* 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.

First British cellist ever to be awarded a prize at the International Karl Davidov Competition in Latvia, born in 1995, he began playing the cello at the age of eight, studying with his mother, Julia Desbruslais. He studied at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music with Robert Max and is currently studying in the 'Solo Class' of Prof. Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover.

Tim debuted at the age of fourteen. Since then, he performed as a soloist with renowned orchestra, such as NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Mozart Players. As a chamber musician, Tim plays regularly in various ensembles.He performed recitals in Europe and Asia and played at chamber music festivals including Musikdorf Ernen, IMS Prussia Cove (Open Chamber Music), Wye Valley, Lewes, Peasmarsh, Frinton, Musique à Marsac, Buxtehude, Roman River Festival, Cheltenham and Brighton. He has collaborated with renowned musicians, such as Lars Vogt, Alasdair Beatson, Ewa Kupiec, Esther Hoppe, Alexander Rudin, Andrej Bielow and others.

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.

Italian soprano Rosa Feola came to international attention after winning several prizes, including the Second Prize, the Audience Prize and the Zarzuela Prize at the Plácido Domingo World Opera Competition (2010).

Since her acclaimed debut as Corinna (Il Viaggio a Reims) with Kent Nagano, Rosa Feola has performed in many of the world's leading theatres. Among her recent engagements, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Gilda (Rigoletto), Il Turco in Italia at La Scala, Milan, Gilda at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Zurich Opernhaus, where she also featured in Il Turco in Italia and La Finta Giardiniera, Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Musetta (La Bohème) at the Bavarian State Opera, and other productions at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Glyndebourne, at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing under conductors such as Nicola Luisotti, Giampaolo Bisanti and Louis Langrée.

She regularly performs with Riccardo Muti, recently in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and as Nanetta (Falstaff) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Rosa Feola’s engagements for this season include her debut as Violetta (La Traviata) at the Opera Giacosa of Savona. Future plans include Gilda in Oliver Mears’s new production of Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the same role at Met with Daniele Rustioni, Don Pasquale at the Hamburg State Opera, Micaëla (Carmen) in Munich and I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Liù (Turandot) in Zurich.

She is also very active in concerts and recitals. In the last seasons Rosa Feola performed a recital at the Park Avenue Armory of New York and the Kennedy Center of Washington DC with the pianist Iain Burnside.In 2015 she published the CD Musica e Poesia (Opus Arte) with Iain Burnside, with music by Respighi, Martucci, Ponchielli, Pinsuti and Liszt.

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.