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Hiroki Kasai has performed across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, with appearances at the Marlboro, Beethovenfest, Pablo Casals, Schleswig-Holstein, and Gstaad Menuhin. After graduating with distinction in violin from the Royal Academy of Music, he began studying viola on the recommendation of Nobuko Imai, with whom he now studies at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. In 2024, he won First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras in Europe, Asia, and America under conductors such as Ton Koopman. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Midori, Lawrence Power, Thomas Riebl, Ivan Monighetti and Christoph Richter. In 2025, he will tour the United States and Canada as part of “Marlboro on Tour.”
Zofia Groblewska is a student at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. She is a laureate of several viola, violin, and chamber music competitions, including the Grand Prix of the Music Competition of the Centre for Artistic Education in Poland and the viola and double bass competition in Gdańsk, as well as prizes at the Josef Micka Competition in Prague and the Bohdan Warchal International Competition in Slovakia. In 2023, she made her solo debut with the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, performing the Romance by Bruch, and returned in 2024 for a second appearance. In 2022, she joined the Concertgebouworkest Young, performing under the direction of Gustavo Gimeno and collaborating with Isabelle Faust. Since 2024, she has been a member of the Penderecki Youth Orchestra in Lusławice.
Vincenzo Calcagno is a final-year student at the Juilliard School, where he studies with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory as a recipient of the Irene Diamond and E&J Brenner Scholarships. Prior to Juilliard, he studied with Helen Callus. This autumn, he will begin graduate studies with Ettore Causa at Yale University on a full scholarship. Vincenzo’s recent performances include recitals highlighting works by British composers, and with guitar, works by Schubert, Piazzolla, and Fauré. He has also served as principal violist in the performance by the Juilliard Orchestra of Verklärte Nacht by Schoenberg. With his quartet, he participated in the Master Class series of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with the Quartet Calidore and performed at Carnegie Hall in “A Celebration of Meredith Monk.” Previously, he received summer scholarships at the Taos School of Music, the Perlman Music Program, and the Music Academy of the West, where he studied intensively with the Quartet Takács.
Dillon Scott attends the Curtis Institute of Music where he holds the Mark. E. Rubenstein Fellowship and studies with Edward Gazouleas and Roberto Diaz. Dillon was a finalist in both the junior and senior divisions of the Sphinx Competition and was awarded first place at the Nelly Berman Young Classical Virtuosos of Tomorrow. He was also featured on NPR’s From the Top. Dillon has performed as a soloist with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra orchestras and as soloist at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall. He performs frequently at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. As a supporter of contemporary and underrepresented voices, he has championed the Viola Concerto by Roberto Sierra and the Viola Sonata and String Quartet No.1 by George Walker. In past summers, he attended the Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall, the Sphinx Performance Academy, and the Dali Quartet International Music Festival.
Ayano Nakamura is currently earning a Master’s degree at the Yale School of Music where she studies with Ettore Causa. She recently received a Bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, studying with Martha Katz and Mai Motobuchi, and has attended the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop and Kneisel Hall Young Artist Chamber Music Program among others. She recently performed with A Far Cry Chamber Ensemble and Nobuko Imai’s celebration concert in Japan.
Laura Liu, a native of Miami, Florida, currently lives in New York City where she studies with Cynthia Phelps and Misha Amory. Last summer, she took part in the Olympic Music Festival Fellowship, Music@Menlo’s International Performer’s Program and Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Workshop. She previously attended Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, and Heifetz International Music Institute. Laura made her Casals Forum debut, performing in recital at the Kronberg Festival Masterclasses. This past season she received an Honorary Mention and the Pirastro Prize for outstanding young talent at the Third Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition. She recently earned her Bachelor of Music, and is now pursuing her Master’s as a recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School.
Violist Ami-Louise Johnsson from Stockholm is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with David Takeno, where she has been supported by the Anglo-Swedish Society since 2019. Ami-Louise won the 2020 Max and Peggy Morgan Viola Award at the Guildhall, was Second Prize and Special Award winner of the 2021 Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in Prague. She has also received a Junior award from the Hattori Foundation in London. Ami-Louise has attended chamber music festivals at Yellow Barn, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Jong Talent Schiermonnikoog, and Valdres Sommersymfoni. Ami is a 2023 Drake Calleja Trust Scholar as well as being a recipient of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. She was also awarded the Sigrid Paskell Scholarship 2023 in Performing Arts from SWEA International.
Born in 2001, French violist Héloïse graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of Jean Sulem, receiving the jury’s highest distinction. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where she studies with Miguel da Silva, and a member of the Elite Programme of the École Normale de Musique de Paris with Gérard Caussé.
She won Second Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2023 Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in Prague and received the Grand Prix Ravel in 2024. She has also been distinguished at the Prague Spring, A. Rubinstein and Brahms competitions.
As a soloist, she is invited to perform with European orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris and the Belgian National Orchestra. A passionate chamber musician, she collaborates with artists such as Cédric Tiberghien, Stéphane Degout, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Sir George Benjamin.
Her debut solo album with Mirare will be released in autumn 2026.
Timothy Ridout, a BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellow, is one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. This season he appears as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Odense, San Jose symphony orchestras and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. In 2020, Ridout won Hamburger Symphoniker’s inaugural Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize and joined the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in 2021.
Other highlights this season include recitals and chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philharmonie Köln. Further afield, Ridout embarks on a South American tour with the Chamber Society of the Lincoln Centre, returns to Taipei for a series of concerts, and tours Australia with Musica Viva.
In recent seasons, Ridout has made his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lille, Camerata Salzburg, Graz Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra, and performed the Walton Concerto at the BBCProms/Sakari Oramo and with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/David Zinman. He has also worked with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Lionel Bringuier, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Sylvain Cambreling, Nicholas Collon and Sir Andras Schiff.
Sought after as a chamber musician, Ridout has taken part in numerous festivals across Europe, including Rheingau, Bergen, Rosendal, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sion and Lockenhaus, and regularly collaborates with leading international artists including Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Kian Soltani, Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicolas Altstaedt and Christian Tetzlaff, among many others.
Ridout records for the Harmonia Mundi label. His latest album – ‘A Poet’s Love’ –was recorded with pianist Frank Dupree and features selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and their own transcription of Schumann’s Dichterliebe. New releases include, amongst others, Berlioz Harold en Italie with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/John Nelson on Warner/Erato, and Bloch Suite for Viola and Orchestra and Elgar Concerto with BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.
Born in London in 1995, Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and, in 2018, took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World.
He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565 – 75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare’s International Violin Society.