Summer season 2022

Sergey Ostrovsky is a solo violinist, conductor, founder and first violin of the Aviv String Quartet for 27 seasons, founder and Artistic Director of the ‘Ensemble Symphonique de Genève’ and has taught violin at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève and Neuchâtel since 2009. He was First Solo Violin of the ‘Orchestre de la Suisse Romande’ from 2007 to 2012. He was also First Solo Violin of the ‘Orquesta de la Communidad Valenciana’ from 2012 to 2015.

Sergey Ostrovsky won the Grand Prize at the 3rd Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. He is a laureate of the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, 2nd Prize winner of the ‘Schubert and Modernity’ International Competition in Graz (Schubert Prize), as well as a laureate of the ‘Prague Spring’ International Competition and the Rodolfo Lipitzer Prize.

As a soloist, Sergey Ostrovsky plays with prestigious orchestras such as the ‘Orchestre de la Suisse Romande’, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra (Poland), the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the ‘Orquesta de la Communidad Valenciana’, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the ‘Luzerner Sinfonieorchester’ and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

A passionate conductor, Sergey Ostrovsky is regularly invited to conduct in Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Estonia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Latvia and Israel.

In 2015, Sergey Ostrovsky created a string ensemble, the ‘Solistes de Neuchâtel’, and in 2023 the ‘Ensemble Symphonique de Genève’. Sergey Ostrovsky's role as artistic director of the’ Ensemble Symphonique de Genève’ is multifaceted, both as an ‘artistic manager’ and as a musician ‘involved’ in the performances. From the latter point of view, he will be able to conduct the orchestra from the podium but also conduct the violin as a soloist.

As a chamber musician, Sergey Ostrovsky has played in the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Louvre Auditorium, the ‘Théâtre du Châtelet’, London's Wigmore Hall and the Sydney Opera House. His ‘Aviv String Quartet’ has also made numerous recordings (Hoffmeister, Dohnanyi, Shostakovich, Schubert, Schulhoff, etc.), some of which have received critical acclaim.

Noémie Bialobroda has been the violist of the Aviv Quartet since 2014, leading an active international career with the ensemble. Their performance of Beethoven’s complete string quartets at the Ansermet Studio in Geneva in 2018-2019 was a great success and strengthened their presence in French-speaking Switzerland.

Noémie Bialobroda, passionate about teaching, is since 2025, viola professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. She is also Chamber Music Professor and Chamber Music Coordinator at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. Previously, she taught at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and the Conservatoire de Genève. During the summer, she teaches at the Flaine International Music Academy. Her students have won prizes in prestigious national and international competitions.

In recognition of her contributions to music, Noémie Bialobroda was awarded the Leenaards Foundation cultural grant in the music category in 2024.

As a performer, she is invited to renowned concert seasons and festivals, including Wigmore Hall (London), the IRCAM Manifeste Festival, and the Cité de la Musique (Paris), among others. She performs with artists such as Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Yovan Markovitch, Luis Claret, Boris Garlitsky, François Guye, Philippe Müller, Tedi Papavrami, Jean Sulem, Jean-Pierre Wallez, and the Rosamonde Quartet, giving concerts across Europe, Israel, and the United States.

Dedicated to contemporary music, Noémie has premiered two solo viola pieces at IRCAM: Caprice for Solo Viola and Electronics by Japanese composer Keita Matsumiya (2012) and Drifting by Pierre Stordeur (2013). She is also regularly invited to perform with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt and the Contrechamps ensemble in Geneva.

Noémie Bialobroda studied with Nobuko Imai and Miguel Da Silva at the Haute école de Musique de Genève and later at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she completed an Artist Diploma (third cycle) with Professor Jean Sulem.

Noémie Bialobroda is the co-founder and artistic director of the Geneva International String Academy.

This is one of the best CD recordings of the year – perhaps of the decade […]. Here we encounter the closest we have witnessed […] to a new Casals.”

(Early Music Review on the CD recording of J.S. Bach’s 6 Suites for Solo Cello)

“Peter Bruns does what he does best on his Tononi cello from 1730: he declaims, just like Pablo Casals, who also used to own the instrument. Peter Bruns once confirmed the closeness to Casals, saying: ‘I also try to speak with the instrument.’”

(Maja Ellmenreich in Deutschlandradio Cologne)

The cellist Peter Bruns has established an excellent reputation in the international music world as one of Germany’s leading cellists. Born in Berlin, he studied with Professor Peter Vogler at Berlin’s “Hanns Eisler” Academy of Music.

Peter Bruns has performed as soloist and chamber musician in renowned concert halls throughout all continents, including the Berliner Philharmonie, the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Wigmore Hall in London, concert halls in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, in the Semperoper Dresden, in the Leipziger Gewandhaus as well as at the most important festivals including the Kuhmo, Bergen, Berlin and Dresden Music Festivals, the Budapest Spring Festival, the Seoul Spring Festival and Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus festival.

The artist has also performed as soloist with many major orchestras and has toured with the Staatskapelle Dresden as well as with the RAI, MDR and Berlin symphony orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors such as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Eliahu Inbal, Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Prick, Marc Albrecht and Bruno Weil.

His fascination with the ancient language of music and the instrumentation of the various stylistic periods has led to close collaboration with renowned orchestras in this field, in particular with the “Akademie für Alte Musik” Berlin, with whom Peter Bruns has played for CD productions, concerts and festivals (Bergen, Brügge, Berlin, Regensburg, Köthen).

From 1993-2000, Peter Bruns was Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Festival. From 1998 to 2005, he was Professor for Cello at the Dresden School of Music and, since 2005, has held the same position at the Academy of Music in Leipzig.

Master classes led Peter Bruns to many German cities as well as to London, New York, France, Sweden and Australia.

Developing also a career as conductor, Peter Bruns is the Artistic Director of the Mendelssohn Kammerorchester Leipzig since 2014, and performs regularly in its own concert series in the Gewandhaus Leipzig as well as on tours.

Peter Bruns has recorded a series of award winning CDs including Brahms’s Cello Sonatas, Bach’s Six Suites for Cello Solo, the works of Gabriel Fauré, Ernest Bloch, Charles Koechlin and Robert Schumann, a recording of a Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach concert which won the Cannes Classical Award for “Best CD of the Year”, Antonin Dvorak’s works for cello and orchestra with the Staatskapelle Dresden and his highly acclaimed recordings of Haydn’s, Schumann’s and Volkmann’s Cello Concertos with the Mendelssohn Kammerorchester Leipzig.

Peter Bruns plays on a cello from Carlo Tononi, Venice 1730, which was once owned by Pablo Casals.

“Annegret Kuttner’s playing is characterised by considerable professionalism and perfection, by her contagious electrifying joy in performing music and by the great stylistic sureness of her interpretation.”
Sächsische Zeitung

„...Kuttner's ... light-fingered playing was impressive for its airy clarity..."
Irish Times

Pianist Annegret Kuttner impresses the audience with the naturalness of her interpretation and the lightness and clarity of her playing.

After successfully participating in the Robert Schumann Piano Competition in Zwickau, Annegret has performed already at the age of 16 as a soloist in concerts in Germany and other European countries, including with the European Union Youth Orchestra. She completed her piano studies at the Dresden Academy of Music with Professor Peter Rösel, and received further musical impetus from masterclasses with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Pavel Gililov and Amadeus Webersinke. Annegret augmented her training with postgraduate studies on piano accompaniment (as a répétiteur) with Professor Monika Raithel as well as studying harpsichord with the internationally renowned expert on ancient music, Professor Ludger Remy.

Annegret Kuttner now teaches at the Academy of Music and Theatre, Leipzig.
In addition to her teaching post, the highly sought-after pianist regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician in diverse musical and cultural centres in Germany and abroad.
Concert tours have taken her to the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Latvia, Ireland, South Africa and the USA.

Annegret performs regularly with Benjamin Schmid, Antje Weithaas, Natalia Prishepenko, Pauline Sachse, Ivan Zenaty and Robert Oberaigner. In New York, she played Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano together with cellist Peter Bruns. This concert was extremely well received by the public and press alike (New York Sun). Various internationally acclaimed CD recordings are released, including works for cello and piano by Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor, by Robert Schumann and Robert Volkmann as well as for the Beethoven anniversary in 2020 together with Peter Bruns/cello the cycle "Beethoven – Most Complete 1-3“, expanding his known repertoire of five cello sonatas and three sets of variations with another three sonatas and arrangements by Beethoven himself and by composers from his context, for instance the sonata op. 64 (!) and the "Kreutzer“- sonata arrangement for cello by Carl Czerny.

HunJu Sohnn, Korean born pianist, has been performing both solo and chamber music concerts in Switzerland, England, Germany, France, South Korea, Thailand, Costa Rica, as well as throughout the United States.

Highly appreciated for her qualities in collaborative work, HunJu has been invited to appear with various instrumentalists and performed with the wind ensemble Ensemble Five ±, as well as the European-based Varias Ensemble at the New Year’s Music Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. HunJu has collaborated in masterclasses for world-famous artists such as Pinkas Zukerman, Nobuko Imai, Kyung-Wha Chung, Tabea Zimmermann, Yuri Bashmet, as well as Yo-Yo Ma, Franz Helmerson, and Ralph Kirshbaum. She has been the pianist/coordinator of the viola masterclass at the Verbier Music Festival and Academy. HunJu has participated in a television documentary featuring Nobuko Imai, which was distributed worldwide and performed with Ms. Imai for France Musique Radio program during the Verbier Festival.

HunJu Sohnn continues to perform in Europe and the US, while holding a teaching position at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique Danse et Théâtre in Geneva. She also participated in studio recordings, most recently in a project of complete works for piano and winds by Francis Poulenc released by Kleos Classics. HunJu Sohnn received her Master's degree from New England Conservatory and holds a Doctoral degree for Piano Performance from Rice University.

Lukáš Klánský was born in Prague in 1989. As a winner of numerous competitions he has become a sought after soloist and chamber music player. He is a member of the successful Lobkowicz Trio which won the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria, in  2014.   He won the second prize at the Hans von Bülow International Competition 2018 in the conducting from piano category. He regularly performs with violinist Jan Mráček, winner of Fritz Kresiler competition 2014 and concert master of Czech Philharmonic orchestra.

Lukáš Klánský performs with leading Czech orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Libor Pešek, Andrea Sebastian Weiser, Gundi Emilsson or Istvan Denes.  He has played at the Prague Spring Festival, Feasts of Music with Václav Hudeček, Talich’s Beroun  Festival, Prague Dvořák´s Festival, Festival Lago Maggiore, the Mendelssohn Musikwoche Wengen, Chopin Marathon Darmstadt, the Nafplion festival, Il Timbro Ivrea, Basel’s Kammermusik um halb acht,  to name but a few.

He is a laureate of many national as well as international competitions:  Hradec Beethoven Competition, the International Rotary Piano Competition 2012 and the Darmstadt International Chopin Competition 2013. At the age of fifteen he made his debut in the Dvorak Hall in Prague with the Prague Chamber Orchestra playing Mozart’s F Major concerto K459. 

Between 2004 – 2010 he studied at the Prague Conservatoire with Eva Boguniová, graduating with Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2 in f minor. He finished his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts, where he studied with his father, prof. Ivan Klánský. His musical development has been influenced not only by his tutors but also by Martin Kasík and the internationally renowned  Garrick Ohlsson, whose Prague masterclasses he attended. 

His countless concert performances have served to introduce  himself to audiences in many countries.  In addition to the Czech Republic he is known in Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Turkey, USA and South Africa. His recordings are available on the  Praga Digitals, Radioservis, Gramola and Naxos labels. 

Lukáš Klánský is also conducter and gives concerts conducting Mozart and Beethoven Piano concerti from piano. He studied conducting with Professor Leos Svarovsky.  

Lukas also cooperate with legendary czech violonist Václav Hudeček. They play concerts together and works on summer Academy for young talents in Luhačovice.

“Rich, warm sound and a high degree of technical skills…” – South Florida Classical Review.

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Askar Salimdjanov began his training at the age of seven at the V. Uspensky Special Music School as a student of Gulnara Suleymanova. He earned his Bachelor of Music at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore with Qian Zhou, then a Professional Performance Certificate at Lynn University with Elmar Oliveira, and continued his studies at Rice University with Cho-Liang Lin.

In June 2022 he won an international audition and a position with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, where he holds the Paul and Roberta Bresette Chair in the violins. That same year he was one of the seven violinists selected for the Geneva International String Academy.

A multiple winner of the Lyric Chamber Music Competition, winner of the first NSAL Piano and Strings Duo Competition and of the Fourth John Oliveira String Competition, laureate of the 6th International Competition of Young Performers in Moscow, finalist of the 2nd Yankelevitch International Violin Competition and laureate of Vladimir Spivakov’s International Music Festival, he has performed as a soloist with the South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Miami, the Uzbekistan National Symphony Orchestra and the Lynn Philharmonia. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, the Esplanade in Singapore and the New World Center in Miami, among other venues.

He has performed on a 1795 Vincenzo Panormo generously loaned by Mr and Mrs Rin Kei Mei, and on two Stradivarius violins, from 1670 and 1702, loaned by the Florian Leonhard Fine Violins collection.

Born in Tiberias, Israel, Victoria Gelman began the violin at the age of five with Irina Etigon, Mila Feldman and Haim Taub. She completed her bachelor’s degree with Hagai Shaham at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, went on to a master’s degree with Mark Gothoni at the Universität der Künste Berlin, and then to Professional Studies with Ilya Kaler at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Winner of the Clairmont Competition in 2018 and first-prize winner of the “Maestro” Israel National Competition for Young Musicians from 2008 to 2013, she has received America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships many times. She has performed in Paris, at the Kremlin in Moscow, in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Latvia and Italy; in 2011 she was the youngest musician of the Israeli Internet Orchestra under Yuri Bashmet.

She has worked in masterclasses with Miriam Fried, Itzhak Perlman, Shmuel Ashkenazi, Vadim Gluzman and Ilya Kaler, and in chamber music with members of the Szymanowski Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet. She plays a violin and bow donated by WIZO.

Leonardo Vasile began the violin at the age of four. He studied at the Geneva Conservatoire and the Haute École de Musique de Genève, then went on to a master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden.

He has taken part in the Musical Chairs Festival in Montreal and the summer academy of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and performs regularly in Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. With the Junge Philharmonie Würzburg he played the solo violin part in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Céleste Klingelschmitt is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she studies with Stéphanie-Marie Degand and Julien Szulman. She obtained her Master’s degree in Violin with highest honors in 2024.

She has recently performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 with the Orchestre Colonne conducted by Christophe Coin, Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Caracas, and will perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at the Cité de la Musique in Paris in February 2026.

A passionate chamber musician, she performs with various ensembles, has studied with Claire Désert and François Salque, and has appeared on the radio programme “Générations France Musique” as part of a piano trio.

Alongside her studies of the modern violin, Céleste Klingelschmitt has devoted herself for several years to historically informed performance practice. She has worked under the direction of Ton Koopman and John Butt, and has performed as a soloist in Bach’s Double Concerto with Stéphanie-Marie Degand and La Diane Française.

In 2024, she began a Master’s degree in Baroque Violin with François Fernandez and has also studied the viola da gamba with Lucile Boulanger.

A laureate of the Fondation l’Or du Rhin, the Académie de Villecroze, the Schiermonnikoog Festival Violin Prize and the Fondation Safran, Céleste Klingelschmitt won second prize at the Leipzig Bach Competition in 2026.

The Kâla Quartet was founded in 2020 by Lilya Chifman, Seamus Mc Namarra, Salomé Kirklar and Loris Sikora. It has performed at the Musique à Flaine festival, among others, and took part in the Geneva International String Academy in 2022 with Lilya Chifman and Diane Cavard on violin, Salomé Kirklar on viola and Loris Sikora on cello.

Lilya Chifman, born in Pontoise in 2000, studied at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional in Paris with Larissa Kolos and Florin Szigeti (diploma in 2014, advanced prize in 2017, concert prize in 2018), then joined Marianne Piketty’s class at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon in 2018. A keen chamber musician, she formed a string quartet and a piano trio there with fellow students and attended masterclasses with Alfred Brendel, Pierre Colombet and Guillaume Sutre. Winner of the CNSMD concerto competition in 2020, she played Prokofiev’s First Concerto at the Auditorium de Lyon under Alexandre Bloch; she also performs with the Trio Parhélie.

Diane Cavard began the violin at the age of four at the Clermont-Ferrand conservatoire, joined Manuel Solans’s class in Gennevilliers in 2019 and then the CNSMD de Lyon, where she studied with Marianne Piketty, Harvey De Sousa and Manuel Solans until her master’s degree. With the Gallus Quartet she performed at the Auditorium de Lyon in 2024 alongside the Kronos Quartet and the Quatuor Debussy. Since December 2024 she has been a second violin in the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.

Salomé Kirklar studied for her master’s degree in viola at the CNSMD de Lyon, where her teachers included Françoise Gnéri, Wolfram Christ and Michel Michalakakos; she is also the violist of the Quatuor Alberta. Loris Sikora, born in Nice in 1996, studied at the CNSMD de Lyon with Yvan Chiffoleau and Pascal Jemain, and then with Emmanuelle Bertrand.

Of Korean origin, Seat Byeol Choi trained in Russia, first in Vladivostok and then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Edouard Grach. In 2017 she joined Sergey Ostrovsky’s class at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where she obtained her Master’s in Concert Performance in 2022, before continuing at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste with Ilya Gringolts in the Soloist Diploma programme.

In 2025 she joined the Orchestre national de Metz as co-soloist. A versatile and inquisitive musician, she develops projects in chamber music and the solo repertoire, plays with orchestras for special projects and takes an interest in historically informed performance on period instruments.

Winner of the EMCY Prize at the Kloster Schöntal Competition in 2015, second prize at the Concours d’Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne in 2019 and first prize at the Kiwanis Competition in 2023, she has worked in masterclasses with Alfred Brendel, Ilya Kaler, Vadim Gluzman and Silvia Marcovici, and has performed in Vienna, Tel Aviv, Moscow and London, among other cities. At the Geneva International String Academy she appeared in 2021 under the name Se Tsoi.

Born in 1997, Clara Mesplé began the violin at the age of six and in 2006 entered the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional in Montpellier, in the classes of Anne Temperville and then Anne-Marie Regnault. At twelve she won first prize in her category at the Vatelot-Rampal Competition.

Admitted in 2014 to the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon in Marianne Piketty’s class, she earned her master’s degree unanimously with distinction, then continued her studies in Berlin with Peter Rainer at the Universität der Künste. She has also been taught by Krzysztof Węgrzyn, Michael Frischenschlager and Renaud Capuçon.

A member of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra in 2013 and 2014, then of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland in 2018, she plays with Les Forces Majeures, Ensemble Appassionato, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Orchestre Eroica Berlin and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.

In chamber music she co-founded the Quatuor Confluence, unanimous first prize with the jury’s congratulations at the Philharmonie de Paris competition in 2016, and later the Quatuor Arlequin, third prize at the Anton Rubinstein International Chamber Music Competition in 2019. Winner of the Talents Classiques jury prize in 2019, she plays a violin by François Caussin dated 1885.

Helene Freytag was born into a family of musicians in Leipzig (Germany) in 2005. She received her first violin lessons at the age of five. In 2013, she passed the entrance exam at the Dresden Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in the class of Prof. Uta-Maria Frenzel. Currently, she is in the class of Hellen Weiß. Since 2019, she has also been at the Julius-Stern-Institute of the Berlin University of the Arts. There she is taught by Prof. Latica Honda-Rosenberg.From the winter semester 2024/25, she will continue her Bachelor's degree at the MUK in Vienna with Julian Rachlin.

Helene attended master classes with Prof. Mihaela Martin, Prof. Natalia Prishepenko, Prof. Zakhar Bron, Prof. Pawel Vernikov and Prof. Boris Brovtsyn. In addition she is a scholarship holder at the "International Music Academy Liechtenstein" and takes part in the "Intensive Weeks" with Prof. Ana Chumachenco, Prof. Ingolf Turban and Marc Bouchkov.

Helene is multiple first prize winner in the national competition "Jugend musiziert” with highest number of points. In this connection, she received spezial prizes as as soloist, as well as a chamber musician, including a prize of the "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben", the concert series "Freunde Junger Musiker" and the "WDR3-Klassik radio prize". Together with her sister at the piano she was awarded the 2nd prize at the "Carl-Bechstein-Wettbewerb" in Berlin (2021).

At international level Helene won the 3rd prize at the "International Kocian Competition" in Usti nad Orlici (2019) as well as at the "15th International Violin Competition in Honour of K. Lipinski and H. Wieniawski" in Lublin (2021).

As a soloist Helene performed with the "Staatskapelle Halle", the "Sion Festival Orchestra" and the "Elblandphilharmonie Sachsen", among others. In addition, Helene has a great passion for chamber music. Together with her siblings, she successfully plays piano trio, since 2023 in the class of Prof. Boris Kusnezov at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. Additionally, Helene was a participant in the chamber music projects, such as "Meister von heute und morgen” in Dresden, the "China Youth Music Academy" in Dresden, "Mit Musik-Miteinander” of the Kronberg Academy and the "Geneva international String Academy". There she got inspiration from Prof. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Anastasia Kobekina, Prof. Walter Küssner and Sergey Ostrovsky. Since 2019 Helene is a member of the "National Youth Orchestra of Germany".

As a laureat of the 28th competition of "Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfond", she has the honour of playing an Italian violin by L. Ventapane (1806) and being additionally supported by a scholarship as well as concerts of the foundation "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben". In September of 2022, she was also accepted into the "Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes" and the "Hans und Eugenia Jütting Stiftung".

Sarah studies viola at the Geneva Conservatory of Music (CMG) under the tutelage of Noémie Bialobroda. Her rapid integration into the intensive course of the Conservatory allowed her to benefit very early on from the advice of professors from the HEM-Geneva such as García Alarcón. Today, she continues her career in the CMG pre-professional cursus.

In order to complete her training, Sarah participates in high-level international academies such as the Lac Leman Music Masterclasses (2021 and 2022), 2022), the Geneva International String Academy (2021, 2022, 2023),, the Verbier Festival Soloists Academy (2021) and the Kronberg Academy Workshops (2021). She was thus able to perfect her skills with renowned artistic personalities such as Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Jean Sulem, Antoine Tamestit and Tabea Zimmermann.

At the age of 20, she wins the first Prize at the 79th edition of the Concours de Geneve 2025. In addition to sharing the main prize with Brian Isaacs, Sarah Strohm received most of the other awards. The Victoria Hall audience also strongly supported her, granting her the Audience Prize, the Young Audience Prize, and the Students’ Prize. These distinctions mark a new step in her remarkable journey.

Despite her young age, she has also obtained various distinctions on the national and international scene, including the EMCY prize (2022), the second prize in the Johannes Brahms competition (Pörtschach/Austria, 2021) and the first prize in the competition of the Aims Foundation to play as a soloist with symphony orchestra (Spain/Solsona, 2019). She is also multi-laureate of the Swiss Youth Music Competition (2016; 2018; 2022) and has just qualified for the final of the Valiant Forum competition which will take place as part of the Murten Classics 2023 festival.

Sarah performs regularly as a soloist: she has just performed the concerto for viola, clarinet and orchestra by Max Bruch under the direction of Alexei Ogrintchouk and Hummel's Pot-Pourri with the Trois-Chêne orchestra. Finally, her involvement in the field of chamber music has allowed her to perform alongside established musicians such as Garth Knox and Antje Weithaas.

Sarah is supported by the Ruth and Ernst Bürkhalter Foundation.

Based in Switzerland, Élise Hiron is a violist and pianist. Often invited as principal viola of the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, she plays regularly in the chamber orchestras of Basel, Lausanne and Fribourg, where she holds a tutti position.

Violist of the Wendel Piano Quartet and, since 2024, of the Moser String Quartet, she also plays in a duo, as a pianist, with cellist Miquel Garcia Ramon. She studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, at the HEMU in Lausanne and Sion and at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is now pursuing two master’s degrees: viola at the Basel University of Music and, as a pianist, chamber duo in Paris.

Her teachers include Tatjana Masurenko, Silvia Simionescu, Jean Sulem, Jeffrey Irvine, Claire Désert, Anton Kernjak, Rafael Rosenfeld and François Salque. Selected for IMS Prussia Cove, the Zermatt Festival and Academy, the Geneva International String Academy and Mendelssohn on Mull, she plays a 2019 viola by Charles Coquet.

Born in 2001, Héloïse Houzé earned her master’s degree in viola at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris in Jean Sulem’s class in 2022, with the jury’s congratulations, and has continued there in the postgraduate cycle. In 2026 she completed a residency at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Miguel da Silva and the Elite Programme of the École normale de musique de Paris in Gérard Caussé’s class.

Winner of the Grand Prix Ravel in 2022, she was awarded second prize and the audience prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Competition in Prague in 2023. She is regularly invited as principal viola by European orchestras and appears at many festivals.

In February 2026 she founded the ensemble Talismans, which champions the viola’s concertante repertoire and where she develops conducting as well as directing from the instrument. She plays a viola by Paul Noulet on loan from the Talents & Violon’celles foundation.

Brian Isaacs, 23, grew up in Queens, New York City and started playing the violin at age four. After switching to viola in 2014 and graduating from LaGuardia High School in 2018, Brian began his studies at Yale University, where he received his B.A. cum laude in Sociology with Distinction in the Major, and his M.M. in Viola Performance as a student of Ettore Causa. Starting September 2023, Brian will be based in Berlin as a member of the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker.

An aspiring viola soloist, Brian most recently won both the Yale School of Music Woolsey Hall and Yale College William Waite Concerto Competitions. As a result, he performed the Walton Viola Concerto with the Yale Symphony Orchestra in April 2022, conducted by William Boughton, and will return to New Haven in April 2024 to perform the Martinu Rhapsody-Concerto with the Yale Philharmonia, conducted by Peter Oundjian. Brian was one of eight semi-finalists at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition, a semi-finalist at the 2022 Kodaly International Music Competition, and a prizewinner in the 2019 Anton Rubinstein International Viola Competition. At Yale, he has also received the Wrexham Prize in Music, “awarded annually to that senior who, as a performer, has best exemplified the standards of Quincy Porter”, the Joseph Lentilhon Selden Memorial Award, given “to students especially notable for their contribution in the field of music” as well as the Terry E. and Irene A. Sharp Prize, awarded “to the most outstanding performer in the junior class in recognition of their fine musicianship and potential in the field of classical music”. He has performed as a soloist in masterclasses for artists including Misha Amory, Yuri Bashmet, Noemie Bialobroda, Alfred Brendel, Isabel Charisius, Nobuko Imai, Jeffrey Irvine, Lawrence Power, Thomas Riebl, Nadia Sirota & Nico Muhly, Steve Tenenbom, and Lars Anders Tomter. His pre-college teachers include Barbera Berg, Molly Carr, Caeli Smith, and Jonathan Weber.

Brian has been fortunate to perform chamber music around the world with remarkable musicians. Most recently, he traveled to South Korea in September 2022 for chamber music concerts in Seoul, Gimhae, and Heyri. Brian participated in numerous chamber music festivals in the summer of 2022, including the Viridian Strings (USA), NUME Festival and Academy (Italy), Geneva International String Academy (Switzerland), Verbier Festival Academy (Switzerland), Moritzburg Festival Academy (Germany), and Thy Chamber Music Festival (Denmark). He has performed with distinguished artists including Peter Bruns, Jose Gallardo, Annette von Hehn, Mihae Lee, Mi-kyung Lee, and Tony Nys. In previous summers, Brian attended the Taos School of Music, Maine Chamber Music Seminar, and NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists. At Taos, Brian received numerous chamber coachings from Misha Amory, Robert McDonald, Mai Motobuchi, Nicholas Tzavaras, and additional members of the Borromeo, Brentano, and Shanghai string quartets. He has performed in chamber music masterclasses for artists such as Simone Dinnerstein, Augustin Dumay, Lynn Harrell, Mathieu Herzog, Joel Krosnick, Michaela Martin, Fred Sherry, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, and Roger Tapping. Brian has been coached at Yale by Melvin Chen, Nina Lee, Don Palma, Wendy Sharp, Mark Steinberg, and members of the Omer and Rolston string quartets.

An avid orchestral musician, Brian joined the viola section of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2019 as its youngest member and gained tenure in 2021. He has served as principal violist with several renowned youth/university orchestras including NYO-USA, in which he participated in concert tours across Asia and Europe, the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, and Yale Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Brian attended the 2018 and 2019 New York String Orchestra Seminars and the 2020 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute. As a member of the Karajan Academy, he will participate in the viola section of the Berlin Philharmonic for numerous performances over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

This summer, Brian looks forward to returning to the Viridian Strings, Geneva International String Academy, and Verbier Festival Academy and participating for the first time in the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival and Gstaad Menuhin Festival String Academy. Brian plays on a 2011 Douglas Cox viola, on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation.

Born in 1998, Joon Hurh entered the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of eleven, supported by a Music and Dance Scheme scholarship. After studying the violin with Akiko Ono and the viola with Boris Kucharsky and Andriy Viytovych, he completed his bachelor’s degree with Thomas Riebl at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and went on to a master’s degree in viola with German Tcakulov at the University of Music and Theatre Munich.

He has performed in Europe at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Gower Festival, Maiastra Chamber Music and the Salzburg Mozartwoche, and has worked with Nobuko Imai, Hartmut Rohde, Roland Glassl, Rainer Schmidt and Wilfried Strehle, among others. In 2017 he was awarded third prize at the Central International Music Competition in Malta.

A scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and, since 2022, of Villa Musica Rhineland-Palatinate, he has played for Live Music Now Salzburg and has been one of the musicians of Live Music Now Berlin since 2025.

Auguste Rahon was born in 1999 in Reims. He played the cello for the first time at the age of five. At twelve he entered the Conservatoire régional de Lyon and studied there with Augustin Lefebvre. In 2012 he had his first experience as a soloist in Prague with Fauré "Elegie". Since then, he has played regularly in solo recitals, chamber music recitals, solo performances with orchestra and also as a orchestral musician.

In 2016, Auguste started studying in the HEM de Genève, first with Denis Severin (bachelor grade), then with David Pia (master grade). He was a finalist in Murten Classics cello competition in 2018 and laureate of the Marescotti Fondation in 2021. Auguste is currently in residence in the Académie de l'Opéra de Paris.

Born in Pirna, Germany, in 2005, Friederike Herold has studied since 2023 at the Aline Foriel-Destezet Cello Chair of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid with Ivan Monighetti, on a scholarship from the Fundación Albéniz. In 2025 Queen Sofía presented her with the diploma for the most outstanding student of her chair.

She began the cello at the age of four and trained in Dresden, in Gunda Altmann’s children’s class at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber and, from 2016, at the Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik, as well as with Emil Rovner and Ivan Monighetti. She has attended masterclasses with Sol Gabetta, Jens Peter Maintz, Natalie Clein, Jan Vogler, Tanja Tetzlaff and Kian Soltani.

Winner of first prizes at international competitions in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, and several times a prizewinner at Jugend musiziert, she has appeared as a soloist with the Young Symphony Orchestra Dresden and the Zagreber Solisten, and at the Hope@Home, Solsberg and Schleswig-Holstein festivals and the Dresden Music Festival. In 2025 she performed with the Reina Sofía School Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York under Andrés Orozco-Estrada. A scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and, since 2018, of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein, she has played a cello by Joseph Antonius Rocca (Turin, 1839) since 2020.

A Viennese cellist and pianist, Ania Druml studied the cello with Christophe Pantillon and, from 2019, with Maria Grün at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), where she began concert studies with Reinhard Latzko in 2021. At the piano she studied with Alma Sauer, then Vladimir Kharin and, since 2022, in concert studies with Stefan Vladar.

Invited to the Geneva International String Academy in 2022 to work with Peter Bruns, and twice to the Kronberg Academy, where she worked with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Frans Helmerson, she made her debut at the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam in 2024; in 2025 she was one of the fifteen cellists selected for the Budapest International Cello Competition.

Her musical partners include Piotr Beczała, Peter Bruns, Benjamin Schmid, Christian Altenburger, Igudesman & Joo and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. With her sister, violinist Sophie Druml, she made her debut in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein in 2020. With the Chursächsische Philharmonie she has performed both of Haydn’s cello concertos.

Born in Nice in 1996, Loris Sikora began the cello at the age of six with Jacques Perrone in Menton, then studied with Cyrille Lacrouts in Aulnay-sous-Bois and with Frédérique Audibert at the Monaco Academy. In 2017 he entered the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon in the classes of Yvan Chiffoleau and Pascal Jemain; he now works with Emmanuelle Bertrand.

He has attended masterclasses with Jérôme Pernoo, Marc Coppey, Xavier Phillips, Philippe Muller, Ophélie Gaillard, Christoph Henkel and François Salque. He plays with the ensemble Bestiaire and the Orchestre de chambre de Lyon, played from 2017 to 2019 with Julien Chauvin in the CNSMD chamber orchestra, and in 2020 was a member of the Orchestre français des jeunes under Fabien Gabel and of the first edition of the Orchestre de chambre de l’île de Groix.

In 2020 he co-founded the Kâla Quartet with Lilya Chifman, Seamus Mc Namarra and Salomé Kirklar; the quartet has performed at the Musique à Flaine festival and took part in the Geneva International String Academy in 2022.

Cosima Federle was born in Regensburg in 2002 and started playing the violoncello at the age of four.

At 2010 she was admitted to to the "Bayrische Frühförderklasse", Regensburg under Wolfgang Nüsslein and from 2015-2019 she had lessons with Hanno Simons in Munich. In 2019 Cosima became a junior student of Peter Bruns at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig” and continued there as a full student since 2020.

Her playing was enriched by participation in masterclasses taught by Wolfgang Boettcher, Wen- Sinn Yang, László Fenyö, Jan Vogler, Natalia Gutman, Boris Kusnezow, Kian Soltani, Jens- Peter Maintz, Mischa Maisky and Alfred Brendl. Cosima has won various national and international competitions, including first prizes at the "International Dotzauer Competition", Dresden, at the "Làszlò Spezzaferri International Music Competition", Verona, at “Jugend Musiziert“ and 2nd prizes at the "International David Popper Competition“, Hungary and at the "Concours International de Tremplin", Paris, as well as the Music Prize of the City of Regensburg, a special prize by the "Harald Genzmer Foundation" and a Special prize by the German "Bundesapothekenkammer".

In 2013 Cosima and her brother were one of the main protagonists of the movie "Jugend Musiziert- der Film“, which was broadcasted by various German TV channels. She is a scholarship holder of the "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben" and the "International Music Academy Liechtenstein" and received further scholarships by the "Geneva International String Academy", Switzerland, "Musique à Flaine", France, from the "Hildegard-Schmalzl Foundation" and the "Dresden Music Festival".

Since 2017 she was an annual scholarship holder of the project "Meisterschüler-Meister" in the Neuhardenberg Castle, Berlin with Jan Vogler.

Cosima has played at several festivals, including "Musique en Été", Geneva, "Dresden Music Festival", "Festival Momentum", Stolberg and performed at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Stadtcasino Basel and Gewandhaus Leipzig.

She produced several recordings with the “Bayrischer Rundfunk“, “Deutschlandfunk“, “Norddeutscher Rundfunk“ and “Radio Berlin Brandenburg“.

Cosima plays a cello by Nicolas Lupot, Paris 1821, that has been given to her as a loan by the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben“.

Israeli cellist Tamir Naaman Pery trained with Zvi Plesser and Frans Helmerson. A graduate of the Karmiel Conservatory, the Jerusalem Music Center and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, he is a member of the Boulez Ensemble and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

Recipient of the Bruno Frey Music Prize, first-prize winner of the Young Musicians Competition in Israel, second-prize winner of the David Grits Competition and winner of the Verão Clássico Academy Award, he has taken part as a soloist and chamber musician in Lumières d’Europe, Yellow Barn, the Geneva International String Academy, the Thy Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, the Perlman Music Program, Musethica and the Moritzburg Festival Academy.

He has shared the stage with David Grimal, Donald Weilerstein, Gary Hoffman, Peter Bruns and Claire Désert, notably at the Pierre Boulez Saal, and has worked with Daniel Barenboim, David Geringas and Kyril Zlotnikov. A scholarship holder of the Jerusalem Music Center, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, he plays a cello commissioned from luthier Yair Hod Fainas and named “Shushik” after his grandfather.

https://konstanze-pietschmann.com

Konstanze Pietschmann is a cellist from Leipzig. After studying in the young talent promotion class of Anna Niebuhr at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy " in Leipzig, she began her music studies in the class of Prof. Peter Bruns at the same university in 2018. After numerous first prizes at "Jugend musiziert " at the national level, participation in major international competitions followed, including the "Concours Reine Elisabeth " in Brussels. Among others, she was awarded 3rd prize at the International Dotzauer Competition, 1st prize at the International Cello Competition "Anna Kull " in Graz, the "International Suggia Award " in Porto and most recently 1st prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in Berlin.

She made her debut as a soloist in 2019 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with the Cello Concerto by Robert Schumann. This was followed by concerts with the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, “Konzerthausorchester” Berlin, the Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto, the award- winning ensemble LGT Young Soloists and others. Several chamber music concerts have already taken Konstanze to the concert halls of Portugal, Italy, Ethiopia, Hungary, Greece, Israel, the USA and many more. In 2021 she founded the chamber orchestra “Camerata Espansiva!” to give young soloists a stage.

She regularly participates in master classes and festivals. At the Geneva String Academy, Musique a Flaine and “Con Spirito” Festival she shared the stage with musicians such as Sergey Ostrovsky, Noemie Bialobroda, Tobias Feldmann, Pauline Sachse, Andrej Bielow and Christophe Poiget. In addition to master classes with Peter Bruns, Alfred Brendel, Marc Coppey, Wolfgang Böttcher, Norman Fischer, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet) and members of the Quatuor Ysaÿe, Konstanze received important impulses from Wen-Sinn Yang and Anne Gastinel.

Since 2019, Konstanze Pietschmann has been a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Leipzig e.V. association. She has also received scholarships from the Jütting Foundation, the Harald Genzmer Foundation and Musique à Flaine. Konstanze plays a cello by Charles Gaillard (Paris, 1867) from the German Musical Instrument Fund of the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben”.