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Canadian pianist Tong Wang explores a variety of genres and mediums to bring creative initiatives to the community. As a soloist, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Red Deer Symphony Orchestra. She has won awards including the International Chopin Golden Ring Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal of Performing Arts. Among her projects are the interactive performance tours ‘Song of Praise’ and ‘Ghiblilane’, research on the aesthetic of ‘cuteness’ in music, and social entrepreneurship initiatives such as ‘Zenkora Studios’. Tong is a member of the UTAU2, Lincoln Center Stage, and the Global Leaders Cohort. She received BM and MM from the New England Conservatory and McGill University. Tong received grants from the Canada Council and FRQSC for the creation of a new operetta, ‘Labyrinth of Tears’.
Akilan Sankaran is a ninth grade student attending Albuquerque Academy. He has played piano for nearly ten years and has won several piano competitions and awards on both the state and national level. “I love the piano because it allows me to express the full scope of a whole orchestra using only 88 keys,” says Akilan. “There are so many different ways to play the piano— with authentic styles, tones, and textures—that allows each one of my performances to be unique.” In addition to piano, Akilan also plays percussion in his school jazz band. He also teaches a fusion of Indian and classical music to young musicians. Besides piano, he enjoys science, math contests, track and cross country, debating and writing for his school newspaper.
Misi Boros started playing piano at age 4. As a child, he won first prizes in all national and international piano competitions he entered. In 2013, he took part in Lang Lang’s first Junior Music Camp in Munich and, a year later, he was the First Prize winner of the Virtuosos Classical Music Talent Show television programme, which has enabled him to perform in more than 30 countries. Misi has performed in several European countries, including Switzerland (Tonhalle Zurich), the United States (Lincoln Center, New York), Brazil, Japan and China. He previously attended the Verbier Festival Academy in 2022, where he was awarded the Tabor Foundation Award for piano. He has released six solo albums: including his disc Inspiration on the Hungaroton label, which received praise from International Piano Magazine and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Misi is currently pursuing his university studies in at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Antti Siirala.
Giovanni Bertolazzi is currently studying with Epifanio Comis. In addition to winning Second Prize and five special awards at the 2021 Franz Liszt International Piano Competiton in Budpest, Giovanni has won more than 40 prizes in international piano competitions. These include First Prizes at the S. Weishaupt Piano Competition and the S. Thalberg Piano Competition, as well as Fourth Prize at the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition. In 2019, he also received the Alkan Award for Piano Virtuosity (Milan). Giovanni has performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile, Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Steinway Hall in London, among other prestigious venues. Highlights of his career so far include appearances with the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana.
In 2013, Kevin Chen was listed in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Top 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30.” He has won multiple international piano competitions, including the International Piano-e-Competition (2019), the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (2020), the Mozart International Piano Competition in Lugano, Switzerland (2020), and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest, Hungary (2021) as both the youngest competitor and the youngest ever winner of the competition. Since his orchestral debut with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra at the age of seven, Kevin has performed concerts with many symphonies in Canada, including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, many of which featured Kevin’s own orchestral works. As well, he has performed with the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra (Kazakhstan), the Minnesota Orchestra, the Hilton Head (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yumeka Nakagawa is the 2021 Prix Clara Haskil recipient (Concours International de Piano Clara Haskil), as well as winner of the prestigious competition’s Audience Award and Children’s Corner Award. She was also the first prizewinner at the 2019 International Robert Schumann Competition (Düsseldorf) and second prizewinner at the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists (Weimar) in 2014. After winning the federal Jugend Musiziert Competition in 2014, Yumeka was granted a scholarship by the Carl Bechstein Stiftung which led to invitations from numerous venues across Germany. Since 2019 she has appeared on the stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, Tonhalle Düsseldorf and Rachmaninoff Hall at the Mariinsky Theater. Yumeka currently pursues her bachelor’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Grigory Gruzman.
Atena Carte is a pianist born in Timisoara, Romania. She graduated from the University of Music in Timisoara, where she studied with Maria Bodo. Later on she obtained Concert and Soloist Diplomas studying with Jean-François Antonioli at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne, and a Concert Diploma in Chamber Music with Ulrich Koella and Peter Solomon at the Zürcher University or Arts.
A Swiss Confederation scholarship holder, she received as well the Paderewski Society Prize. She attended masterclasses with Jaques-Saint Yves, François René Duchable, Axel Bauni. She also earned a Certificate of Advanced Studies in cultural project management from the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève.
Since 2007, Carte has a pianist position at the Zürcher University of Arts and since 2018 she is a piano professor at the Conservatoire de Musique de Lausanne. She is also the artistic director of the ACRISCO Festival (CrissierArts Switzerland).
Atena Carte performs regularly in concerts and has won 9 national and international awards. She appears in various festivals (St Prex Festival, Murten Classics, Musique et Montagne, Septembre musical Montreux, Piano à Saint-Ursanne ,Musique en Ecrins,France, Festival de Oravita, Roumanie, Carnegie Hall,New York, with ensemble Altaïr) and collaborates with prestigious orchestras such as Tonhalle Zürich, Opernhaus Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, Bern Symphonie Orchestra. As an orchestra and chamber music musician she collaborated with conductors like Paavo Järvi, Charles Dutoit, Jaap van Zweden, John Eliot Gardiner, David Reiland, and for contemporary music with John Adams, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Pintscher, and Pierre-André Valade.
She has recorded several CDs, including works by Piazzola, Messiaen and Raphael.
Carte has been the Coordinator of the Verbier Festival’s piano class since 2o21.
Sébastien Jurczys is a music director, pianist, composer, arranger and stage director. In 2011, he created his first multidisciplinary show with symphony orchestra, choirs and soloists (including Natacha Kowalski). He has also created numerous musical projects at the Le Moderne theatre with director Sarah Cerri (Le Cabaret des Hommes Perdus, Into the Woods, Once Upon a Mattress). Jurczys has performed with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège in L’Orchestre à la portée des enfants and with Musiques Nouvelles (Jean-Paul Dessy) as a laureate of the Young Composers Forum 2013. In 2017, he wrote Bottez Le Chat, a musical tale with Didier Colfs, among others. Since 2018 to 2021, he has taught accompaniment at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège, from which he graduated in piano and music education. He is also a graduate of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (composition). Currently, Mr Jurczys is preparing for Various Voices 2026 (the European LGBTQ+ choir festival) with the choir ‘Sing Out Brussels’.
Hervé Sellin was born in 1957 in Paris. He started playing trumpet, then trombone and did classical piano studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris with Aldo Ciccolini. He obtained, in 1980, a double prize of piano and chamber music.
During the same period his father, great French trumpet player Pierre Sellin, introduced him into Jazz. So he started playing with great soloists such as Sonny Grey, Guy Lafitte, Gérard Badini, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Joe Newman, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Art Farmer, Barney Wilen, Clifford Jordan, James Moody, Chet Baker, Slide Hampton…
In 1984, he met Johnny Griffin and played in his European quartet for 15 years. Between 1986 to 1989 Hervé played with singer Dee Dee Bridgewater in many concerts and tours, and recorded with her the album Live in Paris.
In 1990 Sellin obtained the Django Reinhardt award from The French Jazz Academy for his activities as pianist, composer and arranger. In 1991 he met Branford Marsalis and recorded with him (Columbia/Sony Hervé Sellin Sextet featuring Branford Marsalis). From 1995 to 2000 Hervé toured with French drummer/composer Bertrand Renaudin playing on concerts and tours and recording three albums with him.
In 2001 Sellin recorded, live at the Bayonne Jazz Festival, a solo piano album, Thèmes et Variations. On occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Jazz in Marciac Festival in 2002, he performed a suite for ten musicians composed and arranged by himself. In 2003 Hervé played, with French accordionist Richard Galliano and a string quintet, on Piazzolla For Ever, an outake of the tango music of Astor Piazzolla, doing concerts, tours, a CD (2003 -Dreyfus Jazz) and a DVD (2006)
In October 2003 Hervé was invited by Wynton Marsalis to play two concerts at The Lincoln Center of New-York with his tentet.
In 2008 he released the album Marciac-New-York Express, by The Hervé Sellin Tentet (Crystal records/Harmonia Mundi), and got the award for Best French Jazz Album of the Year given by The French Jazz Academy.
Hervé works also full-time as a teacher at the Jazz and Improvised Music department of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.
Né à Hyères en 1999, Kim BERNARD étudie le piano dès l’âge de 5 ans avec Michelle MARY. Il rencontre début 2008 Bernard d’ASCOLI et Eleanor HARRIS et devient dès lors étudiant de “Piano Cantabile”. Il intègre parallèlement la même année le conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Toulon en troisième cycle dans la classe de Célimène DAUDET. En juin 2011, il obtient, à tout juste 12 ans, son D.E.M de piano à l’unanimité avec félicitations du jury. En mars 2012, il remporte le Premier Prix du Concours International de Montrond-les-Bains dans la catégorie des moins de 17 ans. Deux mois plus tard, il obtient le Prix “jeune talent” au Concours International d’Ile-de-France et remporte en août le Premier Prix du Concours National des “Nuits Pianistiques” d’Aix-en Provence, face à des concurrents deux fois plus âgés que lui. En mai 2015, il remporte le Prix Kurtàg au Concours International “brin d’herbe” d’Orléans. A l’automne 2013, a 14 ans il est admis avec dérogation au concours d’entrée du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. Dans la classe de Florent BOFFARD Il obtient en juin 2016 sa licence puis en 2018 son MASTER II avec Laurent CABASSO. En novembre 2018, il entame un cycle concertiste au CRR de Paris avec Jérôme GRANJON et il est finaliste du concours CZIFFRA ou il obtient le 3ème prix ex-æquo. Il a joué au MuCEM de Marseille et a des festivals en pays varois cet été 2019, puis dans le cadre « Jeunes Talents » a Versailles (septembre 2019) et a l’auditorium du Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux Arts de la ville de Paris (octobre 2019).