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Cyrille Nanchen began his singing training at the Schola de Sion, first as a soprano and then as a baritone, before joining several vocal ensembles in his home town.
He also studied piano, singing, theory and choral conducting at the Conservatoires of Sion and Fribourg. In 2018, he obtained his piano certificate in the classes of Cornelia Venetz and Rita Possa.
After studying music for a year at the University of Fribourg, Cyrille Nanchen was accepted as a choral conductor in the classes of Beat Schäfer and Markus Utz at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, where he also studied singing with Roswitha Müller. He also had the opportunity to work with Anders Eby (SE).
Since autumn 2018, he has been assistant director and singer of the Oberwalliser Vokalensemble.
After studying visual arts and cinema, Arthur Nauzyciel entered the Théâtre National de Chaillot school directed by Antoine Vitez in 1987.
He created his first stage productions in 1999.
He works regularly in the United States and also stages dance and opera. He directed the CDN d’Orléans from 2007 to 2016 and has been director of the Théâtre National de Bretagne since 2017.
A renaissance man and a magnetic creative force, Dmitry Sitkovetsky is recognised throughout the world as having made a considerable impact on every aspect of musical life. A prolific recording artist, with a career spanning more than four decades, he is celebrated globally as a violinist, conductor, creator, transcriber, and facilitator – and holds an undisputed and venerable position in musical society as a giant personality and educator.
As violinist and/or guest conductor, the 2022-2023 season and beyond sees Sitkovetsky perform extensively throughout Europe and North America. He performs chamber music at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival and conducts the Israel Jerusalem Camerata in Israel; plays at the Guadalajara Chamber Music Festival and conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico; and is featured in concerts in Berlin, Germany; Mexico City, Mexico; Bucharest, Romania; Havana, Cuba; Istanbul, Turkey; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Sofia, Bulgaria. Sitkovetsky is also the President of the jury of the George Enescu International Violin Competition in Romania and a member of jury at the International Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition in Austria and the Concours Musical International de Montréal in Canada. In summer 2023, he performs in the Verbier Festival’s 30th anniversary season.
Siktovetsky also leads his final and 20th season as Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina. Throughout the past two decades at the helm of the orchestra, Sitkovetsky curated more than 120 different orchestral programs from Bach to Brubeck with world-class soloists. Among his many accomplishments, he developed the Rice Toyota Presents “Sitkovetsky & Friends” chamber series, consulted on the biggest installation of the Meyer System in the U.S. in the new 3000-seat Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, and commissioned important new works by composers such as such as Jakov Jakoulov and Mark Engebretson. The 2022-2023 GSO season features Sitkovetsky leading six Masterworks concerts with acclaimed soloists including Michelle Cann, Sergey Antonov, James Ehnes, Trio Zimbalist, and Branford Marsalis.
Sitkovetsky also enjoys a flourishing career as a conductor, having worked with such orchestras as Academy of St-Martin-In-The-Fields, Dallas Symphony, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Lucerne Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony, amongst others. In 1990, he founded the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra (NES) – bringing together the most distinguished string players from the top European ensembles, from both Russian and Western musical backgrounds (reflecting Dmitry’s own life story). Since 2003, Sitkovetsky has served as the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina, to whom he has brought such soloists as Emmanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Garrick Ohlsson, and Pinchas Zukerman. Previous positions of artistic leadership have included the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y Leon (Artist in Residence, 2006-2009), Russian State Symphony Orchestra ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ (Principal Guest Conductor, 2002-2005), and the Ulster Orchestra (Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor, 1996-2001).
In 2019, he celebrated the release of a recital disc on the Melodia label, recorded with Tchaikovsky Competition-winner Lukas Geniušas – with a programme designed as an homage to the legendary duo of Fritz Kreisler and Sergei Rachmaninov. His celebrated career as a violinist is documented in an extensive discography of more than 40 recordings, reflecting the impressive breadth of his repertoire. His recording collaborators to date include such orchestras as the London Symphony, Philharmonia, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, working with such legendary maestros as Sir Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, and Yehudi Menuhin. As soloist, he has performed with the world’s leading orchestras – including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, LA Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and Philadelphia, amongst others.
Given his unmatched ability to turn any project into a highly anticipated artistic event, Sitkovetsky has also been invited to create, develop and lead a number of festivals, including the Korsholm Music Festival, Finland (1983-1993, and 2002), the Seattle International Music Festival (1992-1997), the Silk Route of Music, Azerbaijan (1999), and the Festival del Sole, Tuscany (2003-2006). During his tenure at the Korsholm Festival, he hosted Alfred Schnittke, Krszystoff Penderecki & Rodion Shchedrin as composer-in-residence, performed with such luminaries as Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin, Mischa Maisky to name but a few.
Sitkovetsky is also in high demand as a jury member, musical expert and educator. Recent jury roles have included the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Concours Musical International de Montréal, International Tchaikovsky Competition, and the Enescu Violin Competition. Additional highlights include Sitkovetsky’s debut TEDx talk, The Power of Curiosity; the launch of his first book, Dmitry Sitkovetsky: Dialogues; and his interview series on Medici.tv, It Ain’t Necessarily So.
Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s name has also become synonymous with the art of transcription. His iconic orchestral and string trio versions of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations have taken on a life of their own – enjoying regular performances and acclaimed recordings by many of the leading performers of today. Following this unprecedented success, Sitkovetsky has gone on to arrange over six60ty works of major repertoire by such composers as Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schnittke, and Shostakovich. In 2015, he unveiled his transcription of Stravinsky’s Le baiser de la fée, commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and premiered by Augustin Hadelich at Carnegie Hall. The 2017/2018 season saw the successful premieres of a new multi-genre/multimedia work, Devil, Soldier & Violin (inspired by Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale), with sold-out performances across Russia. Summer 2018 saw the world premiere of Sitkovetsky’s transcription of Sarasate’s Navarra Fantasy, commissioned by the Verbier Festival. This performance – marking the Festival’s 25th anniversary – was broadcast live worldwide on Medici.tv, with an all-star lineup of musicians, including Lisa Batiashvili, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Tabea Zimmermann, and Pinchas Zukerman – as well as Dmitry Sitkovetsky himself. The latest transcription, Bukovina Songs/Preludes by Leonid Desyatnikov, was recorded online by the NES during the Pandemic, and reached an audience of more than 250,000, is now much in demand and has been performed in Bucharest, Oviedo, Ljubljana, Baku, Korsholm, and Jerusalem.
Georgian theatre and opera director, arts manager and composer, David Sakvarelidze is internationally recognised for his innovative productions and for transforming the cultural life of Georgia.
After graduating from the Tbilisi Theatrical University, Sakvarelidze studied with Giorgio Strehler and Luca Ronconi in Milan; Peter Brook at the Royal National Theatre Studio in London; at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York and with Jennifer Tipton at Yale University.
Emerging on the international opera and theatre scene after Georgia’s independence, Sakvarelidze became the predominant figure in Georgian theatre during this period. Quickly establishing a reputation for championing contemporary writing, he founded the Caucasian Theatre/Lab to develop new writers. Sakvarelidze is credited with the emergence of a distinctive new creative language in Georgian theatre that became identified with the generation emerging in the newly independent Georgia.
One of Georgia’s most influential newspapers, Tbilisi, wrote of Sakvarelidze at this time “Dear readers, the future of Georgian theatre has been found.” This attention led to further invitations to direct across Georgia resulting in such acclaimed productions as Goldoni’s Marriage by Contest for Georgian Youth Theatre; Hanoch Levin’s Mouth Open for the Rustaveli State Theatre which won two Union of Theatre Worker’s Awards for Best Director and Best Performance of the year and Lysistrata which won three of Georgia’s most important theatrical awards the Duruji’s.
Opera has always been central to Sakvarelidze’s career and he was the first person to bring early music to Georgia with his Euridice by Peri and Rinuccini. Productions of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and numerous productions for the Georgian State Conservatoire followed.
During this period Sakvarelidze always composed, primarily for theatre productions, and through the popularity of these compositions he became a popular figure across Georgia.
His work in Georgia attracted international attention with the Times of London anointing him “At 28…already the godfather of an emerging generation of artists.” Such attention led to invitations to work at English National Opera in London; at the New York Theatre Workshop, where he directed Pinkowski’s Mint Juleps as part of his residency, and at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro Di Milano.
While in Milan he wrote a thesis on the future of theatre and opera in Georgia and the need to implement new working methods that would banish the old Soviet style of management and training. His advocating that only by adopting such contemporary practices could culture be improved in Georgia was sent by the Italian Ambassador in Georgia to members of the Georgian government who enthusiastically endorsed his proposals and appointed him general director of Tbilisi State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Productions of great operas such as La Traviata, Rigoletto and Tosca were mixed with productions of lesser known works such as Mozart’s Mitridate Re di Ponto and Verdi’s Attila.
Big scale public productions have included directing galas for Plácido Domingo, 60th birthday concert of Georgian opera star Paata Burchuladze in the Palace of Sports for 12,000 spectators and President George H. Bush’s visit to Tbilisi’s Freedom Square.
In 2017, Sakvarelidze founded the Tsinandali Festival that instantly became one of the world’s leading music festivals. In his role as general director he was instrumental in founding the Pan Caucasian Youth Orchestra that brings young musicians from across the Caucasian region together. Such work developing the talents of young musicians and actors from challenging places is also exemplified by his work as artistic director of the Sokhumi State Drama Theatre which consists of refugees.
Sakvarelidze is president of the Georgian National Center of the UNSECO International Theatre Institute. His awards include the Georgian Presidential Order of Excellence.
Tim Carroll began his career with the English Shakespeare Company before becoming Associate Director of the Northcott Theatre in Exeter. From 1999 to 2005, he was Associate Director of Shakespeare’s Globe. His ‘original practices’ productions of Shakespeare transpose the natural habitat of the Elizabethan outdoor theatre into 21st century spaces. This approach earned him success on Broadway in 2013, when his Tony-nominated Globe productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night starring Oscar-winner Mark Rylance earned ecstatic raves in The New York Times and The New Yorker. He is also known for creating edgy productions at the Factory Theatre in London. Since 2015, Carroll has been Artistic Director of Canada’s Shaw Festival.
Teodor Currentzis was born in Greece, where he began studying music. In 1994, he entered St. Petersburg State Conservatory to study under the legendary professor Ilya Musin.
Together with his ensembles, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe and the world with performances in numerous prestigious venues including Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Munich Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, and La Scala. As a stage conductor and musical director, Teodor Currentzis has worked with the leading opera theatres including Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real, and the Bolshoi Theatre.
He has also collaborated with the key figures in modern Western theatre: Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, and others. Teodor Currentzis is a Resident Artist at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the RUHRtriennale Festival, festivals in Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence.
Works by Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, and Stravinsky released by Teodor Currentzis on Sony Classical record label have received numerous international music awards: ECHO Klassik, Edison Klassiek, Japanese Record Academy Award, and BBC Music Magazine’s Opera Award. Teodor Currentzis has received the Toepfer Foundation’s prestigious KAIROS Award. He has also been awarded the Greek Order of the Phoenix and the international Musikfest Bremen Award.