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Hana Chang gave her first solo performance at the age seven with the New England Conservatory Baroque Chamber Orchestra and has recently appeared as a soloist with the Prague Radio Symphony, Czech Virtuosi, Hunan Symphony and Utah Symphony. She has performed at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Deer Valley Music Festival, Vevey Spring Classic Festival, Sion Festival, and International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht, and is a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin, Stuttgart, Stradivarius, and Prague Spring International Violin Competitions. Most recently, she was the youngest finalist and was awarded distinction at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition. Hana studies at the Kronberg Academy with Christian Tetzlaff, with the support of Nikolas Gruber-Patronat. She is also mentored by Ida Kavafian and Janine Jansen with whom she previously studied. Hana plays on a 1647 Nicolo Amati violin kindly on loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore.
In addition to winning First Prize and the Audience Award at the 2019 International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart (Augsburg, Germany), Second Prize and Audience Award at the Cooper International Violin Competition (USA), and Gold Medals at both Fischoff and M-Prize Chamber Music Competitions (USA), Joshua Brown was a prizewinner at the 2022 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He has appeared with dozens of orchestras, including a performance with the Cleveland Orchestra which received glowing reviews, has performed in concert halls on three continents, and has been featured on both radio and television. Joshua earned his Bachelor of Music and is currently pursuing his Master of Music with Donald Weilerstein at New England Conservatory of Music. He previously studied with Almita and Roland Vamos. Joshua plays on a 1679 Pietro Guarneri violin on generous loan from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Bangladeshi-American violinist Ayaan Ahmad began the violin at age four with Daniela Rubenstein. He has continued his studies with the late Jan Sloman at Cleveland Institute of Music, Ryan Meehan of the Calidore String Quartet, Donald Weilerstein and Li Lin. In 2021, Ayaan was accepted to the Perlman Music Program where he performed and worked with violinist Itzhak Perlman. A year later, at age 15, he made his orchestral debut with the Concord Orchestra (USA), playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Ayaan has gone on to perform as a soloist with numerous orchestras across New England, often a winner of young artist competitions, and was recently featured on National Public Radio (NPR)’s From the Top radio programme. He enjoys playing the guitar, ultimate frisbee, and is passionate about math and history.
In 2022, Hans Christian Aavik was awarded First Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Competition and was recipient of the Usedom Prize (Usedom Festival, Germany). Following his success at the Carl Nielsen, he was invited to record his first orchestral album with Orchid Classics. Earlier this year, he was also featured together with pianist Karolina Aavik in the new Deutsche Grammophon series ‘Rising Stars’ on STAGE+. Hans Christian has studied at the Tallinn Music High School, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Erik Schumann and the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, with Julian Rachlin. He now studies at the Kronberg Academy, with the support of Dr Ratjen-Patronat. Hans Christian was previously a member of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra.
Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought-after violinists of her generation. Her ability to captivate audiences with her innate musicianship and spirited presence, coupled with her wide appeal as a high-profile advocate for classical music, has made her one of the most influential classical artists of today.
Born in the Scottish town of Irvine, of Italian heritage, Nicola began violin lessons at the age of four with Brenda Smith. In 1997, she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya. Upon leaving, she continued her studies with Maciej Rakowski and then Pavel Vernikov. In 2004, she won “BBC Young Musician,” launching her career as an international concert violinist.
With concerto performances at the heart of her career, Nicola is in much demand with major orchestras across the globe. Conductors with whom Nicola has worked include Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek, Karina Canellakis, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Kirill Karabits, Kristjan Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Cristian Măcelaru, Zubin Mehta, Andrea Marcon, Gianandrea Noseda, Michael Tilson Thomas, Robin Ticciati, Vasily Petrenko, Donald Runnicles, Thomas Søndergård, Pinchas Zukerman and Jaap van Zweden.
Nicola enjoys working with the highest level of orchestras including collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC.
In December 2020, Nicola formed the “Benedetti Baroque Orchestra” which gathers freelance period-instrument players who collectively join together to create the highest level of collaborative and energised musicmaking. Baroque was released on Decca Classics in July 2021, and features Nicola play-directing this newly formed ensemble. The album reached number one in the UK’s Official Classical Album Chart and received a 5* review in The Times.
Nicola champions the commissioning of new works which has recently included Mark Simpson’s critically acclaimed Violin Concerto, written for Nicola with the London Symphony Orchestra, and Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto which won a GRAMMY Award for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” in 2020.
A devoted chamber musician, Nicola collaborates with cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk, who have been performing as a trio since 2008. Past performances include Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Edinburgh International Festival, Alte Oper, Frankfurt, the Ravinia Festival, 92nd Street Y, New York and City Hall, Hong Kong. In June 2021, the trio embarked on a UK tour giving seven performances across the country, and in spring 2022 performed a thirteen-date European tour with works by Schumann, Rihm and Brahms. In 2023, the trio will return to North America, visiting 8 cities across both East and West coasts.
In 2021-2022 Nicola opened the Barbican Centre’s season and amongst others, performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Cincinnati Symphony. Other highlights included engagements with the LA Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, play-directing the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and a tour to Spain with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as a performance with the Benedetti Baroque Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Nicola begins her 2022-2023 season with a performance of the Marsalis Violin Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the BBC Proms and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Further engagements include the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a tour to Japan with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, DSO Berlin, St Louis Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and Orchestre de Paris amongst others.
Nicola has continued her role as a dedicated, passionate ambassador and leader in music education. Her commitment to supporting the UK’s music practitioners was underlined in July 2018, when Nicola took over as President of the European String Teachers’ Association. Nicola continues to hold key positions in a number of the country’s most established and high-quality youth music organisations including the National Children’s Orchestras (Vice President), Sistema Scotland (Big Sister), National Youth Orchestras of Scotland’s Junior Orchestra (Patron), Music in Secondary Schools’ Trust (Patron), Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Patron) and many more. In 2019, Nicola formalised her commitment to music in education when she established The Benedetti Foundation. Since its launch, the Foundation has worked with over 29,000 participants, age 2-92, from 103 countries through its transformative in-person workshops and online sessions for young people, students, teachers and adults. The Foundation unites those who believe that music is integral to a great education and demonstrates ground-breaking teaching by producing and delivering innovative and creative musical experiences accessible to all.
Winner of the GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in 2020, as well as Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music). Her most recent recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto entered at number one in the UK’s Official Classical Album Chart and received critical acclaim including a 5* review in The Times: “Yet beyond sheer agility, Benedetti offers listeners something even more valuable: a dynamic personal interpretation, refreshing and convincing.” Other recent recordings include her GRAMMY award-winning album written especially for her by jazz musician Wynton Marsalis: “Violin Concerto in D and Fiddle Dance Suite for Solo Violin.” Nicola’s recording catalogue also includes works from Shostakovich and Glazunov Violin Concerti, Szymanowski Concerti (London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding) to Homecoming; A Scottish Fantasy, which made Nicola the first solo British violinist since the 1990s to enter the Top 20 of the Official UK Album Chart. In 2021, BBC Music Magazine named her “Personality of the Year” for her online support of many young musicians during the pandemic.
In March 2022, Nicola became the Director Designate of the Edinburgh International Festival, becoming Festival Director on 1 October 2022. In taking the role she will be both the first Scottish and the first female Festival Director since the Festival began in 1947. Nicola was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours list, awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017, the youngest ever recipient, and was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2013 in recognition of her international music career and work with musical charities throughout the United Kingdom. In addition, Nicola has received nine honorary degrees to date.
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.
Appreciated for her expressive and very emotional performances, Alissa Margulis regularly plays in important concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmony, the Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Cologne Philharmony, the Vienna Musikverein, Sumida Triphony Hall Tokyo, the Sage Gateshead, the Tonhalle Zurich and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall.
Born in Germany into a family of Russian musicians, Alissa Margulis studied in Cologne with Zakhar Bron, in Brussels with Augustin Dumay and in Vienna with Pavel Vernikov. She won numerous prizes at international violin competitions and was awarded with the “Pro Europa” prize of the European Arts Foundation which was presented to her by Daniel Barenboim in Berlin.
She made her first public appearance at the age of seven with the Budapest Soloists and has performed since then with numerous orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, New Russia Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Bilkent Orchestra Ankara, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Belgian National Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Kiev, Skopje, Ljubljana, Minsk and Novosibirsk, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Moscow Soloists, and the Kremerata Baltica, amongst many others.
Alissa Margulis worked together with famous conductors: Ivor Bolton, Jacques Mercier, Arnold Katz, Jacek Kaspszyk, Dmitry Liss, Jaap van Zweden, Enrique Mazzola, Daniel Raiskin, Fabrice Bollon, Stefan Vladar, François-Xavier Roth, Lars Vogt, Howard Griffiths, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Hubert Soudant, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Christian Arming, Augustin Dumay, Mikko Franck and Gerd Albrecht to name just a few of them.
Besides her solo career Alissa Margulis is an enthusiastic chamber music player and collaborates with artists such as Alexander Buzlov, Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, David Geringas, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Bruno Giuranna, Mischa Maisky, Gabriela Montero, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Liana Issakadze, Alexandre Tharaud, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Lonquich, Polina Leschenko, Paul Badura-Skoda and Lars Vogt.
She further appeared at various Festivals: at the Enescu Festival Bucharest, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, in Davos, Tours, Stravanger Festival, at the Mozartwoche Salzburg, “Spannungen”-Festival in Heimbach, “Progetto” Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Sotshi Winter Arts Festival and Verbier Festival.
Her discography includes more than a dozen CDs at labels such as EMI Classics, Oehms, Novalis, Avanti Classic and CAvi. Notably two of the six EMI Classics releases of the „Martha Argerich and Friends“ series received a GRAMMY nomination, several others won the Diapason d’or. She recorded repertoire by Mozart, Shostakovich, Enescu, Beethoven, Messiaen and others as well as the complete music for violin and piano by Franz Liszt. She recorded Piazzolla’s seasons and took part in an all Klezmer recording alongside musicians such as Myriam Fuks, Roby Lakatos, Evgeny Kissin, Polina Leschenko and Mischa Maisky. Alissa Margulis will be featured in another live recording of chamber music performed at the Progetto Martha Argerich, a 2016 release by Warner Classics.
Last season she played concerts in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Luxembourg, Lebanon, South Africa, Aruba, Malta, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the USA, Italy, France at venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow and the Verbier Festival, among many others.
Braimah Kanneh-Mason is a dynamic and versatile young violinist. He has performed throughout the UK, Europe, USA and the Caribbean. An avid chamber musician, Braimah is a member of the Kanneh-Mason Piano Trio and Kaleidoscope Collective. He has performed at venues and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Kings Place, Highgate International Chamber Music Festival, Leicester International Chamber Music Festival and collaborated with artists such as Nicola Benedetti, Tom Poster and Priya Mitchell. Braimah is a passionate advocate for equal opportunity and diversity in music education and is a Junior Ambassador for Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST). He has been a mentor at Sistema England, Junior Music Works , a violin tutor for consecutive years at the Antigua Music Camp and regularly coaches and mentors the Antigua and Barbuda Symphony Orchestra. He is currently an artist in residence at Brighton College.
Braimah is currently studying with Barnabás Kelemen and Eszter Perenyi at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he was a scholarship student with Mateja Marinkovic and Jack Liebeck, winning the Harold Craxton Prize, the John McAslan Prize and the Dame Ruth Railton Chamber Music Prize.
Braimah currently performs on a Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, kindly lent to him by the Beare’s International Violin Society.
Mariam Abouzahra studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Dora Schwarzberg. She made her debut with orchestra at age 6 playing Beriot’s Violin Concerto No. 7. She has since appeared with orchestras including the Magyar Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar, Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar, MÁV Szimfonikus Zenekar and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Mariam has appeared at the Budapest Music Center, Lincoln Center (New York), Pearl Tower (Shanghai), Royal Opera House (Muscat), to name a few, and bas been invited to perform at Festivals including Muscat Chamber Music Series, Festival Academy Budapest, isaFestival Semmering, the Golden Violins of Odessa, and Kaposfest Hungary. She is also a prizewinner of the Ilona Fehér, Làszlò Spezzaferri, Arthur Grumiaux, Virtuosos, Koczian, and Vienna Virtuoso Competitions.
Amira Abouzahra studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Dora Schwarzberg. She is First Prize winner of a several international competitions, among them the International Arthur Grumiaux Competition for Young Violinists, and Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition (Budapest). In recital and with orchestra, Amira has appeared at Lincoln Center (New York), Berliner Philharmonie, Covent Garden (London), Budapest Művészetek Palotája and Cairo Opera House. She has performed with orchestas including the Concerto Budapest Szimfonikus Zenekar, Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar, Kremerata Baltica, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México and the Magyar Állami Hangversenyzenekar. She plays a Tononi violin (1760).