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Born 1952 in Israel. Gil played piano as a child. In 1963 he started taking guitar lessons with Menashe Bakish, one of Israel’s foremost classical guitar masters. In 1974, Following 3 years of mandatory service in the IDF central command entertainment unit, Gil married Neta Adan* and together they moved to the US, where he studied at the Berklee College in Boston and later in Queens College in NY.
Upon returning to Israel in 1981, Gil established himself as a professional session guitarist as well as an arranger/composer. He recorded and played with leading artists including: Shalom Chanoch – (white wedding), Gidi Gov -(40:06), Chava Alberstein – (“Voices” & “Stardust”) Arik Einstein – (“Made in Israel”).During the years 1983 & 1984 he taught jazz improvisation and guitar at the “Jerusalem Academy of Music”.
In 1985 Gil co-founded the “Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music” in Ramat Hasharon and was its academic director. He developed and wrote many core curriculum as well as advanced courses. Gil co-founded the school’s “computer aided music” program.
During the next five-year period he performed in jazz festivals heading different original projects and collaborating with various artists including Al Dimeola on his 88-89 European tours.
In 1990 Gil started an artistic collaboration, accompanying, arranging, producing and co-writing with Achinoam Nini AKA Noa. For the last three decades their partnership have been performing creating and touring internationally.
Veniamine Borissovitch Smekhov, born on August 10, 1940, in Moscow, is a Russian actor, director, writer, documentary filmmaker, and television host.
In 1957, he was admitted to Vladimir Etush’s class at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. Graduating in 1961, his career began at the Samara Drama Theatre. The following year, he joined the Moscow Drama and Comedy Theatre, which in 1964 became the Taganka Theatre under the direction of Yuri Lyubimov. In 1985, after Lyubimov was deprived of his Soviet citizenship following an interview with The Times in 1984, and Anatoly Efros replaced him, Smekhov left the theatre for Sovremennik Theatre, returning in 1987.
His film career began in 1968, but true popularity came with the role of Athos in “D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” directed by Georgiy Jungvald-Khilkevitch.
Praised as “revelatory” (New York Times) with “breathtaking virtuosity” (The Observer), Ksenija Sidorova is the leading ambassador for the classical accordion. Both a unique and charismatic performer, Ksenija is passionate about showcasing the vast capabilities of her instrument. Her repertoire spans from Bach to Piazzolla, from Efrem Podgaits and Václav Trojan, to Erkki-Sven Tüür and George Bizet, as well as new accordion concertos composed especially for her, plus a multitude of chamber projects.
In the 2020/21 season, Ksenija will perform with – amongst others — Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Paavo Järvi), National Orchestra of Belgium (Aziz Shokhakimov), on tour in France with Orchestre National d’Ile de France (Mihhail Gerts), and on a European tour with Münchener Kammerorchester and MILOŠ in celebration of Piazzolla’s centenary. She will continue her collaboration with artistic colleagues, touring with Avi Avital for appearances including Wigmore Hall and at the Bodensee Festival; and with Camille Thomas performing in KKL, Lucerne. Ksenija will also perform a solo recital programme in Carnegie Hall, Princeton, and Library of Congress, Washington.
Ksenija works with leading orchestras including NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, MDR Sinfonieorchester [Leipzig], Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rudfunks, Atlanta Symphony, Tonhalle Orchester-Zurich, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and prestigious conductors including Paavo Järvi, Thomas Hengelbrock, Vasily Petrenko, Kristjan Järvi, Michał Nesterowicz and Jan Willem de Vriend.
She regularly collaborates with Avi Avital, Nemanja Radulovic, Andreas Ottensamer, Miloš Karadaglić, Camille Thomas, Leticia Moreno, Goldmund Quartet, Tine Thing Helseth, Brazilian DJ Gui Borratto, Juan Diego Flórez, Nicola Benedetti and Joseph Calleja. Ksenija often appears at Ravinia, Cheltenham, Mostly Mozart, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad Menuhin, Verbier and Rheingau music festivals.
Ksenija will release her next album in 2021. This follows her previous successful releases: Classical Accordion (Champs Hill Records, 2011); Fairy Tales (Champs Hill Records, 2013) recorded with BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Clark Rundel; and Carmen (Deutsche Grammophon, 2016) — a new take on the score — recorded with the Nuevo Mundo band and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra/Sascha Goetzel. For the latter, Ksenija won the ECHO prize for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2017.
Encouraged to take up the instrument by her grandmother steeped in the folk tradition of accordion playing, Ksenija started to play the instrument aged six under the guidance of Marija Gasele in her hometown of Riga. Her quest for more exposure to both classical and contemporary repertoire took her to London where she became a prize-winning undergraduate and postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music studying under Owen Murray.
In May 2012 she became the first International Award winner of the Bryn Terfel Foundation, and in October 2015 she appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as part of his 50th birthday celebrations alongside Sting. She is a recipient of both the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Martin Musical Scholarship and Friends of the Philharmonia Award, as well as the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal. Since 2016, Ksenija has been an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
Since moving from Canada to Germany, Shawn has performed with many professional orchestras and chamber music ensembles, various contemporary-music
and jazz groups as well as leading my own musical projects, gathering valuable musical experiences along the way.
Until recently, he held the position of instructor for big band and combos at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany.
during extensive travels with his family in 2021/22, he felt the surfacing of a strong desire to take a clear step towards fulfilling my own artistic goals,
as opposed to the goals of others. At that point, he gave up his teaching position and started to follow a new path in improvisation and experimentation.
He has always felt most at home playing jazz and improvised music and has always admired those musicians who have followed their own inner voice. He has now chosen to follow his own intuition and in so doing look forward to meeting new musical friends and new friends of music.
Shawn is a Conn-Selmer artist and performs on the Vincent Bach 12 (1963 Mt. Vernon), Conn 88H and Conn 72H trombones.
Magnus Lindgren’s constant search for new musical paths, combined with an extraordinary talent, has given him a position in Swedish musical life that is received with respect and fascination all over the world.
Winner of several awards such as Grammis, Swedish Radio Award for Swedish Jazz Album of the Year, Orkesterjournal Gold Record, etc. and the latest at the 65th GRAMMY Awards ® in February 2023, Lindgren together with John Beasly & The SWR Big Band won the GRAMMY® for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, for “Scrapple From The Apple”, from the album Bird Lives.
Magnus‘ ability to express himself on tenor saxophone, clarinet or flute bears the stamp of a true master. As a composer, he has great potential to materialize his own creative impulses. He dresses them in a melodic costume that fits perfectly into the stylistic environment available to him at the time.
But perhaps where Magnus Lindgren shines the most is in his feelings when arranging music. Greatness is in the way he assembles timbres, rhythmic figures, harmonic sequences.
Magnus is constantly working to expand his musical framework, whether through small jazz combinations, big bands, choirs with instrumental soloists, the integration of classical orchestra and jazz ensemble, Swedish folk, heavy funk rhythms, Brazilian samba or traditional African music. Structures and genres always acquire new dimensions in Magnus‘ careful hands.
Rooted in the post-bebop of modern jazz, there are influences from all corners of the world, which is reflected in Lindgren’s compositions from different decades, most of which the group performs along with covers of the treasure trove of modern jazz songs.
The desire for groove mixed with extroverted energy, as well as a minimalist, modestly challenging and playful interplay, is the group’s motto.
“Improvised music is a bridge between people. Through music we can meet people in a universal language where differences disappear and we all meet as one. Big Bands are to Jazz what the Symphony Orchestra is to Classical music. This tradition of combining large ensembles with improvisation remains something that I find most inspiring in music. This inspiration has led to the curiosity to collaborate with musicians from other backgrounds, who may have different preferences to mine.” Magnus Lindgren.
Being the 33rd year of his professional life, Magnus Lindgren is exploring the International arena even more, and is hoping for more and new collaborations and expanding his own borders.
Double Bassist Brendan Kane has performed extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Mr. Kane is the former principal bass of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra upon being appointed and tenured by Music Director Lahav Shani. Prior to the IPO, he was a member of the MET Orchestra for nine seasons, under the direction of Music Directors James Levine and subsequently Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Previously, Mr. Kane held the positions of principal bass of the Orquestra Filharmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil, assistant principal bass of the Vancouver Symphony in Canada and performed as guest principal bass of the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the invitation of Edo de Waart.
For the past 15 years he has been touring the world as principal bass of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO) under the direction of Music Director Gábor Takács-Nagy, including annual residencies at the Verbier Festival and Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. Additionally, Mr. Kane is a regular guest with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the invitation of Maestro Iván Fischer and for ten years performed every January at the St. Barths Music Festival in the Caribbean. Currently based in Europe, he has quickly become a much sought-after guest principal, chamber musician and clinician. He frequently performs as guest principal bass with orchestras such as Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Orkest, Geneva’s Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony amongst others. He has also performed in the bass sections of the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Mr. Kane has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, at the Verbier, Shenzen and Tsinandali festivals, Schloss Elmau, toured South Korea with the International Sejong Soloists, on the Israel Philharmonic’s chamber music series in Tel Aviv amongst numerous other festivals on both sides of the Atlantic alongside musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov, Leonidas Kavakos, Tabea Zimmerman, Misha Maisky and Sir Andras Schiff among others.
As a student, he was principal bass of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in Carnegie Hall and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where he has returned numerous times as visiting faculty to coach and perform alongside current fellows at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas. A passionate educator, Mr. Kane has served as the double bass coach for the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra and currently serves as the double bass coach of the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra (PCYO) at the Tsinandali Festival in the country of Georgia in collaboration with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. He is frequently invited to give masterclasses and lectures around the world at such esteemed institutions as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Amsterdam Conservatory, Beijing’s National Arts Center, Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem Music Center, The Mehli Mehta Music Fondation in Mumbai and the State University of Minas Gerias (Brazil), amongst others. Mr. Kane’s teachers have included Tim Cobb, Don Palma, Brian Liddle, Leigh Mesh and Jim Orleans. He holds degrees with honors from the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
Time Magazine has called her “Africa’s premier diva”, and named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2021. The BBC has included her in its list of the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 The Guardian listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Forbes Magazine has ranked Angelique as the first woman in their list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. She is the recent recipient of the prestigious 2015 Crystal Award given by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the 2018 German Sustainability Award, the 2023 Vilcek Prize in Music, and the 2023 Polar Music Prize.
As a performer, her striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America.
With a repertoire spanning from baroque to contemporary, including opera, Lied and oratorio, young Swedish mezzo-soprano Rebecka Wallroth is attracting increasing international attention.
Rebecka began the season at the National Theatre in Prague, portraying Idamante in Calixto Bieito’s new production of Idomeneo. From the 2025/26 season, she has joined the soloist ensemble at the Staatsoper Berlin, where her roles include Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Meg Page in Falstaff, and Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau. In the summer of 2026, Rebecka will return to the Verbier Festival as Dorabella in their star-studded cast of Così fan tutte.
During the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, she was a member of the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s International Opera Studio, performing a wide range of roles, among them Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Mercedes in Carmen, Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau, a Cretan Woman in Idomeneo, the Second Wood Nymph in Rusalka, Second Handmaiden of Dircé in Cherubini’s Medea, the Shepherdess and Elderly Woman in Jenůfa, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.
Rebecka made her debut at the Verbier Festival in 2024, performing Cherubino in a concert version of Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy. In recent years, she has performed with several major orchestras: the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (Harding); the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène (Harding), their traditional Twelfth Night concerts (Rooke), and Christmas concerts; the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Sørensen’s St Matthew Passion (Morlot); and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Alma Mahler’s Seven Songs (Tjeknavorian). She has performed Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Steffens) and made her debut at London’s Wigmore Hall with The Mozartists (Page), performing Arias for Rauzzini.
Rebecka Wallroth studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW), where her roles included Olga in Eugene Onegin, Idamante in Idomeneo, Unulfo in Händel’s Rodelinda, and Agnes in Die verkaufte Braut at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. In 2023, she performed the role of Lilly in the world premiere of The Ghost Factory by Daniel Nelson at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden.
A bass-baritone from the Veneto region, he began studying opera singing under the guidance of the Lieder soprano Argit Butzke; he is currently specialising with the American teacher Sherman Lowe.
In 2013 he won the First Prize at the XVI Giovan Battista Velluti International Competition and the Absolute Popular Jury Award.
He is a finalist in the O.M.E.G.A. International Competition in Florence and the Iris Adami Corradetti Competition. He was third prize winner at the Magda Oliviero opera competition and at the “Franco Federici” competition in Parma. Again in Parma, the following year, he won Second Prize at the Rinaldo Pelizzoni International Opera Competition, as well as the Popular Jury’s Appreciation Prize.
In Treviso, he won First Prize in the ‘Giovani Musicisti’ International Competition and First Prize in the ‘Premio Contea’ Competition. He graduated from the Faculty of ‘Letters and Philosophy’ at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. In 2014, he won the ‘Concorso Comunità Europea’ in Spoleto – the youngest winner in recent years – and made his debut in the role of Schaunard in La bohème by G. Puccini. In the same year, he also won the ‘Premio Etta Limiti’ competition in Milan, where he also received the ‘Young Male Talent’ award.
In 2016, he won First Prize at the Concorso Internazionale di CantoLirico “Mauro Pagano” – Canneto sull’Oglio (MN) and the prestigious As.Li.Co competition for the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. In the A.A. 2016/2017 he was a full student at the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento dell’Opera in Florence, under the direction of Maestro Gianni Tangucci.
In January 2018 he won the Mercedes Viñas Prize, at the Tenor Viñas competition in Barcelona and his recent and future engagements include: Acquagranda at the Teatro LaFenice, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Carlo and La Traviata at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Rigoletto at the Filarmonico in Verona and at the Petruzzelli in Bari, La Bohème in a Japanese tour of the Sperimentale in Spoleto and at the Regio in Turin, La fanciulla del West at the San Carlo, Edipo re (Leoncavallo) at the Verdi in Pisa, Le songe d’une nuit d’été at the Wexford Festival, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Massimo in Palermo and at the Opéra in Paris, La Bohème in Turin and at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Carmen in Palermo, Macerata and as Escamillo in Valladolid, Ariadne auf Naxos in Bologna, La Cenerentola in Salerno, Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Macerata, Naples and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Rinaldo in Venice Le nozze di Figaro in Sydney, Moscow and the Komische Oper in Berlin, Così fan tutte on tour with the Kammermorchester Basel in Paris and Hamburg.
South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is redefining the parameters of the cello. He moves seamlessly across a plethora of genres and styles, from collaborations with world musicians and beatboxers, to concerto performances and solo classical recitals. Abel combines virtuosic performance with improvisation, singing and body percussion, and has a special interest in curating recital programmes that highlight the links between Western and non-Western musical traditions, with view to helping classical music reach a more diverse audience.
In 2016, Abel formed Chesaba – a trio specializing in music from the African continent, including many of his own compositions. He enjoys close collaborations with musicians from a medley of genres, including Bernhard Schimpelsberger, Tim Garland, Seckou Keita, Giovanni Sollima, Famoudou Don Moye and Gwilym Simcock. He has a close partnership with Manchester Collective, with whom he devised the hugely successful Sirocco programme which has been enjoyed both live and digitally by audiences since 2019. In 2020/21, Abel performed at Kings Place, Norfolk & Norwich and Ryedale Festivals, and performed with ensembles including BBC Concert Orchestra at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Manchester Collective and Britten Sinfonia.
Abel made his solo BBC Proms debut in August 2021, curating a programme with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Chesaba and Gnawa Ensemble. Other highlights of the 2021/22 season include a tour with Manchester Collective and Chesaba of their new collaboration, The Oracle; debuts with St Paul Chamber Orchestra and at Stanford Live; and performances both solo and with Chesaba throughout the UK and Europe.
Abel Selaocoe is an exclusive recording artist with Warner Classics and his debut album Where is Home? (Hae Ke Kae) on the subject of home and refuge will be released on Friday 23 September 2022.
Abel completed his International Artist Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music in July 2018. Alongside his numerous awards and recognition throughout the industry, in May 2021, Abel was announced as an inaugural Power Up Music Creator participant in PRS Foundation’s new initiative to address anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the music sector.