Pour la fin du Temps

Ettore Pagano is the winner of the prestigious Abbiati Prize as ‘best soloist’ awarded by the Italian Music Critics, and of the authoritative Classeek Award at the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards). Born in Rome in 2003, he began studying the cello at the age of nine. A pupil of the Accademia Chigiana under the guidance of Antonio Meneses and David Geringas, he attended the Accademia W.Stauffer in Cremona, graduating from the Conservatorio di S.Cecilia in Rome with top marks, honours and mention. He currently attends Jens Peter Maintz's courses at the Universitaet der Kuenste in Berlin.

Since 2013 he has been awarded first prize in over 40 national and international competitions, including first prize at the Khachaturian Cello Competition 2022 in Yerevan, and second prize (as well as two special jury prizes) at the Enescu Cello Competition 2024 in Bucharest. He has already been invited to play on major international stages in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia and the USA. Particularly noteworthy are his debut in March 2025 in the season of the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia at the Parco della Musica in Rome, and the invitations from the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI as soloist on three singular occasions: at the Auditorium Toscanini in Turin with live coverage on Radio3 and Raicultura video, at the Royal Opera House in Muscat (Oman) and at the Republic Day Concert at the Quirinale in the presence of the Head of State with live coverage on Raiuno TV.

Also during 2025, the invitations to the concert festivals ‘Stars & Rising Stars’ in Munich and ‘Stars von Morgen’ at the Brucknerhaus in Linz are of considerable international importance. Ettore Pagano plays an Ignazio Ongaro cello (Venice-1777) entrusted to him by Setaro Fine Instruments.

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.

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.