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German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought after and versatile artists today. As a soloist, conductor and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporary.
Season 2023/24 includes tours with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Philippe Herreweghe, EUYO with Gianandrea Noseda and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. Altstaedt makes his debut with Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with Rafael Payare and NAC Orchestra Ottawa with Alexander Shelley, Bergen Philharmonic while re-invitations include London Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner, OPRF Paris, Tapiola Sinfonietta amongst others.
Since his highly acclaimed debut with Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, recent notable residencies and collaborations include Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg with Teodor Currentzis, Helsinki Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Lahav Shani, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Philippe Herreweghe, Münchner Philharmoniker with Krzysztof Urbánski, European Union Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, Seoul Philharmonic and Osmo Vänskä, all the BBC Orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras, Washington’s National and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras. He also regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico,Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music and conductors as René Jacobs, Phillippe Herreweghe, Andrea Marcon, Giovanni Antonini and Jonathan Cohen.
As a conductor, he works closely with the Scottish and Munich Chamber Orchestras and the OPRF Paris. He conducted in recent seasons the Budapest Festival Orchestra, SWR, OSI Lugano, Warsaw Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony, Orchestra of 18th century, les Violins du Roy, Aurora and Zurich chamber orchestras.
In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2015 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie until 2022, within whom he regularly performed with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas was Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.
As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Barnabás Kelemen, Joshua Bell, Ilya Gringolts, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Alexander Lonquich, Jonathan Cohen, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford, and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, Utrecht, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Musikfest Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau.
Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Larcher, Fazil Say and Sofia Gubaidulina also consolidate his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Sebastian Fagerlund, Helena Winkelman, Anders Hillborg and Fazil Say have recently written concertos for Nicolas. New Concertos by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Liza Lim and Márton Illés will be premiered in 23/24,
His most recent recordings for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Grammophone Award 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017 for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen and the Edison Klassiek 2017 for his Recital Recording with Fazil Say on Warner Classics.
Nicolas received the Beethovenring Bonn 2015 and Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018. Nicolas was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 and a recipient of the „Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship“ in 2009.
Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.
In 2018, Yo-Yo set out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello in one sitting in 36 locations around the world that encompass our cultural heritage, our current creativity, and the challenges of peace and understanding that will shape our future. And last year, he began a new journey to explore the many ways in which culture connects us to the natural world. Over the next several years, Yo-Yo will visit places that epitomize nature’s potential to move the human soul, creating collaborative works of art and convening conversations that seek to strengthen our relationship to our planet and to each other.
Both endeavors continue Yo-Yo’s lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to explore how music not only expresses and creates meaning, but also helps us to imagine and build a stronger society and a better future.
It was this belief that inspired Yo-Yo to establish Silkroad, a collective of artists from around the world who create music that engages their many traditions. Through his work with Silkroad, as well as throughout his career, Yo-Yo Ma has sought to expand the classical cello repertoire, premiering works by composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Leon Kirchner, Zhao Lin, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Giovanni Sollima, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and John Williams.
In addition to his work as a performing artist, Yo-Yo has partnered with communities and institutions from Chicago to Guangzhou to develop programs that advocate for a more human-centered world. Among his many roles, Yo-Yo is a UN Messenger of Peace, the first artist ever appointed to the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees, and a member of the board of Nia Tero, the US-based nonprofit working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and movements worldwide.
Yo-Yo’s discography of more than 100 albums (including 19 Grammy Award winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. In addition to his many iconic renditions of the Western classical canon, he has made recordings that defy categorization, among them “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journey” with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer and two Grammy-winning tributes to the music of Brazil. Yo-Yo’s recent recordings include: “Sing Me Home,” with the Silkroad Ensemble, which won the 2016 Grammy for Best World Music Album; “Six Evolutions — Bach: Cello Suites;” and “Songs of Comfort and Hope,” created and recorded with pianist Kathryn Stott in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yo-Yo’s latest album is “Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5,” with pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.
Yo-Yo was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and three years later moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010), Kennedy Center Honors (2011), the Polar Music Prize (2012), and the Birgit Nilsson Prize (2022). He has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration.
Yo-Yo and his wife have two children. He plays three instruments: a 2003 instrument made by Moes & Moes, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice, and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.
Alongside her rich and diverse career as a cellist, Ruth Phillips is internationally sought after as a performance coach and stringed instrument teacher, helping people who suffer from tension, stage fright or lack of focus overcome the physical and mental strains of the music profession. Phillips is a trained therapist, holding a master’s degree in Voice Movement Therapy. She studied yoga with Peter Blackaby for many years, has completed three modules of the Non-Violent-Communication training with Muriel Kalfala, and a meditation training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
In her work she draws on these disciplines and her own musical experience, which includes not only modern and baroque cello but also African drumming, Indian and folk music, to create a stimulating, empathetic and, above all, safe environment in which to explore the elements that are holding musicians back from reaching their full potential.
Revelation ADAMI Classique 2021, Stéphanie Huang started playing the cello at a very young age with her mother. In November 2008, she won the first prize at the Dexia Competition. At the age of 12, she made her debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. In July 2015, she received the Grand Prize at the Suggia International Cello Competition in Porto. In October 2021, she won the first prize at the Societa Umanitaria International Competition in Milan. She is laureate of the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Music Competition 2022 and laureate of SPES, Meyer, Kriegelstein, and SAFRAN Foundations, and has been selected for the 2019-2020 Jaroussky Academy, the prestigious 2019 Seiji Ozawa International Academy, and the Villecroze Music Academy with Frans Helmerson. She was awarded the Patrick Petit Excellence Scholarship in October 2020.
Stéphanie Huang regularly performs the concerto repertoire (Haydn, Dvorák, Elgar, Tchaikovsky…) with various orchestras (Kamerfilharmonie van Vlaanderen, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto /Casa da Musica…) under the direction of conductors like M. Sanderling, C. Izcaray, V. Mardirossian … She also gives recitals and appears as a chamber musician at various national and international festivals (Festival des Midis-Minimes-Belgium, Festival Seiji Ozawa in Matsumoto-Japan, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo-Monaco, Internationaal Kamermuziekfestival Schiermonnikoog Netherlands, Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel Festival…).
As a passionate chamber musician, Stéphanie has collaborated with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Gary Hoffman, Renaud Capuçon, Claire Désert, Laurent Korcia… She recently performed at the ADAMI Festival in Villefavard, the Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, the Musicorum in Brussels, the Festival Jeunes Talents (Paris), the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels… In January 2022, she was invited by French violinist Renaud Capuçon in the TV show – L’Essentiel chez Labro -, and was interviewed by Musiq3/RTBF as one of the 7 Artists of the Belgian Music Week. She studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium van Brussel in the class of Jeroen Reuling and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris for her Master’s degree and her Artist’s Diploma in the class of Marc Coppey as well as in the class of Emmanuelle Bertrand for her Master’s degree in chamber music. Since September 2020, she is Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, where she studies with Gary Hoffman.
She plays on a 1742 Francesco Stradivarius cello generously lent by the Guttman Collection.
Israeli cellist Nahar Eliaz internationally distinguished herself by winning First Prize in the Concerto Competition in Boston when she was just age 11. Since 2017 she has also won First Prize and the title ‘Exceptional Young Artist’ in 12 international music competitions in Europe, Asia and America. This success has led to concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, and the Musikverein in Vienna, as well as performances with the Jerusalem Symphony, Symphonette Ra’anan, among appearances at several international music festivals. Nahar began cello lessons in 2011 and has studied with Hillel Zori and with Laurence Lesser. She has received the highest scholarship honours from the America-Israel Culture Foundation, Zefunot Culture Foundation and Ronen-Foundation of Music.
Cellist Bryan Cheng was named Laureate of the Prix Yves Paternot in 2022, an honour awarded to the most accomplished and promising musician of the Verbier Festival Academy. He was also named Sixth Laureate at the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels) earlier that year and First Prize winner at the UNISA International Strings Competition in Pretoria. He won Second Prize and Audience Prize at the 2021 Geneva International Music Competition. The Canadian cellist gave his sold-out Carnegie Hall recital debut at age 14, his Elbphilharmonie debut in 2018 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and will make his Berliner Philharmonie debut in 2022-23 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Solo highlights of recent and upcoming seasons include St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra at Musical Olympus Festival, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at Festival de Lanaudière, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at Victoria Hall, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Cheng has released a trilogy of award-winning albums on German label audite and plays the 1696 ‘Bonjour’ Stradivari cello on loan from the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank.
Lynn Renouil-Hata began cello at age seven. She has had success at several international competitions, including First Prizes at the Vatelot-Rampal Competition and the International FLAME Competition in Paris. Gautier Capuçon has served as a mentor and coach to Lynn ever since she was named a winner of the well-known France2 programme, Prodiges, in 2020. The young cellist is regularly invited to play as soloist, both in France and abroad, including concerts at the Marcello Theatre in Rome and the Classissimo Festival in Brussels. Lynn studies with Annie Cochet-Zakine and Marie-Paule Milone at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris. She is also coached by Raphaël Pidoux, professor at the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
Cornelius Zirbo was born in Cluj Napoca where he began his musical studies at age nine. He is now studying at the National University of Music Bucharest under the mentorship of Marin Cazacu. In 2016-2017 was in the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle of Gautier Capuçon, held at Fondation Louis Vuitton. He has given recitals and concerts with orchestra in prestigious venues including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Rudolfinum in Prague, St Martin-in-the-Fields (London), National Library Concert Hall (Beijing) and The Grand Hall of Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest). He is an alumnus of the 2017 Verbier Festival Academy and has taken part in masterclasses at the Kronberg Academy, Barenboim-Said Akademie, Accademia europea di Palazzo Ricci Montepulciano, George Enescu Festival, and Lisbon’s Verão Classico Festival 2021 in Lisabon. He plays a modern cello made by Frank Ravatin provided by Le fonds instrumental of ‘Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot’.
AAndrew Byun is a Canadian cellist currently pursuing his Masters of Music with Natasha Brofsky at The Juilliard School. He has appeared in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Jian Wang, Frans Helmerson, and Laurence Lesser among others and has worked closely with the Borromeo, Brentano, Dover, and Emerson Quartets. Andrew has performed solo at Jordan Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and has been featured on the WMFT radio station and NPR’s From The Top as a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. A passionate chamber musician, he has been invited to the Taos School of Music, I-M-S Prussia Cove, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest. Andrew attended the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music in Philosophy and Cello Performance. He has studied with Hans Jorgen Jensen, Myung-wha Chung, Yeesun Kim.
Amy Goto began the cello at age three and has studied with Philippe Muller since the age of 12. In 2020 she became the youngest member of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle de Gautier Capuçon at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Her debut as soloist with orchestra took place at age 9 with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and in 2015 she received the ‘Hope’ Award at the IX International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. She has been featured on NPR’s From the Top and TEDx University of Rhode Island. At Musica Mundi in 2016, she performed in the closing gala concert as soloist with the festival orchestra and was the youngest semifinalist at the Mazzacurati Competition in 2019. During the summers, Amy has studied at Musica Mundi, Music@Menlo, and Domaine Forget. She currently resides in Rhode Island (USA).