Musicians Archive - Page 78 of 89

Moscow-born pianist Evgeny Kissin played the piano by ear and improvised at age two. At six, he was admitted to the Gnessin Academy of Music with Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who was to remain his only teacher. He gained international recognition in 1984 when, at the age of 12, he performed Chopin’s two piano concertos in the Great Hall of the Conservatory with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitri Kitaenko. Recipient of more than 30 of the most prestigious prizes, awards and honorary titles, he also distinguishes himself as a composer, writer and poet with, among other things, a collection of poems, short stories and translations entitled A Yiddisher Sheygets released in 2019.

Jan Lisiecki’s interpretations and technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 25, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, and Claudio Abbado (†).

Following his acclaimed “Night Music” recitals, 2019 sees Lisiecki present both a new solo recital programme and a Beethoven Lieder programme with Matthias Goerne. Return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Santa Cecilia, Camerata Salzburg, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for performances at Carnegie Hall and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Lisiecki has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra. Having signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon at fifteen, Lisiecki’s sixth album for the label sees him leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano for all five Beethoven concertos. The September 2019 release, recorded live from Konzerthaus Berlin, is the first within the label’s celebration of the Beethoven Year 2020. His earlier recordings have been awarded with the JUNO Award and ECHO Klassik.

At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.

Daniela Barcellona is a “much appreciated singer who can count on a broad phrasing, supported by a solid, robust and consistent technique. The silkiness of her voice is heightened by a fascinating timbre and her coloratura remains today unparalleled”. Daniela Barcellona was born in Trieste, where she completed her musical studies under the guidance of Alessandro Vitiello. After winning numerous prestigious international competitions like the “Adriano Belli” award in Spoleto, “Iris Adami Corradetti” in Padua, and the “Pavarotti International Voice Competition” in Philadelphia, she made her debut in the title role of Tancredi at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 1999, establishing herself as a reference interpreter for “en travesti” roles, which have brought her to walk the most prestigious opera houses worldwide, from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to La Scala in Milan, from the Royal Opera House in London to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich to the Teatro Real in Madrid, from the Salzburg Festival to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, to name a few. 

Prized with the “Premio Abbiati”, she has worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Baremboim, Riccardo Muti, Myung-whun Chung, Riccardo Chailly, James Levine, Antonio Pappano, Gianandrea Noseda, Alberto Zedda, Roberto Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Bruno Campanella, Sir Colin Davis, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Lorin Maazel, Michele Mariotti, Kent Nagano, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Juraj Valčuha, Zubin Mehta and with such stage directors as David McVicar, Robert Carsen, Luca Ronconi, Damiano Michieletto, Pierluigi Pizzi, Mario Martone, Hugo de Ana, Paul Curran, David Alden, Yannis Kokkos, and Emilio Sagi.

In Italy she has been acclaimed numerous times at La Scala in Milan (Lucrezia Borgia, Iphigénie en Aulide, Il viaggio a Reims, La donna del lago, Luisa Miller, Falstaff, Les Troyens) where she also sang Europa Riconosciuta conducted by Riccardo Muti on 7 December 2004 for the Opera House’s historical re-opening, at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (Tancredi, La donna del lago, Semiramide, Bianca e Falliero, Adelaide di Borgogna, Maometto II, Sigismondo, Stabat Mater, Petite messe solennelle marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death), at the Teatro Regio di Torino (Anna Bolena, Tancredi, Don Carlo, Samson et Dalila, Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater), at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Il barbiere di Siviglia, La fiamma, Cenerentola, L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi, Semiramide), at the Comunale in Bologna (Giulio Cesare) and Florence (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi, Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Verdi’s Requiem, Il viaggio a Reims, Petite messe solennelle), at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, at the Sferisterio in Macerata (Norma and Verdi’s Requiem), at the Arena and Teatro Filarmonico in Verona (Verdi’s Requiem, Aida, L’Italiana in Algeri), at the Teatro Regio in Parma (Norma), at the San Carlo in Napoli (Anna Bolena, Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Carlo Felice in Genoa (Cenerentola, Verdi’s Requiem, La Favorite), at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Stabat Mater, Norma), at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste (Ginevra di Scozia by Simon Mayr, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri), at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Paisiello’s Missa defunctorum) and she made her debut at the opening concert of the Donizetti Opera 2018 festival.

Outside Italy she has been invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker (Verdi’s Requiem), Munich’s Rundfunkorchester (Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck), the London Symphony Orchestra (Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz, Verdi’s Requiem), the Deutsche Oper in Berlino (Les Troyens by Berlioz, La Gioconda), New York’s Metropolitan (Norma, La donna del lago), the Royal Opera House of London (La donna del lago, Semiramide), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Falstaff conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Mario Martone), the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La donna del lago, Don Carlo), the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (L’Italiana in Algeri, Semiramide), the Teatro Real in Madrid (Semiramide, Tancredi, The Rake’s Progress, Aida, Falstaff, Un ballo in maschera), the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Semiramide, La favorite), the Palau de les Arts in Valencia (Les Troyens, Aida), the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, L’Italiana in Algeri, Cavalleria rusticana), the Staatsoper in Vienna (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri), the Grand Théatre in Ginevra (Semiramide), the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (Puccini’s Triptych, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis), the Semperoper in Dresden (Verdi’s Requiem, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Favorite), the Tel Aviv Opera (Norma), the Oviedo Opera (L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi), the Salzburg Festival (Verdi’s Requiem, Romeo et Juliette by Gounod, La donna del lago, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore, Aida), the Sydney Opera House (Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater), the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier (La donna del lago), Las Palmas’ Opera Season (Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, La Favorite) and the Opéra de Wallonie in Liege (La donna del lago), in Tokyo (Tancredi, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Stabat Mater, Bajazet by Vivaldi), ABAO Olbe (Don Carlos, Semiramide), the NCPA Opera in Beijing and the Festival Verdi in Tbilisi (Aida). She also performed in Verdi’s Requiem with Konzerthausorchester Berlin led by Juraj Valčuha and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti, in Heroic Bel Canto recital with works by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini in Melbourne and in Rossini’s Stabat mater at the Baalbeck International Festival in Lebanon with the Bucharest radio chamber Orchestra conducted by Toufic Maatouk.

Recently, Daniela Barcellona sang Mrs Quickly in Falstaff at the Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Mario Martone, at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and at the Opéra de Lyon directed by Barry Kosky; Duchess Federica in Luisa Miller conducted by Michele Mariotti at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon at the Opéra National de Paris and Laura in Gioconda at the Teatro alla Scala. She performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Myung-Whun Chung at Circo Massimo and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Arena di Verona.

Some of the awards she has been granted include the “Lucia Valentini-Terrani” award, the “Aureliano Pertile” award, the “International Opera Award”, the “CD Classica”, the “Rossini d’oro”, the “San Giusto d’Oro”, the “Sigillo trecentesco di Trieste”, the “Oscar della lirica” award, and the “Laurence Olivier Award” and the “Pesaro Music Award”. 

She has made numerous recordings, including albums dedicated to Scarlatti and Pergolesi (released by Sony); works by Rossini including Stabat Mater, Petite messe solennelle, Giovanna D’Arco, two editions of Tancredi, Bianca e Falliero, Adelaide di Borgogna, Sigismondo, and Il viaggio a Reims; Bellini (two editions of Norma); Mayr and Meyerbeer (respectively Ginevra di Scozia and Margherita d’Anjou); as well as Verdi’s Requiem (a celebrated recording with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker) and the monumental Les Troyens by Berlioz, conducted by Valery Gergiev. 

A complete studio recording of Rossini’s last and one of his greatest Italian operas, Semiramide, starring Albina Shagimuratova, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, has been released by Opera Rara in 2018. The album was awarded the Recording of the Month by Opera, Gramophone & BBC Music Magazine and was chosen as one of the Gramophone, IClassical & Sunday Times 2018 Recordings of the Year. It also received the Opera Award 2019 as “Best Recording Complete Opera”.

Two DVDs of Falstaff have recently been released, one recorded at the Teatro Real in Madrid in a new production by Laurent Pelly, the second, a production by Mario Martone, released by C Major Entertainment and recorded at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. This year, moreover, the recordings of Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda at the Verbier Festival and of the Stabat Mater conducted by Gustavo Gimeno on the podium of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg have been released.

Piotr Beczala is one of the most sought-after tenors of our time and a constant guest in the world’s leading opera houses. The Polish-born artist is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike not only for the beauty of his voice, but also for his ardent commitment to each character he portrays.

Piotr Beczala´s 2016-17 season will feature returns to Chicago, New York, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna, Zürich, and beyond. Following a recital with San Diego Opera, Piotr encores his signature portrayal of Edgardo in a new-to-Chicago production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. From there, he heads to New York for a revival of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera. He also joins a star-studded lineup of colleagues on the Met stage to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary at Lincoln Center. Rodolfo in Puccini’s bohemian masterwork is also the vehicle for Piotr’s return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Furthermore Piotr Beczala can be heard in Barcelona with a revival of Massenet’s Werther at the Gran Teatre del Liceu paired with a recital at the city’s Palau de la Música. The recitals continue with stops in Frankfurt, Graz, Berlin, and Hamburg. Returning to the Wiener Staatsoper stage, Piotr headlines a revival of Un ballo in maschera before joining Opernhaus Zürich for a new production of Léhar’s Das Land des Lächelns in the role of Prince Sou-Chong.

Since his debut as Duca in Rigoletto in 2006, Piotr Beczala is a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera New York. Here he has performed in a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin opposite Anna Netrebko, Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo (La Bohème), as well as in the title roles of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Faust. In 2011 he accompanied the MET on a tour to Japan, singing Rodolfo and Edgardo. 2012 saw Piotr Beczala make his role debut as Chevalier des Grieux in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Manon, alongside Anna Netrebko as the eponymous heroine, conducted by Fabio Luisi. The production was part of the “HD live” series by the MET and was broadcast live in cinemas throughout the US and over 50 countries world-wide. It was released on DVD, as was his interpretation of the Duke in a new production of Rigoletto, alongside Diana Damrau in January 2013, for which he received the ECHO Klassik Award “Singer of the Year” in 2014. In the 2015/16 season he was making his highly acclaimed debut in the title role of Wagner´s Lohengrin opposite Anna Netrebko at the Semperoper Dresden.

At Teatro alla Scala in Milan Piotr Beczala made his debut in 2006 singing Duca in Rigoletto, returning later as Rodolfo in La Bohème. The tenor also opened the 13/14 season for the first time, singing Alfredo in a new production of Verdi’s La Traviata. Piotr Beczala also regularly sings at the State Operas in Munich and in Vienna. On the stage of the National Theatre in Munich, he interpreted the Prince, Alfredo, the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, and the title role of Massenet’s Werther. During the Munich Opera Festival, Piotr Beczala was heard as Alfredo in La Traviata. In Vienna he performed Roméo in Jürgen Flimm’s production of Roméo et Juliette, under the baton of Plácido Domingo. Since his Die Zauberflöte and Rodolfo in La Bohème. Piotr Beczala sang guest performances at the Nederlandse Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie/de Munt, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatr Wielki (Warsaw), and the Mariinsky Theatre, amongst many others.

Piotr Beczala is a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival. Since his debut as Tamino in 1997 he has sung the cantata Rinaldo by Johannes Brahms under the baton of Sir Elliott Gardiner at the Whitsun Festival as well as Prince in Rusalka, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, the title role in Gounod´s Faust and Rodolfo in Damiano Michieletto’s new production of La Bohème opposite Anna Netrebko during the Summer Festival. This production was broadcasted on TV and released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon. Piotr Beczala also sang with Anna Netrebko in concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in 2011. In 2013 he was heard in Verdi’s Requiem with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Riccardo Muti conducting.

In addition to his operatic work, he has sung many of the great choral and orchestral vocal works with the world’s most distinguished orchestras and maestri. Celebrating his 20th stage anniversary Piotr Beczala gave a concert at Theatre Wielki in Warsaw in 2012. Also in 2012 he sang the New Year’s Eve concerts at the Semperoper Dresden for the second consecutive year. The concerts, which were led by Christian Thielemann, were broadcast on TV and released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon. In 2014 he joined a spectacular group of colleagues for Le Concert de Paris, an annual concert event and celebration at the Eiffel Tower with an estimated live audience of more than half a million people.

Piotr Beczala was born in Czechowice-Dziedzice in Southern Poland and received his initial vocal training at the Katowice Academy of Music, where he was given instruction by such illustrious singers as Pavel Lisitsian and Sena Jurinac. His first engagement was at the Landestheater Linz and in 1997 he became a company member of the Zürich Opera. The Zurich audience could hear him as Alfredo in La traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role of Faust, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Elvino in La Sonnambula, and also as the soloist in orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, Riccardo in Un Ballo in maschera as well as Rodolfo in La Bohème.

Piotr Beczala’s is represented on dozens of CDs in a vast array of works, ranging from staples of the repertory, including Faust live from Vienna (Orfeo) and La Traviata from Munich (Farao), which was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award, to such rarely-heard works as Szymanowski’s Król Roger and Offenbach’s Rheinnixen (Accord) and Johann Strauss II’s Simplicius (EMI). In addition, Piotr Beczala sings on a recording of Lucia di Lammermoor with Natalie Dessay in the title role and Valery Gergiev leading the Mariinsky Opera on the Company’s own label.

Three solo aria CDs have been released on the Orfeo label. “Salut”, featuring French and Italian arias (2008), was followed by “Slavic Opera Arias”, with repertoire by Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Moniuszko, Źeleński, Nowowiejski, Smetana and Dvořák. Opera News declared it #1 on its list of 2011’s “Twelve Best Recital Discs” & it received Classica’s coveted “Choc de l’année 2011”. In 2013 a Verdi album was released. Since 2012 Piotr Beczala is an exclusive artist of Deutsche Grammophon and released his second album “The French Collection” with the yellow label in February, 2015.

Recital appearances this season include a return to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on the Great Artists Series. He also performs at Wigmore Hall, the George Enescu Festival, Ascona (Switzerland), Prague, Munich, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Moscow State Philharmonic, at the Elbphilharmonie for the Husum Rarities of Piano Music Festival, Monte Carlo, and the Heidelberg Festival, among other dates.

Mr. Hamelin is the inaugural guest curator for Portland Piano International, where he opens the season with two solo recitals. He returns to San Francisco Performances – a series with whom he has a long and deeply supportive artistic relationship – as a Perspectives Artist for their 40th Anniversary Season, performing a solo recital; Die Winterreise with tenor Mark Padmore; and the world premiere of his own Piano Quintet, commissioned by SFP and performed by himself and the Alexander String Quartet.

An exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, in 19/20, Hyperion releases two albums by Mr. Hamelin – one a solo disc and the other with the Takács Quartet. He recently released a disc of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major and Four Impromptus; a landmark disc of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Concerto for Two Pianos with Leif Ove Andsnes; Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus; and Medtner’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski. His impressive Hyperion discography of more than 60 recordings includes concertos and works for solo piano by such composers as Alkan, Godowsky, and Medtner, as well as brilliantly received performances of Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Shostakovich.

He was honored with the 2014 ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of Year (Piano) and Disc of the Year by Diapason Magazine and Classica Magazine for his three-disc set of Busoni: Late Piano Music and an album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Études, which received a 2010 Grammy nomination and a first prize from the German Record Critics’ Association.

Mr. Hamelin was a distinguished member of the jury of the 15 th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2017 where each of the 30 competitors in the preliminary round performed Hamelin’s Toccata on L’Homme armé; this was the first time the composer of the commissioned work was also a member of the jury. Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with nearly 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works – including the Études and Toccata on L’Homme armé – are published by Edition Peters.

Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller. Born in Montreal, Marc-André Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association and has received seven Juno Awards and eleven GRAMMY nominations. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by the New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to the Times, Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti.

Joyce’s 2020/21 season began with performances of her baroque-inspired programme My Favourite Things with Il Pomo d’Oro in Bayreuth and Valencia, as well as a breathtaking recital for the Met Stars Live in Concert series. Further season highlights will include performances of Joyce’s Songplay programme with Craig Terry in Oviedo, Madrid and Barcelona, and Werther in concert under Donald Runnicles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. This year Joyce is also delighted to be an Artist Ambassador in partnership with the classical music streaming service, Primephonic.

Joyce was Carnegie Hall’s 19/20 Perspectives Artist with appearances including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Muti and Schubert’s Winterreise in recital with Nézet-Séguin and a. The season also held the final tour of her album In War & Peace with Il Pomo d’Oro to South America culminating in Washington DC, and a tour with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Nézet-Séguin.

After shining over the baroque stage for over a decade, Véronique Gens has achieved a strong international reputation and is now considered one of the best Mozart singers. One of her most prominent roles, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni staged by Peter Brook and conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Aix-en-Provence Festival earned her worldwide recognition.

In 1999, she was chosen Lyrical Performer of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique.

Her repertoire includes the greatest Mozart parts (Donna Elvira, Contessa Almaviva, Vitellia, Fiordiligi…), famous roles from lyrical tragedies (Iphigénie en Tauride, Iphigénie en Aulide, Alceste…) as well as later ones such as Alice Ford (Falstaff), Eva (Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmélites), Hélène (La Belle Hélène), Missia Palmeri (Die Lustige Witwe).

In addition to her wide-ranging classical repertoire, Véronique Gens gives numerous concerts and French melodies recitals all over the world, notably in Paris, Amsterdam, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, London, Tanglewood, Beijing, Stockholm, Moscow, Geneva or Edimburgh.

She has performed on the most prestigious stages in the world: Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Paris National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, La Monnaie in Brussels, Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, La Scala in Milan, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as well as at the Festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and Glyndebourne.

Véronique Gens thus had the opportunity to sing under the baton of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Alain Altinoglu, Bertrand de Billy, Ivor Bolton, Jonathan Cohen, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, Marek Janowski, Philippe Jordan, Louis Langrée, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Sir Neville Marriner, Marc Minkowski, Jérémie Rhorer, Christophe Rousset, Daniele Rustioni, Michel Plasson… and to collaborate with renowned stage directors like Pierre Audi, Calixto Bieito, Peter Brook, Willy Decker, Jurgen Flimm, Claus Guth, Michael Haneke, Christof Loy, Olivier Py, Graham Vick, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Dmitri Tcherniakov…

More recently, she sang in Alceste at the Wiener Staatsoper, La Belle Hélène at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Don Giovanni in Amsterdam, at the Wiener Staatsoper, at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and at the Liceu in Barcelona, La Clemenza di Tito in Dresden and at the Wiener Staatsoper, Falstaff at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Les Indes Galantes in Budapest, Alceste, Iphigénie en Tauride, Die lustige Witwe, Les Troyens and Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Giulietta) at the Paris National Opera, Dialogues des Carmélites in Paris, Caen and at La Monnaie in Brussels, Faust in an original concert version of 1859 revisited by Christophe Rousset, La Fille de Madame Angot and Maître Péronilla (Leona) by Offenbach at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, La Calisto at la Scala… In concert, she sang melodies by Henri Duparc with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Le Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer by Ernest Chausson with the Orchestre National de Lille and with the Mitteldeutscher Sinfonieorchester, the Orchestre national de Lyon and the Orchestre de Cannes. Les Nuits d’été with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra,the Orchestre national des Pays de Loire and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, La Voix humaine by Francis Poulenc at the Atelier Lyrique in Tourcoing, Shéhérazade by Maurice Ravel under the baton of Daniele Rustioni in Lyon, at the Festival Estoril in Lisbon, in Oslo with Vassily Petrenko and Berlin with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Wesendonck Lieder with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées under the baton of Philippe Herreweghe, La Nonne sanglante by Berlioz at the Festival de la Côte-Saint-André, La Mort de Cléopâtre with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and the Orchestre national de Metz, melodies by Berlioz with the Orchestre de Picardie, Armide in Brussels, Metz and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Mahler Rückert-Lieder in Nancy and Brussels, Shéhérazade at the Musikverein in Vienna, Saint-Saëns Requiem with the Orchestre National de France, Circé by Desmarets Ariane et Bacchus by Marin Marais with Concert Spirituel, Scylla et Glaucus (Circé) by Leclair in Budapest and Rivales with the Concert de la loge in Metz, Massy and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Zoroastre (Erinice) on tour with Les Ambassadeurs and Hulda by César Franck with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.

Her noteworthy projects in the upcoming seasons Armide by Gluck at the Opéra Comique, Dialogues des Carmélites (Madame Lidoine) in Munich, La Fille de Madame Angot at the Opéra Comique and Iphigénie en Aulide at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence… In concert, she will sing Iphigénie en Tauride (Clytemnestre) by Campra with the Concert Spirituel, Castor et Pollux (Phébée) and Werther (Charlotte) in Budapest, Les Nuits d’été with the Orquesta Sinfónica by Galicia, Faust et Hélène by Lili Boulanger at the Edinburgh Festival as well as La Mort de Cléopâtre at the Cologne Philharmonic with Les Siècles, La Voix humaine with the National Orchestra de Lille, the title role of Médée by Charpentier with the Spiritual Concert. We will also hear her in recital with piano and with the ensemble Les Surprises or with I Giardini in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Reims, London…

Very involved in the work lead by the Palazzetto Bru Zane Foundation – French Romantic Music Center, Véronique Gens participated to a lot of recordings belonging to the collection “Opéra français” as Herculanum by David, Cinq-Mars by Gounod, La Jacquerie by Lalo and Coquard, Proserpine by Saint-Saëns, Dante by Godard, La Reine de Chypre by Halévy and Faust by Gounod, Passionnément by Messager, Ô mon bel inconnu by Hahn, Maître Péronilla by Offenbach, La Fille de Madame Angot by Charles Lecocq…

Her many recordings (over 80 CDs and DVDs) have received several international awards. Néère, her recording devoted to French melodies, has won a Gramophone Award in 2016. Visions received an International Classic Music Awards as well as an International Opera Awards in 2018.

Véronique Gens has been promoted to the rank of Chevalier in the French order of Légion d’Honneur as well as Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.

Praised by the Washington Post for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, brilliant virtuosity and poised authority far beyond his years. Since winning the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Li has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors such as Gergiev, Dudamel, Honeck, Petrenko, Tilson Thomas and Long Yu.

Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony and St Petersburg Philharmonic. In 2018/19, Li makes his debut with the London Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, embarks on a 11-city recital tour of China and is the soloist on the Russian National Orchestra’s major US tour with Mikhail Pletnev. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival and in various venues throughout Russia.

In recital, Li performs at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai Poly Theater and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Montreux Festival.

An active chamber musician, Li has performed alongside James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez and Daniel Lozakovich and future plans include collaborations with Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lawrence Power. Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017 which was recorded live from the Mariinsky.

Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of ten and in 2011, performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li’s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In summer 2018, Li graduated from the Harvard University / New England Conservatory joint program, where he studied with Wha Kyung Byun.

French pianist Jonathan Fournel is the winner of the 2021 Queen Elisabeth Competition. He also won the two Audience Awards (Musiq3 Prize and Canvas-Klara Prize).

He plays regularly with artists such as G. Capuçon, A. Dumay, V. Julien-Laferrière, as well as the Hermès and Modigliani Quartets. He has also performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Europe and Asia – the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre national de Lorraine, the Croatian Radio & Television Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Belgium National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Jiangsu Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, – under the direction of S. Denève, G. Madaras, A. Dumay, J. Heyward, P. Oundjian, and many others.

Jonathan Fournel studied at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken, then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where he obtained his Master’s and subsequently the Artist Diploma in the classes of B. Engerer and M. Dalberto. Since 2016, he has been an artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium under the direction of L. Lortie and A. Kouyoumdjian.

His next CD, to be released in 2022, will be devoted to Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel and Sonata No.3.

Born into a family of musicians, Tsotne Zedginidze is a descendant of Niko Sulkhanishvili, considered one of the greatest Georgian composers of all time, and a renowned pedagogue, Anastasia Abdushelishvili-Virsaladze (whose students included Lev Vlassenko, Eliso Virsaladze, and Dimitry Bashkirov).

From a very young age, Tsotne showed a keen interest in opera, ballet, and instrumental and vocal music. At two years old, he could recognize and name different instruments. He began learning the piano at the age of five under his grandmother, Nino Mamradze, herself a pianist and teacher. His progress was remarkable; at only six years old, he performed elementary piano repertoire and started studying sonatas by Clementi, Scarlatti, Mozart, and Beethoven, as well as Bach’s Inventions for two and three voices, and pieces by Grieg, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, and Prokofiev. His extraordinary sight-reading abilities allowed him to accurately interpret many of these works on the first read. It was during this time that he developed a growing interest in opera, devouring Italian opera as well as works by Wagner and Strauss.

At six years old, Tsotne Zedginidze began composing and discovered 20th and 21st-century music. He continued his study of opera by playing voice scores of various operas on the piano, including Berg’s Lulu, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. As a self-taught composer, he developed and personalized his style by experimenting and seeking new composition techniques. He always maintained a great interest in opera, eagerly watching productions from major opera houses worldwide.

Tsotne Zedginidze gave his first recital in Tbilisi in June 2019, where he performed works by Berg (Sonata, Op. 1), Bach, Shostakovich, and Janáček, along with a selection of his own compositions. A few months later, he performed at the Telavi International Music Festival organized by Eliso Virsaladze and participated in the opening of the season of the Georgian National Philharmonic Orchestra, where he played Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and his own works under the direction of Nikoloz Rachveli. This concert was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In December 2019, with the support of the Paata Burchuladze’s Iavnana Foundation, Tsotne gave a solo recital at the Grand Hall of the Tbilisi State Conservatoire.

In June 2020, Tsotne premiered his piece “The Bells” for piano, composed during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, dedicated to the memory of his mother, Irene Sulkhanishvili.

In September 2021, Tsotne premiered his Sonata for Violin and Piano alongside Lisa Batiashvili and a piano duo with Sandro Nebieridze at the Tsinandali Festival. He participated in the ArtDialog international festival in Switzerland, performed at the Rachmaninov Museum in Villa Senar (also in Switzerland), and took part in masterclasses with Boris Berezovsky. In November 2021 and June 2022, Tsotne was invited to give recitals at Schloss Elmau. His concerts were highly praised by the audience, including the renowned pianist Grigory Sokolov, who said, “Tsotne’s compositions fit into the monumental world of Bach and Brahms.”

In 2022, at the invitation of Lisa Batiashvili, Tsotne gave a solo recital at the Audi Sommerkonzerte in Ingolstadt, Germany, where he premiered his Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra alongside the Georgian Chamber Orchestra and Nikoloz Rachveli. In July 2022, the pianist made his debut at the Verbier Festival, broadcast on medici.tv. With violinist Marc Bouchkov, he presented the opening of the Verbier Festival on medici.tv. Additionally, medici.tv produced a multi-episode conversation series between Tsotne and Marc Bouchkov, titled “Meet Tsotne.”

During the 2022-2023 season, Tsotne Zedginidze performed in Paris during a concert in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Mezzo television channel at the Cirque d’Hiver. He was also invited by Lahav Shani to participate in rehearsals for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in Rotterdam. Furthermore, he performed at the Kissinger Sommerfest and participated in the concert held at the Wiener Konzerthaus by the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation. During the summer of 2023, he gave a solo recital at Schloss Elmau and a chamber music concert with the renowned violinist Marc Bouchkov. He also gave recitals at the Verbier Festival 2023 and the Tsinandali Festival 2023, both events broadcast on medici.tv.

For the 2023-2024 season, Tsotne is invited to perform in Brussels, Munich, Berlin, and at Schloss Elmau. Among other works, he will interpret Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the Bavarian Youth Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.

Since 2021, Tsotne Zedginidze has received support from the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation: he participates in various foundation concerts and receives material support for his studies. In December 2020, October 2021, and May 2023, with the foundation’s assistance, Tsotne traveled to Berlin to attend masterclasses by maestro Daniel Barenboim and Jörg Widmann. Additionally, in April 2023, he went to London to perform alongside conductors Alfred Brendel and Antonio Pappano.

Tsotne continues his studies with his grandmother, Nino Mamradze. He has also received several online lessons from Rena Shereshevskaya, who teaches at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.

Georgian composer Giya Kancheli had these words: “Musicians as phenomenal as Tsotne are born once a century.” Pianist Eliso Virsaladze commented, “In my life, I have never met anyone as remarkable as this child.” In an interview, conductor and composer Nikoloz Rachveli quoted Daniel Barenboim himself about Tsotne: “Mozart is back in Germany, from Georgia.”