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Michael Collins’ dazzling virtuosity and sensitive musicianship have earned him recognition as one of today’s most distinguished artists and a leading exponent of his instrument. At 16 he won the woodwind prize in the first BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, going on to make his US debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall at the age of 22. He has since performed as soloist with many of the world’s most significant orchestras and formed strong links with leading conductors. Collins also has the distinction of being the most frequently invited wind soloist to the BBC Proms, including several appearances at the renowned Last Night of the Proms.
In recent seasons Collins has become increasingly highly regarded as a conductor and in September 2010 took the position of Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia. His success in this role is testament to the natural musicianship and galvanising leadership that is evident in both his playing and conducting. In recent seasons, his conducting highlights have included engagements with the Philharmonia, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, London Mozart Players, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta, Auckland Philharmonia and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs with musical colleagues such as the Belcea and Takács quartets, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Lars Vogt, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis. His Residency at Wigmore Hall saw him in performance with András Schiff, Piers Lane and the Endellion String Quartet. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2013, with entirely unchanged membership during that time. The group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. Collins is also Artist Director of the Liberation International Music Festival in Jersey.
With a prolific discography, Collins is signed exclusively to Chandos Records and consistently receives the highest critical acclaim for his recordings. His most recent release is British Clarinet Sonatas Vol. 2, recorded with pianist Michael McHale and released in February 2013. Last season, Collins released a disc of British Clarinet Concertos Vol.1, which he play/directed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Collins’s 50th Birthday was celebrated with a Chandos release of Weber Concertos conducted and performed by himself with the City of London Sinfonia.
Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. Today her career is truly global in scope, taking her to the most prestigious international venues for solo recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto collaborations with all the preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide.
“Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends,” marvels the New York Times. “Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same,” agrees the Los Angeles Times. As the UK’s Telegraph put it, “Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”
Weilerstein has appeared with all the major orchestras of the United States, Europe and Asia, collaborating with conductors including Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Andrew Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Mark Elder, Alan Gilbert, Giancarlo Guerrero, Bernard Haitink, Pablo Heras-Casado, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Lorin Maazel, Cristian Măcelaru, Zubin Mehta, Ludovic Morlot, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Peter Oundjian, Rafael Payare, Donald Runnicles, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Joshua Weilerstein, Simone Young and David Zinman.
In 2009, she was one of four artists invited by Michelle Obama to participate in a widely celebrated and high-profile classical music event at the White House, featuring student workshops hosted by the First Lady and performances in front of an audience that included President Obama and the First Family. A month later, Weilerstein toured Venezuela as soloist with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Dudamel, since when she has made numerous return visits to teach and perform with the orchestra as part of its famed El Sistema music education program.
Born in 1982, Alisa Weilerstein discovered her love for the cello at just two and a half, when she had chicken pox and her grandmother assembled a makeshift set of instruments from cereal boxes to entertain her. Although immediately drawn to the Rice Krispies box cello, Weilerstein soon grew frustrated that it didn’t produce any sound. After persuading her parents to buy her a real cello at the age of four, she developed a natural affinity for the instrument and gave her first public performance six months later. At 13, in 1995, she made her professional concert debut, playing Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo” Variations with the Cleveland Orchestra, and in March 1997 she made her first Carnegie Hall appearance with the New York Youth Symphony.
A graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Weiss, Weilerstein also holds a degree in history from Columbia University. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at nine years old, and is a staunch advocate for the T1D community, serving as a consultant for the biotechnology company eGenesis and as a Celebrity Advocate for JDRF, the world leader in T1D research. Born into a musical family, she is the daughter of violinist Donald Weilerstein and pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and the sister of conductor Joshua Weilerstein. She is married to Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, with whom she has a young child.
Esa-Pekka Salonen’s restless innovation drives him constantly to reposition classical music in the 21st century. He is known as both a composer and conductor and is currently the Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor for London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. He is the Music Director Designate of the San Francisco Symphony; the 2020-21 season will be his first as Music Director.He is Artist in Association at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. He recently joined the faculty of LA’s Colburn School, where he developed, leads, and directs the pre-professional Negaunee Conducting Program.
He is the Conductor Laureate for both the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music Director from 1992 until 2009. Salonen co-founded—and from 2003 until 2018 served as the Artistic Director for—the annual Baltic Sea Festival, which invites celebrated artists to promote unity and ecological awareness among the countries around the Baltic Sea.
The Moscow-born pianist Elena Bashkirova studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the masterclass led by her father, the renowned pianist and music teacher Dimitrij Bashkirov. The various facets of her creative activity – orchestral pieces, chamber music, recitals, song accompaniment and programing – are all equally important to Elena Bashkirova, and her experiences in each area provide a constant source of inspiration for her work in the others. Elena Bashkirova explores classical and romantic repertoire as well as twentieth-century music; her work has been strongly influenced by collaborations and exchange with artists such as Pierre Boulez, Sergiu Celibidache, Christoph von Dohnányi and Michael Gielen. She enjoys long- standing partnerships with conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Ivor Bolton, Manfred Honeck and Antonello Manacorda.
Twenty years ago, she founded the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, an event taking place every year in September which she continues to lead as Artistic Director. The festival has become an important part of Israel’s cultural life. Since 2012, a partner festival has taken place every April at the Jewish Museum Berlin; this has also proved hugely popular.
Through guest performances of the “Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival Ensemble” at renowned chamber music series in Berlin, Paris, London, Salzburg, Vienna, Luxembourg, Lisbon, Budapest, Buenos Aires and São Paolo – as well as at international summer festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, the Verbier Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Ruhr Piano Festival and the Bonn Beethovenfest – the festival’s reach extends far beyond the borders of Israel.
Born in Marseille in 1981, Jonathan Gilad began learning the piano at the Conservatoire National de Région de Marseille with Pierre Pradier. In 1992 he won the Premier Grand Prix of Marseille for piano and the Gold Medal in chamber music. In 1991 Jonathan Gilad won first prize at the Salzburg Summer Academy. He was also laureate of the Natexis Foundation for the year 2002. In 1991 Jonathan Gilad began studying with Dmitry Bashkirov in Madrid and Salzburg. From 1992 to 2000 he also studied with Tatiana Dernovski and from 1999 to 2001 he studied at the International Piano Foundation in Cadenabbia, Lake Como, working with Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Leon Fleisher and Fou-Tsong.
A regular guest at numerous festivals (Ravinia, Aspen, Klavier Ruhr Festival, Luzerne and Verbier), he also performs in prestigious venues (Carnegie Hall, New York, Herkulessaal in Munich, Wigmore Hall, London, Berlin Philharmonic, as well as at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam). He has also performed with many orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Salzburg Camerata Academica, Maggio Musicale Orchestra in Florence, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Eiji Oue, Seiji Ozawa, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Temirkanov, Sandor Vegh, Alain Lombard amd Tugan Sokhiev.
Jonathan Gilad gives regular chamber music recitals with musicians such as Julia Fischer, Viviane Hagner, Danjulo Ishizaka, Mihaela Martin, Nikolaj Znaider, Frans Helmerson, Daniel Müller-Schott, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. Recent engagements have taken him to Munich (Philharmonic with the Russian National Orchestra), Frankfurt (Alte Oper with the Frankfurter Museumsorchester and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie), Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with the Orchestre National de France), to Koln (Philharmonic) as well as to Verbier, Stavanger and Jerusalem.
He has recorded a CD with EMI, in the « Début » series, of works by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. This recording was nominated for the « Victoires de la Musique Classique 1999 ». Under the Lyrinx label Jonathan Gilad has recorded 3 CDs (Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev). Under the PentaTone label, alongside Daniel Müller-Schott and Julia Fischer, he recorded Mendelssohn’s trios, a recording which received a Diapason d’Or. Again with Daniel Müller-Schott, under the Orfeo label, he recorded a CD of Mendelssohn’s cello and piano pieces.
Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a uniquely varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. He appears with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, and gives recitals in major musical centres. As a chamber musician, he has curated concert series for many prestigious venues, including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd St Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programmes.
He has a strong interest in historical performance, working with many period-instrument orchestras and giving recitals with harpsichord and fortepiano. He is also a keen exponent of contemporary music and has given many premieres of new works, including Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil and many other works, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, three works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holliger and Jörg Widmann.
Steven’s wide-ranging discography includes J S Bach’s complete solo cello suites (Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, concertos by C P E Bach and Haydn, the Elgar and Walton concertos, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Since 1997, Steven has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall. He also enjoys playing for children, and has created three musical stories, with the composer Anne Dudley. His two books for children, published by Faber & Faber, have been translated into many languages; his latest book for Faber is a commentary on Schumann’s Advice for Young Musicians, and a book about the Bach suites was published in 2021. He has also devised and written two evenings of words and music, one describing the last years of Robert Schumann, the other devoted to Marcel Proust and his salons, and has presented many programmes for radio, including documentaries about two of his heroes – Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.
The recipient of many awards, Steven’s honours include a CBE in recognition of his services to music, the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, the Piatigorsky Prize and Maestro Foundation Genius Grant in the U.S, the Glashütte Award in Germany, the Gold Medal awarded by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, and the Wigmore Medal.
Steven plays the ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius of 1726, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.
Being one of the most promising talents of her generation, Anastasia Kobekina debuted with an orchestra at the age of six. Since that time she has had the opportunity to perform with many renowned orchestras, such as Moscow Virtuosi, Kremerata Baltica, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, and many others – under guidance of Krzysztov Penderecki, Heinrich Schiff, Vladimir Spivakov and Valery Gergiev.
In June 2019 Anastasia won the Bronze medal at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg. In 2018 she became a „New Generation Artist“ of the BBC 3 Radio Scheme and was also awarded the Prix Thierry Scherz and the Prix André Hoffmann at the Swiss Winter Music Festival “Sommets musicaux de Gstaad”, a reward that comprises a recording with orchestra for the Swiss recording label Claves (released in April 2019).
In the upcoming season 2019-2020 she will debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, participate in the chamber music week of Verbier Festival in Elmau, and will go on concert tour with the Konzerthaus orchestra Berlin.
One of young cellist’s main dedications and passions is chamber music – she has been participating in many festivals performing with artists, such as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Giovanni Sollima, Denis Matsuev, Fazil Say, Vladimir Spivakov, and Andras Schiff.
Born into a family of musicians, she received her first cello lessons at the age of four at her home in Ekaterinburg, the capital of Ural part of Russia. Following the completion of her studies at the Central Music school in Moscow she was invited to study at the famous Kronberg Academy in Germany with Frans Helmerson. She continued her studies at the University of Arts in Berlin in the class of Professor Jens Peter Maintz. She is currently a student of Jerome Pernoo at the Conservatoire of Paris and at the Frankfurter Hochschule at the class of Kristin von der Goltz (barockvioloncello).
In 2015 Anastasia won the prestigious TONALi Competition in Hamburg and was given the opportunity to borrow a beautiful violoncello by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini which dates back to 1743.
Hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.
In 2020/21 Soltani has been invited to make debuts with orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, Soltani will embark on extensive orchestral touring including with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim, Bolshoi Orchestra and Tugan Sokhiev, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop, Orchestre Philharmonique de la Radio France and Myung-whun Chung and the Tonhalle Orchestra with Paavo Järvi. Recent orchestral highlights include the Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Berlin Staatskapelle, NCPAO, Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. Soltani commences a multi-year residency with Junge Wilde at Konzerthaus Dortmund from Autumn 2018.
As a recitalist, Soltani has recently performed at Carnegie Hall, Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, Wigmore Hall and the Boulez Saal, where he will return to curate an evening of cello music in April 2021. In January 2021, Soltani will perform Beethoven trios on tour with Daniel and Michael Barenboim at venues including Paris Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, London Southbank Centre and Munich Philharmonie im Gasteig.
In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc ‘Home’, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in February 2018, with Gramophone describing the recording as “sublime”. His recording of the Mozart Piano Quartets with Daniel and Michael Barenboim and Yulia Deyneka was released in August 2018. In April 2019, Warner Classics released a disc of the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018. Soltani’s latest disc for Deutsche Grammophon was released in August 2020 and features Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim, amongst other works arranged by Soltani for solo and cello ensemble.
Soltani attracted worldwide attention in April 2013 as winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki where he was hailed by Ostinato magazine as “a soloist of the highest level among the new generation of cellists”. In February 2017 Soltani won Germany’s celebrated Leonard Bernstein Award and in December 2017, he was awarded the prestigious Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.
Born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1992 to a family of Persian musicians, Soltani began playing the cello at age four and was only twelve when he joined Ivan Monighetti’s class at the Basel Music Academy. He was chosen as an Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship holder in 2014, and completed his further studies as a member of the Young Soloist Programme at Germany’s Kronberg Academy. He received additional important musical training at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein.
Kian Soltani plays “The London, ex Boccherini” Antonio Stradivari cello, kindly loaned to him by a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society.
Lars Vogt has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for over twenty-five years. His versatility as an artist ranges from the core classical repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto.
During his prestigious career Lars has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony and NHK Symphony.
Since September 2015 Lars has been Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead in the UK, a position which he has held for five years with the 2019/20 season marking his final season before he becomes Principal Artistic Partner of the orchestra. As a conductor Lars has also worked with many leading orchestras, including the Cologne and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Hannover Opera Orchestra, Frankfurt Museumorchester, Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Sydney, Singapore and New Zealand symphony orchestras. In May 2019 he undertook a highly acclaimed tour of Germany and France leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra including concerts in Berlin, Munich and Paris.