Sascha Bota

Sascha Bota, Violist born in Timisoara, Romania was studying with Gérard Caussé in Madrid, with Thomas Riebl in Salzburg as well as with Walter Levin from the LaSalle Quartet for a post graduate quartet course in Basel. Since he has had the opportunity to play in chamber groups with musicians including Thomas Zehetmair, Benjamin Schmid, Leonidas Kavakos and principal players of the Berliner Philarmonie, the Doric Quartet and the Hagen Quartet. As a soloist, he has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonia Banatul amongst others. Sascha has been playing as principal  viola with numerous of orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. He also successfully won auditions for  the Solo Viola of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra as well as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, where he was appointed as a core member shortly after. Sascha is dedicated to jazz and other forms of improvised music and regularly appears at jazz concerts and festivals.

Irina Zahharenkova

Irina Zahharenkova is one of the most outstanding keyboard performers of her generation to emerge from Estonia today.

She has won first prizes from major international piano competitions as the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (Leipzig, Germany – 2006), Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition (Terni, Italy – 2006), International Competition George Enescu (Bucharest, Romania – 2005), and Jaén International Piano Contest (Jaén, Spain – 2004). In 2008 she became prize-winner in Artur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, Israel. Irina has also been a laureate in Prague Spring competition in Czech Republic (2005) – as a harpsichordist and in Festival van Vlaanderen competition in Bruges, Belgium (2004) – as fortepianist. She was a winner of 2007 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award.

Emma Bonnici

Emma Bonnici is a dynamic performer, teacher and speaker. Her 8 years working in Poland with two multi award winning physical theatre companies have influenced her views and approach to training and performance greatly.

Her focus is on principles of ensemble work. These principles ripple out into perspectives of holistic practice which sees the body as working as an interrelated system connected through fascial and structural networks, as explored through Feldenkraise and looking into deeper connections of structure and neurology as well as energetics through her 3 year study and qualification as a craniosacral therapist.

It further sees the body as an expression of biography with stories held in physical places and when coupled with voice resonation it can offer a map which can guide one to release of both blocks and imagination.

Emma’s exploration of vocal and physical ensemble also has lead her to working with groups to explore subjects of leadership and followership, and the promotion of fluid communication and creativity through physical tuning, embodiment, seeing and being seen and poly-directional listening.

She works frequently with dancers helping them find their voice and with singers helping them find their body.

Emma has given a TedX about her work called The Power of the Voice, she teaches both nationally and internationally and is based in London and continues to perform.

Claude Frochaux

Swiss-Italian cellist Claude Frochaux began playing the cello at the age of six at the Suzuki Talent Center, then at the Conservatory of Turin. Studies followed in Frankfurt with Michael Sanderling, where he completed his diploma and his concert examination with the highest rating in the soloist class, as well as postgraduate studies with honours in Essen and Madrid. Besides Italy and other European countries, solo and chamber music concerts have brought him to North and South America, India and China with performances in halls such as the Wigmore Hall and King’s Place London, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Musikverein Wien, Parco della Musica Roma, Auditorium Sony Madrid, Arvo Pärt Centre Estonia, as well as the NCPA Theatre Mumbai and Teatro del Lago Chile. In 2008 he founded Monte Piano Trio with which he has won numerous international prizes -Maria Canals Barcelona, Schumann Frankfurt, Folkwang Prize Essen, Brahms Austria, European Chamber Music Competition Karlsruhe. He plays in ensembles such as O/Modernt Stockholm, Chamber Orchestra of Europe or Ensemble Midtwest Denmark and he has gained experience through the years with several orchestras such as Bamberger Symphoniker, English Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Pomeriggi musicali di Milano, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Spira Mirabilis.Claude Frochaux is the artistic director of Kammermusikfest Sylt, an international chamber music festival that is held on the German island every year since 2012.

Hugo Ticciati – O/Modernt

O/Modernt (Swedish for ‘Un/Modern’) is the innovative concept devised a decade ago by violinist, conductor and artistic director Hugo Ticciati. Combining old and new in unexpected ways, O/Modernt celebrates connectivity in and through the arts, aiming to bring about a heightened awareness of connections that span times, cultures and peoples. Our international programme of activities is focused on exploring artistic links between contemporary culture and the cultures of previous epochs, bringing together people from all walks of life, and re/connecting people with themselves by promoting active, imaginative engagement with music and the arts. Outward-looking, inclusive and passionate about breaking down boundaries, O/Modernt’s philosophy is encapsulated in our motto, borrowed from John Cage: Invent the past. Revise the future. Taking the past as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists working in every creative field, the O/Modernt spirit of reinvention finds expression in an expansive array of performances, events and projects.

Jordi Carrasco Hjelm

Jordi Carrasco Hjelm is a Swedish classical double bass player working with chamber music and improvisation. He studied classical double bass with Rick Stotijn and Olivier Thiery and finished his studies in Conservatorium van Amsterdam with a Masters degree in improvisation studying with the jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis. He lives in the Netherlands where he is a core member of the Asko Schönberg Ensemble who are a leading ensemble in the field of contemporary music. As a passionate advocate for free improvisation on stages for classical music and for chamber music as an inherently improvisational form he has performed in many European chamber music festivals such as the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival Utrecht, Felix! Festival Köln, Ghent Festival, Miesbach Kammermusik festival, KMF Eibergen, KMF Sylt and most notably as a regular guest in Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland.

Tetiana Lutsyk

Tetiana Lutsyk, the violinist with a broad musical spectrum as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and teacher studied with Prof. Sergey Evdokimov in Kharkiv and Prof. Mariya Futorska in Ukraine as well as with Prof. Leonid Sorokow in Zagreb and Prof. Priya Mitchell in Graz. She is the Prizewinner of many international competitions and has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras, including the RTVE Symphony Orchestra Madrid, Orquestra de València, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv Chamber Orchestra, Ivano-Frankivsk Philharmonic Orchestra, Girardi Ensemble. Tetiana Lutsyk has been concertmaster of the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra since 2021. Tetiana has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at many renowned international music festivals such as the Oxford Chamber Music Festival.

Kleio Quartet

First Prize and Commission Prize winners at the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition 2023, the Kleio Quartet are quickly establishing themselves as an internationally-recognised quartet. They formed at the Seiji Ozawa International Chamber Academy in 2019 and consist of Juliette Roos (violin), Katherine Yoon (violin), Yume Fujise (viola) and Eliza Millett (cello). They have performed in major international venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Victoria Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the DR Koncerthuset, the Black Diamond in Copenhagen and many others.

The Kleio Quartet are delighted to join the BBC New Generation Artists scheme from September 2024- 26. The quartet have recently been appointed as the resident quartet for the Royal Northern College of Music’s String Quartet Studio. They are grateful for the ongoing support of Le Dimore del Quartetto from whom they received the ‘Ensemble of the Year’ (2024, IT) and most recently,  received the Freiburg and Walburger Prizes at the Jeunesses Musicales International course in Weikersheim (2024, GE).

They have held a residency as Britten-Pears Young Artists in Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh and continue a series of residencies hosted by the Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam from 2023-2025 and at ProQuartet – Centre Européen de Musique de Chambre for the season 2023/24. They have been selected both for the Tunnell Trust’s Music Club Awards Scheme 2022/23 and as Kirckman Concert Society Young Artists for 2023/24. They have also been selected to join the MERITA platform from 2023-2025, and hold the Hattori Foundation Senior Award.

Recent performance highlights include debuts at the Edinburgh International Festival, London’s Kings Place, and appearances at the North Norfolk Music Festival. Upcoming highlights of their 2024-25 season include a Danish Tour and appearances at La Schubertiade de Sceaux (FR), Frederiskværk Festival (DR) and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (GE) alongside cellist Eckart Runge and pianist Jacques Ammon.

The Kleio Quartet is particularly grateful to have received support and mentorship from Eckart Runge, John Myerscough (Doric Quartet), and Steffan Morris (Castalian Quartet). They have also received coaching from internationally-renowned chamber musicians Sadao Harada, Nobuko Imai, Heime Müller, Kirill Gerstein, Kronos Quartet, Cuarteto Casals, Pamela Frank, Simon Rowland-Jones, György Kurtág and Oliver Wille. The quartet continue their studies at the Hochschule für Robert Schumann in Düsseldorf with their mentor Eckart Runge.

Thomas Adès

Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971.  Renowned as both composer and performer, he works regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies and festivals.

His compositions include three operas : the most recent of which The Exterminating Angel premiered at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Royal Opera House, London all conducted by the composer; The Tempest (Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera); and Powder Her Face. His orchestral works include Asyla (CBSO, 1997), Tevot (Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, 2007), Polaris (New World Symphony, Miami 2011), Violin Concerto Concentric Paths (Berliner Festspiele and the BBC Proms, 2005), In Seven Days (Piano concerto with moving image – LA Philharmonic and RFH London 2008), Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra (BBC Proms, 2013), and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Boston Symphony Orchestra, 2019). His compositions also include numerous celebrated chamber and solo works.

Thomas Adès has been an Artistic Partner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2016 and will conduct the orchestra in Boston and at Tanglewood, perform chamber music with the orchestra players, and lead the summer Festival of Contemporary Music. He coaches Piano and Chamber Music annually at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove.

As a conductor, Thomas appears regularly with the Los Angeles, San Francisco and London Philharmonic orchestras, the Boston, London, BBC and City of Birmingham, Symphony orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouworkest, Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Czech Philharmonic. In opera, in addition to The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House and the Zürich Opera, The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera, and Gerald Barry’s latest opera Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in Los Angeles (world premiere) and in London (European premiere). In the 2019-20 season Thomas has a residency with the Royal Concertgebouworkest and also conducts the London and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras and makes his debut with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the USA, he returns to the Los Angeles and Boston Symphony Orchestras. Thomas also returns to the Royal Opera House twice this season, to conduct Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and the premiere of his new ballet The Dante Project.

His piano engagements include solo recitals at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), New York and the Wigmore Hall in London, and concerto appearances with the New York Philharmonic. This season will see the release of his album of solo piano music by Janacek and he will also join Simon Keenlyside in a recital of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Vienna State Opera.

His many awards include the Grawemeyer Award for Asyla (1999); Royal Philharmonic Society large-scale composition awards for Asyla, The Tempest and Tevot; and Ernst von Siemens Composers’ prize for Arcadiana; British Composer Award for The Four Quarters.  His CD recording of The Tempest from the Royal Opera House (EMI) won the Contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards; his DVD of the production from the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année (2013), Best Opera recording (2014 Grammy Awards) and Music DVD Recording of the Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards); and The Exterminating Angel won the World Premiere of the Year at the International Opera Awards (2017). In 2015 he was awarded the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize and in Spring 2020 he will receive the Toru Takemitsu composition award at Tokyo Opera City where he will conduct a concert of his own music.

Roy Amotz

Israeli born flutist Roy Amotz has established himself as a soloist and in the chamber music field worldwide, and performs with leading ensembles and orchestras. His repertoire ranges from early Baroque to contemporary music.

He has played under the baton of conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding and Christoph von Dohnanny, and participated in festivals such as the International Chamber Music Festival in Jerusalem, the Verbier Festival and the Lucerne Festival. Solo performances with orchestras include the Verbier Festival Orchestra, BBC Scotland Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Geneva Camerata.

Mr. Amotz has won first prizes from the International Flute Competition in Volos, Greece and the Pergamenschikow International Chamber Music Competition, Berlin. Scholarships include the America Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship for soloists, the Varon Foundation, Hindemith Foundation Berlin, and the LBBW Grant for promising talents.

Since 2005 he has been a principal player of the Verbier Festival Orchestra with which he toured Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, and since 2013 he is the solo flutist of the Geneva Camerata Orchestra – a new innovative ensemble that performs music of all periods and styles, from early baroque all the way to contemporary music.

As an avid promoter of contemporary classical music composed by the younger generation, Mr Amotz has collaborated with numerous composers and commissioned pieces for solo flute as well as flute concerti and chamber music. He is a member of the acclaimed Meitar Ensemble for contemporary music, with which he toured Europe, USA and Canada, performing in venues such as the Purcell Room London, Centre Pompidou Paris, Venice Biennale, Radial System V Berlin, Moscow Conservatory Hall and the Heidelberger Frühling Festival to name a few.

His teachers include Vladimir Silva, Avner Biron, Yossi Arnheim, Jean-Claude Gérard, Christoph Huntgeburth and Roswitha Staege, with whom he studied at the Berlin University of Arts where he graduated with high honors.

In September 2017 Roy created a new music series, aiming to bring classical music to wider audiences, creating a transformative experience for audience and performers alike: “Music and Beyond”. The first project in this framework is called Fantasies, and integrates the art of cooking and music into one whole, aiming to explore our senses without the domination of the visual engagement.

Julius Drake

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 92nd Street Y, New York; and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin. Julius Drake’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records of which ‘Songs by Samuel Barber’, ‘Schumann: Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings’ and ‘Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake’ won the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Gramophone Awards; recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. Julius Drake is Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London and he is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.

Annette Walther

Annette Walther studied in Düsseldorf, Essen and London with Ida Bieler, Vesselin Parschkevov and David Takeno. She is a founding member of the internationally renowned Signum Quartet. The group has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Wigmore Hall and at the BBC Proms. Their recent Schubert recording, released in March 2018, has received international critical acclaim, winning the September 2018 Diapason d’Or. In addition to her career with the Signum, Annette regularly performs at festivals including the Musikfestspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival. She also played  in the Figure Humaine, choreographed by Sasha Waltz for the inauguration of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. A passionate teacher of music, in 2016 Annette was appointed violin lecturer at the Music Academy in Kassel.

Alena Baeva

Described as “a magnetic presence” and “a constantly fascinating sound technician” (New York Classical Review), violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and captivating soloists active on the world stage today, working with leading conductors including Gustavo Gimeno, Paavo Järvi, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Tomáš Netopil and Riccardo Minasi.

Possessing a passionate musical curiosity, Baeva holds an already vast and rapidly expanding active repertoire, including over fifty violin concerti. She is a champion of lesser- known works alongside the more mainstream violin literature, with recent performances promoting such composers as Bacewicz, Karaev, Karłowicz, and Silvestrov.

Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons, performing with orchestras including New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Göteborgs Symfoniker. She enjoys a long-standing and rewarding relationship with the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, performing and recording a variety of repertoire on period instruments.

Chamber music holds a particularly special place in her musical life, where she enjoys collaborations with such esteemed artists as Yuri Bashmet, Daishin Kashimoto, Misha Maisky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and the Belcea Quartet. Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko, with whom she has had a dedicated musical partnership for more than a decade.

Baeva records exclusively for leading label Alpha Classics, and the first project of her multi- disc deal with the label Fantasy with Vaydm Kholodenko was released in February 2024. Baeva’s wider discography is extensive and reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire. Recordings include Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2 (with Orchestra of the XVIII Century, 2021); the Karłowicz Violin Concerto (with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 2018); and the Schumann Violin Concerto and original (1844) version of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (for Melodiya Records, 2020).

Born in Kyrgyzstan with Slavic-Tatar ancestry, Baeva took her first violin lessons at the age of five under renowned pedagogue Olga Danilova in Kazakhstan before studying with Professor Eduard Grach in Russia. She also took lessons with Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Garlitsky, and Shlomo Mintz, and took part in the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, focused on string quartet repertoire. Naturalised Luxembourgish, Alena Baeva has resided in Luxembourg since 2010.

Alena Baeva plays on the “ex-William Kroll” Guarneri del Gesù of 1738 – on a generous loan from an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of J&A Beares.

Luciana Mancini

Chilean-Swedish mezzo soprano Luciana Mancini is internationally in demand for her intense stage presence and vocal expressiveness in repertoire that spans from the Renaissance and Baroque to Berio and Piazzolla.

This season 2024-25 sees her return to MusikTheater an der Wien to reprise her signature role of Maria in Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires and to appear in Combattimenti, a new pastiche with music by Monteverdi. She will perform Messagiera/Orfeo with Christina Pluhar at Mozartwochen Salzburg and Ottavia/Virtù in the acclaimed Ted Huffman’s production of L’incoronazine di Poppea with Nederlandse Reisopera. With Le Poème Harmonique she will appear as Nerone/L’incoronazione di Poppea in Bogotà. In concert she will perform various programs with Christina Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata throughout Europe and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with Collegium 1704 and Vaclav Luks.

In recent seasons she performed the title roles of La Cenerentola, Handel’s Serse and Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires at Theater Bonn, Melissa in Francesca Caccini’s La Liberazione at Theater an der Wien and was part of Sasha Waltz’ productions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Other opera engagements have led her to Staatsoper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra Comique Paris, Drottningholm Festival, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Grand Théâtre deLuxembourg, Opera de Lille, Bergen, Nationale Reisopera and Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon in roles such as Annio/La Clemenza di Tito, Proserpina/Euridice/Musica/Messagiera in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Zaida in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, Ottavia/Virtù in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Panthalis/Mefistofele, Volupia and Didone in Cavalli’s Egisto. With the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer she appeared in various concert and opera projects, featuring works by Monteverdi and Ravel.

Equally sought after in concert, Luciana Mancini has worked with conductors such as Pablo Heras-Casado, Raphaël Pichon, Jordi Savall, René Jacobs, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Jan Willem de Vriend and Juanjo Mena and performed with ensembles like the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Freiburger Barockorchester, Bergen Philharmonic, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Bachconsort Wien, Ensemble Pygmalion, Il Pomo d’Oro, O/Modernt, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Les nouveaux Charactères, Residentie Orkest and Noord Nederlands Orkest at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Händelfestspiele Halle, Musikfestspiele Sansoucci Potsdam, Festivals Chaise-Dieu and Sablé et al.

Most recent releases of her extensive discography include Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Ensemble Lorenzo da Ponte and Roberto Zarpellon and Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires with Beethovenorchester Bonnn and Christoph Sprenger, released by Capriccio.

Belcea Quartet

Passion, coupled with precision, unheard-of expressivity and pure emotion characterize the concerts of the Belcea Quartet. With the Romanian violinist Corina Belcea, the Korean-Australian Suyeon Kang on second violin, the Polish violist Krzysztof Chorzelski and the French cellist Antoine Lederlin, four different artistic provenances meet and unite to create unique excellence.

The ensemble’s repertoire spans Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven to Bartok, Janacek to Szymanowski. They also continue to introduce new works by current composers to the audience such as Guillaume Connesson (2023), Joseph Phibbs (2018), Krzysztof Penderecki (2016), Thomas Larcher (2015) and Mark-Anthony Turnage (2014 & 2010). A new work by Julian Anderson will be premiered this season. These commissioned works are created in association with the Belcea Quartet Trust, the quartet’s own foundation, whose aim is to continually broaden the string quartet literature as well as to support young quartets through concentrated joint coaching sessions. In this way they can also pass on to the next generation the experience they gained as students of the Amadeus & Alban Berg Quartet.

In addition to the complete recordings of the String Quartets by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms (Diapason d’or de l’année 2016) and Britten, the quartet’s wide-ranging discography includes works by Berg, Dutilleux, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shostakovich, Janáček & Ligeti (among others). In spring 2022, Alpha Classics released the two String Sextets by Brahms performed with Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Their performances of all Beethoven String Quartets at the Konzerthaus Vienna in 2012 were released on DVD by EuroArts in 2014, followed by the release of a recording of Britten’s three String Quartets in 2015.

From 2017 to 2020, the quartet held the prestigious position of Ensemble in Residence at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin. Since then, they have performed there regularly. In addition, the Belcea Quartet has been part of a shared String Quartet series at the Vienna Konzerthaus since 2010. Beginning last season, Quatuor Ébène became their partner ensemble here.

This season, the Belcea Quartet will be making guest appearances at the three prominent European String Quartet biennials in Paris, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. In addition, they will be performing at various esteemed venues including Carnegie Hall New York City, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Flagey Brussels, National Concert Hall Dublin, Tonhalle Zurich, and Toppan Hall Tokyo.

Reto Bieri

The Swiss clarinettist and improviser Reto Bieri has been playing solo and chamber music for over 20 years. This former artistic director is currently bringing a fresh concept to the classical music scene with his brilliant, poetic theme evenings ‘à la DAVOS FESTIVAL’ in cooperation with various chamber orchestras and accompanied by long-standing chamber music partners – in particular violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Reto Bieri regularly performs with renowned orchestras, and at various festivals and prestigious institutions. He releases CD recordings with the Munich-based cult label ECM, most recently the highly praised album ‘quasi morendo’ with string quartet meta4 from Finland.

Reto Bieri grew up with Swiss folk music. Following formative experience playing dance music in taverns and training as a primary school teacher he initially attended music academies in Basel and Zurich, before studying at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York. He was particularly influenced by the composer György Kurtág and his encounters with the writer Gerhard Meier, musician Eberhard Feltz and the clown Dimitri.

Reto Bieri served as Artistic Director of the Swiss DAVOS FESTIVAL – young artists in concert between 2013 and 2018. During 2012 to 2022, he was professor for chamber music at the University of Music in Würzburg, Germany. In 2022, he accepted a position at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, Germany, where he is now Professor of chamber music. He lives with his family in a remote Swiss Alpine location in the Bernese Oberland.

Brian O’Kane

British cellist Brian O’Kane enjoys a busy career as both soloist and chamber musician. Since winning first prize at the Windsor International String Competition in 2008, he has made his debuts with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra under Ashkenazy and in recital at the Wigmore Hall. Brian is a former “Rising Star” of Ireland’s National Concert Hall and he recently recorded his debut CD for the Champs Hill label.

An avid chamber musician, Brian enjoys playing as a member of the Cappa Ensemble and Navarra Quartet. He has collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as Michael Collins, Aleksandar Madzar, Anthony Marwood, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit and Sir James Galway. Brian has also performed at concert halls and festivals throughout the world such as Sydney Opera House, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Seoul Arts Centre, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, West Cork, Radio France-Montpellier, Lockenhaus and the Weesp Chamber Music Festival, Holland of which his quartet are the artistic directors.

A graduate of both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Brian‘s biggest influences have come from Louise Hopkins and at Prussia Cove, Aldeburgh & Chamber Studio from studies with Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis, Ferenc Rados and Eberhard Feltz.

Nora Thiele

Nora Thiele is a multi-instrumentalist, artistic director, composer and shifter between genres, eras and cultures. She works in transdisciplinary projects and creates intercultural concert programmes. Nora Thiele is one of the most versatile musicians in Europe and looks at the musical horizon like a universal genius with unusual foresight. Her entire oeuvre lives from her awareness of music history and holistic contexts. Rhythm and improvisation are central to her work.

Raised in a family of music and theatre professionals, she completed her music studies in Leipzig, majoring in ethnic percussion and piano. She has been a freelance musician since 2004.

Nora Thiele is considered a pioneer in the art of frame drumming and with her sensitive virtuosity is in a line of tradition with Glen Velez and Layne Redmond. Since 1998 she has been working with historical percussion in European music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Early Baroque. For her projects in the field of global music and jazz she developed a custom frame drum set, which combines tunable natural skin frame drums and cymbals and is a further development of the original drum set.

Nora Thiele is committed to creating a new repertoire for traditional hand drums. She publishes pieces for frame drums. Contemporary composers such as Klaus Huber and Bernd Franke have written works for her with symphony orchestra. Nora Thiele also composes music herself, incorporating instruments from different cultures.

With more than 1000 concerts, Nora Thiele has toured through Europe, the Middle East and China. She has worked with artists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Ensemble Avantgarde, La Folia Barockorchester, Falk Zenker, Lena Chamamyan, Staatstheater Cottbus, Rubén Dubrovsky, Kat Frankie, Nederlands Kamerorkest, Theater Münster, Theater Odeon Wien, Anna Prohaska, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Hugo Ticciati (O/Modernt), Glen Velez and the Yiddish Summer Weimar.

She draws her enormous knowledge of rhythm from decades of intensive study of music from cultures around the world. She has studied traditions from Europe, the Middle East, South India, West Africa and African-American cultures. Nora Thiele has developed her own rhythm theory. This teaches the highest level of rhythm awareness, improvisational skills, coordinated movement and stylistic confidence. She passes on her holistic teaching to students at the HfM Weimar, as well as in workshops worldwide and master classes at music academies.

In her new solo programme, Nora Thiele 2023 combines percussion instruments and piano with loops and electronics into a setup for the first time, creating her own unique sound cosmos.

The transdisciplinary art duo AUREA with painter Larissa Böhler combines live painting on largeformat canvases with improvised real-time music. In 2021, Nora Thiele founded the Co Collective, and performed the piece Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt for four pianos. The collective is focused on rhythm-based minimalist music between classical, pop and improvisation.

Nora Thiele supports equal rights for women and is active in the Music Women Thuringia network.

Dirk Mommertz

Dirk Mommertz, originally a violinist, studied in Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Paris and Cologne. He is a multiple international award-winning pianist and member of the renowned Fauré Quartet, which performs worldwide in the most important concert halls such as London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Tonhalle Zurich, Tokyo, Paris and New York. Their award-winning recordings on Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical have highlighted the quartet as a pioneering ensemble at home in both classical and experimental contemporary repertoire. Dirk Mommertz has performed as a soloist with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Duisburg Philharmonic and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, among others. From 2000 to 2005, Dirk Mommertz was a lecturer in piano at the Karlsruhe University of Music. After 2005, he was Professor of Chamber Music at the conservatories in Essen and Nuremberg before being appointed Head of the Chamber Music Department at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich in 2015, where he has been Vice President since 2019. His other teaching activities include public masterclasses all over the world. His students have won prizes at the ARD Competition, the International Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne, the Concours Maria Canals Barcelona, Mendelssohn Competition Berlin, Concours international de Chambre de Lyon, Parkhouse Award London, German Music Competition, European Chamber Music Competition, Schubert und die Moderne Graz, Beethoven Competition Bonn, Brahms Competition Pörtschach, Haydn Competition Vienna and many others.

Priya Mitchell

Priya grew up in Oxford and studied with David Takeno in London and Zachar Bron in Germany. She was then chosen as British representative of the European Concert Halls Organisation ‘Rising Stars’ Series. This led to highly acclaimed tours and performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. Priya’s highly acclaimed Oxford Chamber Music Festival inspired The Daily Telegraph to call it ‘a musical miracle’.

Julian Arp

Julian Arp, born in 1981, studied at the Academy of Music ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin with Boris Pergamenschikow. He continued his studies with David Geringas and Eberhard Feltz. As a soloist and chamber musician Julian appears regularly at festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Beauvais, Montreux, SoNoRo Bucharest, Stellenbosch, Stift Festival, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival and IMS Prussia Cove. The Duo Arp/Frantz has released three CDs. In the words of Fono Forum: ‘They make music into pure celebration. It all sounds and sings.’ Contemporary composers, including Odeh-Tamimi, Koch, Nemtsov and Dinescu have written pieces for Julian. He is a co-founder of the festival Zeitkunst which has been a guest at the Centre Pompidou, Radialsystem Berlin, Israel, England and Rio de Janeiro. Julian regularly gives masterclasses in Germany and abroad, and teaches at the University for Arts in Graz, Austria.