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From an early age, Anna demonstrated an innate musical maturity and astounding technical abilities. Her live recording of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto has more than 30 million views on YouTube and is highly acclaimed by critics and world-renowned musicians. She regularly performs at the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Tonhalle Zürich, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, and many others.
As a soloist, Anna has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Yomiuri Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic, and more. Called the ‘house pianist’ (Telegraaf) of the Concertgebouw, Anna has performed there more than 30 times as well as in numerous online and television broadcasts. Anna is currently artist-in-residence at the Haarlem Philharmonie in the Netherlands. She is a regular guest at leading music festivals such as the The Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, Stift Music Festival in the Netherlands, Festival de Sintra in Portugal, Ravinia Festival in the USA, and at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in France.
In 2018, Anna signed with Channel Classics Records for a series of recordings. By the end of 2022, she will have released three solo piano albums, four chamber music albums, and all of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos with the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen. “Her technique is fluent but never facile (…) demonstrating Fedorova’s fire and theatrical qualities”, BBC Music Magazine’s 5+5 star-review of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Preludes, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Anna graduated from the Lysenko School of Music in Kyiv with Borys Fedorov and the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, with Leonid Margarius. She received her Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, under the guidance of Norma Fisher. Her mentors include Alfred Brendel, Menahem Pressler, Steven Isserlis, and András Schiff.
Swedish cellist Frans Helmerson began his musical training with Guido Vecchi in Gothenburg before moving on to study with Giuseppe Selmi in Rome and William Pleeth in London. Sergiu Celibidache and his mentor Mstislav Rostropovich also played a very influential role in his artistic development. In 1971, he won the renowned Cassado Competition in Florence – the first of many distinctions. Tours have taken him to other countries in Europe as well as to Japan, Russia, South America, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Frans Helmerson plays with many well-known orchestras and receives outstanding critical acclaim for his concerts and recordings. His recording of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was acknowledged as the “best recording currently available on the market”. His recording of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 is also highly praised.
Frans Helmerson’s love of chamber music is another important driving force in his musical endeavours. He is a regular guest at the major European festivals, including the Verbier Festival, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades and the Ravinia Festival, and spent many years as the artistic director of the Umea-Korsholm International Chamber Music Festival. In 2002 he co-founded the Michelangelo String Quartet.
In addition to his career as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor, Frans Helmerson taught for several years as a professor at the conservatories in Cologne and in Madrid. From 2011 to 2016 he has been teaching as a guest professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. 2016 saw him gain an additional professorship at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. Frans Helmerson has been teaching on the Kronberg Academy Study Programmes as a principal professor since 2006. He plays a cello by Stefan-Peter Greiner.
Nelson Freire has long been seen as a connoisseur’s pianist, but a series of superb recordings have raised his profile to the extent that he is now thought of as one of today’s universally recognised great musicians. Whether playing the great warhorses of the repertoire or the gentlest miniatures, he brings to his performances a level of quiet thoughtfulness that puts him in a class of his own.
Born in Boa Esperança, Brazil, he began piano lessons at the age of three with Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, who had worked with a pupil of Liszt. He made his first public appearance at the age of five playing Mozart’s Sonata K. 331. In 1957, after winning a grant at the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition with Beethoven’s Emperor concerto, he went to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer, teacher of Friedrich Gulda. Seven years later he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London and first prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon.
Since his international career began in 1959, Freire has appeared at virtually every important musical centre, in recital and working with countless distinguished conductors and orchestras. A great musical collaborator, he has toured extensively with Martha Argerich, with whom he shares a long-time musical collaboration and friendship. They have recorded several discs together, including a live recital from the Salzburg Festival.
He has an extensive discography and was included by Philips in its historic series Great Pianists of the 20th Century, released in 1999. He has been an exclusive Decca artist since 2001, his releases including major works by Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, Liszt, as well as the two Brahms Concertos with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. The Chopin bicentenary year of 2010 saw two new releases by Freire: his recording of the complete Nocturnes and a recital album. In the Liszt bicentenary year of 2011 Decca released his recital album Harmonies du Soir. An album of his compatriot Villa-Lobos, Brasileiro, was released in summer 2012.
In October 2014 he celebrated his 70th birthday with the first release in a Beethoven concerto cycle with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, coupling the Emperor concerto with the Sonata Op 111. It was followed by a recording of the Chopin F minor concerto with the Gurzenich Orchestra Köln under Lionel Bringuier, prompting BBC Music Magazine to say: “. . . it would be a rare connoisseur not to recognise a major master in the lyrical, rhythmically buoyant, spiritually abundant playing here”. Radio Days, a two-CD collection of concerto radio broadcasts from 1968 to 1979, included repertoire Freire had never recorded commercially, as well as his legendary Paris debut in Tchaikovsky’s first concerto with Masur in 1969. In March 2016 comes his first recorded recital of the music of Bach, featuring four great keyboard works and a collection of shorter pieces and arrangements.
Freire will be including Bach in recitals during spring 2016 in Lyon, Paris, Berlin, Perugia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Vancouver. His diary also has two recitals in his native Brazil and dates in Finland, Luxembourg, France and Germany, with Beethoven and Brahms concertos featuring prominently.
In March 2007, Nelson Freire was appointed a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and in January 2011 he was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion de’Honneur, the French government’s highest award to a foreigner.
“Few pianists alive convey the sheer joy and exhilaration of being masters of their craft more vividly and uncomplicatedly than Nelson Freire.” – The Guardian
source: https://www.deccaclassics.com/fr/artist/freire/biography
Pamela Frank has established an outstanding international reputation across an unusually varied range of performing activity. As a soloist she has performed with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Berlin Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Pamela performed regularly with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, recording the complete Mozart Violin Concertos with them and David Zinman and has also recorded a Schubert album and the Beethoven sonata cycle, both with her father Claude Frank. Pamela is a sought-after chamber musician and has performed at many international festivals including Aldeburgh, Verbier, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Marlboro and Ravinia.
Aside from her devotion to works of the standard repertory, Pamela has performed and recorded a number of contemporary works. Her accomplishments were recognized in 1999 with the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize. Pamela is professor of violin at the Curtis Institute of Music and teaches and coaches annually at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Verbier Festivals. Since 2008 she has been the Artistic Director of the Evnin Rising Stars, a mentoring program for young artists at Caramoor Center for the Arts. Her newest venture is the formation of Fit as a Fiddle Inc., a collaboration with physical therapist Howard Nelson in which they use both their expertise for injury prevention and treatment of musicians.
Isabel Charisius is one of the finest violists and chamber musicians of her generation. As a member of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet, in addition to solo performances and engagements as violist with various leading orchestras, Isabel Charisius has appeared regularly at the most prestigious venues in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Isabel Charisius is regularly invited to perform on both the viola and the violin, with distinguished ensembles and great soloists at international festivals and venues.
Alongside her intense concert activity, Isabel Charisius has for many years been dedicated to training new generations of musicians. She is an internationally recognised teacher of viola and chamber music. Her prolific teaching activity includes a professorship at the Musikhochschule Köln (2005-2012), the Musikhochschule Lucerne (since 2006) as well as a wide range of masterclasses at some of the most prestigious academies and institutions (including Britten Pears School/ Aldeburgh, Encuentro de Musica y Academia/Santander, the Dutch String Quartet Academy/ Amsterdam, Guildhall School of Music and Drama/London, the University of Arts/Berlin).
Isabel Charisius students can regularly be found among the winners of international competitions. Many of them are also members of the world’s finest ensembles and orchestras. The ensembles trained by Isabel Charisiusinclude among others the string quartets Heath, Signum, Schuman, Navarra, Amaryllis and Belenus as well as the piano trios Atos and Morgenstern.
Isabel Charisius plays the extraordinary “ABQ”-viola by Laurentius Storioni (1780), a viola by Peter Greiner (1999) and a special violin by Joannes Udalricus Eberle (1753).
Sonya Yoncheva has become an acclaimed fixture on the most important stages of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin State Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, and the Opéra de Paris. Her unforgettable portrayals of iconic roles have received tremendous acclaim from critics and audiences alike.
Sonya Yoncheva’s extensive repertoire includes jewels of the Baroque canon, as well as works by Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and Puccini. Celebrated for her distinctly beautiful voice and exceptional dramatic presence, Sonya is equally at home on the concert and recital stage, having performed to critical acclaim in several cities including Paris, Dresden, Baden-Baden, and Munich.
Engagements of the 2019/2020 season include her title role debuts in a new production of Fedora at the Teatro alla Scala and in Manon Lescaut at the Metropolitan Opera; star turns as Imogene in Il pirata at the Teatro Real of Madrid, as Mimì in La bohème at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, in the title roles of Médée at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and of Tosca at the Wiener Staatsoper as well as at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Sonya will also appear in concert at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall and the Sofia Philharmonic Hall and will bring her acclaimed Recital program Ad una Stella to the Palau de la Música in Barcelona.
Highlights of past seasons
Ms Yoncheva’s starry 2018/2019 engagements have led her to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden for her title role debut in a new production of Cherubini’s Médée, followed by her return to the Metropolitan Opera for performances as Desdemona in Otello and in the title part of Iolanta. Sonya returned to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as Desdemona in a new production of Otello, a role that she also performed in concert performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Philharmonic Hall of Berlin. She also reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Tosca at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Performances on the concert platform included Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Philharmonie of Paris, gala concerts at the Teatro alla Scala, the Opéra de Paris, the Wiener Staatsoper and the Grafenegg Festival, recitals at the Monte-Carlo Opéra, Teatro Real of Madrid, Rosey Concert Hall and Teatro del Lago Frutillar (Chile) as well as solo concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie, The Broad Stage of Santa Monica, Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, Liège Opera House, Teatro del Bicentenario in Guanajuato (Mexico) and Mexico City.
Sonya Yoncheva began the 2017/18 season in Paris, where she made her debut as Élisabeth de Valois in a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos, followed by performances in one of her signature roles, Mimì, in a new staging of Puccini’s La bohème, all for the Opéra de Paris. She then travelled to New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where she made her highly praised debut in the title role of a new production of Puccini’s Tosca, and reprised her portrayal of Mimì in La bohème. Additionally, Ms Yoncheva debuted in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller in the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years. Following this string of engagements, Sonya Yoncheva made her role debut as Imogene in a new production of Il pirata at the Teatro alla Scala and starred as Poppea in a new staging of L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival. Sonya sang in concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Konzerthaus Dortmund on an all-Verdi programme, in addition to being the soloist at the Bayerische Staatsoper’s annual outdoor summer Festival Concert “Opera for All”. She was named the 2017 medici.tv Artist of the Year, and was featured on a series of live online and archived broadcasts in celebration of this recognition.
Other past performance highlights include her title role debut in a new production of Norma, Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann and Micaëla in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, several Metropolitan Opera appearances, featuring her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto and star turns as Mimì in La bohème, Violetta in La traviata, Desdemona in the 2015/16 opening production of Otello and in the Met’s Gala Concert celebrating its 50th Anniversary at Lincoln Center; the title roles of Iolanta, La traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor at Opéra de Paris, Mimì at the Teatro alla Scala; Violetta at the Staatsoper Berlin, the Palau de les Arts Valencia, Monte Carlo, and the Bayerische Staatsoper; Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Marguerite in Faust at the Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She was also a featured artist at the annual Adventskonzert in Dresden, broadcast on ZDF in Europe.
Sonya Yoncheva is an alumna of William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix and has maintained a special focus the Early and Baroque repertory. Past engagements have featured her in several iconic roles, including Phani/Zima (Les Indes galantes) and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) on tour with William Christie in Europe, Russia and the US; La Fortuna (L’incoronazione di Poppea) at the Glyndebourne Festival; Giunone (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) at the Teatro Real; Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in Versailles; and Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Poppea (Agrippina) in Lille and Dijon with conductor Emmanuelle Haim.
Education and Accolades
Born in 1981, soprano Sonya Yoncheva graduated with performance degrees in piano and voice in her hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria under the tutelage of Nelly Koitcheva. Sonya later obtained her master’s degree in voice at the Conservatory of Geneva, studying with Danielle Borst. Ms. Yoncheva is also the winner of several renowned international competitions, including top prize and the special CultureArte prize at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition (2010). She was honored as the Newcomer of the Year (Singer) at the 2015 ECHO Klassik Awards and received the Special Prize of the Les Amis du Festival for her performance of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, at the Academy of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (2007). Sonya is the winner of the 2019 Readers’ Award of The International Opera Awards.
Sonya Yoncheva is also a first prizewinner of numerous competitions in her home country of Bulgaria: “Competition for Bulgarian Classical Music” in 2000 and “Competition for German and Austrian Classical Music” in 2001. Sonya and her brother Marin Yonchev were lauded as the Singers of the Year in the 2000 edition of the competition “Hit-1,” produced by Bulgarian National Television. Ms. Yoncheva has collaborated with acclaimed popular artists including Sting and Elvis Costello, and she retains a keen interest in film music, which includes her past collaborations with famed composer Vladimir Cosma.
Sonya records exclusively for Sony Classical, and is featured on a new solo album titled The Verdi Album, released in February 2018, on her solo album Handel released in 2017, in addition to her debut solo album Paris, mon amour, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and several recordings on DVD/Blu-Ray. Her discography also includes CD recordings of Le nozze di Figaro (Contessa) for Deutsche Gramophone and Handel’s Messiah with the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Ms. Yoncheva is also a global ambassador for Rolex.
In the 2024/25 season, Yoncheva will debut in Brazil and perform Baroque works in Vienna, as well as starring in Dido and Aeneas at Opéra de Versailles. She will reprise Madama Butterfly in Barcelona and perform a Christmas concert at Versailles. Further highlights include appearances at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as Lisa in The Queen of Spades.
An alumna of the Conservatory of Geneva, she has received numerous accolades, including the 2021 Opus Klassik Singer of the Year and Officière de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2024. Yoncheva is also a UNICEF ambassador and a Sony Classical artist, with several acclaimed albums.
Born in Beijing, pianist Yuja Wang made her international breakthrough in 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since then, critical superlatives have continuously followed her dazzling career, her numerous awards and accolades including being Musical America’s 2017 Artist of the Year, and a 2019 Gramophone Award for The Berlin Recital on Deutsche Grammophon, with whom she has been an exclusive artist since 2009. Recent highlights include an Opus Klassik Award for her world-premiere recording of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have all the Good Tunes? with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, performing at Carnegie Hall’s 2021/22 season Opening Night Gala with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and tours with her regular chamber partners, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and cellist Gautier Capuçon.
Born in 1986 in Fribourg, Florian Favre has now completed his Masters degree in Compositition & Theory with DJANGO BATES and DIETER AMMAN at the High School of Arts in Bern (HKB).
After a brief experience in the classical world of piano, he began to study jazz at the Conservatory of Fribourg with Richard Pizzorno. He received his Certificate in 2007, with a special commendation from the jury. He entered the Swiss Jazz School the same year and had the opportunity to study with Andy Scherrer, Bert Joris, Frank Sikora, Patrice Moret, William Evans, Dejan Terzic, Colin Vallon, Andreas Scherrer, and Thierry Lang. In 2010 he was selected to be part of the DKSJ All Star project with Pierre Audétat. That same year he received his Bachelor of Arts and the Friedelwald grant.
Supported and guided by Sir Yehudi Menuhin at a young age, Kirill Troussov is now widely recognised as one of the leading violinists of his generation. The international press describes his playing as “…impressive elegance, irreproachable technique, an exceptional musical sensitivity and sonorities of immaculate beauty…“. Kirill Troussov is a regular guest at prestigious concert halls and renowned international music festivals, all over the world.
His collaboration with celebrated conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Lawrence Foster, Jiri Belohlàvek, Michail Jurowski, David Stern, Christoph Poppen, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikko Frank and Louis Langrée as well as with major orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de France, Radio Orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra has brought him, among others, to Tonhalle Zürich, Berliner Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brüssel, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, De Doelen, NCPA in Beijing, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid, Verbier Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival and Menuhin Festival Gstaad.
His passion for chamber music and friendship connect Kirill Troussov with artists like Sol Gabetta, Yuja Wang, Daniel Hope, Joshua Bell, Gautier und Renaud Capucon, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Julian Rachlin, Christian Zacharias und Natalia Gutman.
Substitution for Gidon Kremer in Paris, Asia Tour with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, his spectacular performance at the BBC Proms and his activity as jury member at international competitions, a.o. at the “Schoenfeld International String Competition”, are just some of numerous highlights of his past concert seasons.
His international awards include the European cultural award “Pro-Europa”, the Davidoff-Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the international Yamaha Prize and the Reuters-Prize of the Verbier Festival.
Kirill Troussov regularly gives master classes at the Mozarteum Salzburg, European Music Intstitute Vienna, in Cremona, Milan, Madrid, Dublin, Berlin, Munich ,Oslo, Budapest, USA and Hong Kong.
Kirill Troussov’s recordings — among others for EMI Classics, Warner Classics, Dabringhaus und Grimm, Naxos and Farao Classics — have been repeatedly awarded by the international press. Furthermore he can be seen with Yuja Wang on her DVD with Kurt Masur.
His recent CDs “Emotions” (MDG) and “Memories” (MDG) have been highly praised by the international press and the public — among others by “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and the French music magazine “Diapason”. He completed his studies with Zakhar Bron and Christoph Poppen. His mentors have been Igor Oistrach, Herman Krebbers und Sir Yehudi Menuhin.
Kirill Troussov plays the Antonio Stradivari violin “Brodsky” of 1702, on which violinist Adolph Brodsky performed the world premiere of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, on December 4, 1881.
Born in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy is considered one of today’s most authentic exponents of Hungarian music and was awarded the Liszt Prize in 1982 and in 2017 the prestigious Béla Bartók-Ditta Pásztory Prize. In March 2021 he received the Érdemes Művész award for Artist of Merit, presented to artists of long service in Hungarian national culture, and in December 2021, the Prima Primissima Prize, reserved for artists, athletes, and representatives of scientific life, culture, and education for their performances and exemplary human qualities and values. In March 2024 he received the highest award in Hungary, the Kossuth Prize, which acknowledges outstanding achievements in the fields of culture and the arts.
From 1975 to 1992 he was founding member and leader of the acclaimed Takács Quartet. In 1996 he founded the Takács Piano Trio and in 1998 established the Mikrokosmos Quartet
In 2003 he turned to conducting and in 2007 was appointed Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. In September 2011, he became Music Director of the Manchester Camerata, one of the UK’s leading chamber orchestras, and is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra since September 2012. He was Professor of String Quartet at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva until August 2021 and was awarded honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London in June 2012. In 2013 he became a Swiss citizen.
Gábor Takács-Nagy has conducted the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Philharmonic of Bologna, , Japan Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, l’Orchestre Les Siècles, Royal Danish Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic , Japan Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Symphony Orchestra Wales, Orchestra della Scala Milan, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne amongst others. Since June 2024 he is Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota.
In June 2023 Deutsche Grammophon released the live recordings of the nine Beethoven symphonies with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.