The Geneva International String Academy invites the violist and composer Garth Knox who will give masterclasses and workshops on interpretation of contemporary repertoire.

Garth Knox was born in Ireland and spent his childhood in Scotland. Being the youngest of four children who all played string instruments, he was encouraged to take up the viola and quickly decided to make this his career. He studied with Frederic Riddle at the Royal College of Music in London where he won several prizes for viola and for chamber music. Thereafter he played with most of the leading groups in London in a mixture of all repertoires, from baroque to contemporary music.

In 1983 he was invited by Pierre Boulez to become a member of the Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris, which involved regular solo playing, including concertos directed by Pierre Boulez, and chamber music, touring widely and playing in international festivals.

In 1990 Garth Knox joined the Arditti String Quartet, which led him to play in all the major concert halls of the world, working closely with and giving first performances of pieces by most of today’s leading composers including Ligeti, Kurtag, Berio, Xenakis, Lachenmann, Cage, Feldman and Stockhausen (the famous“Helicopter Quartet”).

Since leaving the quartet In 1998, to concentrate on his solo career, he has given premieres by Ligeti, Schnittke, George Benjamin and many others, including pieces which were especially written for him by composers like Henze, Haas, Saariaho, James Dillon. He also collaborates regularly in theatre and dance projects, and has written and performed a one-man show for children.

He has recently become a pioneer of the viola d’amore, exploring its possibilities in new music, with and without electronics, and is in the process of creating a new repertoire for this instrument.

Garth Knox now lives in Paris, where he enjoys a full time solo career, giving recitals, concertos and chamber music concerts all over Europe, the USA and Japan. He is also an active composer, and his «Viola Spaces », the first phase of an on-going series of concert studies for strings (published in 2010 by Schott) combines ground-breaking innovation in string technique with joyous pleasure in the act of music making. The pieces have been adopted and performed by young string players all over the world.

Garth Knox is Visiting Professor of viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Photos credits

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.

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.

Louise was born in Arras, north France, and started the piano at the age of seven. At ten she also started playing classical percussions. After obtaining her DEM with the "félicitations du jury" in Paris
Conservatoire Régional in the class of Brigitte Bouthinon Dumas, Louise started studying the Geneva HEM where she obtained both a Bachelor Degree and a Master Degree in Dominique Weber's class, as well as a Pedagogy Master Degree in Ricardo Castro's class.

Louise has also been learning piano with renowned pianists such as Philippe Cassard several times during the Tibor Varga Academy and Bruno Rigutto at the Ecole Normale de Paris. Lately, she has
specialized her-self in piano accompaniement under the precious advices and teachings of Helmut Deutsch, Maciej Pikulski and Nina Uhari.

Louise has been invited since a very young age to perform solo piano recitals in french festivals such as Musique en roue libre, Les inouies, Format raisin, Les pianos folies de Lille, etc. And she also
enjoys particularly chamber music playing, as she performs often in duo with singers Caroline Arnaud and Amélie Halary, pianists Alain Raes and Emmanuelle Huart, violonists Clara Chartre and Anna Sofia Bonino, amongst others.

She as also performed several times as a soloist accompanied by an orchestra, especially in Geneva Victoria Hall after wining the HEM Concerto Competition in 2016 where she played the K450
Mozart Concerto.

Louise as recently been hired by Geneva HEM as a accompanist pianist for the Percussion and Conducting classes. She will start working at this prestigious position in september 2023.

“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.

Elizaveta Cibotaru was born on November 15th , 2003, in Chișinău, Moldova. At the age of five, she started learning the violin at the Liceul Republican de Muzică "C.Porumbescu" in Chișinău, in the violin class of Nikolai Buinovschii, who was a student of Igor Oistrakh. Later, she studied with his wife, Galina Buinovschii, and their son, Vadim Buinovschii.

She is a laureate and prize winner of various competitions in Moldova and Romania, such as the "Zlata Tkach" competition, "Paul Constantinescu" competition in Ploiești, among others. Elizaveta played in the Moldovan National Youth Orchestra and supported charity projects in her hometown.

In 2021, she started her bachelor's degree at the Haute École de Musique de Genève-Neuchâtel in the violin class of Sergey Ostrovsky, where she continues her studies.

Elizaveta has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra musician in venues such as the Organ Hall and Serghei Lunchevici National Philharmonic in Chișinău,Philharmonic Paul Constantinescu in Ploiesti,
Stadtcasino in Basel, Temple du Bas in Neuchâtel, Théâtre Les Salons and Victoria Hall in Geneva, Salle de musique in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Auditorium Stravinsky in Montreux.

She regularly plays concerts at nursing homes and hospitals, bringing solace and joy to those in need.

She has participated in numerous masterclasses with musicians such as Dora Schwarzberg (Austria-Israel), Pavel Vernikov (Switzerland), Silvia Marcovici (Romania) Mihaela Martin (Romania), Bartolomej Niziol (Poland), Yair Kless (Israel), Bogdana Pivnenko (Ukraine), Stefan Arzberger (Germany), among others.

She has also participated in many academies and festivals as a soloist and chamber musician in Switzerland, Romania, Israel.

Elizaveta played from the beginning of her studies in Switzerland on a Honoré Derazey violin provided by the Lalive Foundation .

Now, she plays on an italian violin from the Maggini Foundation.

Vasilisa Neliubina was born in Perm, Russia, into a family of musicians. At the age of 4 she started violin lessons with Tatiana Shevtsova, Honored Worker of Culture. She made her solo debut performance at the age of 7 with the Perm Opera and Ballet Symphony Orchestra. She played two years later with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia conducted by Vladimir Spivakov.

In 2016 Vasilisa entered the Music College at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of prof. Vladimir Ivanov and prof. Elena Chvertok. In 2020 she entered Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the first ranks.

Vasilisa performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra musician in the Small, Grand and Rachmaninov Halls of the of the Moscow Conservatory, Pushkin Museum’s Hall in Moscow, Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, in different cities of Russia: Saint-Petersburg, Tyumen, Nizhniy Novgorod, Izhevsk, Ryazan. She played at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Stadtcasino Basel, Temple du Bas in Neuchâtel, and participated in the International Music Festival Hellas in Greece, International Festival of Slavic Music, Summer Academy “New Names”, Third Practicum for Performing Contemporary Arts in Russia.

Vasilisa took part in masterclasses with Eduard Grach (Russia), Maxim Fedotov (Russia), Boris Kushnir (Austria), Yair Kless (Israel), Lev Gelbard (Germany).

She is a laureate and prize winner of several competitions: 2021 1st prize of the Delphic Games of Russia, 2021 1st prize of the All-Russian Violin Competition named after the Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation G.S. Turchaninova, 2021 2nd prize of the All-Russian Violin Competition “Magic bow”, 2nd prize of the International Violin Competition Josef Hassid in Estony.

Vasilisa is currently studying at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève/Neuchâtel in Switzerland with Sergey Ostrovsky.

She plays an1880 Samuel Nemessanyi violin lent by the LaLive Foundation.

Michelle Bushkova, born in Moscow on May 25 2004, continues the third generation of her family’s music traditions. At the age of four she started violin lessons with Prof. Galina Turchaninova, and in the following year, she enrolled in the piano studio of Prof. Tatiana Zelikman.

From 2011 to 2021 Michelle continued studying with both of her teachers at the two most famous Moscow music schools: the Gnessin State Musical College - piano, and the Central Music School by the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory - violin (also in her father, Evgeny Bushkov’s, studio). Several days before her 6th birthday she made her solo debut performance as both violinist and pianist with the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra in Minsk. Michelle has performed with orchestras in Moscow, Minsk, Saratov, Yaroslavl, Istanbul, and Ankara (Turkey); has appeared in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Pushkin Museum’s Museyon Hall in Moscow, Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Svetlanov’s Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, NCPA (Mumbai, India), Wiener Konzerthaus, Severance Hall (Cleveland, USA); and participated in the “Musica Mundi” Chamber Music Festival in Belgium, “Keshet Eilon” International String Masterclasses in Israel, Gstaad New Year Music Festival in Switzerland, “Stay-in-May” International World Festival in Naples, Florida, “Rheingau Festival” in Germany, “Kogan-Festival” in Yaroslavl, Russia, “Moscow Autumn” Contemporary Music Festival.

Michelle took part in masterclasses with Ilya and Olga Dubossarskaya-Kaler (USA), Pavel Vernikov and Svetlana Makarova (Switzerland) - on the violin; Stephen Kovacevich (England), Anna Malikova (Germany), and Victoria Mushkatkol (USA) - on the piano.

She is a laureate of the “Goldene Note” audition in Vienna, the Manhattan International Competition, the Berlin International competition, and the Chicago International Violin Competition. Michelle is currently studying both instruments at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Ilya Kaler and Olga Dubossarskaya-Kaler on the violin, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi on the piano. Her achievements and successes have been supported generously by Olga Kondurova.

Violinist Miray Ito seeks to evoke the intricacies of life through her music. Recipient of the 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, Miray has stood on many stages from the start of her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of twelve. Throughout the years she has been awarded first prize at the Kocian International Violin Competition, been named as the “2018 Young Artist of The Year” by the Ruth Laredo Memorial Foundation, and awarded the Joan Graham Award and Irene Kinsey Stare Award, both from the Tuesday Musicale of Detroit.

Miray has been a prize winner of the Kloster Schöntal Violin Competition, Valsesia Musica International Competition, and Colburn Music Academy Concerto Competition.

She has appeared at venues such as The Kennedy Center, Warner Theatre, and Merkin Concert Hall, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Sendai Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, and Orchestre du Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve, among others. Miray was a featured performer on NPR’s “From The Top” with Peter Dugan and has appeared as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and Japanese Medical Society of America.

A graduate of The Juilliard School where she was under the tutelage of Li Lin, she will be working with Augustin Hadelich as part of her Master of Music degree at The Yale School of Music in the fall.

Miray plays a 1734 Pietro Guarneri violin on a generous loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation.

Eliane Menzel was born in Germany in 1999. She was a pre college student of Prof. Katrin Scholz at the Academy of Arts Bremen from 2008 - 2017. In addition to winning several first prizes at the national competition Jugend musiziert between 2007 and 2016, she was awarded special prizes for outstanding musical achievements (donation of Jugend musiziert 2007 and donation of the Oldenburgische Landschaft 2011).

Eliane was a member of the German Youth String Orchestra Deutsche Streicher philharmonie from 2011 to 2018, in which she performed in well-known concert halls throughout Germany and Europe. From 2014-2018 she served as concertmaster on tours, CD productions and broadcasts such as Young Euro Classics in the Konzerthaus Berlin. This concert, broadcast via livestream, showed Eliane Menzel also as soloist in the encore, the last movement of Vivaldi's Summer.

In 2015 she was awarded the NDR Kulturpreis, which included a broadcast production of S.Saens: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso at NDR Hamburg (transmitted in July 2016). In 2016, Eliane won 1st prize at the VIII. International competition Szymon Goldberg Meißen as well as a special prize for the modern piece and a performance at the festival Schubertiade Schnackenburg. Eliane Menzel took part in summer festivals such as Castleman Quartet Program 2018, Heifetz International Music Institute 2019 in Staunton, VA, Young Artists Program in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the Keshet Eilon Summer Master Course 2021 and 2022 as well as the Allegra Festival 2021 in Ruse, Bulgaria. She has taken part in masterclasses with Thomas Brandis, Rainer Honeck, Rachel Podger, Igor Ozim, Silvia Marcovici, Rainer Sonne, Andrés Cárdenes, Hagai Shaham, Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, Grigory Kalinovsky, Ilya Kaler, Shmuel Ashkenazy, Itzhak Rashkovsky and Vadim Gluzman.

As a soloist Eliane Menzel has performed with orchestras such as the Oldenburger Schloss orchester, Kammersinfonie Oldenburg, Main Kammer orchester Frankfurt, the Ensemble Bremen-Frankfurt and the Oldenburg State Orchestra. In February 2017, Eliane performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in the sold-out concert halls of Emmen and Groningen (Netherlands) and at Die Glocke Bremen. She was accompanied by the Hanze Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Etienne Siebens.

In 2019 she performed in a recital at the German Embassy in Ottawa as well as in the German Embassy in New York in December 2019. Together with her father, oboist Prof. Fabian Menzel, she regularly gives chamber music concerts, presenting music from baroque to modern style, including world premieres of Compositions written for Eliane and Fabian Menzel. In 2017 they started their own concert series in the Castle of Neuenburg with numerous performances every year. With the start of the pandemic they started to livestream the concerts.

Eliane studied at the Manhattan School of Music from 2018 - 2022 and was part of the "Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program" with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec. She graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Music, she is now continuing her studies at the Juilliard School with Joel Smirnoff.

Originally from Padova, Italy, Leonardo Jelveh studied viola at the Cesare Pollini Conservatory of Music in Padova in the class of Fabrizio Scalabrin and graduated with honors in 2016.

At the age of 14, he took part in masterclasses and concerts at the International Orchestra Institute Attergau in Salzburg. From 2013 to 2015, he completed his training by attending the Internationale Sommerakademie in Bad Leonfelden, Austria with Thomas Riebl, and in 2015 he joined the European Union Youth Orchestra as a member of the Leverhulme Summer School in Austria. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in viola in 2021 at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, where he worked with Wolfram Christ. In September 2021 he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris in the class of Jean Sulem.

He has won numerous awards at international competitions, such as first prize at the 7th International Salieri Competition in Legnago, first prize at the 7th International Premio Crescendo Competition in Florence and first prize at the International Contea di Treviso Competition in 2016. He also placed second at the prestigious Francesco Geminiani International Competition in Verona.

From 2016 to 2019, he performed in the main European festivals and theaters with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the La Fenice Orchestra of Venice or the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 he has participated in the Academy of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2022 he’s a member of the Academy of the Opéra National de Paris.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Katie Liu is a Master of Musical Arts candidate at the Yale School of Music in the studio of Ettore Causa. She received her MM degree at the Colburn School, and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, concentrating in Operations Research and Financial Engineering with minors in Musical Performance and Computer Science.

Katie picked up the viola and made her solo debut in 2019 with the Princeton University Orchestra. Aside from her musical pursuits, Katie has also had summer working experiences in asset management and wrote her senior thesis on the intersection of classical music recognition techniques and neural networks.

She is currently a section violist at the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and was selected to compete in the Hindemith International Viola Competition and Tokyo International Viola Competition in the past year. She was recently selected to compete in the upcoming Prague Spring Competition.

American violist Matthew McDowell began his musical endeavors at the age of four on violin, then shifted his focus to the viola at the age of twenty-one. His primary teachers have included pedagogues such as Ettore Causa, Ivan Vukčević, Boris Abramov, and Gérard Caussé.

In 2021 he completed his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees in viola and violin at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music, graduating with the highest possible academic and artistic accolades. During this time, Matthew studied with renown pedagogues the likes of Paul Coletti, Carol Rodland, Jeffrey Irvine, Csaba Erdelyi, and Sergiu Schwartz.

In his experience at music festivals as soloist and in ensembles, Matthew’s travels have taken him to major festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Mexico, concertizing at places like Verbier Festival Soloist Academy, Festival Pablo Casals, Moritzburg Festival, Miami Music Festival, Festival Santa Pietra, and many others.

While studying at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland (Rolle), Matthew had the opportunity to play concerts across Europe including in prestigious halls such as Victoria Hall in Geneva.

While participating in masterclasses he has played for world renown artists such as Lawrence Powers, Antoine Tamestit, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Renaud Capucon, Nobuko Imai, and David Gaillard.

Matthew currently studies with Ettore Causa at the Yale School of Music at Yale University.

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.

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“.

Vilém Vlček received his first cello lessons at the age of six with Prof. Martin Skampa. In 2010 joined the class of Martin and Mirko Skampa at Music Gymnasium in Prague. Since 2018 he is student of Danjulo Ishizaka on the Musik-Akademie Basel. He has participated in masterclasses of Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmerson, Richard Aaron, Alisa Weilerstein and others.

He played as a soloist with many renowned orchestras such as Czech Philharmonic, Kammerorchester Basel, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic, Zielona Gora Philharmonic, Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra and cooperated with such conductors as Jiri Belohlavek, Jonathan Bloxham, Petr Altrichter, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Jirí Rozen, Nicolas Ellis and many others.

His soloistic engagements brought him performances in some of the worlds most prestigious venues such as Chamber music hall of the Berliner Philharmonie, the Great Hall of Elbphilharmonie, Tonhalle Zurich, Dvoraks Hall of Rudolfinum, Victoria Hall etc.

Since august 2016 he has been member of LGT Young Soloists and in the 2021-2022 season he was member of the Kukal Quartet.

Born in 2006, Maxime has been studying cello with Claire Oppert and piano with Roustem Saïtkoulov for ten years, both of whom have had a profound impact on his musical development. Since September 2025, he has been studying at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHdK), in the class of Thomas Grossenbacher, after spending two years at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) in the class of Emmanuelle Bertrand.

He also benefited from the advice of Steven Isserlis, Nicolas Alstaedt, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Anne Gastinel, Kian Soltani, Ivan Monighetti, Kirill Gerstein and Gábor Takács-Nagy.

He has participated in several prestigious academies, including the Verbier Festival Academy, the Geneva International String Academy, the Seiji Ozawa International Academy, as well as masterclasses in Liechtenstein, Villecroze and Kronberg.

In 2022, Maxime represented France in the Eurovision final for young musicians in Montpellier, and in 2024, he won 2nd prize at the Buchet International Cello Competition in Belgium.

Maxime has had the chance to perform in venues such as the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Minsk Philharmonic, the UNESCO Grand Auditorium and has been invited to festivals such as the Viotti Festival in Italy, the Auvers-sur-Oise Festival in France, “Kazinika Dienas” in Latvia, and many others.

In January 2025, Maxime made his debut at the Tonhalle in Zurich, performing the Dvořák concerto with the Bodensee Philharmonie Konstanz, conducted by Gabriel Venzago.

Maxime regularly plays in a duo with pianist Rustem Saitkoulov, and in a trio with pianist Alexandra Dovgan and violinist Ilva Eigus. He also performs in a duo with his organist brother Alexis Grizard.

Eager to share his art and his passion for music with different audiences, Maxime regularly plays for elderly people in nursing homes and hospitals, but also for young people in middle and high schools.

Since December 2024, Maxime Grizard has been playing a 1696 Gioffredo Cappa cello on loan from the Société Musicale Générale Mécénat, as well as a cello by Stephan von Baehr (Paris, 2009), on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.