“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.

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.

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.