Violin class 2023-2024
Viola class 2023-2024
Cello class 2023-2024
Camerata 2023-2024
Aisha Corona
Violin
Born in 2003 in the city of Xalapa, Mexico; Aisha started playing violin at age 4.
She made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra being 6 years old and since then has had an active career performing as a soloist in Mexico, the USA, and Switzerland.
At the age of 18 she graduated with honors from the bachelor’s degree in music with Professor Mikhail Medvid and proceeded with her Master studies in Concert Performance at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in the class of professor Virginie Robilliard.
She has also participated in multiple festivals and has had solo and chamber music masterclasses with renowned artists such as Régis Pasquier, Julia Bushkova, Kirsten Yon, Amalia Hall, Gilles Colliard, the Verona Quartet and Janine Jansen.
She has participated in several national and international competitions, achieving prizes and distinctions such as the first prize of the “Golden Classical Music Awards” to perform at Carnegie Hall, the first prize and audience prize of “Young Classical Musician 2022” (Mexico), the international competitions to be a soloist with the UNT and GSIM orchestras (USA), as well as the HEM orchestra to perform in Paléo Festival (Switzerland).
Aisha was awarded with the National Prize to the Youth in Artistic Expressions (highest recognition granted by the president of Mexico), and in 2022 she was given the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship.
On October 2023 she enters the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) in the class of Oleg Kaskiv and Guillaume Chillemme .
Klara Cheng
Violin
Born in 2007 in Winterthur Switzerland. Mother of Klara, a renowned solo flutist, discovered already at early age Klara’s inspiration for art, especially her strong interest in classical music.
Klara began her first violin lesson at age of three with Máté Visky, then took also piano lessons from Vasil Draganov at Music School Alato.
At age of twelve, she joined violin class of Philip A. Draganov at Music Conservatory Zurich. Since 2021, Klara took lessons from Xiaoming Wang, concertmaster of at the Phiharmonia Zurich and later from Ruldolf Koelman, at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK)
Klara has won at the Swiss Music Competition for Youth 2023 the first prizes with honors in Duo violin piano and in string quartet, as well as several prizes with honor at Zurich Music Competitions 2017/2018/2019/2021/2022 in Violin, in Piano, Duo violin & orgel and in string quartet. In 2022, she received the Prix Rotary 2022 for violin in age category III with performance for final concert.
Since 2017, Klara has joined various concert tournees together with mother Qiling Chen, and further on with Winterthurer Jugend Sinfonie Orchester WJSO, as well as Jugend Sinfonieorchester Zürich (JSOZ). She also frequently performs in Switzerland and Europe in chamber music, in string orchestras like ZHdK Strings, Stringendo14, String Quartet Fiorito. and with Camerata Zürich.
Klara regularly takes part in masterclasses of Xiaoming Wang, Ruldolf Koelman, Renaud Capuçon, Jens Lohmann, Alexander Gilman, Ingolf Turban, Ana Chumachenco.
In 2023, Klara was admitted to the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA), Rolle, in the class of Oleg Kaskiv and Guillaume Chilemme.
Rodion Synchyshyn
Violin
Rodion Synchyshyn is a Ukrainian violinist born in 1998. He studied at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore and at the Kyiv Lysenko Specialised Music School in Ukraine.
He has been invited to perform as a concert artist at the Talents of the Nation in Ukraine, to take part in the Singapore Violin Festival, and as a concert artist and chamber music performer at the Keshet Eilon International String Mastercourse in Tel Aviv.
He has won prizes at the Chengdu Guang Ya International Violin Competition, the Rotary International Music Competition in Russia, the Nedialka Simeonova International Music Competition in Bulgaria and the Young Virtuosos Competition in Ukraine. Rodion was a semi-finalist at the Zhuhai International Violin Competition (China) and a finalist at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition (Italy).
On May 2023 Rodion enters the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) Rolle in the class of Oleg Kaskiv and Guillaume Chilemme.
Takara Oiwa
Violin
Takara Oiwa was born in Japan in 2006. He began studying the violin at the age of 4.
In 2019, he was accepted to the Tokyo University of the Arts Junior Academy under the guidance of Ms. Takako Yamazaki and Ms. Natsumi Tamai.
He learned the formation musicale under the guidance of Mr. Masaki Teruya.
He won one of the biggest music competitions in Japan :
In 2019, 1st prize winner at 73rd Student Music Concours of Japan, Junior High School Division for Violin. Also awarded the Yokohama Citizen’s Award (Audience Award), The Uzuka Award, The Togi Award, JAPAN POST INSURANCE Encouragement Award and the Special Award of the Suntory Foundation for the Arts.
He Played “1669 JACOB STAINER” a violin loaned by the Suntory Foundation for the Arts. In 2018, 2nd prize winner at 72nd Student Music Concours of Japan, Elementary School Division for Violin. Also awarded the Yokohama Citizen’s Award (Audience Award).
He performed several violin concerts and played with orchestra:
In October 2020, he held first solo violin recital at his hometown ( Nagareyama city) at the age of 13. In March 2022, he performed with the Tokyo University of the Art Orchestra（The Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo). And he has participated the Ukraine Support Concert with Kenichiro Kobayashi & his friends orchestra, as 1st violin. In May 2022, he performed Chamber Music with the Tokyo Vivaldi Ensemble. On January 2023, he held a violin solo recital in Tokyo, produced by NIPPON COLUMBIA CO.,LTD.
He is studying at High School Japan Kadokawa Dwango educational Institute.
On October 2023 Takara enters to the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) in the class of Oleg Kaskiv and Guillaume Chilemme.
Carlo Allegri Rodriguez
Viola
Carlo Allegri Rodriguez is a violinist born in Italy, Milano on 01-10-1998. Finished his postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with concert violinist and pedagogue Tatiana Samouil and violinist/violist Vincent Hepp.
He studied his bachelor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons with Professor Eliot Lawson with honor marks.
He decided to begin playing the viola the year 2023 because of how attached he got to its qualities and ended this year’s studies playing a recital on both instruments consecutively.
Previously he studied with Armenian professor Ara Vartanian from 2012 until 2017, who gave him the opportunity to play in the summer of 2017 as a soloist through France for a week to perform Sarasate’s virtuoso pieces.
He attended masterclasses by artists such as Maria Rosaria d’Aprile, violin student of Massimo Quarta, Vineta Sareika, Amiram Ganz, Ani Schnarch, Alan Brind, Corey Cerovsek, Jack Liebeck, Mihaela Martin, Erik Schumann, Razvan Popovici, Natasha Tchitch, Liana Gourdjia among others. He has also been invited to play in various orchestras in Belgium and Spain, such as the Belgian National Orchestra, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, MuCH ensemble and Concerto Malaga.
He won a prize in the Mariangeles Reina competition as best interpreter and looks forward to participating in more international competitions in the near future.
Fedor Solonin-Oliichuk
Cello
Fedor Solonin-Oliichuk is a russian cellist born in Novosibirsk on 15.09.1999. He studied at the Moscow State Conservatory Tchaikovsky Violoncello/Baroque violoncello department with Igor Bobowich. Previously he studied with Alexander Zagorinsky at the Gnessins Music College.
As a chamber music performer, he performed with eminent musicians such as Alexander Rudin, Alexander Trostyansky and Rodion Zamuruev
He attended masterclasses with Ivan Sendetsky, Ivan Skanavi, Ivan Monighetti, Jens Peter Maintz, Alexander Buzlov and David Grigoryan
He has also been invited to play solo recitals at the Chamber Hall of Gnessins Music College. He plays with Gnessins College Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
He has won several national and international competitions.
On June 2023 Fedor enters the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) Rolle in the class of Lionel Cottet and Clemens Hagen.
Violin class 2022-2023
Viola class 2022-2023
Cello class 2022-2023
Camerata 2022-2023
Nerea Arriola
Violin
Nerea Arriola was born in 2002 in Mendaro, in the Basque Country in northern Spain. She began studying the violin with her parents at the age of 5 and then with Raffaella Acella when she was 11, and for the last five years with Professor Tatiana Samouil. She recently graduated with Honours from Prof. Samouil’s class at Musikene or the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country.
She has taken part in various national and international competitions and festivals, winning 1st prize and special prize in the 4th Triomphe de l’Art International Music Competition (Belgium, 2018), 1st prize in the Ciudad de Vigo category B and C (Spain, 2016 and 2018), 3rd prize in the Atlantic Coast Violin Competition (Portugal, 2016)
She was invited to participate in the Academy of the Winter International Arts Festival Sochi under the leadership of Zuri Bashmet and in the Leopold Auer Festival in Saint Petersburg.
She has taken part in masterclasses with Stephan Picard, Pavel Vernikov, Michael Vaiman, David Grimal, Nicolas Chumachenco, Philippe Graffin, and Eva Grabuin.
Nerea was amongst some of the youngest musicians selected from all over Spain to participate in the Proyecto Desarrollo de Talentos 2016-2020 promoted by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. She received an AIE high specialization scholarship to continue her studies in 2018.
In February 2022, she took part in the International Menuhin Music Academy’s Rencontres Musicales, where she participated in masterclasses with Oleg Kaskiv, Renaud Capuçon and Guillaume Chilemme; she was subsequently admitted to the Academy in the class of Oleg Kaskiv.
Andjela Josifoski
Alto
Andjela Josifoski was born on 13th September 2006 in Belgrade, Serbia, into a family of musicians. She started to play the violin at the age of 7 and viola at the age of 13.
Andjela studied viola in the Kosta Manojlovic primary music school in the class of Prof. Aleksandra Kijanović where she was named best pupil of her year.
At the same time, she finished the second grade of high school in the class of Prof. Sanda Dramicanin.
Andjela has won many national and international competitions: the first prize at the ‘Fantast’ competition in Bečej (2015), the first prize at the ‘Stringfest’ international competition in Sremska Mitrovica (2015), the first prize and competition Laureate at the Isidor Bajić Competition (2016), and competition Laureate at the ‘Primavera’ Festival in Bosnia (2017).
At the Republic competition she won the first prizes in different disciplines: in violin – 2016, 2018 and 2021- when she was Laureate of the category, in the viola in 2021 and in chamber music as a member of a piano trio (2015 and 2019). She won second prize at the Rudolf Matz Competition in Croatia (2018) first prize at the Antonio Salieri Competition in Italy (2019). At the String Festival in Šabac she won first prize in 2021 playing the viola, and playing the viola at the international Constantin the Great Competition in Niš, she was awarded string instrument Laureate and won the competition’s Grand Prix.
Andjela had her debut as a soloist in 2015 playing with the chamber orchestra Sinfonietta under the baton of conductor and composer Aleksandar S. Vujić, who dedicated his composition Rondo to her after the concert. She has played at many music events and festivals in Serbia as a soloist with piano and orchestra.
She has attended masterclasses with: Igor Ozim, Dora Schwarzberg, Dejan Mihailović, Marko Josifoski, Ivan Vukčević, Olga Kožurina, and Panta Veličković. She has given several recitals in a number of important music halls in Serbia.
In 2022, Andjela won first prize and Grand Prix of the prestigious ‘Talents for Europe’ competition in Slovakia in the categories of violin, viola, cello and chamber music
Gatien Leray
Alto
Violist Gatien Leray was born in November 2001. At the age of 5, he began his musical education at Thionville conservatoire in France and it was there that he began to play the viola under Carole Dillenschneider.
In 2016 he was admitted by a unanimous vote of the jury, and with the distinction of ‘félicitations’, into the postgraduate ‘3ème cycle’ for the viola at the Metz Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in the class of Vincent Roth. At the Concours Musical de Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in 2017, he was awarded chamber music gold medal, and the following year, the Dany Pouchucq scholarship for string sextet at the Académie Ravel de Saint- Jean -de-Luz and the first prize for viola at the ‘Les clés d’or’ in Villemomble.
At the age of 17 and after 3 years at the Metz conservatoire, he obtained his French baccalauréat (Economics and Social Sciences) with Merit; he then joined violist Miguel da Silva’s class at Geneva’s Haute Ecole de Musique.
From September 2021 to June 2022, he also followed the Annual Course Diploma for Soloists, at the Talent Music Master Courses in Brescia, Italy, in Alexander Gordon Zemtsov’s class.
In June 2022, he was awarded the Bachelor of Arts from the Geneva HEM and is currently following a Master’s in musical interpretation with a specialism for soloists under Miguel da Silva.
In October 2022, he joined the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy in Rolle, Switzerland, in the class of Gérard Caussé and Ivan Vukcevic.
With his passion for the solo and chamber music repertoire, Gatien has participated in a range of festivals and academies: Villars Music Academy, (Villars-sur-Ollon), Virtuoso & Belcanto (Lucca), Accademia Stauffer (Crémone), Rencontres Internationales de la Menuhin Academy (Rolle) , Triple Viola Masterclass (Blonay), Talent Summer Courses (Brescia), Verao Classico (Lisbon), Académie Ravel (Saint- Jean-de-Luz), the Villecroze Académie musicale, the Saline Royale Academy (Arc-et-Senans), Tibor Varga (Sion), and has thus benefited from the guidance of many, including Tabea Zimmermann, Lars Anders Tomter, Gérard Caussé, Nobuko Imai, Tatjana Masurenko, Lawrence Power, Walter Kuessner, Paul Cortese, Wenting Kang, Ivan Vukcevic, Veit Hertenstein, Peijun Xu, Alexander Zemtsov, Garth Knox, Jean Sulem, Ori Kam, Hartmut Rohde, Isabel Charisius, Françoise Gnéri, Susie Meszaros, Simone Briatore, and Maud Gastinel.
As a soloist, Gatien has interpreted Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s D Major Concerto for Viola and Orchestra accompanied by the Brescia Master Orchestra conducted by Alexander Gordon Zemtsov.
In the field of chamber music, he has most notably worked with the violinist and conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy, the cellists Valentin Erben et Adrian Brendel, the Voce Quartet, the pianists Jean-François Heisser and Claire Désert, the violinists Luc-Marie Aguera, Levon Chilingirian and Raphael Christ, the harpist Sandrine Chatron, the violists Bruno Giuranna, Miguel da Silva, Noémie Bialobroda and Vladimir Bukac.
As an orchestra member, Gatien has played under the baton of Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Pierre Bleuse, Pierre-André Valade, Péter Eötvös, in venues such as the Victoria Hall in Geneva Genève, and the RTS or La Chaux-de-Fonds concert halls.
He plays a 2017 viola built by the Parisian luthier Virginie Pezet-Berton à Paris, with a bow made by Charles Nicolas Bazin in 1880 and lent to him by the Fondation Lalive in Geneva as well as with a modern bow created especially for him by Parisian bow maker Georges Tepho.
Santiago Cortez Maldonado
Viola
Born in Santiago of Chile in 2003. His family moved to Puerto Varas, south of Chile, in 2010 and Santiago had his first approach to music and violin lessons from his father, at 7 years old. Aged 8, he started violin lessons in the Town Academy of Music in Puerto Varas where he remained for two years. At age 13, he found the viola.
In 2018 he started studying with Luis Damian Ortiz, director of Escuela de Las Artes and the Camerata del Lago, and with Sara Marigomez, at Escuela de las Artes Casa Richter, under the administration of Teatro del Lago, Frutillar.
That year he also entered the Chilean program FOJI, which embrace young students to experience orchestra performance and practice of instruments. He got the Orquestral Merit Scholarship among the musicians of twelve orchestras at national level.
As part of Camerata del Lago, 2018 and 2019, he played Bach, Brahms, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Prokofiev, Piazzola and Paul Desmond, in the project Dream of a Summer Afternoon. In Spring Festival, Saint- Saëns´s Le Carnaval des Animaux, he played as soloist. He played at an Easter concert as well, Ola Gjeilo`s Sunrise Mass, which was conducted by Paolo Bortolameolli. For this project, Latin-American young professional musicians were convened, being Santiago the youngest violist at 16 years old. He also performed in Peter and the Wolf of Serguéi Prokófiev`s concert, conducted by the Spanish, Miguel Morán. At a final concert in Teatro del Lago, he was invited to join the Resident Ensemble, orchestra composed of professional teachers and musicians belonging to Teatro del Lago, Frutillar, in which occasion he played in Pasion Española, an opera project.
Since 2020, Santiago has been benefited from the guidance of teachers such as Hugo Cortés (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso), Adriana Linares (founder, director and viola teacher at ArcoNet, Pennsylvania, USA) and Garrett Fischbach (member of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra of New York).
He has also attended masterclasses with Mark Messenger, Byron Duckwall, Victoria Chiang and Ralph Fielding.
Since Chile is too far from the centers where music playing can be developed at best levels, Luis Damián, former IMMA student, as Santiago’s teacher at Teatro del Lago, encouraged him to travel abroad, mainly to Europe. With this perspective, he asked Santiago to make a video playing some repertoire, and this piece was sent to Ivan Vukčević, teacher at IMMA. Santiago was invited to enter the Academy in November 2022.
Margaryta Pachabut
Violin
Margaryta Pachabut was born on August 31, 2010 in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. She started her musical development at the age of 6 as a student of the secondary school for talented children and began at the age of 6 with the successful completion of the entrance exams to the Kiev Special Secondary School of Music named after Lysenko. After six months, Margaryta made her debut as a soloist with a symphony orchestra. That same year, she participated in her very first international violin competition, Mischa Elman, and won the Grand Prize.
To date, Margaryta has performed more than 30 times with an orchestra, each time presenting a new programme. In the last six years, she has participated in major concerts in Ukraine, Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Her repertoire consists of a complex programme of Lalo, Tchaikovsky,Mendelssohn, Skoryk, Vivaldi, Mozart, Kreisler, Paganini, and more.
During these years, she also became a laureate of more than 10 prestigious international competitions, including the Ysaye Junior International Music Competition, the Astana Violin Competition, the International Competition for Young Violinists Il Piccolo Violino Magico.
Margaryta regularly participates in master classes and academies with teachers such as Zakhar Bron (Germany), Oleh Krysa (USA), Shlomo Mintz (Switzerland), Boris Kushnir (Austria), Zhou Qian (Singapore). She also plays chamber music accompanied by her sister Elizaveta Pachabut on piano.
Until the spring of 2022, Margaryta and her sister regularly participated in international music festivals – Odessa Classic and Lviv MozArt. Three weeks before the war, the Pachabut sisters gave a solo concert on the country’s main stage – the National Philharmonic of Ukraine in Kyiv – where Margaryta played Lalo’s Spanish Symphony.
Despite her young age, the Academy selected her during the International Musical Encounters in February 2022. She joined the Academy in March 2022 in the violin class of Oleg Kaskiv and Guillaume Chilemme.
Maria Panchuk
Alto
Maria Panchuk was born in the Ukraine in 1994. In 2014, she became a violin and viola teacher at the Vinnytsia Musical School in the Ukraine.
She began studying at the Mykola Lysenko National Musical Academy in Lviv in 2015 where she obtained experience of solo performances with programmes that included pieces by Brahms, Bach, Hindemith, Penderecki and Frank Bridge. She obtained her Master’s in Musical Art, under her teacher Yuriy Daletsky, in June 2021.
From 2015, she was a guest violist for Ukrainian orchestras including the New Era Orchestra, INSO-Lviv, the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra, the Collegium Musicum, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv Philharmonic, as well as the Lviv and Vivere string quartet chamber ensembles.
In 2017, she was a member of the Ukraine Young Symphony Orchestra which collaborated with the Bundes Jugend Orchestra with concerts in Bonn and Berlin, an experience which included a masterclass with Emilio Colon.
In September 2020 she was the invited solo player for Kyiv Music Fest, a debut where she collaborated with the famous Ukrainian violinist Lidiya Futorska and the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine.
She has participated in several Ukrainian and international festivals: the ‘Contrasts’ Contemporary Music Festival, the Kyiv Music Fest, the ‘Virtuosos’ International Festival of Musical Art. She has also been a participant in masterclasses with Maxim Rysanov, Denis Severin, Nazar Kozhukhar, and Marcin Murawski.
In June 2019, she was the Laureate of the Ukrainian Strings Competition; she took part in the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in the Сzech Republic in October 2020; and in September 2021, she was a finalist in the 2nd Stanislaw Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music in the Chamber Ensembles category (Lux Aeterna with the Lviv Quartet).
After her Master’s, she worked for a short period as a teacher at the Vinnytsia Musical College; she then became a member of the Vivere string quartet in Lviv and in July 2022 she began as a violist in the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra.
Szymon Szopa
Cello
Born in 2000, Szymon Szopa is a graduate of the class of Dr. Marek Szopa and Dr. Adam Krzeszowiec in the Polish General Music School II. Immediately before joining IMMA, he studied at the FCUM in Warsaw in the class of Prof. Tomasz Strahl.
He has been successful in a number of competitions. These include: 2nd place (along with the prize for the interpretation of a 20th- / 21st-century work) at the International Talents for Europe Competition in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia; 1st and 3rd place and a special award for an outstanding performance of Knapik’s work Filo d’Arianna at the 2020 National Cello Tournament in Warsaw; Grand Prix at the XVII Festival of Young Talents in Rybnik I. Jeszki; 3rd place at the first ATMA National Competition for Young Individual Musicals in Zakopane; 2nd place at the International String Instrument Competition in Elbląg; 1st place at the J. Vychitel International Competition in Prague; and 1st place twice (in 2017 and 2020) at the Juliusz Zarębski International Competition in Warsaw.
To these he has added Distinctions at the Macroregional Auditions of the Center for Artistic Education for Secondary School Students; he has performed as a soloist with the POSM S. Moniuszko orchestra in Katowice, the Silesian Chamber Orchestra, the orchestra of the FCUM in Warsaw, the Silesian Philharmonic and the The Zielona Gora Philharmonic.
With the orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski State Secondary School, he has recorded Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor for Two Cellos. He has also taken part as a soloist in many concerts in Poland and abroad. His notable concert performances include cello recitals in the chamber music concert hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, a recital at the ATMA villa in Zakopane and concerts at Warsaw Royal Castle.
He was a student of the Young Academy, the project ‘Europea u bram’, and a student under the ‘Operational Human Capital’ programme. He has also obtained a certificate of completion of the Academie Internationale de Musique d’Orléans 2019 with Prof. Marcel Bardon.
Hiroki Kasai
Violin
Hiroki Kasai has been performing the violin extensively across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, where he has given concerts in prestigious venues, such as the Elbphilharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Lincoln Centre, and Barbican Centre. He has appeared at prominent music festivals such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, Pacific, Schleswig-Holstein, and Gstaad Menuhin Festivals.
Born in 1999, the 22-year-old violinist from London started playing the violin at the age of 5 and he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with First Class Honours in 2021, studying under the tutelage of Rodney Friend. During his time at the Academy, he also received instructions on the baroque violin from Pavlo Beznosiuk. From the summer of 2021, he is continuing his studies on the violin at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Rolle with Renaud Capuçon, Oleg Kaskiv, and Guillaume Chilemme. He has received further instructions from renowned musicians such as Aaron Rosand, Kolja Blacher, James Ehnes, Rainer Schmidt, Josef Spacek, Mi-Kyung Lee, Masao Kawasaki, and Steven Isserlis.
As a multiple competitions and awards winner, he has played as a soloist with orchestras in the United States and Europe. Recently, he performed as a soloist with the Schleswig- Holstein Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ton Koopman. This critically acclaimed concert was recorded by the NDR and broadcasted worldwide. His performance has also been broadcasted by the National Public Radio in the US.
Hiroki is an avid chamber musician, where he has performed chamber music with eminent musicians such as Lawrence Power, Ivan Monighetti, Vlad Stanculeasa, and Bruno Delepelaire. Hiroki is a student of the renowned chamber music academy, the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland. He has received chamber music classes from Nobuko Imai, Sadao Harada (founder of Tokyo Quartet), Daniel Hope, Marie Chilemme (Ébène Quartet), and Suyoen Kim (Artemis Quartet).
As an orchestral musician, he has led orchestras such as the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra and the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra. He has also been a guest violinist with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Spira Mirabilis, and the Britten Sinfonia, and has performed under the baton of eminent conductors such as Valéry Gergiev, Christophe Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, and Semyon Bychkov.
Matthew McDowell
Viola
Born in 1998, american violist Matthew McDowell began his musical endeavors at the age of four on
violin, then shifted his focus to the viola at the age of twenty-one. His primary teachers have included pedagogues such as Boris Abramov, Dr. Juan Rameríz, and Dr. Katrin Meidell.
In 2021 he completed his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees in viola and violin at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music, graduating with the highest possible academic and artistic accolades. Additionally during this time, Matthew studied with world renown artists the likes of Ettore Causa, Carol Rodland, Jeffrey Irvine, Csaba Erdelyi, Dr. Susan Dubois, Sergiu Schwartz, and Helen Callus. In his experience at music festivals as soloist and in ensembles, Matthew’s travels have taken him to major festivals throughout the United States and Mexico.
Matthew has been a laureate at many competitions including the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, the Lagrange Young Artist Competition, and the Delta Symphony Orchestra Competition, to name a few. He has also won first prizes in the Virtuoso category of the Georgia Philharmonic’s Samuel Fordis Young Artists Concerto Competition, the MTNA competition, and the Ocala Symphony Young Artist Competition. As a direct result, Matthew has been provided the opportunity to solo with orchestras playing major pieces from the viola repertoire.
Vladyslav Osadchyi
Viola
Ukrainian violist.Born in 1997 in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the age of 6 started music education with Tatiana Purtzeladze ,as a violinist. In 2013 continued music education with Tatiana Snezhnaya (violin) and professor Sergey Kulakov (viola) in Kyiv Secondary Special Music School named after Mykola Lysenko.
Took a part in different national and international competitions ,music festivals and projects (MNYO 2016 , grant prix at the “21 century’s music art ” (international competition of chamber music) (Vorzel / Kyiv,Ukraine, 2017),2nd prize of the international competition “Ukrainian music firework ” (Kamyanets-Podilsky ,Ukraine, 2017 ), “Septembre musical 2018” (Vevey-Montreaux,Switzerland), “Music in the Alps “(Bad Gastein, Austria ,2018), PCYO 2020 (Tsinandali ,Georgia ).
A full time member of Borys Lyatoshynskyi ensemble at the National House of organ and chamber music and also at the Chamber orchestra of the National philharmonic of Ukraine since 2020. Actively collaborates with various chamber ensembles and soloists. Participates in Vere Music Fund and Ederi management projects. Received a master’s degree from the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music of Ukraine in 2021.
Had an opportunity to take part in the masterclasses with Andriy Vyitovich (Great Britain ), Jean Baptiste Brunier (France), Vadym Hladkov (Ukraine -Spain), Valeriy Sokolov (Ukraine), Bruno Monsaingneon (France), Oleg Kaskiv (Ukraine-Switzerland), Alexander Zemtsov (Russia-Austria), Gérard Caussé (France), Guillaume Chilemme (France), Ivan Vukcevic (Serbia).
He was the first performer of works by Y. Pikush (Ukraine) (“Concert piece for Viola and Orchestra”, “Variations for String Quartet”), A.Kurbatov (Russia) (“Trio for Viola, Cello and piano “). G. Kancheli (Georgia) (Cycle of Preludes for Viola and Piano), O.Gonobolin (Ukraine) (Poem for Viola and String Trio) in Ukraine.
Perform on the viola made by German luthier Igor Laubach, 2013.
Clément Pimenta
Viola
He shares the stage with artists such as Claudio Bohórquez, Marc Danel, Guillaume Chillemme, David Gaillard…
He is a member of the Astor Quartet (formed in Paris with Vassily Chmykov, Clément Verschave and Bogeun Park) and the Möbius Quartet, which is mainly dedicated to the interpretation of contemporary music.
He also takes part in projects with great orchestral formations such as Les Dissonances, L’Orchestre National de Lille, L’Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc (solo viola), L’Orchestre de Paris…
This activity leads him to perform on major international stages: Philharmonie de Paris, Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Opéra de Lille, Cathédrale des Invalides, Kiev Philharmonie, Nouveau Siècle de Lille, Newcastle‘s Sage Gateshead, London’s Cadogan Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall…
In the media, he appears on France Musique, Arte Concert, France TV, Recithall, Diapason…
Originally from the North of France, Clément discovered the viola at the age of 9, in Roncq, his home town. He quickly joined the Conservatoire de Lille under the guidance of Juliette Danel and then continued his studies at Paris CNSM, admitted at 15 years old with highest distinction in Jean Sulem’s class.
He was teached by Juliette Danel, Marc Danel, Virginie Jacquin, Jean Sulem, Marc Desmons, and has also benefited of masterclasses with Adrien La Marca, Lise Berthaud, Tatjana Masurenko, Odile Auboin…
He has won several national and international prizes: Special Jury Prize at the 2016 French National Competition for Young Violinists, Honorary Prize (Highest distinction) at the Léopold Bellan International Competition, 2nd Prize at the International Triumph of Art Competition in Brussels…
A graduate of Paris CNSM, he is currently continuing his studies in Switzerland, at the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA), under the guidance of Ivan Vukcevic and Gérard Caussé. He is supported by the Meyer Foundation and the Tarazzi Funds.
Lucas Henry
Cello
Lucas HENRY was born in Nancy in 1997. He began playing the cello at the Conservatoire de Nancy with Sébastien Robert, and then obtained his Diplôme d’Etudes Musicales, with honours, from the Conservatoire de Dijon with Laurent Lagarde. It is in the class of Thomas Duran, at the Conservatoire de Paris, that he perfected his skills during one year, before joining the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon in the class of Yvan Chiffoleau and Pascal Jemain in 2016. He joins the Académie Jaroussky for the Tchaikovsky – Young Talents class of the 2021/2022 season with Christian-Pierre La Marca. He is also admitted to the academy of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2021 season.
He participates in festivals such as “virtuoso bel canto”, “Pablo Casals”, “Musique à Flaine”… And also in the “Musicales en Folie” in which he performs sonata repertoire as well as in various chamber music recitals. He participates in chamber music recitals with personalities such as Marc Danel. He plays as a soloist with the orchestra of the “Société Philarmonique” of Dijon, the orchestra of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and the Orchestre National des Pays-de-la-Loire.
In 2016 he met Gautier Michel and Stasys Makštutis, with whom they formed the Trio Šokas. This group with clarinet has the particularity of having a singular repertoire, sometimes little known. As part of this trio, they have had the opportunity to perform in various concerts in France, and are laureates of the “Jeunes talents” competition in Paris and have been admitted to the Master’s degree in chamber music at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.
Lucas has taken masterclasses with Frans Helmerson, Peter Bruns, Gary Hoffman, Marc Coppey, François Salque, etc… He is also regularly called upon as a reinforcement for the symphonic and lyrical orchestra of Nancy, the national orchestra of Lyon and the opera of Saint-Etienne.
In 2017, Lucas won the 2nd prize at the Epernay string competition and was awarded a grant by Mécénat Musical Société Général. He plays on a 2013 cello by Günter Siefert.
Cyprien Lengagne
Cello
Born in 2000, Cyprien Lengagne started his cello studies at the “Conservatoire de Lausanne” at the age of 4 in the class of Susan Rybicki-Varga. He then began studying the piano at the age of 7 in the class of Enrico Camponovo. He entered the Bachelor curriculum at the age of 15 at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in the class of Xavier Phillips and Matthieu Lejeune. After graduating with the highest possible mark of 6/6, he was admitted to a Master Soloist curriculum in the same class. He then begins in October 2021 a curriculum at the International Menuhin Academy (IMMA) based at the Rosey Concert Hall in the class of Profs. Clemens Hagen and Pablo de Naveran.
In 2019, he obtained the “Musique et Arts de la Scène” award of the HES-SO at the end of his Bachelor, the Jaques-Henri Plomb prize at the end of his Master and was awarded the Friedl-Wald scholarship in 2020. He also reached the semi-finals at the Mazzacurati and Tremplin international competitions, and in 2021 ranked fourth at the Internationnal Brahms Competition. He performed at the Salle de la Grange aux Lacs in Evian, invited to play the entire second suite of J.-S. Bach by the Swiss Federation of Architects at the age of 14.
In parallel of his cello curriculum, he began learning piano at the age of 7 at the Conservatoire de Lausanne in the class of Enrico Camponovo. This path also earned him many distinctions : at the age of 13 he obtained a 3rd prize and the special “Kurtag” prize for the best interpretation of the latter’s compulsory piece during the “young music” competition in Fribourg, but also won a first prize with honours at the final of the “Concours Suisse de Musique pour la Jeunesse” in 2019. In June 2021, he obtained a higher certificate in piano with highest honours.
Passionate about contemporary music, he is also interested in composition and has been taking composition lessons with William Blank since 2018. His piece Interludes-Fragments for 6 cellos has been performed by the cello ensemble of Xavier Phillips’ class on several occasions, most notably during the HEMU Valais Wallis awards ceremony in 2019. His string trio “Nocturnes” was comissioned by the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne for the “Rencontre de la formation” in Martigny where it was performed in October 2021.
Cyprien Keiser
Cello
Born in Luxembourg, Cyprien Keiser received his first cello lessons at the age of four at the « Académie Musicale Vivaldi » in Luxembourg. He continued his musical studies at the « Musikschule der Stadt Bonn » (Germany), « Ecole de Musique de Dudelange » and in Metz (FR) at the « Conservatoire Gabriel Pierné ».
Since 2013 Cyprien is student at the “Conservatoire d’Esch-sur-Alzette” (Luxembourg) in the class of Jean Halsdorf. He regularly participates at master classes in Romania with Prof. Dr. Marin
Cazacu, in Luxembourg with the first cello of the OPL Ilia Laporev, in Germany with Prof. Gustav Rivinius, Prof. Maria Kliegel and Daniel Müller-Schott and in France with Prof. Jérôme Pernoo .
He participated at several international music academies, such as “Musica Mundi” in Genval, Belgium, ISA (Internationale Sommer Akademie) in Vienna and “Pablo Casals” in Prades, France.
Cyprien won various competitions. He was first prizewinner for solo and chamber music (trio) at the “Concours Artistique d’Epinal” (France), he won the 1st prize at the “International Competition for Cello” in Liezen (Austria) and received several times the SACEM prize and the gold medal at the European Competition for Young Soloists (Luxembourg) and “Concours Luxembourgeois pour Jeunes Solistes”.
In 2014 he was invited to play with the Symphonic Orchestra “Serghei Lunchievici” in the Republic of Moldova. In the same year he toured with a chamber music project in Germany and Austria organised by the EMCY (European Union of Music Competitions for Youth). In February 2016 Cyprien successfully passed the exam to be admitted as a bachelor student to Jérôme Pernoo’s class at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris” (CNSMDP). In 2017 he obtained the « Prix Supérieur avec Grande Distinction » at the « Conservatoire d’Esch-sur-Alzette». In 2018 Cyprien was fortunate enough to be invited to play Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the « Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra » and the same year Jérôme Pernoo’s class was invited to participate at the music festival « Super Cello » in China where they performed multiple concerts in cities such as Beijing, Huangshan and Shanghai.
Cyprien integrates the International Menuhin Music Acdemy in octobrer 2021.
Martina Tranzillo
Cello
Born in Salerno in 2002, Martina started playing the Cello aged 6 under the guidance of Cinzia De Chiara. Subsequently, she started studying with Ilie Ionescu, with whom she studies today. Martina graduated at the Martucci Conservatory (Salerno) with full marks and honors. Afterwards, she was admitted to the courses of the Fiesole School of Music in the class of Bruno Delepelaire (Principal Cello of Berliner Philharmoniker). She attended several Masterclasses with sought after teachers, such as: Giovanni Gnocchi, Ulrike Hofman, Andrea Noferini. Martina is a prizewinner in several international and national competitions:
international competition Luigi Denza, international competition “Benedetto Albanese “ of Caccamo, international competition “youngest musicians”of Bracigliano, international competition “Vivaldi” di Sapri, international competition “San Leucio in Music”( Caserta) , European competition “Jacopo Napoli”, National music competition “ Giovani in Musica” of Rome, National music competition “ Note nel borgo dell’angelo” of Boville. With the Napolinova Youth Orchestra she had the opportunity to collaborate with renowed musicians: Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Alessandro Carbonare, Francesco Bossone, Andrea Oliva, Giovanni Gnocchi, Simonide Braconi. As a member of the Quintet of the Liceo Alfano I, she took part in the 59th edition of the TV program Zecchino d’Oro on Rai1. On the same broadcast, she made her debut as soloist in the famous TV format Prodiges, with Giuseppe Vessicchio as conductor.
Samyuktha Rajagopal
Violin
Samyuktha was born in India in 2002, in a family of musicians. She started playing the violin at the age of 4 with Edward Yen in Singapore and after shifting to India became the student of Mr. V.S.Narasimhan, founder of Madras string quartet. In 2019 she won “Young musician of the year” award from the Olga and Jules Craen foundation.
She is also adept in South Indian classical music on the violin, which is also called carnatic music. She has given performances both the forms of music in India. She has performed in the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO). She is currently having lessons with Anna Orlik in Switzerland.
She took part in the summer Masterclass organised by International Menuhin Music academy in the years 2019 and 2020. She had lessons under Oleg Kaskiv, Renaud capuçon and Guillaume Chilemme and joined the Academy in October 2020.
Asako Ilmori
Violin
A Japanese violinist Asako Iimori was born in 1995 into a musical family in Tokyo. At the age of four, she commenced to play violin under the guidance of Ms. Kyoko Kimura at Toho Gakuen Music School. In 2014, she enrolled in Tokyo National University of the Arts (Geidai), where she studied with Prof. Natsumi Tamai, Prof. Asako Urushihara and Prof. Federico Agostini. Graduating from the University in 2018, she received an Excellence Award (Acanthus Music Award). Since October 2018, she is studying with Prof. Christoph Poppen and Prof. Lena Neudauer at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
She has been awarded numerous international competitions:
1st Prize -35th Valsesia Musica International Competition
1st Prize -10th Romanian International Music Competition
1st Prize -18th Kobe International Music Competition
2nd Prize -67th All Japan Student Music Competition
3rd Prize -23th Japan Classical Music Competition
3rd Prize -OSAKA International Music Competition
Finalist(4th Prize) -86th The Music Competition of Japan
She has performed with numbers of orchestras such as the Antonio Vivaldi Orchestra in Italy,Hochschule symphonie orchester in munich,Academy orchestra in Czech,Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra,Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra ,Chofu Festival Orchestra,R&B Orchestra,Constanta Symphony Orchestra in Romania,and Japan Classic Orchestra. Beatrice Muthelet
Alessandro Parfitt
Cello
Began his musical studies at the age of three with his mother and the cello at the age of nine with Alistair Drummond Petrie, student of Radu Aldulescu, continuing with Ilie Ionescu. He graduated with Honours and Special Mention at the Giuseppe Martucci Music Conservatoire
of Salerno in Italy. He furthered his studies in Florence at Fiesole Music School with Natalia Gutman and Elizabeth Wilson, and at the International Postgraduate Courses of Capri with David Geringas and Johan Stern, in Switzerland with Susan Rybicki Varga and Franćois Guyè at the Tibor Varga Academy in Sion and at the Menuhin Academie of Rolle Summercouse with Pablo De Naveran. He distinguished himself in numerous National and International Awards in Italy, including the First Prize “Luigi Denza” International Competition, and the First Prize with Special Mention at the “Saverio Mercadante Competition”. He received a scholarship from the Lyra Foundation in Switzerland and a scholarship from the Maguire Foundation and Concertato Association in Italy. He has performed widely both in Italy and abroad in numerous international Festivals including Irno Festival, Mozart Two Days, Le Corti dell’Arte, Giffoni Film Festival, Rachmaninov Association I Concerti di Primavera, Capri International Festival, Sion Festival , and in prestigious venues such as the Giuseppe Verdi Opera House in Salerno, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Court Theater of San Carlo Opera House, the Baronial Castle of Torchiara, the Giuseppe Martucci Recital Hall and the Alessandro Scarlatti Concert Hall, the Marina Militare of Naples, the Frederich Chopin Concert Hall. His debut was at the age of 15 with a cello Recital at the Real Conservatoire San Pietro a Majella in Naples, followed by the performance of Luigi Boccherini Concerto in Bb and Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei with the Amati Ensemble, and the “Swan” solo by Camille Saint Saens with the Giuseppe Martucci Symphony Orchestra of which he has been principal cello, perfecting both the Opera and Symphonic repertoire.
At 19 he made his debut with the Shostakovich Concerto n.1 with the Mihail Jora Symphony Orchestra of Bacau under the direction of Ovidiu Balan, gathering a wide consensus from critics and audience. Dedicated to musical research of inedited and classical authors, Alessandro has performed widely as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary and France. Beside his musical career, Alessandro Parfitt has also been active in education, obtaining an Instrumetal Teacher Training and Music Pedagogy Qualification in Italy which allowed him to work as a Cello teacher a the Faculty of “Licei Musicali ” Music Specialist Schools in Italy. He participated at the Innovative music methodologies reserch with the Musequality and Futuro Remoto International Projects at Fondazione IDIS di Citta’ della Scienza in Naples, of which he was an active part and a promoter of “quality innovative teaching”.
Sara Isabelle Ispas
Violin
Born in 2003 in Australia, Sara Isabelle Ispas moves to France with her family in 2010 and, in 2013 (at the age of 9) she begins studying the violin with her father. Six months later, she plays the admission exam at the Nantes Conservatory and is admitted directly into 4th grade of violin. In July 2016, Sara participates in the Marie Cantagrill International Violin Competition, where she is unanimously awarded 1st prize and performs as a soloist at the Winners Concert in Saint Girons, accompanied by the Ariège Chamber Orchestra. Then, in July 2017, Sara participates in the FLAME International Violin Competition in Paris, where she wins 1st prize with 93/100 points. During her studies, Sara is the concertmaster of the Nantes Conservatory Orchestra for several years, and is active as a soloist and a chamber musician. She is also the leader of the Chamber Orchestra of the Conservatory at the famous La Folle Journée Festival in Nantes and, at the invitation of the Utopik Ensemble, she performs the piece Autumn Rhythm by the French composer Camille Pépin. In 2019, Sara graduates with honors from the Nantes Conservatory, in the class of her father, Daniel Ispas. She continues to perfect her violin technique and performance skills by working with Prof. Petru Munteanu and attending masterclasses with Alena Baeva, Jacqueline Ross, Gilles Apap, Florin Parvulescu, Eric Crambes, Julien Szulman and Annick Roussin.
In August 2020 she takes part in the Rencontres Musicales of the International Menuhin Music Academy, where she participates in master classes with Oleg Kaskiv, Renaud Capuçon and Guillaume Chilemme, and is admitted to the Academy, in the class of Professor Oleg Kaskiv.
Davide Navelli
Viola
Davide Navelli was born in 1998 in Italy. He had his first violin lessons with his father Giuseppe Navelli at the age of seven. He completed his Violin studies with honors in 2016 at the age of seventeen, and in Viola in 2019. Davide attended several Masterclasses and events at the most important Hochschule fur Musik in Germany (Lubeck, Hamburg, Nurnberg, Frankfurt) and at the prestigious Forum Artium Academy. Davide won several first prizes in different national and international competitions. From 2017 Davide became member of the “Teatro alla Scala Academy” in Milano, where he had the opportunity to study and work with great artists and conductors, such as: David Coleman, Placido Domingo, Christoph Eschenbach, Ádám Fischer, Manfred Honeck, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta and many others. In 2020, Davide successfully auditioned to study in different prestigious Universities in Netherlands (Conservatorium of Utrecht, Conservatorium of Maastricht and Conservatorium of Groningen) and in Germany at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Stuttgart. In the same year Davide joined the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland.
Luka Faulisi
Violin
Born in France, in Paris in 2002, in a family of musicians. He started playing the violin at the age of 4 with Alexandre Brussilovsky and quickly joined Larissa Kolos’ class before becoming a 4-year student of the famous Russian violinist Boris Belkin.
He participated in numerous masterclasses with his teacher at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, Italy, and took lessons from Miroslav Roussine and Boris Kuschnir. In 2015 he won first prize in the Arthur Grumiaux International Competition, which gave him the opportunity to play in front of great artists like Ivry Gitlis, Janine Jansen, Eric Lesage and Emmanuel Pahud. He performs at festivals in France (Festival Musique à l’Emperi), Italy, Serbia, China etc. In October 2019 he joined the International Menuhin Music Academy and attended Oleg Kaskiv’s courses, and participated in masterclasses given by Renaud Capuçon, Guillaume Chilemme, Gabor Takacs, Liviu Prunaru, Gilles Apap, Pinchas Zukerman.
Emil Hartikainen
Violin
Emil Hartikainen, born in 2003, is a Finnish violinist. He began studying the violin at the age of seven at the Espoo Music Institute (Tapiola, Finland) with Grazyna Zeranska-Gebert. In 2016, he continued at the Sibelius Academy in the youth department with Prof. Reka Szilvay.
He has been distinguished by numerous awards:
– April 2019, 1st Prize (with the maximum number of points) of the XXIVth International Competition of Artists from Split (Croatia)
– 2018, the 1st Prize of Florida Keys International Music Competition for young talents. Invited to perform at the Winners’ Gala Concert at Carnegie Hall for the awards ceremony (November 17, 2018, Lincoln Hall).
– 2016, 3rd prize in the Juhani Heinonen violin competition organized in Jyväskylä (Finland).
– 2015, finalist diploma from the 8th Arthur Grumiaux international competition in Belgium.
– 2013, 2nd Prize in the international competition for young musicians in Tallinn (Estonia).
– 2009, 1st Prize in the Seppo Tukiainen violin competition, in Helsinki.
In the past period, Emil participated in master classes given by Jan Repko, Jair Kless, Aleksandr Vinnickij, Eszter Haffner, Prof. Gudny Gudmundsdottir, Ivry Gitlis, Prof. Zakhar Bron in Interlaken, at the Blackmore Academy and at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Lucie Robert, Mihaela Martin, Pavel Vernikov, Svetlana Makarova, Viktor Tretjakov, Natalia Lihopoy, Dan Zhu. Emil also distinguished himself as a soloist: guest of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Helsinki, conducted by Dalya Stashevsky in April 2019; at the opening ceremony of the Imatra International Music Festival, with the Antalyan Chamber Orchestra; with the Kaunas National Philharmonic Orchestra (Lithuania) conducted by Jorma Panula.
Since October 2018, Emil has been a member of the Spivakov International “Moscow meets Friends” Festival. He also participated in the Oulu Music Festival in Finland and the Musica Mundi festival in Belgium. He is still a member of various symphonic youth projects: Concertgebouw, Radion Sinfonic Orchestra of Helsinki, National Opera of Helsinki.
Emil is an active chamber musician, founder and first violin of the Balder Quartet. This quartet has successfully established itself on the international scene: it was chosen at the Kuhmo Academy by Vladimir Mendelssohn and invited to the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in winter 2018 and summer 2019.
Samuel Hirsch
Violin
Born in 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, Samuel Hirsch began studying the violin at the age of seven with Tina Strinning, then took violin lessons from François Sochard, first solo violin of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra . In 2014, he joined Renaud Capuçon’s class, and obtained the Bachelor in June 2017, with the special Paléo HES-SO prize “for his exceptional Bachelor level”.
He obtained his Master in June 2019 and was admitted to the Menuhin International Music Academy for the start of the school year in October 2019. He won in particular at the Swiss Music Competition for Youth 2016 and 2018 first prizes with honors in solo violin and in quartet, as well as several special prizes, and was nominated for the first edition of the Youth Prize of the City of Lausanne, in December 2015. In 2016, he received the EMCY prize (European Union of music competitions for young people). In March 2019, he was a finalist and Special Prize in the A. Grumiaux International Competition for young violinists.
He perfects himself regularly by following masterclasses, with, Gilles Apap, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Àlvaro Parra of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Régis Pasquier. In chamber music with the Sine Nomine Quartet, Markus Fleck of the Casal Quartett, Roland Pidoux. He frequently performs in Switzerland and Europe in chamber music, in recital and as a soloist.
Bogdan Lutz
Violin
Bogdan Lutz, born in 2004 in Lviv in Ukraine, began his studies at the S. Krushelnytska Specialized School of Music (boarding school) in Lviv, in the class of Maria Oleksiivna Futorskaya.
In 2016, he continued at the M. Lysenko Specialized School of Music (boarding school) in Kiev, in the class of Olga Korinets. He has been a student at the International Menuhin Music Academy since 2019. He won the grand prize of the Slovak Talents for Europe competition, the 3rd prize of the Arthur Grumiaux International Competition in Belgium, the grand prize of the Lvivskiy Virtuoz International Competition, in Ukraine, and in 2018, the 2nd prize of Il Piccolo Violino Magico International Competition, in Italy..
Maria Mitterfellner
Violin
Maria was born in 2001 in a Germany. She started playing the violin at the age of 5 with the Suzuki system and singing at the age of 8 at the master’s level at the Lausanne conservatory, which gave her entry into Swiss theaters and enabled her to develop a great passion for music and stage.
From the age of 10 she was part of the children’s choir of the Lausanne Opera and sang in many productions such as Orphée aux enfers, Tosca, Hänsel and Gretel, The magic flute … She has won numerous prizes in international competitions for classical singing.
At the age of 14 she joined the class of Julien Zufferey at the Lausanne conservatory and a year later the pre-professional stream. Since 2015, Maria has been part of the Zakhar Bron academy.
At the age of 16 she started a Bachelor of Arts at the Lausanne High School of Music in the class of Svetlana Makarova. In October 2019, she joined the International Menuhin Music Academy in Rolle. Maria has won several editions of the Swiss Competition for young soloists as well as chamber music.
She has been able to perform in large halls and participate in prestigious festivals such as the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the great hall of the Brussels Conservatory, the Sion Festival, the Interlaken classics, the Pully musical weekend. She has worked with renowned artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Pavel Vernikov, Zakhar Bron, Dmitry Korchak, Svetlana Makarova, Anna Netrebko. Since joining the International Menuhin Music Academy, she has attended Oleg Kaskiv’s classes and participated in the masterclasses of Renaud Capuçon, Guillaume Chilemme, Gabor Tackacs, Liviu Prunaru, Pinchas Zuckerman and Gilles Apap.
Luka Galuf
Cello
Born in 2001 in Zagreb, Croatia. At the age of four, he began studying the piano with his mother, who was a musician (chamber music and piano teacher). At six years old, he expressed his interest in the cello and decided to study it seriously.
Shortly after, he enrolled at the Elly Basić School of Music, in the class of Professor Bernarda Debus Radzić. During his secondary studies, he also followed cello lessons given by teachers such as Andrej Pertač (Slovenia), Sylvija Sondeckijene (Lithuania), Andrew Petrač (Slovenia), Alexander Volpov (Russia), Ilija Laporev (Luxembourg), Orfeo Mandozzi (Switzerland) and Pablo de Naverán (Belgium). He has often played as a soloist and chamber musician in chamber music concerts given by the music school. He won two first prizes in national competitions for young Croatian musicians, two first prizes and a second prize at the international Petar Konjević competition in Belgrade.
At the national chamber music competition, he was part of the quartet that won the first prize.
He completed his third year of study at the Haute École de Musique and in 2019 he was admitted to the International Menuhin Music Academy, in the cello class of Professor Pablo de Naverán.
Xiaoxi Jiang
Cello
Born in 1991 in Liaoning in North China, Xiaoxi Jiang studied at the Central Conservatory of Music. She participated in 2008 in the 6th national cello competition VC Cup and won the award for excellence in solo performance in the Youth Group as well as in cello duo. Since 2010, she has been the solo cello of the China Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has participated with the Orchestra in numerous performances, notably in her Tour of Europe 2013, as well as in several recordings of the music channel of Chinese central television. She was the champion of the chamber music competition of the Central Conservatory of Music.
In 2012, she was invited to appear before the President at the Diao yu Islands, and in 2013, she won 3rd prize in the Golden Bell Awards piano trio competition. She also studied at the Haute École de Musique et de Danse in Cologne and participated in master classes with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, David Geringas and Maria Kliegel. Xiaoxi Jiang was the solo cello of the orchestra at the Jarvi Festival. In 2019, she joined the International Menuhin Music Academy as a cellist.
Kasmir Uusitupa
Violin
Kasmir (born 1995) started the violin as a “student trainee” at the Sibelius Academy at the age of 3. At the age of 6, he joined The East Helsinki Music Institute and excelled in all basic violin exams when he was 11, as a student of Lauri Untamala.
From 2008, Kasmir Uusitupa studied the violin at the Sibelius Academy in the class of Professor Kaija Saarikettu, first in the youth department and then in 2005 at the university. He has participated in many masterclasses given by teachers such as Hagai Shaham, Pavel Vernikov, Aarion rosand, Olivier Charlier and Serguei Azizian. Having also played folk music with his family, Kasmir Uusitupa won the Martti Pokéla medal for “young folk musician of the year” in 2004 and 2005. In 2009 he received the prize for best performer at the Kuressaare music festival in Estonia, and was chosen to perform at the concert of young soloists of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2013 he won the first prize and the special prize at the Anja Ignatius violin competition at the Sibelius Academy. In 2015, he was a finalist in the national violin competition Kuopio and received the special prize for the performance of Sibelius’ concerto. From 2007 to 2011, Kasmir Uusitupa played as soloist and first violin at the Chamber Orchestra conducted by Géza Szilvay. He also plays in the Borea quartet, supervised by Professor Paavo Pohjola since 2011. The Borea quartet is the new resident quartet of the Kuhmo chamber music festival since summer 2017. During the 2017-18 season, Kasmir Uusitupa played as soloist of the Finnish RSO, the Osthrobotnian chamber orchestra, the Hyvinkää orchestra and the Vaasa orchestra. He is also 2nd and 3rd substitute violin at the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish RSO.
Kasmir Uusitupa plays with a Stradivarius violin dating from 1702, generously loaned by the OP pohjola bank.
Chaofan Wang
Violin
Chaofan was born in 2000 in Xi’An, China. He likes art, music and concerts. In 2005, at the age of 4, he started to learn the electronic organ. Three months later, he composed his first song.
In 2007, at the age of 6, he started the violin with Professor Mao. In 2010, he joined Li Qiuha, the director of the violin section at the Xi’An Conservatory.
In 2011, he won first prize at the Golden Beijing Violin Competition and was invited to perform at the New Year’s concert. In 2012, he was accepted to primary school at the Central Conservatory in first place.
In 2014, he successfully passed the college entrance exam to the Central Conservatory of China. The same year, he was chosen as 2nd violin by the China Junior Chamber Orchestra. A year later, he became first violin. In 2015, he won second prize in the Instrumental Music Scholarship Competition at the Central College of the Music Conservatory. In 2016, as the youngest violinist, he participated in the international Italian violin contest Lipizer, and won the special Minerva prize for his interpretation of the Sivori Caprice. In 2017, he attended the Morning Star Music Bridge in Boston, USA. In the same year, he was selected as first violin with the Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra. In 2018, he joined the Seiji Ozawa chamber orchestra, and his team won first prize in the Instrumental Music Scholarship Competition. In September 2019, Chaofan Wang won 3rd prize at the 38th International Violin Competition “Premio Rodolfo Lipizer” (Gorizia, Italy, September 6-15, 2019).
Hsuan-Min Chang
Viola
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1999, Hsuan-Min Chang has won numerous competitions, such as the Mayor International String Competition, and the Menhua international competition, viola section, and has also won the first prize and the public’s prize. at the Hsinchuang orchestra concerto competition and performed as a soloist with the orchestra at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center.
Hsuan-Min and her quartet won first place in the Taiwanese national chamber music competition. She studied chamber music with members of the Borromeo, Great Wall, Guarneri, and Tokyo Quartets, and collaborated with artists like Nobuko Imai and Francesca Da Pascuale in the Heifetz Celebrity Series and with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the company Colburn chamber music.
Hsuan-Min has performed as the first viola of the Apex Ensemble, the Virtuosi Orchestra of the Colburn Academy, the Kaohsiung City Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Yenchen Orchestra.. In addition, Hsuan-Min was invited to perform at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the Kaleidoscope Festival in the United States, and the Moritzburg Festival in Germany. She was a recipient of the Music Academy of the West Scholarship, the Manchester Music Festival, the Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Ashkenasi / Kirshbaum Chamber Music Music Seminar. She has also performed in places such as the Walt Disney concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Hsuan-Min was a student of Atar Arad, Helen Callus, Matthew Daline, Roberto Diaz, Nobuko Imai, Martha Strongin Katz, Mai Motobuchi, Katherine Murdock, Paul Neubauer, among others. She was studying until last year with Paul Coletti at Colburn School in Los Angeles. She is now a student at the Menuhin Academy.
Yat Lee
Viola
Born in Hong Kong in 2000, Yat Lee received a scholarship to the Diocesan Boys’ School, as well as to the Junior Music program of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he studied the violin under the tutelage of Mr Fan Ting and chamber music with Mr. Ivan Chan. He then went viola at the age of 16, and studied with Mr. Johnny Ng, Mr. Sun Yu and Mr. Born Lau. In addition to string instruments, Yat studied piano with Mr. Raymond Young.
He has followed masterclasses from artists such as Richard O’Neill, Nobuko Imai, Veit Hertenstein, Garth Knox, Ori Kam, Roland Glassl, Ivan Vukcevic, and Charles Castleman. Yat Lee was admitted to the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts at the age of 17, where he studied viola under the supervision of Prof. Wolfgang Klos and Prof. Urlich Schoenauer, baroque viola by Jocelyne Rainer and Hiro Kurosaki.
Yat Lee has won numerous chamber music competitions and as a soloist. He won first prize at the Strings open class of the Hong Kong School Music Festival, and was later invited to the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. In 2018, he won 2nd prize at the stringed instrument competition of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, then received the prize from the Dr. Martha Sobotka-Charlotte Janeczek Foundation. He also performed at the Allegro Vivo Festival in Austria, ARS musikfest in Lithuania, Kuhmo Music Festival in Finland.
Yat Lee has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Diocesan Boys ’School Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Children Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Orchestra, Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra and Webern Symphony Orchestra. Yat participates in the Zusammenkläng program, where he teaches violin and viola to refugees. He joined the International Menuhin Music Academy in February 2019.
Yosuke Kaneko
Cello
Born in Japan, Yosuke Kaneko began studying the cello at 10 years old with Professor Hakuro Mori. Silver medalist in the classical music competition in 2010. Winner of the music student competition in 2013. Winner of the IMA music prize in 2015. Bronze medalist in the Japanese music student competition in 2016.
He has performed on more than 100 stages, including Suntory Hall. He followed the master classes of Mr. Mario Brunello and Mr. Jian Wang. He was the promotion major of the Toho Gakuen music school in 2018.
Jana Stojanovic
Viola
Jana Stojanovic was born in 1998 in Belgrade to a family of musicians. His first violin lessons were given by his mother Tatjana Smatlik at the age of six. Later, she continued her studies at the prestigious music school “Vuckovic”, where she completed her violin studies in 2016 with prof. Biljana Jaksic, and viola in 2017 with prof. Jovan Stojanovic. In the same year, she obtained her maturity / baccalaureate and joined the Belgrade Conservatory in the prof class. Panta Velickovic.
During her studies, Jana won several first prizes at national competitions as well as at the international String Fest competition in Serbia. From a young age, Jana has participated in various musical activities: In 2011, she was a member of the Swiss Youth Musical Symphony Orchestra (JMS), of the European Youth Spirit in 2012-2013 (ESYO).
From 2013 to 2015, she took chamber music lessons and participated in the Musica Mundi festival in Belgium where she had the opportunity to work with artists such as M. Vengerov, G. Caussé, I. Gitlis, M. Messenger and many others. In 2017, she followed a master class in baroque music with Marco Serino from the I Musici di Roma orchestra. The same year, she became a member of the National Youth Orchestra (NJO) in the Netherlands. Jana also enriched her musical experience by participating in various projects with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Serbian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Serbica, the Belgrade Symphony. In 2018, Jana joined the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland in the class of prof. Ivan Vukčević.
Ryosuke Suho
Violin
Born in 1995 in Kyoto, Japan, Ryosuke Suho took his first violin lessons at the age of seven. At the age of twelve, Ryosuke made his debut in Japan and played with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. He continued in Europe at the age of fifteen, where he was invited to play with the Prague Chamber Orchestra for the Young Prague Music Festival. In the same year, Ryosuke played with a specially trained orchestra with the Paris Orchestra, the National France Orchestra, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchester National de Paris. Ryusoke has since performed extensively in Japan and Europe.
In 2014, he was invited as the first Asian violinist to the St-Peterburg Music House and received excellent criticism. He performed as a soloist in the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra for the Japan tour in the summer of 2016, which caused a sensation among the audience.
He has also performed with major Japanese orchestras such as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchesrtra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and Yokohama Sinfonietta, as well as the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra and Amadeus Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra. Ryosuke has already performed widely around the world, and continues to provide much appreciated musical performances. Ryosuke also benefited from the chance to perform with famous violinists such as Ivry Gitlis and Maxim Vengerov. TV programs such as “Untitled Concert” and radio programs such as NHK-FM “Recital Nova”, “Best of Classic” among others broadcast the concerts he gave.
Ryosuke has won many major awards and honors. He won the prize of the 15th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in 2016, in Poznan, Poland, and received the special Jury prize. Rysoke also won first prize at the Kloster Schontal International Violin Competition in 2009 and received the virtuosity prize as well as the EMCY prize. He also won first prize at the David Oistrakh International Violin Competition in 2010 and received the Sponsorship Award. In 2011, he won first prize at the Tokyo Music Competition for Strings Instruments and also received the Audience Award. He received the prestigious IMA Music Award in 2013, the Idemisu Music Award in 2014 and the Aoyama Music Award in 2015 for his exceptional musical talent. He won first prize at the Berliner International Music Competition in 2017.
Ryosuke is currently receiving a scholarship as a student at the Tokyo College of Music where he is taught by Machie Oguri, Koichiro Harada, Mayuko Kamio and Yauso Ohtani. He also attended many masterclasses with great violin masters such as Ana Chumachenco, Maxim Vengerov, Zakhar Bron, Boris Belkin, Mihaela Martin and Svetlin Roussev. He also received a scholarship from the Ezoe Memorial Foundation in 2017. He gave a series of six recitals in 2019 at Chanel Nexus Hall in Tokyo, as artist of the year of the Chanel Pygmalion Days. He plays on a Nicolo Amati from 1678 thanks to a generous loan from Nippon Violin Co.
Julia Yamamoto
Viola
Julia was born in Tokyo in 1994 and began studying violin at the age of 4. She enrolled at the Toho Gakuen Music High School and graduated major of her promotion in violin. She continued her studies with Tsugio Tokunaga at the Faculty of Music of Toho Gakuen College. During her university studies, she participated in the Vengerov Festivals, La Folle Journée, Viola Space, the International Festival of Japanese Music, among others, playing with the Toho Gakuen Orchestra.
In addition to the violin, Julia began viola in high school and then in college. She finally devoted herself fully to the viola and began to perform in several ensembles. She studied viola with Professor Nobuo Okada at the Faculty of Music at Toho Gakuen College.
Julia was the pupil of the most prestigious teachers in Japan, among whom are: Naoto Sakiya and Kuniko Yoshimura, the Chamber Music Ensemble conducted by Yoshiko Nakura, Toru Kimura, Ikue Koike, Kazuoki Fujii, Nobuo Furukawa, Hamao Fujiwara, Katsurako Mikami, and Tsugio Tokunaga. Currently, she is studying viola at the Menuhin Academy with Ivan Vukcevic. Julia actively participates in masterclasses, competitions and festivals, in addition to her studies. Among the masterclasses in which she recently participated, we find the “Music Academy in Miyazaki” and “Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival”. Currently, she performs not only as a soloist but also with many chamber and orchestral ensembles as a violist. She received the 2nd Prize at the First International K Music Competition in 2017, she was awarded at the 23rd Japanese Classical Music Competition in 2013, and she performed as a winner at the 64th Newcomer Concert sponsored by l International Association of Artists of Tokyo in 2016.
Francisco Carmona Navarro
Cello
Francisco Carmona was born into a family with a great musical tradition in Badajoz, a small town in the southwest of Spain. He had his first musical lessons with his grandfather, a recognized pianist and teacher in music theory. At the age of six, he began his academic studies by taking elementary and professional courses at the Conservatory ”Juan Vázquez” under the direction of Professor Edita Artemieva, and graduated in 2014. The following year, he began his higher studies at the “Bonifacio Gil” Conservatory in Badajoz. Then he followed the lessons of Master Pablo de Naverán.
During these years, he received several lectures with musicians like Pablo Ferrández, Ángel Sanzo, Aitor Hevia, Adelina Oprean, among others.
He attended some improvisation and historical performance lessons. His interest in jazz and modern music made him work almost six years on jazz guitar with Professor Rafael Prieto. He has been a member of the Extremadura Juvenile Orchestra since 2016 with which he participated, among other projects, in a tour to Beirut in Lebanon in March 2017. He also played on several occasions in his native city and on several places in its region (Extremadura). Since October 2017, he studies in the prestigious “International Menuhin Music Academy” where he continues his studies with Pablo de Naverán and where he periodically follows the lessons of Maxim Vengerov, Oleg Kaskiv and Ivan Vukcevic.
Vasyl Zatsikha
Violin
Vasyl Zatsikha is a Ukrainian violinist who started his studies at the special music school in Lviv from 5 to 17 years old as a student of Myroslav Sora. In 2008, he continued his studies with Professor Igor Pilatyuk at the National Academy of Music in Lviv (ANML). Since 2015, He studies with Maxim Vengerov and Oleg Kaskiv at the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy. Vasyl is considered one of the best young musicians in Ukraine, having had many international competition successes.
Vasyl is the winner of more than 20 international competitions, he recently won the First Prize of the Rahn Musikpreis Competition (Zurich, 2018), the second prize of the Premio Rodolfo Lipizer 2017 competition and the 2nd prize at the 4th Schoenfeld International String Competition (Harbin, China).
IHe is the main winner of the Yankelevich International Violin Competition in 2011 and the Fourth Lysenko International Violin Competition in 2012. He won many competitions, including the Striharzh Competition in 2000, 2004 and 2005 the “New Names of the Competition”. Ukraine ”in 2001, the Kocian Competition in 2001, the Silver Bells Competition 2003 and 2004, the Ukrainian String Instrument Competition in 2003 and 2006. On his return to Ukraine, he received the President’s scholarship for musical studies in 2008. Vasyl Zatsikha is an active soloist, an orchestral musician and a chamber orchestra musician, he is solo violin of many ensembles such as the MBS Symphony Orchestra, the Perpetuum Mobile Chamber Orchestra, the Academia Chamber Orchestra and others. As soloist, he has performed major works with the Trembita Chamber Orchestra, the Lviv Symphony Orchestra, the INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra, the “Virtuoso Lviv” Chamber Orchestra, with the Menuhin Soloists Academy in the largest concert halls in Europe. Vasyl has also worked with some of the greatest musicians and conductors, including: Peter Falk, Alexis Soriano, Yuriy Bervetsky, Myroslav Skoryk, Igor Pylatyuk and Maxim Vengerov. Recent activities include: professional recording of solo artists with the International Menuhin Music Academy, several concerts in Europe and South America, a concert with the Lucern Symphonic Orchestra in Zurich at the Tonhalle Maag, conducted by Patrick Hahn in 2018.