Our Collaborators
Anastasia Kobekina
Described by Le Figaro as an “unrivaled musician”, Anastasia Kobekina is known for her breathtaking musicality and technique, her extraordinary versatility and her infectious personality.
As soloist, Anastasia performed with worldwide renowned orchestras like Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow, Wiener Kammerorchester, Symphoniker Hamburg, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, National Orchestra d’Ile de France and under the guidance of Krzysztov Penderecki, Heinrich Schiff, Omer Meir Wellber, Vladimir Spivakov, Charles Detoit, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Xian Zhang and Dmitrij Kitajenko.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season include concerts with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich conducted by Paavo Järvi, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrusa, the
Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the Orchester National de Belgique, as well as appearance at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Rheingau Music Festival and Dvořák Prague International Music Festival. Anastasia is prizewinner at international competitions such as Tchaikovsky Competition (St. Petersburg 2019) and Enescu Competition (Bucharest 2016).
She has been a BBC New Generation Artist from 2018-2021 and became Borletti-Buitoni Trust Artists by receiving an award in 2022. Anastasia performs at the major venues and festivals, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Les Flâneries Musicalesde Reims, Easter Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Wigmore Hall and Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and Rheingau Music Festival.
Anastasia is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, her debut album will be released in early 2024. Born in Russia, she received her first cello lessons at the age of 4. Anastasia studied with Frans Helmerson and Prof. Jens-Peter Maintz in Germany and then in Paris with Jerome Pernoo. Currently, she is studying baroque Violoncello with Kristin von der Goltz in Frankfurt.
Kobekina performs on Violoncello Antonio Stradivarius from 1698 generously loaned by Stradivari Stiftung Habisreutinger.
Ning Feng
Ning Feng is recognised internationally as an artist of great lyricism, innate musicality and stunning virtuosity. He performs across the globe with major orchestras and conductors, and in recital and chamber concerts in some of the most important international series and festivals. The Washington Post has described him as “a wonderful player with a creamy, easy tone and an emotional honesty” and Gramophone magazine said of his recent Brahms Sonatas recording that his “tone is simply ravishing, even when it soars into the stratosphere…”
Ning Feng has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras in the US and will make his debut with the Seattle Symphony in 23/24. In Europe he performs regularly with the very top orchestras, including Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Vienna Radio, Helsinki Philharmonic and Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra with whom he is reunited this season, when he also returns to the Tenerife Symphony and makes his debut with the Trondheim Symphony. He performs regularly with the UK orchestras including London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and elsewhere returned recently to the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony and KBS Symphony in Seoul. He has also performed many times with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, with whom he has toured Asia, Europe and Australia with van Zweden.
In China, Ning is held in the highest regard, appearing with all the major Chinese orchestras, in recital and regularly with visiting international orchestras such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, with whom he has performed several times in Budapest, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In 20/21 he was Artist-in-Residence with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and in 23/24 he will be Artist-in-Residence at the NCPA Beijing when he will perform Mozart’s 5 Violin Concerti as well as the complete solo Sonatas and Partitas of Bach. This season he also performs the 3 Brahms Sonatas with Zee Zee across China.
Ning performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall, appearing three times in 23/24: in a solo recital, a duo with Zee Zee and a new collaboration with Nelson Goerner. He has performed many times at Kissinger Sommer Festival, where he returned in 2023, and at other festivals including Schubertiade, Schleswig-Holstein, Heidelberg, Ludwigsburg and has collaborated with artists such as Edgar Moreau, Daniel Müller-Schott, Nicholas Angelich and Igor Levit.
Ning Feng records for Channel Classics. His recording of Bach’s complete solo works for violin was hailed by Gramophone as “unlike anyone else’s… it’s the illusion of a freewheeling conversation projected from within”. His discography also includes concerti by Elgar and Tchaikovsky, works for violin and orchestra by Bruch, Sarasate, Lalo, Ravel and others, the 24 Paganini Caprices and the complete Brahms Sonatas with Zee Zee.
Born in Chengdu, China, Ning Feng studied at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music with Weimin Hu, the Hanns Eisler School of Music (Berlin) with Antje Weithaas and the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Hu Kun. He was First Prize winner of both the 2005 Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand) and 2006 International Paganini Competition.
Ning Feng plays the 1710 Stradivari violin known as the ‘Vieuxtemps Hauser’, by kind arrangement with Premiere Performances of Hong Kong, and plays on strings by Thomastik-Infeld, Vienna. He lives in Berlin and is a Violin Professor at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule, and also holds the position of International Chair of Violin at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and Artistic Director at the Chamber Music Academy of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.
Jan Lisiecki
Jan Lisiecki’s interpretations and technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 28, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, and Claudio Abbado (†).
In 2021/2022, Lisiecki presents a new recital programme featuring Chopins Nocturnes and Études in more than 30 cities all around the globe. Recent return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for performances at Carnegie Hall and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Lisiecki recently performed a Beethoven Lieder cycle with baritone Matthias Goerne, among others at the Salzburg Festival, and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra.
At the age of fifteen, Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The label launched its celebrations of the Beethoven Year 2020 with the release of a live recording of all five Beethoven concertos from Konzerthaus Berlin, with Lisiecki leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano. His Beethoven Lieder cycle with Matthias Goerne, released shortly after, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Lisiecki’s eighth recording for the prestigious label, a double album of Frédéric Chopin’s Complete Nocturnes which he also showcases in his current recital programme, appeared in August 2021 and in February 2022 on vinyl, immediately topping the classical charts in North America and Europe. Most recently, his previous solo programme Night Music, featuring works by Mozart, Ravel, Schumann and Paderewski, was released as a digital album. His recordings have been awarded with the JUNO and ECHO Klassik. At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.
Daniel Müller-Schott
Daniel Müller-Schott is one of the most sought-after cellists in the world and can be heard on all the great international concert stages. For many years he has been enchanting
audiences as an ambassador for classical music in the 21st century and as a bridge builder between music, literature, and the visual arts. Daniel Müller-Schott is particularly interested in lecture concerts and performances in unusual places The New York Times refers to his “intensive expressiveness” and describes him as a “fearless player with technique to burn”.
Highlights of Daniel Müller-Schott’s 2024/25 season are the Germany tour with Jan Lisiecki and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto; Julia Fischer and Daniel Müller-Schott together with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and Cornelius Meister with the Brahms Double Concerto, two exceptional soloists who have a close musical and friendly relationship for decades. Further concerts in Europe are planned with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. His start to the season begins with a special
momentum when Daniel Müller-Schott performs in a concert with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall in New York. The concert is dedicated to German-American friendship and was initiated by the Siemens Arts Program as part of the UN General Assembly. With the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra, the cellist goes on tour through Spain
with Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante. He plays Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Miguel Harth-Bedoya as well as the Cello Concerto No. 2
with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Thomas Søndergård. Daniel Müller-Schott will perform Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under Markus
Poschner, Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra under Katharina Wincor, and Saint-Saen’s Cello Concerto No. 1 will be performed with the
Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano under Emmanuel Tjeknavorian.
Daniel Müller-Schott is Artist in Residence at the Zurich Chamber Orchestra Festival 2025. At the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, he celebrates his 30th anniversary.
A chamber music highlight are the concerts together with David Fray.
Daniel Müller-Schott plays the “Ex Shapiro” Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1727.
Bruce Liu
First prize winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition 2021 in Warsaw, Bruce Liu’s “playing of breathtaking beauty” (BBC Music Magazine) has secured his reputation as one of the most exciting talents of his generation and contributed to a “rock-star status in the classical music world” (The Globe and Mail).
Highlights of Bruce Liu’s 2023/24 season include international tours with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Paavo Järvi, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and the Warsaw Philharmonic and Andrey Boreyko, as well as the Münchener Kammerorchester in a play-direct programme. Furthermore, he makes anticipated debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and Singapore Symphony Orchestras. He works regularly with many of today’s most distinguished conductors such as Gustavo Gimeno, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Rafael Payare, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Lahav Shani and Dalia Stasevska.
Bruce Liu has performed globally with major orchestras including the Wiener Symphoniker, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and NHK Symphony Orchestra.
As an active recitalist, he appears at major concert halls such as the Carnegie Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, BOZAR Brussels and Tokyo Opera City, and makes his solo recital debuts in the 2023/24 season at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall London, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie and Chicago Symphony Center.
Having been a regular guest at the Rheingau Musik Festival since 2022, Liu will return in summer 2024 to feature in a series of wide-ranging events. In recent years, he has appeared at La Roque-d’Anthéron, Verbier, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Edinburgh International, Gstaad Menuhin and Tanglewood Music Festivals.
An exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon, Liu’s highly anticipated debut studio album “Waves” spanning two centuries of French keyboard music (Rameau, Ravel, Alkan) is being released in November 2023. His first album featuring the winning performances from the Chopin International Piano Competition received international acclaim including the Critics’ choice, Editor’s choice, and “Best Classical Albums of 2021” from the Gramophone Magazine.
Bruce Liu studied with Richard Raymond and Dang Thai Son. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and brought up in Montréal, Liu’s phenomenal artistry has been shaped by his multi-cultural heritage: European refinement, North American dynamism and the long tradition of Chinese culture.
Alexandra Dariescu
Alexandra Dariescu, creator of “The Nutcracker and I”, is a pianist for the 21st century, standing out as an original voice on gender equality in both her concerto and recital programmes, championing and premiering lesser-known works. In demand as a soloist worldwide, she has performed with eminent orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Oslo Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, whilst the list of conductors she has worked with includes Adam Fischer, Cristian Măcelaru, Alain Altinoglu, Fabien Gabel, Jun Märkl, Vasily Petrenko, Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan and JoAnn Falletta.
In 2023/24 Dariescu opens the season for the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sakari Oramo at the Barbican Centre. A regular guest of the George Enescu International Festival, she returns alongside pianist Jean Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata for Mozart’s double concerto. In North America she debuts with the Indianapolis Symphony and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, followed by her return to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of James Lee III’s new piano concerto ‘Shades of Unbroken Dreams’, in honour of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech. The concerto, written for Dariescu, is a co-commission along with the BBC Philharmonic and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, giving the piece’s UK premiere under the baton of John Storgårds. Further highlights include her return to the Houston Symphony with Fabien Gabel and debuts with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, the Trondheim and Wuppertal Symphony orchestras. This season marks the 7th running year of her successful piano recital production “The Nutcracker and I”, with presentations taking place in cities across the UK, Germany, Belgium and China.
In recent seasons Dariescu has given important premieres of unjustly neglected pieces, such as Nadia Boulanger’s Fantaisie Variée; in the US with Houston Symphony, in Norway with Oslo Philharmonic and in Finland with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022 she made the world premiere recording of a newly discovered piano concerto (1900) by Leokadiya Kashperova with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for BBC Radio 3’s acclaimed programme ‘Composer of the Week’. Further discoveries include international performances of the recently unearthed piano concerto by George Enescu and Dora Pejačević’s Phantasie concertante.
In 2017, Dariescu took the world by storm with her successful piano recital production “The Nutcracker and I”, an original ground-breaking multimedia performance for piano solo with dance and digital animation, which has since enjoyed international acclaim and has drawn thousands of young audiences into concert halls across Europe, Australia, China, the Emirates and the US, realising Dariescu’s vision of building bridges and making classical music more accessible to the wider public. Dariescu has released eight albums to critical acclaim, the latest disc being her Decca recording with Angela Gheorghiu. The discography includes a Trilogy of Preludes series on Champs Hill Records, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Darrell Ang (Signum Records), in addition to “The Nutcracker and I” audio book.
Dariescu has been mentored by Sir András Schiff and Dame Imogen Cooper. A Laureate at the Verbier Festival Academy, she received the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category. In 2017, Dariescu was appointed patron of Music in Lyddington and Cultural Ambassador of Romania. In spring 2018, Dariescu received the ‘Officer of the Romanian Crown’ from the Royal Family and was selected as a Young European Leader by Friends of Europe. In 2020, Dariescu received the Order ‘Cultural Merit’ in the rank of Knight by the Romanian President and became an Associated Member of the RNCM.
Anthony Roth Constanzo
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. In June 2024, he began his tenure as the General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia.
He has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Opera National de Paris, English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Dallas Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Spoleto Festival USA, Glimmerglass Festival (where he served as the 2023 Artist in Residence), and Finnish National Opera.
In concert he has sung with the New York Philharmonic (where he was named The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the 2021-22 season), The Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Boston Baroque, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the London Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has also been presented in recital in Vancouver, Princeton University Concerts, Duke Performances, and at the Morgan Library in New York. He has performed at a wide-ranging variety of venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Versailles, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall in Boston, Wigmore Hall in London, National Sawdust, Minamiza Kyoto, Joe’s Pub, The Guggenheim, The Park Avenue Armory, and Madison Square Garden.
Mr. Costanzo’s most recent album, Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond: Only an Octave Apart was released in January 2022. His first solo album, ARC was released in September 2018 and nominated for the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He also stars on the Metropolitan Opera’s recording and DVD of Akhnaten which won the 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording.
A champion of new work, Mr. Costanzo created roles in the world premieres of John Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries and Gregory Spears’ The Righteous at the Santa Fe Opera, Jimmy Lopez’s Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Jake Heggie’s Great Scott at the Dallas Opera. He has also premiered works written for him by Joel Thompson, Matthew Aucoin, Paola Prestini, Gregory Spears, Viet Cuong, Carlos Simon, Suzanne Farrin, Bernard Rands, Scott Wheeler, Mohammed Fairouz, Steve Mackey, and Nico Muhly.
Mr. Costanzo has begun working as a producer and curator in addition to his singing, creating shows for The BBC Proms, The New York Philharmonic, Opera Philadelphia, National Sawdust, the Philharmonia Baroque, The Barnes Foundation, St. John The Divine, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, Master Voices and Kabuki-Za Tokyo. During the 2020-21 season, he created and produced the New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon initiative, the orchestra’s innovative response to the pandemic. It began with 81 impromptu concerts in all five boroughs of New York City, where Mr. Costanzo, musicians from the orchestra, and other special guests performed a wide range of repertoire, including world-premiere commissions. It evolved into a series of festivals created with partner organizations throughout the city, which utilize the resources of the Philharmonic to center and amplify the voices of the community.
Mr. Costanzo was the recipient of the 2020 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera, a winner of the 2020 Opera News Award, and the 2019 Musical America Vocalist of the Year. His many other awards include first place in the 2012 Operalia competition, a Grand Finals Winner of the 2009 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a George London Award, a career grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the first countertenor to win First Place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullom competition, where he also won the audience choice prize. He has also received a Sullivan Foundation Award, and won First Place in the Opera Index Competition, the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, and the Jensen Foundation Competition.
Mr. Costanzo graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University where he was awarded the Lewis Sudler Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts and where he has returned to teach. He received his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he now serves on the board of Trustees as well as on the board of the National Black Theater. In 2024, he has been a fellow at Oxford and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
Mr. Costanzo began performing professionally on Broadway and in Broadway National Tours including A Christmas Carol, The Sound of Music, and Falsettos. He began his operatic endeavors playing Miles in The Turn of the Screw and shortly thereafter sang alongside Luciano Pavarotti. In film, he played Francis in the Merchant Ivory film, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, Simon in Brice Cauvin’s De particulier a particulier, and made a cameo appearance in Rebecca Miller’s She Came to Me. He is also the first countertenor to host Met Opera Live in HD Broadcasts.
This season, Mr. Costanzo returns to the Boston Lyric Opera to produce and star in The Seasons, a new work incorporating the music of Vivaldi, co-created and written by the renowned playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl. He also stars in and creates a one-man rendition of The Nozze di Figaro in the inaugural season of Little Island’s new performing arts series in New York, returns to the Detroit Opera as the title role in Rinaldo, and makes his Bay Area recital debut with San Francisco Performances.
Augustin Hadelich
Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. Known for his phenomenal technique, insightful and persuasive interpretations, and ravishing tone, he appears extensively around the world’s foremost concert stages. He has performed with all the major American orchestras as well as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Concertgebouworkest, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and many other eminent ensembles.
In the 2023 summer festival season, Augustin Hadelich is giving concerts at the BBC Proms, in Aspen, La Jolla, Verbier, Tsinandali, Bucharest and in Salzburg. At the Salzburger Festspiele he makes his much-anticipated debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker. Another highlight includes his residency at the Konzerthaus Berlin, where he explores various concert formats. For the 2023/24 season opening, Hadelich performs the German premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s Violin Concerto, composed for him, together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin as part of the Musikfest Berlin. He is soloist at the season opening concerts of the Orchestre National de France and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Important debuts take him to Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the NDR Radiophilharmonie. Further invitations include the Barcelona Symphony, Danish National Symphony and Finnish Radio Symphony orchestras, the Netherlands Philharmonic and Brussels Philharmonic orchestras, Philharmonia Zürich and Tonkünstler-Orchester. In North America he plays with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as well as the symphony orchestras in San Francisco, St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Indianapolis, New Jersey, and Vancouver. In Asia, he is a guest with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Taiwan Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. Besides his orchestra’s engagements, he gives solo recitals in Italy, Germany, and the USA.
Hadelich’s catalogue of recordings covers a wide range of the violin literature. In 2016, he received a GRAMMY Award “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” for his recording of Dutilleux’s violin concerto “L’Arbre des songes”. A recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices was released by Warner Classics in 2018. This was followed in 2019 by the Brahms and Ligeti concertos, his second album as an exclusive artist for the label. He received an Opus Klassik Award in 2021 for his recording “Bohemian Tales” with Dvořák’s violin concerto, recorded with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. His recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas was also enthusiastically received by the press and nominated for a GRAMMY. In his latest recording, “Recuerdos”, he devotes himself to works by Britten, Prokofiev and Sarasate, together with the WDR Sinfonieorchester.
Augustin Hadelich, a dual American-German citizen born in Italy to German parents, studied with Joel Smirnoff at New York’s Juilliard School. He achieved a major career breakthrough in 2006 by winning the International Violin Competition in Indianapolis. His accomplishments continued with the prestigious “Avery Fisher Career Grant” in 2009, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2011, an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter (UK) in December 2017, and being named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by “Musical America” in 2018.
In June 2021 Augustin Hadelich was appointed Professor in the Practice of Violin to the faculty of the Yale School of Music. He plays a violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù from 1744, known as “Leduc, ex Szeryng”, on loan from the Tarisio Trust.
Timothy Ridout
Timothy Ridout, a BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellow, is one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. This season he appears as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Odense, San Jose symphony orchestras and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. In 2020, Ridout won Hamburger Symphoniker’s inaugural Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize and joined the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in 2021.
Other highlights this season include recitals and chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philharmonie Köln. Further afield, Ridout embarks on a South American tour with the Chamber Society of the Lincoln Centre, returns to Taipei for a series of concerts, and tours Australia with Musica Viva.
In recent seasons, Ridout has made his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lille, Camerata Salzburg, Graz Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra, and performed the Walton Concerto at the BBCProms/Sakari Oramo and with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/David Zinman. He has also worked with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Lionel Bringuier, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Sylvain Cambreling, Nicholas Collon and Sir Andras Schiff.
Sought after as a chamber musician, Ridout has taken part in numerous festivals across Europe, including Rheingau, Bergen, Rosendal, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sion and Lockenhaus, and regularly collaborates with leading international artists including Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Kian Soltani, Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicolas Altstaedt and Christian Tetzlaff, among many others.
Ridout records for the Harmonia Mundi label. His latest album – ‘A Poet’s Love’ –was recorded with pianist Frank Dupree and features selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and their own transcription of Schumann’s Dichterliebe. New releases include, amongst others, Berlioz Harold en Italie with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/John Nelson on Warner/Erato, and Bloch Suite for Viola and Orchestra and Elgar Concerto with BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.
Born in London in 1995, Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and, in 2018, took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World.
He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565 – 75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare’s International Violin Society.
St Martin's Voices
St Martin’s Voices is one of the UK’s most versatile, professional vocal ensembles. They sing for concerts and broadcasts at London’s iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields and beyond, and perform alongside the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, London Mozart Players, Southbank Sinfonia, and Will Todd Ensemble. They have toured to the USA and South Africa as well as undertaking extensive tours across the UK. The choir regularly feature in broadcasts including BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Classic FM. Their recent CD, ‘A Winter Breviary – Choral Works for Christmas’ on Resonus Classics was met with critical acclaim. In response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, St Martin’s Voices have extended their digital recording projects, as well as featuring in the Church of England’s online worship resources that have attracted more than 4 million downloads. ‘The choir, under director Andrew Earis, is almost miraculously polished’ – Gramophone
St Martin-in-the-Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is the principal orchestral partner of St Martin-in-the-Fields, its historic London home.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a landmark church, concert venue and visitor attraction on London’s Trafalgar Square. It is a friendly and forward-thinking community and the building itself is steeped in beautiful Georgian architecture. With a huge programme of services, concerts, events, exhibitions and lectures, St Martin’s welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world each year. A strong musical tradition flourishes at St Martin’s. Their concerts series includes over 350 performances and gigs every year, featuring some of the UK’s finest ensembles, chamber orchestras, choirs and musicians. An outstanding music programme is provided by the Choir and Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields, some of London’s finest voices who are regular performers on the BBC and in concert. In the Crypt you can find St Martin’s award-winning Café, Shop, Brass Rubbing Centre and a number of excellent spaces available for hire for meetings, celebrations and corporate events.
Jackie Walduck
Jackie has led the Academy’s work with people experiencing homelessness for 25 years.
She is a composer and percussionist, whose work sits at the intersection between improvisation and composition. Jackie has devised community and participation projects for leading arts organisations in the UK and overseas, and her work on Musical Portraits at Wigmore Hall was shortlisted for an Innovative Practice award by the National Autistic Society in 2017. She is a lecturer at The Royal Academy of Music. Her research there investigates improvisation and interaction in ensembles, and has attracted funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Art Fund, Thamesmeade Community Fund and Research England.
Rihab Azar
Rihab Azar is a Syrian/British oud player, composer and music facilitator, graduate of the conservatoire of Damascus and the first woman oudist to perform accompanied by the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music (2014).
Recognised by Arts Council England as a musician with Exceptional Promise (2016). MA in Music Education, UCL (2018) and a Chevening scholar (2015). Rihab was Wigmore Hall’s Trainee Music Leader for 2022-23.
Strongly influenced by Middle-Eastern music, as well as frequently collaborating with musicians, ensembles and orchestras with different genre focuses, Rihab has played and written music for projects involving storytelling, visual arts, film, TV programmes, radio and theatre plays.
As well as composition, performance, music education & community workshop leading, Rihab has had many contributions as a speaker and a writer in events/platforms addressing issues such as music & social justice, culture & decolonisation, equity/diversity/inclusion, and intercultural music-making.
Rihab was a recipient of an AFAC grant (2023) and is releasing her debut album early in 2026.
Daria Phillips
Daria Phillips is a freelance bassoonist and contra bassoonist who began lessons on the mini-bassoon at the age of 7 as part of a council run project. She progressed through the various music ensembles within her borough before joining the music course at Junior Guildhall where she held the Bassoon Scholarship and, in her final year, received the Woodwind Prize.
Daria has been invited to play with Chineke! Orchestra, an initiative that aims to promote diversity in classical music-making; on numerous concert tours and recordings. She was a Junior Artist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (2016-17) mentored by the principal bassoonist, Jonathan Davies.
Daria studied in The Hague with Gretha Tuls and at Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she won the Bassoon Prize and Contrabassoon Prize. She regularly performs Chamber music with various ensembles.
Daria enjoys encouraging young musicians to explore the art form and works as a teacher and workshop leader with various organisations, supporting young musicians from their first steps on the mini bassoon to final preparations for higher education study.