ClassicheForme per Fondazione Sylva

Sayaka Shoji has become internationally recognised for her unique artistic versatility and detailed approach to her chosen repertoire. Her remarkable insight into musical languages comes from her mix of European and Japanese backgrounds. Born in Tokyo, Shoji moved to Siena, Italy when she was three. She studied at Accademia Musicale Chigiana and Cologne’s Musikhochschule and made her European debut with Lucerne Festival Strings and Rudolf Baumgartner at the Lucerne Festival and then at the Musikverein, Vienna at the age of fourteen.

Since winning first prize at the Paganini Competition in 1999, Sayaka Shoji has been supported by leading conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov to name a few. 

Recent highlights include five concerts for the opening of the 2022/23 season with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/​Shani, an Italian tour with Philharmonia Orchestra/​Matias-Rouvali, and a collaboration with dancer/​choreographer Saburo Teshigawara performing Bach and Bartòk’s solo works at the Philharmonie de Paris. She also had a return to NHK Symphony Orchestra/​Noseda, Brussells Philharmonic/​Ono, and an extensive recital tour in Japan with Gianluca Cascioli.

In the upcoming season, Shoji will return to Israel for concerts with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/​Shani and they will collaborate again for the Japan tour. She will also make debut concerts with hr-Sinfonieorchester/Carydis, Hamburger Symphoniker/​Sloane, BBC Symphony Orchestra/​Wong and Orchestre de chambre de Genève/​Waldman. In autumn, she will tour Japan with Modigliani Quartet and Benjamin Grosvenor for a unique chamber recital program which includes a play written and directed by Oriza Hiraza.Sayaka Shoji plays a Stradivarius ​‘Recamier’ c.1729 kindly loaned to her by Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry Ltd.

Georgy Kovalev was born in Tiflis in 1990 and is one of the leading violists of his generation.
After studying with Yuri Bashmet and Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Academy, he is furthering his studies with Tabea Zimmermann at HfM Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
Georgy has performed as soloist with major orchestras such as Kremerata Baltica, New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Soloists, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has been a finalist and prizewinner at the Moscow Yuri Bashmet International Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. In 2011 he received the Neva Foundation Prize from the Verbier Festival.

In addition to being a member of the Delian Quartet, he is a very active chamber musician and collaborates with Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Yuri Bashmet, Fazil Say, Frans Helmerson, Emanuel Ax, Jörg Widmann, Viviane Hagner, Claudio Bohorquez, Lawrence Lesser, at major festivals such as Schubertiade, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Rheingau Festival, Kronberg Academy Festival.

Georgy has played in the most prestigious halls around the world such as Victoria Hall (Geneva), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), Philharmonie in Cologne, Kioi Hall (Tokyo), Prinz Regent Theater Hall (Munich), Gordon Bennett Hall (Chicago), Great Hall of the Moscow Consrvatory. He also recorded for German Radio together with his quartet Bach's The Art of Fugue.His future engagements will take him to the USA, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Korea, Holland, France, Austria and Italy.

At the age of 17 he graduated in violin and viola with honors and distinction from the Conservatorio "N.Piccinni" in Bari under C. Scarpati, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. 

He received the Sinopoli Prize from President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano for artistic merit. He also studied piano and Letters and Philosophy, lectured for Latin Literature at the University of Bari. He also collaborates with the Ludosofici and with magazines on philosophy and the art-divulgative sector for Corraini and Feltrinelli editions. He attends the contemporary poetry course of Alessandro Baricco's Holden School.
He has been a member of the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan since 2010. He has performed as a soloist for Rai Radio3 Suite, Prague National Radio, Irish National Radio, Swiss Radio and Television, at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Carnegie Hall in New York, Boston Auditorium, Santa Cecilia Auditorium and Parco della Musica in Rome, Società dei Concerti and Società del Quartetto in Milan and in Switzerland, France, Japan and South America. He has won the Vittorio Veneto, Castrocaro Classica, Società Umanitaria, F.Gulli, Ibla Grand Prize-New York, Geminiani, Palmi competitions, awarded prizes at the V.Gui and Pinerolo competitions.

He has collaborated on numerous tours in quintet and sextet with the Cremona Quartet and Andrea Lucchesini. He has performed Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with Marco Rizzi and then with Salvatore Accardo and the ORT and Padua and Veneto orchestras, Hindemith's "Der Scwanendreher" concerto with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, and his Variations on Themes by Rossini with the Cameristi della Scala at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as soloist and conductor. In June 2021 he will perform pieces for solo viola at the Swiss Radio in Geneva at a concert with verse readings by poet Maria Russo Rossi.

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 2024 she is the Artistic Director Festival di Pasqua in Lecce. She is Chamber Music professor at the Conservatoire “Niccolò Piccinni” in Bari.

Hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.

In 23/24 season he is the Focus Artist of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and will share stages with Wiener Symphoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Aside from orchestral and recital concerts, he will maintain busy schedule comprising of tours with Camerata Salzburg and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

He recently won Innovative Listening Experience Award at the coveted Opus Klassic Awards 2022, Germany’s most prestigious classical music prize which honours outstanding artists and recordings, for his ‘Cello Unlimited’ album released back in October 2021. 

Born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1992 to a family of Persian musicians, Soltani began playing the cello at age four and was only twelve when he joined Ivan Monighetti’s class at the Basel Music Academy. He was chosen as an Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship holder in 2014 and completed his further studies as a member of the Young Soloist Programme at Germany’s Kronberg Academy. He received additional important musical training at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein. As of October 2023, he holds position as a professor of cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria.Kian Soltani plays “The London, ex Boccherini" Antonio Stradivari cello, kindly loaned to him by a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society.

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 M. 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 M. Enrico Fagone.

Beatrice Rana performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, Barbican Centre, Royal Albert Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, KKL Lucerne, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich’s Isarphilharmonie, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Tonhalle Zurich, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Teatro alla Scala, BBC Proms.

She collaborates with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Klaus Mäkelä, Lahav Shani, Manfred Honeck, Riccardo Chailly, Gianandrea Noseda, Jaap van Zweden, Jakub Hrusa, Paavo Järvi, Elim Chan, Gustavo Gimeno, Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Jurowski, Dima Slobodeniouk, James Gaffigan, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Susanna Mälkki and Zubin Mehta.

Beatrice is the guest of such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre de Paris, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, Filarmonica della Scala, Seoul Philharmonic among many other top orchestras.

In the 2024/25 season, Beatrice is artist in residence at Paris’ Radio-France. The residency will involve a recital at the Auditorium de Radio France and several concerts and tours with both in-house orchestras, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Orchestre National de France and their music directors Mikko Frank and Cristian Macelaru. She will also return to the New York Philharmonic with Marek Janowski, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Gianandrea Noseda, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck and debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Beatrice Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics. She released 6 albums receiving critical acclaim and several prizes including “Young Artist of the Year” at the Gramophone Awards and “Discovery of the year” at the Edison Awards in 2017. In June 2018, she was chosen as Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.

Beatrice Rana won Silver (2nd Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn competition in 2013. She had attracted international attention at 18, winning 1st Prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011. Born into a family of musicians Beatrice began her musical studies at four and achieved her Piano Degree under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, where she also studied composition with Marco della Sciucca. She then studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

In 2017, Beatrice started her own chamber music festival « Classiche Forme » in her native town of Lecce, Puglia. The festival has become one of Italy’s major summer events.