Press Enter to search
Francesco Tristano is a multifaceted artist—pianist, composer, and a musician equally at home in techno and jazz. Blending eras, genres, and styles, he has carved out a unique musical universe. A key figure in the movement bridging classical and electronic music, he naturally unites diverse audiences. He frequently collaborates with major artists such as Derrick May, Carl Craig, and Michel Portal.
Since 2017, Tristano has been releasing his own compositions with Sony Classical. He tours globally, performing in concert halls as well as electronic and experimental music festivals. Piano Circle Songs (2017) marked a return to solo piano, inspired by French impressionist composers. Tokyo Stories (2019) pays tribute to Japan, while On Early Music (2022) explores Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire—works by Frescobaldi, Gibbons, Bull, and Philips—paired with Tristano’s own baroque-inspired pieces.
In 2023, he launched his own label, intothefuture, and began recording Bach’s complete keyboard works—a lifelong project that remains at the heart of his artistic journey.
Professor Arseny Sokolov is a neurologist and Head of the Neurorehabilitation Department at the CHUV in Lausanne, specialising in the treatment of cognitive disorders, i.e. difficulties with concentration, memory or language, following a stroke, craniocerebral trauma or multiple sclerosis, among others. Following an international specialisation programme in Lausanne, Munich, London, San Francisco and Berne, Professor Sokolov is studying the potential of new technologies and music to promote recovery from neurological and cognitive disorders. In 2019, Professor Sokolov’s team organised the musical event ‘Le Cerveau enchanté’, explaining the links between the brain and music, with the participation of the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne.
Following his studies and doctorate in medicine at the University of Tübingen and his clinical and academic training in neurology in Munich and at the CHUV, Sokolov obtained a doctorate in clinical cognitive and social neuroscience at University College London. He then pursued his clinical and scientific career in the fields of neurotechnology, cognitive neurology and neurorehabilitation at the University of California San Francisco. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Neurorehabilitation Unit at the Inselspital in Berne in 2020, before taking over as Director of the Neuropsychology Unit at the CHUV in 2021 and Director of the Neuropsychology and Neurorehabilitation Service ad interim in 2023. He was formally named Head the CHUV’s Neurorehabilitation Service in July 2024.
Christopher Bailey is the Arts and Health Lead at the World Health Organization. His Healing Arts Initiative which he co-founded, is looking at the evidence base for the health benefits of the arts by building up a global network of research centers to look at effective practice as well as the foundational science of why the arts may benefit physical, mental and social wellbeing. The emphasis of the program is supporting underserved communities around the world. The program also engages with the global media to promote pro health messaging and build solidarity on health issues through all media. Educated at Columbia and Oxford Universities as well as the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, after a career as a professional actor and playwright, Bailey joined the Rockefeller Foundation as their Research Manager, and from there was recruited to WHO where he lead the Health Informatics work and later their on-line communications team before starting the Arts and Health program. As an ambassador for the field, Bailey has also performed original pieces such as Stage 4: Global Stories on Empathy and Health, and The Vanishing Point: A journey into Blindness and Perception, in venues around the world from the Hamwe Festival in Rwanda, to the Wellcome Collection in London, to the World Bank in DC, as well as Lincoln Center in NY, the LA Opera, LACMA, and Warner Bros Studios in LA, and the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco among many others. The basic message of his work is to amplify the WHO definition of health which states that health is not merely the absence of disease and infirmity, but the attainment of the highest level of physical, mental and social wellbeing.
Harry Baker is an award-winning improvising pianist and composer active in jazz, classical and new-music settings. His music has been featured on Jazz FM and BBC Radio 3 with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and his compositions recorded by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain on NMC Recordings.
A key player on the UK jazz and classical scenes, Harry has performed at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the 606 Club, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. His music looks to unite his diverse influences, centring around improvisation and collaboration. Recent work includes performing his composition ‘Lament’, a semi-improvised piano concerto, with the Ripieno Players in a programme alongside a new composition by saxophonist Xhosa Cole (BBC Jazz Young Musician 2018).
In early 2020, Harry released his debut album, ‘The Floating Boy’, a suite for big band and voices performed by the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra and vocal group The Oxford Gargoyles. The album launch was accompanied by a feature interview in London Jazz News and was played on Jazz FM, leading presenter Helen Mayhew to comment that “the future of British jazz is in very capable hands.”
Upcoming projects include a collaboration with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, featuring improvisations around folk songs and jazz standards, in addition to compositions by J.S. Bach and Nadia Boulanger. The duo debuted to a packed crowd at Bold Tendencies festival in Peckham in June 2021, where they will be performing again in September 2022, in addition to the Konzerhaus Dortmund, Germany in November 2022.
Harry is in-demand as a session musician, and has appeared on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, in addition to BBC1&2 with choirmaster Gareth Malone. He is also a passionate advocate for music education, and works as Accompanist with London Youth Choirs and at the Royal College of Music, alongside extensive private music tuition.
Nikolai Matthews is an Oslo-based double bass player and festival director, active in all kinds of groups and orchestras, but prioritising chamber music and contemporary music. He is co-artistic director of PODIUM Festival in Haugesund, and recently commissioned three trios for violin piano and double bass all financed by the Norwegian Arts Council.
His current main priorities of bass performing are the chamber orchestra Ensemble Allegria, Krantz (a chamber music concert series in Oslo), and Boyes Musikkompani (a violin-bass-piano trio which triples as a production company and a podcast).
A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Stefan Hadjiev has always looked beyond the main-stream and standard definitions of music-making, always aiming to remove the boundaries between musical genres. Recent classical engagements include a critically acclaimed performances as a soloist with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker, Staatorchester Kassel, Neue Philharmonie Munich and others.
As well as classical music, Stefan has always had a strong interest in other musical genres. He recently produced his first album of electronic music as part of the Klangbox series of Berlin-based label Feral Note. Stefan is also a co-founder of 180° — one of the most innovative festivals in Bulgaria for experimental music and interdisciplinary arts.