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German violinist Alexandra Weissbecker began her musical journey at Kazan Special Music School in Russia under the guidance of Julia Vivat, before moving on to study with Pierre Amoyal at Mozarteum University Salzburg in 2019. Currently a student of Stephan Picard at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, she has also gained valuable insights from masterclasses with musicians including Boris Kushnir and Maxim Vengerov. A laureate of several prestigious competitions, including the International Louis Spohr Competition and the Anton Rubinstein Violin Competition, Alexandra has showcased her talents with orchestras such as the Jena Philharmonic and the State Symphony Orchestra. She plays a violin by Niccolò Gagliano on loan from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Arne Jesper Zeller began playing the cello at age 6 and has been under the guidance of Peter Bruns at HMT Leipzig since he was 14. He has also been influenced through masterclasses with Ivan Monighetti, Jens Peter Maintz, Jan Vogler, and Frans Helmerson. Throughout his musical journey, he has achieved numerous awards and prizes in both national and international competitions, including, most recently, Second Prize at the international Brahms Competition in Pörtschach. At 13, he made his solo debut with the Rococo-Variations, followed by performances of the Korngold cello concerto with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic. In 2023, he was soloist with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2023. He has performed in solo and chamber music recitals at several festivals, notably the Rheingau Musik Festival, Heidelberger Frühling and the Moritzburg Festival. Arne was a participant in cello masterclasses with Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy in 2022 and, two years later was chosen as the youngest ‘Junior’ for Kronberg’s ‘Chamber Music Connects the World” programme.
German cellist Constantin Heise is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Weimar under the tutelage of Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. He reached the Semifinals at the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2022) and has graced the stages of international festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the Beethovenfest Bonn. As a soloist, Constantin has collaborated with esteemed orchestras including the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, Jenaer Philharmonie, and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie. In 2023, he made his orchestral debut with the Berliner Philharmonic. Constantin plays a cello crafted by Dietmar Rexhausen in 2022.
Born in 2001, French violist Héloïse Houzé graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she earned a Master’s degree in 2022 in the class of Jean Sulem, graduating with highest honors, before continuing with an advanced postgraduate diploma. In 2026, she completes her residency at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Élisabeth under the guidance of Miguel da Silva, as well as the Elite Programme at the École Normale de Musique de Paris in the class of Gérard Caussé.
Winner of the Grand Prix Ravel in 2022, followed by the Second Prize and Audience Prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in 2023, she is regularly invited to perform as principal viola with European orchestras and appears at several renowned festivals.
In February 2026, she founded the Talismans Ensemble, through which she combines the promotion of the viola concerto repertoire with conducting and play-conducting practices.
Héloïse Houzé plays on a viola by Paul Noulet, generously loaned by the Talents et Violonc’elles Foundation.
Chinese pianist Victor Yuanhan Lu studied with Yang Yang at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and now trains with Alexander Schimpf at the University for Music, Drama and Media Hannover. Supported by the Fondation Gautier Capuçon, he has participated in competitions including the Geneva International Competition (2022) and the International Bach Leipzig Competition (2022), where he had the distinction of being the youngest semifinalist. He has performed at Schloss Elmau, and Boston’s Jordan and Williams Hall, all as a Fondation Gautier Capuçon laureate.
Chinese pianist Xiaofu Ju is an alumnus of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Ting Zhou. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School after studies with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Nicolas Namoradze. He also serves as a visiting artist at Singapore Capital College. Xiaofu was winner of the Second Hong Kong Youth International Piano Competition and has performed in prestigious venues throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. He is also an advocate for contemporary music, having premiered works by Philip Glass and Xiaogang, and is set to release his debut album, Waldeinsamkeit this year, having already published two collections of poems in 2019 and 2024.
Helena Ricci is a trailblazing classical harpist from Switzerland who is making waves as a creative entrepreneur. In recent years, she has had the privilege of performing at prestigious venues such as St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Opera House, and the Wigmore Hall, as well as playing for King Charles III. Before coming to Verbier, Helena took part in the Encuentro de Santander and the Britten-Pears Young Artist programme. She is a Master alumna of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she honed her skills and developed her unique artistic vision. She is passionate about merging classical music with technology and art through her innovative MUS!LUX project, which aims to create immersive concert experiences for audiences. In addition to her work as a musician, she is also a talented videographer. Her film on Brian and Roger Eno’s Cerulean Blue was selected as its official video for Deutsche Grammophon, showcasing her versatile talents in both music and visual arts.
Jan Olejniczak is a graduate in Sound Engineering from the Łódź Academy of Music and is currently in the final year of his Master’s studies in Classical Music Sound Engineering at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. As the author of interactive multimedia installations showcased at events such as the Musica Moderna Festival in Lodz and the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, Jan is looking for different ways of representing movement in sound. He has been associated with the Lodz Film School for many years, working on film sets and in post-production. His interests span classical and contemporary music recordings and sound creation in audiovisual forms. He is also fascinated by interactive sound and sonification, which he explores in his scientific work.
Christian Aylward, a German/British audio engineer, grew up playing piano, drums and guitar, which expanded into songwriting and audio engineering. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with a Bachelor of Music ‘Art and Sound’ with a minor in composition. During his studies, he increased his audio engineering and language skills through an exchange semester at the CNSMDP in Paris. In 2019, Christian completed a six-month audio engineering practicum at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, further honing his engineering craft and professionalism. Since September 2023, he has been pursuing his Master of Music degree in Sound Recording at McGill University in Montreal. During the 155th Audio Engineering Society convention, Christian successfully represented McGill University, earning a ‘Gold’ award in the Student Recording Competition.
Victoria Barroso, born and raised in Toulouse, France, began her musical journey at 12, focusing on piano and music theory. At 14 she began Conservatory studies in double bass While majoring in music in high school, she broadened her interests to include music production. In 2021, she enrolled in McGill University’s Sound Recording programme, graduating from the Qualifying Year in 2022 and advancing to the Master’s program in 2023. That same year, she showcased her skills as a sound and video engineer at the soundSCAPE music festival in Blonay, Switzerland. Victoria’s dedication and creativity continue to shape her impactful career in music production.