World Music Day: 25% off all concerts until Sunday, 21 June at 10 AM.
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Founder and guide of Cherries of Cherries Walks, Cherries is a Swiss-American botanist and certified International Mountain Leader (IML) with over a decade of experience guiding in the Alps. Based in the Val d’Anniviers and trained across all four seasons, Cherries brings deep knowledge of alpine flora, fauna, glaciology, geology, and hydrology to her walks—along with expertise in orienteering, mountain safety, and even igloo-building. Her walks are more than just scenic hikes; they are immersive journeys into the natural and cultural landscape of the mountains. With a passion for storytelling and curiosity-led exploration, Cherries creates experiences that are intellectually rich, physically engaging, and emotionally grounding. Whether you’re traversing wildflower meadows, tracing glacial paths, or simply learning the name of a moss underfoot, a walk with Cherries opens up the mountain in unexpected ways—layered, vibrant, and alive with meaning.
Born in Latvia, Mischa Maisky has the distinction of being the only cellist in the world to have studied with both Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky. Truly a worldclass musician and a regular guest at many major International Festivals, he has collaborated with the most outstanding conductors. His long and illustrious career has brought him many honours and awards, just some of which include: the 46th Istanbul Music Festival Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the title of Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019, Accademico Onorario of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the Honorary Fellow Award of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Maisky’s recordings have enjoyed world-wide critical acclaim and have been awarded several prizes. In June 2021 a set of complete recordings on DG with over 40 CDs was released.
Of Bulgarian-Chinese heritage, Zlatomir Fung began studying the cello at the age of three, then leapt to international attention in 2019 as both the first American in four decades and the youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. Fung has since been fast establishing a reputation for boundless virtuosity, exquisite sensitivity and impeccable technique across the repertoire range, and also for his insight into contemporary repertoire. Further awards include a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant. At the beginning of the 2021/22 season, he made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall. Other season highlights include Bravo! Vail with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Shai Wosner, and European recital tours performing in cities including Dresden, Ostrava, Rome, Florence and Turin. He plays an W.E. Hill and Sons cello from 1905.
Cellist LiLa began her musical journey at the age of seven under the guidance of Professor Min Cao in Shanghai. In 2016, she transitioned to the Juilliard School Precollege division where she studied with Professors Richard Aaron and Sieun Lin. Since 2018, LiLa has continued her studies at Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson. She plays a 1690’s Giovanni Grancino Cello on loan through the Beare’s International Violin Society and has received numerous accolades, including first prizes in prestigious competitions such as the Osaka International Music Competition, ‘Antonio Janigro’ International Cello Competition, and the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians. LiLa previously attended the Verbier Festival Academy in 2019 and has collaborated with esteemed orchestras such as Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, Prague Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestra Sinfonietta di Roma under conductors including Christoph Eschenbach and Valery Gergiev. As a chamber musician, she has shared the stage with artists including Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff, and Gidon Kremer.
From a very young age, Raphaël Merlin displayed an innate desire for diversity in music. Cello, piano, piano-jazz, writing, composition, analysis, conducting, orchestration, chamber music, arrangement, teaching … each of these disciplines generating an intense musical activity.
He began his musical training at the CNR of Clermont and quickly developed a love of polyphony and improvisation, which will naturally lead him to jazz and his first compositions; sometimes escaping from his studies accompanying a choir to the guitar, writing a few songs, infiltrating a big band or even founding a quartet of jazz … Some composition contests later, his first diplomas in conservatory in the bag and 15 years old, he moved to Paris and contracted the virus of orchestra’s conducting. The teachings of Igor Kiritchenko, Xavier Gagnepain and Philippe Müller for the cello, Hortense Cartier-Bresson for chamber music and Janos Komives for the conducting, trained him to interpretation, and he brilliantly completed his studies at the CNSM in Paris in 2005.
Chamber music, initially practiced with his family growing up, occupies a central part in Merlin’s work today. This has intensified since joining the remarkable Quatuor Ebène in 2002. The Quartet garnered a First Prize in 2004 at the international ARD competition in Munich, and now performs regularly throughout Europe, the U.S. and Asia in such prestigious venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Vienna, , the Library of Congress in Washington, Carnegie Hall in New York, Philharmonie, Châtelet and Champs-Elysées theatres in Paris… The Quartet counts amongst its esteemed advisors Gabor Takacs, Eberhard Feltz, Gyorgy Kurtag and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Musical collaborators have included Mitsuko Uchida, Nicholas Angelich, Menahem Pressler, Natalie Dessay, Renaud Capuçon, Gary Hoffman, Martin Fröst, Michel Portal. The Mirare label produced two discs, devoted to Haydn and Bartok, before the quartet signed an exclusive deal with Virgin Classics (now Erato/Warner) : Debussy, Fauré and Ravel (Gramophone of the year), Brahms, Mozart, Mendelssohn quartet albums followed, along with several arrangements and self compositions albums : “Fiction”, “Brazil”, “Eternal Stories” (2017). Recently a Schubert record featuring Gautier Capuçon and Matthias Goerne (songs arranged by Raphaël Merlin) received the Choc by Classica and the Edison prize 2016.
The son of a French teacher and enthusiastic former pupil of Xavier Gagnepain, Raphaël is passionate about teaching, and maintains lasting links with his former and current pupils. Regular cello teacher at Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory, he gives regular master classes in chamber music at the CNSM Paris, American Arts Schools in Fontainebleau, at Universities of Stuttgart, Freiburg, Houston and at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Merlin also performs as soloist with the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Orchestra in Moscow, the Massy Orchestra, Sostenuto, Ut 5è, Orchestre d’Auvergne . He recorded Brahms trio, Fauré sonatas and trio, Hersant trio, a tango album “Café 1930”. He remains a prolific arranger of classical, Jazz, Tango, and traditional music arrangements. From 1997 to 2002 he was the pianist in the Wildflower Quartet, and still sometimes plays jazz concerts from the piano.
As a conductor, he has led the Orchestre du Lycée Racine, the Orchestre des lauréats du Conservatoire, the Ostinato orchestra, Opus 93. In 2014, he founded “Les Forces majeures”, a chamber musicians orchestra : this energetic and versatile ensemble (traditional repertoire, contemporary, jazz…) instantaneously got an international success for its Rossini recording (Aparté label) with famous mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes, released in 2016. Concerts with Nicholas Angelich, Edgar Moreau, Sayaka Shoji, Sarah Nemtanu, Inva Mula, Florian Sempey, Amel Brahim-Jelloul, Marc Mauillon… got interest by the French radios such as Radio Classique, who broadcasted live a French program including Fauré’s Requiem at Invalides Cathedral. An album recorded with Les Forces Majeures and cellist Edgar Moreau, including Gulda and Offenbach’s Concertos, was released in December 2018 (Erato / warner classics label). He also recently conducted the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen for the project “Création habitants”, shared with choreographer Alban Richard, director of the CCN de Caen.
In 2011 he received his first commission as a composer, a concerto for string quartet and orchestra, for Cracow and Munich, with the Ebène String Quartet and the Klangforum Mitte Europa. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt created his duet for violin and cello (2014, Concertgebouw Amsterdam) and a cello and string concerto (Lockenhaus Festival 2016).
Hailed by Le Monde as belonging to ‘the French cello elite’ and by La Croix as ‘a young man who already ranks among the masters of the cello’, Christian-Pierre La Marca has, in the space of a few years, distinguished himself by his radiant presence in the world’s leading concert halls and his recordings, all of which have won awards. After making his debut in Aix-en-Provence, he studied in Paris with Jean-Marie Gamard and Philippe Muller, before continuing with Frans Helmerson in Cologne and Steven Isserlis in London. He rounded off his training with masterclasses under Mstislav Rostropovich, Heinrich Schiff, Anner Bylsma and Gary Hoffman, and benefited from the advice and encouragement of such musical personalities as Itzhak Perlman, Philippe Jaroussky, Thomas Quasthoff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Maria João Pires, the Artemis Quartett and Seiji Ozawa. His trajectory was crowned with success at international competitions in Osaka, Frankfurt and London (Philharmonia), and he has several times been invited to appear at the Victoires de la Musique Classique.
He maintains a highly active presence on the French and international scenes, and is a regular guest in the world’s major musical centres, from the Philharmonie de Paris to the Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Vienna Musikverein, the Southbank Centre in London, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Verbier, Ravinia and Trondheim festivals, among others.
Christian-Pierre La Marca is much sought after by his colleagues and shares a varied repertory with a whole range of exceptional artists of all generations and every instrument and voice. He performs regularly as a duo with the pianist Lise de la Salle. In the concerto repertory, he appears as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Brussels Philharmonic and Les Siècles, but also with Le Concert de la Loge and Les Ambassadeurs. An ardent advocate of contemporary music, he collaborates with many composers, among them Jörg Widmann, Pēteris Vasks, György Kurtág, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Hersant and Nicolas Bacri. His particularly inventive discography reflects his special interest in the voice, his curios- ity for all types of music and his passion for the great works of the classical repertory. His recordings have invariably received unanimous acclaim from press and public alike. Cello 360 is his first album on the naïve label, with which he has signed an exclusive agreement.
Christian-Pierre La Marca is a socially committed artist who initiated the ‘Concert for the Planet’ with the GoodPlanet Foundation and Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a solidarity event intended to raise funds for the environment. He is also joint artistic director with his brother, the violist Adrien La Marca, of the Forez Festival in France, and teaches at cello masterclasses for the Philippe Jaroussky Music Academy at La Seine Musicale in Paris.
Stephen Kovacevich is one of the most searching interpreters, never afraid to take both technical and musical risks in order to achieve maximum expressive impact. As a pianist he has won unsurpassed admiration for his playing, non-more than from Leopold Stokowski who wrote: “You do with your feet what I try to do with my Philadelphia Orchestra”.
Born in Los Angeles, Stephen Kovacevich laid the foundation for his career as concert pianist at the age of eleven. After moving to England to study with Dame Myra Hess, Stephen made his European debut at Wigmore Hall in 1961. Since then he has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors including Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle and Georg Solti. In addition, he has forged many longstanding professional relationships, most notably with Colin Davis with whom he made numerous outstanding recordings, including the legendary Bartok Piano Concerto No.2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Recent and upcoming recital highlights include an extensive tour of the Far East, recitals in Paris, Berlin, Boston, Zagreb, Dublin and Cardiff, alongside two live BBC Radio 3 broadcasts from St George’s Hall, Bristol and Wigmore Hall. His recent concerto highlights include a triumphant return to Montreal Symphony Orchestra (under David Zinman), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (with Sylvain Cambreling), Malaysian Philharmonic (Jacek Kaspszyk), Orchestre de chambre de Paris (John Nelson) and Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy). Stephen recently performed to a sell-out audience for his recital at the International Piano Series at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London. In addition, Stephen is a regular soloist at the Verbier and Lugano festivals.
Stephen is a committed chamber musician who has collaborated with Jacqueline du Pré ( with whom he recorded their celebrated recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas No. 3 and 5), Martha Agerich, Steven Isserlis, Nicola Benedetti, Nigel Kennedy, Lynn Harrell, Gautier Capuçon, Renaud Capuçon, Kyung-wha Chung, Truls Mørk, Emmanuel Pahud, Anna Larsson, Alina Ibragimova, Philippe Graffin, Joseph Suk and the Amadeus, Belcea and-Cleveland Quartets.
Stephen Kovacevich has enjoyed an illustrious long-term relationship with recording companies Philips and EMI. To celebrate his 75th birthday, Decca has released a Limited Edition 25 CD Box Set of his entire recorded legacy for Philips. In 2008 Stephen Kovacevich recorded Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations exactly 40 years after his first recording of the work. This Onyx recording won him the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award and the ‘Top Choice’ by Gramophone Magazine in September 2015, to quote: “his seasoned yet fearless mastery reveals something new with each hearing”.
Born in Athens, Greece in September of 1996, son to a ballet dancer, a banker and future brother to a then unborn sister, at the age of 5, I declared my love for the flute, practiced and performed in all the places I have lived and in the airplane in between.
When I realised my love for music and after a long year of trying to persuade both of my parents, I enrolled at the National Conservatory in Athens and received my first lessons from Ms. Myrto Tsakiri.
After having moved to Bulgaria with my family, at the age of 13 I was accepted at the National Music School of Sofia “NMU Lyubomir Pipkov”, to study under Prof. Georgi Spassov. In 2011, after participating in Prof. Robert Winn’s masterclass, I was lucky enough to begin working with him, on an intermittent basis. In 2012 ,thanks to his referral, I met Prof. Greiss-Armin and her assistant Matthias Allin at their annual masterclass in Thomashoff, a meeting that marked the next stage of my musical development.
In June of 2013, at the age of 16, I was accepted to study with them at the Music University of Karlsruhe and graduated in July of 2018 with distinctions. In February 2016, I was selected to be the only student representative in the committee that would select the new flute professor in our university, Prof. Pirmin Grehl.
During my studies, I regularly premiered different pieces from the composition class of Prof. W. Rihm and was often invited to perform as a member of both youth and professional orchestras like the State Theater of Karlsruhe, Kölner Kammerorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France between others.
Searching for inspiration is a never-ending and vitally crucial journey in one’s life. In my case some of the most inspiring figures have been Maestro Zubin Mehta whom I saw for the first time on stage in 2005 conducting “Carmen”, Maestro Christoph Eschenbach whose recordings I grew up with, Maestro Yutaka Sado conducting one of the most impressive performances of the “Requiem” by G. Verdi. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky and privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from and be invited to collaborate with them as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician.
In June of 2021 I had the great honour of being invited as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra under the baton of the legendary Mo. Gergiev.
As a chamber musician I have collaborated with artists like Vilde Frang, Matthias Goerne, Nicolas Altstaedt, Daniel Hope, Vilde Frang, Chen Reiss, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Noah Bendix-Balgley and Marisol Montalvo between others and have had teacher and mentors like Mathieu Dufour, Vangelis Papathanassiou, Petra Müllejans, Henrick Wiese, Peter Lukas Graf.
As a soloist I have been honoured with the “Music: Landschaft Westfalen Festival Award”(2021), the “Leonard Bernstein Award” from the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (2020), the “Lotto Prize” from the Rheingau Festival (2019) and have been awarded with numerous prizes from International Competitions. In 2021 I was accepted into the Development Programme of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists.
Past and upcoming performances and recordings include : the World Premiere of “für Inge” of Leonard Bernstein and “Lamentation” of Craig Urquhart, the World Premiere of the “Zorbas Suite” by M. Theodorakis and A. Wastor which I commissioned together with the Young Euro Classic Festival, the NCPA Orchestra (Beijing), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra (St. Petersburg), Athens State Symphony Orchestra (Greece), HR Symphony Orchestra (Frankfurt), Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Munich Symphony Orchestra between many others.
My ultimate dream is to understand and serve music to its fullest extent, which has led me to explore all possible variations of my instrument like the Shakuhachi and the Traverse flute to the Contrabass flute. Keen on musical experimentation, I have often joined different bands, groups and world renowned artists on stage like Richard Smith, Tico Pierhagen, Vassilis Rakopoulos with whom we meander through musical forms ranging from free jazz to hard rock.
In 2016 I assisted in organizing the 3rd edition of the “Santorini Arts Factory” festival and the following year I was appointed “Music Director”. Shortly after, I was appointed First Principal Flute of the Athens State Symphony Orchestra, a post that I left in July of 2018 to continue my studies with Prof. Bernold at the Conservatoire National Superieur in Paris and to further pursue my career.
Young Polish pianist Michał Biel’s collaborations have already taken him to the world’s most celebrated concert halls, including London’s Wigmore Hall, and Carnegie Hall and the Alice Tully Hall in New York. He has also appeared in recital on such eminent international stages as at the Oper Frankfurt, Opéra de Lille and the Polish National Opera. Countertenor Jakub Józef Orlínski is a regular chamber collaborator. Meanwhile it was with American bass Alexander Rosen that he won Second Prize at the 2018 Hugo Wolf International Art Song Competition in Stuttgart, and together they are laureates of the Academy Orsay-Royaumont. Further accolades include Best Young Accompanist at the 2015 Grand Prix de l’Opéra contest in Bucharest. Biel holds residencies as a collaborative pianist at the Juilliard School Vocal Arts Department and the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt.
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.
Following summer festival appearances in Verbier and Salzburg and on tour with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, the 2022/2023 season begins with the opening week of the Chicago Symphony followed by return visits to New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh, Houston, Philadelphia, New World, Pacific, Madison, New Jersey, Toronto and Montreal symphonies. In Europe he will tour with Rotterdam Philharmonic and can also be heard with Berlin Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), Bamberg, Dresden Staatskapelle, Maggio Fiorentino and Zurich Opera orchestras.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, under Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.