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Karol Beffa is a Franco-Swiss composer, pianist, and musicologist. A former child actor, he later studied at the École Normale Supérieure and the Paris Conservatoire, earning top honours in multiple disciplines. He holds a PhD in musicology and teaches at ENS. His catalogue includes over 100 works—concert music, film scores, operas, ballets—and has been performed by leading orchestras like the London Symphony and Orchestre National de France. His style combines lyrical textures (‘clouds’) with rhythmic drive (‘clocks’) and often references past composers or literary and visual arts. Beffa also improvises live on piano, including for silent films and public themes, and collaborates with actors, authors, and visual artists. He has won multiple awards, including two Victoires de la Musique Classique and the SACEM Grand Prize.
British clarinettist Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson is known for his expressive and dynamic artistry. As a soloist, he has appeared at Wigmore Hall, Petworth Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Lichfield Festival, and made his US concerto debut with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra performing David Baker’s Jazz Suite. A passionate chamber and orchestral musician, he has toured internationally with Chineke! and performed at the Adelaide and Edinburgh International Festivals. His collaborations include appearances with Anthony McGill in New York, the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Barry Manilow at Radio City Music Hall, Britten Sinfonia at the Royal Opera House, and the BBC Proms. Also active in media and fashion, Mebrakh has featured in Downton Abbey: A New Era and modelled for Bedford Way. He holds a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he was a Jerome L. Greene Fellow, and a BMus (Hons) from the Royal College of Music as a Robey and RCM Scholar.
Italian pianist Giuseppe Guarrera is the 2024 winner of the prestigious Beethoven Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Praised for his exceptional expressiveness and technical brilliance by Scherzo, Guarrera has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician at some of Europe’s most renowned venues, including Wigmore Hall in London, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and the Scherzo Foundation in Madrid. His engagements also extend to distinguished festivals and halls such as the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Musikverein Vienna, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, alongside a major concert tour in China.
Guarrera’s notable accolades include the Tabor Award Piano at the Verbier Festival Academy in 2018 and the title of Rising Star at the Klavierfestival Ruhr in 2019. He honed his craft at the Barenboim-Said Akademie under Nelson Goerner, following earlier studies in Italy with Siavush Gadjiev and Giuseppe Cultrera, and later in Berlin with Eldar Nebolsin.
Born in Bolzano, she graduated from the “Claudio Monteverdi” Conservatory in her city in singing and piano, later perfecting her skills at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. She made her debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto as the protagonist in Rossini’s Signor Bruschino and later at the Teatro alla Scala in the role of Pierotto in Linda di Chamounix conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni.
He has sung in the major theatrical institutions of the world, among which are the Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opernhaus in Zurich, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and in some important festivals, including the Bregenz Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Spoleto Festival and those of Wiesbaden and Dresden.
During his career he has collaborated with important conductors such as Bruno Bartoletti, Gabriele Ferro, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre and Mstislav Rostropovich.
He was part of the Piccolo Teatro “Collegium Musicum Italicum” in Rome with the famous ensemble of the “Virtuosi di Roma”, participating as protagonist in numerous tours in the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain, Russia, with a repertoire of works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Among his greatest successes are the interpretations of Cavalleria Rusticana and Les Troyens at the Teatro alla Scala, Falstaff at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Zubin Mehta, at the Frankfurt Opera, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Opéra National de Lyon, at the Opéra de Nantes and at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Andrea Chénier at the ROH Covent Garden in London and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Cavalleria Rusticana at Covent Garden in London, at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and at the Opéra National de Paris, Andrea Chénier at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and at the Frankfurt Opera, Gianni Schicchi and The Turn of the Screw at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Il Tabarro at the Arena di Verona and at the Liceu in Barcelona, Eugene Onegin and The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Saul and The Nose at the Rome Opera, The Return of Ulysses in homeland in Antwerp and Zurich, Der Filiegende Hollaender at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
During the seasons from 2018 to 2020, we would like to point out Andrea Chénier at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Cavalleria Rusticana at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Lakmé at the Royal Opera House in Muscat.
He opened the 2020 season performing Cavalleria Rusticana at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and at the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona. He then sang Il Trittico at the Teatro de la Monnaie in Brussels; Cavalleria Rusticana at the ROH Covent Garden in London; Siberia at the Teatro Real de Madrid. He begins 2023 with Evgenij Onegin at the Oper Frankfurt, followed by “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” in Geneva, Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, Madama Butterfly at the Arena di Verona, Evgenij Onegin at the Liceu in Barcelona. He begins the 2023-24 season with Cavalleria Rusticana at the ROH Covent Garden in London, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo and Teatro alla Scala in Milan, then returns to the ROH Covent Garden in London for Andrea Chénier; in Turin for Il Trittico at the Teatro Regio.
Among his upcoming engagements: from now until 2026 we point out: Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Evgenij Onegin at the Frankfurt Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Teatro Real in Madrid, Lakmè at the Teatro Real de Madrid, Jenufa at the ROH Covent Garden in London, Il Trittico at the Palau de la Musica Reina Sofia in Valencia and others.
Among his rich recording production (RCA, Cynus, ERI) we can mention Il Flaminio (Giustina) by Pergolesi (Fonit Cetra), Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica by Puccini conducted by Antonio Pappano (Emi).
Opera and oratorio singer, in her origins she combines the Russian roots of the Ural mountains, Mednogorsk, and the plain of Ukraine, Melitopol, which is twinned with Melito of Naples in Italy.
She studied singing, piano and accordion. She developed her own artistic activity in Europe and, in particular, in Italy, becoming Italian by adoption.
Her love for Italy led her to live in this nation where the artist carries out the promotional activity of opera music and culture in general.
She is the winner of numerous important international and national competitions, awards and recognitions:
She is a regular guest of the major opera houses and collaborate with the most prestigious conductors.
Ekaterina Bakanova has establish a successful collaboration with a National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI and has performed a several times with Maestro Fabio Luisi, Steven Mercurio and Jurai Valcuha, with the Ensemble Matheus, under the direction of Jean-Christophe Spinosi, with Plácido Domingo, and Mung Whung Chung , Dan Ettinger, Daniele Rustioni, Nello Santi, Daniele Callegari;
She has appeared in the productions of famous staging directors such as Mario Martone, Franco Zeffirelli, Achim Freyer, Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Henning Brockhaus, Richard Eyre, Hugo de Ana, Renoud Doucet, Andrea de Rosa;
After her debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Violetta Valery, Ekaterina Bakanova was praised by the press for her interpretative refinement and since then she has been called to the most prestigious stages, such as those of the Staatsoper of Dresden, the Arena of Verona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona, the Royal Opera in Versailles, the Israeli Opera in Tel-Aviv and the Opera in Zurich, the NCPA Performing Arts Center in Beijing and others.
Johanna Vaude is a multidisciplinary artist whose cinematic and musical universe unfolds as a perpetual quest for poetry and innovation. Her works, often described as fiery, poetic, and intense, explore the shifting boundaries between genres, blending the visual and the sonic into a unique narrative alchemy.
Her early screenings at cultural institutions and short film festivals quickly attracted the attention of both audiences and critics, who praised her boldness, technical mastery, and highly personal artistic style (with a focus on her work at MK2 Beaubourg, Côté Court de Pantin, Forum des images, Commune Image, Cinémathèque Française, Collège des Bernardins, Festival Silhouette, Cabaret Vert, …)
The channel Arte dedicated a portrait of the artist in its magazine Court-Circuit. This was followed by the release of her monographic DVD Hybride by the Lowave label, supported by the CNC. This notion of artistic hybridization – a theory she defines through the concepts of “Graft, Fusion, Heredity”, a reflection on the relationship between art and science, published in the scientific journal Corps, and a study on the plastic and technical uses of the image, earned her a carte blanche for avant-garde programming at the Cinémathèque Française.
For several years, she has been a regular guest on the Blow Up show on Arte tv, where she is given carte blanche to create videos as tributes to cinema, combining montage and music. Some of these works have gained attention: interviews on France Culture, media appearances at La Gaîté Lyrique, screenings at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, coverage by Nowness (Super-Edit), and articles in Première, Konbini, Télé Star, and Les Inrockuptibles (Falling in Love with Scarlett Johansson in 5 Minutes /// Cadavre Exquis).
She received the Label Image Prize from Les Passeurs de Lumière at the SCAM, solidifying her reputation as the « Alchemist of the Image. »
Excerpts from Johanna Vaude’s films have been included in two installations conceptualized by artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster: L’œil sauvage for TH.2058 at the Tate Modern in London, and Hypnotic for the Evento event in Bordeaux. Her video I’m More Than a Machine is part of the Electro exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris, which continues at the Design Museum in London and the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.
The streaming platform Medici TV, specializing in classical music and jazz, gave her carte blanche for a musical video tribute to the world of music, underscoring the importance of culture with « Art is a Garanty of Sanity« .
Télérama selected Samouraï for its platform, awarding it 3 TTT and later 4 TTTT, reflecting their enthusiasm: « A frantic montage around the art of the samurai pulls us into the poetic spiral of a fiery artist« .
Other media outlets have also expressed their exaltation : Best Video Essay 2022 on Sight and Sound for Conforme and Au Cinéma!, and Best Video Essay 2023 at the British Film Institut for Searching for Incognita and Mind Autopsy.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky is considered to be one of today’s finest Russian violinists. Yehudi Menuhin pronounced him to be “one of the most talented and refined violinists of his generation”.
He has appeared internationally with leading ensembles such as the Bayerische Staatsorchester, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of “La Scala”, Mariinsky Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, St.Petersburg Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra…
Among the conductors with whom Sasha Rozhdestvensky has worked are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrey Boreyko, Jean Claude Casadesus, Valery Gergiev, Theodor Guschlbauer, Vernon Handley, Vladimir Jurowski, Valery Polyansky, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Simonov, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Gerard Schwartz, Christopher Warren-Green…
Sasha’s recordings include the Concerto Grosso No.6 by Alfred Schnittke with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (Chandos). He premiered this concerto, which was written especially for him and Viktoria Postnikova. He subsequently recorded the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 and Glazunov’s Concerto with Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the State Symphony Capella of Russia (Nimbus). Complete works of Tchaikovsky for violin and piano with Josiane Marfurt including the world premiere of ‘Oh, chante encore’ (Delos), the Complete Violin chamber works of Ravel with Josiane Marfurt (Praga digitals). This CD received the ‘Choc of Classica’. Complete Shostakovich violin and piano music with Jeremy Menuhin for the FHR in the UK, Myaskovsky, Shebalin and Nechaev sonatas world premiere recordings for the FHR with Viktoria Postnikova and most recently a world premiere of John Mayer’s Second Violin Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Debashish Chaudhuri.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky has played at many prestigeous festivals like BBC Proms, Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Colmar, Ravinia, Florida, Lockenhaus, Montreux, Rheingau, and played at such halls as the Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Festival Halls London, Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Salle Pleyel et le Théâtre du Chatelet Paris, Mann Auditorium in Tel-Aviv, la Scala…
Among his chamber music partners are Marc Coppey, Gary Hoffman, Steven Isserlis, Josiane Marfurt, Jeremy Menuhin, Kun Woo Paik, Michel Portal, Viktoria Postnikova, Michael Rudy.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky’s dedication to contemporary music is highlighted through close contacts with several eminent composers, such as Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt and Ian Venables.
He also devotes time to the performance of traditional Latin American music together primarily with the instrumental group ‘Ambar’, whose recordings include El Diablo Suelto (Delos) and O voo da mosca (FHR). Recently the group premiered a Violin Concerto written for Sasha by Francisco Gonzalez with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia.
Sasha studied at the Central Music School in Moscow, the Moscow Conservatory, the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music in London.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky is a professor at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Haute école de musique de Genève.
Annie Dutoit-Argerich was born in Switzerland. She studied Latin and Greek and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She went on to receive a Master’s degree in Journalism from New York University and a Ph.D. in French and Romance Philology from Columbia University.
While pursuing an academic career, Annie discovered a passion for performance art and has since worked as an actress and narrator. She has performed works by Milhaud, Liszt, Stravinsky, Cage, and Prokofiev, integrating text, performance, and music in prestigious venues worldwide.
A recording of Saint-Saëns’s “Carnival of the Animals”, with text by Francis Blanche, featuring Antonio Pappano and Martha Argerich, was released in September 2017 by Warner Classics. In June 2019, she performed both the roles of narrator and soldier in Michel Van Zele’s adaptation of “The Soldier’s Tale”, conducted by Charles Dutoit.
She performs in French, English, and Spanish.
Annie Dutoit-Argerich is the host of a new series produced by Arte ZDF and BelAir Media entitled “Concert privé”. The first episode features Daniel Barenboim.
Swiss pianist Lionel Monnet was awarded a “Virtuosity with Distinction” diploma in 2003 from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, where he studied under Christian Favre. He continued his training in Paris with his mentor Abdel Rahman El Bacha, and also worked with Menahem Pressler of the Beaux-Arts Trio of New York and with the Trio Wanderer of Paris.
Since 1999, he has been the pianist of the Trio Nota Bene, with which he continues to perform regularly on both the Swiss and international music scenes.
Lionel Monnet won First Prize at the International Music Competition of Rotterdam, as well as First Prize by unanimous jury decision at the 28th Géraldine Whittaker Prize for Instrumental Trios in Neuchâtel. He was also honored with the Philippe Chaignat Prize for outstanding performance at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, and received the Audience Prize at the 2009 edition of the Zulawski–Ville de Chamonix Prize.
He has performed internationally at venues and festivals including the Sion International Festival, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La Roque d’Anthéron, Folles Journées in Nantes, Ljubljana Festival, Castres Festival, Zermatt Music Festival, the Tonhalle in Zurich, Bodrum Festival, Jerusalem Music Center, the Tel Aviv Museum, Nice Festival, and as a soloist with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and the European Concert Orchestra.
Lionel Monnet has shared the stage with numerous renowned artists such as Tibor Varga, Renaud Capuçon, Svetlin Roussev, Fabio Di Càsola, Malin Hartelius, Rachel Harnisch, Christoph Schiller, Shlomo Mintz, Nobuko Imai, Gérard Caussé, Pierre Amoyal, Ilya Gringolts, Blythe Teh Engström, Ophélie Gaillard, Svetlana Makarova, the Terpsycordes Quartet, the Sine Nomine Quartet, Edgar Moreau, Michel Dalberto, Brigitte Engerer, Dany Bonvin, and Shmuel Ashkenasi, among others.
He has received support from the Irène Dénéréaz Foundation, composer Henri Dutilleux, and the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation.
Since 2011, Lionel Monnet has been a piano professor at the Valais Cantonal Conservatory of Music. In July 2016, he was appointed professor of piano and chamber music at the International Academy of Biarritz, Côte Basque.
In January 2017, he was invited on an American tour with performances at festivals in New York, Philadelphia, and Princeton. That same year, he also served as a jury member for the Musique Riviera Piano Competition in Vevey.
He is the pianist of the “Quinteto del Fuego”, a group specializing in the music of Astor Piazzolla.
He is also the founder and artistic director of “Espace Consonance”, a concert hall and recording studio located in Saxon, Switzerland.
Lionel Monnet is represented by the Swiss record label Claves and the American label Naxos.
Loris Mittaz grew up in the Valais mountains, in the village of Chermignon. At the age of 8, he learned that an illness would gradually take away his sight. His disability forced him to give up many of his favorite activities.
It was then that he discovered a deep passion for music and the piano. He developed a special connection with the instrument, which became both a creative outlet and a powerful tool for resilience, allowing him to rise above his challenges.
Both his journey and his music are a tribute to perseverance — a heartfelt invitation to share in an authentic and moving experience.
Classically trained (EJMA), Loris has been performing in various projects since the age of 15. Musically curious, he has explored a wide range of genres and collaborations, from rap (Oxmo Puccino, Moodjo) and electronic music (Feder, Marieposa) to psychedelic rock (The Doors Revival) and pop (Mia Oud).
At the same time, he began composing and launched his own solo project. He was quickly noticed and made his solo debut on prominent stages (Crans-Montana Classics, Montreux Autumn Festival) in 2022.
Blending classical, jazz, and contemporary music, his sound is a melodic, deep, and colorful journey. Loris invites listeners to join him — to close their eyes and imagine their own story inspired by the music.