Guest Artists

Leticia Moreno, violinist

Recognised as a truly exciting and versatile violinist, Leticia Moreno “captivates audiences and critics alike with her natural charisma, virtuosity and deep interpretative force”.

She has appeared with the most renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Jarvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph Eschenbach, Yuri Temirkanov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Josep Pons, Juanjo Mena, Gustavo Gimeno, Peter Eötvös, and Andrey Boreyko amongst others.

She has also performed with leading orchestras such as Wiener Symphoniker, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Washington’s National Symphony, The Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, and is a regular guest with most of the major Spanish orchestras.

Leticia recently premiered Jimmy Lopez’ new violin concerto “Aurora”, with Houston Symphony Orchestra and Andres Orozco Estrada to critical acclaim. Last season she had her debut with NCPA Orchestra in Beijing conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra with Paavo Jarvi, Prague Spring Festival and Rostropovich Festival and returned to Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Gulbenkian Orchestra.

Leticia’s 2019/2020 season will see her debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Peter Eötvös as well as with NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo with Paavo Jarvi. Leticia will also perform with Mozarteum Orchestra and Andrey Boreyko, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie with Josep Pons, Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra in Moscow and San Carlo Theatre Orchestra as well.

As a keen recitalist and chamber musician, Leticia has collaborated alongside Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou, Kirill Gerstein, Alexander Ghindin, Lauma Skride, Mario Brunello, Leonard Elschenbroich, Ksenija Sidorova and Maxim Rysanov.

Leticia released her latest album Piazzolla on Deutsche Grammophon, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London and Emil Berliner Studio, Berlin with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Leticia has also recently recorded two CDs for Universal/Deutsche Grammophon: Spanish Landscapes – a study of Spanish Music (Sarasate, Lorca, Granados, Falla etc) and Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 with St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.

Leticia studied with Zakhar Bron, Maxim Vengerov and Mtislav Rostropovich at Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and Guildhall School in London, and was the youngest member of the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. Leticia Moreno has won international violin competitions such as Szeryng, Concertino Praga, Novosibirsk, Sarasate, Kreisler, as well as the being awarded with the Echo Rising Star.

Born in Spain of Peruvian descent, Leticia Moreno has developed strong ties with Latin America, especially with her country of origin where she returns every season to perform and which has as a corollary her recent World Premier of Jimmy Lopez’s new violin concerto “Aurora” in Houston and Lima. Leticia plays a 1762 Nicola Gagliano.

Jaime Laredo, violinist & conductor

Performing for over five decades before audiences across the globe, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since his stunning orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the San Francisco Symphony, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. That debut inspired one critic to write, “In the 1920’s it was Yehudi Menuhin; in the 1930’s it was Isaac Stern; and last night it was Jaime Laredo.” His education and development were greatly influenced by his teachers Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian, as well as by private coachings with eminent masters Pablo Casals and George Szell. At the age of seventeen, Jaime Laredo won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, launching his rise to international prominence. With 2009 marking the 50th anniversary of his prize, he was honored to sit on the Jury for the final round of the Competition.

The 2009-2010 season includes several conducting and solo engagements, appearing as conductor and soloist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and conducting the Vermont Symphony Orchestra with soloist Andre Watts. Mr. Laredo also regularly collaborates with his wife Sharon Robinson in concert. This season, they perform Richard Danielpour’s A Child’s Reliquary for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, which they will also record as the culminating piece for an ambitious project to premiere and record newly commissioned double concerti across the U.S. They also performed the work at the Atlantic Music Festival in July 2009. The two have recently been named the Artistic Directors of the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, Ohio, a distinction for which they were hand-picked.

During past seasons, Mr. Laredo conducted and performed with the Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Abroad, Mr. Laredo has performed with the London Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, which he led on two American tours and in their Hong Kong Festival debut. His numerous recordings with the SCO include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (which stayed on the British best-seller charts for over a year), Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Italian” and “Scottish” Symphonies, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and recordings of Rossini overtures and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.

Jaime Laredo is violinist of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, founded 33 years ago by Mr. Laredo, Ms. Robinson, and pianist Joseph Kalichstein. The Trio performs regularly at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Kennedy Center. They have toured internationally to cities that include Lisbon, Hamburg, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Sydney, and Melbourne. In the 2009-2010 season, they will concertize in Berne, Switzerland, at South Korea’s Seoul Spring Festival, and in London for a return performance at Wigmore Hall. On the recording front, E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records) released the first 2 Discs of a 4-Disc set of the Brahms’ Cycle of complete piano trios in 2008; in the fall of 2009, the second set of the set will be released. In 2001, the trio was named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year 2002.

For fifteen years, Mr. Laredo was violist of a Piano Quartet with renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, celebrated violinist Isaac Stern, and distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma, his close colleagues and chamber music collaborators. Together the Quartet recorded nearly the entire piano quartet repertoire on the SONY Classical label, including the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, and Brahms, for which he won a Grammy Award.

Mr. Laredo has recorded close to one hundred discs, received the Deutsche Schallplatten Prize, and has been awarded seven Grammy nominations. Mr. Laredo’s discs on CBS and RCA have included the complete Bach Sonatas with the late Glenn Gould and a KOCH International Classics album of duos with Ms. Robinson featuring works by Handel, Kodaly, Mozart and Ravel. His releases on the audiophile Dorian label include Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano with Stephanie Brown, and Virtuoso!, a collection of favorite violin encores with pianist Margo Garrett. Other releases include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Concertone with Cho-Liang Lin for Sony. In May 2000, KOCH released the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio’s two-CD set of the chamber works of Maurice Ravel, to follow the complete trios and sonatas of Shostakovich.

Recognized internationally for his teaching methods, Mr. Laredo has fostered the education of violinists that include Leila Josefowitz, Hilary Hahn, Pamela Frank, Jennifer Koh, and Ivan Chan. After 35 years of teaching at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Mr. Laredo now holds a chaired professorship at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where his wife Sharon Robinson also holds a teaching position. Additionally, Mr. Laredo is the conductor of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, which brings young musicians from around the world to the stage every December.

In demand worldwide as a conductor and a soloist, Mr. Laredo has held the position of Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1999. He is also Artistic Director of the Brandenburg Ensemble, Artistic Advisor at the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music at the Y series at the 92nd Street Y in New York.

As Artistic Director of New York’s renowned Chamber Music at the Y series, Mr. Laredo has created an important forum for chamber music performances which has developed a devoted following. His stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the string community. A principal figure at the Marlboro Music Festival in years past and more recently with the Aspen Music Festival, he has also been involved at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the festivals in Italy, Spain, Finland, Greece, Israel, Austria, Switzerland and England.

Born in Bolivia, Jaime Laredo resides in Vermont and Indiana with his wife Sharon Robinson.

Katharine Gowers, violinist

Katharine Gowers has performed in recital and as a chamber musician throughout Britain and abroad, collaborating with such artists as Alfred Brendel, with whom she played in a piano quartet on a worldwide chamber music tour, Imogen Cooper, Isabelle Faust, Steven Isserlis, Pekka Kuusisto, Christian Tetzlaff, Denes Varjon and Lars Vogt. She has appeared in chamber music partnerships at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and the Aldeburgh Proms, and at the Cheltenham, City of London, Delft, Edinburgh, Heimbach, Lucerne, Resonances, Salzburg and Spoleto festivals.

Katharine’s concerto appearances have included performances with the Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, and with the BBC Big Band and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. She has also toured with Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra playing Bach’s Double Violin Concerto.

For the 2012 Cheltenham Music Festival Katharine guest-curated Time Capsule: 1914-18, a three day series of concerts and associated events focusing on this period.

During 2018-19 she spent three months over two trips in La Paz, Bolivia, teaching at Bolivia Clásica, a non-profit organisation and music school created by Ana-Maria and Armando Vera. In the first lockdown of 2020 she taught Bolivia Clásica students for three months via Skype.

Katharine studied with David Takeno at the Yehudi Menuhin School and at the Guildhall School of Music, where she won the Gold Medal prize, with Roland and Almita Vamos at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, with Joey Corpus in New York, and in masterclasses with Denes Zsigmondy in Germany.

She has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and across various European networks, and has recorded for EMI Classics and Somm.

Katharine Gowers has performed in recital and as a chamber musician throughout Britain and abroad, collaborating with such artists as Alfred Brendel, with whom she played in a piano quartet on a worldwide chamber music tour, Imogen Cooper, Isabelle Faust, Steven Isserlis, Pekka Kuusisto, Christian Tetzlaff, Denes Varjon and Lars Vogt. She has appeared in chamber music partnerships at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and the Aldeburgh Proms, and at the Cheltenham, City of London, Delft, Edinburgh, Heimbach, Lucerne, Resonances, Salzburg and Spoleto festivals.

Sharon Robinson, cellist

Winner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, the Piatigorsky Memorial Award, the Pro Musicis Award, and a Grammy nominee, cellist Sharon Robinson is recognized worldwide as a dynamic artist and one of the most outstanding musicians of our time. Whether as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, or a member of the renowned Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, critics, audiences and fellow musicians worldwide respond to what the New York Times called “an artistic personality that vitalizes everything she plays.” Her guest appearances with orchestra include the National Symphony, the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and San Francisco Symphonies, and in Europe, the London Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, and the English, Scottish and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestras. Appointed to the renowned cello faculty of Indiana University School of Music in 2005, Ms. Robinson divides her time between teaching, solo engagements, performing with her husband, violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo, and touring with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

Philip Dukes, violist

Biography

Recognised as one of the world’s leading viola players, Philip Dukes has enjoyed a career spanning over 30 years as an accomplished concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.
He made his solo recital début in 1991 at the Southbank Centre, London, hailed by The Times as ‘Great Britain’s most outstanding viola player’ and by The Strad as ‘world class’. As a winner of the coveted European Rising Stars Award in 1997, he immediately made his recital débuts in Vienna, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Paris, and Amsterdam to critical acclaim and went on to perform as a soloist with all the major UK orchestras.
He has appeared as a soloist at the BBC Proms on numerous occasions, including one in which his performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis in the Triple Concerto by Sir Michael Tippett was recorded live for the Deutsche Grammophon label. In addition, Philip has also recorded extensively for the Chandos, Naxos, Nimbus, BIS and Hyperion recording labels, as well as regularly recording and broadcasting for BBC Radio 3. He also gave the world première of the Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra by Benjamin Britten.
Philip has enjoyed close musical associations with Yehudi Menuhin, György Kurtág, Daniel Hope, Tasmin Little, Julian Lloyd Weber, Michael Tree, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, the Beaux Arts Trio, Debbie Wiseman and Sir Andrew Davis.
In more diverse collaborations, Philip has worked with artists such as Eric Clapton, Sir Paul McCartney, Massive Attack, Madonna, Björk, Bryan Ferry, Nigel Kennedy, Robbie Williams, Oasis, and David Gilmour.
In demand worldwide as a director/conductor/soloist, he holds guest teaching positions at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Wells Cathedral School, and is also Artistic Director at Marlborough College.
Philip was unanimously elected a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2006, and in 2007 was appointed an Honorary Associate at the Royal Academy of Music. Philip Dukes is also Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia, USA.
Highlights for the 2025/26 season include performances across the UK, a series of broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, concerts in Germany, France (Versailles Palace), Hong Kong, China and Japan. 2025/26 will also see Philip in performance with the Escher String Quartet (USA), Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center New York, Sinfonia Smith Square and The London Mozart Players.
Mr. Dukes’ latest solo release of Elgar and Herbert Howells with the National Symphony Orchestra UK received significant critical acclaim, with Gramophone Magazine remarking that ‘Dukes is the highly eloquent soloist here, playing with a resonant and sonorous tone, and blending quite beautifully with his colleagues’.
Dukes’ latest release is as a featured soloist on the soundtrack for BBC TV’s acclaimed Wolf Hall series.

Sarah Hershkowitz, soprano

Described by Opernwelt as possessing “a flexible, beautiful voice with a huge presence like a beautiful, wild animal”, Sara Hershkowitz has become increasingly known as one of the most electrifying and original interpreters of her generation. An artist of unusual versatility, Ms. Hershkowitz has received acclaim for her interpretations of Baroque and Mozart roles. In recent years she has taken a special interest in twentieth and twenty-first century composers.

A Los Angeles native, Sara Hershkowitz is a three-time nominee in Opernwelt for Singer of the Year, the most recent being in 2020 for her portrayal of Sopran 1 in Luigi Nono’s Al Gran Sole Carico d’Amore at Theater Basel. Past nominations were for her roles as Zaide in Chaya Czernowin/W.A. Mozart’s Zaide-Adama, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Theater Bremen.

Ms. Hershkowitz starts her 2022-2023 season with her debut as Cleopatra in J.H. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra, with the NDR Radio Symphony Orchestra and David Stern conducting. In the same season she will perform Mysteries of the Macabre by György Ligeti at the Cologne Philharmonie, with Matthias Pintcher conducting the Gürzenich-Orchestra Köln. In November of 2023, Ms. Hershkowitz will perform Samuel Barber’s Knoxeville Summer of 1915 with the Amarillo Symphony with George Jackson conducting, with a special bluegrass surprise of original music written by Sara Hershkowitz and Max Hoetzel. Also in 2023, on the Naxos label, Ms. Hershkowitz will release an album of art songs by the composer Erich Zeisl, together with pianist Gloria Cheng.

In her 2021-2022 season Ms. Hershkowitz made her debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as Gepopo/Venus in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre with conductor James Gaffigan. In the 2019-2020 season, Ms. Hershkowitz received critical acclaim for the role of Sopran 1 in Luigi Nono’s Al Gran Sole Carico D’Amore at Theater Basel. In the same season, she was a guest soloist with BBC Scottish Symphony performing Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, and additionally sang the world premiere of composer Michael Wertmüller’s Wir Sind So Frei at the Köln Philharmonie. In January 2020 Ms. Hershkowitz sang a Liederabend with pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, featuring the previously unknown works second- viennese school composer, Philip Hershkowitz, including works by his teacher, Alban Berg, at ORF Radio Wien. Additional debuts scheduled for 2020 included the role of the Maid in Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face, at Opera de Tours, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Five Songs After Sappho with the London Philharmonia, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Theater Bonn, and the role debut of Cleopatra in Händel’s Giulio Cesare with Opera Fuoco at the Hannover Herrenhaus.

Highlights of the 2018-2019 season included debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Yuval Sharon staging of John Cage’s Europeras, the creation of the role of Claire Claremont in the world premiere of Michael Wertmüller’s Diodati.Unendlich at Theater Basel, Vivaldi’s Gloria with conductor Nicholas McGegan and the Detroit Symphony, Unsuk Chin’s Acrostic Word Play and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, together with conductor Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic.

In the 2017-2018 season, Sara Hershkowitz thrilled audiences and critics alike performing her own controversial staging of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre together with the Noord Netherlands Orchestra. In the same season she made her debut with New Orleans Opera as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. In 2016-17 she performed Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos for the Nordnorsk Opera og Symfonieorkester.

As a former principal artist at the Bremen Opera, Ms. Hershkowitz sang such roles as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, the Governess in Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Gepopo/Venus in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, and the title role of Zaide in Chaya Czernowin/W.A. Mozart’s Zaide-Adama.

Sara Hershkowitz has been a frequent guest with David Stern’s Paris-based baroque ensemble Opera Fuoco, with whom she performed the title role in the recently re-discovered J.C. Bach Opera Zanaida, which toured the Leipzig Bach Festival and the Wiener Konzerthaus.

Ms. Hershkowitz was a member of the Salzburger Festspiele Young Singers Project, the Academie Lyrique at Aix-en-Provence and received her B.A. From the Manhattan School of Music. 

Also a prolific writer and singer-songwriter, Sara Hershkowitz performs and recording americana/bluegrass music under the artist name Sara Shiloh Rae. Together with her band, Bluebird Junction, she has been twice featured in Bluegrass Today, the world’s largest Bluegrass publication. Her debut album of original compositions, the self-titled Sara Shiloh Rae &Bluebird Junction, was released in 2020. In 2023, the band released a new EP, a highly original take on songs by Stephen Sondheim, arranged for americana/bluegrass-inspired stringband.

Guy Johnston, cellist

Guy Johnston is a renowned British cellist, celebrated for his exceptional skill and artistry. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.

He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony. Recent seasons have included a BBC Prom with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, concertos with The Hallé, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Orchestra of The Swan. Most recently, he has been the featured soloist of Taverner’s ‘The Protecting Veil’ for Britten Sinfonia’s 2024 UK and Ireland tour receiving critical acclaim in The Guardian and the Arts Desk. Guy was also involved in four further performances of ‘The Protecting Veil’ with Britten Sinfonia in October 2025; at Hatfield House Music Festival, Cambridge Music Festival, and two performances at St Sophia’s Orthodox Church in London which will be recorded with Signum records.

Performances and recordings with eminent conductors have included collaborations with Alexander Dmitriev, Andrew Manze, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniele Gatti, Ilan Volkov, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Wigglesworth, Robin Ticciati, Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Vassily Sinaisky, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Yuri Simonov.

Guy is a passionate advocate for chamber music and recitals as founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival, Music at Minterne, and performs regularly at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe including Wigmore Hall, Louvre Museum, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and Three Choirs Festival, collaborating with instrumentalists such as Anthony Marwood, Brett Dean, Huw Watkins, Janine Jansen, Kathy Stott, Lawrence Power, Melvyn Tan, Mishka Rushdie Momen, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Tom Poster.

A prolific recording artist often championing contemporary British composers, Guy’s recent releases include Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto with The Hallé and Rebecca Dale’s ‘Night Seasons’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Other recordings include a premiere of Herbert Howells’ completed Cello Concerto with the Britten Sinfonia, a celebration disc of the tricentenary of his David Tecchler cello with commissions by Charlotte Bray, David Matthews, Mark Simpson and a collaboration with the acclaimed Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where the cello was made. In July 2025, Guy’s recent recording of the Bliss Cello Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was released, coinciding with Bliss’ 50th anniversary year. Future releases also include Guy’s latest recording of Xiaogang Ye’s My Faraway Nanjing with the RLPO.

He gave the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s ‘Falling in the Fire’ at the BBC Proms and Joseph Phibbs ‘Cello Sonata’ at Wigmore Hall and most recently, gave the World Premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘Woven’, a duo for Cello and Marimba, commissioned by Westport Festival in September 2025. Other premières include two works by Matthew Kaner: Sonatina Scordatura for solo cello, a world premiere at Hatfield House Music Festival in October 2025, and a new Sonata set to premiere at Wigmore Hall in May 2026. 2026 will also see the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto for Guy and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to a busy and versatile career as an international soloist, chamber musician and guest principal, Guy is an inspiring leader of young musicians. He was an Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York (2018 – 2024). He is the President of the European String Teachers Association and a Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music from September 2025. Guy is patron of several charities which promote music education for school children and young people including Music First and Future Talent. He is also a board member of the Pierre Fournier Award for young cellists.

Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron. He is a Larsen Strings Artist.

Matthew Hunt, clarinettist

One of Europe’s leading clarinettists, Matthew Hunt is a distinctive musician, renowned for the vocal quality of his playing and his ability to communicate with audiences. Matthew enjoys an international career as both soloist and chamber musician, and currently holds the position of Solo Clarinettist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen,

As a soloist, Matthew has recently collaborated with the conductors Paavo Jarvi, Trevor Pinnock, Clemens Schuldt, Alexei Ogrintchuok and Reinhard Goebbel, and with orchestras including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Estonian Festival Orchestra and as a guest of the Berlin Philharmoniker in their series at the Berlin Philharmonie Kammermusik Saal.

A distinguished chamber musician, his partners include the Meta4, Chiarascuro, Pavel Haas and Elias quartets, as well as Pekka Kuusisto, Alina Ibragimova, Thomas Adès, Emily Beynon, Nicholas Aldstaedt, Antoine Tamestit, Cedric Tiberghien, Steven Isserlis, Tine Thing Helseth, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexander Lonquich and the Jazz Pianist, Iiro Rantala. He has appeared at many of Europe’s most prestigious venues and festivals, and as far afield as Bolivia, India and China.

Plans for next season include festival appearances in Holland, Finland and America, a trio tour of China, performances of the Mozart concerto with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, concerto performances in Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Pekka Kuusisto, and performances of Magnus Lindberg’s clarinet concerto in Columbia with Andrew Gourlay.

As a recording artist Matthew has broadcast for radio and television as well as featuring on many film scores; he was the solo clarinettist on the score for the hit film ‘Love Actually’. His CD recording for the ASV label of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet was given five stars by BBC Music Magazine and acclaimed as: “the benchmark recording of this much recorded work”.

Adrian Brendel, cellist

One of the most versatile and original cellists of his generation, Adrian
Brendel has travelled the world as soloist, collaborator and teacher. His early
immersion in the core classical repertoire inspired an enduring fascination
that has led to encounters with many fine musicians at the world’s most
prestigious festivals and concert halls. His discovery of contemporary music
through the works of Kurtag, Kagel and Ligeti in his teenage years opened a
vital avenue that he continues to explore with huge enthusiasm alongside his
passion for improvisation and programme curation. In 2014 he became a
member of the Nash Ensemble of London with whom he is resident at
Wigmore hall throughout every season. He will be the group’s co-artistic
director with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips from 2025.
Adrian has recorded a wide range of music for Philips, Hyperion, ECM new
series, NMC, Bis and other labels. These include a survey of Beethoven’s
complete works for cello and Piano with his father Alfred Brendel, a collection
of pieces dedicated to him during many years of valuable collaboration with
Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and much of the core chamber music repertoire.
2026 will mark the beginning of Adrian’s tenure as artistic director of Bath
Mozartfest and Bachfest, one of the UK’s most established classical music
festivals. As founder of Plush festival in Dorset from 1995-2017, he forged an
original programming style bringing together diverse thematic strands across
a wide span of music from Machaut to the present day. The festival attracted
artists such as Sir Andras Schiff, Radu Lupu, Lawrence Power, Miklos
Perenyi, Oliver Knussen and John Taylor amongst many regular visitors, and
featured music by more than 100 contemporary composers. A new musical
venture – Tree of strings foundation – will begin in southwest England in 2026,
with a particular focus on young musicians and education.
Adrian is a familiar presence at many of Europe’s leading festivals including
Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Verbier, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and Salzburg.
He performs as soloist with orchestras including NDR Hamburg, Gulbenkian,
Academy of St Martins, Philharmonia and RSNO, and in recital with Till
Fellner, Alasdair Beatson, Dame Imogen Cooper and Denes Varjon. His many
chamber music partners include the Takacs, Ebene, Belcea and Jerusalem
quartets, Ensemble 360, Viviane Hagner and Lawrence Power.
Adrian was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of music in 2021 where he also gives masterclasses as guest professor, alongside a
cello class at Guildhall school in London and private tuition. Increasingly in
demand as a teacher, his schedule takes him to academies around Europe
every year

David Stern, conductor

DAVID STERN is an international conductor, creator of original projects, champion of rare works and mentor to tomorrow’s singers. Newly appointed Music Director of the Palm Beach Opera after 11 years of serving as Chief Conductor, he has also been Music Director of the Israel Opera in Tel Aviv, the Opera St Gallen in Switzerland, and previously led the Philharmonie Südwestfalen in Germany. In 2003 he founded Opera Fuoco, the independent, Paris-based opera company, adding to it its much lauded Young Artists program in 2008. The program has since nurtured some of the most important voices in Europe today. The company is in the middle of a three-year residency at the Paris area Opéra de Massy for bi-annual productions which serve as a platform for young artists to collaborate with renowned or emerging stage directors, choreographers, choruses, and ensembles.
This season’s highlights will feature Stern’s vast variety of repertoire. After a very successful premiere of an innovative program entitled Bach’s Four Seasons at the Bachfest in Leipzig this past June, Stern will revive the project in the Opéra Massy and the festival Septembre Musical de l’Orne. In the fall he will return to the Curtis Institute of Music to lead performances of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in a new staging by John Giampetro. Back in France he will conduct Opera Fuoco in an original pairing of two masterpieces by Leonard Berstein: the opera Trouble in Tahiti and the song cycle Arias and Barcarolles. Entitled “Anatomy of Love”, it will be staged by Elsa Rooke for performances in Paris and the Opéra de Massy in January. And at the Palm Beach Opera his season will feature Bizet’s the Pearl Fishers and Verdi’s Rigoletto. In April he will return to the Shanghai Symphony, the China Philharmonice and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra for concerts with the winners of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. Finally Stern will revive the Opera Fuoco production of la Bohème in France and Sweden.
David Stern has been regularly invited to the Paris Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysees, as well as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Luzern and Gstaad Festivals, the Theater an der Wien, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Shanghai Symphony Hall and the Beijing Music Festival. David Stern spent recent seasons with the Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Zuid in the Netherlands and the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute of Music opera programs.
Stern’s long-time passion for working with young voices grew out his experience in creating the Académie International d’Art Lyrique at the Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival with Stéphane Lissner in 1998. He has regular engagements with young artists’ programs in Sweden, China and the United States, notably for productions with the Palm Beach Opera Young Artists Program, the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute and the CNSM National Conservatory in Paris. Aware of the need to communicate, educate and transmit to a young and ever more diverse audience, he was a guest conductor of the Démos project (France’s version of the “Sistema” program) in the 24-25 season. Future projects also include Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses with celebrated hip-hop choreographer Anne Nguyen at the Opéra de Massy and Felix Mendelssohn’s version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the spring of 2027 at the Bachfest in Leipzig as part of the celebration of the work’s 300th anniversary.

David Stern has recorded a number of rare operas including Giovanni Simone Mayr’s L’amor conjugale and Medea in Corinto and Johann Christian Bach’s Zanaïda. Other recordings include French Romantic Cantatas with Karine Deshayes and the Opera Fuoco Orchestra, John Field piano concertos with Concerto Köln and Andreas Staier, as well as works by Albert Roussel with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexandre Tharaud and the Paris Chamber Orchestra.
He conducted Opera Zuid’s production of Kurt Weill’s Lady in the Dark which won the prize for best production in the Netherlands in 2022. He has led performances of the Yiddish operetta The Golden Bride by Joseph Rumshinksy in Paris and Sweden, the French premiere of Die Stumme Serenade by Korngold, The Child Dreams, by Gil Shohat, based on a play by Hannoch Levin with the Israel Opera and Ben Moore’s Enemies, a Love Story, based on a text of Isaac Bashevis Singer with the Palm Beach Opera.
As orchestral conductor, Stern has led recent performances with the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Basel and the Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular guest of the NDR Radio Philharmonic in Hannover, with whom he recorded rare opera arias by Florian Leopold Gassman.
Stern has played a significant role in the development of the classical music scene in China for over 20 years. A regular guest of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the China Philharmonic in Beijing and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, he also created the Shanghai Baroque Festival from 2013-2019 and since 2016 has been the co-chair of the jury of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. His performance of Bach’s b-minor Mass in 2019 was the first in 100 years, and his performances of Handel’s Serse and Alcina, and Bloch’s Sacred Service were premieres for the Chinese public.

Thomas Gould, violinist

Described as an artist who “refuses to be defined by a single genre” (The Guardian), Thomas Gould is a violinist with wide-ranging musical interests and a flair for experimentation. His solo repertoire includes many contemporary works, and he has collaborated with some of the leading composers of our time including John Adams, Thomas Adès, Brett Dean, Karl Jenkins, James MacMillan, Nico Muhly and Max Richter.

Gould is leader of the chamber orchestra Britten Sinfonia with whom he often performs as soloist or director. He was formerly the leader and a founding member of Aurora Orchestra. Gould also enjoys a longstanding relationship with Sinfonietta Rīga, with whom he recorded Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending on the album Live in Riga.

Jazz has always been a keen interest for Thomas and he is fortunate to have worked with some of the biggest names in jazz including Burt Bacharach, Jacob Collier, Hiromi, Brad Mehldau and Marius Neset. He was the violinist in the popular swing band Man Overboard Quintet with whom he recorded two albums on Champs Hill Records. Gould curated his own jazz series at Kings Place called Gould Standard inviting long-term collaborators Tim Garland, Kristjan Randalu and Gwilym Simcock among others.

Recent highlights include the première performances with Bruckner Orchester Linz of a new concerto written for him and percussion by Johannes Berauer, a tour of Australia with Omega Ensemble performing Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and a return to Dartington International Summer School to give concerts and masterclasses.

Gould trained at the Royal Academy of Music where he is now a Fellow. He plays a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1782.

Eric Hosler, violinist

Eric Hosler was born in Los Angeles. He studied with Endre Granat at California State University at Northridge, where he won the Most Talented Award, the Concerto Competition, Outstanding Student Award, was Symphony Concertmaster, and on the Dean’s List.

He continued his studies with Yumi Ninomiya in Philadelphia and Harry Shub in New York while he freelanced at the Philadelphia Ballet and the Philly Pops.

Between 1984-86 he was the first violin of the Feldman String Quartet and assistant concertmaster of the Virginia Opera. In 1986 he was named concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony and first violin of the Montani String Quartet (in-residence). He was offered a Fellowship for Advanced String Studies at the Aspen Music Festival, and participared in regular National Pubilc Radio broadcasts nationwide. During this period he studied with Earl Carlyss of the Julliard String Quartet, Donald Weillestein of the Cleveland String Quartet and his true mentor, Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri String Quartet.

In 1989 Eric Hosler moved to Europe to work closely with Ivry Gitlis in Paris, and obtained a position in the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague in the Netherlands. There he later obtained first violin positions at the Rotterdam Philharmonic (under the direction of James Conlon, Jeffrey Tate and Valery Gergiev, respectively), and the Radio Philharmonic (under Edo de Waart).

More recently Eric has participated in top level Hollywood film scoring including such movies as A Beautiful Mind, Avatar, Indiana Jones 4, all three Pirates of the Caribbean, Seabiscuit, Last Samurai, Munich, Team America, Monsters, Inc., X-Men, Memoirs of a Geisha, Spiderman, Iron Man, and Cars. He has also collaborated regularly with John Williams in Steven Spielberg productions.

In 2011 Eric was invited to Bolivia to help launch the Bolivia Clasica string training program. He has since made several visits, teaching and performing across the country.

Alana Bennett, cellist

Cellist Alana Bennett-Garcia has built a dynamic and multifaceted career as both a performing artist and dedicated music educator. She is a graduate of New York University, where she studied under esteemed pedagogue Marion Feldman, and Indiana University, where she trained with celebrated chamber musician Sharon Robinson.

Alana’s versatility has led her to collaborate across a wide spectrum of genres—from performing with the Georgia Boy Choir to recording with hip-hop legend Common. She has appeared with notable ensembles including the New York String Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra (GA), and the Augusta Symphony. Alana is a founding member of the Mosaic String Quartet and currently serves as principal cellist of the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Alana is also part of the cello sections of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, as well as a regular performer with Atlanta Pops Orchestra.

A passionate educator, Alana maintains an active private studio and frequently coaches students at schools throughout metro Atlanta. She also serves as a sectional coach for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, inspiring the next generation of young musicians.

Francisco Vila, cellist

Vila is a soloist and chamber musician renowned for his sensitivity, penetrating sound and technical mastery of his instrument. His performance career spans Asia, Europe, and the Americas, where he has captivated audiences with his artistry, depth and unique sound.

Francisco has performed alongside celebrated artists such as Gary Hoffman, Cho-Liang Lin, Maria João Pires, Nobuko Imai, and members of the Juilliard String Quartet. His artistic journey has been shaped under the mentorship of iconic musicians, including Gary Hoffman at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, and the legendary cellist Janos Starker at Indiana University. Making his orchestral debut at the age of 14, he has appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras worldwide, including the Houston Symphony, the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, the Liège Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Santander Festival Orchestra, all principal orchestras in his native Ecuador, among others.

Aside from performance, Vila views teaching as an important aspect in music-making. In 2015, he founded the first International Music Festival of Esmeraldas (Ecuador).

Willem Stam, cellist

The Canadian-Dutch cellist Willem Stam is a founding member and 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 of the New European Ensemble. Based in The Hague, he is known for his depth of expression, stylistic versatility, and commitment to music that bridges the past and present.
Willem performs internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor. His work spans centuries—from the early cello repertoire to cutting-edge contemporary music—and he is a passionate collaborator with living composers.

As the 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗬𝘀𝗮ÿ𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗼 and a sought-after teacher, Willem brings a unique mix of performance and pedagogy to his artistry. He regularly teaches masterclasses in Canada, South America, and across Europe, including online instruction to a global network of cellists.

He plays a 1918 cello by 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗙é𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘄, both made available by the National Instrument Foundation of The Netherlands.
Willem Stam is an artist who listens closely to history, to the moment, and to what music can still become.

Katharina Wolff, violinist

Solo violinist with the Opera Fuoco opera company, a Parisian ensemble specialising in repertoire from the Baroque period to the present day, Katharina Wolff is one of the most respected violinists playing period instruments in France and Germany.

Born in Germany, she began her studies in the United States, where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. She furthered her chamber music studies with Eugene Lehner and members of the Juilliard String Quartet during the summer academies at the Tanglewood Music Centre. There she played under conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.

Passionate about Baroque aesthetics, she continued her studies in Europe with Reinhard Goebel and joined his ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln. It was with this ensemble that she began to learn how to play period instruments. Katharina then continued her exploration of the Baroque repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician with the ensembles Capriccio Stravagante and Fuoco e Cenere before founding the opera company Opera Fuoco with David Stern and Jay Bernfeld.Following her debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, she turned her attention to orchestras playing period instruments, such as the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (John Eliot Gardiner), Les Arts Florissants (William Christie), the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (Philippe Herreweghe) and the Concerto Melante orchestra ensemble conducted by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

With Opera Fuoco, Katharina has participated in numerous recordings ranging from Handel’s operas to French Romantic cantatas, collaborating with singers such as Karine Deshayes, Danielle de Niese and Paul Agnew. She also performs in major concert halls in Europe and Asia.

In 2020, she founded the chamber ensemble Fuoco Obbligato. Based on the dramatic and rhetorical relationship between the soloist and the instrumentalist, this ensemble complements the programme of Opera Fuoco’s Atelier Lyrique.

Katharina plays a 1743 Ferdinando Alberti violin and an original Nicolas Pierre Tourte bow for the Baroque repertoire, as well as an 1800 Franziscus Geissenhof violin for the Classical and Romantic periods.

Michel Strauss, cellist

Michel Strauss studied with Paul Tortelier and Maurice Gendron at the Conservatoire in Paris, where he won first prizes for cello and chamber music, subsequently continuing his studies at Yale University with Aldo Parisot. In 1980 he became first cellist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, and began teaching at the Paris Conservatoire in 1987. He also taught in The Netherlands, and was a jury member for a number of international music competitions. 

Strauss has worked with a number of important contemporary composers such as Maurice Béjart, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Philippe Hersant, and Krzysztof Penderecki. A number of their works are dedicated to him. He also collaborated in film music with Jean-Luc Godard and worked for the music theatre in Avignon.

As a chamber musician Strauss has worked with pianists such as Jean-Claude Pennetier, Georges Pludermacher and Henriette Puig-Roget, violinists Gérard Jarry, Tibor Varga and Sandor Vegh, and violists Gérard Caussé, Serge Collot and Bruno Pasquier, as well as with his former teacher cellist Aldo Parisot.

Camila Barrientos, clarinettist

Camila Barrientos Ossio is the Principal Clarinet of the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo. Originally from Cochabamba, Bolivia Camila has played with the New York Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Miami Symphony, among others. She has performed in venues including Carnegie Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, the Kennedy Center, (le) Poisson Rouge and other unexpected concert spaces such as the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and the Island of the Sun in lake Titicaca. A passionate chamber musician, she is a former member of the award-winning quintet The City of Tomorrow. She earned both her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and has appeared at the Banff Center of the Arts in Canada, the Britten Pears Festival in the UK and the MostArts Festival in Alfred, New York.

She is the co-founder and co-artistic director of La Sociedad Boliviana de Música de Cámara (The Bolivian Chamber Music Society.)

Ken Aiso, violinist

Internationally acclaimed violinist/violist Ken Aiso has performed worldwide as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Ken graduated form the Royal Academy of Music in London studying with Erich Gruenberg. His other teachers include Eduard Schmieder and Chikashi Tanaka. Equally at home with modern and period instruments, Ken has appeared as principal violin with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Philharmonic, the Hallé and the Scottish Chamber Orchestras.

He has been invited to renowned music festivals in UK, France, Sweden, Switzerland, India, Georgia, Bolivia and Kazakhstan, and has taught at Montecito Summer Music Festival since 2008. Ken is a laureate of Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris and International Music Competition of Japan, and was elected Associate of Royal Academy of Music in London. He received Shimousa Kan-ichi Music Award in his native Japan in 2018. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2015, Ken has been serving as faculty at Loyola Marymount and La Sierra Universites, and performs with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

His belief in sound as a vibrational healing medium takes him to hospitals, schools and institutions for children with special needs.

Lydia Chen Argerich, violist

Born in Geneva, Lyda Chen studied the violin at the Geneva Conservatory in the class of Ayla Erduran then followed the teaching of Professor Lin Yao Ji at the Central Conservatory of Beijing.

Upon her return from China, she began studying law and obtained her license at the University of Geneva.

Her studies completed, she turned to the viola and developed a great affinity with the instrument and its repertoire.

Largely self-taught, she performs in concert in various formations, but it is in a string quartet that she has the opportunity to follow Gabor Takacs’ chamber music lessons at the Geneva Conservatory.

The first musical encounters with her mother Martha Argerich opened the way to many musical experiences, offering the possibility of working with fantastic musicians. She has been invited to the Verbier Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron and Les Folles Journees de Nantes or Tokyo, as well as to the Festspielen in Salzburg and Progetto Argerich in Lugano.

She performs chamber music in venues such as Tokyo Triphony and Sumida Halls, Teatro Colon, Salle Pleyel, the Salzburg Mozarteum and Shanghai Grand Theater, and performs as a soloist at the Tonhalle in Zürich.

She is invited to play in several orchestras, Japan New Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra della RSI, the China All Star Orchestra as well as the Western Eastern Divan Orchestra, and gives viola and chamber music master classes in Spain, France, China and Latin America.

In 2019, Lyda Chen Argerich founded Arch Music Academy, whose projects in China, Europe and Latin America favor a multidisciplinary approach to the practice of music and the instrument.

Among the recordings made for the EMI at the Lugano Festival are the quartets of Beethoven, Dvorak, Schumann, Faure, as well as the quintets of Franck, Shostakovich, Zarebsky, Granados, alongside Ivry Gitlis, Gabriela Montero, Mischa Maisky and Martha Argerich.

Jennifer Stumm, violist

Violist and director Jennifer Stumm blazes a courageous creative path with diverse projects mixing sheer musical enthusiasm with boundary-breaking artistic direction and committed advocacy for social equity. Known for the “opal-like beauty” (Washington Post) of her sound, Jennifer appears on the world’s great stages like Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Kennedy Center, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. She is winner of the William Primrose, Geneva and Concert Artist Guild competitions (and the first violist ever to win first prize.)  The 2022-23 season brings appearances at festivals around the world, Jennifer’s debut in the large hall of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, solo tours of Ireland and the UK and a new album with São Paulo Chamber Soloists. She also makes her Lucerne Festival debut, as both director and violist in a new staged program from Ilumina called “The Nature of Light.”

Jennifer is founder and director of Ilumina, the São Paulo-based artist collective and social equity initiative, which has ascended rapidly to prominence as a modern model for 21st century creativity and the advancement of diverse talent.  Ilumina unites leading international soloists with the best rising talent from Latin America, working and performing side-by-side at the Ilumina festival and on tour around the world, with the goal that worthy talent receives an equal chance to shine. Ilumina young artists regularly study at leading international universities and have entered the highest echelons of the field. Jennifer’s flair for curation and stage direction has received much attention, and Ilumina concerts invite listeners to be immersed in dynamic musical worlds, steadfastly committed to interpretation, powered by the freshness and energy of cultural exchange.

Jennifer is in much demand as a speaker about diversity, talent development and the future. She regularly interacts with the innovation and technology sector about how artistic thinking can impact progress, productivity and the world of ideas. She was invited to speak at NASA’s Cross Industry Innovation Summit in Houston and is a member of the Ecosystems 2030 collective, working with global thinkers on what the future will look like. Her viral TEDx talk about the viola and the blessings of being different, “The Imperfect Instrument,” was named an editor’s pick of all TED talks and led to a solo debut at the Berlin Philharmonie.  

Jennifer has released two celebrated solo albums. Her debut recording for Naxos’ Laureate Series featured works by Italian composer/violist Alessandro Rolla, hailed as “an absolutely phenomenal display of virtuoso viola playing” (The New Recordings.) She next released her album of Berlioz’s Harold In Italy and performed the work in her unique staging and characterization almost fifty times.  A recipient of the prestigious BBC New Generation artist and Borletti Buitoni Trust awards for her work in chamber music, she appears at major festivals such as Verbier, Marlboro, Stavanger, Spoleto, Aldeburgh, Delft and IMS Prussia Cove and regularly appears with Spectrum Concerts Berlin and as a trio with cellist Jens-Peter Maintz and Kolja Blacher.

Jennifer Stumm is Professor of Viola at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, International Chair of Viola Studies at the Royal College of Music, London and gives masterclasses around the world. Since her school days teaching strings in the Atlanta inner city, she has devoted considerable time to supporting young musicians from culturally and economically diverse backgrounds, both in person and online.  

Born in Atlanta, Jennifer first heard the viola when she was eight and, enchanted by its sound, began playing in her school’s orchestra.  She studied with Karen Tuttle at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, with Nobuko Imai in Amsterdam as well as with Steven Isserlis at IMS Prussia Cove, and also pursued interests in politics at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Jennifer plays a Gasparo da Salò viola, 1589, generously on loan from a private trust.

Gregor Riddell, cellist & composer

Gregor Riddell plays the cello and writes music.

He has been a member of the Solstice Quartet, Living Room in London, KGB, Tre Voci and Odysseus Piano Trio with whom he performed and toured across Europe at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Union Chapel, Southbank Centre, Edinburgh Festival, Musikverein (Vienna), Musée d’Orsay (Paris), among others.

Alongside his own projects, he’s written music for Galya Bisengalieva, Duo TÖ, the BEAST (Birmingham University), Asamisimasa and Cikada. Having written for the London Contemporary Orchestra, Gregor is also a principle player and has collaborated with artists including Radiohead, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sarah Davachi, Actress and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch.

In 2022, he arranged a solo modular synthesizer work by Qasim Naqvi for string ensemble, piano and dancers premiered at Podium Festival followed by a Cikada Ensemble performance at Ultima Festival in September.

He is a member of duo project Tlön with violinist/composer Sara Övinge and will release their debut album ‘Reality’ on Jazzland Records in early 2025. They will perform a 19 piece string orchestral arrangement of the record with DNK at Ultima Festival in September 2025.

Following the release of debut album UNDA (2019) and reworks (2021) on Focused Silence, duo project BirdWorld made their Edinburgh Fringe debut in August 2024 and will release of their second album ‘Nurture’ on Norwegian label Dugnad in spring 2025.

In April 2024, alongside Shana Mathai, he co-hosted a Gaza relief concert at Victoria National Jazzscene where all ticket proceeds went towards Norwegian charity Redd Barn that supports vulnerable children in the region. Performing with Shana, Bugge Wesseltoft, Sanyu and Javid Afsari Rad, the concert also featured renowned Oslo-based artists Ibou Cissokho, Harpreet Bansal, Trio Djup and Pål Hausken.

He co-runs an Oslo-based online platform with Torkjell Hovland called SVS broadcasting adventurous music from the Nordics. 

He recently set up a versatile Oslo-based session orchestra called OBO which will perform their debut concert with Sigur Rós at Oslo Spektrum on 28th November 2024.

Gregor will write the music for a new clown theatre project based on trolls with Anne Marie Synstad Simonsen, Cecily Audrey Nash and Marie Kallevik Straume which will premiere in 2025.

Gregor was born in London, studied music at Cambridge University and composition at the Royal College of Music. He works mostly between Norway and the UK and lives with his family in Oslo.

Marie-Francoise Pallot, violinist

Born in Nice, she began playing the violin at the age of four and a half. After studying at the Aix-Provence Conservatoire, she entered the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM) at the age of 12, studying under Pierre Doukan. Given her very young age, she then perfected her skills at the CNSM in Lyon in the class of Veda Reynolds, former professor at the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she brilliantly obtained her national diploma in higher musical studies. She then continued with Gérard Poulet for three years before attending the prestigious Walter Stauffer Academy in Cremona in the class of Salvatore Accardo. After obtaining scholarships from the Franco-American Commission and the Ministry of Culture, which are awarded twice a year, she joined the University of Indiana in Bloomington, USA, in Franco GULLI’s class for several years before becoming his assistant. She also took chamber music classes with masters such as Rostislav DUBINSKI (Borodin Quartet) and Janos STARKER.

Upon her return to France, she spent five years studying the great Russian violin tradition with maestro Igor Oistrakh at the Koninklijke Conservatorium in Brussels.

At the same time, she and her trio were accepted into the renowned Pro Quartet course in Paris.

She went on to tour throughout France with a youth music project called ‘Le Violon d’Ingres’. At the same time, she obtained a specialised trio diploma from the CNSM in Lyon.

She was awarded first prize at the international violin competition in Stresa, Italy.

She toured South America for a month, playing in Bolivia and then China, where she performed in the prestigious concert hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing, an honour rarely bestowed, alongside musicians such as Lyda Chen Argerich, Vladimir Sverdlov, Lorenzo Gatto, Christophe Moreau and Alexander Ghindin.

She has played with Emile NAOUMOFF, Alain MEUNIER, Tasso ADAMOPOULOS, Rebecca CHAILLOT, Laurent KORCIA, Isabelle LEQUIEN, Xavier GAGNEPAIN, Nicolas MALARTE, Raphael CHRÉTIEN, Aline BARTISOL, Helene DAUTRY, Andrea CROCE and Guglielmo DE STASIO. She has participated in numerous workshops in France and Italy with the Sardegna Music Festival.

She currently teaches at the CRR in Boulogne-Billancourt and performs in numerous concerts around the world.

Torun Sæter Stavseng, cellist

Torun Sæter Stavseng is a Norwegian cellist with diverse musical interests active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader and teacher. In 2010 she was awarded the Swedish Royal Academy of Music honorary prize after her debut in Britten ́s Cello Symphony with Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In the same year she was awarded the Young Swedish Soloist prize and offered the principal cellist position of Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.

Torun has formed various ensembles with a broad span of repertoire including Duo TÖ with Swedish pianist Anna Christensson, Tre Voci alongside cellists/composers Gregor Riddell and Colin Alexander and TrioTaus with close long term friends, violinist Liv Hilde Klokk and violist Ida Bryhn. She is a member of Cikada Contemporary Ensemble and creative director of KRANTZ Chamber Music Series.

As an orchestral leader she has worked with Royal Opera Stockholm, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. She is currently teaching cello at the Arctic Conservatory of Music Tromsø (Norway) and plays a cello by Matteo Goffriller (1725) on generous loan from Dextra Musica/Sparebankstiftelsen.

Cergio Prudencio, conductor & composer

Researcher, teacher, cultural manager and poet. His musical work is inextricably linked to the Experimental Orchestra of Native Instruments (OEIN), with which he achieved continental and international renown. In the audiovisual field, Prudencio’s music accompanies more than fifty film, video and dance titles. He received the 2023 Platino Award and the ‘Diploma de San Pablo al Mérito Cultural’ (UCB). He was a Guggenheim Foundation fellow, president of the Cultural Foundation of the Central Bank of Bolivia and deputy minister of Interculturality.

Mimi Zweig, violinist and educator

Mimi Zweig is currently Professor of Violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music –  and serves as Director of the school’s String and Summer String Academies. A student of Louis Krasner, Raphael Bronstein, Samuel Kissel, and Tadeusz Wronski, Mimi has since 1972 worked consistently on developing pre-college string programs across the United States. In 2019 Mimi Zweig was the recipient of the ASTA Artist Teacher Award. Her famed students, including Joshua Bell, have won numerous competitions and teach and perform worldwide.

Mauricio Cardenas, orchestral coach

Gabriel Bilbao, violinist

Gabriel Bilbao is a Bolivian violinist based in London, where he maintains an active freelance career performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. He is also a member of the Medea String Quartet.

Gabriel studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Alex Redington and Jack Liebeck, supported by a full scholarship jointly awarded by the Royal Academy of Music and the Bolivia Clásica Foundation. Before moving to the UK, he began his musical education in Tarija at the Instituto de Música Mario Estenssoro, continued at the Escuela Municipal de las Artes de El Alto, and later became a long-term student of the Programa de Educación Musical de Bolivia Clásica.

As a soloist, Gabriel has appeared with the Bolivia Clásica Chamber Orchestra, the Bolivian National Symphony Orchestra, and the NSO–SMI Orchestra. His festival appearances include the Verbier Festival, Festival Música nas Montanhas, Norfolk Music Festival, Southwell Music Festival, Mendelssohn on Mull, TakuApu Festival Internacional Samaipata, and the BBC Proms.

Since his time at the Royal Academy of Music, Gabriel has collaborated with conductors such as John Wilson, Sir Mark Elder, and Marin Alsop. He has performed in venues including the National Auditorium in La Paz, Wigmore Hall, Salle des Combins, Cadogan Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Gabriel is deeply committed to the social impact of music. He has taken part in hospital outreach in Bolivia and has been involved in Música para Respirar, a Bolivian initiative created during the pandemic to bring live music and connection to listeners across Latin America, Spain, and Australia.

Paul Desenne, cellist & composer

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1959, Desenne was an honors graduate from the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. There, he pursued cello performance with professor Michel Strauss, playing various musical genres from classical music to Venezuelan Creole melodies, before taking up composition studies.

After returning from Paris, Desenne joined the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and was El Sistema‘s resident composer. Desenne’s works have been performed in major venues around the world, including Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and at Carnegie Hall. On 4 September 2016, Desenne’s work Hipnosis mariposa was premiered at The Proms by Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. His accolades included the prestigious 2009 Guggenheim Scholarship and the 2010 Fellowship of the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University.

Manuel Castellanos, traditional music

Manuel Castellanos is a seasoned and passionate teacher and musician with over 20 years’ experience training young people in his native Colombia, where he set up a highly successful music school in Villa de Leyva.

The Manigua Method Colombia has developed research, training and production processes in traditional music and mestizo performing arts within rural and urban communities and educational institutions, benefiting approximately 30,000 children and young people in 10 municipalities in Colombia and other countries.

Pedro Gadhela, double bassist

Brazilian-born double bass player Pedro Gadelha studied at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and in the Orchestral Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. His teachers include Rainer Zepperitz and Klaus Stoll.   Gadelha is currently principal bassist of the Sao Paulo State Symphony and was formerly a member of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra. As a bass section leader, he has worked with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, WDR-Sinfonieorchester Cologne, the Madrid Symphony Orchestra,  Galicia Symphony and the Rouen Opera. Pedro Gadelha is also a frequent collaborator with European ensembles as the Ensemble Modern and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez. He teaches at the Sao Paulo State Music School and has given lectures and masterclasses in many countries, including the Paris Conservatoire, Georgia State University and schools and festivals in France, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain and Hong Kong.