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Alessandra Cossu wears many hats at the Verbier Festival, serving as both Manager of Volunteers and Manager of Press. With a background in communication and a deep passion for human connection, she plays a key role in shaping the Festival’s spirit on and off the stage. Outside of Verbier, she is the founder of Poetic Yoga, where she explores the intersection of movement, breath, and creativity.
Theresa Leonard is a highly sought-after audio professional with extensive expertise in all aspects of music production, including audio post-production and broadcast. Her impressive portfolio of work comprises hundreds of high-profile, award-winning, and nominated recording projects, with a diverse range of international artists such as the Gryphon Trio, The St Lawrence String Quartet, The Dover String Quartet, Pacific Opera Victoria, Victoria Symphony, and The National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada). Leonard has received international recognition for her commitment to excellence in audio training and research, which she demonstrated during her tenure as Director of Audio at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Through her leadership, she has provided unparalleled educational opportunities for multiple generations of audio engineers, both through the Banff mentorship program and her presidency and fellowship with the Audio Engineering Society. As a result, she has been instrumental in shaping the careers of future leaders in the field, preparing them for major positions in the music technology and audio industries. Leonard’s expertise extends beyond production and engineering, as she continues to serve as a consultant, director, and/or faculty, with several international music festivals and academic institutions, including Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Verbier Festival Academy. Theresa holds a Master of Music degree in sound recording from McGill University and bachelor’s degrees in both music and education.
Renowned for his work alongside Peter Jackson and Howard Shore on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mark Willsher moves seamlessly between roles as producer, recording & mixing engineer, and supervising music editor. His expertise spans a wide range of genres, from film to classical, folk, and hip-hop. Recent projects include Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim by New Line Cinema (Composer: Stephen Gallagher), Netflix’s animated feature Ultraman Rising (Composer: Scot Stafford), and the San Francisco Symphony’s recording of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho (Music Director: Esa-Pekka Salonen), which earned him a Grammy® Award for Best Opera Recording as mixing engineer.
Alongside his production work, Willsher is actively involved in audio education as both a guest lecturer and visiting faculty. He has lectured at The Peabody Institute, MIT, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and was guest faculty in audio at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada for seventeen years. Since 2023, he has been a guest faculty member at the Verbier Festival Academy. He is also part of the panel of immersive audio experts for the ECHO Project, a collaborative research initiative on 3D microphone array techniques for orchestral recording, supported by major industry sponsors.
With a background in music performance and a deep understanding of all technical aspects of the recording process, Willsher’s guiding philosophy is to create recordings that allow listeners to be fully immersed in the emotional experience—free from awareness of speakers, microphones, editing, or mixing. His personal studio is a fully equipped immersive mixing space with a hybrid analogue/digital workflow.
Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, pianist and cellist. She has a phenomenal mastery for seamlessly crossing the boundaries of classical, jazz, reggae, soul and R&B, to imprint her unique musical signature with her virtuosic tap, strum and bow with her cello into her sound and vibe.
“As a second-generation Jamaican born in Britain, my music is a body of work that represents, celebrates and pays homage to my ancestral heritage, culture and identity,” explains Ayanna.
An acclaimed and celebrated performer, Ayanna has collaborated with many stellar artists, including Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney, Andrea Bocelli and Jools Holland. She has also toured extensively across the UK, Europe and the US.
After graduating with a first-class degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Manhattan School of Music, Ayanna participated in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme. Soon after, as Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, Ayanna performed as a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors. Later, whilst studying in the USA at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, she became the only non-American to win ‘Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC.
As a composer, Ayanna has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Güerzenich Orchester, Ligeti Quartet, Kronos Quartet and The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company to name but a few. She was also selected as an arranger/orchestrator for the London Symphony Orchestra (Hugh Masekela, Belief) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Urban Classic).
Ayanna has released three EPs (‘Truthfully’, ‘Black Panther’ & ‘Ella, Reuben & Ay’) and put out her debut album ‘Road Runner’ in 2019, with its two subsequent singles’ Nothing Less’ and ‘Crossroads’, via her own independent record label (Hill and Gully Records). Ayanna has worked with producers Marc Mac (4Hero), James Yarde (Terri Walker, Jamelia, Eric Benet) and recorded with featured artists, including pianist Robert Mitchell and rapper Akala.
With her January 2021 surprise-released EP ‘Rise Up, Ayanna again combined reggae, classical, jazz and R&B to celebrate black culture and identity to uplift and inspire the next generation. The stunning collection of three tracks and videos featuring Akala on ‘Rise Up’, Cleveland Watkiss on ‘Declaration Of Rights’ and the ‘Rise Up Riddim’ have received a huge amount of critical acclaim.
Ayanna said, ‘In ‘Rise Up’, I created a song with a strong message specifically influenced by my Jamaican heritage. The starting point was a dancehall riddim that informed the main cello riff. Lyrically, I challenged myself to create something uplifting with an uplifting message, and it just flowed. I wrote the song for the next generation in the black community to remember they are the key to the future. To celebrate their culture and to be proud of it. Now is not the time to give up on your dreams. No matter how hard things seem, Rise Up, embrace our history and claim our birth rights of freedom and joy.”
Many of Ayanna’s remarkable tracks have received airplay on radio stations, including BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, 2, 3, 4, 6, BBC Radio London, BBC Manchester, Jazz FM and Scala Radio. Her TV credits include BBC One, London Live, Channel 4 (Sing It Loud: Black and Proud), BBC Proms and a stunning performance on Later…with Jools Holland (BBC One).
Despite the challenges of 2020, Ayanna took it all in her stride and continued to create music. She performed a special Livestream for Royal Albert Hall, took part in Trinity Laban’s Virtual Orchestra and picked up an AIM Award nomination for ‘Best Live Act’. In addition, she presented two shows at Wigmore Hall, appeared on BBC Radio 3’s ‘This Classical Life’ podcast, co-wrote and featured on Anoushka Shankar’s Grammy single ‘Those Words’ from the Grammy-nominated Love Letters EP. Ayanna also collaborated with and featured on Nitin Sawhney’s stunning single ‘Movement Variation II’ taken from his acclaimed recent album ‘Immigrants’.
2021 was a stellar year for Ayanna. Collaborating with Solem Quartet as part of their Beethoven Bartok Now series, she has also had her song ‘Draw the Line’, commissioned by The Hermes Experiment, and featured on their sophomore album ‘Songs’. Ayanna also featured on the track called ‘Flow My Tears’ with John Aram, the arranger for Phil Collins. The song is a slick, modern-day reimagining of English composer John Dowland’s 400- year-old music. That year saw Ayanna return to the live stage, headlining at London’s iconic Jazz Café and Kings Place. She made additional performances supporting Nubiyan Twist on their UK tour, participating in ‘Jazz Voice’ (the opening of the London Jazz Festival) at the Royal Festival Hall and a 22-date US tour with Opera superstar Andrea Bocelli.
Now in 2022, Ayanna continues her composition work with several commissions for ensembles and orchestras, including a Royal Philharmonic Society Commission for the Philharmonia Ensemble. Her talent has seen her compose for the sold out, hit theatre production, ‘The Collaboration’, at London’s Young Vic Theatre, and compose for the renowned documentary ‘Hostile’ whilst working on her sophomore album.
With two headlined shows at London’s Purcell Rooms, and a headlined show at Wigmore Hall featuring guest artists, Ayanna’s continues to inspire with her composition ‘FAIYA!’ performed by the LSO in Trafalgar Square (conducted by Sir Simon Rattle), and collaborating on a number of live performances with ‘Solem Quartet’ of her composition ‘Island Suite’, which was originally commissioned by them as part of their ‘Beethoven Bartok Now Part IV’ series.
Venturing into new territories, Ayanna has been cast in a cameo role in the new Amazon Prime series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’, alongside greats such as Whoopi Goldberg, which airs in 2023.
Ayanna is a performer of extraordinary versatility, due to her musical prowess, mesmerising vocals, non-compromising lyrics, and ability to deftly reinterpret songs on the cello. Her must-see live shows are intimate journeys that chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century.
Ayanna Witter-Johnson is the very definition of eclectic soul.
Nola Kin is the solo project of Carla Fellinger. On her four track debut EP „Fallstreak“ – out on April 22nd 2022 via Orange Peel Records – the songwriter puts her warm and husky voice and songwriting skills front and center. It’s a record that gets under your skin.
After a three-year break from playing gigs around the country, a challenging phase of reflecting and sitting with grief, both personally and creatively, she learned to face this process with the necessary patience. After taking time to regain her love and connection to music she has found a way of combining formative musical influences and lyricism to explore personal themes. The musician herself describes the record as inherently optimistic, a reconciliation with herself and her inner conflicts: «To me it feels like having taken a long and tiring hike through my own history returning to a warm home. A comforting feeling that brings me a bit closer to myself.» With the courage to embrace her own vulnerability she is taking the stage as an incredibly inventive and strong musician.
Her debut EP “Fallstreak” will be out on April 22nd via Orange Peel Records
Last year, Mikkel Myer Lee made his public debut in Singapore at age 9 performing the complete cycle of Chopin’s 24 Preludes Op. 28 to a sold-out Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay. In the same year, he made his debut with orchestra in a sold-out concert where he performed both Beethoven’s third and Chopin’s second piano concertos. Mikkel studies with Tedd Joselson. He began his musical journey playing by ear and improvising on the piano at age 6. Months later, he went on to win top prizes in several piano competitions, and has since represented Singapore and performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (Austria) and Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (Netherlands). He has also been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. This year, Mikkel performs with the Asian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Casteels and next season he will perform a series of concerts in collaboration with Bechstein. He is the youngest artist supported by Bechstein Music World Singapore, which sponsors all his performances in that country.
Trained in classical singing and acting, Michèle Larivière is the producer of key musical programmes for Radio France, including Mémoires retrouvées de Nicolaï Gedda, Leopold Simoneau, Suzanne Danco, Ileana Cotrubas and Peter Ustinov (France musique), and portraits of Alfred Bruneau, Wolf-Ferrari, Maurice Ohana, Renaud Gagneux and Yves Prin (France culture). As a performer and actor, she created Alfred Bruneau, un granc cœur, Psaume pour Nako by Yves Prin, and has just interpreted the role of Princess Aristione in Les Amants Magnifiques by Molière and Lully at the Gstaad New Year Music Festival (2022), where she is the Artistic Advisor.
She was a presenter on Mezzo TV from 1999 to 2002 and has been a pre-concert host at the Verbier Festival since 1995. As a lecturer, she performs in France in the greatest halls, Châtelet, Operas of Paris, Nancy, Tours, Nantes, UTL of La Rochelle or Cannes (Pushkin, a Black Russian, the Thousand and One Nights, Mozart and women… ) as well as in Aix-Les-Bains (2021) for « Rendre Notre-Dame de Paris au monde », a conference-concert in support of the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris with Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect in charge of its restoration and the Société des Membres de la Légion d’honneur de Savoie.
Author-director of documentaries for Arte, Mezzo and France 2, she signed with Don Kent, Les pianos de l’été, and with Gérald Caillat, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Une Trilogie de Monteverdi, Coline Serreau répète Rossini, La Péniche Opéra, Le Manuscrit disparu, Le Concours de Musique, and OMO BELLO, I want to be a prima donna and for the Péniche Théâtre-Opéra, Divertir en honnête homme with Yves Coudray, Rencontre avec Jean-Claude Pennetier or Portrait Lyrique de Yves Prin.
President of the Péniche-Opéra from 2014 to 2016, Michèle Larivière has just been promoted to Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.
Lisa Wyss (1991, Langnau, Switzerland) has made a name for herself not only as a versatile chamber musician but also as a virtuous soloist.
In the past years, she received invitations to perform as a soloist with the Zürcher Kammerorchester, the Musikkollegium Bern, the Sinfonia Baden, the festival ensemble of Arosa Kultur and the symphony orchestra Burgdorf. She also played at renowned festivals such as the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, the Festival Next Generation Bad Ragaz and the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam and was invited to play solo concerts in the Auditorium Lyon and the Zeche Zollverein in Essen.
In 2014 Lisa Wyss founded the Ardemus Quartet, together with three study colleagues in Amsterdam. In the last years the quartet has established itself as a distinguished ensemble with international concert activity.
Especially the radiating joy and enthusiasm of playing together has been numerously praised by the international press. The success of the ensemble is documented by invitations to play in halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the BOZAR Brussels, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Izumi Hall Osaka and the Lisinski Hall Zagreb.
Lisa Wyss completed her Bachelor studies at the Hochschule der Künste Bern with distinction. She continued her studies in the internationally respected class of Arno Bornkamp at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she graduated from her Master studies.
She has been awarded numerous prizes: several times she won a first prize at the Music Competition for Youth in Switzerland, in 2010 she won the award of the Kiwanisclub Burgdorf, in 2011 a first prize at the international competition of the Fondation Bellan in Paris and in 2012 and also 2013 she received a study prize of the Migros Kulturprozent in Switzerland and was admitted into their concert agency. In 2016 she won the first prize at the Kiefer Hablitzel music competition.
Imaginative and eloquent, violinist Mari Samuelsen is known for her breath-taking artistry and adventurous approach to programming and presentation. With a technique that blends virtuosity and entrancing musical finesse, Mari presents an innovative musical universe that knows no barriers between the music of such composers as Anna Meredith, Max Richter, Hannah Peel, Caroline Shaw, Arvo Pärt, Pēteris Vasks and Jeff Mills, and that of Bach, Phillip Glass, Beethoven and Vivaldi. Her drive to not do what is traditionally expected, is what has turned Mari Samuelsen into an inspiration for a global audience.
Mari has appeared as soloist and recitalist on many of the world’s leading stages, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, London’s Barbican Centre, Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Paris’ Philharmonie and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She has recently performed with the Orchestre National de Lyon, with appearances at the Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, as well as the Radio France Festival in Montpellier.
Recent and upcoming highlights has seen Mari Samuelsen perform with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra alongside Alice Merton, returns to the BBC Concert Orchestra in London, as well as performances in Spain at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Bratislava, Slovakia with Slovak Philharmonia at Viva Musica! Festival; Ottawa, Canada, and visits to CC Hasselt and Leuven, Belgium with Casco Philharmonic.
In terms of collaborations, she regularly works with the British composer, Max Richter, as a soloist in concert performances of both his Recomposed and Memoryhouse, as well as on his recent Deutsche Grammophon album, Voices. Mari Samuelsen’s recent work also includes collaborations with electronic music artists Jeff Mills and Dubfire and multimedia artist Philipp Geist. Her ground-breaking explorations of contemporary art and classical music as artistic director of Oslo’s Yellow Lounge for its first two seasons reaffirm her position as an innovative artist who is reaching out to new audiences.
Mari is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. 2022 marks the release of her second album for the distinctive Yellow Label, named LYS, meaning “light” in Norwegian features new commissions for her from the likes of Hannah Peel, Anna Meredith, Laura Massoto and MEREDI as well as existing works from Caroline Shaw and Hildur Guðnadóttir. In 2019 she released MARI, her debut recording, and was lauded by Gramophone magazine for her ‘Seriously impressive playing…hand-crafted precision.’ As well as dominating the classical charts, MARI and her previous albums were also number 1 hits in the popular charts in her home county of Norway.
Her presence, popularity and the impact of her music among new audiences is astonishing, having reached 34 million views in her YouTube video of Summer from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons alone. Mari Samuelsen also has recorded the world premiere of James Horner’s double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra with her brother, Håkon Samuelsen, as the centrepiece of Pas de Deux, released on Mercury Classics (Universal Music). Very unusual for classical recordings, this album along-side with her first solo recording Nordic Noir as well as the 2019 release MARI were hits in the Norwegian pop charts (reaching the No.1 and No.2 spots respectively).
A classically trained violinist, her studies with Arve Tellefsen and later at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo were followed by a decade with world-renowned professor Zakhar Bron at the Zurich University of the Arts. She is an alumna of the Verbier Festival Academy.