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.

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.

Natalia Grines is a graduate of the Nizhny Novgorod piano school. In 2004 she graduated the Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatory (Academy) with professor Bella Alterman. In 2006 she followed her post-graduate courses at the chamber music faculty (studio of Natalia Matveeva) and straightaway began to work at the homeland Academy, where she was working until her repatriation to Israel in 2022.

Being a professor of music (chamber music and piano duo departments), she brought up a lot of students – prize winners of international piano competitions, served in jury in different contests, travelled with master-courses all over Russia, as well as in Armenia, Bosnia, South Africa, Spain, USA.

Natalia has performed in Russia, Israel, USA, Taiwan, Spain, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa, Armenia, Ukraine.

At the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition (2019) she played together with a cellist Anastasia Kobekina, who was eventually awarded the title of the 3rd prize winner. Natalia also took part as an accompanist of the XIII and XV Tchaikovsky competitions and was awarded the diploma of the best accompanist.

Since 2007 she was regularly collaborating with Vladimir Spivakov foundation.

Since 2016 Natalia has been tutoring a chamber ensemble at the AIMS Academy-Festival in Catalonia (Spain). She is also taking part at the Keshet Eilon string Academy as an official accompanist.
In 2017 together with Evgeny Brakhman and the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra of soloists, she took part in a series of concerts in Taiwan, including a performance in one of the best halls in the world - Taipei National Concert Hall.

Among Natalia’s chamber partners are violinists Alena Baeva, Daniel Lozakovitch, Sergey Ostrovsky; trumpetist Sergey Nakariakov, clarinetist Valentin Urupin, cellists Anastasia Kobekina, Alexander Ramm, Boris Andrianov, Zvi Plesser and others.

Since 2016, together with Evgeny Brakhman, Natalia has been a founder and codirector of the unique festival and art project in Russia - “Musical Landscapes” www.musiclandscape.ru The project combines arts of music and painting, consists of concerts with world-famous classical artists and mastercourses. In 2022 the 5th edition of “Musical Landscapes” brought together more than 150 participants.

Violinist Haerim Oh, born in Daejeon, South Korea, began her musical journey at the age of four. Renowned for her brilliant artistry and passionate interpretations, she has received numerous distinctions, including Laureate and Excellent Performance of Virtuoso Pieces at the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition (2015), First Prize at the Ewha Music Competition (2017), Winner of the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition (2021–22), Special Prize at the Ysaye International Music Competition (2022), and Second Prize at the Chicago Violin Competition (2024). She was selected through the Kumho Art Hall audition in Seoul to present a solo recital.

As a soloist, she has appeared with ensembles such as the Bucheon Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Teleradio-Moldova, the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, and the New England Conservatory Symphony. She has also participated as a fellow in prestigious festivals and projects such as ICEP Music Sharing (2025), Ravinia Steans Institute of Music (2023–25), IMS Prussia Cove (2024), the 8th Emirates International Peace Music Festival, the SUMMIT Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival (2018), and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Haerim has been actively participating in various international violin competitions, such as Queen Elisabeth Competition, Isang Yun International Violin Competition, Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, Heifetz International Violin Competition, and Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition for Young Musicians.

Haerim earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in violin performance at the New England Conservatory, studying under Miriam Fried. She continued her study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Midori Goto, and is currently an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the class of Augustin Dumay.

Sofya Vardanyan is a violinist from Yerevan, Armenia, currently based in Vienna, where she is pursuing her Master’s studies at the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna (MUK).

She began playing the violin at the age of seven in a musical family and studied at the Tchaikovsky Specialized School for Music. She later continued her studies at the Detmold University of Music with Prof. Maria-Elisabeth Lott, and is currently studying with Prof. Boris Brovtsyn and Prof. Pavel Vernikov.

Sofya has participated in numerous international festivals and academies, including the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, the Moritzburg Festival, the Blaricum Music Festival, the Prussia Cove Masterclasses, the Yerevan International Music Festival, and the Sion Festival. She was also selected to participate in the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées Academy, touring under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe.

She has performed as a soloist with the Armenian National Orchestra and is actively engaged in chamber music projects across Europe.

Deeply devoted to chamber music, Sofya finds her greatest inspiration in collaboration and in exploring the emotional depth of the repertoire. Her playing seeks to reveal the inner world of the music, creating a sincere and communicative experience with the audience.

Born in Alabama to a Korean-American family, violinist Haeun Honney Kim has established herself as a versatile and accomplished artist, recognized for her performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader across more than twenty countries. Since 2022, she has been a member of the LGT Young Soloists, where she serves as the leader of second violins and regularly appears as a featured soloist. She has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikverein Vienna, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Melbourne Recital Centre, Victoria Hall Singapore, Tonhalle Zürich, and Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul.

Honney began violin studies at the age of four, inspired by her pianist mother, and quickly gained national recognition. She is a prizewinner of numerous competitions, including the Blount-Slawson National Young Artist Competition, Lois Pickard Competition, YoungArts, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Leopold Auer International Violin Competition, and was a semifinalist at the Cooper International Violin Competition. At age eleven, she made her solo debut with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and has since appeared with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Delta Symphony Orchestra, Southern Adventist Orchestra, and the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her artistry has also been shaped through participation in internationally renowned festivals and academies, including the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra, Fiskars Summer Festival, Korean National Symphony Orchestra Academy, Masterclass Apeldoorn, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Rencontres Musicales Camerata Lysy, Orchestre National des Jeunes du Luxembourg, Aspen Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the National Youth Orchestra of the United States.

An experienced orchestral leader, Honney currently serves as the Violin Fellow of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and has held concertmaster and leadership positions under distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Jörg Widmann, David Reiland, Manfred Honeck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Jaime Laredo.

She studied at the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Violin Performance at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, Germany.

Born in London into a family of musicians, Léa Bensaid began playing the violin at the age of four using the Suzuki method. After graduating with distinction from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, where she studied with Virginie Robilliard, she is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the same institution.

She has served as concertmaster of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra for two consecutive years, as well as of the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lausanne for the Route Lyrique in June 2025. Since 2023, she has held the position of concertmaster of the Lausanne Soloists under the artistic direction of Xavier Phillips, with whom she recorded a CD dedicated to Piazzolla, to be released in September 2026, alongside concerts in Switzerland and Paris.

She performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician at prestigious festivals, including the Festival Puplinge Classique, Festival Stravinsky, Nice Classic Festival, Lavaux Classic, Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

As a chamber musician, she was selected to participate in the Académie internationale Lumières d’Europe in Bucharest in 2025, where she performed as part of the Enescu Festival. She has also been invited to perform this summer at the Geneva International String Academy and the Fiskars Summer Festival.

Her training has been further enriched through masterclasses with Tabea Zimmermann, Marc Danel, Vincent Coq, Gilles Apap, Olivier Charlier, and Raphaël Merlin.

In September 2025, she was awarded a distinction by the Rotary Club of Lausanne, which has entrusted her with a 19th-century Charles Jacquot violin.

Vincenzo Keawe Calcagno is currently pursuing a master’s degree with Ettore Causa at the Yale School of Music, where he was a finalist in this year’s concerto competition. He received his bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. 

An expressive and versatile musician, Vincenzo has performed in numerous recitals and concerts as a soloist. Recently, he has featured works by new composers and played recitals collaborating with clarinet and guitar. He has served as principal violist with the Yale Philharmonia, Juilliard Orchestra, and the Music Academy of the West Chamber Orchestra. With his string quartet, he performed in the Master Class Series at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with the Calidore Quartet and at Carnegie Hall in A Celebration of Meredith Monk. 

Last year, Vincenzo studied at the Verbier Festival Academy, where he participated in masterclasses with Antoine Tamestit, Lawrence Power, Máté Szücs, Isabel Charisius, Ilya Gringolts, and Gábor Takács-Nagy. Earlier the same summer, he attended the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, where he had the great privilege of performing with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman. In previous summers, Vincenzo has studied at the Taos School of Music, the Perlman Music Program (the “Littles Program”), and the Music Academy of the West, where he was invited to work intensively with the Takács Quartet. Vincenzo is also honored to have been invited to the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program and the Ravinia Steans Institute. 

He is tremendously grateful to have also had the opportunity to study with luminaries such as Cynthia Phelps and Richard O’Neill, received chamber music coaching from Nina Lee, Merry Peckham, Darrett Adkins, Molly Carr, Joseph Lin, Robert McDonald, Martin Beaver, and Rainer Honeck, and has played in masterclasses for Hartmut Rohde, Richard O’Neill, Kim Kashkashian, Toby Appel, the Cavani Quartet, the St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Takács Quartet. 

Vincenzo comes from a long line of Kanaka (Native Hawaiian) musicians and entertainers and grew up surrounded by his family’s music, along with the diverse sounds of the San Francisco Bay Area. He commenced his classical music training with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, where he had the opportunity to sing in the San Francisco Opera’s production of Mefistofele. Not long after, he began his studies in violin and soon after discovered the compelling and rich sonority of the viola. At 15, Vincenzo was accepted into the studio of Helen Callus, Professor of Viola at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, whose mentorship inspired him to fully dedicate himself to the viola and played a pivotal role in shaping his musical path.

Originally from Grenoble, Louise began her musical studies on the violin at her local conservatory, before continuing at the Conservatoire de Lyon and later at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where she completed her Bachelor’s degree in 2024 in the class of Alexander Rozhdestvensky.

Alongside her violin studies, she took up the viola at the Conservatoire de Genève with Noémie Bialobroda. Her passion for the instrument soon led her to devote herself fully to it.

In addition to her instrumental practice, Louise is deeply interested in teaching and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in pedagogy at the Haute École de Musique de Genève in the class of Máté Szücs.

Since taking up the viola, she has had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Andriy Viytovych, Gilad Karni, Françoise Gnéri and German Tcakulov, notably through masterclasses at the Keshet Eilon Academy and the Musique à Flaine festival.

Lénaëlle Planat hails from Grenoble, where she began her violist's studies.  At the age of 17, she entered the CNSMDL (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France) in the class of John Stulz and Fabrice Lamarre for her Bachelor's degree, and has since taken part in various masterclasses, notably with Kim Kashkashian, Antoine Tamestit, Jean Sulem, Pauline Sachse and Thomas Riebl. She has also studied in Vienna with Jennifer Stumm during one year of international exchange.

Currently in the last year of her Master's degree, she won first prize and Clara Levillain Prize at the French national competition for young violists in 2023, as well as the prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary work. She joined the 'Orchestre Français des Jeunes' (OFJ) as co-soloist violist.

Passionated about chamber music, she co-founded the Misia Quartet in 2023, with whom she will study in Paris for the next years. They benefit from the teaching of musicians from the eminent Casals, Danel, Rosamund, Béla and Diotima quartets, and they perform together at the Lyon Auditorium, among other venues.

She is also involved in various interdisciplinary projects, and over the past three years has taken part in the creation of several contemporary pieces and choreographed performances.

Born in 2004, Matteo Fabi began studying the cello with his father at the age of nine, then continued his training at the Conservatory “G.F. Ghedini” in Cuneo, graduating with top marks, honors, and a special mention under the guidance of Andrea Cavuoto. 

In recent years, he has perfected his skills with Antonio Meneses at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona and the Chigiana Academy in Siena, and with Jing Zhao at the Solo Music course in Bologna. In 2025, after only two years instead of the expected three, he obtained his Artist Diploma with top marks and honors at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the guidance of Giovanni Sollima, with whom he had already studied from 2017 to 2020 at the Accademia “R. Romanini” in Brescia. He currently attends the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf under the guidance of Pieter Wispelwey. 

He has performed solo recitals and concerts in various chamber ensembles, from duos to sextets, for important festivals and associations such as Amici di Paganini, Festival Back to Bach, Classiche Armonie, Toret Artist TreSeiZero, Chigiana Summer Festival, Amici della Musica di Mestre, as well as having appeared several times as a soloist with orchestra (concertos by C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Dvorak, and Gulda). He regularly collaborates with Salvatore Accardo, with whom he has already performed at the Museo del Violino in Cremona, the Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena, and the Teatro Toniolo in Mestre. Since 2025, he has been a member of the Trio Ares, with whom he attends the masterclass held by Ivan Rabaglia at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He collaborates as principal cellist with the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra. 

He has won prizes in various national and international competitions, including the Milan International Cello Competition (1st prize), the Verão Clássico Academy Award (1st prize), the Crescendo Prize in Florence (1st prize and prize for best cellist), Rome Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition (1st prize), and the European Music Competition City of Moncalieri (1st prize overall). He has received the prestigious De Sono Association scholarship for two consecutive years. 

He has attended masterclasses at prestigious institutions including the Saline Royale Academy, Blackmore Academy, Accademia Stauffer, Verão Clássico Academy, and Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo with internationally renowned teachers such as Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, David Geringas, Gary Hoffman, Marc Coppey, Enrico Dindo, Sol Gabetta, Enrico Bronzi, Giovanni Gnocchi, Mario Brunello, Robert Cohen, Myklos Perenyi, Ludwig Quandt, Massimo Polidori, Bruno Canino, Enrico Pace, and Claus-Christian Schuster.

Born on La Palma in 2009, Anouk began playing the cello at the age of six.

Since autumn 2025, she has been pursuing her bachelor’s degree with Prof. Danjulo Ishizaka at the Musikakademie Basel.

She has received important artistic guidance from Antonio Meneses, Conradin Brotbeck, Wen-Sinn

Yang, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Jens-Peter Maintz, Troels Svane, Thomas Grossenbacher, Robert Levin, Claudio Martínez Mehner and Dénes Várjon.

As scholarship holder of the International Music Academy Liechtenstein, she regularly participates in its masterclasses and concert series.

She first came to public attention when, at just 7 years old, she won the International Rising Star Competition, which included a performance at the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. She subsequently won numerous first prizes with distinction at the Swiss Youth Music Competition and at the German Jugend Musiziert, in the categories cello, baroque cello, duo and piano trio.

Due to her achievements she has been a scholarship holder of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation for young artists from 2022 to 2025. In duo with her sister, she also received the WDR Classical Music Prize, with the performance broadcast by WDR.

In 2022, she won both First Prize and the Jury Special Prize at the International Dotzauer Competition, as well as First Prize at the International Luigi Cerritelli Competition, where she additionally received the Young Artist Award. Further distinctions include prizes at the International Anton Rubinstein Competition and the International Young Ludwig Competition, and she was awarded the Lions Music Prize 2024.

Anouk Toth has already established a vibrant concert career, performing throughout Europe. She made her orchestral debut at the age of 10 with the Budweis Symphony Orchestra and has since appeared as a soloist with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie under Marcus Mast at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Lyra Chamber Orchestra Vienna, and the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Schwetzingen Mozart Festival. She is regularly invited to renowned festivals including the Gstaad Baroque Festival, Festival Automne Musical d’Olon (AMO) and the Chios Music Festival. In 2025, she was featured as Duo with her sister in the Jeunes Découvertes series in La Prairie, Biel.

As a passionate chamber musician, she has performed at the YARO Excellence Chamber Music Forum alongside artists such as Valeriy Sokolov, Friedrich Thiele and Julia Hamos. Anouk Toth performs successfully with her siblings Anatol and Manoush in the Toth Piano Trio Toth, which has received multiple awards as best ensemble at the Swiss and the German Youth Music Competition . In 2019, the trio was invited to the Trame Sonore Mantua Chamber Music Festival. This was followed by performances of Beethoven’s triple Concerto with the Erzgebirgische Philharmonie under Jens Bachmann, as well as at the opening concert of the Murten Classics Festival 2025 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Králové under the baton of Christoph-Matthias Müller.

Since November 2025, she has been a member of the LGT Young Soloists, with whom she tours internationally.

She performs on a fine cello by Sébastian Philippe Bernadel (1838), generously on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Alongside her musical career, she is deeply devoted to classical painting.