Through his virtuosity, strength of personality and high intelligence, Yuri Bashmet has given the viola a new prominence in musical life.
The pre-eminent viola player of the modern age, he has motivated the leading composers of our time to expand the repertoire with significant new music. He is Artistic Director of the December Evenings festival in Moscow, Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of New Russia, and is the founder / director of Moscow Soloists. He also appears throughout the world in the dual role of conductor and soloist.
Born in 1953 in Rostov-on-Don in Russia, he spent his childhood in Lvov in Ukraine before studying at the Moscow Conservatoire with Vadim Borisovsky (of the Beethoven Quartet) and Feodor Druzhinin.
His international career was launched in 1976 when he won the International Viola Competition in
Munich. Since then he has appeared with all the world’s great orchestras, including the Berlin and
Vienna Philharmonics, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston, Chicago and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, which presented its own Yuri Bashmet Festival.
He has inspired many composers to write for him, and has enjoyed strong personal and professional relationships with Alfred Schnittke and Sofia Gubaidulina in particular. Schnittke’s Viola Concerto, written for him, is now firmly established in the repertoire. Other concertos composed for him include works by Poul Ruders, Alexander Tchaikovsky and Alexander Raskatov. He has also given the world premieres of Styx by Giya Kancheli, The Myrrh Bearer by John Tavener and On Opened Ground by Mark-Anthony Turnage – all of which were written for him.
In December 2002 Bashmet became Principal Conductor of the newly formed Symphony Orchestra of New Russia, with which he has embarked upon a series of concerts in Moscow, with touring plans in Russia, Italy, France and the UK. Other orchestras with which he appears as conductor / soloist include the Dresden Philharmonic, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Camerata Salzburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Brussels Philharmonic. He is also founder of Moscow Soloists, an ensemble he has performed with and directed throughout the world since 1992. This renowned chamber orchestra has been rapturously received in Moscow, Amsterdam, Paris, Tokyo, New York and at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London.
In chamber music his closest collaborators have included Sviatoslav Richter, Gidon Kremer, Mstislav Rostropovich, Maxim Vengerov, Natalia Gutman, Viktoria Mullova and the Borodin Quartet. He tours as part of a trio with mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, showcasing music of the past and present for this unusual and evocative combination. He is a frequent visitor to summer festivals such as Elbe, Verbier and Martha Argerich’s festival in Japan.
Among his many CDs is a recording for Deutsche Grammophon of the Gubaidulina Concerto and
Kancheli Styx, winner of a Diapason d’Or award and a Grammy nomination. Other notable DG discs are Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No 1 with Argerich, Kremer and Maisky, and the recently released Bartók Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Boulez. For Onyx he and Moscow Soloists have embarked on a critically-acclaimed series of recordings; chamber symphonies by Schostakovich, Sviridov and Vainberg; music by Stravinsky and Prokofiev (which received a Grammy award in 2008); and a disc of music by composers from the Far East, plus a recital disc of Encores with pianist Mikhail Muntian.
Described by The Times as ‘without doubt, one of the world’s greatest living musicians’, Yuri Bashmet brings an enquiring and perceptive mind to life beyond classical music.
He plays a 1758 Testore viola, a similar model to the one played by Mozart.

Formed in 2001 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Ardeo Quartet already belongs to the young French string groups acclaimed by the public and media.
In September 2004, the Quartet won the second Prize and two special Prizes at the Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition in Moscow, and in May 2005, the Polignac Foundation awarded them the First Prize in the FNAPEC competition. In June 2005, the Ardeo won the second Prize and the International Press Prize (unanimously) at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and in July 2007, the group competed in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition: selected for the final, it won the third Prize. In June 2008, the Quartet won the third Prize at "Premio Paolo Borciani" International Competition in Reggio Emilia.
The Quartet attended the master classes by Hagen Quartet (Salzburg Morzarteum), P.-L. Aimard, W. Levin, G. Pichler, P. Katz (ProQuartet educational programme), P. Frankl, the Fine Arts Quartet, M. Skampa, F. Salque, A. Meunier and A. Moccia.
Quartet performs at the festivals and
concert halls throughout France and abroad (Christmas at the Kremlin - Moscow, Santander - Spain, Kuhmo - Finland,
Musée d’Orsay - Paris, Concertgebouw - Amsterdam, Musiques d’Eté d’Epernay, festivals du Comminges, d’Entrecasteaux, de Gigean, Les Dominicains en Haute Alsace, Musique en Périgord, Moments musicaux de la Baule, Septembre musical de l’Orne, Orangerie de Sceaux, festival de Corbigny, Rencontres des musiciennes d’Ouessant...).
The Ardeo Quartet was chosen by Cultures France to benefit from the DECLIC program, in collaboration with Radio France and Mécénat Musical Société Générale.
In March 2007, Quartet Ardeo released its first commercial CD, dedicated to music of Charles Koechlin

Inizia lo studio del pianoforte all’età di cinque anni con H. Efrussi, nella classe preparatoria della Scuola di musica dell’Istituto Gnessin. Nel 1987 viene ammessa a proseguire gli studi presso l’Istituto Gnessin sotto la stessa didatta, passando poi (1991) nella classe di T. Zelikman. Ora studia al Conservatorio di Mosca con L. Naumov.
Nel 1990, all’età di dieci anni, suona al Festival per bambini nel New Jersey (Usa) e anche al Festival di Rolandsec in Germania. Nel 1992 partecipa al Festival cameristico “Incontri musicali di Russia”, organizzato a Mosca in omaggio al Grande violinista Andrei Korsakov. Nell’aprile del 1994 suona nella prestigiosa Sala Grande della Filarmonica di San Pietroburgo, nel quadro del Festival “I virtuosi dell’anno 2000”. Ha preso parte a numerosi importanti Festival nel mondo: a Tours in Francia, a Verbier in Svizzera, a Tanglewood negli Stati Uniti, all’Elba in Italia e alle Serate di dicembre in Russia.
Nel 2003 si é dipliomata al conservatorio di Mosca, dove continua tuttora il corso di perfezionamento con i professori Kirillova e Alikhanova. Nel 2002 ha vinto il concorso internazionale di musica da camera “Taneev” e nel dicembre del 2003 – con il “Brevis Trio” – il 18mo Concorso Internazionale di Musica da Camera a Caltanisetta.

At the age of six, wanting to become a singer, Stefano Bollani would accompany himself on the family keyboard. A few years later, he recorded a cassette of himself singing and playing, which he sent to his idol Renato Carosone, along with a letter explaining his dream. Carosone replied advising him to listen to a lot of blues and jazz, and so Bollani did.
His first record was the second volume of the jazz encyclopaedia published by Fratelli Fabbri. At age 11, he enrolled at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence, where he received his diploma in piano in 1993.
At age 15, he tread the boards professionally, playing mostly pop, at the same time studying under Luca Flores, Mauro Grossi, and Franco DíAndrea whose seminars he attended at Siena Jazz.
In 1996, he met Enrico Rava at the Teatro Metastasio in Prato who immediately invited him to play in Paris with him: ìYouíre young, you donít have a family. Take the risk, give up pop and devote yourself full-time to the music you love.î Taking Ravaís advice, Bollani backed out of Jovanottiís tournÈe and flung himself into jazz, language of improvisation and freedom. His upswing was marked by rapid laps: from the important, and continuing collaboration with mentor Enrico Rava to his affirmation with a referendum held by Musica Jazz magazine (best new talent 1998); from directing his Orchestra del Titanic (with numerous concerts to its credit and two recordings for the Via Veneto label) to making records and performing tribute-shows to pop music of the past (Abbassa la tua radio with, among others, Peppe Servillo, Irene Grandi, Marco Parente, Elio from the Storie tese Ö and Guarda che luna! with Gianmaria Testa and Banda Osiris Ö), right up to winning the Premio Carosone, usually awarded to singers, in September 2003 in Naples.
They caught on to Stefano Bollani even in Japan. Swing Journal, the countryís most authoritative jazz publication, awarded him the New Star Award in 2003, the first time for a European musician. Besides his ìhistoricalî collaboration with Rava, he has played with countless others, including Richard Galliano, Gato Barbieri, Pat Metheny, Michel Portal, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Han Bennink, Paolo Fresu, and appeared on the worldís most prestigious stages (from Umbria Jazz to the Montreal Festival, from Town Hall in New York to the Scala in Milan). His music often frequents irony, an evident characteristic of all of his work, some of it quite bizarre and offbeat, like Gnosi delle fanfole, a recording in which, along with songwriter Massimo Altomare, he set to music the surreal poetry of Fosco Maraini (1998), and Cantata dei pastori immobili, a sort of musical oratory for four voices, narrator and piano, on texts by David Riondino, published in a slip-case by Donzelli (2004). He has done four recordings for the French, Label Bleu: Les fleures bleues, 2002, a homage to writer Raymond Queneau, recorded with Americans Scott Colley on the bass and Clarence Penn on the drums, the solo recording Smat smat, 2003; Concertone, 2004, a composition for jazz trio and symphonic orchestra with the arrangements and direction of Paolo Silvestri and, finally, I Visionari, the first recording with his new quintet formed by Mirko Guerrini on the sax, Nico Gori on the clarinet, Ferruccio Spinetti on the double bass, and Cristiano Calcagnile on the drums. In 2003 he began playing with Danish musicians Jesper Bodilsen and Morten Lund, recording with them for Stunt Records, Mi ritorni in mente and, in 2005, Gleda, Songs from Scandinavia.
For the ìRacconti di canzoniî series, he published Líamerica di Renato Carosone (Elleu, 2004), a tribute to the history of swing and jazz in Italy and, especially, to his idol Carosone. This past May, the Jazz series of the weekly magazine LíEspresso, released the first Italian CD of his trio with Ares Tavolazzi and Walter Paoli. The previous discs had been released only for the Japanese label Venus Records. For his ingenious and sparkling character, and his natural gifts as an entertainer, Stefano Bollani earned the cover of the weekly magazine Topolino (this past May), the only Italian jazz musician to measure himself against Fethry Duck!
September 2006 marked the contemporary release of Piano Solo, the first CD in his name for ECM, which immediately rose to the top of jazz sales charts and landed the 31st place in the SorrisieCanzoni chart, and his first novel, La sindrome di Brontolo, published by Baldini Castoldi, Dalai.
The referendum among the journalists of the American magazine Downbeat of 2007 ranks him eighth among the jazz new talents and third among the young pianists in the world. The critics of the Allaboutjazz magazine in New York appoints him among the five most important musicians of 2007, beside monstres sacrÈs like Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins. In December of the same year, in Vienna, he is awarded with the Europejazzpreis, as european musician of the year.
His last work is an incursion in the popular Brazilian music, "Bollani carioca", a CD recorded in Rio de Janeiro with important local artists. Together with them, he performed in several cities of Brazil and has been the second musician in the world to play a grand piano in a favela in Rio, on the 1st December 2007. The first to do that was Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Mario Brunello is one of the most important names in the Italian and international music scene.
In the year 1986, Brunello was the first Italian to ever win the Čaikovskij Competition, which launched him into a stunning international music career. Brunello has played with some of the most prestigious orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philharmonia London, the Orchestre National de France, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Academy, the London Philharmonic, the DSO Berlin and the Munich Philharmonic. He has also collaborated with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Seiji Ozawa, Daniele Gatti, Myung-Whun Chung, Yuri Temirkanov, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Carlo Maria Giulini and Claudio Abbado, who over the years has invited Brunello several times to play with him with both the Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival and the Mozart Orchestra. With both he has appeared also as a soloist and a conductor.
Mario Brunello often takes on dual roles of conductor and soloist, and in 1994 he founded the Orchestra d'Archi Italiana with which he tours intensively both in Italy and abroad.
Chamber music plays an important role in Brunello’s artistic life and he collaborates with artists including Gidon Kremer, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Yuri Bashmet, Maurizio Pollini, Andrea Lucchesini and the Borodin and Alban Berg Quartets.
In his artistic life, Brunello reserves ample time for projects involving diverse art forms, from literature to philosophy, and from science to painting. In these performances, Brunello does not express himself solely through an interpretation of traditional repertoires, but also through interaction with actors and musicians from other cultural influences: some of these include the performances designed together with Margherita Hack, Uri Caine, Paolo Fresu, Moni Ovadia and Vinicio Capossela. In this way, Brunello presents his public with a diverse, multi faceted form of making music, creating interactive performances using music, images and words. A large part of these activities take place in an alternative space called Antiruggine, a remodeled workshop where Brunello experiments with these new music and art forms. Among his most recent alternative projects “Pensavo fosse Bach” is a multimedia performance with music, lights and video images dedicated to the Bach Suites, of which Brunello is considered to be one of the most masterful interpreters.
The diverse artistic genres experimented with by Brunello are reflected in a wide ranging collection of recordings which includes the integral Bach Suites and Sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven and Chopin, as well as many other recordings dedicated to cello solos. In the spring of 2008 Deutsche Grammophon published a CD with the Beethoven Triple Concerto conducted by Claudio Abbado.
EGEA Records is currently producing a record series articulated into five releases dedicated to Mario Brunello. The first two CDs in the collection will be “Odusia”, a musical Odyssey through Mediterranean culture, and “Brunello and Vivaldi”, dedicated to the cello concertos by Vivaldi.
Mario Brunello began his musical studies with Adriano Vendramelli, and then perfected his talents with Antonio Janigro. Mario Brunello is an Academic of Santa Cecilia, Rome.
He plays a precious Maggini cello from the 1600s which once belonged to Franco Rossi.

2009 ELBA FESTIVAL PRIZE
Marc Bouchkov è nato nel 1991 a Montpellier in una famiglia di musicisti.
Esordisce con il violino all’età di 5 anni, con suo nonno Matis Vaytsner e, a partire dai 6 anni, Marc inizia ad apparire regolarmente sulla scena.
Nel 2001 entra al Conservatorio di Lione sotto la guida di Claire Bernard e, all’età di 12 anni ottiene il Primo Premio di Violino all’unanimità, con i complimenti della Giuria.
All’età di 15 anni entra al Conservatorio Nazionale Superiore di Musica di Parigi, dove studia con Boris Garlitsky.
Participa regolarmente a Master classes e a Festivals internazionali in varie città del mondo, come Prades, Moulin d’Andé, Troyes, Bordeaux, Montpellier (Francia), Viterbo (Italia) e New Hampshire (U.S.A.).
Svolge un’intensa attività concertistica in Francia e all’estero.
Nel 2006, nel ciclo di concerti alla Carnegie’ Small a Paris, Marc ha avuto l’onore di suonare per Ivry Gitlis.
Nel 2007, l’Associazione Filarmonica di Lione riconosce il suo talento e gli conferisce un premio di incoraggiamento perche continui nel suo percorso artistico.
Nel 2008, all’età di 17 anni, vince il Primo Premio al concorso internazionale di violino Henri Koch a Liegi.

Diego Chenna studied with V. Menghini at the Turin Music Conservatoire and with
Sergio Azzolini at the MHS in Stuttgart.
In those same years, he played with the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester and the
European Union Youth Orchestra directed by Claudio Abbado.
In 1998 he won the first prize at the “Fernand Gillet International Competition” in U.S.A. and started his career as a soloist and chamber musician.
As a first bassoon player, he cooperated with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the World Orchestra for Peace directed by Valery Gergiev.
Being an appreciated chamber musician, his name appears in various important
European festivals, playing with such artists as Heinz Holliger, Alexander Lonquich, Maurice Bourgue, Yuri Bashmet, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, a.o. .
His ceaseless search in the music field often leads him to move on beyond the classical repertoire of his instrument, onto innovative grounds: the rediscovery of forgotten music, the development of new execution techniques, the utilization of live electronics and the creation of a new repertoire nowadays represent his main interest. Many composers have dedicated some of their works to him.
Presently Chenna is holding 2 teaching positions: at Musikhochschule of Freiburg and that of Lucern

“…finally, the bassoon gets opportunity to star…his sound is warm, rich and expansive...; a bassoonist with the “gentle sway” of Lester Young…”
(Garreth Smith, The Daily Star)

Grazie al suo stile essenziale e di travolgente virtuosismo, Martin Helmchen si è conquistato un posto di primo piano sulle scene internazionali. Nato a Berlino nel 1982, ha preso le prime lezioni di pianoforte a sei anni. Dopo aver studiato con Galina Iwanzowa all’Istituto Hanns Eisler di Berlino, dal 2001 è allievo di Arie Vardi alla Hochschule für Musik und Theater di Hannover. Un primo ma decisivo impulso alla sua carriera è venuto dalla sua vittoria al Concorso pianistico Clara Haskil nel 2001. Nel 2005 ha ottenuto una borsa di studio dal Borletti-Buitoni Trust e nel 2006 ha vinto il Crédit Suisse Young Artist Award, che gli ha offerto l’opportunità di debuttare al Festival di Lucerna con i Wiener Philharmoniker diretti da Valery Gergiev. Nello stesso anno Helmchen e il violoncellista Danjulo Ishizaka hanno vinto il premio ECHO “Artista emergente dell’anno” per la loro registrazione di opere di Mendelssohn, Franck e Britten pubblicata da Sony/BMG. Dal 2005 al 2007 ha soggiornato spesso in Gran Bretagna nell’ambito del progetto della BBC “New Generation Artist Scheme” che include concerti e registrazioni.
Martin Helmchen ha suonato con orchestre prestigiose come i Bamberger Symphoniker, la Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester di Stoccarda (SWR), la BBC Symphony Orchestra, la Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie di Brema la NHK Symphony Orchestra Japan collaborando con direttori affermati come Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Christoph Poppen, Marc Albrecht, Lawrence Foster e Bruno Weil. Ha partecipato a importanti festival in Germania (tra cui le Schubertiadi e il Festival di Lockenhaus) e al Marlboro Festival negli Stati Uniti.
Appassionato cultore della musica da camera, ha lavorato intensamente con il violoncellista Boris Pergamenschikow – pedagogo che ha avuto una notevole influenza sulla sua formazione. Collabora regolarmente con Heinrich Schiff, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Tabea Zimmermann, Julian Banse, Julia Fischer e Lars Vogt.

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker è nata nel 1987 a Zwickau, in Germania, e suona il violoncello dall’età di cinque anni. A partire dal 2001 segue le lezioni del Prof. Peter Bruns, prima come allieva esterna presso l’Accademia Carl-Maria von Weber di Dresda, e dall’ottobre 2005 come studente dell’Accademia Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy di Lipsia. Prende regolarmente parte a corsi di specializzazione tenuti da grandi musicisti come Steven Isserlis, Leonid Gorokhov, Daniel Hope, Anner Bylsma e Maria Kliegel. Ha ottenuto numerosi premi e riconoscimenti e a partire dal 1999 ha più volte vinto il concorso "Jugend musiziert". Nel 2005, all’età di soli 18 anni, ha ottenuto l’ambito primo premio e un premio speciale presso il Concorso Internazionale Rostropovich di Parigi. In seguito a questo straordinario successo ha avuto molti inviti a partecipare a festival e a tenere concerti in tutta Europa e negli Stati Uniti. Per questa stagione sono previste partecipazioni al Kammermusikfest di Lockenhaus in Austria e al Woodstock Festival dedicato a Mozart nell’Illinois. Per il futuro sono in programma concerti a Parigi, Chicago, al Festival Internazionale di Violoncello a Manchester e con l’Orchestra Sinfonica di San Pietroburgo. Dal 2006 Marie-Elisabeth Hecker è membro della Kronberg Academy.
Suona un violoncello “Bajoni” del 1864.

Evgeni Koroliov, born in 1949, is known to be an extraordinary phenomenon on the international piano scene. Without displaying spectacular attitudes, Koroliov convinces his public through an enormous spiritual understanding of the works he performs and in whose service he puts the wide range of his artistic and interpretatory abilities.
Koroliov's teacher was Anna Artobolewskaya at the Central Music School in Moscow, where he also studied with Heinrich Neuhaus and Maria Judina. He continued his studies at the State Conservatorium P. I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow with Lew Oborin and Lew Naumow.
Evgeni Koroliov won the Grand Prix Clara Haskil in Vevey-Montreux in 1977 as well as several other prizes at international competitions, e.g. the Bach competition in Leipzig in 1968, the Van Cliburn competition in 1973 and the Bach Prize in Toronto in 1985. Since 1978, he has been resident in Hamburg, where he also holds a professorship at the Academy of Music and Drama.
His repertoire ranges from Bach, the Wiener Klassik and the works of Schubert, Chopin and Debussy to the modern classics, Messiaen and Ligeti.
He has a special affinity to Bach and performed the complete "Well-Tempered Clavier" in Moscow at the age of seventeen. Since then Koroliov has often performed Bach’s greatest works in cycles, including the "Clavierübung" and the "Art of the Fugue", which he recorded on CD. The latter recording provoked a memorable reaction from the composer György Ligeti: "If there was only one musical work I could take with me to an uninhabited island, I would choose Koroliov's recording of Bach, because even when left pining away with hunger and thirst, I would still listen to this recording again and again, even to my last breath."
Koroliov has performed at a great number of venues, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Philharmonie Cologne, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, the Theatre du Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Teatro Olimpico in Rome, as well as in the USA and Canada.
He has given guest perfomances at numerous festivals such as the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festival Montreux, the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, the Glenn Gould Festival in Groningen, the Chopin Festival Duzniki in Poland, the Budapest Spring Festival and Settembre Musica in Turin. He is also a regular guest at of Ferrara Musica in Italy and the festival of the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart. In May 2005, Koroliov performed the “Goldberg-Variations” at the Salzburger Festspiele Pfingsten+Barock.
Recent highlights include recitals at: Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Bachwoche Ansbach, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Moscow, Budapest, Luxemburg, Lyon, Turin, as well as a concert tour to Japan. His recital with Bach's "Goldberg-Variations" at the Bachfest Leipzig 2008 was recorded by EuroArts for a DVD and NHK Tokyo for TV transmission. The DVD was released in November 2008.
In the season 2008/09 Evgeni Koroliov was the “artist in residence” of the Duisburger Philharmoniker in their new Mercatorhalle.
His partners in chamber music include Natalia Gutman, Mischa Maisky, the Auryn, the Keller and the Prazák Quartets. He also often performs as part of a piano duo with his wife Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva.
Evgeni Koroliov has recorded for TACET, HÄNSSLER CLASSIC, PROFIL and the label of the Hessischer Rundfunk. Especially his interpretations of Bach elicited an enormous response from the international music press. Numerous critics not only gave him a prominent place among the new recordings of the Bach Year 2000, but count his CDs amongst the most important Bach recordings in history. Recently ago PROFIL released a CD with Handel's Piano Suites.
During the season 2009/10 he performs, among other places, in Paris, Brussels, Milan, Montréal, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Hannover.

Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva and Evgeni Koroliov met in Moscow, where they were both studying at the renowned Tchaikovsky Conservatory; her teachers were W.M. Choroshina, L.N. Naumov and A.N. Ljubimov, his were A.D. Artobolevskaya, L.N. Naumov and L.N. Oborin.
Evgeni Koroliov, who was born in Moscow, had previously attended Moscow Central Music School; Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva, who was born in Bogdanci,/Macedonia, began her studies in Skopje and Zagreb and was, at the age of 16, the youngest person to receive a state scholarship to go to Moscow.
Even during their studies, both won numerous national and international prizes as soloists and were also admired as teachers. Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva taught at two Music Academies in Yugoslavia; Evgeni Koroliov first taught at the Moscow Conservatorium, then in Yugoslavia, and finally took up a professorship at the Music Academy in Hamburg in 1978.
In 1976, the two young pianists founded the Koroliov duo and, already in the subsequent year, won the "Jeunesse musicale" prize 1977 in Belgrade. Some years later, they performed at the International Duo Festival in Leningrad, where they won the first prize of the critics, the first prize of the audience, and two special prizes. In 2000, at the International Duo Festival in Jekaterinburg (Russia), they won the prize of the Russian Composers' Association for the best interpretation of 20th century music. They have produced numerous CD, radio and television recordings; in June 2006, their acclaimed recording of works by Schubert won the “Choc” of “Le monde de la musique”. Their recital activity, as soloists, as a duo or as part of a chamber ensemble, has taken them to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, the USA and Canada.
The duo also performed at numerous international festivals, e.g. the Hitzacker Summer Festival, the Ohrid Summer, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, MDR Musical Summer, Ludwigsburger Festspiele, Rheingau Music Festival and 'Elba, Isola Musicale d'Europa'.
In addition to the established classics, their repertoire also comprises a great number of works by important authors of 20th century and contemporary music, e.g. Stravinsky's "Le sacre du printemps", the "Sonata for two pianos and percussion" by B. Bartok, "Les visions de l'Amen" by Olivier Messiaen, as well as works by Gyorgy Ligeti and Gyorgy Kurtag.
In addition to that, the duo's artistic brilliance has also inspired some composers to new pieces that were then given their first performance by the Duo Koroliov. Among these are: "Kompozicija I" by I. Jevtic, "Musandra 7" by T. Prosev, "Sonata for two pianos" by R. Avramovski, "Sonata for two pianos" by T. Zografski, as well as a number of works by Wolfgang Plagge, including "Music for two pianos", "Die Woche", "Quintet for two pianos, two celli and horn", "Piano Concerto for two pianos and orchestra" and "Concerto grosso II for two pianos, wind quintet, and timpani".

Sasha Rozhdestvensky is considered to be one of Russia’s finest young violinists. Yehudi Menuhin pronounced him to be “one of the most talented and refined violinists of his generation”, while the legendary violinist Ivry Gitlis said of him: “He belongs to the great line of outstanding artists. His approach and relationship to music and the violin is intense, highly sensitive and intelligent”.
He has appeared internationally with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian State Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Het Residentie Orkest, London Symphony Orchestra,, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra of “La Scala”, Mariinsky Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, State Symphony Capella of Russia, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra.
Among the conductors with whom Sasha Rozhdestvensky has worked are Antonio de Almeida, Alexander Anissimov, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Bashmet, Joanna Carneiro, Jean Claude Casadesus, Simon Gaudenz, Valery Gergiev, Vernon Handley, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, Jansug Kakhidze, Gabriel Khmura, Lois Langree, Jacques Mercier, Anton Nanut, Avi Ostrowsky, Valery Polyansky, George Pehlivanyan, Vladimir Ponkin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Gerard Schwartz, Lothar Seifarth, Martin Sieghart, Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Spivakov, Stanley Sperber, Vladimir Valek, Vladimir Verbitsky, Christopher Warren-Green.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky has recorded numerous works for the THESIS and CHANDOS labels including the Concerto Grosso No. 6 by Alfred Schnittke with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. In 1994 he premiered this concerto, which was written especially for him and Viktoria Postnikova. He recently recorded the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Dimitri Shostakovich and the Violin Concerto by Alexander Glazunov with Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the State Symphony Capella of Russia.
He has appeared at major festivals including BBC Proms (London), Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Flanders, Gstaad, Istanbul, Colmar, Ravinia, Florida, Taormina, Sienna, Lockenhaus, Montreux, Rheingau, Mozart (La Coruna), Martinu (Basel), and has performed in all of the world’s major halls, including the Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Festival Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Salle Pleyel, Salle Gaveau and Theatre du Chatelet Paris, Mann Auditorium Tel-Aviv, La Scala Milan, always to great acclaim.
His chamber music partners have included Marc Coppey, Gary Hoffman, Steven Isserlis, Christian Ivaldi, Kun Woo Paik, Michel Portal, Viktoria Postnikova, Michael Rudy, Andrei Vieru.
Sasha Rozhdestvensky’s dedication to contemporary music is highlighted through close contacts with several eminent composers, such as Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and Giya Kancheli.
He also devotes his time to the performance of traditional Latin American music together with the instrumental group “Ambar” and “Paris Gotan Trio”, who recently released a CD “Champan Rosado”.
Sasha studied at the Central Music School in Moscow, the Moscow Conservatory, the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music in London with Dr. Felix Andrievsky, Zinaida Gilels, Maya Glezarova and Gerard Poulet.
He plays several violins, among which are a Guarneri del Gesu and a Stradivari loaned to him by the Stradivari Society. He recently became an ambassador for the Stradivari Society.

Nata a Palermo, ha studiato pianoforte e composizione al Conservatorio “V. Bellini” della sua città diplomandosi giovanissima col massimo dei voti, la lode ed uno speciale encomio.
Premiata dall’Accademia Musicale Napoletana, ha vinto il Premio Pianistico Nazionale a Firenze. Con una borsa di studio del Governo italiano ha seguito i corsi di perfezionamento del Conservatorio di Mosca.
Ha svolto tournées in tutta Europa partecipando, tra l’altro, a concerti con le Orchestre : Filarmonica di Dresda, W.D.R. di Colonia, Virtuoisi della Filarmonica di Berlino, Gürzenich Orchester, R.I.A.S. di Berlino, Orchestra della Radio-Televisione Italiana di Milano, Napoli, Roma e Torino, Filarmonic delle Fiandre, Philarmonique Lorraine, Radio-Televisione Belga, Zürischer Kammerorchester, Orchestra da Camera di Mosca, Cameristi del Teatro alla Scala, Virtuosi di Santa Cecilia. Ha eseguito in prima assoluta per la Spagna Introitus di Sonja Gubaidulina all’Auditorio Nacional di Madrid con l’Orchestra nazionale Spagnola. Ha partecipato a numerosi festival internazionali tra i quali il Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Bergamo e Brescia, Berliner Festwochen, Primavera di Praga, Festival di Ravello, Festival di Spoleto, Festival di Charleston, Ludwigsburger Festspiele.
Ha inciso dischi con la R.I.A.S. di Berlino per la Schwann, per la Ricordi et la Melodija.

Nato a Krasnoyarsk in una famiglia di musicisti, il violinista russo Victor Tretiakov ha iniziato gli studi musicali a Irkutsk, continuando poi alla Scuola centrale di musica e al Conservatorio Ciaikovskij di Mosca, allievo di Y. Yankelevich. Nel 1965 vince il concorso Pansovietico e in séguito riceve il primo premio al concorso Ciaikovskij. David Ojstrach soleva dire di lui: “Tretiakov è il talento più autentico e seducente che abbia incontrato nel nostro paese”.
La sua folgorante carriera internazionale lo ha condotto a suonare sotto la bacchetta dei più grandi direttori in tutti i paesi d’Europa, negli Stati Uniti, in Canada e in America Latina.
Oltre ai numerosi recital nei quali è stato accompagnato dal suo pianista Mikhail Erokhin, Tretiakov ha suonato con altri famosi solisti quali Bashmet, Richter, Gutman, Kagan e il Quartetto Borodin.
Dopo Rudolf Barshaj e Igor Bezrodny, Victor Tretiakov ha diretto personalmente l’Orchestra da camera di Mosca, della quale è stato anche solista.
Nel suo ampio repertorio, oltre alle grandi opere dei maestri russi, troviamo composizioni barocche e contemporanee. Tretiakov è docente al Conservatorio Ciaikovskij di Mosca e alla Musik Hochschule di Colonia.

Daniel Vaiman was born in 1978 in Riga, Latvia. He began to study the piano at the Gnessin Special Music School in Moscow at the age of 6. In 1994 he received a full scholarship to attend the Purcell School of Music in England.
From 1996-2000 he was a full scholar at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He continued his postgraduate studies in Karlsruhe Musikhochschule during 2001-2003 with prof. K. Randanu and later at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zürich, Switzerland with prof. Homero Francesch, where he received Master’s degree in 2006.
Mr. Vaiman is a top-prize winner of the Junior Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (USA),
 Newport Piano Competition (UK
), International Piano Competition in Pontoise (France), "Ennio Porrino " Piano Competition (Italy
).
He performed at the Rheingau Music Festival in Germany, Gubbio Music Festival in Italy, Gent Chopin Festival in Belgium, Festival in Moulin d'Andé, France, Cliburn Music Institute Master-Classes in Texas and Summit Music Festival in New York, both in the USA, Niagara International Festival in Canada.
Daniel participated in a concert in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at St Jame's Palace.
Daniel Vaiman’s both recitals in Jerusalem Music Center and in Seoul (South Korea) were broadcasted live on the radio. He performed as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Camerata Zurich Orchestra, and others.
Recently, he took part in Auvers-sur-Oise Festival in France and in Yokohama music series in Japan.
Besides playing concerts and recordings, D. Vaiman has started teaching a piano class in Zurich in 2009.

Michael Vaiman was born in Odessa (Ukraine), where he studied violin at the distinguished Stolyarsky School of Music. He continued his musical studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with the legendary violinist David Oistrach and Semyon Snitkovsky.
M. Vaiman’s vast repertoire includes all violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Frank, Schumann, Schubert, Shostakovich and all most important violin concertos.
In 1991-1996 Mr Vaiman founded and conducted a chamber orchestra in Israel. He himself is an active participant in many chamber music festivals: Kuhmo (Finland), Tours (France), Elba Festival (Italy), Summit Music Festival (New York).
Michael Vaiman is a top-prize winner of the H. Wieniawski competition in Poznan (Poland). He has many Radio, TV and CD recordings.
M. Vaiman played as a concert soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra with G. Herbig, the Moscow Philharmonic with Y. Simonov, St. Petersburg Symphony with A. Jansons, 
 The Moscow Soloists with Y. Bashmet, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra with S. Sondetskis, Tokyo Chamber Ensemble, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra.
Mr Vaiman started teaching in 1980 in Moscow, in 1989 he was professor at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv University, and then a guest professor in Nagoya, Japan. He gives master classes at Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, UK), Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (China), South Methodist University in Dallas (USA), “Keshet Eilon” in Israel.
He is currently a professor of violin at Musikhochschule Köln-Aachen and artistic director of the Music Festival and master classes “Spring at Moulin” (Moulin d’Andé, France).

Pianista, allievo di Heinrich Neuhaus, vive a Roma da quasi 40 anni. Durante tutto questo tempo si è divertito lavorando come speaker di lingua russa e come consulente musicale alla RAI, dando i concerti e insegnando all’Università. Ha tradotto in italiano i due libri del suo Maestro ed ha pubblicato vari libri ed articoli legati alla musica ed alla cultura russa in generale. Tra i suoi argomenti
preferiti la musica di Shostakovich, la poesia di Boris Pasternak, la scuola pianistica russa e sovietica, le opere di Borodin e di Prokofiev, la storia recente del suo paese nativo...

Eduard Wulfson è cresciuto a Riga, in Lettonia, dove ha iniziato a studiare il violino. Ha proseguito i suoi studi presso i conservatori di Mosca e San Pietroburgo sotto la guida dei professori Igor Bezrodny e Michail Vaiman. Ha vinto prestigiosi premi internazionali a Genova, Zagabria e Monaco.
Dal 1977 vive tra Londra e Parigi.
Wulfson ha avuto il privilegio di studiare e suonare con alcuni tra i maggiori violinisti dei nostri tempi, come Henryk Szeryng e Yehudi Menuhin. Nell’intervista pubblicata sul Daily Telegraph nell’aprile 1984 Yehudi Menuhin definisce le interpretazioni di Wulfson come inserite “nella migliore tradizione russa”.
Si esibisce di frequente con alcuni dei grandi interpreti contemporanei, come Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Sakharov. Nell’autunno del 2008 è previsto un tour della Cina e del Giappone.
Oltre alle sue attività concertistiche, Wulfson ha studiato la storia della fabbricazione degli strumenti a corda e la valutazione della loro autenticità con Jacques François a New York e Robert Bein a Chicago, divenendo un esperto a livello internazionale della vecchia scuola italiana di liutai.
Wulfson svolge attività di insegnamento per violinisti di talento, vincitori di prestigiosi premi internazionali.
Eduard Wulfson suona uno Stradivari del 1702 e un Sanctus Seraphinus del 1732.

Stepan Yakovich was born in 1969 in Minsk (Bielorussia). Graduated from Moscow Conservatory and post-graduate school in the class of Prof. I. Bochkova.
He started his concert career early, during his student years at the Conservatory, playing as a soloist with orchestras in Russia and abroad. Yakovich is a frequent partner of Yuri Bashmet in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Schnitke’s Concerto for Three.
He played with many well-known musicians, such as V. Tretiakov, A. Slobodyanik, N. Znaider, M. Brunello, V. Repin, A. Kniazev, M. Muntian, J. Kakhidze.
From 1992 Stepan Yakovich is a member of Moscow Soloists orchestra, and from 2006 he is the concertmeister of this ensemble.

Dina Yoffe graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where she studied with professor Vera Gornostayeva, one of the most important protagonists of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus school.
As a concert pianist, Dina Yoffe is well known in France, Germany, England, Russia, Israel, Japan, USA, Finland and Poland. She played with outstanding orchestras and conductors: Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, NHK Japanese Radio Orchestra with Neville Marriner, Moscow Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev and Dmitri Kitayenko, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra with James De Priest, Kremerata Baltica with Gidon Kremer, The Moscow Soloists with Yuri Bashmet, Orchestra "Sinfonia Varsovia" with J. Kaspszyk.
Dina Yoffe participates in many outstanding musical events, such as: Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój, Eurolesia Festival in Wroclaw (Poland), F. Chopin Festival in Geneva (Switzerland), Music Festival in Bayreuth (Germany), Serate Musicale and Elba Festival (Italy), Summit Music Festival and Bargemusic Festival (USA).
She also plays chamber music with renowned musicians, such as G. Kremer, Y. Bashmet, V. Tretiakov, V. Repin, M. Vaiman, M. Brunello, and others.
Dina Yoffe gives Master Classes in France, Germany, Japan, at the Royal Academy of Music in London; she is Guest Professor at the Summit Music Festival in New York, at the Yamaha Master Classes in Paris. She is frequently invited as a member of the jury at the international piano competitions.
A top-prize winner of the R. Schumann international competition in Germany and prestigious F. Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Dina Yoffe has many Radio, TV and CD recordings. Her concerts of complete Chopin works were filmed and broadcasted by Japanese National Television NHK.
Currently, Dina Joffe is a Professor at the Anton Rubinstein International Academy (Germany), Artistic Director of Festival and Master Classes in Moulin d'Andé (France) and Honorary member of Japan Piano Teachers Association.

Questo celebre gruppo musicale è stato fondato nel 1992 per iniziativa del grande musicista russo Yuri Bashmet. Il debutto dell’orchestra ebbe luogo nella Sala grande del Conservatorio di Stato di Mosca il 19 maggio 1992 e il giorno successivo nella prestigiosa Salle Pleyel di Parigi.
Yuri Bashmet riuscì a mettere insieme i migliori diplomati del Conservatorio di Mosca del momento. Oggi la stampa internazionale qualifica l’ensemble come “uno dei migliori del mondo di questo genere” (Davar, Israele). Un giornale italiano ha definito il complesso “la voce del suo paese”.
I giovani musicisti (nessuno dei quali ha più di 30 anni) hanno suonato in Festival quali: il Festival Rostropovich a Evian in Francia, il Festival di Montreux in Svizzera, il Festival di Sidney in Australia, il Festival moscovita delle “Serate decembrine”.
I Solisti di Mosca hanno tenuto concerti in sale prestigiose quali: Albert Hall e Barbican à Londra, Salle Pleyel e Théâtre de Champs Elysées a Parigi, Concertgebouw ad Amsterdam, Santory Hall a Tokyo, la sala dei Filarmonici a Berlino. Si sono fatti applaudire in tutta Europa, in Australia, Nuova Zelanda, Giappone, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israele, Turchia. Hanno accompagnato celebri solisti quali S. Richter, G. Kremer, M. Rostropovich, V. Tretiakov. Partecipano con Yuri Bashmet al programma televisivo mensile russo “Invito a sognare”.
Nel repertorio dell’ensemble si trovano sia i capolavori della musica classica, sia opere che raramente figurano nei programme di concerto.
Nel 1995 I Solisti di Mosca hanno inciso in CD per la EMI il “Triplo Concerto” del celebre compositore contemporaneo Alfred Schnittke, nel quale i solisti erano Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer e lo stesso Bashmet.