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.

Born in 1980 in Neuchâtel (Switzerland), SIMON PEGUIRON first studied violin before turning to the piano and organ. He studied music at La Chaux-de-Fonds Conservatory, graduating with the best marks in organ and piano, and also completing a degree in music theory. He then studied organ with Guy Bovet at the Music Academy Basel, and at the High School of Music in Zurich in the piano class of Homero Francesch. He graduated in 2006 with highest honors and a soloist diploma for both instruments.

He appears regularly in concert as accompanist, chamber musician, soloist, composer, and more recently, as a conductor. He also is dedicated to arrangement and improvisation in various styles.

He has taught piano at the Conservatoire of Neuchâtel since 2006 and, after ten years of activity at the Temple du Locle, in 2009 replaced Guy Bovet as organist of the Collegiate Church of Neuchâtel.

In 2017, he was appointed as conductor and music director of the Orchestre de Chambre de La Chaux-de-Fonds.

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.

“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.

GISA Ambassador: Contact Cheng Io Lo

Violinist Cheng Io Lo has performed at some of the world’s most renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall, among others. In 2023, she made her solo debut at Alice Tully Hall, performing with the Columbia University Orchestra under the baton of Jeffrey Milarsky. Cheng Io has earned recognition in several esteemed competitions, including first prizes at the International Grande Music Competition, Columbia University Concerto Competition, Manhattan School of Music Chamber Music Competition, National Young Virtuosi Recital Competition, the 4th Hong Kong International Violin Competition, and the Macau Young Musicians Competition.

In 2014, Cheng Io was awarded the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize, which granted her a full scholarship to study with Nicholas Mann at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. There, she served as concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra and received the Patinka Kopec Precollege Violin Scholarship. A National YoungArts Winner, she has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with her string quartet and has participated in solo public masterclasses with artists such as Philippe Graffin, Kyung Wha Chung, Augustin Hadelich, Sergey Malov, and David Waterman. She has also collaborated with members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, and American String Quartets. Her past festival appearances include IMS Prussia Cove, Schiermonnikoog, Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Cheng Io is also an active contributor to the classical music community as the Streaming and Digital Media Coordinator at The Violin Channel. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Business Management from Columbia University, graduating cum laude with honors, and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Laurie Smukler and Daniel Phillips. She will begin her Artist Diploma studies at The Colburn School in Fall 2025 under Margaret Batjer.

Born in 2004, American violinist Simon Hagopian, currently a recipient of the C.V. Starr scholarship and a senior at The Juilliard School, began studying the violin at age 4 at the Special Music School in his native Manhattan, and went on to study with renowned violinist Aaron Rosand and teachers Li Lin and Hyo Kang. When he was 10 years old, he won the Cremona International Music Academy competition in Cremona, Italy, and two years later the Kaufman Music Center Concerto Competition in New York City. Last year he performed Shostakovich duets at Carnegie Hall with Chen Yi, and this coming December he will perform as a soloist with the Diablo Symphony Orchestra in California.

Simon performs regularly with the Juilliard Orchestra and has participated as a chamber musician and soloist at festivals in Belgium, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Bowdoin, Maine. In 2017 he performed as a soloist at the Armenian Embassy in Washington, D.C. in honor of Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan.

His awards include Grand Prize Winner of both the Raada Rise and Servaas International competitions, semi-finalist at the Johansen International Competition, and prize winner at the Adelphi Concerto Competition and Zodiac International Competition. He is also a laureate of the Washington International Competition and has participated in masterclasses with Masao Kawasaki, Catherine Cho, and Ida Kavafian.

Simon also enjoys playing the piano and composition, which he has studied respectively with Genya Paley at the Special Music School and Manual Sosa at Juilliard.

Sory Park is a violinist from Gwangju, South Korea currently studying with Ani Kavafian at Yale School of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music at New England Conservatory where she studied with Soovin Kim and her Master of Music at The Juilliard School with Ronald Copes.

Park was the top prize winner at several national and international competitions, including the 2019 Stulberg International String Competition in Michigan, the 2017 Ilona Feher International Violin Competition in Hungary and the 2012 Ewha & Kyunghyang Competition in South Korea. She has participated in several music festivals including Perlman Music Program, Norfolk Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, Heifetz Music Institute, Bowdoin Music Festival and Summit Music festival.

Ms. Park has had lots of opportunities for masterclasses given by Itzhak Perlman, Aaron Rosand, Peter Oundjian, Ayano Ninomiya, Ian Swensen, Sheryl Staples, Borromeo String Quartet and many other amazing musicians. Her solo engagements have included performances with Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra, APS Symphonia, Kalamazoo Youth Symphony Orchestra and others.

Apart from classical music, she adores exploring lots of abstract arts. Especially, Wassily Kandinsky and Gustav Klimt are her favorite painters. As their paintings enjoy beautiful color palettes, she is exploring her own color palette of music.

Theresa Hořejší was born into a family of musicians in 1999. Starting with the violin, she often took part in the "Jugend Musiziert" competition and gained experience in youth orchestras and chamber music ensembles at an early age. She discovered the viola through her family. Before starting her studies, she completed a preparatory course at the music school in her home town of Mülheim an der Ruhr.

From 2018, she studied at the Cologne University of Music and Dance in the class of Matthias Buchholz and finished her studies at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in 2024 with Tatjana Masurenko.

In the 2020/21 season, she was a trainee with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and then played regularly with them as a substitute. In the 2022/23 season, she was a trainee with the Sinfonietta de Lausanne.

As a chamber musician, she has worked with Jörg Widmann, the Minguett Quartet, Harald Schoneweg, Gregor Schwellenbach, Rio Arai, Robert Kulek, Daniel Haefliger and Peter Bruns among others.

She received important influences from Martin Outram, Tabea Zimmermann, Hartmuth Rode, Noémie Bialobroda, Gerard Caussé and Frédéric Kirch among others.

She also took part in recordings for the Arte film "TRANS - I Got Life", which was broadcast on television in September 2023. She has also been principal violist in the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra (SJSO) from 2023-2025.

In September 2023, she took part in the renowned ARD Music Competition. In 2024 she took up a 3rd solo position in the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra. From September 2025 she joins l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as a tutti player.

Henriette-Luise Knauer was born in Dresden in 2009 and began playing the cello at the age of four. From 2015-2021 she received lessons from Daniel Thiele until she switched to Prof. Peter Bruns at the age of twelve. She has been attending the Saxon State High School for Music since the 5th grade. She has also been a junior student at the Leipzig University of Music with Prof. Peter Bruns since 2022.

Henriette-Luise has taken part in masterclasses with Damien Ventula, Hans-Jacob Eschenburg, Jan Vogler and Thomas Grossenbacher. At the invitation of the Dresden Music Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, she also took part in masterclasses with David Geringas and Steven Isserlis. She is a scholarship holder of the Liechtenstein Music Academy and takes part in the intensive weeks and activities held there.

At the national competition “Jugend musiziert” 2022 she received the highest score in the category cello solo.

In 2023, Henriette was accepted into the National Youth Orchestra of Germany after a successful audition. She gained chamber music experience at the German Chamber Music Course in Trossingen and in Kronberg at “Mit Musik-Miteinander”. In summer 2024, she was a participant at the Moritzburg Festival Academy.

Henriette-Luise was supported by a scholarship from the “Stiftung Frau und Kultur” and since 2023 she has been a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

As a winner of the 30th competition of the German Musical Instrument Fund, she has since played a cello by Philipp Augustin, Staufen, 2019 and a Pfretzschner cello bow.

Chiara Kaufman is an Italian-American cellist, born in New York in 2004. After moving to Italy, she began her musical studies at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where she graduated with honors. She attended the Pavia Cello Academy under the guidance of Maestro Enrico Dindo, with whom she is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.

Chiara is also a student at the Stauffer Academy for Strings in Cremona, where she has worked with Antonio Meneses and is now part of the class of Frans Helmerson. Over the years, she has refined her skills through masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Jens Peter Maintz, Peter Bruns, Asier Polo, Enrico Bronzi, and Mischa Maisky. She also attended courses at Accademia Chigiana and Kronberg Academy.

Chiara has performed throughout Italy for prestigious festivals and concert societies such as Trame Sonore, Mito Settembre Musica, Milano Classica, Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala, Società del Quartetto and Società dei Concerti. Notable appearances include performances at Accademia Filarmonica Romana and Milan’s Sala Verdi and Sala Puccini, where she held a recital after winning the “Young Talents Award” at the Milan Conservatory Prize, and more recently, first prize in the “String” section of the same competition.

She actively dedicates herself to chamber music experiences and forms, together with her brother and sister, the Kaufman Trio, with which she has performed across Italy, Germany, and Belgium. In November 2022, they gave the Italian premiere of Evgeny Kissin’s Trio, dedicated to Ukraine.

Chiara plays an instrument by French luthier Mathias Menanteau.