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.

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.

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.

Born in 2005, Naama is currently pursuing her bachelor's degree in the class of Mrs. Miriam Fried and Mr. Paul Biss, at the New England Conservatory in Boston, USA. She studied at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Israel) with Mrs. Mila Feldman.

Naama played in the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra of the Jerusalem Music Centre, serving as concertmaster in many projects, and participated in all of its outstanding musicians programs; She performed chamber music with guidance from members of the Jerusalem Quartet and musicians of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and took part in many masterclasses with world-class violinists such as Grigory Kalinovsky, Mihaela Martin, Shlomo Mintz, the late Chaim Taub, and many others.

Naama has performed across Europe, in all major concert halls in Israel, and on national radio. She is an active member of “Musethica,” an organization bringing classical music to audiences with special needs, and in 2020 premiered a piece written especially for her by Israeli composer Eyal Malkinson.

She has been supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships since 2018, receiving the Outstanding Merit Scholarships. She won second prize in the “Keshet Eran” competition (2023), first prize in the Strings Department Competition at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (2024) and in 2025 she received the Claremont Prize, granted to a single violinist by the Claremont Foundation.

Naama has performed in concerts under conductors such as Lahav Shani, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Zubin Mehta.

Her activities in international music festivals, include the Geneva International Strings Academy (Switzerland), Keshet Eilon seminars, which she has attended regularly since age ten, to name a few. She has been an active participant at the Kronberg Academy "Good Vibrations" Festival and performed in masterclasses with Vadim Gluzman.

As the founder of her chamber group, Alma Rosé piano quartet, she performed at the Zeist Music Days Festival in the Netherlands, and worked with members of the Jerusalem Quartet and the Schumann Quartet (Germany). The quartet also toured London, played many concerts and worked with pianist Murray Perahia.
Naama plays a 1770 Nicolaus Gagliano violin, generously on loan from the late Yehuda Zisapel.

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.

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.

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.

Jiayi Liu was born in 2002, received her first cello lesson at the age of ten. Only three years later at the age of 13, Jiayi made her Haydn C Major Concerto debut in Qingdao Concert Hall. Until today, she has given numerous solo recitals and ensemble performances in renowned concert halls including Berlin Philharmonie, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Oriental Art Center, F Space Art Center, Salzburg Mozart Conservatory Concert Hall and New England Conservatory Jordan Hall to name a few.

As the winner of numerous international competitions, most recently she received the Young Musician Prize of Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann 2022 at the age of 19, as one of the 10 participants, and the only Chinese participants in 12 years of competition history. In October 2022, she also received the 3rd Prize “Prix Amis De La BCS” in Buchet International Cello Competition. She’s also the first prize winner of Janigro Cello Competition Junior and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra award in Croatia. 3rd prize winner of 2016 Cleveland Cello Competition, and the winner of the Cello Award in Morningside Music Bridge Project 2018. In winter 2021, she joined the tour of Grammy winning composer Tan Dun’s work “Buddha Passion”, with performances in Guangzhou, Lanzhou, Changsha, and on the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sonata for cello and piano with pianist Sean Tan and Maestro Tan Dun.

After 5 years of study in the middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Weixi Luo, she’s now studying in Basel academy of music with Prof. Danjulo Ishizaka.

She was the participant of masterclasses with Arto Noras, Steven Isserlis, Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Wenn-Sinn Yang, Maria Kliegel, Lawrence Lesser, Paul Katz and many more.

Jiayi is a laureate of scholarships from the, Minister of Education Basel-City, People’s Scholarship of Shanghai, Morningside Music Bridge Program in Warsaw, Poland and Boston, USA and Stipendenfonds der Dozierenden der HSM.

Jiayi is now playing the cello by Carlo Antonio Testore by Musik Akademie Basel.

Marlene Förstel, born in 2000 in Lower Austria, first received cello lessons at the age of 6. In 2012 she was accepted into the gifted class of the J. S. Bach Music School in Vienna as well as the Young- Masters-Program for the promotion of particularly talented young musicians where she was taught by Maria Grün and Andrea Traxler.

In October 2017, she was accepted at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and studied with Maria Grün. Since October 2019 she is continuing her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Professor Reinhard Latzko.

She completed numerous master classes with renowned teachers, including Claudio Bohórquez, Wen-Sinn Yang, Heidi Litschauer, Xenia Jankovich, Miklòs Perényi, László Fenyö,and Johannes Moser. Marlene Förstel is a repeat first prize-winner of the Prima la musica competition.

In 2016, she won first prize in the "Violoncello solo" category at the national competition and was invited to perform as a soloist in the Great Hall of the Festspielhaus St. Pölten. Further soloist appearances followed, including concerts at Schloss Laudon (Lower Austria 2016, 2017), the atmospheric Great Knight's Hall of Burg Raabs (Lower Austria 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), and the Palace of Justice Vienna with the Franz Schmidt Chamber Orchestra (Vienna 2018). She also gave solo performances abroad, for example in Italy, Croatia, Germany and Slovenia.

In April 2018 she won the string soloist category at the international competition Svirel in Slovenia and was chosen to perform at the „Ten of the Best“ Gala Concert. Furthermore, she was awarded with two special prizes, among these was an invitation to perform with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania and also present a solo recital there in the spring 2019.

In October 2019 she was part of the Emars-Master-Program and was selected to give a solo performance with the Slovene Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

In December 2021 she took part in the Musica Juventutis competition and won an invitation to perform at the Vienna Konzerthaus in April 2023. After a successful audition in Summer 2022 she performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto op 104 with the Master-Orchestra in Brescia (Italy). In the season 2021/22 she played among others together with Christian Altenburger a concert of the cycle "Master & Students" in the concert hall "Das MuTh" in Vienna as well as the opening concert of the "Festival St. Gallen", where she performed the Vivaldi Cello Double Concerto RV 531. Marlene Förstel is also a passionate chamber musician.

She plays in various formations such as duo, piano trio, string quartet and cello quartet. With her celloquartett “Die Kolophonistinnen” she won the BePhilharmonic competition in April 2016 and received the Strauss Music Contest Award of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. They were furthermore invited to perform live on stage at the Summer Night Concert 2016, in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. At the New Year's Concert 2017 of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, “Die Kolophonistinnen” were featured in the intermission film. In April 2020 they launched their very first CD “Heldinnenleben” and had their debut-concert in the Vienna Musikverein in the winter of 2021.

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.

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.