The artists of the festival

The series of Recitals in Geneva and Tokyo has been broadcasted by Swiss Romande, and NHK- Her artistic partnerships as a chamber musician include work with include Mstislav Rostropovich, 

Daniel Hope, Gidon Kremer, Philippe Jarousky, Micha Meisky, Patricia Kopatcinskaja, Ebéne 

Quartet, Jerusalem Quartet, Kuss Quartet, at international music festivals such as Salzburg 

Festival, Lockenhaus Festival, Bad-Kissingen sommer, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, BBC Proms, Saito-Kinen Festival, Luzern and Verbier Festival, Kronberg Festival, Rio de Janeiro Festival, 

Schubertiade etc. 

Tomoko Akasaka has performed at concert venues include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Berlin, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Royal Albert hall and Wigmore hall in London, Vienna Konzerthaus, Zurich Tonhalle, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Schloss Nymphenburg Munich, Shanghai Grand Theater,and National Centre for the performing arts in Beijing, 

Geneva Victoria Hall. 

Tomoko Akasaka si è esibita in sedi concertistiche come il Concertgebouw di Amsterdam, il Konzerthaus e la Philharmonie di Berlino, l’Elbphilharmonie di Amburgo, la Royal Albert Hall e la Wigmore Hall di Londra, il Konzerthaus di Vienna, la Tonhalle di Zurigo, la Suntory Hall di Tokyo, il Schloss Nymphenburg di Monaco, il Grand Theater di Shanghai, e il National Centre for the Performing Arts di Pechino, il Victoria Hall di Ginevra.

Tomoko Akasaka ha studiato con Nobuko Imai, per la quale ha lavorato come assistente professore presso il Conservatorio di Musica di Ginevra. Inoltre, la signora Akasaka ha lavorato come professore ospite al Conservatorio di Neuchâtel. Attualmente ricopre la posizione di professore di viola presso la Musikhochschule di Münster.

He is also awarded at the International Nicanor Zabaleta of BIG VIRTUOSOS, held in San Sebastian.

Toni Garcia Araque , professionally, is part of the ORCHESTRA Gran Teatre del Liceu and then obtained the Bass Soloist seat of the NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF SPAIN, which he still holds.

He also has performed as a soloist with numerous formations , including SOLISTES CATALAN , SPAIN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA , SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BILBAO , SPAIN NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA , NATIONAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ANDORRA , etc. .

He has developed multi chamber music groups, among which the following should be mentioned: FINE ARTS QUARTET , CONSERVATORY ORCHESTRA BARCELONA, ANTICS ESCOLANS , MADRID CLASSIC ORCHESTRA , CHAMBER ORCHESTRA QUEEN SOFIA, Cassadó QUARTET , CAMERA XXI , QUARTET ENESCO , QUARTET Arditi with pianists Katia and Maria Labèque …

She has participated in several youth orchestras like the JOL, the XOVE430, the ILYO and the MACH Project Orchestra. In addition, she has been a guest artist at the Camerata Clásica of Ponferrada.
She is currently a member of the Nederland Nationaal Jeugdorkest and the Orchestre National des Jeunes du Luxembourg.
Performing as a soloist, she has received the 2nd prize at the Cosmos Music Competition (2019), she has been a finalist of the Ciudade de Vigo Competition (2022) and she has received an honourable mention at the Slava International Competition (2023). She has also participated in the XVI festival i’m. Philippa i Xavera Scharwenków in Szamotuly, Poland (2022).
With her chamber music group, trio Bérgamo, she has participated in some competitions and was awarded the 1st prize at the Best Rachmaninov Performance International Music Competition (2021), an honorable mention and a second prize at the Ciudad de Avila Chamber Music Competition (2022, 2023), the second prize at the Giuseppe Mancini Chamber Music Competition (2023) and the first prize at the Rookie Chamber Music Competition (2023). Thanks to this last competition, the trio had and interview and a performance at the Spanish National Classical Music Radio. They have also taken part in some festivals like the Nights of the Real Sitio Festival in Segovia (2022) or the Summer Music Concerts at La Casita del Infante in Madrid (2023). She is currently studying a master’s degree with Joachim Eijlander at Codarts Rotterdam.

Con il suo gruppo di musica da camera, il trio Bergamo ha partecipato ad alcuni concorsi ottenendo il 1° premio al Best Rachmaninov Performance International Music Competition (2021), una menzione d’onore e un secondo premio al Ciudad de Avila Chamber Music Competition (2022, 2023), il secondo premio al Giuseppe Mancini Chamber Music Competition (2023) e il primo premio al Rookie Chamber Music Competition (2023). Grazie a quest’ultimo concorso, il trio ha avuto un’intervista e un’esibizione alla Radio Nazionale Spagnola di Musica Classica.

Hanno inoltre partecipato ad alcuni festival come il Festival Nights of the Real Sitio di Segovia (2022) o i Concerti estivi di musica alla Casita del Infante di Madrid (2023). Attualmente sta studiando un master con Joachim Eijlander presso Codarts Rotterdam.

He obtained his violin diploma with Christine Anderson, the viola one with Davide Zaltron and the composition one with Giorgio Colombo Taccani.

 

He distinguished himself in various Italian contests and he attended advanced courses with Pavel Vernikov and Vadim Brodsky, Christoph Schiller, Bruno Giuranna, Wolfram Christ. He also participated to Tabea Zimmermann’s masterclass at the Centre de musique Hindemith” in Blonay (Svizzera) e at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festivalin  Lubecca.

 

With Rai Symphonic Orchestra, he played Schnittke concert directed by Master Jansug Kakhidze , the Don Quixote by Richard Strauss and Harold en Italie by Hector Berlioz.

 

In 2015, together with violinist Roberto Gonzalez, he performed Mozart Symphony Concertante with the Orchestra of the Santa Cecilia Academy, under the direction of Master Christoph Eschenbach.

 

Since 2010 he is a regular guest of Portogruaro’s advanced courses, as a viola tutor.

 

From 1998 to 2009 he has been Prima Viola with Rai National Symphonic Orchestra, and since 2009 he is Prima Viola with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.

She is one of the leading performers on the contemporary European scene for versatility, refinement and expressive skills. A graduate in piano and singing at the Conservatory of Perugia, Berio’s favourite singer for Folk Songs, she has sung under conductors such as Berio himself, F. Brüggen, M.W. Chung, V. Gergiev, A. Tamayo, G. Noseda, J. Webb, P. Keuschnig, M. de Bernart, D. Renzetti, E. Pomàrico, P. Rophé, W. Marshall, S. Ausbury, P. Rundel, L. Vis, C. Franklin, S. Gorli, R. Rivolta, M. Panni, F. Maestri, M. Angius and with directors of the calibre of D. Abbado, Y. Oida, G. Barberio Corsetti, D. Livermore, M. Scheidl, C. Mazzavillani Muti, S. Poda, I. García, G. Pressburger, C. Ligorio. Invited by major European music institutions, her repertoire includes scores by Monteverdi, Bach, Purcell, Scarlatti, Mozart, Boccherini, Pergolesi, Gluck, Rossini, Respighi, Mahler, Schönberg, Berg, Šostakovič, and numerous 20th century and contemporary works.

In January 2010, he was proclaimed the winner of the Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship, a prestigious award that placed him among the best young talents on the international music scene, earning an immediate invitation from Mitsuko Uchida to the Marlboro Festival, to which he then participated for four editions. He then participated in Musicians from Marlboro tours in cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Toronto, and Montreal. 

Gabriele Carcano has played with orchestras such as Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Staatskapelle Weimar, Orchestra Verdi, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Petruzzelli di Bari, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, collaborating with conductors such as Ton Koopman, Lawrence Foster, Alain Altinoglu, Stephan Solyom, Ion Marin, Claus Peter Flor, Clemens Schuldt, Federico Maria Sardelli, Maxim Emylianichev. 

An excellent chamber musician, he works regularly with Carolin Widmann, Lorenza Borrani, Stephen Waarts, Enrico Dindo, Enrico Bronzi, Marie- Elisabeth Hecker, Quartetto Hermes, Viviane Hagner, etc. 

His first album, entirely devoted to early works by Brahms, appeared in summer 2016 on the Oehms Classics label, followed by two more in 2018 for Rubicon Classics: as a soloist with music by Schumann and as a duo with Stephen Waarts. His publications have received rave reviews on Fonoforum, Sunday Telegraph, the Independent, Amadeus, BBC Radio 3 and twice the Supersonic Award from Pizzicato magazine. 

Between 2020 and 2022 Gabriele Carcano performed the complete Beethoven Sonatas at the Fidelio Orchestra in London, combining in-depth work on the German composer with his focus on new ways and places to play and meet audiences. 

In addition to his return to Japan and concerts with orchestras such as the Carlo Felice in Genoa this season, Gabriele Carcano will present an Africa-inspired program in a series of concerts, which will be presented at the Amici della Musica in Florence, Musica Insieme Bologna and Lugano Musica, among others. 

Born in Turin, he began studying piano at the age of 7 and graduated with honors at the age of 17 from the G. Verdi Conservatory in his city, then continued his studies under Andrea Lucchesini at the Pinerolo Academy of Music and Aldo Ciccolini. Since 2006, thanks to the support of the De Sono Association, the CRT Foundation and the Banques Populaires – Natexis prize, he settled first in Paris, where he attended Nicholas Angelich’s courses at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, also perfecting with Marie Françoise Bucquet. He also receives advice from such pianists as Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, and Alfred Brendel. 

Since fall 2015 he has been teaching at the Pinerolo Academy of Music. Gabriele Carcano is a Steinway artist.

Recognized as one of the most brilliant harpists of his generation, Valerio stands out for his versatility, expressive depth, and refined sound. He studied at the Conservatorio of Turin with Gabriella Bosio, then completed two Master of Arts degrees at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne with Letizia Belmondo, where he was awarded a special prize for his talent.

Winner of several international competitions — including First Prizes at the “Suoni d’Arpa” International Harp Competition (Saluzzo, 2016), the “Korea International Harp Competition” (Seoul, 2018), and the “Reinl Stiftung Competition” (Vienna) — he also won the Silver Medal at the 11th USA International Harp Competition (2019), where he received the special prize for the best performance of a contemporary work.

He has been supported by leading institutions such as the Fondazione CRT in Turin, the Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung (Prix Musik 2017), and the Schenk Stiftung in Zofingen. In 2020, he was selected for a residency project by the Società dei Concerti in Milan.

Valerio has performed in some of the most prominent festivals and concert series in Europe, the USA, and Korea — including the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Korea Harp Festival (Seoul), O/Modernt Festival (Stockholm), Musikdorf Ernen, Arpa Plus (Madrid and Zaragoza), Mizmorim Festival (Basel), Unione Musicale (Turin), and Incontri Musicali (Milan).

As a soloist with orchestra, he has performed major works such as Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, Debussy’s Dances, Glière’s Harp Concerto, and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, collaborating with orchestras such as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Argovia Philharmonic, and Camerata Ducale.

From 2022 to 2023, he was Principal Harp of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, performing under conductors such as Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, and Kent Nagano, and appearing in renowned European concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie, KKL Luzern, and Müpa Budapest. In 2024, he performed as Principal Harp with the Arena di Verona and is regularly invited as guest Principal Harp by prestigious institutions such as the Opera Real in Madrid and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Alongside his solo and orchestral career, Valerio is passionate about contemporary music and expanding the harp repertoire through his own original works and transcriptions. His composition Maschera was a finalist in the Inglefield Composition Contest (USA IHC 2021).

In 2026, he will debut a new chamber music program based entirely on his own transcriptions for clarinet, cello, and harp, together with clarinetist Kevin Spagnolo and cellist Aurélien Pascal.

Since 2024, Valerio has returned to teaching at the Conservatory, following earlier teaching appointments at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale in Saluzzo (2017–2021), where he is a member of the Artistic Committee of the Suoni d’Arpa Festival and a jury member of its competition, and at the Conservatorio “Licinio Refice” in Frosinone (2019–2022). He has also given masterclasses in cities including Turin, Rome, and Madrid.

His concert activity has taken him to perform in Europe and Asia, collaborating with prestigious conductors such as Zubin Metha, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Jarvi, Leonidas Kavakos and Ivor Bolton.
He has been awarded prizes in the most prestigious international competitions such as the Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition, Dimitri Ashkenazy Competition, Ghent International Clarinet Competition, International Competiton Valentino Bucchi, Premio Nazionale delle Arti; he also received the special prize as Best Performing Participant in the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
He has performed as a soloist with leading orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Russische Kammerphilarmonie St. Petersburg, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Baden Baden Philharmonic Orchestra.

Si è esibito in qualità di solista con importanti orchestre, tra cui la Brussels Philarmonic orchestra, Russische Kammerphilarmonie St. Petersburg, Copenaghen Philarmonic Orchestra, Lviv Philarmonic Orchestra e Baden Baden Philharmonic Orchestra.

She made her orchestral debut in the United States with the Atlanta Symphony, just a few days after receivingthe prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in January 2006.

She has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other U.S. symphony orchestras. She has played at some of the most important festivals, such as Mostly Mozart, Grant Park, Aspen, Ravinia and Blossom.

As a soloist, she has given concerts at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall), the Metropolitan Museum and 92nd Street Y (New York), the Chicago Orchestra Hall as well as in Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver, Detroit, Baltimore and Fort Worth (van Cliburn Foundation). In Europe and Asia, the Argentine pianist has performed in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Cologne, St. Petersburg, Berlin and has played at festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron (France), Prague Autumn (Czech Republic) and the World Pianist Series (Tokyo). Her recent engagements abroad include concerts with the philharmonic orchestras of Rotterdam, Stockholm and Israel, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the London Philharmonia and the Sydney Symphony. Recently she has given recitals in Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Tokyo, Sydney and London, both in the Wigmore and in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.Winner of numerous competitions in Argentina, she obtained the first prize in 1994 in both categories at the International Competition of Cantù and was awarded at the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in 1998. In 2000 she won the second prize at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Recording exclusively for EMI, Ingrid Fliter recorded a first album, dedicated to Chopin , in 2008, and since 2009 she records exclusively for Linn records (England) , recording the complete Waltz, Preludes, Nocturnes and concerts of the same composer as well as a recording dedicated to Beethoven and Schumann and Mendelssohn’s concerts.

Her recordings were considered among the “top 10” and chosen as the CD of the month by the English magazine Gramophone. She was also nominated for the “Gramophone Artist Award of Year” in 2015. She is a lecturer at the International Piano Academy of Imola “Incontri col Maestro”.

In 1987, he developed a music and percussion workshop for the deaf and hard of hearing at the Conservatoire de Suresnes (France) where he still teaches. He is professor of percussion at the ‘Schola Cantorum’ in Paris and at the Viry-Chatillon Conservatoire. Since 2015, he has been playing in a jazz quintet in Paris. Speaker on the topics ‘music and deafness’ and ‘being deaf and musicians?’ Christian Guyot is currently the only deaf person in the world to perform as a musician and teach percussion in a public conservatoire.

Tony has worked in NYC and Los Angeles as a writer, producer and actor in mainstream and experimental theatre, and in television and cinema, and is an accomplished video producer. 

He has also developed The Gospel Without Words, mime workshops and performances based on biblical texts. He has conceived and directed Living Stations of the Cross in New York and Boston.

Tony has published written and recorded stories, reflections and poems.

His writing and performing touch the heart. The mundane becomes heroic, the common becomes our shared stories. He takes the familiar and, often in silence, opens your heart and allows you to step inside.

Her opera repertoire includes works by Gluck, Monteverdi, Handel, Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi, Cavalli, Mozart, Donizetti, Schumann and Berlioz. Sara Mingardo studied with tenor Franco Ghitti at the “Benedetto Marcello” Conservatory in Venice, her hometown. Winner of numerous national and international competitions, she began her musical life playing the title role in La Cenerentola by G. Rossini, as the winner of the international competition Toti Dal Monte in Treviso. In 2001 she won two Grammy Awards for the live recording of Les Troyens by H. Berlioz, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra and in 2009 the Association of Italian Critics awarded her the prestigious Abbiati Prize.

 

He has been principal conductor of the Oviedo Filarmonía since 2018 and artistic director of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada since 2020.

In the 2024-25 season he will return to conduct the Orquesta Nacional de España, the Sinfónica de Tenerife, and will make his debut with the Orchestra Sinfónica di Milano, he will conduct the production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Oviedo Opera and the zarzuela Marina by E. Arrieta.

He will collaborate with soloists such as Christian Zacharias, Tabea Zimmermann, István Várdai, Chen Reiss, Sondra Radvanovsky, Piotr Beczala in a wide symphonic repertoire, from Mahler’s ‘Titan’ Symphony to Strauss’ A Heroe’s Life and Four Last Songs, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák, or the Bach, Marcello and Mozart Oboe Concertos, which he will also perform as soloist.

He began his musical studies at the age of nine and was later accepted into Heinz Holliger’s oboe class at the University of Freiburg. He continued his training at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, and then in Geneva with Maurice Bourgue. He won several first prizes including the Sony Music Foundation Tokyo International Oboe Competition in 2006.

As a conductor, he trained with Mark Stringer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

She has participated in several viola Masterclasses in Italy and abroad including in Austria with Maestro Thomas Riebl, in Italy with Maestro Alfredo Zamarra, Maestro Daniel Formentelli and other orchestra Masterclasses including the one in Italy, in Vicenza, with Maestro Leon Spierer in 2020 and 2022 and Maestro Carlos Spierer in 2023.

She took part in concerts with the orchestra ‘Le Concert Olympique’ conducted by Jan Cayers playing in Germany and Belgium in halls such as the ‘Elbphilharmonie’ in Hamburg and the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. From 2018 to 2023 she took part in concerts at the Festival di Musica Sull’acqua in Colico (LC) as part of the MACH Orchestra project organised by violinist Francesco Senese under the direction of conductor Diego Matheuz and with violist Simone Briatore, as well as at the Lucerne Festival.

She has taken part in several national and international competitions, winning various prizes, including 1st prize at the Concorso Musicale Nazionale Città di Belluno, 1st prize at the Concorso internazionale Giovani Musicisti “Antonio Salieri” in Legnago and 1st prize overall at the Treviso music competition “Incontriamoci tra le note”.

From 2018 to 2021 she played in the Baroque Orchestra ‘Società Musicale’ conducted by Maestro Carlos Gubert and collaborated until 2024 with the Venice Chamber Orchestra and in productions in various ensembles, including the Ensemble di Viole of the Conservatory of Padua, followed by Maestro Fabrizio Scalabrin.

It is the winner of the Amici della Musica di Verona Prize 2024 and in 2023 it is selected to be part of the class of Cuarteto Casals and M° Heime Müller at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, receiving the “Ciampi” scholarship for the best Chamber Music group.

Still in Fiesole it is chosen by M° Alexander Lonquich to participate in the 2024 session of the ECMA.

Founder and artistic director of the Festival Musica sull’Acqua in Colico and MACH (Music, Art, Creativity Hub) Project and Orchestra, he has performed with musicians such as Mario Brunello, Julian Rachlin, Isabelle Faust, Clemens Hagen, Sara Mingardo, Andrea Lucchesini, Magnus Lindgren, Boris Petrushiansky, Ian Bostridge, Ingrid Fliter, Enrico Pace, Itamar Golan, Alessio Allegrini, Alina Pogotskina and Louis Lortie.

He has performed live on radio for Rai Radio3’s Concerti del Quirinale and for RSI.

In 2018, he recorded for Amadeus the complete works for violin and piano by Gabriel Fauré together with pianist André Gallo, with whom he explores the chamber music repertoire for duo.

A passionate teacher, he regularly collaborates with various projects for education and social action through music such as El Sistema Venezuela, SONG-Sistema in Lombardia, Musica Insieme in Librino di Catania and El Sistema Europe.

Since March 2023, he has been invited as Guest Professor and Tutor at Seiji Ozawa Academy Japan.

Since the academic year 2023-24 he has held the chair of violin at the Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ in Como.

Born in Tokyo, Sono grew up in Japan and Germany. She received her first violin lessons at the age of four in Munich using the Suzuki method. At eleven, she became a junior student at the Berlin University of the Arts under Prof. Koji Toyoda. Her major teachers later include Rainer Kussmaul and Kolja Blacher.

She has a preference for the historical performance practice of early music, and working with historical instruments has led her to various projects.

Today, Sono is a mentor at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Academy, supporting the academy students in their musical development.

Sono plays a violin by Stefano Scarampella, Mantua, 1900, and a baroque violin from Mittenwald, dated 1750.

Matteo Moretti has got two diplomas in hautbois and percussion. As player of the oboe he won a grant at “Alto Corso Musicale di perfezionamento” called by CARME, studying under many teachers like D. Dini Ciacci, H Elhorst, M. Clement and A. Negroni, finally he got a merit diploma.

he played like a first oboe in the Orchestra Stabile di Como and also, with both instruments, with many Orchestras and ensembles like Orchestra Sinfonica nazionale della RAI, Orchestra d’archi italiana, Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo, orchestra filarmonica di Torino etc.. Carme Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, Echo Ensemble, Ensemble musica XX, Dedalo Ensemble, Fiarì Ensemble, Ensemble Solisti insieme ( founded and conducted by M° G. Sinopoli)  playing under famous Conductors like G. Sinopoli, P. Maag, D. Gatti, R. Abbado, M. Andreae, P. Eotvos etc..

He was founding member of percussions Quintet “Re-Percussio” of Orchestra sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and “Appalachian” quartet where he plays like percussionist and oboist together with M° B. Canino.

he has played in italy, Austria, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Egypt and United States in famous concert halls and Associations like Mozarteum in Salzburg, S.Cecilia in Rome, Società del quartetto di Milano Società Scarlatti di Napoli, Autunno Musicale di Como, ,  etc..

he recorded for RAI and RTSI.

when he was only nineteen he won the chair like percussion’s teacher, at present he is teaching at Conservatorio in Novara.