* Artists

Stephen Waarts’ innate and poetic musical voice has established him as a firm favourite with audiences: he has already performed more than 30 violin concertos. Stephen has performed with various orchestras, such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Hr-Sinfonieorchester, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, and with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Constantinos Carydis, Nicholas McGegan, Maxime Pascal, and Elim Chan.

He made his debuts with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin with Stephanie Childress, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Sir András Schiff, with Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Cappella Aquileia at Opera Festival Heidenheim, and the Nash Ensemble.

Waarts has appeared in recital at Philharmonie Luxembourg, Philharmonie Haarlem, Fundación Juan March, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Auditorium du Louvre, Vancouver Recital Society and Wigmore Hall, with renowned musicians, such as Andras Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Martin Helmchen and Timothy Ridout.

Waarts has appeared regularly at festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Krzyżowa, Con Spirito Leipzig, Rheingau, and Jerusalem. He released Mozart Violin Concerto No. 1 for Alpha Classics with the Camerata Schweiz under Howard Griffiths.

He was awarded the International Classical Music Awards Orchestra Award by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2019.Stephen is completing his studies at the Kronberg Academy, after his Masters degree from the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, where he studied under Aaron Rosand. In 2013 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, aged just 17. He was also prize-winner at the 2013 Montreal International Competition and won first prize at the 2014 Menuhin Competition. Stephen is part of the Development Programme of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists.

Born in 1995 in a family of musicians, Ludovica started her soloist career at a young age, performing in recitals for prestigious concert societies, including Società dei Concerti di Milano, Cremona Mondo Musica, Fazioli Concert Hall, Accademia Filarmonica di Messina, Varignana Music Festival, I concerti del Quirinale, Festival Classiche Forme, as well as a soloist with many orchestras, such as Orchestra ICO di Lecce, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. 

As a chamber musician, she had numerous collaborations with the sister Beatrice Rana, Enrico Dindo, Pablo Ferràndez, Giovanni Sollima, Bruno Giuranna, Oleg Kaskiv, Francesco Libetta, Massimo Quarta, Danilo Rossi, Alessandro Taverna, Pavel Vernikov.

After graduating with honors in 2014 at the Istituto Musicale “Giovanni Paisiello” in Taranto, in the class of Andrea Agostinelli, Ludovica continued her studies with Enrico Dindo at the Pavia Cello Academy and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, where she achieved her Master in Music Performance, and with Giovanni Sollima at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where she graduated with honours. At the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia she also completed with honours the Chamber Music course with Carlo Fabiano.

She also studied with renowned cellists, such as Michael Flaksman, Johannes Goritzki, Antonio Meneses, Frans Helmerson, Antonio Mosca, Asier Polo, Troels Svane, Rafael Wallfish. Since 2018 she is the Artistic Director of the Sfere Sonore Concert Series and of Sistema Musica Arnesano in her town, Arnesano (Le). She is Chamber Music professor at the Conservatoire in Nocera Terinese. Ludovica plays a Claude Augustin Miremont cello from 1870.

Mario Brunello is one of the most complete, multifaceted and sought-after artists of his generation.

A soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and a pioneer of cello piccolo, he is the first European ever to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986.

He collaborated with many important conductors, such as Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Myung-whun Chung, Yuri Temirkanov, Zubin Mehta, Ton Koopman, Manfred Honeck, Riccardo Muti and Seiji Ozawa.

He performed with the most prestigious orchestras of the world, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, NHK Tokyo, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, to name just a few.

As a chamber musician, Mario Brunello has shared the stages worldwide with artists such as Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Maurizio Pollini and Borodin Quartet.

Passionte admirer of philosophy, science, theatre and literature, he found new ways of communication and attracting new audiences by designing performances with personalities such as jazz pianist Uri Caine, singer-songwriter Vinicio Capossela, the physicist Carlo Rovelli, the writer Alessandro Baricco and actor Marco Paolini.

Brunello plays a precious Maggini cello crafted in the early 1600s and has grown increasingly fond in recent years of the 'cello piccolo'.Since October 2020 he has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Stresa Festival, taking over from Gianandrea Noseda.

Giovanni Sollima is an internationally renowned cellist and the Italian composer whose works are most performed the world. He has collaborated with Riccardo Muti, Yo-Yo Ma, Ruggero Raimondi, Mario Brunello, Kathryn Stott, Yuri Bashmet, Katia e Marielle Labeque, Patti Smith, Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu, Elisa e Antonio Albanese and with orchestras including Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Moscow Soloists,  Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, Accademia Bizantina, Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Giovanni Sollima has performed in some of the most important venues in the world, including Alice Tully Hall, Knitting Factory, Carnegie Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Opera House (Sidney), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Settembre Musica di Milano e Torino, Mittelfest of Cividale del Friuli, ClassicheFORME in Lecce, for the Associazione Scarlatti di Napoli. 

Since 2010 he has been teaching at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where he was awarded the title of Academic.

In 2012 he founded the 100 Cellos together with Enrico Melozzi. 

In composing, Giovanni Sollima explores different genres using ancient, oriental, electric and inventive instruments, playing in the Sahara desert, underwater, and with an Ice Cello.

His discography started up in 1998 with a CD commissioned by Philip Glass for his label Point Music which was followed by many other albums for Sony, Egea and Decca.

In October 2018 he received the prestigious Anner Bijlsma Award at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam.

In 2021 he recorded the six Suites by J.S. Bach.Giovanni Sollima plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri (Cremona, 1679).

Sinéad O'Halloran, cello
Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola
Laia Valentin Braun, violin
Johannes Marmen, violin

The Marmen Quartet is fast establishing itself as one of the most impressive and engaging new talents in the chamber music arena. 2019 marked a year of significant achievement for the Quartet, with First Prizes at both the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and Banff International String Quartet Competition, where they were also awarded the Haydn and Canadian Commission prizes. Other accolades include first prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition (2018) and awards at the International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition.

The Marmen Quartet has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Boulez Saal, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Stockholm Konserthuset, Milton Court (Barbican), Palladium Malmö and Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. The Quartet took part to Festivals such as the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, BBC Proms, Hitzacker, Lockenhaus, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, and the Barcelona and Gulbenkian Foundation String Quartet Biennale Festivals.Formed in 2013 at the Royal College of Music, the Marmen Quartet were holders of the Guildhall School of Music String Quartet Fellowship (2018-2020) and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover with Oliver Wille as well as in London with Simon Rowland-Jones and John Myerscough (Doric Quartet). They have received support from the Musicians Company/Concordia Foundation, the Hattori Foundation, Help Musicians and the Royal Philharmonic Society (Albert and Eugenie Frost Prize).

Tim Crawford, violin
Tim Ridout, viola
Tim Posner, cello

Formed by three gifted young instrumentalists (and all Tims!), the trio that takes its name from the great 18th century Austrian organist, Kapellmeister and prolific composer, Anton Teyber.

Emmanuel Pahud began his flute studies at the age of eight in Rome, and later continued in Uccle, Basel, Paris. In 1985 he won the National Competition of Belgium and debuted as a soloist with the National Orchestra of Belgium.

He graduated at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1990, obtaining the First Prize. He won many competitions, in Duino in 1988, in Kobe in 1989 and the Geneva International Music Competition in 1992.

He was appointed principal flute of the Berliner Philharmoniker by the conductor Claudio Abbado. In 1993, with the pianist Éric Le Sage e the clarinettist Paul Meyer, close friends and collaborators, he founded the Festival de l’Emperi, dedicated to chamber music, at Salon-de-Provence, in France. 

Pahud’s interest in contemporary music and flute repertoire is reflected in the many compositions dedicated to him or commissioned by him, such as the concertos for flute and orchestra by Matthias Pintscher (Transir, 2006), Marc-André Dalbavie (2006), Michel Jarrell (…Un temps de silence…, 2007), Elliott Carter (2008), Luca Lombardi (2010).The musical approach of Emmanuel Pahud is characterized by a unique versatility and adaptability. Thanks to his great control over the instrument and his physical attitude, technique is always reconsidered in accordance with the characteristics of the composition and its specific historical context. Through a diversified use of resonances, sound and vibrato techniques, fingers’ articulation, the various styles – from baroque repertoire philologically performed to contemporary, with occasional excursions into jazz – are expressed in a great variety of timbres, phrasings and intonations.

Tim is an increasingly sought after instrumentalist, regularly plying across the UK and Europe. He has recently completed his studies with Alexander Janiczek at the Guildhall School of Music in London.

Tim began his musical training at the age of 4, he attended the Royal Academy of Music, eventually winning all available prizes before leaving at 18. Tim regularly appears in Europe's finest chamber festivals, appearing alongside artists such as Steven Isserlis, Lawrence Power, Alexi Kenney, Philippe Graffin, Amy Norrington, Alasdair Beatson, Bengt Forsberg, Timothy Ridout, Paolo Giacometti and others. He is a regular of many festivals, including Musikdorf Ernen, IMS Prussia Cove, Lewes Chamber Festival, Wye Valley Chamber Festival. He is also part of Arcangelo, a leading ensemble directed by Jonathan Cohen. Tim plays a Ferdinand Gagliano, c.1770.

Winner of the Thierry Scherz Prize at Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 2023, Tim Posner is also the
first British cellist to have been awarded a prize at the International Karl Davidov Competition. Born
in 1995, Tim has performed as soloist with orchestras including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Mozart Players with conductors such as Andrew Manze.
Highlights of the 2022/23 season include a recording of chamber music by Boccherini with Steven
Isserlis, a recording of Cipriani Potter’s Concertante with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the
IMS Open Chamber Music tour and recital debuts in the Concertgebouw and Gstaad. He looks
forward to making his debut concerto CD with the Bern Symphony Orchestra later this year.
In 2010, Tim founded The Teyber Trio with violinist, Tim Crawford and violist, Timothy Ridout. He
has performed at chamber music festivals including the IMS Prussia Cove (Open Chamber Music),
Molyvos International Music Festival, Kronberg and Musikdorf Ernen festivals. As a chamber
musician he has collaborated with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Sir Andras Schiff, Gidon
Kremer and Lars Vogt.
Tim is principal cellist of Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
Born in 1995, he began learning with his mother, Julia Desbruslais and subsequently with Robert
Max. He studied with Prof. Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. He draws
great inspiration from regular masterclasses with Steven Isserlis at Prussia Cove.

BBC New Generation Artist in 2019, Timothy is one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. Among his prestigious awards there are the Jeffrey Tate Prize in Hamburg and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. He performed as a soloist with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Orchestre National de Lille, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Salzburg, and the BBC Symphony, and with conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, David Zinman, Gabor Takács-Nagy and Sir Andras Schiff. He is regularly invited to important festivals, including Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Heimbach, Bergen, Evian, Aspen, Enescu Festival and Marlboro Academy. He collaborated with Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Janine Jansen e Christian Gerhaher, to name just a few. He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565 – 75.

Apulian composer and pianist Domenico Turi received his diploma in piano performance studying with Riccardo Marini and in composition with Matteo D’Amico at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also attended courses and masterclasses taught by Stefano Scodanibbio, Marco Stroppa, Toshio Hosokawa, Germano Scurti, Giorgio Battistelli and Salvatore Sciarrino.

Turi received commissions from the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Camerata Italica, from the Amici della Musica di Foligno, the Festival Nuova Consonanza and the Internationales Halleiner Schlagzeugfestival.

His compositions have been performed at various festivals and concerts both in Italy and abroad: France, Germany, England, Scotland, Japan, Finland, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, China, Slovakia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Ukraine, Georgia and Mexico.

Musical theatre is an important part of his production: in 2012 he wrote the children’s opera Onde (“Waves”) for the Festival Nuova Consonanza, and in 2017 his first opera, Non è un paese per Veggy (“No Country for Veggy”, ‘Panettone-Opera in One Act’ with libretto by Federico Capitoni), was premiered at the Teatro Palladium. In 2019 he founded, together with the tenor Gianluca Bocchino, ContromanoDuo, staging original musical theatre performances written especially for the duo. 

Domenico Turi’s works are published by Ermes404 and Edizioni Musicali Sconfinarte and have been recorded by Retropalco, VDM Records and EMA Vinci.Since 2021 he is professor of Harmony Theory and Musical Analysis at Conservatorio Niccolò Piccinni in Bari.

Born in Nis, former Yugoslavia, Maja Avramović made her first steps in music with her mother, a concert pianist, from the age of two. She studied violin in a school for music talents and got a diploma in 1981. During her studies she was awarded several prizes in national competitions. After settling in West Germany, she studied in the master classes of Igor Ozim until her artist diploma and became the first scholarship holder of the Ivo Pogorelich Foundation. She then perfected her skills with Hermann Krebbers in Amsterdam.After playing with several orchestras, she joined the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1994. She is also an active chamber music player and regularly performs with Divertimento Berlin, the brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, the clarinettist Paul Meyer and Guy Braunstein. Her hobbies include golf, walking, reading, travel and cinema.

Chiara Osella debuted in La Traviata (Flora) as winner of the 66^th Teatro Lirico Sperimentale A. Belli Competition of Spoleto. Member of the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo of the Palau des Arts in Valencia, she performed with Domingo in Simon Boccanegra (Ancella) conducted by Evelino Pidò and in Vivaldi’s operas L'incoronazione di Dario (Argene) and Juditha Triumphans (Holofernes and Ozias) with Federico Maria Sardelli, with whom she also worked for the Barga Opera Festival in Catone in Utica (Fulvio). She performed in important theatres such Teatro Regio in Turin, Teatro Secci in Terni, Teatro Sociale in Amelia, Teatro Palladium, Royal Opera House in Muscat.

Chiara Osella also takes an active interest in contemporary music, starring in the European a premiere of Song from the Uproar (Missy Mazzoli) at Musiktheatertage in Vienna and Teatro della Tosse in Genoa, in Hanjo (Marcello Panni) for Nuova Consonanza and FontanaMIX Ensemble and in Auden Cabaret (Matteo D’Amico) at Triennale in Milan with Sentieri Selvaggi. 

She has performed works written especially for her voice by Carlo Boccadoro, Marcello Panni, Lucio Gregoretti, Andrea Cera, Valerio Sannicandro, Daniele Carnini. Chiara Osella is the co-founder, together with the manouche jazz trio Accordi Disaccordi, of the cross-over project Swing Opera. She collaborated, as a playwright, on the broadcast opening of the Teatro alla Scala season "A riveder le stelle" and as opera direction’s assistant of Davide Livermore for "Rigoletto" at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Massimo Spada, born in Rome in 1986, began his piano studies at the age of six and graduated with honours at Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2005, in the class of Pieralberto Biondi. He also studied with Boris Petrushansky, Riccardo Risaliti, Benedetto Lupo and Stefano Fiuzzi, Lazar Berman, Elissò Virsaladze, Joaquin Soriano and Andrea Lucchesini.  

In 2009 he achieved his degree with honours in Music History at the Università La Sapienza in Rome. 

He regularly performs solo recitals and chamber music concerts in duo and trio formations. Among the musicians with whom he collaborated there are Beatrice Rana, Andrea Obiso, Andrea Oliva, Roberto González-Monjas, Simone Lamsma, David and Diego Romano, to name just a few. His intense concert activity led him to perform in many venues and festivals in Italy and abroad, including Parco della Musica in Rome, Festival MiTo in Turin, Festival Internazionali per la Pace in Assisi, Sagra Malatestiana in Rimini, and for several prestigious concerts series in Venice, Padua, Bologna, Cuneo, Matera, La Spezia, Sulmona, Catania, Siracusa, Campobasso, Aosta. 

He promotes contemporary music and often performs pieces dedicated to him. Since 2011 he is the pianist of Ensemble Novecento, conducted by Carlo Rizzari, with whom he promoted new music of emerging composers.

He was awarded a First Prize in many international competitions, including J. S. Bach Competition in Sestri Levante, Rospigliosi Competition in Lamporecchio, Premio Sergio Cafaro.Very active as a teacher, he is piano professor at Conservatorio Morlacchi in Perugia and he is one of the founders and artistic directors of the International Music School Avos Project, where he teaches from 2020.

Winner of the First Prize at the prestigious Geneva Competition in 2018 at only 22 years old, Kevin Pedro Spagnolo (1996) is considered one of the most talented artists of his generation. Already winner of the Concours Internationale de Clarinette Jacques Lancelot and Ghent International Clarinet Competition, First Prize at the Berliner International Music Competition, Kevin performs throughout Europe in recitals with piano, as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, with string quartet and other wind instruments. In 2021 he released his first solo CD, Façades, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and conductor Michael Collins, sponsored by Breguet and the Geneva Competition, with music by G. Rossini, C.M. von Weber, Jean Françaix and Béla Kovács.

He has performed as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra and the conductor Anton Shaburov in St. Petersburg, in the Olympus Festival, for the “White Nights of St.Petersburg”, the Orchestra de Aguascalientes and Roman Revueltas, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève with Pierre Bleuse, Orchestre des Nations with Vitor Fernandes and Antoine Marguier, Bruxelles Philharmonic with Antonio Saiote, and many others. He has played in recitals and several festivals in France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, with Carlos Sanchis, Chloe Ji-yeong Mun, Theo Fouchenneret, the Quatour Voce string quartet, in the Montpellier Festival (Radio France), and many others, and some of his concerts have been recorded for radio broadcasts on Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Rai Radio 3, Radio Télévision Suisse. He regularly plays in various festivals in Italy in duo with the pianist Simone Rugani.Kevin started studying clarinet at the age of eight at Lucca’s Conservatoire, where he graduated with honours in 2013 in the class of Remo Pieri. Later, he studied with Carlo Failli, Fabrizio Meloni, Romain Guyot. In addition to his concert activity, Kevin dedicates himself to teaching with Masterclasses throughout Europe and is a teacher at the International Music School Avos Project.

A refined bel canto singer, in 2009 she made her debut under the direction of Kent Nagano in Il Viaggio a Reims (Corinna), at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia where she perfected her skills at the Opera Studio directed by Renata Scotto.

You commanded international attention by winning the 2010 Operalia Competition chaired by Placido Domingo and held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. At the beginning of her career she played Ines in Mercadante's I due Figaro at the Ravenna Festival and at the Salzburg Festival, at the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti with whom she maintains a long collaboration . Again with Maestro Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra she made her American debut in Orff's Carmina Burana at Chicago's Millennium Park and at the opening of the concert season at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The most recent commitments see her as the protagonist of Rigoletto at the Arena di Verona and at the Metropolitan Theater in New York, of Mozart's Mass in C minor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia performed in the past also at the Salzburg Festival, of Turandot Liù in Zurich, as Norina in Don Pasquale in Hamburg, a role she also played at the Teatro alla Scala in a new production conducted by M° R. Chailly and directed by D. Livermore. At the Teatro alla Scala she was the protagonist in Il Turco in Italia (Fiorilla) and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, a role also performed in Venice and at the Wiener Staatsoper as well as in a tour of Japan with the Wiener Philarmoniker conducted by Maestro Muti. In Milan she is still Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Ninetta in Gazza ladra, at her debut in 2017, and she takes part in the opening concert "A riveder le stelle" dir. R. Chailly in the 2020/21 season. You participate in an event filmed by Rai Cultura which sees the Rome Opera Theater collaborate with the Borghese Gallery for a show entitled 'The sound of beauty' (2021) Also for the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma she is Gilda in the opera / film Rigoletto performed at the Circus Maximus, directed by D. Gatti and directed by D. Michieletto with Rai filming and participation in the Rome Film Festival 2021.
In 2017 and 2021 she took part in the New Year's Concert at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice directed respectively by F. Luisi and D. Harding, the latter also published on DVD.

She debuts in 2023 the role of Liù in Turandot at the Zurich Opernhaus. In the same theater, in addition to other roles, she also interpreted Giulietta from I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

In 2015 she recorded her first CD, “Musica e Poesia” (OpusArte).

In 2018 she recorded Rossini's Stabat Mater with the BRSO, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Howard Arman (Sony). Also noteworthy is the DVD recorded on the occasion of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis performed at the Salzburg Festival 2021 by Riccardo Muti and Wiener Philharmoniker (Unitel).

At the age of seventeen, he graduated with honours in violin and viola at the Conservatoire “N. Piccinni” in Bari, where he studied with Carmine Scarpati. He also studied at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. He was awarded the Sinopoli Prize by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano for artistic merit. He also studied piano and Letters and Philosophy, and gave lectures in Latin Literature at the University of Bari. He was prize winner in the competitions of Vittorio Veneto, Palmi, Castrocaro – Migliori diplomati d’Italia, Società Umanitaria di Milano, Premio Geminiani, Ibla Grand Prize – New York, Premio F. Gulli an also V.Gui in Florence. Since 2010 he plays in the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and since 2020 he is the Concertino of the viola section. He has been first viola in the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice in Venice, at Teatro alla Scala, in the Filarmonica del Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and was invited as first viola in the Orchestra of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig for a project involving Schubert’s Symphonies conducted by Blomstedt. He teaches at the Accademia della Scala. As a soloist, he played for Rai Radio3 Suite, National Radio of Prague, Irish National Radio, Swiss Radio and Television, and at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Carnegie Hall of New York, Boston Auditorium, Auditorium Santa Cecilia-Parco della Musica, Società dei Concerti and Società del Quartetto in Milan, as well as in Switzerland, France, Japan and South America. He performed in recitals for solo viola and in duo with the violin for the Radio of Geneva, with readings from poems by Maria Russo Rossi.

Born in Milan in 1996, he started his double bass studies at the age of sixteen at the Liceo Musicale F. Casorati in Novara, and later continued in the same city at the Conservatoire G. Cantelli. He graduated with honours in 2020 under the guidance of Roberto Panetta.
He attended Masterclasses with some of the most important international double bassists, such as Enrico Fagone, Giuseppe Ettorre, Edicson Ruiz, Thierry Barbè, Milto Masciadri and others.
He has played in professional orchestras, including Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestra del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, OSI Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, collaborating with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Koenig, Markus Poschner, and others.
Active chamber musician, he performed with different ensembles many important pieces from the repertoire for double bass. These include Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, Schubert’s Octet, Prokofiev’s Quintet, Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat and many others.
Together with the pianist Greta Raciti, he founded the duo Magistroni Raciti, to explore the solo repertoire for double bass, often performing in concerts and recitals.
In 2022 he was selected as double bassist at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan after an international double bass audition.
He is currently attending the Master of Arts and Performance at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in the prestigious class of Enrico Fagone.

Francesco Muraca was born in 1991 in Cosenza. At the age of eleven, he began his percussions studies at the Conservatoire of Cosenza. In the following years he also took private lessons in piano and conducting. In the academic year 2009/2010, he graduated with honours in percussion instruments, under the guidance of Alessandro Carobbi. He was selected as timpanist at the ONC (Orchestra Nazionale dei Conservatori) for the years 2008 and 2009. In May 2010 he started collaborating with the orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the Filarmonica and the chamber ensemble I Percussionisti della Scala. In 2015 he won the audition as percussionist at the Teatro alla Scala. Since then, in his performance activity he collaborated with world famous conductors, such as Barenboim, Gergiev, Harding, C. Abbado, Chailly, Dudamel, Pretre, Chung, Gatti, Pappano, Mehta, Nelsons, Thielemann etc. In 2018 Riccardo Chailly invited him to collaborate for a production with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Since 2017 he conducts several chamber ensembles at the Teatro alla Scala. In April 2021, he conducted the live streamed concert for the Liberation Day at Teatro alla Scala, conducting an orchestra of musicians from the orchestra of Teatro alla Scala and the Accademia. Between 2022 and 2023 he conducted many chamber concerts with I Solisti della Scala and the recently founded Ensemble Contemporaneo. He graduated in Psychological Sciences and Techniques with a thesis on the neurophysiological roots of rhythm. He is the author of the opera “Fanny”, melodrama in two acts to a libretto by E. Cattaneo, published by EMW Edizioni Musicali Wicky.

The Ensemble I virtuosi di Sansevero originated from an idea of Riccardo Zamuner, young Neapolitan violinist, who put together some of the most talented string students of the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and other important International Academies, to create a string Ensemble without conductor, where every member is an outstanding soloist.

The ensemble is very versatile. In its entirety it consists of 11 musicians, but repertoire written for various chamber ensembles is often programmed: this includes string trio, quartet, quintet, sextet and octet. In many performances the young musicians are joined by world renowned artists.

The project is based on the idea of excellence. In fact, the concert venues are also important artistic places of our city, such as Cappella Sansevero, the Pio Monte della Misericordia and other Churches and Museums.

Furthermore, I Virtuosi di Sansevero support the environment with their slogan “Seminiamo Cultura” (Planting seeds of culture). In every concert venue a plant symbolizes rebirth and hope for a future of natural and spiritual development.

All the Ensemble members have an intense concert activity both as soloists and as chamber musicians, as well as in prestigious orchestras, and are prize-winners in important International Competitions.The Ensemble debuted in 2017 in the evocative Cappella Sansevero in Naples. Since then, they have performed in important artistic venues in Naples and in Italy.

Erica Piccotti and Gian Marco Ciampa explore the multiple aspects of the repertoire combining popular Latin American music and European art music in a journey from the Spanish folklore to the popular South American tango. The duo collaborates with Simone Cardini, young but already prominent Italian composer, winner of many international awards, who writes arrangements and transcriptions for the duo.

Born in Rome in 1999, Erica Piccotti was awarded the title of Young Artist of The Year by the jury of International Classical Music Award 2020. She graduated in cello at the age of 14, recorded for Warner Classics, debuted in Rai live broadcast at Montecitorio with M. Brunello for the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and was awarded the Certificate of Honor 'Alfiere della Repubblica'. Student of A. Meneses since 2015 at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, she was awarded the Monte dei Paschi Prize for young talents of the Accademia and the Honorary Diploma in her last year of studies (2019).

Gian Marco Ciampa, 1990, graduated with honours and Honourable Mention in guitar at Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, studying with Arturo Tallini and Bruno Battisti D’Amario. From a very young age he carries out an intense concert activity that has led him to perform and hold Masterclasses in four continents. He is prize winner in more than 40 international competitions, including the European Guitar Competition, which awarded him with the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic.

Trio Tharsos was formed in Florence in Summer 2021 as a natural development of the strong friendship between three young musicians of the Conservatorio L. Cherubini: violinist Ludovico Mealli, cellist Leonardo Ascione and pianist Fabio Fornaciari.After attending the courses at the Sesto Rocchi Festival in San Polo d’Enza with T. Mealli, C. Giovaninetti, A. Nannoni and M. Zigante, Trio Tharsos began their studies at the International Music School Avos Project in Rome, where they had the chance to attend masterclasses led by F. Dillon, P. Masi and S. Kovacevich. Since the formation, the trio performed in many festivals, such as Villa Pennisi in Musica at Acireale, the BrahmsFest in Rome, the Garda Lake Music Festival and InNova Forma in Florence, as well as in concert series including Palazzo Tolomei in Florence, Teatro di Documenti in Rome and Villa di Donato in Naples. Recently, the ensemble appeared in the broadcast for Rai Radio3 'La stanza della musica', playing music by Brahms and Smetana.

Duo Sabatini-Rugani is formed by Daniele Sabatini, violin, and Simone Rugani, piano; they are a versatile ensemble, passionate about sharing with audiences their love for chamber music and have a particular interest for contemporary music.

The Duo has performed in numerous concert venues, such as the Edsberg Castle in Stockholm, the Edinburgh Society of Musicians, ORF Radiokulturhaus in Vienna, Archdiocese of Glasgow, Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius. They have been invited multiple times to perform in New York City, at the New York University’s “Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò”, at the Italian Cultural Institute and in collaboration with the Consulate General of Lithuania.

Prize-winners at numerous international chamber music competitions, recent awards include: VIII International Stasys Vainiūnas Competition in Vilnius; Pesaro International Chamber Music Competition (1st prize); Boris Christoff Prize, assigned every year to a notable musician or ensemble in memory of the famous Bulgarian bass.

Recently they have focused on divulging Italian 20th century music, regularly performing works by Niccolò Castiglioni, Aldo Finzi, Gino Contilli and Silvio Omizzolo. Maria Vincenza Cabizza, composer in residence of the Biennale College in Venice, dedicated to them the work “Libero di essere niente più di un numero”. They are currently attending the Master Course in chamber music at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome with Ivan Rabaglia.

For two consecutive years, Duo Sabatini-Rugani has been invited to participate in the International Summer Academy (ISA) of the MDW, where they have had the honour to work closely with esteemed Professors such as Hatto Beyerle, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl, Patrick Jüdt and Vida Vujic.

Michele Bianco, Alberto Nardelli, Pietro Secundo

The concert of an accordion trio is a more unique than rare event, especially if we leave the field of folklore to delve not so much into the "classic" as into the "new musical". "New" which singularly seems to match the sound timbre offered by the instrument, comparable only to that of the organ or to that of the most sophisticated electronic equipment. The accordion trio (bayan) presents itself as an extremely new, dynamic and complete ensemble.
The chamber music formation was born in December 2019, and made its debut in October 2020 at the studios of Rai1 "One morning in the family" in the column "It's Italy beauty".

It is a very young formation that already boasts various successes on the national and international scene: absolute winners at the "10th Concurso Internacional De Música De Cámara Antón García Abril" held in Baza in Spain (it is one of the highest awards in the chamber music environment, twenty-one formations from all over the world); absolute winners of the XXIV "PIETRO ARGENTO" International Music Competition in Gioia del Colle (BA); absolute winners of the prestigious national competition "Alberto Burri, Festival delle Nazioni" held in Città di Castello (PG) in 2022; 3rd Prize at the XXV edition of the “Luigi Nono International Chamber Music Competition” in Turin; Winners of the 3rd edition of the "Marcello Pontillo" International Music Interpretation Competition in Florence, thirty chamber ensembles with which they had to compete to win the first prize.

The Sirius Accordion Trio also boasts several awards in the world accordion scene:
1st Prize at the “4ème Concours International ACCORDÈONS-NOUS 2021”, competition held in Mons in Belgium; 2nd Prize at the prestigious international competition "46th International Accordion Prize City of Castelfidardo"; 1st Prize at the "74th Coupe Mondiale International Accordion Competition" held in Munich in 2021 (it is the first Italian chamber ensemble to win it for the first time); 1st Prize at the "71st Trophée Mondial De L'Accordéon".
The trio includes its participation in various festivals: International Chamber Music Festival of Capo di Leuca (LE), Ascoli Piceno Festival (Marche), Ur-Fest of Popoli (Abruzzo), 6th Festival "Classiche Forme" (LE), 30th Edition of the Accordion Festival held in Kragujevac (Serbia), the 49th Chamber Music Season with the GMI (Marche), "The concerts of the slapdash academy" (Lazio) and will be engaged in a concert tour in Spain, Switzerland in 2023 and Italy.
The Sirius Accordion Trio aims to disseminate the classical accordion within the most important concert realities of classical music, expressing the potential of an instrument too often relegated mainly to the popular environment.