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.

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.

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.

David Baik is a violinist devoted to expressing intimate emotions through his instrument and creating a profound connection with his audience.

Featured on the CBC Canada's “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30", South Korean-born violinist David Baik is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2023 Peter-Mendell Award from the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation, Grand Prize at the 2021 NAC Bursary Competition, consecutive First Prizes at the 2016 and 2017 Canadian Music Competition, Sturdevant Prize, Gerhard Kander Graduating Award, Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Fellowship, and the Gabriella Dory Prize. Recently, Baik was named a winner of the 2023 Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank competition.

Baik obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, where he was mentored by Jonathan Crow. In 2022, he was awarded a fellowship at the Schulich School of Music, where he continued his studies under the guidance of Andrew Wan.

As an avid chamber musician, Baik has engaged in notable collaborations with esteemed artists such as Camden Shaw, Charles Richard Hamelin, Jennifer Koh, Andrew Wan, Desmond Hoebig, Jonathan Crow, and Philip Chiu. Additionally, his string quartet, the Stelios Quartet, has garnered acclaim, earning multiple awards, including the 2024 Schiermonnikoog Festival Audience Award and the Grand Prize at the 2023 McGill Chamber Music Competition. Their upcoming schedule features a notable lineup of concerts throughout the Netherlands, with performances scheduled in Eelde, Rhenen, Dalfsen, and Schiermonnikoog. Also an active soloist, Baik has performed with the Sinfonia Toronto, Toronto Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Durham Chamber Orchestra, North York Symphony Orchestra, and the Ottawa Youth Orchestra.

Baik has made appearances at the Toronto Summer Music festival, Schiermonnikoog Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Netherlands String Quartet Academy, Trondheim String Quartet Academy, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Orford Music Festival, and the Meadowmount School of Music. For the 2024/25 season, David Baik will be a resident of the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

He performs on the 1871 J.B. Vuillaume ('Messiah' Strad copy) violin, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Violist David Kang is a Korean-American artist based in Vienna whose playing is recognized for its warmth, lyricism, and expressive depth. The first violist to win both the Thornton Bach Competition and the LAKMA Competition he has established a dynamic career as chamber musician, orchestral leader, and educator.
An active presence on the international chamber music stage, Kang has appeared at festivals including the Thy Chamber Music Festival, Geneva International String Academy, Danish String Quartet Academy, and Atlantic Music Festival. In 2021, he won first prize at the Ofeish String Quartet Competition, leading to a residency at the Rencontres Franco-Américaines de Musique de Chambre Festival with the Gateway Quartet. He has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Yura Lee, Atar Arad, Tony Nys, Andrew Wan, Peter Bruns, Annette von Hehn, and François Salque, and has served as guest artist and faculty at the Kenya International Chamber Music Festival.

Alongside his chamber career, Kang maintains an active orchestral profile. He has served as Principal Viola of the Thornton and Bob Cole Symphony Orchestras and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Opera San Antonio. He has also appeared as guest principal with ensembles including the Recovered Voices Orchestra, American Contemporary Ballet, and Fernweh Orchestra.

Kang began his musical studies on the violin at age five before transitioning to the viola during his undergraduate years. He earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the USC Thornton School of Music, where he studied under Che-Yen Chen and Yura Lee. Currently, he continues his studies at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, where he works with Jennifer Stumm. He has also had the privilege of learning from artists such as Nobuko Imai, Thomas Riebl, Asbjørn Nørgaard, Teng Li, Tim Frederiksen, Shunske Sato, and Jay Campbell, among others.

Born in Spain in 2003, Juan began taking cello lessons at the age of six. Since 2021 he has been studying with Prof. Fernando Arias at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. Previously he studied with Victoria Rodríguez at the Centro Integrado de Música Padre Antonio Soler in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he graduated with honors. During this period, he also received valuable instruction from Maria de Macedo, Suzana Stefanovic and Fernando Arias.

Juan has participated in numerous masterclasses and courses with renowned cellists, including Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Peter Bruns, Daniel Müller-Schott, Kian Soltani, Valentin Radutiu, László Fenyö, Marc Coppey, Asier Polo, Paolo Bonomini, Norbert Anger, Mischa Maisky, Beatriz Blanco and Alexander Ramm, among others. He is a scholarship holder of the International Academy of Music in Lichtenstein and takes part in the Intensive Music Weeks and activities offered by the Academy.

He has been awarded 1^st prizes at several competitions, including the XIII International Cello Competition Jan Vychytil (Prague, 2019), where he also received the “Overall Winner Prize”, the XXX International Competition FLAME (Paris, 2019) and the IX Concurso de Corda Cidade de Vigo (Spain, 2020). In 2022, he reached the final round with orchestra of the 8^th International Dotzauer Competition for Young Cellists in Dresden. He has also received prizes at the Geneva Junior Music Competition (2023), VII North International Music Competition (2021), and VI Concurso Nacional de Violonchelo Jaime Dobato Benavente (Spain, 2015).

As a solist, Juan has performed Schumann’s Cello Concerto at Teatro Monumental in Madrid with the Orquesta Sinfónica del RCSMM. As a member of the Prometheus Cello Quartet, he has played at various festivals and venues across Spain. He has also performed in venues such as Fundación Juan March, Museo del Prado or Museo del Romanticismo in Madrid, or Liechtenstein Palace in Prague.

Xuanhan Xu started playing piano at the age of five and began learning the cello at eight. At the age of thirteen, Xuanhan Xu was enrolled at Hochschule für Musik Saar in Germany, where she studied as a Jungstudentin with Professor Gustav Rivinius. At the age of 16, she began her bachelor's degree at Hochschule für Musik Saar. At age of 20, she began her Master’s degree at Die Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ Leipzig, studying with Professor Peter Bruns.

In 2013, at the age of nine, she won the 5th David Popper International Cello Competition in Hungary. On October 20, 2020, the 16-year-old Xuanhan Xu won the first prize at the Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists. July 5, 2022, Förderpreise Klassische Musik 2022 by The Hans and Ruth Gießen Foundation. July 2023, 1st Prize from Chieti Classica Cello International Competition. Since February 2024, she is a Scholarship holder of der Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben Instrumentenfonds.

Gustav Rivinius, Prof. Jian Wang, Prof. Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Prof. Gary Hoffman, Prof. Jens Peter Maintz, Prof. Claudio Borhórquez, Prof. Julian Steckel, Prof. Martti Rousi and Prof. Peter Bruns.

Xuanhan Xu has played concerts with NCPA Orchestra, National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra, and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of conductors Hubert Soudant, Yi Zhang, and Jia Lü. They were performed in Beijing at the NCPA (National Center for the Performing Arts), Suntory Hall, Tokyo, and Shanghai Symphony Hall and Beijing Concert Hall. In 2018, she was selected to play twice for the live concerts of the ARD Consortium (German National Television Consortium), recitals at the prestigious Chamber Concert Festival. In 2021, she was invited by the Fundació Pau Casals for recitals in Barcelona and Girona. In 2023, she played her own Chamber music recital in Rathaussaal Oberthal, Saarland. In 2024, she held her own chamber music concerts with Australian Pianist Tony Lee, at the Beijing Concert Hall and Shanghai Symphony Chamber Music Hall. 

In June 2025, she is going to play Schumann Cello Concerto with Maestro Hubert Soudant, together with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at Shanghai Symphony Hall. Shortly after, she is going to perform her own chamber music recital at Chengdu City Concert Hall.

Mar Gimferrer, born in 2002, started playing the cello at the age of 7 and studied in IEA Oriol Martorell (Barcelona) with Joan Antoni Pich, where she graduated with the Honor Prize when she was 17. From 2019 to 2022 she studied with Beatriz Blanco in the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium. Since September 2022 she is pursuing her studies with Thomas Grossenbacher in Zürich.

Additionally, she has received masterclasses from renowned cellists such as Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Gary Hoffman, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Ralph Kirshbaum or Kian Soltani among others. She has also taken part in prestigious Academies such as the Villars Music Academy, the International Music Academy in Lichtenstein, IMS Prussia Cove and the Saline Royale Academy in France, as well as played in Festivals such as the International Mendelssohn Festival in Hamburg, Festival Pau Casals, Festival Clásico Ribeira Sacra or the Festival Podium Matadepera in Spain.

She has been awarded the 3rd Prize in the Popper International Competition in Hungary, the 1st prize in the Solistenwettbewerb in Austria, the 1st Prize of the Pjetër Gaci International Competition, the Galimusic Prize and the 1st Prize in the BBVA Music Talent Competition in Spain. She has also had the opportunity to appear several times as a soloist and perform live in ORF. She is also a scholarship holder from Rahn Kulturfonds.

Chamber and orchestral music play a very important role in her career. She has played with musicians such as Nora Chastain, Matthias Schorn or Maria Włoszczowska and received masterclasses by Guillaume Sutre, Troels Svane, the Trio Jean Paul and members from the Berliner Philharmoniker.