. His recordings have won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award, the Prix Caecilia, the ECHO-Klassik Award and numerous Grammy nominations. His album of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Octet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was named one of the best of the year by the New York Times. His recording of Alban Berg’s Concerto was voted Grammophone Magazine’s “top choice of all available recordings”. His recording of Max Richter's Vivaldi Recomposed, which reached No. 1 in over 22 countries is, with 250,000 copies sold, one of the most successful classical recordings of recent times. Hope has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007.
In 2017 the documentary film “Daniel Hope – The Sound of Life” was screened in European cinemas as well as in Movie Theatres in Australia and North America.
Daniel Hope has penned four bestselling books published in Germany by the Rowohlt publishing company. He contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal and has written scripts for collaborative performances with the actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mia Farrow. In Germany he presents a weekly radio show for the WDR3 Channel and curates, since the 2016/17 season his own salon “Hope@9pm”, a music and talk event with guests from culture and politics at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
Daniel Hope plays the 1742 “ex-Lipínski” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany.
He holds both Irish and German citizenship and resides with his family in Berlin. January 2020
Clarinet | Austria
The Austrian clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer has captured audiences and critics alike with the singular beauty of tone that he coaxes from the instrument.
Ottensamer performs as a soloist in the major concert halls around the world, with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Orchestre Metropolitain, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, the European Union Youth Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Stephane Deneve, Alan Gilbert and Lorenzo Viotti.
His artistic partnerships as a chamber musician include work with Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos, Janine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Nemanja Radulovic, Nicolas Altstädt and Sol Gabetta. In 2005 Ottensamer founded the clarinet trio “The Clarinotts” with his father Ernst and brother Daniel.
He is also artistic director of the 'Bürgenstock Festival' in Switzerland, together with pianist José Gallardo, and the “Artström Festival” in Berlin.
In February 2013 Andreas Ottensamer entered into an exclusive recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, making him the first ever solo clarinettist to sign an exclusive agreement with the Yellow Label. For his second album, “Brahms - The Hungarian Connection”, Ottensamer was awarded the ECHO KLASSIK as 'Instrumentalist of the year 2015'. He went on to record “New Era” on the Decca Classics label, performing repertoire of the Mannheim school with Emmanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer and the Kammerakademie Potsdam.
His latest album for Deutsche Grammophon, “Blue Hour”, a collaboration with Yuja Wang, Maris Jansons and the Berliner Philharmoniker performing works by Weber, Brahms and Mendelssohn, won him Instrumentalist of the Year by Opus Klassik.
Highlights of the 2018/19 season included guest solo performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony, the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival and the Salzburg Festival where he performed the Weber Clarinet Concerto with the Camerata Salzburg and Lorenzo Viotti. In May 2019 he was Artist in Residence at the Schwetzingen Festival. He also performed in the Utzon Recital series at Sydney Opera House and performed with Yuja Wang at the Carnegie Hall, the Gstaad Menhuin Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Highlights of the 2019/2020 season include the Mozart Clarinet Concerto at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, concerts with the Kammerorchester Basel and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. In recital he appears with Yuja Wang at the Barbican in London. He appears at the Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Berlin and the Philharmonie Luxembourg. He also appears as a “Menuhin Heritage Artist” at the Gstaad Menhuin Festival.
Andreas Ottensamer was born in 1989 in Vienna. He comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians and was drawn to music early, receiving his first piano lessons when he was four. At the age of ten he began studying cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, switching to the clarinet in 2003.
In 2009 he interrupted his Harvard undergraduate studies to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Since March 2011 Ottensamer has been principal clarinettist with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Violin | USA
Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons in addition to championing these solo works he will join his long time duo partner pianist, Akira Eguchi in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Appearances with orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.
Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers and many more. His most recent recording in the series 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He will release a new recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights in 2020.
Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard, and also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius and performs on an Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona c1719, with the assistance of Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.
Piano | Austria
Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the legendary artists of our time. His piano playing is an unparalleled fusion of the authority of a career spanning more than 60 years with spirit and spontaneity. His renditions are celebrated worldwide for their intellectual depth and musical freedom.
Particularly his renditions of Ludwig van Beethoven's works are considered to be exemplary. He has performed the 32 piano sonatas 60 times in cycles all over the world and developed the story of their interpretation over decades. He was the first pianist to play all Beethoven sonatas at the Salzburg Festival during a summer festival. A live recording is available on DVD.
On the occasion of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday in the 2019/20 concert season, for the first time in its 150-year history, the Vienna Musikverein gave a single pianist, Rudolf Buchbinder, the honor of performing all five piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven in a specially edited cycle. Buchbinder's partners in this unprecedented constellation were the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Music Director Andris Nelsons, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Riccardo Muti and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under their chief conductors Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann.
Together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, Rudolf Buchbinder also returned to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the Carnegie Hall New York as part of a tour.
A première is the focus of the Beethoven Year 2020. Based on Beethoven's Diabelli Variations Op. 120, Rudolf Buchbinder initiated a new cycle of variations on the same waltz by Anton Diabelli, which also forms the basis of Beethoven's epochal masterpiece. With Lera Auerbach, Brett Dean, Toshio Hosokawa, Christian Jost, Brad Lubman, Philippe Manoury, Max Richter, Rodion Shchedrin, Johannes Maria Staud, Tan Dun and Jörg Widmann, it was possible to win eleven leading contemporary composers of different generations and backgrounds. The New Diabelli Variations were commissioned by a variety of concert promoters worldwide and with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
In March 2020, Deutsche Grammophon released 'The Diabelli Project' presenting the world première recording of the New Diabelli Variations alongside a new recording of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which Buchbinder last recorded in 1976. The CD marks the beginning of Rudolf Buchbinder's exclusive partnership with Deutsche Grammophone.
Rudolf Buchbinder is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the first soloist to be awarded the Golden Badge of Honor by the Staatskapelle Dresden.
Buchbinder attaches great importance to source research. His private music collection comprises 39 complete editions of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas as well as an extensive archive of first prints, original editions and copies of the piano scores of both piano concertos by Johannes Brahms.
He has been the artistic director of the Grafenegg Festival since its foundation in 2007. Today, Grafenegg is one of the most influential orchestral festivals in Europe.
Two books by Rudolf Buchbinder have been published so far, his autobiography 'Da Capo' and 'Mein Beethoven - Leben mit dem Meister'. Numerous award-winning recordings on CD and DVD document his career.
For concert dates and further information please visit the homepage www.buchbinder.net
Violin | Belgium
Leonard Schreiber was born in Belgium, and starts the violin at the age of five. At six he gives his first concerto appearance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders. At fourteen he moved to London to the specialised 'Purcell School of Music' and at sixteen entered the Royal College of Music with Prof. Felix Andrievsky followed by Prof. Levon Chilingirian where he won all the prestigious awards the college had to offer.
Leonard is known as a versatile and passionate musician. Besides his active solo career, he also became a member of the piano trio 'Trio Chausson' from 2015 to 2018. He also played concerts around the world with wonderful musicians such as Boris Andrianov, Nicholas Angelich, Yuri Bashmet, Boris Berezovsky, the 'Borodin Quartet', Juozas Domarkas, Itamar Golan, Michael Guttman, Dimitri Illarionov, Dmitri Jurowski, Andrei Korobeinikov, Gavriel Lipkind, Valentina Lisitsa, Sir Roger Norrington, Jean-Bernard Pommier, David Reiland, Vadim Repin, Melvyn Tan, Neil Thomson, Maxim Vengerov, Vladimir Verbitsky, Kazuki Yamada…
He played at the 'Oriental Arts Centre' in Shanghaï during the World Exhibition. This concert was recorded on the label EMI. His CD with the London Symphony Orchestra 'Violin Heritage' with works of Franck, Vieuxtemps, Ysaÿe and a piece composed in Memory of the Holocaust by Dirk Brossé conducted by the composer himself, won several awards. (CD of the year 'Monde de la Musique') He regularly tours in South America, in Russia and in all the European Cities, in the most prestigious concert halls. Besides the usual concerts, Leonard had the honour to play several times for HRH Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, and for many other Royalties and Heads of States around the world.
Leonard plays on a Alessandro Mezzadri violin of 1710, on loan by Georg von Opel.
'Leonard Schreiber, as soloist, was at one with the conductor’s approach... The cadenza in the Khachaturian Concerto,was given with wry sardonic humour that brought David Oistrakh, the work’s dedicatee, to mind.' Musicweb-international
'Truly innovative and original recording performed with great sensitivity and flair' Quote by Maxim Vengerov on Leonard's recording with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Piano | South Korea
Yeol Eum Son’s graceful and timeless interpretations, crystalline touch and versatile, thrilling performances have caught the attention of audiences worldwide. Praised for her widely eclectic concerti repertoire, ranging from Bach, all-Mozart, early German and Russian Romantic to Gershwin and Ligeti, Yeol Eum has collaborated with major ensembles worldwide such as Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmoniker, The Tonkunstler Orchestra at the Grafenegg Festival, Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Seoul Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Moscow Virtuosi among many others.
Yeol Eum performs with conductors such as Dmitri Kitayenko, Valery Gergiev, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Spivakov, Andrew Manze, Susanna Mälkki, Omer Meir Wellber, Cristian Măcelaru, Pietari Inkinen, Jonathan Nott, Mikko Franck, Nicholas Collon, Joshua Weilerstein, Joana Carneiro, Pablo González, Case Scaglione, Roberto González-Monjas and Yan Pascal Tortelier.
Across the 20/21 season Yeol Eum serves as Artist in Residence with the Residentie Orkest from the Hague. In front of the Dutch audience and under the baton of conductors Nick Collon, Pablo González and Joshua Weilerstein, Yeol Eum presents a selection of some of the finest concerti of the piano repertoire including Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. Beyond Zuiderstrandtheater in the Hague, her residency will take her to some of the major venues across the Netherlands including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Apeldoorn's Orpheus and Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg, Yeol Eum also gives a recital at the Hague's Nieuwe Kirk and a Masterclass at the Hague's conservatory.
In summer 2019 Yeol Eum made her Royal Albert Hall and BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic interpreting Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15. Her most recent debut with the Liverpool Philharmonic (Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto) was met with high acclaim for which Johanna Roberts wrote: Yeol Eum Son throughout demonstrated the technical excellence partnered with lyrical sensitivity that have made her one of the most sought-after concert pianists in a virtuoso performance that was much appreciated by the audience. During her recent UK tour with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Yeol Eum returned to London’s Cadogan Hall and debuted at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and at Basingstoke’s the Anvil Concert Hal (Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand). Following her hugely successful debut with Aurora orchestra earlier in 2019, Yeol Eum © 2017 IMG Artists; Please do not make alterations to this biography without contacting IMG Artists. was instantly re-invited and features as a soloist on their March 2020 tour under Nick Collon (Mozart Piano Concerto No.23) with concerts taking place at King’s Place in London as well as at St George’s concert hall in Bristol and at the Apex concert hall in Bury St Edmunds. Yeol Eum subsequently makes her debut with Aurora Orchestra at the opening of the Heidelberger Frühling festival.
A distinguished Mozart interpreter, in the recent concert seasons, Yeol Eum made major UK debuts with the CBSO in Birmingham (Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21) and at London’s Cadogan Hall with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Mozart’s Piano Concerti No’s 8 & 21). Her London debut coincided with Onyx CD release of a highly acclaimed all-Mozart recording featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner for whom it was the very last recording. According to The Times Yeol Eum Son is a model of clarity and fleetness whilst Gramophone called the recording an uncommonly fine Mozartian debut.
Further concerti debuts across the 19/20 season and beyond include collaborations with Budapest Festival Orchestra (Rachmaninov No. 2); West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Mozart No. 21); New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Mozart No. 27); St Paul Chamber Orchestra (play-direct of Beethoven No.4); Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven No.4); Liège Philharmonic (Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue and Variations on I got Rhythm); Helsinki Philharmonic (Yashiro Piano Concerto); WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne at the RadiRo Festival in Bucharest (Rachmaninov No. 2); Philharmonie de Paris debut with Orchestre National d'Île-de-France (Rachmaninov No.2); RTVE Symphony Orchestra (Szymanowski Sinfonia Concertante) and a tour of Belgium with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra (Liszt No.1). Following her previous successful collaborations, Yeol Eum returns to Gävle Symphony Orchestra (Chopin No.2), Bergen Philharmonic (Rachmaninov No.2), Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne (Prokofiev No.2) and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken (Prokofiev No.3).
A sensitive, emotional and powerful recitalist, Yeol Eum gives frequent solo and chamber performances across the globe. Most recent recitals include debuts with San Francisco Chamber Music Society, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Helsingborg Piano Festival, International Piano Series Fribourg, Istanbul Recitalleri, Moscow's House of Music, Welsh debut at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Scottish recital debut at the East Neuk Festival for which The Scotsman presides Yeol Eum for having found that vital emotional connection with the music and physically embracing its raw energy and dynamic extremes with ferocious virtuosity. In the 19/20 season and beyond Yeol Eum makes recital debuts in Luzerne's KKLSaal, Bern's Paul Klee Centre, Porto's Casa da Música, Belgrade's Kolarac Concert Hall and at the Tallin Piano Festival.
An avid chamber musician, in 2018 Yeol Eum was appointed Artistic Director of Music in PyeongChang, the biggest music festival in her native Korea. Yeol Eum is responsible for programming both summer and winter festivals at the Olympic site in PyeongChang. Further chamber highlights in 2020 include appearances at Philharmonie Cologne for collaborations with the principle players from WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 arranged for Piano and String Quintet) and with Quatuor Modigliani. © 2017 IMG Artists; Please do not make alterations to this biography without contacting IMG Artists. Yeol Eum’s new releases include two DECCA albums: recital CD Modern Times- featuring solo piano music written between 1910-1920 by Berg, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Ravel, and Schumann and Brahms CD with violinist Clara-Jumi Kang. Previous albums include debut CD of complete Chopin Etudes (2004); Chopin Nocturnes for Piano and Strings (2008); prize-winning Cliburn Competition live performance (2009) and a multi-channel SACD O’ New World Music (2012).
Yeol Eum is Honorary Ambassador of the Seoul Arts Center and her home city of Wonju. A double Second Prize winner at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 2011 and at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, Yeol Eum Son was a student of Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik Theater und Medien Hannover in Germany, where she now lives. She holds a degree from the Korean National University of Arts.
Piano | Turkey
With his extraordinary pianistic talents, Fazıl Say has been touching audiences and critics alike for more than twenty-five years, in a way, that has become rare in the increasingly materialistic and elaborately organised classical music world. Concerts with this artist are something different. They are more direct, more open, more exciting; in short, they go straight to the heart.
Since the beginning of his career he has played with all of the renowned American and European orchestras and numerous leading conductors, building up a multifaceted repertoire ranging from Bach, through the Viennese Classics (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) and the Romantics, right up to contemporary music, including his own piano compositions.
Guest appearances have taken Fazıl Say to countless countries on all five continents; the French newspaper “Le Figaro” called him ‘a genius’. He also performs chamber music regularly: since many years he has been part of a fantastic duo with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Other notable collaborators include Maxim Vengerov, the Minetti Quartet, Nicolas Altstaedt and Marianne Crebassa.
As a composer, Say has been commissioned to write music for, among others, the Salzburger Festspiele, the WDR and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Konzerthaus Wien, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the BBC. His oeuvre includes four symphonies, two oratorios, various solo concertos and numerous works for piano and chamber music.
Highlights of the 2020-21 season include concerts with the Münchner Philharmoniker under Thomas Hengelbrock in Munich and Baden-Baden, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Paavo Järvi in Zurich and Hamburg, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Iván Fischer, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Classic Open Air on the Gendarmenmarkt with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach.
In recitals Fazıl Say can be heard in Japan and European cities such as Milan, Paris, Budapest, Moscow and Munich; in the first half of the season he dedicates his programmes mainly to Beethoven’s sonatas, in 2021 he takes Bach's Goldberg Variations and Schubert's C minor Sonata D 958 with him on tour.
Fazıl Say also regularly performs his own works in concert, including his piano concerto "Silk Road" with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra; "The Moving Mansion" with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Würth Philharmoniker and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta; his song cycle "İlk Şarkılar" with mezzo-soprano Serenad Bağcan in Hamburg, Zurich and İstanbul, and his İstanbul Symphony with the Orchester der Komischen Oper Berlin.
Fazıl Say has produced an extensive discography of over 40 CDs. His recordings for Teldec Classics, naïve and Warner have received numerous awards, including four ECHO KLASSIK and a Gramophone Classical Music Award. Since 2016 Fazıl Say has been an exclusive artist with Warner Classics, where his last recording of all Beethoven’s piano sonatas was released in January 2020.
Bandoneon | Italy
Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi was born in Atessa on December 26th 1980. He began studying the accordion at the age of nine before switching to the bandoneon later. From 1993 to 2001, he studied at the F. Fenaroli Civic Music school in Lanciano with M° C. Calista and with M° C. Chiacchiaretta. In 2007, he graduated with honours from Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome.
In 2006, he resided at the Montreal Jazz Festival “I colori del mare” with Gabriele Mirabassi and Pietro Tonolo a project of the EGEA record company.
On 25th May 2009, he played at the Colosseo (Rome) with M° Andrea Bocelli, Angela Gheorghiu, Andrea Griminelli and the Abruzzo Symphony Orchestra. The event “L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra” was in aid of the earthquake victims of Abruzzo. It was exclusively broadcast worldwide on RAI 1 and RAI SAT.
On December 25th 2010, he performed with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Concerto per la Vita e per la Pace (Concert for Life and Peace), worldwide broadcast by RAI in Bethlehem.
On June 1st 2011, he performed at the Arena of Verona together with Erwin Schrott during the festivities for the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification. The show was broadcast live by Rai 1.
Together with Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebeko, he performed in the most important cities in Germany, England and Denmark in 2012. In the same year, he recorded the DVD "Live in Portofino" on a guest appearance with Andrea Bocelli.
In 2013, he performed on a guest appearance with Andrea Bocelli, Riccardo Cocciante, Pino Daniele and Simona Molinari at the event "Teatro del Silenzio". On February 22 2014, he performed at the Ulker Sports Arena in Istanbul together with Andrea Bocelli.
In 2018 recorded “Tango Seasons” for Sony Records, alongside Andrés Gabetta leading the fantastic baroque ensemble Cappella Gabetta.
Apart from frequently performing in Italy, he has been giving concerts in England, France, Belgium, Denmark, Croatia, Serbia, Germany, the U.S.A., Poland, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Armenia, Russia, Israel, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Turkia, Libano, Belarus and China.
Piano | Germany
Severin von Eckardstein, one of the leading German pianists of his generation, has an already lengthy record of solo concerts and concerto performances on major stages around the world.
He has delighted the public with many highly acclaimed concerts, for example in Berlin, Munich, Milan, Moscow, Madrid, London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Budapest, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul. His talent could be enjoyed at great music festivals, including Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Aldeburgh / UK, the Gilmore Festival in Michigan / USA, La Roque d’Anthéron / France, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Husum Festival (“Raritäten der Klaviermusik”) and the Miami International Piano Festival, where he played the opening concert in 2009. He has performed with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Philippe Herreweghe, Lothar Zagrosek and Marek Janowski, and made important debuts, among others in 2007 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden in 2012 and the Hungarian National Philharmony under Zsolt Hamar in 2017.
In 2018 he made his debut at the Thompson Art Center in New York with two different recitals.
Many of Von Eckardstein’s concerts have been recorded and broadcasted by major broadcasting corporations. As a frequent guest of the concert series “Meesterpianisten” at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, von Eckardstein opened the gala concert celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary in 2012. In 2020 he was reinvited to this extraordinary series for the 8 th time.
Born in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1978, the pianist won prizes at numerous noteworthy international competitions, e.g. “Ferruccio Busoni” in Bozen (1998), the “Leeds International Piano Competition” (2000), “José Iturbi” in Valencia (2002), the ARD- Competition in Munich (1999) and was awarded first prize at the “Concours Reine Elisabeth” in Brussels (2003).
On several occasions he has been awarded special prizes for the “Best Interpretation of Contemporary Music.”
Several foundations and societies, including the Mozart Society and the highly regarded German National Merit Foundation, have honored him with scholarships. In 2002 he received the “European Culture Prize” and in 2003 the “Echo Classic Prize.”
Von Eckardstein’s education in the musical arts was predominately shaped by his teachers Prof. Barbara Szczepanska, Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Prof. Klaus Hellwig, University of Arts, Berlin, where he also successfully completed his concert exams. In an additional course of study at the International Piano Academy Lake Como, Italy, he profited from further instruction and inspiration. He took private lessons from teachers such as Alfred Brendel and participated in master classes instructed by Vitalij Margulis, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Alicia de Larrocha, Leon Fleisher and Menahem Pressler, to name only a few. He himself has been serving as master class instructor on many occasions, among others in South Korea, Finland, Belgium and at the “UdK”, Berlin.
Chamber music also plays a significant role in his repertoire with performances at festivals such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Finland, and the Risør Chamber Music Festival, Norway, where he appeared with the cellist Heinrich Schiff. He has often given concerts with young but highly renowned musicians, for example Andrej Bielov, Barnabasz Kelemen, Franziska Hölscher, Judith Ermert, Danjulo Ishizaka and Nicolas Altstaedt. In 2015 he founded the chamber concert series “Klangbrücken” at Konzerthaus Berlin together with violinist Franziska Hölscher.
Von Eckardstein‘s comprehensive repertoire spans the baroque period up through music of the 21st century. As such, he has premiered the works of modern-day composers, in particular the American Sidney Corbett. One of his special focuses is the demanding late romantic piano music of less known composers, especially Nicolai Medtner.
CD recordings with compositions by Medtner, Scriabin, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and others aroused great interest. His latest album of Dupont´s cycle “La maison dans les dunes” was awarded with “Diapason d´Or”. Another recording of sonatas by Prokofiev is presently under preparation.
Cello | Canada · USA · France
Gary Hoffman is one of the outstanding cellists of our time, combining instrumental mastery, great beauty of sound, and a poetic sensibility in his distinctive and memorable performances. Mr. Hoffman gained international renown upon his victory as the first North American to win the Rostropovich International Competition in Paris in 1986.
A frequent soloist with the world's most noted orchestras, he has appeared with the Chicago, London, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Baltimore and National symphony orchestras as well as the English, Moscow and Los Angeles chamber orchestras, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Netherlands and Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra for the Blossom Festival and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Mr. Hoffman collaborates regularly with such celebrated conductors as André Prévin, Charles Dutoit, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zuckerman, Andrew Davis, Herbert Blomstedt, Kent Nagano, Jésus Lopez-Cobos and James Levine…
Gary Hoffman performs on major recital and chamber music series throughout the world, as well as in such prestigious festivals as Ravinia, Marlboro, Aspen, Bath, Evian, Helsinki, Verbier, Mostly Mozart, Schleswig- Holstein, Stresa... He is a frequent guest of string quartets including Emerson, Tokyo, Borromeo, Brentano, and Ysaye.
Mr. Hoffman is an regular guest of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.
Gary Hoffman premiered many concertos (Laurent Petitgirard, Joel Hoffman, Renaud Gagneux, Gil Shohat, Graciane Finzi, Dominique Lemaître, French Premiere of Elliott Carter Cello Concerto… )
Sharing his time and engagements mainly between Europe and America, he also regularly travels for concerts in Asia. He is the guest of main halls such as the Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Kennedy Center, and numerous festivals: Ravinia, La Jolla, Schleswig Holstein, Verbier, Festival International de Colmar, Evian, Prades Festival, Honk Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver, Storioni, … etc. Gary Hoffman plays and gives master classes at the Ravinia Festival, Bloomington, Kobé, Manchester Cello Festival, Salzburger Mozarteum, Festival de Prades , Santa Fe… he is a close part of the Kronberg Academy family for years, intimately involved in the Academy Masters, the festivals, and the master class weeks.
Born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1956, Gary Hoffman devotes time to teaching, as well, having been the youngest faculty appointee in the history of the Indiana University School of Music, where he remained for eight years. Mr. Hoffman regularly holds master classes world-wide. He studied the cello with Janos Starker.
In September 2011 he has been appointed as Professor at the Musical Chapel in Brussels, opening the cello class.
Residing in Paris, he is an active recording artist with the BMG (RCA), Sony, EMI and Le Chant du Monde and La Dolce Volta labels.
His Brahms Sonatas’ recording with Claire Désert – will be published in the autumn 2017 onto label La Dolce Volta. He participated to Dvorak recoding with the Jerusalem Quartet (Harmonia Mundi)- they are touring together in the main European cities.
Elgar cello concerto and Shelomo (Bloch) recorded with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège conducted by Christian Arming is released in October 2018 onto La Dolce Volta. Gary Hoffman performs on a 1662 Nicolo Amati, the "ex- Leonard Rose"
Tenor | Malta
“Only one lyric tenor on the scene today has the honeyed tone and ingratiating style to make comparisons to Pavarotti and Gigli seem serious, and it is Calleja, the man from Malta, who … is now maturing into an artist of the first rank.”
– New Yorker
Blessed with a golden-age voice that routinely inspires comparisons to “legendary singers from earlier eras: Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli, even Enrico Caruso” (Associated Press), Maltese-born Joseph Calleja has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after tenors today. His expansive discography and frequent appearances on the world’s leading opera and concert stages prompted NPR to hail him as “arguably today’s finest lyric tenor,” and led to his being voted Gramophone magazine’s 2012 Artist of the Year. A Grammy-nominated recording artist for Decca Classics, he has released five solo albums for the label.
Calleja was only 19 when he made his operatic debut as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Astra Theatre in Malta, shortly before winning an award in the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition that launched his international career. He went on to win the 1998 Caruso Competition in Milan and was a prize winner in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia in 1999, the year of his U.S. debut at the Spoleto Festival. Since then Calleja has gone on to appear with the world’s great opera companies.
Starting the 20-21 season Joseph Calleja returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Enzo Grimaldo in performances of La Gioconda. He stars in the Metropolitan Opera’s new series of Met Stars Live in Concert together with Diana Damrau, performing at the at the Royal Palace of Caserta, Italy. The program features popular arias and duets by Verdi, Bizet, Rossini. Joseph Calleja ends the season at the Teatro Real Madrid with his signature role of Mario Cavaradossi in performances of Tosca.
A sought-after concert soloist, Joseph Calleja can be heard on the best stages worldwide with his very broad repertoire. Opera Naples’ Festival under the Stars takes the tenor to Florida before he presents his well-loved Lanza programme with the WDR Radio Orchestra at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Further, he stars in the renowned Open-Air Gala in from of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Joseph Calleja will end the season with a concert dedicated to Piazzolla and Caruso at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, Italy.
Highlights of the 19-20 season include a return to the Chicago Lyric Opera as Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller and to the Vienna State Opera for performances of Tosca with Bryn Terfel and Evgenia Muraveva. Calleja gave his house debut at the Semperoper Dresden in performances of La bohème before singing Tosca at the Munich State Opera.
On the concert stage, Joseph Calleja had solo concerts at the renowned festival in Peralada, Spain, followed opera galas in Puerto Rico and at the Baden-Baden festival hall. He gave his debut in Moscow’s new Zaryadye Concert Hall and sang in Prague’s Smetana Hall. In Dublin, he joined the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Claudia Boyle for a gala concert, and in
Valencia with the Orquésta de Valencia. He gave gala performances in Singapore, as well as at the London Palladium.
Joseph Calleja's 2018-19 season was highlighted by his role debut as Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Hamburg State Opera. He sang one of his signature roles, Mario Caravadossi (Tosca), at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the renowned Festival in Aix-en-Provence. Further, he starred as Pollione (Norma) and Don José (Carmen) at the Bavarian State Opera, as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Don José at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Duca (Rigoletto) at the Vienna State Opera. Likewise, at the Vienna State Opera, Calleja had his recital debut on the grand stage, followed by his recital debut at the Naples Opera in Florida.
Highlights from recent operatic seasons include the title characters in new productions of Faust and Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera; Alfredo in La traviata opposite Renée Fleming, Adorno in Simone Boccanegra alongside Plácido Domingo, and another turn in the title role of Faust at Covent Garden; new productions of La bohème, opposite Anna Netrebko, and La traviata at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Maria Stuarda alongside Joyce DiDonato in concerts with the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and a new staging of Rigoletto at the Bavarian State Opera. He made his role debut as Riccardo in a new treatment of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, as Don José in Carmen at Oper Frankfurt in a staging of Barrie Kosky, as Cavaradossi in Tosca at Grange Park Opera and portrayed Ruggero in Rolando Villazón’s staging of Puccini’s La rondine at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Calleja appears extensively in concert throughout the world, singing with leading orchestras at summer festivals, including Salzburg, and in outdoor concerts in front of tens of thousands of people in Malta, Paris, and Munich. He was the featured soloist at the 2011 Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm, was selected by the Maltese president to perform a private concert for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and toured Germany with soprano Anna Netrebko. After co-headlining 2012’s Last Night of the BBC Proms, Calleja returned to the London festival in 2013 for a gala performance at the Royal Albert Hall and an open-air concert marking the Last Night of the Proms in Hyde Park. As a recitalist, he has performed in Japan and throughout Europe.
As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist since 2003, the tenor boasts an extensive discography that includes complete operas and concert repertoire, as well as five solo albums: The Golden Voice, Tenor Arias, The Maltese Tenor, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, and Amore. His videography enjoys similar success, and it was his portrayal of Alfredo in the Royal Opera House’s DVD/Blu-ray release of La traviata, in which he co-stars with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, that earned Calleja his first Grammy nomination. His rendition of the Verdi aria “La donna è mobile” is featured on the soundtrack of No Reservations, a 2007 motion picture starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. He made his Hollywood debut in 2014’s The Immigrant, in which he portrays the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in a cast with Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner.
Calleja’s VERDI album was released by Decca Classics in February 2018 and features a lovely selection of dramatic tenor repertoire by Verdi, including arias from Aida, Don Carlo, La forza del destino and Otello, to name but a few. It was highly acclaimed by the press:
“Joseph Calleja with his ‘Verdi’ album is in outstanding form aptly displaying his progress as one of the finest tenors on the stage today.” (musicweb-international)
“Any doubts about the most winning lyric “Italian” tenor since Pavarotti tackling this heavy Verdi repertoire are largely dispelled by the vitality of his sunny sound and the clarity of his diction.” (The Sunday Times)
“Stylistically and temperamentally, he seems completely at home in this repertoire, never afraid to add faintly old-school expressive effects, though nothing ever seems contrived or histrionic.” (PRESTO Classical)
Calleja has been profiled in New York’s Wall Street Journal and London’s Times, among other newspapers, and has graced covers of magazines such as Opera News. An increasingly frequent face on television, he has appeared on such programs as CNN’s Business Traveller, BBC Breakfast, and the Andrew Marr Show, and been featured in numerous internationally televised concerts. In 2013, he made his U.S. network television debut performing in a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to preeminent American soprano Martina Arroyo on CBS.
Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, first in his church choir and then in formal training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. One of his native land’s biggest celebrities, Calleja was selected to serve as Malta’s first cultural ambassador in 2012, and he was named a brand ambassador for Air Malta. Calleja recently teamed up with Malta’s Bank of Valletta to form the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation, which will serve to help children and families in need. Calleja is the recipient of the 2014 International Opera Awards’ Readers’ Award.
Cello | Belgium
Mischa Maisky has the distinction of being the only cellist in the world to have studied with both Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky.
Rostropovich lauded Maisky as "... one of the most outstanding talents of the younger generation of cellists. His playing combines poetry and exquisite delicacy with great temperament and brilliant technique."
Born in Latvia, educated in Russia and later repatriated to Israel; Maisky has been enthusiastically received in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York, Tokyo and many other major music centres.
He considers himself a citizen of the world: “I’m playing an Italian cello, with French and German bows and Austrian and German strings, my 6 children were born in 4 different countries, my wife is half Sri Lankan-half Italian, I’m driving a Japanese and an American electric car, I wear an Indian necklace and a Swiss watch, and I feel at home everywhere where people appreciate and enjoy classical music.”
Truly a world-class musician and a regular guest at most major International Festivals, he has collaborated with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Kirill Petrenko, Paavo Järvi and Gustavo Dudamel.
His musician partnerships have included artists such as Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Nelson Freire, Evgeny Kissin, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Peter Serkin, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell, Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen to name just a few.
One of the highlights of his career was the year 2000. It was mainly devoted to a world-wide Bach tour of over 100 concerts! An expression of his deep admiration for this great composer is that Maisky has recorded Bach's Solo Suites three times, with his Cello Suite No. 1 being viewed more than 45 million times on YouTube.
As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist for more than 30 years he made over 35 recordings with such orchestras as the Vienna, Berlin and Israel Philharmonics, the London Symphony, L‘Orchestre de Paris, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and others.
In 2018, the very personal album ‘Adagietto’ was released with his pianist daughter Lily, and featuring bonus live recordings with Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin and his violinist son Sascha. Included is a multi-track arrangement of Mahler’s Adagietto from his 5th Symphony with Maisky playing all parts (except the harp), a project the cellist had dreamed of for many years.
His latest recording is entitled ‘20th Century Classics’ and includes a Bonus CD of the world premiere of Benjamin Yusupov’s cello concerto (dedicated to Maisky) as well as a multi-track recording of ‘Bachianas Brasileiras’ by Heitor Villa Lobos.
In June 2021 there will be a set of complete recordings on DG with over 40 CDs released.
Maisky’s recordings have enjoyed world-wide critical acclaim and have been awarded the prestigious Record Academy Prize in Tokyo five times and the Echo Deutscher Schallplattenpreis three times, as well as the Grand Prix du Disque in Paris and the Diapason d’Or of the Year, as well as receiving several coveted Grammy nominations.
His long and illustrious career has brought Maisky many honors and awards, just some of which include:
In 2018, as Maisky was awarded the 46th Istanbul Music Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, he was lauded as ‘one of the greatest living cellists of our time’ for his ‘profound artistry and devotion to music’.
In 2019, he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music. This honor is limited to 300 living persons at a time, recognising Maisky alongside such greats as Mendelssohn, Liszt, Stravinsky and Casals.
In 2021, Maisky was appointed Honorary Academician of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia; founded in 1585, one of the oldest and most prestigious musical institutions in the world. The title of ‘Accademico Onorario’ is awarded to “the most outstanding foreign musicians and musicologists” and Maisky is only the second cellist ever to receive it.
In June 2021, Maisky will receive the Honorary Fellow Award of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
Violin | USA
"Lauded for her “phenomenal maturity” and “fresh and spontaneous, yet emotionally profound and intellectually well-structured performance” (Jerusalem Post), American violinist Stella Chen has been bursting onto the world stage following her first prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition. In the last year alone, Stella was named a recipient of a prestigious 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.
Concerto highlights for Stella in the upcoming season include appearances with the Chicago Symphony, Hangzhou Philharmonic, and her Lincoln Center concerto debut with the Juilliard Orchestra featuring the U.S. premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Concerto No. 2, conducted by the composer. In her most recent season, Stella had debuts with the Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, the Luxembourg Philharmonia, and many others. She also made first appearances at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Ravinia, and Kronberg Academy Festivals, and performed throughout Europe, East Asia, and India, including a concert tour of South Korea.
Stella’s approach to music-making is fundamentally guided by the concept of exploration: deep-diving into the works she performs, looking into interpersonal and collaborative approaches, and seeking opportunities for cross-cultural exchange. This perspective guides such projects as her ongoing investigation of Schubert’s Fantasie for Piano and Violin, a phenomenal example of vulnerability, sincerity, and humanity in music.
Her dedication to this perspective manifests as well in her many treasured collaborations with phenomenal artists. Collaborative partners have included extraordinary musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Levin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Stéphane Denève, Matthew Lipman, and the Silk Road Ensemble. She has appeared as a chamber musician in festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, the Sarasota Festival, and YellowBarn. She is a member of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center starting in the 2021-2022 season.
Stella enjoys the privilege of cross-cultural exchange through performances and educational experiences. She and colleagues at Harvard University represented Western classical music at the first Bhutan International Festival, a multicultural celebration of the arts on the occasion of the 35th birthday of the King of Bhutan. She was also a part of the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute trip to Cuba and participated in performances at the Festival de Música de Cámara as well as opportunities to interact with young Cuban musicians in an educational capacity. With the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Stella visited Jordan and Israel on a tour that she considers very important to her musical and personal growth.
Stella believes in the importance of cultivating an appreciation for classical music among the younger generations, and as such devotes time and energy to teaching. To this end, Stella has worked with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and serves as a teaching assistant for her longtime mentor Li Lin at the Juilliard School.
She is the first recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, the top prize winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and youngest ever prize winner of the Menuhin Competition. She has given solo performances at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, WQXR’s Greene Space, Rockefeller University, and on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. Other concerto appearances include those with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, London Chamber Orchestra, and Welsh National Symphony Orchestra.
A graduate of the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, Stella received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from Harvard University and a Master of Music from NEC. Stella is currently finishing up her studies as C.V. Starr doctoral candidate at the Juilliard School, writing her dissertation on one of her favorite pieces of music, Schubert’s Fantasie for Piano and Violin. She is a professional studies candidate at Kronberg Academy. Teachers and mentors include Mihaela Martin, Li Lin, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Miriam Fried. She plays the ‘Huggins’ 1708 Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
In her free time, Stella loves figure skating and is a big fan of NCT and all of its sub-groups.
Violin | italy
Winner of the 2007 George Enescu Competition in Bucharest Anna Tifu is considered one of the leading violinist of her generation. Born in Cagliari, she started to play the violin at the age of six under the guidance of her father and to perform in public at eight years old when she won 1st prize with special honors at the Vittorio Veneto concert series.
At the age of 11 she made her debut as soloist with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and at 12 years old she performed the Bruch Violin Concerto at La Scala in Milan. At 14 she won first prize at the Viotti Valsesia International Competition as well as in Stresa, where she won the Marcello Abbado International Competition in the same year. She received her Music Diploma in Cagliari at the age of 15 with special honors. She studied with Salvatore Accardo at the Academy Walter Stauffer in Cremona and at the Academy Chigiana of Siena where, in 2004, she obtained the Certificate of Honor. She was supported by the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund and at the age of 17, Anna was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Aaron Rosand, Shmuel Ashkenzay and Pamela Frank.
Later she was awarded a scholarship from the International Music Academy in Cagliari to study in Paris where she received the Diplome Superieur de Concertiste at the Ecole Normale.
Anna has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and chamber ensembles, including Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI di Torino, Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Orchestra Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Simòn Bòlivar Orchestra of Venezuela, Stuttgarter Philarmoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, George Enescu Philarmonic Orchestra and Radio Orchestra of Bucharest, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, KZN Philarmonic of Durban, Israel Philharmonic soloists, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica del Qatar.
She has worked with conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov, Gustavo Dudamel, Diego Matheuz, David Afkham, Juraj Valcuha, John Axelrod, Christoph Poppen, Justus Frantz, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Sergiu Commissiona, Lü Jia, Giampaolo Bisanti, Julian Kovatchev, Hubert Soudant, Gèrard Korsten, Gabor Ötvös.
Highlights among her recent and forthcoming engagements include performances at the George Enescu International Festival of Bucharest with Orchestra RAI of Torino and Juraj Valcuha, a tour in Russia as well with Orchestra RAI, concert with Gustavo Dudamel and Simòn Bòlivar Orchestra, Season opening concert in Genova, Teatro Carlo Felice, where she played with the famous violin Guarneri del Gesù “IL CANNONE” of Niccolò Paganini, Season opening concert in Venice, Teatro La Fenice with Diego Matheuz, Season opening concert in Milano, for Società dei Concerti where she is regularly invited, Season opening concert in Verona, for Amici della Musica, performance at the Stradivari Festival in Cremona, where she performed with the Etoile Carla Fracci, concerts in Rome, with Yuri Temirkanov and Orchestra Accademia Santa Cecilia and Season opening concert in Paris, with Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France, under the baton of Mikko Franck.
Most recently she made her debut for Warner Classics where she recorded with the italian pianist Giuseppe Andaloro.
She has collaborated with musicians such as Maxim Vengerov, Yuri Bashmet, Ezio Bosso, Julien Quentin, Giuseppe Andaloro, Pekka Kuusisto, Mario Brunello, Enrico Dindo, Michael Nyman, Boris Andrianov, the Etoile Carla Fracci, the actor John Malkovich and Andrea Bocelli, who invited Anna as special guest for concerts in Italy, Egypt and United States.
She performed in famous festivals such as Tuscan Sun Festival, Festival de Musique Menton, Ravello Festival, Al Bustan in Beirut and the George Enescu Festival where she is regularly invited, as well at in some of the bestknown institutions and concert halls including la Scala di Milano, Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma, Sala Verdi di Milano, Great Hall of Saint Petersburg, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of Moscow, Konzerthaus of Dortmund, Konzerthaus of Berlino, Beethoven-Saal of Stuttgart, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Rudolphinum Dvorak Hall of Prague, Ateneo and sala Palatului of Bucharest, Madison Square Garden of New York, Staples Center of Los Angeles, Simòn Bòlivar Hall of Caracas.
Anna Tifu has been testimonial for the Italian airline company Alitalia, along with Riccardo Muti, the director Giuseppe Tornatore and the dancer Eleonora Abbagnato.
Anna plays the 1716 Antonio Stradivari “Marèchal Berthier” ex Napoleon on loan from the Associazione Canale of Milan.
Soprano | Italy
Carmen Giannattasio has blazed a trail across stages the world over. Her unique talent has been in demand worldwide since her career was launched by taking First Prize and the Audience Award at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, Paris in 2002. Her lustrous soprano voice and her dramatic ability gained her immediate critical attention and a reputation as a chameleon, able to adapt her tune and skin to the different heroines she embodies.
She has become an acclaimed fixture on the most important stages of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin State Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Bolshoi.
Carmen Giannattasio’s extensive repertoire includes composers like Monteverdi, Mozart, Gluck, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti,Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mascagni.
Since being chosen to front important new bel canto recordings by Opera Rara, who champion rarely performed operas of the 19th century, she has distinguished herself in Rossini’s LA DONNA DEL LAGO, Donizetti’s PARISINA and in particular Rossini’s ERMIONE – a performance which has earned her plaudits from leading critics worldwide, with the recording winning the 2011 Gramophone Opera Award. Her recordings with the English label also include Bellini’s IL PIRATA (2010) and Donizetti’s CATERINA CORNARO (2011).
Carmen Giannattasio is an ambassador for the Italian jewelers Bulgari. In February 2017 she received the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della Repubblica Italiana.
Future engagements are TOSCA at Royal Opera House and in Vienna, EVEGNIJ ONEGIN at Teatro Massimo of Palermo, NORMA and LA BOHÈME in Hamburg, TOSCA in Sidney, FALSTAFF at Aix en Provence festival and in Lyon.
Piano | Russia
Moscow-born concert pianist Andrey Gugnin is rapidly gaining international acclaim as a passionately virtuosic performer, who possesses an “extraordinarily versatile and agile technique, which serves an often inspired musical imagination” (Gramophone). Since winning the prestigious Sydney International Piano Competition in 2016, Gugnin has gone from strength to strength in concerts and recordings which exhibit his impassioned interpretations.
In addition to winning in Sydney, Gugnin also received prizes at this illustrious competition for Best Overall Concerto, Best 19th/20th Century Concerto, Best Violin and Piano Sonata, and Best Preliminaries for his first-round recital. His also won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the XCI International Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in 2014, and second prize at the 2013 Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna.
Increasingly in demand as a concerto soloist, Gugnin has been invited to perform as a guest artist with notable orchestras worldwide, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony, and has performed under the distinguished batons of Maestro Valery Gergiev, Jaap Van Zweden, Reinbert de Leeuw, Daniel Raiskin, Stanislav Kochanovsky and Asher Fisch. He has also collaborated in a more chamber context with the Asko Schönberg ensemble, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Jerusalem Camerata and Camerata Salzburg and on several occasions as the duo partner of violinist Tasmin Little.
As a recording artist, Gugnin has published a broad scope of repertoire ranging from solo piano to symphonic works. His recent release of Shostakovich: Sonatas (Hyperion, 2019) was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Recording of the Month, and his release of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes (Piano Classics, 2018) were commended as Editor’s Choice, and distinguished Gugnin as “one to watch” (Gramophone). Other notable recordings include his duo programme with violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea (Atoll Records, 2019), an inspired selection of solo piano suites entitled Pictures (Steinway & Sons, 2016), and a collection of piano duets with Vadim Kholodenko (Delos International, 2010). Andrey has also extensively recorded for TV and radio in Russia, The Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Australia, Switzerland and the USA.
In addition to these recordings, Gugnin’s Shostakovich Concertos (Delos International, 2007) were selected to feature on the soundtrack of Steven Speilberg’s Oscar®-winning film Bridge of Spies.
Gugnin’s expanding list of performance venues include Vienna’s Musikverein, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Carnegie Hall in New York, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Sydney Opera House, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Mariinsky Concert Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space and Asahi Hamarikyu Hall. Gugnin has also participated in a plethora of international festivals, including Verbier, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Mariinsky International Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Ohrid Summer Festival and the Duszniki Chopin International Festival.
In 2020 Gugnin embarks on performing the complete set of Beethoven concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic in a personal subscription series. He will also perform a number of solo recitals at prestigious venues in Russia, participate in a tour with the Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra, and will collaborate with violinist Tasmin Little in a series of concerts in the UK and Russia, presenting an inspiring programme of Brahms, Beethoven and Part. Gugnin took his first lessons with Natalia Smirnova, who laid the foundations for study with Olga Mechetina, Valery Kastelsky, Lev Naumov, Stanislav Ioudenitch, William Naboré and Vera Gornostayeva.
Piano | USA
Russian-born American pianist Julia Zilberquit has earned critical acclaim as a recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist. She was praised by The New York Times as 'an outstanding soloist' after her Carnegie Hall performance of Cesar Franck's symphonic poem Les Djinns for piano and orchestra with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra. In 2014, Warner Classics released her CD Bach: Complete Solo Keyboard Concertos. This recording features the premiere of two Bach-Vivaldi Concerti Grossi arranged by Ms. Zilberquit for piano and orchestra. The recording was hailed as a “gorgeous rendition” by the prestigious Gramophone Magazine. Her arrangement of the Shostakovich Concertino for 2 Pianos, Op. 94 for piano and orchestra was premiered it at Carnegie Hall. She performed it worldwide to critical acclaim and recorded it with Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi. Other recordings include a solo recording, The Mystery of Bagatelles, released by Naxos. The CD was praised as a “superb performance” by The Washington Post, and described as an “adventurous program, sparkling with unusual clarity and pointillistic luminescence” in London’s Piano Magazine. Ms. Zilberquit has also recorded 'Jewish music from Russia', featuring works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Sergei Slonimsky on the Harmonia Mundi label. She premiered the Slonimsky Jewish Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, which she commissioned. Slonimsky dedicated the piece to her and she performed it with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel. Julia Zilberquit has performed under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin at the Beethoven Festival in Vienna. Ms. Zilberquit discovered a virtually unknown early piano concerto by Beethoven and performed it in Moscow with Yuri Bashmet and the “Young Russia” orchestra. She has been a guest soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Russian State Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Symphony, Moscow Soloists, Cairo Symphony, Moscow Virtuosi, Bolshoi Orchestra, Musica Viva, “I Musici de Montr al”, The Russian Philharmonia, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, and Sinfonia Varsovia. Her recitals at major concert halls including New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Engagements at major international music festivals include appearances in Seattle, Colmar (France), Klangbogen (Vienna), Valery Gergiev's “White Nights” (St. Petersburg), Richter's “December Nights” (Moscow), “The Palaces of St. Petersburg,” the Bard Music Festival in New York, and the Penderecki Festival (Poland). Highlights of last season included a performance of Beethoven Concerto no. 0 at the 21st Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw under the baton of Mikhail Jurowski and an appearance with the Russian State Orchestra and Marius Stravinsky in Moscow. Julia was guest artist at the last two Malta International Music Festivals. A native of Moscow, Julia Zilberquit was born into a family of musicians. She graduated from Moscow Gnessin School of Music and The Juilliard School (class of Bella Davidovich). She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughter.
Viola | USA
Recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award, First Prize Winner of the Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, David Aaron Carpenter is widely considered one of the most talented and charismatic musicians of his generation.
David is a former Rolex “Protégé” for which he was mentored by Pinchas Zukerman. David made his solo debut at the Kennedy Center after winning the Presidential Scholar Award and the first-ever Gold Medal Award at the National Foundation For Advancement In The Arts. Since then he has performed with leading musicians and orchestras around the world, from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the Philharmonia, the Dresden Staatskapelle to the Lucerne Symphony.
As a chamber musician, David has collaborated with such renowned artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Sarah Chang, Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Alan Gilbert, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jan Vogler, and Yuja Wang. He is a regular guest artist at the Verbier Music Festival, and was proud to be an integral part of their 20th anniversary season. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, which he co-founded with his brother Sean and sister Lauren.
David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Princeton University in 2008. David was featured in The New Yorker article “Musical Gold” by Rebecca Mead in July, 2014, on the cover of The Strad magazine in August 2013, and a few months earlier was the subject of a three-page article in The New York Times. Along with the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, David released his Warner Classics recording featuring Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Shor's Twelve Seasons. His newest release on Warner Classics features the Bartok, Walton, Shor and Dvorak Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestros Vladimir Jurowski, David Parry, and Kazushi Ono.
David plays on a viola made by Michele Deconet, Venice (1766).
Piano | South Korea
Gold medallist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for his “unfailingly consistent excellence” (International Piano) and celebrated as “a pianist who commands a comprehensive technical arsenal that allows him to thunder without breaking a sweat” (Chicago Tribune). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, “strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music”.
The first Korean to win Cliburn Gold, Yekwon’s 19/20 season includes appearances with Fort Worth and Tuscon Symphonies and the Bucheon Philharmonic and debuts with Washington Chamber Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra and Danish Radio Orchestra amongst others as well as a debut appearance at the Vail Festival with Dallas Symphony. Recital highlights include Four Season Arts, San Antonio Arts and the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg. 20/21 will see Yekwon make his debut with Orchestra Chambre de Paris and Tugan Sokhiev and return to KBS Symphony with Jaap Van Zweeden.
In previous seasons, he has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, Houston Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Sendai Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National Orchestra amongst others. Recital appearances include Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Salle Cortot and Kumho Art Hall.
An avid chamber musician, Yekwon’s collaborators include Benjamin Beilman, Linus Roth, Andrei Ioniță, Sebastian Bohren, Isang Enders, Tobias Feldmann, Gary Hoffman, Anne-Marie McDermott and the Jerusalem and Brentano Quartets. He has also toured Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama with the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, performed at Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Inside Chamber Music Lectures and been invited to the Summit Music, Bowdoin International and Toronto Summer Music Festivals.
In addition to the Cliburn Gold Medal, Yekwon won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, the 2013 Sendai International Music Competition and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competiton.
Born in Anyang, South Korea, Yekwon began learning the piano at the age of 8 and made his recital and orchestral debuts in Seoul at 15. His teachers include Seymour Lipkin, Robert McDonald, Richard Goode and Bernd Goetzke.
In 2017, Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after Yekwon was awarded the Gold Medal and includes his award-winning performances of Ravel’s La Valse and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata.
A self-proclaimed foodie, Yekwon enjoys finding Pho in each city he vists and takes pride in his own homemade Korean soups.
Violin | UK
The new cd release for the LSO live label with the Paganini 24 caprices recording describe Simovic's playing as:
'For a recording that is as musically involving as it is technically dazzling, he has few rivals' The Strad
‘This is what it sounds like when a player moves beyond the technical demands of a work and becomes a vehicle for the essence of the music.’ Strings Magazine
‘[Simovic] shows the astonishing variety of these works... breathtakingly worthwhile.’ The Guardian
'The whole superb rendition can be listened to for pure pleasure.' The Times
Roman Simovic's brilliant virtuosity and seemingly-inborn musicality, fueled by a limitless imagination, has taken him throughout all continents performing on many of world's leading stages including the Bolshoi Hall of the Tchaikovsky conservatory, Mariinsky hall in St. Petersburg, Grand Opera House in Tel-Aviv, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, Barbican Hall in London, Art Centre in Seoul, Grieg Hall in Bergen, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow...
Roman Simovic has been awarded prizes at numerous international competitions among which are: 'Premio Rodolfo Lipizer' (Italy), Sion-Valais (Switzerland), Yampolsky Violin Competition (Russia) and the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (Poland), placing him among the foremost violinists of his generation.
As soloist, Simovic has appeared with the world leading orchestras: London Symphony orchestra, Mariinsky theatre symphony orchestra, Teatro Regio Torino, Symphony Nova Scotia (Canada), Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Hungary), Camerata Bern (Switzerland), Camerata Salzburg (Austria), CRR Chamber Orchestra (Turkey), Poznan Philharmonia, Prague Philharmonia, North Brabant (Holland), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Schottish Orchestra, Orchestra Reggio della Toscana... And with such a conductors like: Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Harding, Gianandrea Noseda, Kristian Jarvi, Jiri Belohlavek, Pablo Heras Casado, Nikolai Znaider, Mark Elder, John Wilson...
A sought-after artist, Roman Simovic has been invited and continues to perform at various distinguished festivals such as the “Verbier Festival”, 'White Nights' Festival St. Petersburg, Easter Festival Valery Gergiev Moscow, Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Croatia, 'KotorArt' Montenegro, the BEMUS and NOMUS Festivals in Serbia, 'Sion Valais' Switzerland, Norway's Bergen Festival, 'Moscow Winter' Festival in Russia, Portogruaro Festival in Italy, 'Granada music festival' in Spain, collaborating with such renowned artists as Leonidas Kavakos, Evgeny Kissin,Yuja Wang, Gautie Capuson, Antoine Tamestit, Misha Maisky, Schlomo Mintz, Francois Leleux, Itamar Golan, Simon Trpceski, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin...
As an educator, he has presented master-classes in the US, UK, South Korea, Serbia, Montenegro, Israel, Italy. Roman Simovic plays a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin which was generously given to him on loan from Jonathan Moulds, Bank of America's president. In the 2018 season Roman Simovis released Paganini 24 Caprices for the LSO live label and is planning to release a CD with Tchaikovsky and Glazunov concertos with Gergiev and Mariinsky orchestra for the Mariinsky label.
Mr Simovic is serving as a leader of the great London Symphony Orchestra.
Cello | Russia
One of the most powerful and enigmatic cellists, Alexander Knyazev was born in 1961 in Moscow. He started to study cello at the age of six with A.Fedorchenko and graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in 1986. He was prize-winner of the National Competition (Vilnius), Cassado International Competition (Florence), Chamber Music International Competition in Trapani (Italy, in the ensemble with E. Voskressenskaya), Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, UNISA International Competition in Pretoria (South Afrika).
He played with such world-famous conductors as E.Svetlanov, Y.Temirkanov, K.Mazur, M.Rostropovich, V.Fedoseev, M.Pletnev, Y.Bashmet, P.Steinberg and others. He performed with orchestras as London Royal Philharmonic and BBC orchestra (London), Bavarian Radio Symphony orchestra, Baltimore Symphony orchestra, Tokyo Symphony (Japan), Wiener Symphoniker,”Orchestral de Paris” and Orchestra National de France, State Academic Symphony orchestra of Russia, ”Moscow Soloists” etc.
His partners are great pianists - E.Kissin, N.Lugansky, B.Berezovsky, E.Leonskaya, D.Matsuev, B.Engerer; violinists - V.Tretyakov, V.Repin, V.Spivakov; violist - Y.Bashmet; organists - G.Guillou, E.Oganessian and others.
Three times, in 1998, 2002 and 2015 he was member of the Jury at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow.
Knyazev performed in such world-famous halls as Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall (London), Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Louver auditorium and Salle Pleyel (Paris), Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Mozarteum in Salzburg, Rudolfinum (Prague), Auditorium di Milano (Italy), Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels).
Alexander Knyazev is a multi-instrumentalist. As an organist, he goes on tour extensively in Russia and Europe, performing solo programs and works for organ and orchestra. In 2015 he performed for the first time in Moscow as a pianist and now actively continues to play the piano, combining this with playing the organ and cello.
Piano | Switzerland
Pianist, conductor, and composer, Mikhail Pletnev is one of the most respected and influential artists of the era. His prodigious talent as a pianist has earned widespread acclaim ever since the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, where he won First Prize at the age of 21. An invitation to perform at a 1988 diplomatic summit in Washington led to Pletnev’s friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and a lifelong commitment to dismantling barriers through the universal language of music.
In 1990, Pletnev formed the Russian National Orchestra – the first independent orchestra in Russia’s history. Under his leadership, the RNO achieved recognition as one of the world’s great orchestras.
Over thirty years later, Pletnev has renewed his commitment to artistic freedom with his founding of the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra, named after the celebrated pianist, conductor, and composer whose own career inspired audiences from all corners of the globe.
Pletnev’s performances and recordings have shown him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire, both as a pianist and conductor. His recordings have earned numerous prizes, including a 2005 Grammy Award for his own arrangement of Prokofiev’s Cinderella. He received Grammy nominations for Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes (2004) and the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev Piano Concertos No. 3 (2003). His critically acclaimed album of Scarlatti’s Sonatas (Virgin/ EMI) received a 1996 Gramophone Award, and his recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) was named “Best of 2007” by the NewYorker.
Pianist, conductor, composer, and cultural leader – all are significant facets of Mikhail Pletnev’s remarkable life. Yet with his characteristic humility, he insists that he is, simply, a musician.
Violin | Sweden
Violinist Daniel Lozakovich’s majestic music-making has left critics and audiences spellbound. “Perfect mastery. An exceptional talent,” observed *Le Figaro* after a performance at the Verbier Festival, while the *Boston Globe* praised the “poise, tonal purity, and technique to spare” during his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons at the Tanglewood Festival in July 2017.
Daniel was born in Stockholm in 2001 and began playing the violin when he was almost seven. He made his solo debut two years later with the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Vladimir Spivakov in Moscow.
At the age of 15, Lozakovich signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and in 2018 released his debut album of Bach’s two violin concertos in collaboration with the Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, along with the solo *Partita No. 2*. The album reached number 1 in the all-music category of the French Amazon charts and topped the classical album charts in Germany.
“None but the Lonely Heart,” Lozakovich’s second album, was released in 2019. Dedicated to Tchaikovsky, it includes the Violin Concerto, recorded live with the National Philharmonic of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov. *Grammophone* magazine named this recording as the “Top choice” spanning 70 years of the best recordings of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
Lozakovich’s third album, released in 2020, focuses on the Beethoven Violin Concerto, recorded live with the Münchner Philharmoniker under Valery Gergiev. The project was released both as an audio album and e-video during the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, a project significant to Lozakovich, who considers the concerto one of the greatest ever written.
On *Spirits*, his latest 4th Deutsche Grammophon recording, Lozakovich celebrates some of his forebears in the hope of passing on their style and repertoire to younger generations. Partnered by pianist Stanislav Soloviev, Lozakovich performs favorite encores by Elgar, Debussy, Falla, Gluck, Brahms, and Kreisler.
Lozakovich studied at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Professor Josef Rissin from 2012 and graduated with a Master’s degree in 2021.
He plays the “ex-Sancy” 1713 Stradivari, generously loaned by LVMH / Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Russia | Piano
Since his triumph in the 1998 at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition, Denis Matsuev has become a virtuoso in the grandest of Russian pianistic tradition and has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation.
Mr. Matsuev performs with the world's best known orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapella Dresden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, “Philharmonia” Orchestra of London, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Vienna Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic, Oslo Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Swiss Romande orchestra, Lucerne Symphony orchestra, Verbier and Budapest Festival Orchestras, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, NHK Symphony, as well as the European Chamber Orchestra. He is continually re-engaged with the legendary Russian orchestras such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra.
Denis gives recitals in the USA in Boston, Washington and New York in Carnegie Hall (Keyboard Virtuosos series), in London in Royal Festival Hall (International Piano series), Madrid in Auditorio Nacional de Musica, Amsterdam in Concertgebouw (Master Pianists series) and Moscow (the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory).
Denis Matsuev regularly appears with the most distinguished conductors on a stage today, including Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Ricardo Chailly, Christian Thielemann, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Paavo Jarvi, Antonio Pappano, Charles Dutoit, Alain Gilbert, Leonard Slatkin, Myung-Whun Chung, Semyon Bychkov, Iván Fischer, Adam Fisher, Gianandrea Noseda, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Manfred Honeck, James Conlon, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yury Bashmet, Alexander Sladkovsky, Kristian Jarvi and others.
Mr. Matsuev is a frequent guest of world famous music festivals such as Verbier Festival and Lucerne Music Festival in Switzerland, BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival in Great Britain, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Germany, Les Chorégies d’Orange and Festival de la Rogue d’Anthéron in France, Ravinia and the Hollywood Bowl in the U.S., Chopin Festival in Poland, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Mito Festival in Italy, Montreux Festival in Switzerland, Enescu Festival in Romania, Baltic Sea Festival in Sweden and Stars of the White Nights Festival in Russia.
For 11 consecutive years Denis Matsuev has his original series at The Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory “Denis Matsuev invites…”. Many famous orchestras, prominent conductors, outstanding soloists have taken part in it.
In 2010, in Avery Fisher Hall, the New York Philharmonic gave the orchestra’s 15,000th concert – a number unmatched by any other orchestra. Denis Matsuev was a leading soloist in this unprecedented milestone concert, which was conducted by Maestro Valery Gergiev, and was praised highly by music critics.
For many years Denis Matsuev has led numerous musical festivals and educational projects which have added to his role as a prominent public figure. Since 2004 he has organized “Stars on Baikal” in Irkutsk, Siberia (in 2009 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Irkutsk), and since 2005 he has been the artistic director of the music festival “Crescendo” (a series of events held in international cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel Aviv, Kaliningrad, Paris and New York). In 2010 he became the artistic director of Annecy Music Festival in Annecy, France, with the goal to bring together Russian and French music cultures. In 2012 Denis Matsuev became the artistic director of I International “Astana Piano Passion” Festival and Competition as well as the artistic director of International Festival and Competition “Sberbank DEBUT” in Kiev in 2013. In 2016 Denis Matsuev as the artistic director of the Competition and chairman of the Organizing Committee started a new competition for young pianists in Moscow - Grand Piano Competition. Additionally, Mr. Matsuev is the president of the charitable Russian foundation “New Names” that discovers and supports talented children and helps to develop music education in regions of his native Russia. More than 10000 children received monetary grants and/or opportunity to perform at the professional stage.
In 2007, RCA Red Seal released “Unknown Rachmaninoff” featuring Mr. Matsuev. The recording has received strong positive reviews praising his execution and creativity. His Carnegie Hall recital in November 2007 was recorded and released in 2009 as an album entitled “Denis Matsuev – Concert at Carnegie Hall.” The New York Times praised this performance writing “…his poetic instincts held fast in tender moments, with trills as thrillingly precise as one might ever hope to hear.”
Mariinsky Label releases include Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, Shostakovich Concertos No. 1, No. 2 and Schedrin’s Fifth with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in the famed Mariinsky Concert Hall. Among many awards granted is the Five Star rating of BBC Music Magazine. Norman Lebrecht wrote: “Neither is a virtuoso vehicle and, the composer apart, there is no pianist who has stamped these works decisively as his or her own. Denis Matsuev, a Siberian who made his name in Rachmaninoff is perhaps the first to come close”.
In April 2013 Denis Matsuev presented the record (RCA Red Seal) with S. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rhapsody in Blue by G. Gershwin, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of its music director Alan Gilbert.
In September 2013 the label LSO Live released a new disc with Denis Matsuev and LSO under baton of Valery Gergiev performing Symphonia Concertante by K. Szymanowski.
Gramophone has chosen Denis Matsuev’s recording of Tchaikovsky Concerti Nos. 1 & 2 as their recording of the month in April 2014.
“Matsuev’s Tchaikovsky No 1 is thrilling, the work’s drama excitingly to the fore – a new ‘personal benchmark’, says Jeremy Nicholas. That’s for you to decide, of course, but do hear it.” Gramophone (UK)
In 2018 Mariinsky Label released a disc with the record of two legendary piano concertos – Piano concerto #2 by S. Prokofiev and Piano concerto #2 by S. Rachmaninoff, performed by Denis Matsuev and Mariinsky Theatre orchestra under baton of Valery Gergiev.
In 2019 Mariinsky Label presents the recording of S. V. Rachmaninoff’s Piano concerto №4 with Denis Matsuev, Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. And consequently the box of records with all Rachmaninoff’s concertos will be released.
For many years Denis Matsuev has collaborated with the Sergei Rachmaninov Foundation, established by Alexander Rachmaninov, the grandson of the composer. Mr. Matsuev was chosen by the Foundation to perform and record Rachmaninov’s unknown pieces on the composer's own piano at the Rachmaninov house “Villa Senar” in Lucerne. Later, he became the artistic director of the Foundation.
In 2021 Denis Matsuev becomes the artistic director of renewed Rachmaninoff Competition in Moscow with three nominations: pianist, composer and conductor.
Denis Matsuev is a laureate of prestigious “Shostakovich’s Prize” in Music as well as the State Prize of Russian Federation in Literature and Arts. He also is a “People’s Artist of Russia.” Denis Matsuev was named Honorary Professor of the Moscow State University. He is a member of The Presidential Council for Culture and Arts, Honored Artist of Russia and was the head of The Public Council under The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
In February 2014 Denis Matsuev was awarded the honour of performing at the official Closing Ceremony of the XXII Winter Olympic games in Sochi and at the same year UNESCO designated Denis Matsuev as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
In 2016 Denis Matsuev was announced as 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia ambassador.
Denis Matsuev was awarded with State Order of Honour.
And in 2017 he received Government of Russia Prize in the sphere of Culture for his International Music Festival in Irkutsk “Stars on the Baikal”.
As the Ambassador of FIFA World Cup Russia Denis organized the unique concert with participation of Valery Gergiev, Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and other stars of classical music at the Red Square in Moscow on 13th of June 2018.
In 2019 Denis Matsuev was awarded with Lev Nikolaev gold medal for his significant contribution to education and popularization of science and culture.
Denis Matsuev was the Chairman of the jury for XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in the piano category.
This season sees Mr. Matsuev performs with the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Yuri Temirkanov, with New-York Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Mariinsky orchestras under baton of Maestro Gergiev, Chicago Symphony orchestra with Leonard Sladkin, Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, Staatskapella Dresden and Christian Thielemann, Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras under baton of Mariss Jansons, London Symphony orchestra under baton of Gianandrea Noseda, La Scala Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra with Riccardo Chailly, Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano, the Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo with Neeme Jarvi.
He performs recitals at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Maison symphonique de Montréal, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, G. Verdi Conservatory in Turin, Tonhalle in Zurich, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Gasteig in Munich, Accademia Filarmonica Romana in Rome, Conservatorio di Musica "Giuseppe Verdi" in Milan and Flagey in Brussels.
Denis Matsuev participates in international music festivals such as Ravinia festival, Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Easter Festival, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d'Anthéron Festival, Stresa Festival and Bucharest Music festival.
Conductor | Russia
Alexander Sladkovsky is a Russian conductor, the People's Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, the People's Artist of Russia, who graduated from Moscow and Saint Petersburg conservatories. He is a winner of the III International Prokofiev Competition. In 2001, he conducted in a concert at the Hermitage Theater in honor of the visit of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. He assisted Mariss Jansons and Mstislav Rostropovich and from 2006 to 2010 he was a conductor of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Bashmet. Since 2010 Alexander Sladkovsky is an Artistic Director and a Chief Conductor of the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra in the city of Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), which he transformed into one of the finest orchestras in Russia.
Working with the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra for 11 years, he has significantly enhanced the status of the orchestra in the musical life of the Republic of Tatarstan and the whole country. He expanded the range of its creative capacities, effectively putting into practice the latest formats of professional work at the international level. Concerts featuring TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky are very popular in Tatarstan, and every performance is usually sold out. Perm, Omsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow are among those Russian cities, where Sladkovsky and his orchestra are known and appreciated.
In 2014, the TNSO conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the La Folle Journée festival in Japan. In 2016, for the first time in the orchestra's history, it gave concerts during a European tour in the Brucknerhaus (Linz) and in the Golden Hall of Musikverein (Vienna). In December 2018, the TNSO and Maestro Alexander Sladkovsky made the first tour in China.
The TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky is the first Russian regional orchestra recorded by Medici.tv and Mezzo channels. Moreover, one of the concerts at the La Folle Journée festival in 2019 in Nantes was recorded and broadcasted by ARTE channel.
Orchestras under Alexander Sladkovsky took part in various important national and international projects and festivals, such as Musical Olympus, Musical spring, Yuri Temirkanov Arts Square festival, Wild Cherry Forest, All-Russian Irina Bogacheva Young Opera Singers' Competition, Rodion Shchedrin's Self-portrait festival (held in 2002 for the 70th anniversary of the composer), Young Euro Classic festival (Berlin), XII and XIII Easter festivals, Crescendo festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik festival, Kunstfest Weimar, Budapest Spring festival 2006, V Festival of the World's Symphony Orchestras, XI Wörthersee Classics Festival (Klagenfurt, Austria), Hibla Gerzmava Invites…festival, International Festival of Vocal Music Opera Apriori, Russian Day in the World (Victoria Hall, Geneva), International Tchaikovsky Arts Festival in Klin, International Piano Festival La Roque d'Anthéron and La Folle Journée in France.
Alexander Sladkovsky collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as D. Matsuev, Y. Bashmet, M. Pletnev, R. Honeck, K. Penderecki, R. Buchbinder, B. Berezovsky, B. Douglas, Y. Yokoyama, N. Lugansky, A. Toradze, E. Mechetina, K. Bashmet, V. Tretiakov, R. Capuçon, J.-Y. Thibaudet, G. Kremer, V. Repin, V. Gluzman, N. Znaider, F. Dumont, L. Kavakos, J. Rachlin, P. Tsukerman, S. Krylov, A. Baeva, D. Sitkovetsky, D. Geringas, A. Knyazev, M. Brunello, A. Rudin, M. Caballé, I. Bogacheva, O. Borodina, H. Gerzmava, S. Kermes, A. Shagimuratova, A. Garifullina, D. Alieva, Sumi Jo, R. Alagna, P. Domingo, D. Hvorostovsky, I. Abdrazakov, L. Debarg and the others.
In October 2013 Maestro Sladkovsky was invited by Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia to conduct works of Sergei Rachmaninov during the anniversary concerts dedicated to the composer. In the same season, he was re-invited to conduct several concerts with a Tchaikovsky program. Previous collaborations have included the Bolshoi Theatre, State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov", Russian National Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Russia, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover, Orchestra of Theatro Municipal De São Paulo, orchestras of the Moscow, Novosibirsk and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Concerto Budapest Orchestra and Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Russo-German Music Academy Orchestra.
In April 2014, the TNSO under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky performed at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris at the ceremony, where Denis Matsuev was awarded the title of "Goodwill Ambassador". In the 2014/15 concert season, Alexander Sladkovsky with the TNSO performed at the Bolshoi Theater of Russia during the concert, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Crescendo festival, and in Saint Petersburg within the first orchestra's subscription at the Mariinsky Concert Hall.
Alexander Sladkovsky is the founder and the artistic director of the Rakhlin Seasons, Miras, White Lilac, Kazan Autumn, Concordia, Denis Matsuev Meets Friends, and Creative Discovery festivals. In 2012 Sony Music and RCA Red Seal released a three-CD album entitled "Anthology of music by composers of Tatarstan" and a CD "Enlightenment". In 2016 in cooperation with the Melodiya record label several global musical projects were realized: the recording of three symphonies of G. Mahler (Nos. 1, 5, 9) and also recordings of all symphonies and concertos of D. Shostakovich. In May 2020, the digital release of the "Tchaikovsky-2020" box set took place — a recording of all symphonies and instrumental concerts by P. I. Tchaikovsky on the Sony Classical label.
The Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Sladkovsky is currently the first and only regional orchestra that has been honored to have its own annual subscription in the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.
In June 2015 Maestro Sladkovsky was awarded the medal of the commemorative badge "Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov", and in October 2015, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Nurgaliyevich Minnikhanov presented him the Duslyk Order ("duslyk" in translation from the Tatar language means "friendship"). In 2016, Alexander Sladkovsky was awarded the prize "Conductor of the Year" by the national newspaper The Musical Review and "Person of the Year in Culture", according to the magazine Delovoi Kvartal and the Kazan-based online newspaper Business Online.
In 2019, Alexander Sladkovsky has been awarded the Sergei Rachmaninov International Award in the nomination "Special Project in the Name of Sergei Rachmaninov" for special attention to his legacy and organizing the Sergei Rachmaninov International Festival "White Lilac" in Kazan. In the autumn of 2019, Alexander Sladkovsky established an annual scholarship at the Moscow Conservatory for students of the Opera and Symphony Conducting Division aimed at supporting and developing the talent of young conductors.
Conductor | Switzerland
Pianist, conductor, and composer, Mikhail Pletnev is one of the most respected and influential artists of the era. His prodigious talent as a pianist has earned widespread acclaim ever since the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, where he won First Prize at the age of 21. An invitation to perform at a 1988 diplomatic summit in Washington led to Pletnev’s friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and a lifelong commitment to dismantling barriers through the universal language of music.
In 1990, Pletnev formed the Russian National Orchestra – the first independent orchestra in Russia’s history. Under his leadership, the RNO achieved recognition as one of the world’s great orchestras.
Over thirty years later, Pletnev has renewed his commitment to artistic freedom with his founding of the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra, named after the celebrated pianist, conductor, and composer whose own career inspired audiences from all corners of the globe.
Pletnev’s performances and recordings have shown him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire, both as a pianist and conductor. His recordings have earned numerous prizes, including a 2005 Grammy Award for his own arrangement of Prokofiev’s Cinderella. He received Grammy nominations for Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes (2004) and the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev Piano Concertos No. 3 (2003). His critically acclaimed album of Scarlatti’s Sonatas (Virgin/ EMI) received a 1996 Gramophone Award, and his recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) was named “Best of 2007” by the NewYorker.
Pianist, conductor, composer, and cultural leader – all are significant facets of Mikhail Pletnev’s remarkable life. Yet with his characteristic humility, he insists that he is, simply, a musician.
Conductor | Armenia
Sergey Smbatyan is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. An avid popularizer of classical music, the conductor has an extensive international engagement, and is committed to rejuvenating the classical music audiences and the promotion of contemporary classical music globally.
Born into a family of musicians, Sergey Smbatyan took his first steps in the world of classical music under the guidance of her grandmother Tatyana Hayrapetyan, a distinguished violin teacher, followed by his education at Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan and Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Subsequently, in 2012, he furthered his academic journey at the Royal Academy of Music, studying under Sir Colin Davis. His studies under the guidance of Riccardo Muti and Valery Gergiev significantly influenced and enhanced his proficiency in conducting.
Sergey Smbatyan's conducting career was highlighted by his debut performance with the London Symphony Orchestra at Windsor Castle, under the auspices of Prince Charles, now HRH Charles III. The impressive success of this concert led to a subsequent invitation, where he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra at Buckingham Palace.
Sergey Smbatyan's extensive international involvement as a conductor and his distinctive appreciation for contemporary classical music has led to a wide array of collaborations with globally acclaimed composers, such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Tigran Mansuryan, Arvo Pärt, Gia Kancheli, and many others. Among such notable endeavors were the large-scale projects conducted with John Malkovich in several countries of Latin America and Asia. Led by Sergey Smbatyan and accompanied by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, the iconic Hollywood artist delivered a unique musical performance in Yerevan, presenting a reading of excerpts from “The Book of Lamentations” by the medieval Armenian poet Grigor Narekatsi.
The conductor serves as the artistic director of a number of annual music festivals, as well as the Khachaturian International Competition, to which the category of conducting was introduced through Sergey Smbatyan's initiative. Among the festivals founded by Sergey Smbatyan are the Khachaturian International Festival, which aims to uphold the legacy of Aram Khachaturian and other famous Armenian composers, the "Armenia" International Music Festival, which hosts world-renowned virtuoso musicians to perform in Armenia, the Penderecki Contemporary Music Festival, which showcases the works of contemporary legendary composers, and others.
Sergey Smbatyan is the founder of the "Music for Future Foundation (M4FF)”, which is committed to discovering young talented musicians and fostering their career advancement.
He strives to champion innovative approaches in the classical music industry, consistently seeking creative ideas and solutions in implementing various projects. During the opening ceremony of "WCIT 2019," the largest IT Congress for innovators and entrepreneurs, hosted in Armenia, an international orchestra performed an AI real-time-composed musical piece under the direction of Sergey Smbatyan.
Sergey Smbatyan releases recordings with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra on their own "ArmSymphony Records" label and is actively involved in recording contemporary classical music with the London Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras. His recent engagements include the album of spiritual music "Ave Maria" recorded with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the world-renowned tenor Joseph Calleja, released under the "DECCA Records" label, the album “Aznavouriana” by Deutsche Grammophon with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and cellist Camille Thomas in commemoration of French-Armenian singer and composer Charles Aznavour’s 100th anniversary.
In recent concert seasons, Sergey Smbatyan has served as a guest conductor with leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.
As the conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergey Smbatyan embarked on numerous concert tours and performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Munich’s Gasteig , Vienna’s Musikverein, the Berliner Philharmonie, and other renowned concert halls.
In 2023, he led the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra on a grand UK tour, dedicated to Aram Khachaturian’s 120th anniversary and in 2024 on the orchestra’s debut tour in the United States with the performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and Los Angeles Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Highlights of 2024/25 season include concerts with the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra, the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra as well as performances at Salle Gaveau and the Cité de la Musique of the Paris Philharmonie with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra featuring French and Armenian composers.
Up until the 2024/25 season, Sergey Smbatyan will be Principal Guest Conductor of Berlin Symphony.
Sergey Smbatyan holds the title of Honoured Artist of the Republic of Armenia and the title of “Chevalier of Arts and Letters” of France.
Sergey Smbatyan was appointed as a UNICEF National Ambassador in 2023.
Conductor | Russia
Born on January 1, 1947 in the city of Ovruch, Zhytomyr region of Ukraine.
In 1962 he graduated from school there.
In 1966 he graduated from the music college in Kaliningrad.
Graduated from the Saratov State Conservatory in 1974.
In 1986 he returned to Kaliningrad, in 1987 he created and devoted his entire creative life to the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra.
The ensemble, whose artistic director and chief conductor is Arkady Feldman, represents the Russian musical art with great success and tours in Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland.
Arkady Feldman maintains creative ties with the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the opera studio of the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky, the Minsk Operetta Theater, the Saratov Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra A. Schnittke, German choral collectives.
As a guest conductor Arkady Feldman worked with many Russian ensembles, orchestras in Lithuania, Poland, USA, Mexico.
Feldman A.A. - Honored Art Worker of Russia, member of the Union of Composers of Russia, laureate of the Kant Prize, the Inspiration Prize for the creation and performance of highly artistic works of literary and poetry, musical, theatrical, visual and decorative and applied arts, the Prize of the Kaliningrad Region “Recognition” for achievements in the field of culture, literature and art, is an honorary citizen of the city of Kaliningrad.
As a composer, the maestro has worked with many Russian theaters and will write music for the performances of the Kaliningrad Drama Theater, where he has held the position of musical director for many years.
For achievements in creative activity and promotion of musical art he was awarded the title "Honored Art Worker of Russia", awarded numerous certificates of honor, as well as the medal of the Federal Republic of Germany "For the development of cultural relations between Russia and Germany" and the gold cross "For Merit" of the Republic of Poland.
Conductor | UK · USA
Michael Francis has quickly established himself as one of the leading international conductors of today. With the start of the 2019-20 season, Francis begins his tenure as Chief Conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Appointed Music Director of the Florida Orchestra in the fall of 2014, he is now entering his fifth season with a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. His role in building a wide variety of transformative community engagement initiatives has significantly grown the organization. Since 2014 as Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, California with a contract renewal through the summer of 2023, he continues his ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. He was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2012-16.
For the 2019-20 season, upcoming engagements include a debut with the Detroit Symphony for their season opening, as well as return performances with the Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Philharmonia, MDR Leipzig, RSB Berlin and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken.
Previous and upcoming highlights include North American performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Pacific, Montreal, Toronto and National Arts Centre (Ottawa). In Europe, he has conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Scottish Symphony. In Asia, Maestro Francis has worked with the NHK Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan as well as the philharmonic orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Seoul.
Michael Francis has collaborated with notable soloists such as Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, Itzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Gluzman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nicola Benedetti, Javier Perianes, Jamie Barton, Truls Mørk, Håkan Hardenberger, Maximilian Hornung, Miloš, Benjamin Grosvenor, Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, Sting, Rufus Wainwright and many others.
Educational outreach with young musicians is of utmost priority for Maestro Francis. He returns to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada during the summer of 2020, having conducted their Spanish tour in 2019. He has also frequently conducted Miami’s New World Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Francis works on a regular basis with young musicians in Florida as part of the orchestra's community engagement initiative.
Francis’ discography includes the Rachmaninov piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the London Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the New York Philharmonic, and the Ravel & Gershwin piano concertos with Ian Parker.
A former double-bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January of 2007 stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams with the LSO.
Francis makes his home in Tampa, FL with his wife Cindy and four-year-old daughter Annabella.
Conductor | USA/Spain
Grammy nominated conductor, cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonksy was born in Moscow into a musical family. He began playing the cello when he was 5 years old and was accepted to the Central Music School for gifted children. At the age of 9 he gave his orchestral debut playing Haydn’s cello concerto. Since then, his career had taken him to the most important stages in the world, such as the Carnegie Hall, La Scala, Moscow Great Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Taiwan National Hall, Theatre Champs Elysees, Tokyo Opera City Hall among others. He has collaborated with many world renown artists as Monserrat Caballe, Roberto Alagna, Olga Borodina and many more. Dmitry started to conduct at age 26 and has conducted more then 50 orchestras all over the world including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he made 4 cd’s.Dmitry Yablonsky has studied cello with Isaak Buravsky, Lorne Monroe, David Soyer, Aldo Parisot and Zara Nelsova. He also took master classes with Mstislav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Andre Navarra, Maurice Gendron, , Misha Schneider among others. His conducting teachers have been Otto Werner Muller, Yuri Simonov and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. He has participated in many festivals all over the world including Marlboro Festival. He has recorded more then 90 CD’s as cellist and conductor to great critical acclaim. He is an Artistic Director of Gabala Music Festival, Puigcerda Music Festival and Wandering Music Stars Festival. Dmitry Yablonsky is Music Director of Kiev Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra. Since fall 2016, he is teaching cello and chamber music at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University and has been recently named Head of International Relations of the same University.Dmitry plays two cellos: a Joseph Filius Andrea Guarneri and a Matteo Goffriller.
Conductor | UK
Stravinsky looks to be a major talent. (Music OMH) Stravinsky’s approach lent the music special change. (BachTrack) Born in Kazakhstan to a musical family Marius Stavinsky began playing the violin when he was four-years old. Educated at the Moscow Central Music School and the Yehudi Menuhin school, he went on to become the first former Soviet student to secure a scholarship to Eton College. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London, in 2002. Stavinsky’s passion for conducting began aged 13 after playing the Brunch Violin Concerto for Mariss Jamsons - now one of his regular conducting mentors.
In 1998 he spent a summer assisting Claudio Abbado in Peter Brook’s production of Don Giovanni at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and his studies at the Royal Academy were led by Igor Golovchin and Thomas Sanderling, with masterclasses from Kenneth Kiesler and Eri Klas.
From 2002-2005, Stravinsky returned to Moscow to study conducting with Vladimir Ponkin, working as his Assistant Conductor in both the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the Helikon Opera. Whilst resident at Helikon Opera, his performances included fully staged productions of Berg (Lulu), Bizet (Carmen), Giorgdano (Siberia), Poulenc (Les Dialogue des Carmelites), Prokofiev (The Story of a Real Man), Rimsky-Korsakov (Kaschei the Immortal), Shostakovich (Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District), and works by his forebear Igor Stravinsky (such as Mavra).
In 2007, Stravinsky was awarded the position of Chief Conductor & Artistic Director of the Karelia Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in Russia to hold such a post. Following his five-year tenure in this role, he then – at the personal invitation of Vladimir Jurowski – took up the position of Assistant Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2013/2014 season. Since then he has gone on to work with top orchestras around the world, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin Staatskapelle, Queensland Symphony, and Tokyo Opera Philharmonic.
Stravinsky enjoys a particularly strong profile in Russia, working with top orchestras and institutions including the Russian National Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic, and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. He regularly conducts at the Mariinsky Theatre (both in symphonic concerts and operatic performances), and enjoys a close collaboration with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ (GASO).
Stravinsky boasts a diverse repertoire, and a discography that includes world premiere recordings of Ignaz Brüll’s Violin Concerto and Symphony in E minor, Salomon Jadassohn’s Symphony No.1, and Pavel Pabst’s Piano Concerto, on the Cameo Classics Label. During his tenure as Chief Conductor & Artistic Director, Stravinsky also released recordings of major works by Thomas Blower, Dororthy Howell, Joseph Holbrooke and Sergey Zhukov with the Karelia Philharmonic Orchestra.
Resident in Berlin, Stravinsky also spends time in St. Petersburg, where during the 2016/2017 season he became Founder & Music Director of the St. Petersburg Festival Orchestra – launched with a performance of Oedipus Rex at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in February 2017. Highlights of Stravinsky’s 2017/2018 season include productions at the Berlin Staatsballett with the orchestras of the Berlin Staatskapelle and Deutsche Oper, and debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Royal Festival Hall, London), and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Conductor | THE NETHERLANDS
“Daniel Raiskin is clearly a musician of sensibility, well versed in his craft; a further example perhaps of one last great gift of the old Soviet Union, the rigour and distinction of its conducting schools” (by David Gutman, Gramophone)
A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula. Raiskin, who cultivates a broad repertoire, often looks beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programs.
From the 2020/2021 season Daniel Raiskin is the Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. In addition, he is Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since August 2018 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra from season 2017/18.
The 2021/22 season includes guest conducting appearances with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow and Orquesta Clássica Santa Cecilia Madrid.
With the Winnipeg Symphony in May 2022 he will undertake a European tour with appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam and Tivoli in Utrecht among others. Raiskin served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife 2017-18, Chief Conductor of both, the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015). His regular guest appearances include the Athens State, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Iceland Symphony, Japan Century Symphony, Malmö Symfoni Orkester, Mariinsky Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Osaka Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, San Antonio Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Swedish Chamber and the Tonkünstler orchestras.
His appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s Don Giovanni among others.
Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia and South Africa. Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Steven Osborne, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya and Alexei Volodin. Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel and the label AVI received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include a Louis Glass Symphony cycles and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian, both with the label CPO, Lutoslawski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.
Conductor | Italy
Graduated from The Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire in two disciplines: cello (Professor M. Tchaikovskaya’s class) and opera and symphony conducting (Professor V. Sinaissky’s class). He continued his postgraduate studies in string ensemble (Professor A. Shilov’s class). Most outstanding professors of the Moscow Conservatory like T. Gaidamovich, A. Bonduryansky, R. Davidyan, K.Khachaturyan were among his teachers.
Mr Korobov started his career as a conductor in the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. For three seasons he was Principal Conductor in two major opera theatres of Moscow - the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre and the Kolobov New Opera Theatre where he directed Norma, The Tsar’s Bride and others.
Since September 2004 Mr. Korobov has devoted himself solely to the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich- Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. He has been working as music director and conductor of the performances: Aida (G. Verdi); Werther (J. Massenet); War and Peace (S. Prokofiev); Hamlet (Prince of Denmark) (Russian) Comedy (V. Kobekin); Eugene Onegin (P. Tchaikovsky); Cinderella (S. Prokofiev); L'Italiana in Algeri (G. Rossini); The Stone Flower (S. Prokofiev); Cafe Socrate (D. Milhaud, E. Satie); May Night (N. Rimsky-Korsakov); Petite Mort/Sechs Tanze (to the music by W.A. Mozart); Manon (J. Massenet); Naples (music by E. Helsted and H. S. Paulli, Niels W. Gade, H.C. Lumbye); The Little Mermaid (L. Auerbach), La forza del destino (G. Verdi); Tatiana (L. Auerbach); La Traviata (G. Verdi), Medea (L. Cherubini). He has collaborated with such renowned choreographers as John Neumeier in The Seagull, Little Mermaid and Tatiana, Oleg Vinogradov in Cinderella and Yuri Grigorovich in The Stone Flower. Mr. Korobov conducts thirty operas in Moscow theatres on a regular basis, including five operas by Rimsky-Korsakov, The Queen of Spades, Madama Butterfly etc.
He often tours both as conductor and cellist. He has worked with symphony orchestras in Russia, Germany, Finland, Italy, the Philippines etc.
He is a Principal Guest Conductor at the Saint-Petersburg Camerata orchestra of the State Hermitage Museum headed by S.Sondeckis. Besides, he is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Chamber orchestra at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.
Since October 2017 Mr. Korobov has started the cooperation with Teatro alla Scala ("Onegin" 2017, "Manon" 2018, "The Sleeping Beauty" 2019, "Balanchine / Kylián / Béjart" 2019, "Onegin" 2019) .
Conductor | Hungary
In the 2019/20 season Gergely Madaras begins his tenure as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. As well as curating several series in Liège and at the Bozar in Brussels, his inaugural season includes three CD recordings, a continued collaboration with Mezzo HD as well as a tour to the Bucharest Enescu Festival. Gergely also continues as Chief Conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in his native Hungary, a post he occupies since 2014. He was previously music Director of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne from 2013-2019.
Having forged strong professional relationships throughout Europe, Gergely regularly appears as a guest conductor with orchestras including the BBC Symphony, Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Filarmonica della Scala, Maggio Muiscale Fiorentino, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Hungarian National Philharmonic and Hungarian Radio orchestras, the Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, Luxembourg and Warsaw National philharmonic orchestras as well as with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and Academy of Ancient Music. Further afield, he has appeared with the Melbourne, Queensland and Houston Symphony orchestras.
Highlights of the 2019/20 season include Gergely’s debut with Netherlands Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw, where he will also make a second appearance for his Netherlands Radio Philharmonic debut in August 2020. Gergely has further debuts with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the chamber orchestras of Lausanne and Geneva. Gergely returns once more to the Hallé for several UK appearances throughout the season. Other re-invitations include Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de Montpellier, BBC Scottish Symphony and the BBC Singers.
The previous season saw Gergely opening the 2018 Milano Musica Festival at La Scala, his debut at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, his debuts at the Barbican and Royal Festival Hall in London as well as Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
While Gergely is grounded in the core classical and romantic repertoire, he maintains a close relationship with new music. He has collaborated closely with composers Geroge Benjamin, Péter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Tristan Murail, Luca Francesconi and Pierre Boulez, for whom he served as assistant conductor at the Lucerne Festival Academy between 2011- 2013. He conducted over 100 works written after 1970, including many world premieres.
Gergely has also established a fine reputation as an opera conductor. In 2012 he was the inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Fellow at the English National Opera. The fellowship culminated in his debut with the company, where he conducted Simon McBurney’s new production of Magic Flute at the London Coliseum. Since then he has conducted highly praised productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Otello, La traviata, La Bohème and Lucia di Lammermoor at such houses as the Dutch National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève (with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande) and Hungarian State Opera, among others. Prompted by a keen interest in re-discovering rarely performed works, Gergely has also conducted productions of Goldmark’s Ein Wintermärchen, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Barber’s Vanessa, Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma and Offenbach’s Fantasio.
Born in Budapest in 1984, Gergely first began studying folk music with the last generation of authentic Hungarian Gipsy and peasant musicians at the age of five. He then went on to study classical flute, violin and composition, graduating from the flute faculty of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, as well as the conducting faculty of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Besides his varied musical activities, Gergely retains a deep passion for Magyar music, and is an ambitious advocate of Bartók, Kodály and Dohnányi, both at home and abroad, having conducted nearly the complete orchestral repertoire of these composers.
Armenia
Emerging from a group of lovers and devotees to classical music, the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra was created in 2005 by Sergey Smbatyan, the present Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the orchestra. From the very onset of its existence, the orchestra has been home to bright and energetic musicians, assembled around the shared vision of amplifying the cultural awareness in Armenia and elevating the spiritual excellence of human nature by the power of classical music.
The orchestra performs over 50 concerts annually, with a rich and multifarious repertoire covering multiple music genres and performance formats. Today, the 15-year-old orchestra has accrued both local and international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity and performing precision and has been spotlighted with many uplifting reviews by renowned critics and art reviewers.
The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra has been hosted by many reputable concert halls around the world, including Opera Garnier (Paris), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Dr. Anton Philipszaal (Hague), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Great Hall of Conservatory (Moscow), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Royal Theatre (Madrid), Dubai Opera House and others. It has been profiled a multitude of times with such world-class composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Karl Jenkins, Giya Kanchelli and Tigran Mansuryan as well as a number of highly distinguished performing artists. A remarkable chapter in the history of the orchestra was the 2020 European Tour with the renowned violin virtuoso and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence Maxim Vengerov with whom brilliant performances were hosted on famous stages around Europe- Berliner Philharmonie, Vienna's Musikverein, London's Barbican Center, Prague's Dvorak Hall, Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus, Moscow's Zaryadye Concert Hall and elsewhere.
The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra has a history of close relationships with world-scale artists, such as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Maxim Vengerov, Denis Matsuev, Vadim Repin, Vag Papian, Boris Berezovsky, Zakhar Bron, stemming from the orchestra’s lifelong endeavor to bridge Eastern and Western musical traditions through its performances and networking with prominent figures of classical music.
Led by Sergey Smbatyan, the orchestra released its first CD under the title 'Music is the Answer' in 2011. Recorded with the Sony records label, the CD includes works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and Eduard Hayrapetyan.
Aside from the extensive concert activity in Armenia and overseas, the orchestra also enjoys recognition and is highly esteemed for its increasing role in educating young people in Armenia. Since 2018, in the framework of DasA educational-cultural project the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra has been sparking interest and liking for classical music in high-school students across Armenia, with an attempt to galvanize a larger movement for cultivating noble insights and taste for classical music among the young generation. True to its commitment to foster access to classical music among all parts of the society and taking ownership of its social responsibilities, the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra frequently organizes charitable events and special projects in an attempt to engage people from different communities in the cultural life that largely unfolds away from them.
A number of orchestra’s concerts have been broadcast by Medici.tv, Euronews, and Classic.fm. In 2019, a documentary was released by Mezzo TV, featuring Sergey Smbatyan and the history of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.
The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra is represented worldwide by Only Stage.
Germany
In the shadow of the First World War, committed citizens in Landau met in September 1919 to decide on the formation of a travelling state symphony orchestra. After the founding concert on 15 February 1920, the orchestra set out on an initial concert tour through the Palatinate and Saarland. This was the start of the history of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, which in the meantime can look back on a more than 100-year tradition.
Even in the initial years the orchestra attracted transregional attention under the conducting of Richard Strauss and Hermann Abendroth. Principal conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach and Leif Segerstam, today honorary conductors, helped the orchestra to achieve international recognition. Michael Francis, who is also principal conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz this season, will provide considerable fresh impetus and thus continue the orchestra’s tradition.
As an orchestra without a permanent domicile, providing the federal state with symphonic music is the most important task of the State Philharmonic Orchestra. It brings the music to the people with over 100 concerts per season. Guest performances at home and abroad as well as collaboration with internationally renowned conductors and soloists bears witness to the excellent reputation that the orchestra enjoys. Arrangement and family formats enhance the offer for young people. Even the very youngest are introduced to the world of classical music with visits to rehearsals and concerts for children. Regular concert recordings by SWR (“Southwest Broadcasting”) and Deutschlandfunk Kultur (German World Radio Service, Cultural Programming) as well as numerous CD productions round off the State Philharmonic Orchestra’s diverse range of activities.
Not only wanderlust and awakening characterise the orchestra in geographical terms. The State Philharmonic Orchestra also repeatedly hits the road in the figurative sense. As far as the orchestra is concerned, brining music to people not only means being on site, but also reaching people directly. So 101 years after formation the orchestra is also an integral part of cultural life, and more than ever a cultural beacon for the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and beyond.
Israel
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA was established in 1936 as a small studio ensemble, which grew into the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra. With the foundation of the State of Israel the orchestra became the national radio orchestra, known as the Kol Israel Orchestra. In the 1970s, the orchestra was expanded and became the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority. The orchestra was the first to perform in Israel the works of Sofia Gubaidolina, Henri Dutilleux, Alfred Schnittke and others. Through the years some of the greatest musicians have performed with the orchestra, among them Arthur Rubinstein, Igor Markevitch, Otto Klemperer, Henryk Szeryng, Isaac Stern, Radu Lupu and Yefim Bronfman. One of the most notable premières performed by the orchestra was The Seven Gates of Jerusalem by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, conducted by Lorin Maazel, which was composed for the finale of the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations. This was a joint venture with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. The orchestra often tours in Europe and the United States, and has played in some of the most prestigious venues. Recently JSO had successful tours to USA, where concerts took place from Florida to Massachusetts and for the first time a tour in Japan, both tours with Dmitry Yablonsky as conductor and soloist.
Russia
The first concert of the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra was performed on March the 14th in 1988. The program of the first concert included Symphony № 40 by W.A. Mozart, “The Unfinished Symphony” by F. Schubert, “Waltz-fantasy” by M. Glinka and the Overture to the opera “The Barber of Seville” by G. Rossini. The Founder of the Orchestra is the composer and conductor Arkadiy Feldman, who is an artistic leader and the main conductor. He was rewarded the honorary title “The honoured Art worker” for his achievements in the creative activities and propaganda of the musical art.
During all the time orchestra prepared a range of programs, which showed a wide possibility of the musicians, devotion to the artistic ideals. The systematic performances in front of audience, participation of the well-known musicians in some programs, special programes for children and young people determined the wide repertoire aspirations, it’s level of performance. Among the bright interpretations the most famous are Symphony № 6 and Fantasy “ Francesca da Rimini” by P. Tchaykovski, “Scheherazada” and “Spanish Capriccio” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Symphony № 5 by L. V. Beethoven. Symphonies by J. Brahms, A. Dvorak, S. Frank. The orchestra performed all the symphony plays of M. Glinka and A. Lyadov, it often performs some symphony fragments from Wagner’s operas.
Performances of symphonies № 5, 6, and 7 by D. Shostakovich, symphony “Iyeremia” were a considerable step forward in the creative biography of the orchestra. The collective originally read the scores of symphony plays of the Kaliningrad composers T. Terehova, E. Storodgeva, A. Feldman and also the German composer Z. Mattus, who was born in the East Prussia.
A creative friendship connects the orchestra and it’s conductor with the Saratov composer A. Brening: his symphony poems were played in the programs, he created symphony № 9 “From the History of the Cathedral” specially for the Kaliningrad Orchestra.
Remarkable soloists played with the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Feldman. They are Antony Hewitt (the piano) – laureate of the international competitions in London, Washington, Munich, Claudio Bohorquez (violoncello) – laureate of the international competitions in Germany, Prague, the P. I. Tchaikovski’s competition in Moscow, Paris and Holland, Eric Shuman (the violin) – laureate of the international competitions in Novosibirsk and Poland, Irina Osipova (the piano) – laureate of the S. V. Rachmaninov’s international competitions in Moscow, the Long-Thiboud Compettitions in Paris, Honoured Artist of Russia J. Skvortsov (bassoon), laureates of the international Tchaikovsky competition Hayk Kazazyan, Boris Andrianov, Alexander Ramm, laureate of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, USA Ekaterina Mechetina and other solosts.
The Kaliningrad symphony orchestra always takes part in international festivals in Kaliningrad and abroad, various charity actions, performances in the Kaliningrad Drama Theatre, concerts i ballets in Yantar-Hall in Svetlogorsk.
The Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra often goes on tour to the countries of Europe: Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain. Together with the chorus from Germany, chorus from America, Amy Wagar (soprano) – soloist from Metropolitan-Opera, Elizabeth Ann Sadilek (flute) – professor of the Iowa State (the USA) cantata “Veni Creator Spiritus” by the American composer Jeffrey Prater was played in the cultural program of the international exhibition “EXPO – 2000” in Hannover, the orchestra took part in the premiere of the oratorio "Night" by the American composer Leib Glantz, based on the book of the Nobel Prize laureate in literature Elie Wiesel, held in 2019 in Kaliningrad and in 2020 at the Kuppel Hall in Hanover.
Malta
For half a century, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) has been recognised as Malta’s foremost musical institution.
The orchestra was founded in April 1968, when musicians from the defunct “Commander-in-Chief” (C-in-C) orchestra of the Malta-based British Mediterranean Fleet regrouped as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra. It continued to serve as the theatre’s resident orchestra until September 1997, when it became an independent orchestra, taking up the name National Orchestra of Malta. The orchestra became the MPO in 2008 when it expanded into a full-size symphony orchestra, bringing together the best of Maltese talent and musicians from Europe and beyond.
Joseph Sammut, the C-in-C’s last conductor, was the orchestra’s first conductor, remaining at the helm until 1992. Since then, the orchestra has also been under the direction of Joseph Vella, John Galea, Michael Laus, and Brian Schembri. In 2019, the MPO has appointed Sergey Smbatyan as Principal Conductor, joining Resident Conductor Michael Laus as part of the orchestra’s Artistic Team. The MPO also works with local and international guest conductors and soloists including Lawrence Renes, Michalis Economou, Guy Braunstein, Alexei Volodin, Camilla Tilling, Joseph Calleja, and Enrico Dindo.
As Malta’s leading musical ensemble, the MPO averages more than one performance a week including symphonic concerts, opera productions in Malta and Gozo, community outreach and educational initiatives, as well as various concerts of a lighter nature.
The orchestra has performed in leading venues across the globe, including in the United States, Russia, Germany, Austria, China, Italy, and Belgium, and presently embarks on at least one international tour each concert season.
The MPO is a keen exponent of Maltese composers, regularly performing their works in Malta and overseas, as well as frequently premiering and commissioning new compositions.
Through the MPO Academy and the Malta Youth Orchestra, which regularly give concerts across Malta, the MPO is also responsible for the training and professional development of the next generation of Maltese musicians.
Russia
The Russian National Orchestra was founded in 1990 by pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. Of its debut at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote, 'They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.' The RNO has been described as 'a living symbol of the best in Russian art' (Miami Herald) and 'as close to perfect as one could hope for' (Trinity Mirror).
Maintaining an active international schedule, the RNO appears in the music capitals of Europe, Asia and the Americas, is a frequent guest at festivals such as Edinburgh, the BBC Proms and Festival Napa Valley, and presents the RNO Grand Festival each September to open the Moscow season.
RNO concerts are often aired on National Public Radio, the European Broadcasting Union, and Russia’s Kultura channel. Their discography, launched with a highly praised 1991 recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique, now numbers more than 80 critically acclaimed recordings. Notable releases include the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos on Deutsche Grammophon, Tchaikovsky’s six symphonies for Pentatone, and the RNO Shostakovich project, also on Pentatone, cited as “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies to be put down on disc, and easily the best recorded” (SACD.net).
Their recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Beintus' Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, received a 2004 Grammy Award, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra to win the recording industry's highest honor. Their recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 7, conducted by Paavo Järvi, was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2015 as the year's best symphonic album, and was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award.
Slovakia
THE SLOVAK PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA was established in 1949. Two highly reputed, internationally acclaimed personalities, Václav Talich (Principal Conductor, 1949 – 1952) and Ľudovít Rajter (1949 – 1976, and the orchestra’s Artistic Director until 1961), stood at the orchestra’s birth. Other chief conductors who have played an instrumental role in the orchestra’s musical evolution include Tibor Frešo, Ladislav Slovák, Libor Pešek, Vladimir Verbitsky, Bystrík Režucha and Aldo Ceccato. Between 1991 and 2001 the role of Chief Conductor and Music Director was held by Ondrej Lenárd. In the 2003/2004 season Jiří Bělohlávek acted as Artistic Director. In 2004 Vladimír Válek became Chief Conductor, and was succeeded by Peter Feranec in 2007 – 2009. From 2009 – 2016 the French conductor Emmanuel Villaume was the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and from 2017 until 2020, the British conductor James Judd. Leoš Svárovský (from 2007 – 2018), Rastislav Štúr (from 2011 – 2019) and Petr Altrichter (for the 2018/2019 season) have been Permanent Guest Conductors of the Slovak Philharmonic. From the 2020/2021 season Daniel Raiskin became Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.
Among the many guest conductors who have worked with the Slovak Philharmonic over the years, international personalities like János Ferencsik, Witold Rowicki, Václav Smetáček, Karel Ančerl, Franz Konwitschny, Arvīds Jansons, Václav Neumann, Hermann Abendroth, Antonio Pedrotti, Sir Eugene Goossens, Sir Malcom Sargent, Roberto Benzi, Kurt Masur, Sir Charles Mackerras, Carlo Zecchi, Serge Baudo, Claudio Abbado, Kurt Sanderling, Zdeněk Košler (who, thanks to his longstanding fruitful collaboration with the orchestra, was awarded the honorary title of ‘Chief Conductor in memoriam’ in 1996), Riccardo Muti, Karl Richter, Kirill Kondrashin, Leif Segerstam, Alain Lombard, Sergiu Celibidache, Thomas Sanderling, Oskar Danon, Mario Rossi, Neeme Järvi, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Evgeny Svetlanov, Mariss Jansons, Christoph von Dohnányi, Dmitri Kitayenko, Otmar Suitner, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Alexander Rahbari, Fabio Luisi, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Schreier, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ralf Weikert, Miltiades Caridis, Pinchas Steinberg, Peter Keuschnig, Tomáš Hanus, Jakub Hrůša, Juraj Valčuha, Tomáš Netopil, Ion Marin, Pavel Baleff, George Pehlivanian, Jun Märkl, Ilan Volkov, Wayne Marshall, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Alan Buribayev must be mentioned, as well as composers and artists of own works like Jean Martinon, Krzysztof Penderecki a Aram Khachaturian.
The orchestra has made numerous recordings for radio, television and the music publishers OPUS, Supraphon, Panton, Hungaroton, JVC Victor, RCA, Pacific Music, Naxos and Marco Polo. The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra regularly gives guest performances on leading European stages and at festivals. In the course of its numerous tours abroad, the Slovak Philharmonic has performed in nearly every European country, as well as in Cyprus, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, the USA and Oman.
One of the most important events of the 2019/2020 season, which had to be ended prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic, was a trio of concerts by the SPh at the Bratislava Music Festival with the conductors James Judd, Juraj Valčuha and Pinchas Steinberg, a special concert to commemorate the Milan Rastislav Štefánik Year, gala concerts to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Slovak Philharmonic, and the 30th Anniversary Concert of the Velvet Revolution.
The planned SPh concert tour to South Korea and Japan, which should have taken place this season, has been moved to 2023 as a result of the overall situation in the world.
