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 studied with Nobuko Imai for whom she worked for as an assistant professor at the Geneva conservatory of music. 

In addition Ms. Akasaka worked as a guest professor at the conservatory of Neuchâtel. She holds a position of Viola professor at the Münster Musikhochschule. 

With his quartet ‘The Colors of Invention’ (violin, accordion, double bass and cymbalom), Gilles presents chamber music blending classical pieces by Vivaldi, Ravel and Bartok with traditional folk melodies. The ethno jazz band ‘Meduoteran’ (violin, accordion and saxophone) is one of his most recent projects, which sees him performing at numerous jazz and folk festivals throughout Europe.‘The Transylvanian Mountain Boys’ is another highly successful crossover band he formed.Together they perform all over the world and have released three CDs for Sony Classical. He was also the artistic director of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra until the 2017/2018 season.

Gilles has also collaborated with Celtic violinist Kevin Burke, Indian violinist Dr. L. Subramanian, Roma violinist Roby Lakatos, jazz violinist Didier Lockwood and contemporary flamenco dancer Belen Maya.

In addition to concerts, Gilles is heavily involved in educational activities with a teaching philosophy strongly connected to cultural diversity and freedom of interpretation through improvisation, as Ariana Todes, former director of The Strad, pointed out in an interview in August highlighting these eclectic aspects of his career. 

After participating in the Menuhin International Competition in 1985, Gilles established a lasting partnership with Yehudi Menuhin.Together they worked on the legendary cadenza of Mozart’s Third Violin Concerto, which was filmed and directed by Bruno Monsaingeon.  Famous for his documentaries on Gould, Richter and Oistrakh, Monsaingeon directed two other films on Gilles Apap and his approach to music, and declared that the violinist’s art ‘represents music at its purest.’

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.

Sonatas & Partitas BWV 1001-1006 by J.S. Bach (DG-2018),  

Sonar in Octave – Doubles concertos for violin and cello piccolo by J.S. Bach and A. Vivaldi’ (Arcana-Outhere Music). – 6 Solo Cello Suites without Bass by J.S. Bach (transcription for violin) received Grammophone’s Editor’s Choice.  

The latest recording of 3 disci ‘ The Three Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi ’ (Arcana-Outhere Music) was released in Sept 2023 and received much praise.

Over the years, he has combined his concert activity with teaching at the Accademia musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Hochschule in Lucerne. He is Academic of the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Bologna and Academic of Santa Cecilia. 

He plays a Pietro Guarnieri violin (1733).

She recorded  the Concerto for viola and orchestra by A. Appignani (2021) for Universal, together with L’Accademia dell’Annunciata .

With the Giardino di Delizie she recorded for BRILLIANT CLASSICS four monographs dedicated to:- Triosonate by Isabella Leonarda (2022)- op. 3 by Carlo Mannelli (double CD, 2023)- op. 2 by Carlo Mannelli (double CD, to be released in 2024)- Lelio Colista’s Cantatas (to be released in 2024).With the Orchestra Barocca di Cremona she recorded a disc dedicated to transcriptions of Corelli’s Concertos from op. 6 (2019) and a double CD with the Vespro della Beata Vergine by Francesco A. Urio(2021) for URANIA RECORDS.

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.

In the 2023-2024 season, he has performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Münchner Symphoniker, the National Chamber Orchestra of Aquitaine, as well as at the Musikfest Bremen, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Malaga International Guitar Festival, the Chapelle Corneille, the Teatros del Canal, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, and the Bachfest Leipzig. He also continued his tour with Philippe Jaroussky in Latin America. In the world of chamber music, Thibaut Garcia also works with Edgar Moreau, Félicien Brut, Elsa Dreisig, Marianne Crebassa, Lucienne Renaudin-Vary, Anastasia Kobekina, Antoine Morinière and the Arod Quartet. 

Since 2016, Thibaut Garcia has been an artist for Warner Classics/Erato, for whom he recorded Leyendas in 2016, Bach Inspirations in 2018 and Aranjuez in 2020, the latter of which was awarded a ‘Choc’ by Classica, a Diapason d’Or and by Gramphone with the ‘Editor’s Choice’.

In 2021, he also released the album À sa guitar in a duet with Philippe Jarrousky. In the autumn of 2023, he released his latest album El Bohemio, dedicated to the composer Agustin Barrios Mangoré. In May 2024, Thibaut Garcia was nominated for the Opus Klassik shortlist in three categories: instrumentalist of the year, recording of the year, young talent award.

In 1997 he was awarded the special prize for the best performance of the piece ‘Spins and Spells’ by K. Saariaho at the international competition ‘M. Rostropovich’.
In 1998 he won the competition for 1st cello at the O. R. T. and in 1999 that for 1st cello at the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

He has been 1st cello in the Orchestra Mozart since 2010.
He has collaborated with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Symphonica d’Italia, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Symphoniker Hamburg, Orchestra Sinfonica de Galicia, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestre da la Suisse Romande and Orchestra del Lucerne Festival at the invitation of C. Abbado.
He currently teaches chamber music at the Conservatorio di musica ‘G. Rossini’ in Pesaro. He has recorded for La Bottega Discantica, Decca and is a Promu Label artist. He plays a 1903 ‘Carlo Giuseppe Oddone’ cello.

With his solo programmes and in top-class chamber music line-ups together with, among others, Kit Armstrong, Yuri Bashmet, Lisa Batiashvili, Milana Chernyavska, Veronika Eberle, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Boris Giltburg, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Lang Lang, François Leleux, Alexander Lonquich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lena Neudauer, Alice Sara Ott, Enrico Pace, Emmanuel Pahud, Gil Shaham, Marianna Shirinyan, Baiba Skride, Antoine Tamestit, Alexandre Tharaud and Jörg Widmann he has played at the most important festivals as well as in major music centres in Europe and the US. His discography, for which he already received a “Diapason d’Or” (Bach cello suites), includes solo works, chamber music and orchestra repertoire with the labels OehmsClassics, Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon.

Sebastian Klinger was principal cellist in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for eleven years before accepting a cello professorship at the Hamburg University of Music in 2015. Since the 2022/23 season, he has resumed his old position in the BRSO – in addition to his own concert and teaching activities.

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.

Having always been passionate about handmade products, I entered the world of ceramics in 1987; there I discovered the possibility and pleasure of shaping a versatile material such as clay. The path became more and more fascinating, leading to the desire to be able to bake and coat the raw pieces with ‘clothes’ suitable to their different shapes. The meeting with master Daniel de Montmollin has been of great importance; I learnt from him not only the technique and movements of turning, but also the method of calculating and making glazes with raw materials obtained from the area where I live, among others. In 1990, together with my husband, who is as passionate about research as I am, I set up a ceramics atelier in Colico, where we create unique stoneware and porcelain pieces, modelled by hand on the potter’s wheel and coated with glazes that are the result of meticulous analysis and experimentation linked to nature as a source of inspiration. At the same time, under the guidance of master D.de Montmollin, I undertook a pedagogical training through the use of slip: a pedagogical “situation” where the participant is accompanied towards personal awareness and development, to the discovery of the potential of the hand in the freedom of the creative gesture.

In 2012, in Belgium, she initiated two complementary projects; the Partitura Choirs, a project which creates and develops choirs for children from disadvantaged backgrounds as in Belgium the „Hesperos Choir, and the Partitura Workshops. All of the Partitura projects have the aim to create an altruistic dynamic between artists of different generations by proposing an alternative in a world too often focused on competitiveness. This philosophy is being spread worldwide at Partitura projects and workshops.

He has participated in various competitions, concerts, events and masterclasses (with A. Liebig, S. Molardi, E. Viccardi, L. Ghielmi, L. Lohmann, B. Van Oosten, W. Zerer), performing both as a soloist and as a member of various ensembles. He has played for many organ festivals including the Angelus of Como Cathedral, Vespers in the Church of S.Alessandro in Milan, the Valsassinese Organ Review and the Malta Organ Festival. In 2019 he won the 2nd prize ex-aequo in the 1998-1999 category at the First competition for young organists “Fondazione Friuli” in Tricesimo (Udine); in 2021 he won the 2nd prize at the Second International Organ Competition “Fiorella Benetti Brazzale – City of Vicenza”.

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.

Highlights in the 22/23 season includes performances with amongst others, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestra, Iceland Symphony orchestra, Bergen Philharmo orchestra, Norwegian Broadcasting orchestra, KristiansandSymphony orchestra, Helsingborg symphony orchestra, Trondheim soloists, Osterbothnian Chamber orchestra to mention a few.

As an enthusiastic chamber musician, Amalie has collaborated with Janine Jansen, Yo-Yo Ma, Leif-Ove Andsnes, Kathryn Stott, Elina Vähälä, Christian Ihle Hadland, Polina Leschenko, Benjamin Schmid, Lars Anders Tomter.  

Amalie Stalheim plays on a cello built by F. Ruggieri (1687) generously lent to her by Anders Sveaas Foundation in Norway.

He is one of the founding members of Spira Mirabilis.

He teaches violin at the Conservatorio“Bonporti”in  Trento.

Since 2016 he has been looking after “Classica per tutti”, the cycle of musical divulgation produced by Rai’s Simphony Orchestra in Turin. 

He studied baroque violin with F.de Donatis and L. Giardini.

In May 2018, he wins the competition as Substitute First Double Bass at the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. He has performed as a chamber musician with musicians such as: Martha Argerich, Sol Gabetta, Louis Lortie… And he played as a soloist accompanied by the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in a series of concerts in Switzerland. In 2019 he was awarded the “Carlo Capriata” international prize in Italy. In September 2020 he wins  the competition as First Contrabass Soloist at the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, a role he still holds. From a very young age he has been combining his concert activity with teaching and in recent years he has been an assistant in Maestro Enrico Fagone’s double bass class at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.

With ardeTrio, Danusha tackles the fascinating sound of tango instead, together with Marcus Däunert (violin) and Argentinian Omar Massa (bandoneon). The sound of Massa’s bandoneon beautifully unites with Däunert’s violin and Waskiewicz’ viola; their music allows listeners to immerse themselves into a different culture (ardeTrio – Tango Concertante published via Ars Produktion).

Danusha Waskiewicz has been playing in duo with Andrea Rebaudengo for a long time. They met in Italy and have given numerous concerts together over the years, performing wonderful programmes that move flawlessly between romances, classical music and folklore, chansons and their own compositions as well (Duo Waskiewicz Rebaudengo – Songs for Viola and Piano published via Decca).

Danusha Waskiewicz’ latest duo project, Dragonfly, allows her to explore to a completely new world with Irish cellist Naomi Berrill. The sound of their string instruments is accompanied by their voices, redefining the meaning of concentration and of making music together. The two re-elaborate anything from the most classical of programmes to J.S. Bach’s Goldbergvariationen, bringing new light to these incredible compositions and creating a new experience for themselves and the audience.

Danusha Waskiewicz loves sharing her experience and her new horizons with young musicians holding masterclasses and perfection courses at the most prestigious music schools and at Rome’s Avos Project, where she teaches regularly.