Amit PELED (Cello, Israel)
Israeli cellist Amit Peled, a musician of profound artistry and charismatic stage presence, is acclaimed worldwide as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. At 6'5" tall, Peled started life as a basketball player and was called "larger than life" and "Jacqueline du Pre in a farmer's body" when he enveloped his cello. From 2012 through 2018, Peled performed on the Pablo Casals 1733 Goffriller cello, which was loaned to him personally by Casals’ widow, Marta Casals Istomin.
Highlights of Peled’s 2018-2019 season include performances of the Saint-Saens cello concerto at the Kennedy Center, performances of the Penderecki cello concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic as part of the composer’s 85th birthday celebration, a return to the Ravinia Festival in celebration of Peled’s new recording of Brahms Cello Sonatas on the Casals cello, Bloch’s Schelomo with the Bucharest Philharmonic, a return visit as a soloist to the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and a European tour as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Soloists. Peled also performs this season with the Apollo Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia, and Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. Recent career highlights include Bach Suite cycles in the United States, Europe, and Israel; a Naxos release with the Tempest Trio; a debut collaboration with the Peabody Chamber Orchestra led by Maestra Marin Alsop; performances of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Penderecki’s Second Cello Concerto conducted by the legendary Krzysztof Penderecki himself; Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata recorded on the Casals cello; and a worldwide musical celebration of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Cello and Piano to commemorate the composer’s 250th anniversary.
The Amit Peled Peabody Peled Cello Gang is composed of students from Peled's studio at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught since 2003 and was one of the youngest professors ever at a major conservatory. Peled is also the founder, conductor, and artistic director of the Mt. Vernon Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra dedicated to launching the careers of recently graduated music students, which this year performs a three-program season in Washington DC, Virginia, and New York.
Peled has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras and in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, and Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium. Of his enthusiastically received Alice Tully Hall concert debut performing the Hindemith Cello Concerto, The New York Times wrote that Peled produces a "glowing tone, a seductive timbre and an emotionally pointed approach to phrasing that made you want to hear him again."
Peled’s extensive discography includes critically acclaimed CDs on the Naxos, Centaur, CAP, CTM, and Delos Labels.
As an active chamber musician, Peled is a founding member of the famed Tempest Trio with pianist Alon Goldstein and violinist Ilya Kaler. Peled frequently performs and gives master classes at prestigious summer music festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Schleswig Holstein and Euro Arts Festivals in Germany, Gotland Festival in Sweden, Prussia Cove Festival in England, The Violoncello Forum in Spain, and KeshetEilon Festival in Israel, among others.
Participant of the festival in 2014, 2015, 2017.

Frederieke SAEIJS (Violin, the Netherlands)
Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs drew international attention by winning the 2005 Long- Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris. After taking away the First Grand Prize as well as several special distinctions, she received concert invitations from all over the world.
Saeijs's engagements as a soloist have included those with prestigious orchestras such as the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra The Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. She worked with such inspiring conductors as Jonathan Darlington, Antony Hermus, Neeme Jaervi, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Friedemann Layer, Aleksandar Markovic, Christoph Poppen, Vassily Sinaiski, Vladimir Spivakov and Jaap van Zweden.
Concert tours have brought Ms Saeijs to North and South America, Asia, the Middle East and many countries in Europe. She performed live for Radio France in Montpellier and Paris, for Radio Suisse Romande in Switzerland and for Radio 4 in The Netherlands. Passionate about making chamber music, Saeijs regularly performs together with Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze and Serbian cellist Maja Bogdanovic as the Arosa Trio. The trio made several tours, with as highlights their engagements in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Tonhalle D?sseldorf, as well as their performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Bergische Symphoniker.
Furthermore she is Associate Artist of the Quantum Ensemble, the resident chamber music group of the Auditorio de Tenerife.
Frederieke Saeijs was Artist in Residence at both the Dr. Anton Philips Hall in The Hague and the Dutch Music Summer. To the Canadian Festival of the Sound she was invited as Stockey Young Artist.
Also she had the honor to perform Bach's Chaconne in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands at the Royal Palace in The Hague. The Naxos Label released a CD with violin sonatas by Ravel, Respighi and Granados, recorded with pianist Maurice Lammerts van Bueren. For Linn Records she recorded the 6 sonatas for violin solo by Eugene Ysaye.
Besides performing, Ms Saeijs is dedicated to teaching young talented musicians. Currently she is professor of violin at the Centro Superior Katarina Gurska in Madrid. Previously she was a member of the Faculty at the Royal Conservatoire in her hometown The Hague, and at the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio in Madrid. Ms Saeijs was invited to teach violin master classes across Europe, in Asia and the USA.
For the German organization Rhapsody in School she regularly visits German elementary and secondary schools to teach and play together with the students.
Also, she served as a member of the jury in The Netherlands at the Princess Christina Competition and the Davina van Wely Violin competition.
She is ambassador to the Foundation 2cu ("to see you"). This foundation aims to raise awareness for people with Profound Intellectual & Multiple Disabilities (PIMD), and to improve the quality of their lives as well as that of their families.
Ms Saeijs plays the Ex-Reine-Elisabeth violin by Pietro Guarneri (Venice, 1725), kindly lent to her by the Dutch National Foundation for Musical Instruments.

Petr LAUL (Piano, Russia)
Petr Laul was born into a musical family in St. Petersburg, Russia and received his education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with Prof. Alexander Sandler, and where he has since become a faculty member. He won the 3rd prize and special prize for the best Bach performance in the Bremen International Piano Competition in 1995 and again, in 1997, he won the 1st prize and special prize, this time for the best Schubert sonata performance. In addition to that, in 2000 he won 1st prize at the Scriabin International Piano Competition in Moscow and, in 2003, he was awarded the honorary medal "For achievements in the Arts" by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
PetrLaul has performed as a soloist with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Capella Orchestra, as well as numerous other Russian orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Maxim Shostakovich, Valery Gergiev, Vassily Sinaisky, EriKlas, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Nikolai Znaider and Nikolai Alexeev among others. He has also performed with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Dessau, the Bremerhaven and the Oldenburg Theatre Orchestras (Germany), the Brazilian National Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestras (Estonia) and the 'Les Siecles' (France) under Francois-Xavier Roth.
Petr Laul’s recital performances have taken him to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Halls, the Symphony Hall of the Mariinsky Theater, the Moscow Conservatory Halls, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall and the new Moscow International House of Music. Abroad he has performed in the Auditorium du Louvre, the Theatre de la Ville, Theatre du Chatelet and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, Salle Moliere and Opera Lyon, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vredenburg in Utrecht, Casino Basel, and other venues.
Mr. Laul is a consummate chamber musician. His chamber music partners include Dmitry Kouzov, Marc Coppey, Ilya Gringolts, Graf Mourja, Sergey Levitin, Valery Sokolov, Alexander Ghindin, Diemut Poppen, Francoise Groben, Gary Hoffmann, David Grimal, Laurent Korcia and Tedi Papavrami.
Petr Laul has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Aeon, Onyx, Naxos, Marquis Classics, Querstand, Integral Classics, King Records, Northern Flowers and numerous TV and Radio stations in Russia and abroad.
Participant of the festival in 2012, 2016, 2017.

Камерный оркестр SINGOLO ОRCHESTRA (Russia)
The ensemble was formed in 2009 on the initiative of cellist Nikita Zubarev. The orchestra consists of young musicians - laureates of Russian and international competitions, playing in various city ensembles.
The repertoire of the orchestra includes both masterpieces and world classical music compositions that are rarely performed and almost forgotten, often performed for the first time in Russia.
Since its foundation, the orchestra has given more than 100 concerts at the best venues of the city. Since 2011, the cello and conductor Alexander Rudin has closely collaborated with the orchestra, participating in many premieres in St. Petersburg. Since 2015, the band has been successfully performing in the New Year concerts of the Great Hall of the Philharmonic and has taken part in major charitable events.
Participant of the festival in 2018.

Yaroslav ZABOYARKIN (Russia)
He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory as a violinist and an opera and symphony conductor. At present he is playing in the Honored Ensemble of Russia of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
In 2010, he won the IX International Violin Competition in Gerardme (France) and the II International Chamber Ensemble Competition named after D.D. Shostakovich in Moscow. In 2012, he made his debut as a conductor with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra at the 16th International Competition of Conductors in Tokyo. In 2013 he became a permanent conductor of the youth chamber orchestra «Singolo Orchestra». In 2017 he was awarded a diploma at the International Competition of Conductors named after N. Rota in Italy and the title of laureate of the International Competition of Conductors named after G. Fitelberg (Katowice, Poland).
Participant of the festival in 2018.

The requirements have changed. Whoever is playing chamber music today can’t be limited to the rules from decades ago. The expectations regarding the diversity of repertoire have changed, which creates room for ensembles like the Faure Quartet, which has established itself as one of the world’s leading piano quartets within just a few years. Dirk Mommertz (piano), Erika Geldsetzer (violin), Sascha Frombling (viola) and Konstantin Heidrich (cello) use the opportunities arising from these developments. They discover new sound fields in chamber music and perform compositions outside the mainstream repertoire.
They are visionary in their approach and highly regarded for their experiments and discoveries; be it performances with the NDR Big Band, collaborations with artists like Rufus Wainwright or Sven Helbig, appearances in clubs like the Berghain, Cocoon Club or 'Le Poisson Rouge' in New York or TV shows in KIKA or 'Rhapsody in School', getting children excited in chamber music. When they released their album 'Popsongs' in 2009, there was a great deal of buzz in the press and audience. In the following year, the ensemble was awarded the ECHO Classic for their album 'classic beyond borders', their second award after their recording of Brahms’ piano quartets (Chamber Music recording of the year, 2008). Other prizes include the German Music Competition, the ensemble prize from Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, international competition and recording awards, Music Prize Duisburg and Brahms prize Schleswig Holstein.
The musicians of the Faure Quartet are pioneers in many ways. After they met during their studies in 1995 in Karlsruhe for the 150th anniversary of Gabriel Faure, they quickly realized, that this combination offered new insights into undiscovered repertoire. In 2006, they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, promoting them to the Champions League of the classic music business. They made highly regarded benchmark-recordings with works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and pop songs from Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan. Sony Classical has just released works from Mahler and Richard Strauss.
Worldwide tours raise their profile abroad and international masterclasses are part of their work with students. The members teach at the universities of Berlin and Munich. Moreover, they were Artistic Directors of 'Festspielfr?hlingR?gen' and are ‘Quartet in Residence’ at the University of Music Karlsruhe. During their tours, the musicians appear in the world’s most important chamber music venues; including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berlin Philharmony, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires and Wigmore Hall London. All these mosaics form a unique profile for this defining chamber music ensemble.
Participant of the festival in 2011, 2017.

Frederieke SAEIJS (Violin, the Netherlands)
Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs drew international attention by winning the 2005 Long- Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris. After taking away the First Grand Prize as well as several special distinctions, she received concert invitations from all over the world.
Saeijs's engagements as a soloist have included those with prestigious orchestras such as the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra The Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. She worked with such inspiring conductors as Jonathan Darlington, Antony Hermus, Neeme Jaervi, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Friedemann Layer, Aleksandar Markovic, Christoph Poppen, Vassily Sinaiski, Vladimir Spivakov and Jaap van Zweden.
Concert tours have brought Ms Saeijs to North and South America, Asia, the Middle East and many countries in Europe. She performed live for Radio France in Montpellier and Paris, for Radio Suisse Romande in Switzerland and for Radio 4 in The Netherlands. Passionate about making chamber music, Saeijs regularly performs together with Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze and Serbian cellist Maja Bogdanovic as the Arosa Trio. The trio made several tours, with as highlights their engagements in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Tonhalle D?sseldorf, as well as their performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Bergische Symphoniker.
Furthermore she is Associate Artist of the Quantum Ensemble, the resident chamber music group of the Auditorio de Tenerife.
Frederieke Saeijs was Artist in Residence at both the Dr. Anton Philips Hall in The Hague and the Dutch Music Summer. To the Canadian Festival of the Sound she was invited as Stockey Young Artist.
Also she had the honor to perform Bach's Chaconne in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands at the Royal Palace in The Hague. The Naxos Label released a CD with violin sonatas by Ravel, Respighi and Granados, recorded with pianist Maurice Lammerts van Bueren. For Linn Records she recorded the 6 sonatas for violin solo by Eugene Ysaye.
Besides performing, Ms Saeijs is dedicated to teaching young talented musicians. Currently she is professor of violin at the Centro Superior Katarina Gurska in Madrid. Previously she was a member of the Faculty at the Royal Conservatoire in her hometown The Hague, and at the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio in Madrid. Ms Saeijs was invited to teach violin master classes across Europe, in Asia and the USA.
For the German organization Rhapsody in School she regularly visits German elementary and secondary schools to teach and play together with the students.
Also, she served as a member of the jury in The Netherlands at the Princess Christina Competition and the Davina van Wely Violin competition.
She is ambassador to the Foundation 2cu ("to see you"). This foundation aims to raise awareness for people with Profound Intellectual & Multiple Disabilities (PIMD), and to improve the quality of their lives as well as that of their families.
Ms Saeijs plays the Ex-Reine-Elisabeth violin by Pietro Guarneri (Venice, 1725), kindly lent to her by the Dutch National Foundation for Musical Instruments.

Amit PELED (Cello, Israel)
Israeli cellist Amit Peled, a musician of profound artistry and charismatic stage presence, is acclaimed worldwide as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. At 6'5" tall, Peled started life as a basketball player and was called "larger than life" and "Jacqueline du Pre in a farmer's body" when he enveloped his cello. From 2012 through 2018, Peled performed on the Pablo Casals 1733 Goffriller cello, which was loaned to him personally by Casals’ widow, Marta Casals Istomin.
Highlights of Peled’s 2018-2019 season include performances of the Saint-Sa?ns cello concerto at the Kennedy Center, performances of the Penderecki cello concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic as part of the composer’s 85th birthday celebration, a return to the Ravinia Festival in celebration of Peled’s new recording of Brahms Cello Sonatas on the Casals cello, Bloch’s Schelomo with the Bucharest Philharmonic, a return visit as a soloist to the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and a European tour as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Soloists. Peled also performs this season with the Apollo Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia, and Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. Recent career highlights include Bach Suite cycles in the United States, Europe, and Israel; a Naxos release with the Tempest Trio; a debut collaboration with the Peabody Chamber Orchestra led by Maestra Marin Alsop; performances of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Penderecki’s Second Cello Concerto conducted by the legendary Krzysztof Penderecki himself; Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata recorded on the Casals cello; and a worldwide musical celebration of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Cello and Piano to commemorate the composer’s 250th anniversary.
The Amit Peled Peabody Peled Cello Gang is composed of students from Peled's studio at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught since 2003 and was one of the youngest professors ever at a major conservatory. Peled is also the founder, conductor, and artistic director of the Mt. Vernon Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra dedicated to launching the careers of recently graduated music students, which this year performs a three-program season in Washington DC, Virginia, and New York.
Peled has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras and in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, and Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium. Of his enthusiastically received Alice Tully Hall concert debut performing the Hindemith Cello Concerto, The New York Times wrote that Peled produces a "glowing tone, a seductive timbre and an emotionally pointed approach to phrasing that made you want to hear him again."
Peled’s extensive discography includes critically acclaimed CDs on the Naxos, Centaur, CAP, CTM, and Delos Labels.
As an active chamber musician, Peled is a founding member of the famed Tempest Trio with pianist Alon Goldstein and violinist Ilya Kaler. Peled frequently performs and gives master classes at prestigious summer music festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Schleswig Holstein and Euro Arts Festivals in Germany, Gotland Festival in Sweden, Prussia Cove Festival in England, The Violoncello Forum in Spain, and KeshetEilon Festival in Israel, among others.
Participant of the festival in 2014, 2015, 2017.

Miki AOKI (Piano, Japan)
Praised for 'genuinely memorable performance' by BBC Music Magazine, pianist Miki Aoki iswidely recognized for her diverse abilities as pianist and as a collaborative artist.
Ms. Aoki is recording exclusively for German Label H?nsslerProfil. Her debut album of ZoltanKodaly's piano works was released in the fall of 2011 and won critical acclaim. The second CD, The Belyayev Project, featuring fascinating compositions varying from solo piano works by Liadow, Glazunov and Blumenfeld and the piano Trio by Rimsky-Korsakov was released in 2013. Her newest recording Tokyo Story will be released in 2018.
A frequent guest artist of prestigious concert series and festivals around the world, Ms. Aoki hasperformed on the stages of St. Martin-in-the Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, the Royal FestivalHall and the Purcell Room at South Bank Centre, the Barbican Centre, Blackheath Halls (UK),Laeizhalle Hamburg, GasteigMu?nchen, Philharmonie Essen, Beethovenssal Hannover (Germany), Philia Hall, Munetsugu Hall (Japan), Wiener-Saal (Austria), St.Petersburg Philharmonic Hall(Russia) as well as in festivals such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Salzburger Festspiele, Rheingau Festival (Germany), Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), International Chamber Music Festival Silver Lyre (Russia), Beaulieu-sur-la Mer (France), Valdres Festival (Norway), and others.
Ms. Aoki has performed as soloist with National Symphony, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Camerata, Washington Sinfonietta and Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico. The legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman invited Ms. Aoki to his Chamber Music festival in Long Island, USA in 2006.
Highlights of the previous season include a solo tour in South Africa as well as chamber music performances at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Munetsugu Hall in Nagoya, and a solorecital at Philia Hall Yokohama.
As a collaborative pianist Ms. Aoki has been invited by Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia, International Summer Academy Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), Mattheiser Sommer-Akademie, International Summer Academy Bad Leondfelden, International Mendelssohn Summer School, International Violin Masterclasses at Kronberg Academy and KONTUREN Bru?hl (Germany). Ms. Aoki regularly plays for masterclasses of internationally renowned musicians including Yuri Bashmet, Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Tetzlaff, Maxim Vengerov and Tabea Zimmermann. Ms. Aoki is a faculty pianist at the prestigious Kronberg Academy in Germany.
As a devoted educator, Ms Aoki has served as a faculty member at major European institutions including Hochschulefuer Music und Theater Hamburg (Germany) and Conservatoire de Lausanne (Switzerland). From 2012-2016 Ms Aoki worked full-time as a Senior Lecturer in Collaborative Piano at Kunstuniversit?t Graz in Austria.
Ms. Aoki moved to London at age 9 where she joined the Purcell School of Music. She holds degrees from Indiana University and Yale University. In 2007 Ms. Aoki obtained a distinction in the Konzertexamen degree at Hochschulefu?rMusik und Theater Hamburg.(MitAuszeichnung). Her main teachers were Roshan Magub, James Gibb, Reiko Neriki, Gyoergy Seboek, Boris Berman and Evgeni Koroliov. Ms. Aoki is currently a teaching assistant at SUNY Stony Brook in New York where she is pursuing DMA under the guidance of Gilbert Kalish. Participant of the festival in 2015, 2017.

Mayuko KAMIO (Violin, Japan)
Japanese violinist Mayuko Kamio, the gold medalist of the 2007 International Tchaikovsky Competition, is widely praised for her luxurious silken tone, long expressive phrasing and virtuoso techniques.
Ms. Kamio made her concerto debut in Tokyo at the age of ten under the baton of Charles Dutoit, in a concert broadcast on NHK television. Since then, she has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich with Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Recent engagement highlights include a return to the Vancouver Symphony and performances with the Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, and the Saratov Philharmonic.
Kamio’s previous seasons included guest appearances with the Brevard Music Festival, Huntsville Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Nihon Philharmonic, Symphony Silicon Valley, Seattle Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and others. She has toured with the National Philharmonic of Russia conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer, the Munich Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, the Prague Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and the Oviedo Symphony Orchestra of Spain. She has appeared in Japan as soloist with the Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, NHK, Osaka, Sapporo and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras; and the Japan, Tokyo and Tokyo Cityphilharmonics. She has toured with the Israel Philharmonic under LudovicMorlot, in South America with the Munich Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, and in Japan with the German SWR Symphony Orchestra under Francois-Xavier Roth.
The youngest artist ever to win the Menuhin International Violin Competition, Ms. Kamio performed with the Orchestra National de Lille, with Menuhin conducting. She was awarded first prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and received the first Monte Carlo Violin Masters Competition medal. She also garnered the gold medal at the first International David Oistrakh Violin Competition in Ukraine.
She has released four recordings on the SONY and BMG labels, a sonata recording of Franck, Brahms and Strauss, a concerto recording of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev Concerti, a collection of violin solo works with piano of Chausson, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Waxman and Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin.
Ms. Kamio was born in Osaka, Japan and began to play the violin at the age of four. Her early teachers were Chikako Satoya, MachieOguri and Chihiro Kudo, and she worked with Koichiro Harada at the Toho GakuenSchool of Music. She studied in the U.S. with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki at the Aspen Music Festival and in the pre-college division of The Juilliard School. She completed artist's diploma studies at the Hochschule fur Musikund Theater in Zurich, where she worked with ZakharBron. MayukoKamio plays on the 1731 "Rubinoff" made by Antonio Stradivari, kindly offered by the Munetsugu collection in Tokyo. Participant of the festival in 2011.

Miroslav KULTYSHEV (Piano, Russia)
Miroslav Kultyshev was born in 1985 in Saint Petersburg. Нe finished Secondary Special Musical school of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (under prof. Z. Zuker) and St. Petersburg State Conservatory (piano department, under prof. A. Sandler).He began his concert activity at the age of 6. When he was 10 he made a debut in Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, playing Concerto in d-moll by Mozart, conductor Yu. Temirkanov.
He is prizewinner of numerous International competitions and festivals such as: International Foundation of Heidens (1993), A Step to Mastery (1995), Traditions and Modern Time (Grand Prix) (1995), The International Festival named after G. Neuhaus (1998), Virtuosos of 2000 (1999), Grand Prix Hope of Russia (2000), The National Youth Prize Triumph (Moscow, 2001), The Golden medal and the first place of International Youth Delphic Games (Ukraine, Kiev, 2005). He is grant holder of the International Charitable program New Names (1998); the International Charitable Foundation of Yu. Bashmet (1999).
Participated in the International Musical Festivals: Elba-Musical Island of Europe (Italy, 1997, 2003), Petersburg Musical Spring (2002), Kissinger Sommer (Germany, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006), Mecklenburg FestspieleVorpommern (Germany, 2006). Miroslav participated in the programs of the International Charitable Foundation of V. Spivakov.
In 2006 M.Kultyshev took part in master-classes by prof. M. Voskresensky and prof. K.-H. Kaemmerling in International Holland Music Sessions.
Miroslav Kultyshev played with such conductors as: V. Ashkenazy, Y. Bashmet, K. Orbelian, V. Sinaysky and others. Tours in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Tschechien, Slovakia, Great Britain, USA, Holland, Lietuva, Ukraine.
In 2005 for concert activities Miroslav Kultyshev was awarded by the Greif Orden. In 2007 he awarded the II prize and silver medal at the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow).
Participant of the festival in 2011, 2018.

Sebastian GUERTLER (Violin, Austria)
Sebastian Guertler was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1969. He studied with Helmut Zehetmair, Corrado Romano, Ernst Kovacic and Philippe Hirschhorn and is considered to be one of the most versatile violinists of our time.
Between 1997 and 2008, he served as the first concertmaster in the orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper. During that time, he founded the famous "Amarcord Wien" ensemble in 2000.
In 2005 he joined the renowned Hugo Wolf string quartet as first violin. He founded the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien in 2016, and last but not least joined the crossover group "Philharmonix-The Vienna Berlin Music Club" in 2017.
Sebastian is also endowed with a strong comic talent that he has put to work in several comedy shows with Aleksey Igudesman, such as "The Cyberconductor" or "Tandem".
With his Trio "The Flying Schnortzenbrekkers", he takes his audience on a rather hilarious absurd-dadaistic and nonetheless virtuoso musical journey.
A consummate arranger, he is very active in arranging the music played by the ensembles he is part of and his work is distinctively fresh, elegant, engaging and innovative. His highly acclaimed arrangements and compositions were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, Material Records and other prominent labels.
In 2019 a feature documentary on Philharmonix will air on the French-German cultural channel ARTE, at the same time as the release of Vol. 2 of their album "The Vienna Berlin Music Club" on Deutsche Grammophon. The debut recording of the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien for Deutsche Grammophon is scheduled for 2020.
With his various ensembles, Sebastian Gurtler holds concert series in the Wiener Musikverein and the Wiener Konzerthaus and regularly performs in the most prestigious venues all around the world.
He plays a violin by Nicolo Amati, Cremona 1654 as well as a modern instrument by Roland Schueler, Vienna 2018.
Participant of the festival in 2011, 2013, 2018.

Georg BREINSCHMID (Double Bass, Austria)
Georg Breinschmid was born in 1973 and lives in Vienna. He is one of the leading Austrian jazz musicians on the international stage.
Breinschmid studied classical double bass at Vienna`s music university; at the same time he was also active as jazz musician.
He joined the Tonkunstlerorchester Niederosterreich from 1994­96 and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from 1996­98, but decided then to turn his back on his orchestral career and dedicate himself to his passion for improvised music.
Since 1999 he established himself as one of the most versatile and virtuoso bassists of the international jazz scene. Among many others he collaborated with Archie Shepp, Charlie Mariano, Kenny Wheeler, Bireli Lagrene, Triology and Megablast. He was resident double bass player of the Vienna Art Orchestra from 1999 until 2006. From 2003 on, Georg Breinschmid was increasingly active as composer and bandleader. Numerous CD productions like "Wien bleibt Krk" (2008) or the double albums "Brein’s World" (2010) and "Double Brein" (2014) received rave reviews in Europe as well as overseas. Important artistic collaborations include trumpeter Thomas Gansch, violinists Benjamin Schmid and Aleksey Igudesman, the brothers Frantisek and Roman Janoska, accordionist Stian Carstensen, pianist Antoni Donchev, The Flying Schn?rtzenbrekkers, arranger Tscho Theissing and many others. In 2010 the trio Brein`s Cafe performed at the opening of Vienna Festival in front of a worldwide TV audience of millions. 2014 foundation of the quartet Strings & Bass together with violinist Florian Willeitner. He won the Hans Koller Award twice ("CD of the year" 2002, "Newcomer of the year" 2003). From 2012 to 2015, Georg was nominated four times consecutively for the Amadeus Austrian Music Award (category Jazz/World/Blues). His unorthodox compositions at the interface between Jazz, classical and viennese music are considered as one of the most interesting developments in contemporary music. His works are being performed by ensembles like The Philharmonics, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Amarcord Wien, Bass Instinct and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In 2011 Breinschmid presented for the first time a full-­length program of his compositions with symphony orchestra and jazztrio, with Tonkunstlerorchester Niederosterreich. Numerous orchestral performances of his music follow, among others with Hongkong Sinfonietta,
Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg, Moravia Virtuosi, Brno Philharmonic, W?rttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck and Brucknerorchester Linz. He also writes commissioned works, a.o. for the ensembles Faltenradio, The Clarinotts, Matthias Schorn (principal clarinetist of Vienna Philharmonic), Sonus Brass and many others.
Participant of the festival in 2018.

Tommaso HUBER (Accordion, Austria)
Tommaso Huber was born in a little village, Putzleinsdorf, in the north of Austria. He began to play accordion at the age of eight years. His father, who was a very talented musician without any musical education, was his first teacher.
In 1983 Tommaso Huber entranced to the "Linzer Musikgymnasium" an began to study double bass at the Brucknerkonservatorium Linz. After finishing school he settled over to Vienna, where he began his double bass-masterstudies in the classes of Ludwig Streicher and Josef Niederhammer at the Vienna Music University, which he finished with the Diploma in 1996. From 1996 to 2000 he studied with Johannes Auersperg at the University in Graz.
After a successful audition in 2000 he was engaged in the Orchestra of the Volksoper in Vienna, where he ist playing as a double bassist since then. Also in 2000 he founded together with Sebastian Gurtler, Gerhard Muthspiel and Michael Williams "Amarcord Wien", and in 2008 together with Georg Breinschmid and Sebastian Guertler "The Flying Schnortzenbrekkers". In both ensembles he is playing the accordion.
Tommaso Huber is an all-round musician, who is composing, arranging and performing music. He was teaching for several years in masterclasses for classical music an traditional Austrian folk music.
He also made an education as a violinmaker, specialized for double basses, in the workshop of Konrad Stoll in Bavaria/Germany. He has built already a respectable number of instruments which are played by professionalbassplayers in Vienna, Switzerland and Germany.
Participant of the festival in 2011.

PIANO TRIO
OF THE SAINT PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY (Russia)
The trio was founded in 2013. One of its features is the focus on the works of Russian composers. Last season, the band took part in the large-scale project «Russian Piano Trio», the concerts were held in the Small Hall named after M.I. Glinka.
In addition to many foreign composers, the band’s repertoire includes piano trios of Alyabyev, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Arensky, Katuar, Shostakovich, Babadzhanyan. In 2016, the musicians recorded a CD with the trio of Arensky and Babadzhanyan.
Currently, the team is actively involved in the musical life of St. Petersburg, performing at the best concert halls of the city.
Participant of the festival in 2017.

Dmitry PAVLIY (Piano, Russia)
He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and did postgraduate studies (class of L.M. Zaichik). He was a grant-holder of the funds «Young talents of St. Petersburg», «Palaces of St. Petersburg» and «Wagner Society» (Bayreuth).
He is a laureate of International Competitions, a winner of more than ten diplomas in the nomination «Best accompanist». He took part in the master classes of Lev Naumov, Vladimir Mishchuk, Andrey Diev, Mikhail Voskresensky.
He gives a lot of concerts in Russia and abroad as a soloist, accompanist and as a member of various chamber ensembles.
He teaches at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. At the same time, he works as a leading accompanist at the vocal faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (class of T.D. Novichenko).
Participant of the festival in 2017.

Igor ZOLOTAREV (Violin, Russia)
He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and did postgraduate studies (class of A.M. Kazarina). He is a laureate of the competition named after A.K. Glazunov (Paris, 2003).
He is a musician of the Honored Ensemble of Russia of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society (art director and chief conductor is Yu.H. Temirkanov).
He is a concertmaster and a soloist of the Youth Chamber Singolo Orchestra. He gives a lot of concerts as a soloist and participates in various chamber ensembles. Participant of the festival in 2017.

Nikita ZUBAREV (Cello, Russia)
He is a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (class of A.P. Nikitin) and a laureate of various International competitions. He participated in the master classes of A. Rudin, T. Gadamovich, G. Schiffen (Germany).
He is a musician of the Honored Ensemble of Russia of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society (art director and chief conductor is Yu.H. Temirkanov). He actively participates in the concert life of St. Petersburg as a soloist and ensemble player, and regularly performs at various festivals.
He is a founder and artistic director of the Youth Chamber Singolo Orchestra. He organized a lot of premieres of cello compositions of K. Stamitz, A. Vivaldi, L. Hoffman, D. Zipoli for cello and orchestra.
Participant of the festival in 2017.

Roberta MAMELI (Soprano, Italy)
Born in Rome, Roberta Mameli graduated in singing and in violin at the Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza, followed by master classes with Bernadette Manca di Nissa, Ugo Benelli, Konrad Richter, Claudio Desderi and Enzo Dara.
She is regularly invited to perform at the most important opera houses and venues: Konzerthaus and Theateran der Wien, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Cite de la Musique in Paris, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Teatro La Pergola in Florence, Auditorium of Lyon, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, TeatroRegio in Turin, Victoria Hall in Geneva.
She collaborates with conductors such as Jordi Savall, Daniele Callegari, Christopher Hogwood, Diego Fasolis, Jeffrey Tate, Fabio Biondi, Claudio Abbado, Federico Maria Sardelli, and others.
Much in demand for Early Music repertoire, Roberta works with several ensembles on period instruments such as ComplessoBarocco, Capella Cracoviensis, AccademiaBizantina, Le Concert des Nations, La Venexiana, Modo Antiquo, Europa Galante, StuttgarterKammerorchester, I Barocchisti, Cappella Mediterranea, L’Arte del Mondo.
One of the finest Monteverdi interpreters of her generation, she performs Nerone and Poppea in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Minerva in Il Ritorno di Ulisse in patria, La Musica and Euridice in L’Orfeo. Roberta Mameli has appeared in numerous Baroque operas including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Belinda) and Vivaldi’s Catone in Utica (Cesare); Handel’s Orlando (Angelica), Alcina (Morgana) and Serse (Atlanta). Among her Mozart roles are Vitellia, Dorabella, Susanna, Donna Elvira and Aminta.
Her discography contains L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Na?ve), Il Ritornod’Ulisse in patria by Monteverdi; Artemisia by Cavalli (Glossa); Il Diamante by Zelenka (Nibiru); La Scola de’ gelosi by Salieri (Sony DHM) and the following works by Vivaldi: Teuzzone, Orlando Furioso 1714 (Na?ve), Il Farnace, L’Incoronazione di Dario (Dynamic) and other music.
Recent and future projects include among others Mozart’s Re Pastore (Aminta) at La Fenice and La Clemenza di Tito (Vitellia) at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Handel’s Ariodante (Ginerva) at the Drottningholm Festival; Rameau’s IndesGalantes (Amour et Za?re) in Geneva.
Participant of the festival in 2014.

Olga PASHCHENKO (Piano, Russia)
Olga Pashchenko is one of today’s most versatile keyboard performers on the international stage. Equally at home on organ, harpsichord, forte and contemporary piano, she exudes a dynamic and passionate virtuosity through her colorful and highly sensitive performances of works ranging from baroque to contemporary.
From Bach and Beethoven on historical instruments to Ligeti on contemporary piano, Olga enjoys a busy and eclectic concert career as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She is a regular guest at early and contemporary music festivals alike, including the Utrecht Early Music Festival where she was Artist in Residence in 2016, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, the Festival Musiq’3 in Brussels, the fortepiano festivals of Amsterdam, the Maggio Musicale Florence and fortepiano series of Milan and Padua, AMUZ Antwerp, Concertgebouw Bruges and the Cit? de la Musique in Paris where she made her debut in 2016.
As a concerto soloist, Olga has performed with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, musicAeterna with TeodorCurrentzis, MeiningerHofkapelle, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and with Alexei Lubimov and Collegium 1704 under Vaclav Luks at the Chopin Festival, Warsaw and at the RSO Festival, Helsinki with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. Her chamber music partners include Alexander Melnikov, EvgenySviridov, Dmitry Sinkovsky and Erik Bosgraaf.
Olga has been Hausmusikerin at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn since 2012, where she gives regular recitals in the series Bongasse 20: music from Beethoven’s time. An exclusive recording artist for Alpha Classics, Olga has released several critically acclaimed recordings.
Olga was born in Moscow in 1986 and began her musical studies at the age of 6 at the Gnessin School of Music with Tatiana Zelikman, giving her first piano recital in New York at the age of 9. She continued her studies at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory studying forte and modern piano with Alexei Lubimov, harpsichord with Olga Martynova and organ with Alexei Schmitov before finishing her studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Richard Egarr in 2014.
In 2017, she was appointed as a Professor at the Sweelinck Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Royal Conservatory of Ghent.

Xavier De MAISTRE (Harp, France)
Born in Toulon, Xavier de Maistre studied the harp with Vassilia Briano at his local conservatoire, before perfecting his technique with Catherine Michel and Jacqueline Borot in Paris. He also studied in Sciences-Po Paris and then at the London School of Economics. In 1998 he was awarded the first prize (and two interpretation prizes) at the prestigious USA International Harp Competition (Bloomington), and in the same year he became the first French musician to be admitted at the Wiener Philharmoniker.
As a soloist Xavier performs under the baton of many conductors, among which Sir Andre Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Philippe Jordan, Kristjan Jarvi, Bertrand de Billy, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Daniel Harding and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla. He was recently invited by important orchestras such as Chicago, Montreal, Sao Paulo Symphony orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; London and China Philhamonic orchestras; Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester Hamburg, Gurzenich-Orchester Koln, Mozarteum orchester Salzburg, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He also performed in recitals at KKL Lucerne, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Boulez Saal in Berlin and on the main stage of Hamburg Elbphilharmonie.
In addition, he plays in major festivals: Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Salzburger Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Verbier Festival, Spring Festival in Budapest, Wurzburg Mozartfest, Mostly Mozart in New York. Passionate about chamber music, he performs with Diana Damrau, Daniel Muller-Schott, BaibaSkride, Antoine Tamestit, Mojca Erdmann, Magali Mosnier.
In 2008 Xavier de Maistrebecamean exclusive Sony Music artist and recorded his first album "Nuit d'Etoiles", dedicated to Debussy. Echo Klassik Award subsequently awardedhim Instrumentalist of the Year. "Hommage a Haydn" (2009) and "Aranjuez" (2010) followed, performed with Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bertrand de Billy. "NotteVeneziana" (2012) was dedicated to the important pieces of the baroque repertoire. 2013 saw the release of a DVD of his performance with Diana Damrau in Baden-Baden, and a recording of Mozart’s Concerto for piano No 9 KV459, with Mozarteum Salzburg under the baton of Ivor Bolton. After "Moldau" (2015), a mix of solo harp pieces of the Slavic repertoire, Xavier recorded "Music from the court of Marie-Antoinette" with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie.
In March 2018 he launcheda duo album with legendary Lucero Tena (castanets) in a program solely revolving around Spanish repertoire.
Since 2001 Xavier teaches at Musikhochschule Hamburg.
Xavier de Maistre plays on a Lyon-Healy instrument.
Participant of the festival in 2012, 2014.

SOLOISTS OF SAINT PETERSBURG Chamber Ensemble (Russia)
The chamber ensemble "Soloists of St. Petersburg" (the artistic director of the ensemble is Mikhail Gantvarg, People's Artist of Russia) was created in 1987 as a creative community of talented young musicians. Despite their young age these musicians had already been mature and successful both in solo and collaborative performances with other ensembles and leading symphony and chamber orchestras of St. Petersburg.
The ensemble's repertoire is rather extensive. Its diversity reveals the creative tastes of the artistic director and his musicians. Most frequently, they perform the "golden" compositions of Baroque and Renaissance music (Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel, Bach, Pergolesi), works of The FirstViennese School (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), and the masterpieces of the Musical Romanticism (Rossini, Grieg, Tchaikovsky).
Works of outstanding Russian and foreign composers of the 20-th century (Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bartok, Barber, and Britten) occupy a special place in the ensemble's repertoire. The musicians always try to show their audience the examples of contemporary music and, in particular, the works of the composers coming from their home-city (among the works presented by the ensemble there are compositions by Petrov, Arapov, Korchmr and Gekker).
Ensemble performs not only on the leading stages of St. Petersburg but also go on tours in different Russian cities and foreign countries. They also quite often appear on prestigious international festivals, such as festivals held in the US, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Finland, former Yugoslavia, Italy, Hungary, Luxemburg, Israel, and Cyprus.
"Soloists of St. Petersburg" has released about 30 CD's under different Russian and foreign labels. Among their CD's there are such impressive recordings as the recording of all Mozart's violin and piano concertos, magnificent Vivaldi's cycles (L'estroarmonico, La Stravaganza, Le quattrostagioni (The Four Seasons)), a unique in its performing complexity The Grosse Fugeby Beethoven, Rossini's set of six sonatas for four stringed instruments, the recording of Bach's concertos, and so on.
Such things as personal feelings, the unity of the creative interests and, of course, the personality of their leader Mikhail Gantvarg, People's Artist of Russia and Professor of The Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Head of Violin and Viola Department, brought together the musicians in their aspiration to perform music.
Participant of the festival in 2010.

Mikhail GANTVARG (Artistic Director, Violin, Russia)
For the last few decades, People's Artist of Russia and the leading violinist of Saint Petersburg Mikhail Gantvarg has been a very notable and distinctive figure in St. Petersburg music life. By the time the chamber ensemble "Soloists of Saint Petersburg" was created, Mikhail Gantvarg had already been a famous mature musician with his own creative outlook and performance style. Being one of the successors of the legendary St. Petersburg violin school, he is doing his best not to lose its traditions. At the same time, it does not prevent him from seeking something new all the time. Quite often he comes to very bold unorthodox and sometimes even paradoxical performance solutions.
Mikhail Gantvarg always implements his main creative ideas with his colleagues, the musicians of the chamber ensemble "Soloists of Saint Petersburg". For him, this ensemble can be compared to an integral creative organism, responsive to any manifestations of its leader's will.
Participant of the festival in 2010.

Ilya GRINGOLTS (Violin, Switzerland)
The Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts wins over audiences with his extremely virtuosic playing and sensitive interpretations, and is always looking for new musical challenges. As a sought-after soloist, he devotes himself to the great orchestral repertoire but also to contemporary and seldom-played works. Ilya Gringolts has performed with leading orchestras around the world such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, St. Petrsburg Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and many others.
After solo and duo appearances at the Verbier and MiTo Festivals, Ilya Gringolts starts the 2018/19 season far away from his adopted home of Switzerland: with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta he gives the Asian premiere of Michael Jarrell’s Violin Concerto and leads Locatelli’s Violin Concerto Il labirintoarmonicofrom the soloist position, and then gives a play-conduct program of works by Paganini, Vivaldi, Bach and Bart?k with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on tour to the five largest Australian cities.
This season he has also been invited to perform with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, OrquestraSinf?nica de Galicia and BernerSymphonieorchester as well as the Munich Chamber Orchestra and Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, performing works including world premieres by Albert Schnelzer and Nicolaus Richter de Vroe.
Ilya Gringolts is also first violinist of the Gringolts Quartet, which he founded in 2008 and which has enjoyed great success at the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Edinburgh Festival and Teatro La Fenice in Venice among others.
He has made numerous critically praised recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, BIS, Hyperion and Onyx, and received outstanding reviews for his recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin in 2013.
After studying violin and composition in St. Petrsburg, he attended the Juilliard School of Music where he studied with Itzhak Perlman. In 1998 he won the International Violin Competition Premio Paganini, as the youngest first prize winner in the history of the competition. As well as his position as violin professor at the Zurich Academy of the Arts, he is also a Violin International Fellow at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
Ilya Gringolts plays a Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesu" violin, Cremona 1742-43. Participant of the festival in 2012.

Dmitry KUOZOV (Cello, USA)
Dmitry Kuozov began playing the cello at the age of seven. When he was eleven years old, he entered The Secondary Special Music School of the St. Petrsburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov where he attended classes of Professor Mark Reizenshtock. In 1995, he continued his studies with Professor Victoria Yagling at The Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland). In 2005, he graduated from the postgraduate solo program at the Juilliard School in the classes of professors Joel Krosnick and Darret Adkins.
Mr. Kouzov is a laureate of the International Festival-Competition Virtuosi of the Year 2000, he has also awarded First Prize at the International Beethoven Competition in Prague. In 2005, he became a winner of the New York Cello Society Rising Star Award.
As a soloist and ensemble performer, he appears in such venues as Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall (New York), Krannert Center (Illinois), Kravis Center (Florida), and the Grand and Small Halls of the St. PetrsburgPhilharmonia. Mr. Kuozov also performs at major international festivals such as the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), and music festival in Provence (France).
As a chamber musician, Mr. Kouzov has collaborated with Krzysztof Penderecki, Joshua Bell, and Yuri Bashmet. In 2004, he created the Manhattan Piano Trio, with whom he tours extensively throughout the United States. For many years, Mr. Kuozov has been collaborating with Ilya Gringolts and PetrLaul. Since 2005, Dmitry Kouzov is deeply engaged in teaching activities. Until recently, he taught at the Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory in the US. Currently, Mr. Kouzov is an Assistant Professor of Cello at the University of Illinois.
Participant of the festival in 2012.

Petr LAUL (Piano, Russia)
Petr Laul was born into a musical family in St. Petersburg, Russia and received his education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with Prof. Alexander Sandler, and where he has since become a faculty member. He won the 3rd prize and special prize for the best Bach performance in the Bremen International Piano Competition in 1995 and again, in 1997, he won the 1st prize and special prize, this time for the best Schubert sonata performance. In addition to that, in 2000 he won 1st prize at the Scriabin International Piano Competition in Moscow and, in 2003, he was awarded the honorary medal "For achievements in the Arts" by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
PetrLaul has performed as a soloist with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Capella Orchestra, as well as numerous other Russian orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Maxim Shostakovich, Valery Gergiev, Vassily Sinaisky, EriKlas, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Nikolai Znaider and Nikolai Alexeev among others. He has also performed with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Dessau, the Bremerhaven and the Oldenburg Theatre Orchestras (Germany), the Brazilian National Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestras (Estonia) and the 'Les Siecles' (France) under Francois-Xavier Roth.
Petr Laul’s recital performances have taken him to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Halls, the Symphony Hall of the Mariinsky Theater, the Moscow Conservatory Halls, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall and the new Moscow International House of Music. Abroad he has performed in the Auditorium du Louvre, the Theatre de la Ville, Theatre du Chatelet and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, Salle Moliere and Opera Lyon, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vredenburg in Utrecht, Casino Basel, and other venues.
Mr. Laul is a consummate chamber musician. His chamber music partners include Dmitry Kouzov, Marc Coppey, Ilya Gringolts, Graf Mourja, Sergey Levitin, Valery Sokolov, Alexander Ghindin, Diemut Poppen, Francoise Groben, Gary Hoffmann, David Grimal, Laurent Korcia and Tedi Papavrami.
Petr Laul has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Aeon, Onyx, Naxos, Marquis Classics, Querstand, Integral Classics, King Records, Northern Flowers and numerous TV and Radio stations in Russia and abroad.
Participant of the festival in 2012, 2016, 2017.

Aleksandra DOVGAN (фортепиано, Россия)
Aleksandra Dogvan was born in 2007 to the family of musicians. She began playing piano at the age of 5. Currently, she is studying in the 6th grade at the Central Music School of Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of the Merited Teacher of the Russian Federation Mira Marchenko.Alexandra has won many international competitions among which arethe International Competition of Young Musicians (Moscow, 2016, the 1st prize and a special prize of the YAMAHA company), the Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition (Moscow, 2017, a special prize of The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia“Hope”), the International Nutcracker Young Television Contest (Moscow, 2017, Aleksandra is the laureate and winner of the special “Audience Award”), the International Grand Piano Competition (Moscow, 2018, the grand prix).
Dovgan receives scholarships from the Vladimir SpivakovFoundation, the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation, and the New Names Foundation. She has performed at the most famous venues in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Alexandra has shared the stage with many orchestras of Moscow and St. Petersburg conducted by V. Spivakov, V. Gergiev, A. Sladkovsky, V. Fedoseev, A. Chernushenko, N. Khodzinsky, A. Soloviev, D. Botinis, I. Gaysin, R. Calderon, V. Vorona, and P. Gerstein.
She has also taken part at such famous festivals as “Moscow Meets Friends”, the Festival international de Colmar (France), “The Stars of the White Nights”, “Faces of Modern Pianism”, and “Musical Olympus” in St. Petersburg, “Stars on the Baikal” (Irkutsk), and the festival the Russian Seasons in Venice in a duet with Vladimir Spivakov.
In addition, she performed at SPIEF-18 in the Catherine Palace in front of the Presidents of Russia, France and the Prime Minister of Japan. She also played the pianoin a duet with Denis Matsuev at the Cultural Forum at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. In 2019 she appeared at the opening of the "Russian seasons in Germany 2019” at the Berlin Philharmonic, where Valery Gergiev introduced Aleksandra to the German public. In May 2019, with the help of GrigorySokolov Aleksandra made her debut in Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in the Meesterpianisten series.