In 1998 Denis Matsuev won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, following
which he began to tour throughout the world and appear with renowned symphony orchestras.

He is the director of and the inspiration behind several music festivals. Since 2004, he has run the Stars on Baikal festival in Irkutsk, and since 2005 he has been Artistic Director of the Crescendo festival. In 2012 he became Artistic Director of the Astana Piano Passion international young pianists festival and competition. In 2016 as Artistic Director and Chair of the Organizational Committee, in Moscow he ran the international Grand Piano Competition.

President of the New Names international charitable foundation.

People's Artist of Russia and recipient of the Dmitry Shostakovich Prize and the State Prize of
Russia. UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and recipient of the Order of Honour of the Russian
Federation.

After graduating from the Conservatoire de Paris in 1966, he won the following year the first
prize at the first international Olivier Messiaen piano competition. He has been since considered
one of the most outstanding interpreter of Messiaen’s music.

Professor Emeritus at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he taught for 25 years, Michel Béroff is
giving regular master classes in many countries. Exclusive EMI artist for over 25 years, Michel
Béroff has published more than 50 recordings, among them the complete works for piano and
orchestra from Liszt, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur. For
Deutsche Grammophon, he has recorded Ravel’s left hand concerto with the LSO and Claudio
Abbado. His latest recordings include the complete piano music from Debussy. Michel Béroff
has been awarded five times the "Grand Prix du Disque".

As a publisher, he participated for Wiener Urtext, to a new edition of Debussy’s piano music.

For the japanese network NHK, he realized, in 2006, a serie of fifteen master-classes on french
music.

Michel Béroff is a jury member of many important piano competitions. He is also a conductor.

Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland, the only all-Ireland orchestra and the Clandeboye Festival, he aims to nurture new young talent from Ireland whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule. Recent tours this year have included Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Poland, Russia, UK, Italy, Japan, Ireland and the USA.

In 16/17, he marked the 30 th anniversary of his Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition win with Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in Dublin and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. A highly sought after recitalist and chamber musician, he has given performances across the globe from Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Wigmore Hall and the Verbier Festival to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Grand Theatre in Shanghai and other cities in China.

Barry is an exclusive Chandos recording artist. He recently completed a six-album recording of the complete solo piano works of Brahms. His current recording projects focus on solo piano works of Schubert, Tchaikovsky and other Russian composers. Also with Chandos Barry is exploring Irish folk music through his own arrangements: Celtic Reflections (2014) and Celtic Airs (2016).

Born in Boa Esperança, a small town in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Nelson Freire is a universally acclaimed artist. He has received international honors and decorations, and regularly collaborates with top orchestras, conductors, and recital halls worldwide.

At twelve, a finalist at the first International Piano Competition of Rio de Janeiro, he received a grant from Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek and went to study in Vienna under Bruno Seidlhofer, teacher of Friedrich Gulda. At nineteen, Freire was awarded the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London and later won 1st Prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon.  

Nelson Freire has performed with many of the world's major conductors, such as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Eugen Jochum, André Previn, Lorin Maazel, Rudolf Kempe, Rafael Kubelik, David Zinman, Kurt Masur and Sir Colin Davis. He has appeared with the greatest orchestras: the Philharmonics of Berlin, London (LSO, LPO, BBC), New York, Israel, and Brussels, as well with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestra de la Tonhalle, Orchestre Suisse Romande, and the orchestras of Munich, Paris, Tokyo, and St. Petersburg including the Mariinsky Orchestra, Vienna, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Chicago and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

In March 2007 Freire received the title of Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2011 he became a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur – France’s most prestigious order for international citizens. In May 2019, Nelson Freire received in Luzern (Switzerland) prize for a lifetime career achievement.

Pavel Gililov completed his piano studies at the Leningrad Conservatory with honors.

Whilst still a student, Pavel Gililov won the National Piano Competition in Moscow in 1972. He is the winner of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the International Viotti Piano Competition in Vercelli (1 st prize).

From 1979 to 2013 he taught as Professor of Piano at the Cologne University of Music and
since 2007 until today he is Professor of Piano at the University Mozarteum Salzburg.

He participated in numerous festivals. In addition to his solo career, he also devotes himself to the field of chamber music. For many years has performed in trio with Viktor Tretyakov and Karine Georgian.

In 2005, Pavel Gililov founded the International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn and has since always been its artistic director and president of the jury.

Pavel Gililov leads numerous international masterclasses worldwide and is a sought-after juror in prestigious competitions.

Born in London in 1977, Freddy made his concerto debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 8 and further came to national prominence in 1992 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. In 1998, he became the Third Prize winner at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

Exceptionally gifted with an unusually broad repertoire, Freddy Kempf has built a unique reputation as an explosive and physical performer who is not afraid to take risks as well as a serious, sensitive and profoundly musical artist.
 
A prolific recording artist, Freddy Kempf records exclusively for BIS Records. His latest Tchaikovsky CD released in Autumn 2015 was received to great acclaim. In 2013, Freddy Kempf released a Schumann recital disc which was warmly received by the critics and, in 2010, his recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Litton was nominated for the prestigious Gramophone Concerto Award, with the associated magazine describing the collaborative duo as “a masterful Prokofievian pair”. This highly successful collaboration was followed by a recording of Gershwin’s works for piano and orchestra, released in 2012 and described in the press as “beautiful, stylish, light, and elegant… magnificent”. Meanwhile, Freddy’s solo recital disc of Rachmaninov, Bach/Busoni, Ravel and Stravinsky, released in 2011, was praised by BBC Music Magazine for its wonderful delicate playing and fine sense of style.

Li Ming-Qiang, born 1936 in Shanghai, was Vice-President of the Shanghai Conservatory (1984-89) and Professor of Piano since 1983. He studied with Alfred Wittenberg and Tatiana Petrovna Kravchenko of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music.

He won the Third Prize of the 3 rd Smetana International Piano Competition, Prague’s Spring Festival, 1957, the First Prize of the First George Enescu International Piano Competition in Romania in1958 and the Fourth Prize of the 6 th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Since then he has concertized extensively throughout Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. He is a highly regarded jury member of many major International Piano Competition including the Beijing International Piano Competition in China, the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the USA, the George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the Dinu Lipatti International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Montreal International Music Competition in Canada, the Prokofiev International Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, the Rubinstein International Master Piano Competition in Tel-Aviv, the Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, the Sydney International Piano Competition in Australia, the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow and many others. Since 1989 he has been lecturing and giving master classes at many leading Universities, Conservatories and Schools of Music in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and the USA.

He has made recordings for the China Records, Electrecord of Romania, Supraphon of the Czech Republic and Alpha Omega (Hong Kong). He is a life-member of the American Liszt Society and Honorary member of Trinity College of Music, London.

Vladimir Ovchinnikov is the only pianist ever to receive the top prizes both at the Tchaikovsky International Competition (1982) and the Leeds International Competition (1987).

Vladimir Ovchinnikov continues the traditions of the world known G. Neighaus Piano School.

The pianist is a graduate of the famous Central Special Music School (the class of A. Artobolevskaya) and the Moscow Conservatory (class of Prof. A. Nasedkin).Vladimir Ovchinnikov is also a laureate of the Concours International de Montreal (Canada, 1980, 2 nd Prize), and the International Music Competition G.B.Viotti in Vercelli (Italy, 1984, 1 st Prize).

It was his success at Leeds, however, which established his international career, a triumph which was followed by a triumphant début performance in London in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen.

V. Ovchinnikov possesses a wide repertory and appears in all the major cities throughout Europe and the USA. As internationally renowned pianist V. Ovchinnikov had the honour to perform at the most prestigious Concert Halls.

Currently, he is the Resident Professor of Piano at the Moscow Conservatory and Guest Professor of Piano at the Moscow State University in Russia. He has also been a jury member of many International Competitions.

In 2005 Vladimir Ovchinnikov received Russia’s highest award and honor for Musicians – the title of the People’s Artist of Russia awarded by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

One of the most outstanding Polish pianists and professors, laureate of five international piano competitions.

He completed piano studies at the Frederick Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of prof. Jan Ekier. The opportunity of having artistic contact with Arthur Rubinstein and Witold Lutoslawski also had a huge impact on the final development of his artistic personality.

Success achieved at the 8 th  Frederick Chopin International Piano Competition opened to Piot Paleczny the doors of many prestigious world concert halls. Receiving, in company of Garric Ohlsson and Mitsuko Uchida – the Third Prize, the Special Prize for the best performance of a Polonaise and the Witold Małcużyński Prize his career, which the artist has enjoyed constantly until now performing concerts on all continents. He performed as a soloist with such prominent orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Concertgebouw, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich…

He has gained a great recognition as a juror at the prestigious international piano competitions such as Warsaw (seven last editions of the Chopin Competitions), Moscow (Tchaikovsky-2002) Leeds, Paris, Tel Aviv, Cleveland, Hamamatsu, London,…

In 2017, Piotr Paleczny was awarded with prestigious Diploma and Title of Honorary Professor of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the Board of the Polish Phonographic Academy, in recognition of his artistic achievements, awarded him with the prestigious 'Golden Fryderyk' Award.

Since 1993 he has been Artistic Director of the world's oldest existing piano festival – the Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival and since 2004, he also is the Artistic Director of the International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz.

The artist is honored with many superior and prestigious Polish and foreign states decorations.

Boris Petrushansky`s highly original creativity and vivacious personality have gained him wide recognition as a concert pianist.

Born in 1949 in Moscow, he started playing piano at the age of five, supported by a musical family,
and had among his teachers the eminent Heinrich Neuhaus. After studying with Lev Naumov, he
graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1975, having already distinguished himself in major
international competitions.

Ever since the summer of 1975 when he gave two unforgettable recitals at the “Festival dei due
Mondi” at Spoleto and the “Maggio Musicale Fiorentino” Festival, Petrushansky has not looked
back. His performances have taken him to Italy, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Great Britain, Germany,
France, Belgium, Austria, Czecoslovakia, USA, Hungary, Israel, Egypt, Mexico, Taiwan, Hong-
Kong, S. Africa, Chile. He has made recordings with Melodia (Russia), Stradivarius, Dynamic,
Fone, Agora (Italy), Symposium (UK), Art & Electronics (Russia-USA).

He has played with many orchestras and with many renowned conductors.

Boris Petrushansky is a jury member of the International Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano,
the International Giovanni Battista Viotti Competition in Vercelli, the International Alessandro
Gasagrande Competition in Terni, the International Frédéric Chopin Competition in Warsaw and
competitions in Leeds, Orléans, Paris, Andorra and Hannover.

In addition to his concert life, Boris Petrushansky is active in teaching field: he was teaching in
Moscow Conservatory and now gives Master classes in the Royal Academy of Dublin and London,
the Royal College of Music in London, Rowan University of U.S.A and in many cities of Italy,
Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Israel and Japan. Since 1990 he has taught at the Accademia
Internazionale Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola (Italy).

In 2014 he was awarded the title of Academician of the “Academy of Muses”, Florence.

Pressler’s international career was launched after he was awarded 1st prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946. This was followed by his successful American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of maestro Eugene Ormandy. Since then, Pressler’s extensive tours of North America and Europe have included performances with the orchestras of New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Francisco, London, Paris, Brussels, Oslo and Helsinki among numerous others. 

After nearly a decade of an illustrious and acclaimed solo career, the 1955 Berkshire Music Festival saw Menahem Pressler’s debut as a chamber musician, where he appeared as a pianist with The Beaux Arts Trio. This collaboration quickly established Pressler’s reputation as one of the world’s most revered chamber musicians. With Pressler at the Trio’s helm as the only pianist for nearly fifty-five years.

For nearly sixty years Menahem Pressler has taught on the piano faculty at the world-renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he currently holds the rank of Distinguished Professor of Music as the Charles Webb Chair. 

Among his numerous honours and awards, Pressler has received honorary doctorates from the Manhattan School of Music, the University of Nebraska, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the North Carolina School of the Arts, six Grammynominations (including one in 2006), lifetime achievement awards from Gramophone magazine and the International Chamber Music Association, Chamber Music America’s Distinguished Service Award and the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters; the Menuhin Prize given by the Queen of Spain (2012), inductions into the American Classical Music and Gramophone Magazine Halls of Fame (2012) and the Music Teachers National Association Achievement Award. 

Martin Engstroem was born in Stockholm in 1953 where he received his schooling and degrees in Music History from the University of Stockholm.

‪In 1975 Martin‬ Engstroem moved to Paris to become partner in the artists management company “Opéra et Concert”. During the 12 years he worked with the agency he worked intimately with many major artists, mainly singers.

In 1991 he started to put together what in 1994 became the Verbier Festival & Academy for which he still is the Artistic and Executive Director. In 2000 he developed the Verbier Festival Orchestra together with James Levine which has become one of the most attractive orchestra academies in the world. Since 2018 Valery Gergiev is Music Director.

Between 1999-2006 Martin Engstroem was Vice President of Artists & Repertoire of Deutsche Grammophon. In April 2015, he received the Dmitri Shostakovich Prize at a ceremony held at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, in Moscow.

 Since 2016 he has been a Board Member of the Macao Festival. In 2018 he became Artistic Director both of the Tsinandali Festival in Georgia and of the Riga Jurmala Festival in Latvia.

Salvatore Accardo made his debut recital at the age of 13 playing Paganini’s Capricci. Two years later he won the Geneva Competition and shortly after the Paganini Competition in Genoa.

In 1992 he founded the Accardo Quartet and in 1986 the Walter Stauffer Academy, where he teaches a class. In 1971 he founded the Settimane Musicali Internazionali in Naples, where rehearsals were open to the audience, and the Cremona String Festival.

Accardo has also dedicated part of his activities to conducting important European and American Orchestras. He recorded as conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. Since 1987 he conducts also opera.

Accardo has been awarded with many international prizes.

In 1996 Accardo recreated the Orchestra da Camera Italiana (OCI), with whom in 1999 Accardo recorded the complete Paganini Concerti for violin and orchestra for EMI Classics, the “Concerto per la Costituzione” and in 2003 the completed Astor Piazzolla works for violin in 3 SACDs for Fone.

From 2007 up to now he realized the second recording of J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the third recording of Paganini’s 24 Capricci (Urtext) and the third recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with OCI (Urtext).

Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti is recognized increasingly across the globe as a musician of extraordinary quality with a vast expressive range and impeccable technique. In 2014, at the age of 35, Baráti was awarded Hungary’s highest cultural award, the Kossuth Prize.

Baráti has an extensive discography which includes the five Mozart concerti, the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with Klára Würtz, and Ysaÿe solo sonatas for Brilliant Classics, and Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo violin on the Berlin Classics label.

Having spent much of his childhood in Venezuela, where he played as soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, Baráti returned to Budapest to study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and was later mentored by Eduard Wulfson. Still resident in Budapest, Baráti performs in Hungary regularly and together with István Vardái, Baráti is Artistic Director of the Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival.

Baráti plays the 1703 “Lady Harmsworth” made by Antonio Stradivarius, kindly offered by the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.

Michael Haefliger has been involved with major European festivals throughout his career, initially as an active performing artist and, since 1999, as the Executive and Artistic Director of Lucerne Festival. In 1986 he co-founded the Young Artists in Concert Festival in Davos, where he served as director until 1998. From 1996 to 1998 he was moreover Artistic Director of the program of the Collegium Novum Zürich. In 2013 he organized a festival in Japan dedicated to victims of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Born in Berlin in 1961, Michael Haefliger began studying the violin and piano at the age of six; in 1983 he completed his violin studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree. He went on to study management at the Schools of Business, Law, and Social Sciences at St. Gallen University, earning an Executive MBA in 1999. In 2003 Haefliger received a scholarship to attend the General Manager Program at Harvard University.

In 2003 he also received the European Cultural Innovation Award, and, in 2007, the Tourism Award from the Lucerne Tourism Forum. In 2014 he garnered the Cultural Award of Central Switzerland and was additionally given the Badge of Honor of the City of Lucerne and the Swiss Society of New York Award.

He is a former member of the Board of Overseers of the Curtis Music Institute and Chairman of the jury for the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.

Kopelman began his violin studies at the age of six, and later studied with Maya Glezarova and Yuri Yankelevich at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1973 he won Second Prize at the Jacques Thibaud International Competition in Paris. As a member of the Borodin Quartet, he was awarded the State Prize of the Soviet Union, and was named a People’s Artist of the Russian Federation. In 1995 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honor.

He has founded the Kopelman Quartet together with some of his contemporaries from the Moscow Conservatory. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1980 to 1990, and at Yale University since 1993, and in 2002 he was appointed Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, USA, a position he continues to hold.

Mikhail Kopelman has also served as a jury member of several international competitions. These have included: Evian, Beijing and ARD Munich String Quartet Competitions, as well as the Indianapolis, Queen Elisabeth, Enescu, Yankelevich, and Spivakov International Violin Competitions.

He has made over 40 recordings at Melodia, EMI, Teldec, Phillips, Virgin Classics, Nimbus Records and Wigmore Live labels.

Born in Moscow in a musical family, Sergej Krylov began studying the violin at the age of five and completed his studies at the Moscow Central School of Music. While still very young he won the International Lipizer Violin Competition, the Stradivarius International Violin Competition, and the Fritz Kreisler Competition.

Sergej Krylov has established himself as one of the most talented violinists of his generation. He is regularly invited to perform at prestigious concert halls worldwide and has appeared with orchestras including the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the London Philharmonic, the Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra in Frankfurt and the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Atlanta Symphony, English Chamber and Budapest Festival Orchestras. 

Sergej devotes a great deal of time to chamber music projects, playing alongside Denis Matsuev, Yuri Bashmet, Itamar Golan, Lilya Zilberstein, Aleksandar Madžar, Bruno Canino, Stefania Mormone, Maxim Rysanov, Nobuko Imai, the Belcea Quartet and Elīna Garanča. Since 2009 he has been Music Director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.

Violinist and outstanding teacher. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Boris Belenky. Among his many achievements are prizes at the international competitions in Paris, Belgrade, Florence, and Vercelli. He has resided in Austria since 1981. He is a professor at the Vienna Conservatory and the University of Music in Graz, as well as honorary professor of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Among his pupils are Julian Rachlin, Nikolaj Znaider, and Dalibor Karvey. Awarded the Grand Silver Decoration for Service to Austria and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and the Arts in the first degree.

Elmar Oliveira remains the first and only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow's prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition. He was also the first violinist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize and has also won First Prize at the Naumburg International Competition. He has appeared with the esteemed Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and San Francisco as well as the Philharmonics of Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, New York, and many others. He has toured North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East, to great critical acclaim. Mr. Oliveira’s discography on Artek, Angel, SONY Masterworks, and Naxos labels, ranges widely from Bach and Vivaldi to contemporary works. He is a devoted teacher, promoter of young artists, and also keenly supports the art of contemporary violin and bow making.

In 2016 Elmar announced the creation of the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition for violinists between the ages of 16-32 which offers critical career support as well as cash prizes. The Inaugural competition took place at the Lynn Conservatory of Music, where Elmar Oliveira is Distinguished Artist-in-Residence.

Director General of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.

Graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in violin class of Professor M.S. Glezarova. Between 1976 and 2002, he worked in the Big Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio & Central TV (now the State Academic Symphony Orchestra named after P. I. Tchaikovsky), first as a performer, then as a group concertmaster, and as director of the orchestra for the last 5 years. In 1997, he was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Russian Federation. 

As the director of the Big Symphony Orchestra, he took part in the organization of recording more than 30 CDs, shooting dozens of video programs and musical films, as well as more than 300 concerts and festivals in Russia, Austria, England, Germany, Switzerland, the USA and Japan. 

Since 2003, he has been Director General of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society. Between 2008 and 2012, he headed the Department of State Support for the Arts and Folk Art of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In May 2012, he returned to his previous post in the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.

He was awarded the Russian Government Prize for his contribution to Russian culture (2015) and the Order of Honor (2017). 

As Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and Founder & Artistic Director of the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra, Dmitry Sitkovetsky is recognized throughout the world as having made a considerable impact on every aspect of musical life. With a career spanning more than four decades, he is celebrated globally as a violinist, conductor, creator, transcriber, and facilitator – and holds an undisputed and venerable position in musical society as a giant personality and educator, with books, filmed series, and TEDx talks to his name.

 As a violinist, Sitkovetsky has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Royal Concertgebouw. He has recorded with such maestros as Sir Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, and Yehudi Menuhin. As a conductor, he has worked with leading orchestras across Europe, Asia, and the USA – including ASMF, China Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota, Russian State Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Tokyo Symphony – as well as holding numerous positions of artistic leadership.

 Sitkovetsky’s name is also synonymous with the art of transcription, and his iconic versions of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations are celebrated globally. His growing catalogue includes more than fifty works of major repertoire, ranging from Bach to Stravinsky.

Praised by The Times for her “noble playing, with its rhythmic life, taut and rigorous,” Akiko Suwanai is the youngest ever winner of the IX International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Recent performances include concerts with the BBC Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic (Vassily Petrenko), and Danish National Symphony. Highlights of the 2015/16 season include performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Additionally, she will tour Japan with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Yuri Temirkanov). She has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra (Valery Gergiev) and Orchestre de Paris (Paavo Järvi).

Ms. Suwanai has won prizes including the International Paganini Competition in Italy and the Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Belgium. She studied at the Toho Gakuen School of Music with Toshiya Eto, at Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music with Dorothy DeLay and Cho-Liang Lin, and at the Hochschule der Künste with Uwe-Martin Haiberg.

She performs on the Stradivarius ‘Dolphin’ violin from 1714, previously owned by Jascha Heifetz, which has been kindly loaned to her by the Nippon Music Foundation.

Viktor Tretiakov was born into a musical family in the Siberian City of Krasnoyarsk in 1946 and attended a music school in Irkutsk. He continued his education at the Moscow Central Music School and successfully completed his violin studies at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Prof. Yuri Yankelevich, who encouraged his high level talent very carefully. In 1966 he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition to be awarded the first prize.

Now Viktor Tretiakov is a success as a soloist and performs with outstanding musicians and conductors and at numerous international festivals all over the world. He has been on tours in Great Britain, the USA, Germany, Austria, Poland, Japan, Holland, France, Spain, Belgium, countries of Scandinavia and Latin America.

From 1983 to 1991 he led the USSR State Chamber Orchestra. He teaches as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and the Cologne University of Music and is regularly invited to hold master classes. From 1990 he has served as a chairman of the Yankelevich Charitable Foundation. The violinist was often appointed to lead violin jury’s work at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He is a permanent chairman of the judges at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians and a chairman of the judges at the Vaclav Huml International Violin Competition in Zagreb.

Over 50 recordings made by Viktor Tretiakov have been released by Melodiya, Sony/BMG, Live Classics, Olympia, Brilliant Classics and others. He plays a 1772 Nicolo Gagliano violin.

Sir Clive Gillinson was born in Bangalore, India. After studying piano, he began studying the cello at the age of eleven and at 16 he joined in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, going on to study cello at the Royal Academy of Music. After graduating from the RAM, he was appointed to the Philharmonia Orchestra cello section.

Sir Clive joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1970, later he was elected to the Board of Directors of the self-governing orchestra in 1976, also serving as Finance Director. In 1984 he was asked by the Board to become Managing Director of the LSO, a position he held until becoming the Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall in 2005.

Under his leadership, Carnegie Hall has embarked upon many bold new directions in its concert and education programming, including augmenting and integrating current offerings to create large-scale multi-cultural citywide festivals and developing a massive commitment to music education that now reaches 600,000 children, teachers and adults every year.

Graduated from the Venice Conservatory studying under Adriano Vendramelli and continued his training under Antonio Janigro. In 1986 he won the VIII International Tchaikovsky Competition, and this victory propelled him to an international career.

He plays a Maggini cello from the 1600s and performs with the world's finest orchestras as both soloist and conductor. In 1994 he formed the Orchestra d'Archi Italiani. He teaches at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

Brunello’s breadth of interests is reflected in his substantial discography, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Vivaldi, Haydn, Chopin, Janaček and Sollima. The “Brunello Series” 5 Cds, on EGEA label, includes Tavener’s The Protecting Veil with the Kremerata Baltica and Bach’s Cello Suites (which received the prestigious Italian Critics’ Award).

His many other outstanding albums include recordings of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Claudio Abbado for Deutsche Grammophon, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Warner) and a live video recording from the Salle Pleyel in Paris of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with Valery Gergiev. Mario Brunello is an Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia’s Academician.

Born and raised in Korea, she studied with Leonard Rose at Juilliard and Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California and won numerous competitions. Over the years, Ms. Chung has appeared with leading orchestras of the world and has been a featured performer in many festivals and as a member of the Chung Trio with sister Kyung-Wha and brother Myung-Whun.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Chung has taught at New York’s Mannes College of Music and the Korean National University of Arts, nurturing a generation of superb musicians.

Ms. Chung has received numerous awards and honors including the Korean National Order of Cultural Merit "Eunkwan". For nearly a decade, she has led the PyeongChang Music Festival in Korea as its artistic director.

Beginning cello studies at the age of five with her father, Professor at the Gnesin Institute, she later joined Rostropovich’s legendary class at the Moscow Conservatoire. After taking the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Third Tchaikovsky International Competition, her international career embraced all the countries of the former USSR, Eastern and Western Europe, the Far East and the United States, where she made her debut in Carnegie Hall with her compatriot Aram Khachaturian’s Cello Concerto under the composer’s baton, and also gave the US premiere of his Cello Rhapsody with the Chicago Symphony.

Karine Georgian’s repertoire encompasses more than forty concertos and a vast range of instrumental and chamber music. After inheriting the professorship of André Navarra at the Detmold Musikhochschule, she continued teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where in 2014 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship, relinquishing her permanent teaching post last year.

She continues, however, to be in demand for coaching and masterclasses.

He attracted international attention when he won a prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970. 

Kirshbaum founded the first RNCM Manchester International Cello Festival in 1988. The final Festival in 2007 was awarded the important Royal Philharmonic Society’s Music Award for Concert Series and Festivals. In 2012, Kirshbaum inaugurated the highly successful Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles.

A renowned pedagogue, he served on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for 38 years. In 2008, he accepted the Gregor Piatigorsky Chair in Violoncello at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where he recently assumed the role of Chair of the Strings Department. He continues to serve as Artistic Advisor of IMS Prussia Cove and is Founder / Honorary President of the Pierre Fournier Award, as well as Honorary President of the London Cello Society.

Ralph Kirshbaum has appeared with many of the world’s great orchestras, including the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, BBC and London Symphonies, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Truls Mørk’s compelling performances, combining fierce intensity, integrity and grace, have established
him as one of the pre-eminent cellists of our time.

He is a celebrated artist who performs with the most distinguished orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Münchner
Philharmoniker, Philharmonia, Boston Sympony, Cleveland Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.Conductor collaborations include Mariss Jansons, David Zinman, Manfred Honeck, Esa-Pekka
Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Christoph
Eschenbach, amongst others.

A great champion of contemporary music, Truls Mørk has given in excess of 30 premieres. Following his
appearance at the 2018 Baltic Sea Festival performing Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto (2016), also conducted by the composer, Truls Mørk performed the work again with the Philharmonia Orchestra under
Salonen in London, and on tour to the US including the Lincoln Center in New York and CAL Performances in Berkeley. He continues to give regular recitals at major venues and festivals throughout the world.

In 1982, Truls Mørk became the first Scandinavian musician to reach the finals of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow since Arto Noras in 1966.

Sergey Roldugin was born in Sahalin in 1951. At five he began to take his piano lessons, at eight cello lessons. In 1970 he finished a music school in Riga and in 1975 he completed his course of cello studies under Prof. A. Nikitin at the Leningrad Conservatory and proceeded to his assistantship and practical study.

A student of the Leningrad Conservatory, Sergey Roldugin became a member of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1984 he served as principal cello at the Mariinsky Theater.

In 1980 he was awarded the third prize at the Prague Spring International Cello Competition.From 2002 to 2004 he was appointed to be a rector of the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

From 2006 Sergey Roldugin has been an Artistic Director of the Saint Petersburg Music House whose foundation was initiated by him.

From 2004 he has engaged in conducting, and as a conductor he appeared in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk and toured over Germany, Finland and Japan.

He annually holds a series of masterclasses in Russia, European countries, Korea and Japan and
takes part in jury’s activities at national or international competitions.

Jan Vogler’s distinguished career has seen him performing with renowned conductors and internationally acclaimed orchestras around the world, from the New York Philharmonic to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the London Philharmonic. He collaborates with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Jurowski.

Driven by the collaborative process between musician and composer, he has premiered works by Tigran Mansurian, Udo Zimmerman, John Harbison and Wolfgang Rihm. In May 2019 Jan will give the world premiere of the cello concerto, 3 Composers - 3 Continents, written by Nico Muhly, Sven Helbig, and Zhou Long.

Jan Vogler records exclusively with Sony Classical and has an extensive catalogue including Dvořàk’s Cello Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, the complete Bach Cello Suites and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Andrés Orozco-Estrada. In addition to his rich performance and recording career, Jan continues to seek inspiration from new sources, demonstrated in his recent project with actor Bill Murray entitled “New Worlds: Bill Murray, Jan Vogler, and Friends.”

In 2006, Jan Vogler received the European Award for Culture and in 2011 the Erich-Kästner Award for tolerance, humanity and international understanding. In June 2018 he received the European Award for Culture TAURUS as Director of the Dresden Music Festival.

Jan Vogler plays the Stradivari ‘Ex Castelbarco/Fau’ 1707 cello.

Mischa Maisky was born in Latvia and educated in Russia. He was taught by Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory from 1966 to 1970.

In 1966 he was a prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Then he also studied with Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles.

As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, during the last 25 years he has made well over 30 recordings with different orchestras.

There were several concerts in 2018 to mark his 70 th birthday, and he has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Istanbul.

Truly a world-class musician and regular guest at most major International Festivals, he has collaborated with many well-known conductors like Bernstein, Giulini, Maazel, Muti, Mehta and others and chamber music partners like Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Gidon Kremer to name just a few...

Daniel Müller-Schott studied under Walter Nothas, Heinrich Schiff and Steven Isserlis. He was supported personally by Anne-Sophie Mutter and received, among other things, the Aida Stucki Prize as well as a year of private tuition under Mstislaw Rostropovich. At the age of fifteen, Daniel Müller-Schott won the first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 1992 in Moscow.

Daniel Müller-Schott guests with important leading international orchestras. All over the world
he has appeared in concert with renowned conductors. In addition to performances of the great
cello concertos, Daniel Müller-Schott has a special interest in discovering unknown works and extending the cello repertoire, e.g. with his own adaptations and through cooperation with contemporary composers.

Sir André Previn and Peter Ruzicka dedicated cello concertos to the cellist which were premiered under the direction of the composers. Daniel Müller-Schott has been involved for many years now in the project "Rhapsody in School". He regularly gives master classes and helps to support young musicians in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia.

At the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Music Festival Daniel Müller-Schott is artistic director for the Rügen Classical Music Spring Festival 2019.

Since the debut at the age of 12 with the Tokyo Philharmonic and winning the 1963 International Casals Competition in Budapest, Tsutsumi has performed with the renowned orchestras.

Touring the globe as soloist, he also busies himself as an educator and leads master classes.

After the almost 20 years tenure as Faculty of the Indiana University, he contributed to his Alma Mater, Toho Gakuen School of Music as President for nine years.

Now he is also Specially appointed professor, Toho Gakuen School of Music, Music Director of Kirishima International Music Festival, President of Suntory Hall and The visiting professorship at Korea National
University of the Arts School of Music.

He is a recipient of National Academy of Arts Prize in music by the Emperor, Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon, the highest honor in Japan and awarded Person of Cultural Merit in 2013.

He has been a member of the Japan Art Academy since 2009.

From 2004 István studied in the Class of Special Talents at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest
under László Mező, and from 2005 at the Music Academy of Vienna with Reinhard Latzko. Between 2010 and 2013 he continued his studies at the Kronberg Academy with Professor Frans Helmerson.

Since 2013 he has been holding a teaching position at the Academy, and is also a Professor at the Music Academy in Mannheim.

István Várdai has been honoured with several prestigious international prizes: in 2014 he won the prestigious ARD Competition in Munich. In 2009 he was awarded the Junior Prima Prize as the best young artist of the year, and in 2012 he received the prestigious Prix Montblanc awarded to the world’s most promising young musician.

He won the 63 rd  Geneva International Cello Competition, along with three special prizes: Audience Prize, ​"Pierre Fournier" Prize, and ​"Coup de Coeur Breguet" Prize in 2008, and he took third prize in the Tchaikovsky Music Competition in Moscow in 2007.

In 2006 he was awarded with the special prize of the Emanuel Feuermann Cello Competition at the Kronberg Academy and received first prize at the 13 th  International Brahms Competition in Austria.

Together with Kristóf Baráti, István Várdai is artistic director of the Kaposfest Chamber Music Festival in Hungary.

Jian Wang was born in China. In 1985, with Isaac Stern's help, he came to the USA to study at the Yale School of Music. This marked the start of his international career, which has centered on both London and Shanghai. 

Although Wang's discography is very diverse, the chamber music that he recorded with pianist Maria João Pires and violinist Augustin Dumay holds a special place among his recordings.

Her career began at the San Francisco Opera in 1972 as Assistant to the Artistic Administrator. Sarah was promoted to Artistic Administrator and undertook numerous special projects. In August of 1994, Sarah became the Assistant General Manager for Artistic Affairs of the Metropolitan Opera. Working alongside General Manager, Joe Volpe (followed by Peter Gelb), and Music Director, James Levine, she was integral in the planning and casting of all present and future Met seasons. She supervised the artistic budget and directed the company’s artistic and music staff departments which included the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and National Council Auditions.

Sarah Billinghurst Solomon is currently serving on the boards of The Julliard School, Carnegie Hall, Santa Fe Opera, The English Concert in America, The Mariinsky Foundation, the International Women’s Health Coalition, and is Chair of the Women’s Health Care Council of Columbia University Medical Center. In May 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in music from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Jonathan Friend was born in London, England, and educated in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He joined English National Opera in 1974, becoming the Archivist in 1977. In 1979 he became Company Manager for English National Opera North in Leeds. In 1981, he was invited by James Levine to come to the Metropolitan Opera, becoming Company Manager in 1982. In 1984 he was appointed Artistic Administrator, in which capacity he still serves today. He is responsible for the planning of future seasons and engaging singers and conductors. He frequently serves as a judge on vocal competitions.

His amazing international career began with the role of King Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Salzburg Easter Festival under the baton of Herbert von Karajan in 1986. In the same year he debuted at the Salzburg Summer Festival with the role of Figaro in Mozart’s opera. His debuts on the leading opera stages happened earlier: Teatro alla Scala (1979), Metropolitan Opera (1980), Vienna State Opera (1985).

Acclaimed as the greatest Don Quichotte of our time, the Italian singer has recorded the opera with young soloists and the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev on the Mariinsky label (this recording was praised by the critics and received a Grammy nomination).

His CD releases include the highly critically praised Mussorgsky CD release with Valery Gergiev and Mariinsky orchestra for the Mariinsky Label and CD with Mariss Jansons and Concertgebow for the Mariss Jansons Live, The Radio Recordings 1990-2014. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings Songs and Dances of Death in both releases. Other important 2015 release is Ferruccio Furlanetto, Vienna Staatsoper – Live Recordings 1997 – 2012 by Orfeo International with the two key roles of Ferruccio Furlanetto repertoire – Philipp II and Boris Godunov. Ferruccio Furlanetto is Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations. 

Susan Graham rose to the highest echelon of international performers within just a few years of her professional debut, mastering an astonishing range of repertoire and genres along the way. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi’s Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which was written especially for her. Among her numerous honors are a Grammy Award for her collection of Ives songs, Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year, and an Opera News Award. As one of the foremost exponents of French vocal music, she has been recognized with the French government’s "Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur".

Graham’s earliest operatic successes were in such trouser roles as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Her technical expertise soon brought mastery of more virtuosic parts, and she went on to triumph as Octavian in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and the Composer in his Ariadne auf Naxos. She sang the leading ladies in the Metropolitan Opera’s world premieres of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, and made her musical theater debut in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In concert, she makes regular appearances with the world’s foremost orchestras, often in French repertoire, while her distinguished discography comprises a wealth of opera, orchestral, and solo recordings. Gramophone magazine has dubbed her "America’s favorite mezzo".

Edita Gruberova is one of the greatest coloratura sopranos of the last decades of the twentieth century. She was born in Bratislava where she studied at the conservatory and with Ruthilde Boesch in Vienna. Her international career began at the Vienna State Opera as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Karl Böhm conducting.

Edita Gruberova is a regular guest at the Salzburg and the Munich Opera Festival. She has worked with the most famous conductors and stage directors.

Edita Gruberova holds the title of Austrian and Bavarian "Kammersängerin". She is an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera and was awarded many distinctions: the distinguished Italian Franco-Abbiati-Prize for the best interpretation of an Italian opera role (Lucia), the Sir-Lawrence-Olivier-Award and il Bellini d’Oro for her exceptional performances. She received twice the Order of the White Double Cross (Second Class), the highest state decoration of the Republic of Slovakia. Besides, she was decorated with the Herbert von Karajan-Prize, the order of merit of the Austrian Republic, the Austrian Prize for Musical Theatre (Goldener Schikaneder) for her lifetime achievement, the Richard Strauss badge of honour and the Tatra Banka Foundation Prize for Art.

Charles MacKay’s career in opera and arts administration spans more than 50 years, beginning with his first professional role as a musician in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He returned to serve as the company’s third general director from 2008 to 2018. Prior to that, Mr. MacKay was general director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis from 1985 to 2008, and the Director of Development and Finance of the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

More than 400 soloists made debuts during his tenures as general director in St. Louis and Santa Fe, including Christine Brewer, Ailyn Pérez, Jamie Barton, Susan Graham, Lawrence Brownlee, Paul Groves, Dwayne Croft, Quinn Kelsey, Christian Van Horn, and Ryan McKinny.

Mr. MacKay is president of The Sullivan Foundation, an organization which supports young vocal artists, and is on the board of directors of The English Concert in America. A long-time member of the OPERA America board, he served as its chairman from 2004 to 2008. He is a frequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and chaired the Opera-Musical Theater panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. MacKay holds honorary doctorates from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Indiana University.

Mikhail Petrenko was born in St. Petersburg and graduated from the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in the class of Professor Minzhilkiev. While still a student he was invited to join the Mariinsky Academy of young Singers. He made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in Prokofiev’s opera Semyon Kotko, and since 1998 has been a soloist with the Opera Company.

Mikhail Petrenko has become a prize-winner at such prestigious international vocal competitions as Operalia, the Rimsky-Korsakov Competition, the Elena Obraztsova Competition, he also was awarded a diploma at the Maria Callas Competition Nuove voci per Verdi in Parma.

The start of Mikhail Petrenko’s international career came with his debut at the Berliner Staatsoper as Hunding (Die Walküre) in 2004 under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. Since then, Mikhail Petrenko has been invited to the world’s leading opera houses and prestigious opera festivals.

In November 2011, Mikhail Petrenko performed the role of Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila) at the reopening of Moscow’s historical Bolshoi Theatre.

Studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, then in Rome with Luigi Ricci. He made his debut on stage in 1969 at the Finnish National Opera, performing the part of Philip II in Don Carlos (G. Verdi).

In 1972, he joined the Zürich and Cologne Opera houses and has performed at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Nuremberg on numerous occasions. Repeatedly participated in the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the Bayreuth Festival.

In 1992, the recording of Richard Wagner's Death of the Gods with Salminen (conducted by Pierre Boulez) won the Grammy Award for best operatic recording.

In the 2016 season, he celebrated his 50th anniversary of acting career.

Albina Shagimuratova was born in Tashkent (USSR). She began her musical studies as a pianist and attended the Aukhadeyev Music College in Kazan and later the Kazan State University, where she received a degree in vocal and opera performance. She went on to study at the Moscow Conservatoire. Graduating with honors, she completed her doctoral work there in 2007. She is also a proud alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

She first came to international attention as the Gold Medal winner at the 2007 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. This was quickly followed by her European opera debut as the Queen of the Night at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Riccardo Muti.

She portrayed the legendary soprano Adelina Patti in a new film version of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, released in April 2017.

Albina  Shagimuratova  also performed  at the G20 Summit  at the Constantine Palace  in St. Petersburg, at the opening of the Summer Universiade in Kazan (Russia), with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in their annual Millennium Park summer concert series, at the Edinburgh International Festival in Britten’s War Requiem and at the BBC Proms in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells conducted by Edward Gardner at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The President of the Russian Federation awarded her titles of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 2017, and People’s Artist of Tatarstan in 2009.

Neil Shicoff, internationally recognized as the pre-eminent American star-tenor of his generation, studied at the Juilliard School of Music and, privately with his father, the celebrated Cantor Sidney Shicoff. He has performed at all of the world’s greatest opera houses with a career that spanned over 40 years, 30 of which were celebrated at the Metropolitan Opera.

He is a Grammy nominated recording artist with an extensive discography of both solo and full-length opera recordings and DVD’s, including complete opera DVD performances of La Bohème, La Traviata, Hoffmann and La Juive. Additionally, released by Deutsche Grammophon, is a documentary on "The Making of La Juive".

He has received the highest of "State" honors from France and Austria, as well as, winning Russia’s "Golden Mask" for his performance of Eleazar in La Juive at the Mikhailovsky Theater in 2011. Additionally, from 2015-2016, he was head of Opera at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Opera manager; great granddaughter of Richard Wagner. Since 2008, together with her half-sister Katharina, she has been in charge of the Bayreuth Festival. From 1984 to 1987 she was an opera director at the Royal Opera House in London and from 1989 to 1993 she was Director of Programming at the Opéra Bastille. She has worked with a number of major theatres in Europe and America, has been a Senior Artistic Consultant to the Metropolitan Opera, and was an Artistic Advisor for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Evamaria Wieser studied piano as well as singing at the "Hochschule für Musik". From autumn 1989 onwards she worked with Gerard Mortier at the Salzburg Festival, and was appointed Artistic Administrator in 1992, a position she kept until 2001. From 2002 - 2004 Ms. Wieser held the same position at the newly founded Ruhr Triennale (Germany), under the artistic direction of Gerard Mortier and simultaneously was preparing with him his season programs as Director of the Paris National Opera from 2004/2005 onwards.

From October 2004 to 2011 she returned to the Salzburg Festival as Director of Artistic Administration under Artistic Directors Peter Ruzicka, Jürgen Flimm and Markus Hinterhäuser. From October 2001 to April 2015 she has been Artistic Consultant for the Salzburg Easter Festival, and from 2011-2013 also for the Rome Opera.

Since 2008 she is European Casting Consultant of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 2015 she returned to the Salzburg Festival as Director of the Young Singers Project (YSP). From October 2016 to October 2018 she took on again the position of Director of Artistic Administration under Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser.

Since November 2018 she is working freelance for the Salzburg Festival as Director of Casting and of the YSP.

Denis Bouriakov has been Principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2015 and, before that, was Principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera from 2009. Denis has in recent years established himself as one of the most active and sought after soloists in the flute world. He has won prizes in many of the most important international competitions, including the Munich ARD, Jean-Pierre Rampal, the Prague Spring, the Carl Nielsen, and the Kobe competitions, to name a few. 

Denis looks outside the standard flute repertoire for works that allow the flute to shine. In addition to having a phenomenal virtuoso technique and musicianship, he is continually transcribing and performing violin concertos and sonatas, expanding the limits of flute technique and artistry. Having a very active solo career, Denis has played concertos with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel and Daniel Harding, with many orchestras worldwide, including the Mariinsky Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded a number of solo albums, and his latest recording with Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra will be released in 2019. 

Denis has been an active teacher, and has served as a faculty at Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Aurora Festival in Sweden among others. He has been a full-time faculty at UCLA since 2017, and a guest professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 2018.

Boris Allakhverdyan was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2016. He previously served as Principal Clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Associate Principal Clarinet of the Kansas City Symphony. Mr. Allakhverdyan is a founding member of the Prima Trio, the Grand Prize and the Gold Medal winner of the prestigious 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. 

Mr. Allakhverdyan is a winner of the Rimsky-Korsakov International Woodwind Competition, Hellam Concerto Competition, the Tuesday Musical and the Oberlin Concerto competitions. 

Boris Allakhverdyan serves on the faculty at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as well as at California State University at Fullerton. He previously taught at the Peabody Institute of Music, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Philadelphia International Music Festival and Interlochen Clarinet Institute in Michigan. 

Boris Allakhverdyan performs exclusively on Buffet Crampon clarinets and Vandoren mouthpieces and reeds. 

A native of Miami, Whitney Crockett began his bassoon studies with Michael Finn and Luciano Magnanini. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Stephen Maxym.

Whitney Crockett, one of the most respected bassoonists of his generation, joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Principal Bassoon. He came to Los Angeles after 12 years as Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Prior to his work in New York, Crockett held the same position with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and served as its director, and earlier in his career he held Principal Bassoon positions with the Florida Orchestra, the South Florida Symphony, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacionál of the Dominican Republic. He also currently serves as principal bassoon with the All Star Orchestra. 

An avid chamber musician, he has performed regularly on the MET Chamber Players series at Carnegie Hall, and he has recorded and toured extensively with the New York Kammermusiker double reed ensemble. A leading pedagogue, Mr. Crockett has served on the faculties of the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools of music, as well as McGill University in Montreal and the Académie de Verbier in Switzerland. 

Eugene finished the Gnessin School in Moscow. His first teachers were Professor I.F. Pushechnikov and S.P. Velikanov. From 1991, he continued his studies in the USA with Professor Ralph Gomberg at Boston University.

The first Russian musician in history to hold the position of the principal oboist in major US orchestras. From 2002 to 2006 he worked as soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York and from 2006 to 2015 as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Eugene Izotov is currently the principal oboist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

His numerous awards include top prizes at international competitions in Moscow (1990), St. Petersburg (1991), New York (1995) and the Fernand Gillet International Competition (2001). He often appears as soloist, performing with leading U.S. orchestras.

Eugene Izotov taught at the Juilliard School, De Paul University (USA), and the Verbier Festival (Switzerland). He regularly presents master classes at universities and conservatories across North America, Europe and Asia, including the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, etc. He is currently a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory and a teacher at the Santa Barbara Music Academy and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (Japan).

Daniel Matsukawa has been principal bassoon of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 2000. Born in Argentina to Japanese parents, he moved with his family to New York City at age three and began studying the bassoon at age 13. The following year he won his first competition and was featured as a soloist performing the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with a professional orchestra in New York. He was a scholarship student of the pre-college division of both the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harold Goltzer and Alan Futterman. Mr. Matsukawa went on to study at Juilliard for two years before attending the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a pupil of retired Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bassoon Bernard Garfield.

Mr. Matsukawa has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including a solo concerto debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of 18. He was also featured in a Young Artist’s Showcase on New York’s WQXR classical radio station. Since then he has appeared as soloist with several other orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider, the Curtis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonic, and the Sapporo Symphony in Japan.

Prior to his post with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Matsukawa served as principal bassoon with the National Symphony in Washington D.C., the Saint Louis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony. In 1998 he performed and recorded Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 as acting principal bassoon with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur. Mr. Matsukawa is a regular member of the faculties at both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Boyer College of Music at Temple University.

Mr. Matsukawa studied conducting privately with Otto Werner Mueller, who was the head of the Conducting Department at the Curtis Institute of Music.

He is currently the Music Director and conductor of the Independence Sinfonia Orchestra. 

Born in Leipzig, Germany, Marie-Luise Modersohn studied with professor Günther Passin at the Musikhochschule München from 1992 to 1998. 

Between 1994 and 2005, she was principal oboist with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Since 2006, Marie-Luise Modersohn is principal oboist of the Munich Philharmonic.

Besides her work as an orchestral musician, Marie-Luise Modersohn devotes herself to chamber and solo performances. Marie-Luise Modersohn has participated in renowned chamber music festivals. She is a member of the Chabot-Ensemble and the Albert-Schweitzer-Oktett.

Since 2016, she regularly appears with the Camerata Salzburg and other renowned chamber orchestras. As a teacher, Marie-Luise Modersohn has internationally sought after.

Pascal Moraguès has been principal clarinet in the Orchestre de Paris since 1981, professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris since 1995 and guest professor at the Superior College of Music in Osaka and at the Royal College of Music in London.

He is leading a busy career both as a soloist and a sought-after chamber musician.

Conductors he has performed with as a soloist include Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Paavo Järvi, Carlo-Maria Giulini, Zubin Metha, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christoph Eschenbach, Frans Brüggen.

He is a member of the Quintette Moraguès, the Viktoria Mullova Ensemble, the Ensemble “Katia and Marielle Labèque“ and he is regularly invited as a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Moraguès frequently performs as a soloist in prestigious international music halls like the Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Lincoln Center in Washington, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and several prestigious festival such as, Salzburg, Lucerne, Montreux, Jerusalem, La Roque d‘Antheron, etc.

He is regularly invited to Asia, the United States, Australia, the Middle East and all over Europe for concert tours and master classes.

Pascal Moraguès has made many recordings – with Sviatoslav Richter (Philips), Viktoria Mullova, Prazak Quartet, et al. – most of which have won international prizes.

Alexei Ogrintchouk is one of the most outstanding oboists performing today. A graduate of the Gnessin School of Music and the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Maurice Bourgue, Jacques Tys and Jean-Louis Capezzali, he combines astounding technique with virtuosity and lyricism.  

He is the winner of a number of international competitions including the prestigious CIEM International Competition in Geneva at the age of 19. He was also the winner of the European Juventus Prize in 1999, two "Victoires de la Musique Classique" Prizes in France in 2002, the Triumph Prize in Russia in 2005 and Borletti Buitini Trust Award winner in 2007. He has been part of the prestigious Rising Stars and BBC New Generation Artists Programmes.

Alexei Ogrintchouk is named successor of Maurice Bourgue as oboe professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve from September 2011. He also has been a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London (2001-2011), professor at the Musikene in San Sebastian (2009-2011), and at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague since 2010. He is giving a number of masterclasses such as Pablo Casals Chamber Music Academy in Prades, Mahler Academy in Ferrara, Cursos de Verano in Bilbao, Academie Musicale de Villecroze, Aurora Academy in Sweden or Weimar International Master Class.

He graduated from the Moscow Military Music College in the specialty "Trumpet". In 1960, he graduated from the Academic Music College at the  Moscow  State Conservatory in the specialty "Bassoon" (class  of V.P. Gorbachev), in 1966, from the Moscow State Conservatory (class of R.P. Terekhin), after which he underwent a course of assistantship. Since 1971, he has been teaching at the Department of Wind and Percussion Instruments of the Moscow State Conservatory. In 1992, he became Professor; in 1995, he became the Head of the Department of Wind and Percussion Instruments, and in 2007, the Head of the Department of Woodwind and Percussion Instruments. Since 1988 he has been teaching at the Academic Music College at the Moscow State Conservatory and the State School of Wind Music.

Valery Popov continues to perform solo concerts. His solo repertoire embraces more than two hundred works of different eras, from the Renaissance to the avant-garde.

It was Popov who introduced almost the entire modern solo repertoire for bassoon into the practice of Soviet and Russian bassoonists.

Valery Popov is a virtuoso bassoonist, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, Ph.D. in Art History, Professor of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Honorary Professor of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the winner at the All-Union Competition in Leningrad and the VIII International Competition in Budapest. He was awarded orders and medals by the Union of Composers of Russia and other Russian and foreign non-governmental organizations.

Karl-Heinz Schütz is Solo Flute of Wiener Philharmoniker and therefore in the same position at the Wiener Staatsoper, having held the same position with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker for four years, and with the Wiener Symphoniker from 2005 to 2011. Born in Innsbruck and raised in Landeck, Tyrol, he received his musical education at the Landeskonservatorium in Vorarlberg with Eva Amsler, Conservatoire national supérieur de musique in Lyon with Philippe Bernold, and with Aurèle Nicolet in Switzerland.

He won first prizes at the Carl Nielsen International Music Competition in 1998 und the International Flute Competition Kraków in 1999. He has performed as soloist across Europe and Japan, with performances of the importantflute concertos with Wiener Philharmonikerand Symphoniker as well as NHK Tokyo and Sapporo symphony orchestra... Conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Fabio Luisi, Yakov Kreizberg, Dmitrij Kitajenko and Bertrand de Billy invited him to be the soloist in their concerts.

Karl-Heinz Schütz is a passionate chamber musician and a member of various ensembles from baroque to contemporary. In 2013 he succeeded Wolfgang Schulz in the Ensemble Wien-Berlin and in the Wiener Ring Ensemble. He has appeared at international festivals in Salzburg, Bregenz, Graz, Montpellier, Rheingau, Sapporoand Prague, among others.

Karl-Heinz Schütz is Professor of Flute at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Wien and has held several guest professorships. He gives master-classes throughout Europe and is also an active recording artist, especially for Camerata Tokyo, where his Mozart, Prokoffiev and Brahms Cds were released. With the Academy of St. Martin in the fields under Sir Neville Marriner an album was published at Chandos, with the title: 20th centuries concerto grosso. He is artistic director at Horizonte Landeck.

Stephen Williamson is the principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Riccardo Muti.  Mr. Williamson was formerly the principal clarinetist of both the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In addition, he has been a frequent guest principal clarinetist with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Japan under Seiji Ozawa.

Mr. Williamson is currently a faculty member of DePaul University in Chicago, IL.  He has served on the faculty at Columbia University and the Mannes College of Music in New York City, as well as at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. 

An avid soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Williamson has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia.  He has collaborated with such artists as James Levine, Yo-Yo Ma, Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Kahane, Anne Marie McDermott, Emanuel Ax, Meliora Winds, Aspen, Dorian and Sylvan Wind Quintets; Brentano, American, Jasper, Brasilia and Dover String Quartets. Past concerto performances of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto are with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan (2011), the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in Carnegie Hall under conductor Fabio Luisi (2012) as well as with the CSO and Maestro Riccardo Muti in February and June 2016. Last season, Mr. Williamson performed the Mozart Concerto with the CSO and Maestro Muti in six performances on their US west and east coast tours. 

He received his Bachelor’s degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, where he collaborated with various members of the Berlin Philharmonic. His past teachers include Peter Rieckhoff, Charles Neidich, Kenneth Grant and Michael Webster. 

A long-time Selmer-Paris and Vandoren Artist, Mr. Williamson currently plays Selmer Signature clarinets and uses Vandoren traditional reeds with a James Pyne "Williamson model" mouthpiece. 

Jacques Zoon studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Koos Verheul and Harrie Starreveld and at the Banff Center for the Arts, Canada, with Geoffrey Gilbert.

He was a member of the Netherlands- and later of the European Community Youth Orchestra under conductors as Abbado and Bernstein. He has been principal flutist of the Amsterdam- and the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra, and of the Royal Concertgebouworchestra, of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. 

On various occasions, he played as principal flute with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has also been appointed Principal Flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1997-2001), of the Orchestra Mozart (2004-2014). Since 2004 Principal Flute of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly and since 2009 of the Saito Kinen Festival y Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa.

In 2016 he founded "Zoon&Maia Flutes", building wooden flutes with special specifications.

Zoon was a teacher at many universities. Since 2009 he has been appointed professor for Flute and Chamber Music at the Reina Sofia Music School in Madrid.

Ian Bousfield has been at the top of his profession for over 35 years, having formerly been principal trombone of the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony in an orchestral career that spanned thirty years. As a soloist he has appeared with, amongst others, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner and Kent Nagano with the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and the BBC Philharmonic. 

In recent times his conducting career has taken off, seeing Ian regarded as one of the world’s foremost brass conductors. He has conducted the Oslo Philharmonic, Liceu Opera, Danish Radio Symphony, Copenhagen Opera, Sonderborg Symphony, Bern Symphony, Norlands Opera and the New World Symphony.

Ian is a professor of trombone at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern and the Royal Academy of Music in London. His former students sit in some of the world’s premier orchestras and have won the most prestigious competitions including the ARD and Royal Overseas League. His book and videos, "Unlocking the Trombone Code" have met with great critical acclaim. He is a brass coach for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and a regular coach of the New World Symphony. He was awarded the ITA award in 2012, a lifetime honor from the International Trombone Association.

Walter Hilgers is the Honorary Artistic Director and Permanent Invited Conductor of the "Paul Constantinescu" Philharmonic Orchestra Ploieşti and additional the Chief conductor of the Santa Fe Provincial Orchestra in Argentina. For many years he was the Principal Guest Conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra Banatul/Timisoara.

Guest conducting engagements have taken him among others to orchestra such as the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Montevideo SODRE Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Nacional Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Teatro Argentino La Plata, the Porto Alegre Symphonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra Košice, the Romanian Radio National Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Orchestra Bucharest, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest. 

Conductor Walter Hilgers received his musical education in the subjects of tuba, contrabass, and piano. Engagements as a tuba player led him among others to the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg as well as with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, Walter Hilgers was also a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra for 12 years and he was a founding member of the German Brass Ensemble, where he spent more than 25 years.

In the 30 years of his active orchestral career, this exceptional artist has played music under the baton of Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Pierre Boulez, Georg Solti, James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Bernhard Haitink, and Günter Wand.

Between 1989 and 1995 he worked as a professor at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg, after which he was appointed Professor of Wind Chamber Music at the Franz Liszt College of Music in Weimar. To this day additionally, he teaches tuba at the University.

In an astonishingly short time, Christian Lindberg has, alongside his activities as a soloist and composer, already conducted orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestra di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, the Extremadura Orchestra, the Umeå Symphony Orchestra, the Tiroler Symphonieorchester, Het Noord Nederland Orkest, Het Gelders Orkest, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Poznań Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, the Euscadi Orchestra, the Maggio Fiorentino, the Haydn Orchestra Bolzano, the Northern Sinfonia, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonietta Finlandia and the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra in his very successful opera debut Carmen just recently in Norway. 

Christian Lindberg begins in his new position as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the newly established Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010–2011, an orchestra which enjoys strong Government support. 

Christian Lindberg’s achievements on the trombone can only be compared with those of Paganini on the violin or of Liszt on the piano. Having premiered over three hundred works for the trombone (including more than thirty composed by himself), recorded more than seventy solo CDs and having an international solo competition created in his name in Valencia in Spain, Christian Lindberg is today nothing less than a living legend.

At an early stage of his career, he joined Yo-Yo Ma and Gidon Kremer as the BBC Music Magazine’s soloist of the year. In 2000, together with Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, he was voted by an international poll as one of the greatest brass players of the 20th century.

Israeli-Russian trumpet player Sergei Nakariakov has broken through more than a few of the perceived boundaries framing the world of the trumpet in classical music. 

He was born in Gorky and received his first music lessons on the piano, which would have remained his chosen instrument if he had not injured his back in 1986 and been forced to give it up. Instead he turned to the trumpet, a change of direction in which he was supported by his father, who gave him his technical knowledge and helped him to develop still further his exceptional feel for music.

It was not long before he was giving concerts in his native Russia and accepting invitations from other countries in Europe, Asia as well as in North and South America. He made his Salzburg Festival début in 1991 with Saulius Sondeckis and the following year appeared for the first time at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where he was awarded the Prix Davidoff. In the years 1993 and 1994 Sergei took lessons with Guy Touvron at the CNR in Paris.

In 2002 Sergei Nakariakov received the ECHO Klassik Award on ZDF as instrumentalist of the year from the German Phono-Academy. Over the years Sergei has recorded over 15 compact discs.

Sergei's touring schedule includes performances in the foremost concert series all over the world, both with orchestra and in recital.

One of the leading instrumentalists of his generation, Radovan Vlatković has traveled the globe performing extensively as a soloist and popularizing the horn as recording artist and teacher.

Born in Zagreb in 1962 he completed his studies with Professor Prerad Detiček at the Zagreb Academy of Music and Professor Michael Höltzel at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany. Radovan Vlatković is the recipient of many first prizes in national and international competitions. This led to numerous invitations to music festivals throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, Israel, Korea as well as regular appearances in Japan.

From 1982 until 1990 he served as Principal Horn with the Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1992 to 1998 he held the post of Horn Professor at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. In 1998 he became Horn Professor at the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 2000 he holds the Horn Chair "Canon" at the "Queen Sofia" School in Madrid.

Radovan Vlatković has appeared as soloist with many distinguished symphony and chamber orchestras.

From 2000 until 2003 he has been Artistic Director of the September Chamber Music Festival in Maribor, Slovenia. Radovan Vlatković has received the German Critics Award for several of his discs.

Prize-winner at the II International Raimo Sarmas Trumpet Players’ Competition, at the V All-Russian Rimsky-Korsakov Open Competition of Brass and Percussion Musicians, at the IV International Concours de trompette Maurice André, at the Gartow Stiftung Competition, at the All-Russian Competition of Young Brass Players, Diploma-recipient at the International Trumpet Players’ Competition, at the International Prague Spring Competition.

Timur Martynov was born in Leningrad in 1979. He began to study the trumpet under the tutelage of Georgy Kaminsky. In 2002 he graduated from the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Professor Yuri Bolshiyanov). He trained at the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. The performer has been a prize-winner at numerous All-Russian and international competitions. He was a soloist with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and with the Musica Aeterna Ensemble of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. 

Since 2007 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Brass Ensemble. Together with the Mariinsky Orchestra he has taken part in various tours and international festivals including the  Rotterdam Philharmonic – Gergiev Festival (Netherlands), the Mikkeli Festival (Finland), the Stars of the White Nights festival in St. Petersburg and the Moscow Easter Festival. Timur Martynov’s repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre includes solos in operas, ballets and symphony music.

He received his musical education at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. His teachers were horn players Luciano Giuliani and Michael Hölzel.

He began his performing career as a soloist with the orchestra of the La Fenice Opera House in Venice. He went on to be the soloist of the orchestra of the famous Milan "La Scala" for several years under Riccardo Muti. Currently, Allegrini is a soloist with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In addition, he regularly performs as a guest solo horn with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition to working in leading Italian orchestras, Allegrini constantly gives concerts as a soloist and with various chamber ensembles around the world: from the largest cities in Europe to villages in the South American Andes.

He is a prize winner of the prestigious "Prague Spring" international music contests (1997, second prize) and the ARD competition in Munich (1999, second prize).

Timothy Jones is one of the most sought-after horn players of his generation. He is currently solo horn of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1986.

Working with many of the most prominent conductors spanning over 35 years in his career. Timothy started playing the horn at the age of 15 and 2 years later won a position playing in the Munich Philharmonic at the age of 17. Having been invited to play solo horn with many of the world`s greatest orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic,  Timothy has also held positions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields. 

Timothy has appeared as a soloist at many of the worlds most prestigious venues and Festivals including the Salzburg Festival, the Pacific Music Festival and many renowned international halls including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Hall and the Schausspielhaus in Berlin. His recording of the Kenneth Fuchs Horn Concerto premiered and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, was nominated for a Grammy Award.

 An active chamber musician Timothy has collaborated with Andre Previn, Christoph Eschenbach, Heinz Holliger, Martha Argerich, Gil Shaham and Yuri Bashmet.  

Timothy is Professor of Horn at the Royal College of Music and is  Director and co-owner of the renowned horn company PAXMAN Limited.

Principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras like the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin a.o. 

Jörgen was awarded the Netherlands Music Prize, the highest distinction in the field of music, by the Dutch Ministry of Culture. He also received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, which is pre-sented yearly to a selection of the most promising and talented young international soloists and ensembles. He has won several other major prizes, including first prizes at the international trom-bone competitions of Toulon and Guebwiller.

At the invitation of Claudio Abbado, he became principal trombonist of the Lucerne Festival Or-chestra. As guest principal, he has performed with many different orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Phil-harmonic.

Jörgen is professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory and International Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.