Tomoko Akasaka is a versatile violist who is appreciated for her extraordinary charisma and stage presence as soloist and chamber musician. She won numerous international awards, including 1st prize at the 12th International Japan Classical Music Competition and 3rd prize at the 53rd International Music Competition of ARD (2004). She has appeared as soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, the Orchestre de Chambre Genève, the Ensemble Contrechamps, the Filarmonica Banatul Timişoara, the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra and the Japan Chamber Orchestra, under conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Johannes Kalitzke, Rüdiger Bohn, Roman Kofman and Günther Herbig. Her chamber music partners include, among others, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Daniel Hope, Juliane Banse, Heinz Holliger, Menahem Pressler, Julian Steckel. She was playing at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Victoria Hall London and the Grand Theater in Geneva, the Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie Berlin, Elmau Castle, Suntory Hall Tokyo, and Nymphenburg Castle Munich. Tomoko first started playing the violin at the age of five and went to the special school of the Toho Music University. After graduation, she studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Her musical relationship with György Kurtág has a profound influence on her as a musician. She also regularly collaborates with Helmut Lachenmann, Toshio Hosokawa and performs numerous contemporary works for viola. Tomoko Akasaka joined the Amaryllis Quartet in 2016 and currently lives in Berlin.

Chloe Balla is professor of ancient philosophy at the University of Crete, Director of the Philosophical Research and Translation Lab, UCRC, and Secretary of the Center of Greek and Chinese Ancient Civilizations (KELKIP). She is the author of numerous articles and books on the Sophists, the Hippocratic Corpus and Plato’s dialogues. She has published a Modern Greek translation of Aristotle’s Constitution of the Athenians (Athens 2015) and is co-editor of Plato’s Academy. Its Workings and Its History (Cambridge University Press, 2020). She has been a Junior Fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies and a Fellow at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies (Princeton University) and at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies.

Marco Behtash is a proud SF Bay Area native, born in Berkeley, California, to Italian and Iranian parents. He is currently Principal bass with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. From September 2024 he will join the forces of Teatro Real, in Madrid, as double bass soloist. Marco studied at the San Francisco Conservatory with Scott Pingel and later at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, completing his Μaster’s degree in 2014 with Rinat Ibragimov and Luis Cabrera. Marco has worked with several leading orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw (graduating the RCO’s Academy programme in 2015), the London Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, and several others. Chamber music activity has included collaborations with Trio Isimsiz, Amitié Music Project Tokyo, Klassik Novum Dresden, 12 Ensemble et al. He has also appeared as a soloist at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for a premiere of the Grammy-winning concerto for double bass “Dark with Excessive Bright” by Missy Mazzoli. Marco is a Professor of double bass at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and enjoys an active teaching career in addition to playing. He usually performs on his John Devereux bass (London, ca. 1830).

Simon Bode is one of the most sought-after lyric tenors of his generation. Concerts and opera engagements have taken him to London’s Wigmore Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Vienna Musikverein, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, the Frankfurt Opera, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo and the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals. In autumn 2023, he made his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall with a solo recital, with Jonathan Ware at the piano. His other long-standing chamber music partners include the pianists Graham Johnson, Igor Levit, Simon Lepper, and Ulrich Eisenlohr. He has sung under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano, Joana Mallwitz, and with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. His repertoire is rounded off by premieres and first performances of works by Peter Eötvös and others. Simon Bode is a recording artist for Hyperion Classics and Naxos International.

Anthony P. Bossis, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, a professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, a professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Ottawa, and a researcher at The Lundquist Institute-UCLA.
For nearly twenty years, he has conducted FDA-approved clinical research with the psychedelic compound psilocybin.  His clinical and research interests are the treatment of end-of-life existential distress and to advance our understanding of consciousness, meaning, and spirituality.
Dr. Bossis was director of palliative care research on the landmark 2016 trial demonstrating a significant reduction in emotional distress from a single psilocybin session in persons with cancer. He is also the study director and lead therapist on a study investigating a psilocybin-generated mystical experience upon religious leaders.
He has authored numerous publications on psychedelics and palliative care, spirituality, and end-of-life existential distress.
He has a long-standing interest in comparative religion and mystical experience.
Anthony is a proud Greek American whose grandparents hail from the beautiful island of Limnos.

Petrit Çeku has performed recitals throughout the world and was a soloist with symphonic orchestras such as Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, State Hermitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Pannon Philharmonic and Zagreb Philharmonic. He collaborates regularly with The Zagreb Soloists and is a founding member of Guitar Trio Elogio. Hailed by Calgary Herald as “an effortless player, with a strong, projecting sound”, Çeku is the first prize winner of many international guitar competitions, including Parkening (Malibu), Schadt (Allentown), Biasini (Bologna), and Pittaluga (Alessandria). Çeku graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Darko Petrinjak and continued studies in Baltimore at the Peabody Conservatory in the class of Manuel Barrueco. Petrit Çeku teaches chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Petrit Çeku’s recordings have been released by various label,s and his album The Cello Suites for Eudora Records was nominated for ICMA Award. The recording sessions for this album, which includes Bach’s complete cello suites, were the subject of award-winning documentary film Sarabande by Kaltrina Krasniqi. Petrit Çeku is a D’Addario artist and plays on a Ross Gutmeier guitar.

Called “the discovery of the year” by classical music magazine Crescendo and “on her way to the very top” by Concerti magazine, German-Greek pianist Danae Dörken (b. 1991) is among the elite of internationally acclaimed artists of a new generation, electrifying audiences and peer musicians alike with her stunning technical skills, exceptional charisma, and great profundity of her musical thinking. A uniquely gifted talent at very young age, Danae Dörken received the support of Lord Yehudi Menuhin when she was seven, and soon began to cause a stir at major European venues with her “sparkling joy of playing” (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger). Following her studies with the internationally venerated teacher Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and with Lars Vogt, she is today a regular guest of major orchestras, including the Munich Symphony, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Norrlandsoperan Symphony and Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra. She has performed to great critical acclaim at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, KKL Lucerne, Cologne Philharmonie, Philharmonie Essen, at Gasteig in Munich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Bozar Brussels, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, and Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Danae Dörken also performs regularly at major festivals, including Kissinger Sommer, Schwetzingen Festival, LuganoMusica, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Piano Espoo Finland, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Rheingau Musik Festival, Lucerne Piano Festival and the renowned Spannungen Festival in Heimbach. Danae Dörken’s groundbreaking recording of piano concertos by Mozart and Mendelssohn (with Royal Northern Sinfonia) was released in 2016, to raving critical acclaim. Previously, her solo recording of fantasies by Schumann, Schubert und C.P.E. Bach (ARS Produktion) was nominated for an ICMA Award. Her 2012 debut CD, featuring solo works by Leoš Janáček (also on ARS Produktion), received equally enthusiastic reviews. Her new duo album Appolo & Dionysus, recorded whith her sister Kiveli, was recently released by Berlin Classics. Of Greek descent, Danae Dörken founded the Molyvos International Music Festival (MIMF) in 2015 together with her sister Kiveli and Dimitris Tryfon on the island of Lesbos.

Kiveli Dörken’s temperament, passion and dedication to music is palpable in every one of her concerts. With her infectious enthusiasm and captivating presence, she values a close contact with her audience, often addressing the listeners first, before sitting down at the piano and pushing the boundaries of sound diversity and artistic expression. Kiveli Dörken (b. 1995) began her musical path as a seven-year old student of the renowned piano pedagogue Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. She continued her musical education with Professor Lars Vogt at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover  where she is studying until today. She is a member of the TONAListen agency, and has received scholarships and support from various foundations, such as the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the renowned Spannungen Festival, the International Musikadamie in Liechtenstein and the Werner Richard-Dr. Carl Dörken Stiftung (no relation). At the age of eight she gave her orchestral debut. She has since performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Hamburger Camerata, the Camerata Bern and the Athens State Orchestra. In 2019 Kiveli Dörken gave her debut with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen playing César Franck’s Variations Symphoniques under the direction of conductor Alondra de la Parra. She has performed in most European countries, China and the United States of America, in some of the most famous halls, the Elbphilarmonie, the Mariinsky-Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Alte Oper Frankfurt, to name just a few, and is a regular guest at many prestigious festivals, like the Kissinger Sommer, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Spannungen Festival in Heimbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Highlights of her early career were performances for the Dalai Lama in 2007 and for the German chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington, D.C., in 2009. Kiveli Dörken dedicates a considerable amount of her time to playing chamber music. She performs regularly with artists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Maximilian Hornung and Tanja Tetzlaff. Together with her sister Danae Dörken, she has been playing as a piano duo since the age of five. In 2015, she founded the Molyvos International Music Festival (MIMF) on the Greek island of Lesbos, of which she is also the artistic director. The MIMF does not only bring the tradition of classical music to Lesbos, but it has also become a symbol of hope for the entire region. In 2022, Kiveli Dörken released her debut CD with the label ARS Produktion featuring solo and chamber music works by Josef Suk. Together with her sister Danae they have recorded a new album, Appolo & Dionysus, released by Berlin Classics, featuring works of Ravel, Debussy, Brahms, De Falla, Theodorakis et al

Recipient of numerous international awards, violist Karolina Errera is an artist of natural musicality, refined taste and humbleness. She is the winner of the 9th Jan Rakowski Competition, the 8th International Yury Bashmet Competition, prizewinner at the 52nd International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen, and Peter-Pirazzi Competition. Her debut CD Songs of Rain with pianist Lilit Grigoryan released together with label GENUIN Classics has received many distinguished reviews as well as several nominations by the Opus Klassik Award (2023). Highlights of her musical activities include the debut with Giya Kancheli Styx in the Chamber Music Hall of Berlin Philharmonie together with Berliner Cappella, Filharmonia Pomorska and Sergi Gili Solé, performance of Paul Hindemith Der Schwanendreher with Vogtland Philharmonie Greiz under the baton of David Marlow, her debut at Konzerthaus Berlin together with pianist Yannick Rafalimanana, and multiple chamber music collaborations with renowned artists, such as Sir András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Vilde Frang, Gary Hoffmann, Jörg Widdmann, Viviane Hagner, Nils Mönkemeyer, Antje Weithaas, Vadim Gluzman, Gil Shaham. Her dedication to music has allowed her performances on many international stages, such as Wigmore Hall, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Pierre Boulez Saal, Casals Forum, and brought her to participate at world class music festivals including Festival de Pâques, Krzyżowa-Music, Kronberg Academy Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Rheingau Musik Festival. Karolina was born into a non-musicians family of two origins, Russian-Dominican, and brought up with strong musical influences around her.

Greek cellist Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin appears regularly as soloist and chamber musician throughout North America and Europe, most recently as a soloist with conductor-violinist Leonidas Kavakos and the Athens State Orchestra. He made his first major US solo appearance in 2016 with the Kansas City Symphony under the direction of Robert Spano. Since then he has performed with major orchestras, such as the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Israel Camerata et al. He gained international recognition as a top prizewinner at the prestigious International Paulo Cello Competition in Finland. Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin is a founding member of Trio Zimbalist, with which he tours in both Europe and North America. Their first album was released under the Curtis Studio Label with raving reviews by the Gramophone Magazine and the BBC Music Magazine. In 2017, he was named Artist-in-Residence at “Performance Today”, the most listened-to classical music radio programme in the United States. In 2023, he was named artistic director of the Samos Young Artists Festival, a position which he holds till now. Since 2022, he has been a member of the Apollωn Ensemble, a small chamber music group founded by Leonidas Kavakos. An avid chamber musician, Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin has collaborated with important musical figures, such as Leonidas Kavakos, Miriam Fried, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, Roman Rabinovich, and Jonathan Biss. He has participated at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Athens Epidaurus Festival among many others. Ηe studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory.

For anyone new to violinist Noé Inui, the wide variety of influences that have shaped his character and career may surprise. To Noé, born in Brussels in 1985 to a Greek mother and a Japanese father, it is as logical and organic as breathing. His talents have been recognised internationally, at the 2005 Sibelius Competition (Special Prize for Young Talents), the 2007 Louis Spohr Medal, and the 2009 Young Concert Artists / New York among others. At the Verbier Festival Academy in 2012, he was awarded the coveted Prix Julius Bär. In 2020, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam selected Noé as one of their Classical Futures Europe Artists. Orchestral collaborations include the Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, as well as Kaohsiung Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Athens State Symphony, and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Noé is a committed chamber musician, he co-founded the successful Piano Quartet Corneille and the Trio Bell’Arte. Invitations by various festivals worldwide enable him to perform with musicians such as Martha Argerich and Leonidas Kavakos among others. Noé Inui has recorded seven CDs, the most recent of which is dedicated to the solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe. It contains as a bonus the world première recording of the work Étude Poème by the same composer.

Born in Salzburg as the daughter of South Korean musicians and raised in Germany, Byol Kang debuted as soloist at the age of twelve with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Berlin Philharmonie. The winner of the German Music Competition and laureate of international violin competitions (Henri Marteau, Premio Rodolfo Lipizer, Valsesia Musica, and Max Rostal), she has since appeared at prestigious concert halls, such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Vienna, and the Carnegie Hall New York. After obtaining her degree with distinction under Michael Gaiser at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, Byol Kang continued her studies for Konzertexamen (2010-2013) with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, where she teaches her own class since 2022. As a dedicated chamber musician, Byol Kang has performed in various constellations, among others at Spannungen Festival in Heimbach, Heidelberger Frühling, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, PODIUM Festival in Esslingen and numerous recitals throughout Germany. The Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship recipient has released two CDs with pianist Boris Kusnezow under the label GENUIN. Since the season 2016/17, Byol Kang is Concertmaster of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Vivi Kefalas studied Political Science and International Relations at the Panteion University of Athens and received her Ph.D. in International Relations from Université de Droit d’Economie et des Sciences Sociales de Paris (Paris II). She is Professor of International Relations in the Middle East and North Africa, at the Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean.  Professor Kefala has published books and articles on North Africa,  the United States and Russia policies in the Middle East,  the Palestinian Question, the Turkish policy in the Middle East, on the issue of Lebanon, the Iraqi Question. Her books/monographs include:  North Africa: Internal, Regional and International Politics (Papazissis, Athens, 2014), Iran:Policy, Economy and International Relations (Papazissis, Athens, 2014 [in Greek, coeditor with Charalambos Tsardanides]), L’Évolution de la Question Libanaise. Les Facteurs Déterminants (L’Harmattan, Paris, 2011), Kossovo: The Image of War and the Post-Milosevitch Era (Sideris Publ., Athens, 2001) [in Greek, with Christodoulos Yallourides]. She now serves as the Director of the Center for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Policy and Culture (KEMMEP) and as Scientific coordinator of the annual academic conference “Mare Mediterraneum”.

Evangelia Koutsodimou was born (2022) and raised in Samos. She started violin lessons at the age of eight with Elena Kalinkina. Since 2019, she has been attending classes with Ilias Livieratos. In 2020, she was admitted to the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia with expertise in violin performance and Professor Dimitrios Chandrakis. She has appeared as a soloist with the Athens State Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Macedonia (PAMAK), and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Heraklion Crete. She has been a concertmaster at CosmoClassical Youth Orchestra, participated in the first violins at the Mediterranean Youth Symphony Orchestra (2023/24), and since 2023 she is a member of the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra (GYSO). In 2024, she was selected after an audition to participate as part of her internship in concerts with Τhessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra (TSSO). She won the 3rd prize in the Ilias Kouskouvelis Competition, the 2nd place in the 7th Panhellenic Music Competition of the Group for Unesco, 1st prize and the Award for Excellent Performance in the 4th Panhellenic Music Competition Tasos Pappas. She has had seminars with Katerina Chatzinikolaou, Borislava Iltcheva, Eszter Haffner, Bartek Niziol, Kurt Nikannen, Timothy Schwarz, and Dmitry Serebrenikov.

Dr. Stamatios M. Krimigis is Emeritus Head of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), President of the Academy of Athens where he occupies the Chair of Science of Space and Applications, has built instruments that have flown to all 9 classical planets beginning with Mariner 4 to Mars in 1965 and ending with New Horizons to Pluto in 2015; also the Moon, the asteroid Eros, and the Parker Solar Probe to the Sun in 2018, and is Principal Investigator on NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 Interstellar Mission to the outer planets and the Galaxy. In 1999 the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 1979 UH as 8323 Krimigis.  Among his recent awards are the Smithsonian Institutions’ National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement (2015), the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2016), and the Theodore von Karman Award (2017) of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is a member of Academia Europaea, and was honored by a special resolution of the U. S. Senate “for exceptional contributions to space science” (2018). A short video on his career produced by the Smithsonian can be found at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvqtPPy6bQg

Sebastian Manz, international soloist, chamber musician and Principal clarinettist of the SWR Symphony Orchestra, had his big breakthrough in 2008, when he won 1st prize in the clarinet category of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. During the preceding forty years the 1st prize had not been awarded in this section; Sebastian Manz was also awarded the coveted Audience Prize and further special prizes. Previously he had also won the German Music Competition, together with his piano partner Martin Klett. Sebastian Manz subsequently received three times the Echo Klassik Award for outstanding CD recordings, as well as the sought-after Emerging Artist Award in New York. For his album A Bernstein Story, which was released in 2019, he received the Opus Klassik Award in the category “Classic Without Borders” in October 2020. Sebastian Manz was born in Hanover in 1986 as the son of two pianists and as the grandson of the violinist Boris Goldstein, who hailed from Odessa. His German-Russian family home thus offered fertile soil for his musical roots. Sebastian joined a boys’ choir at the age of six and started learning the piano early on, but soon decided to concentrate on the clarinet. Among his most important teachers and supporters were none other than Sabine Meyer and Rainer Wehle.

Born in Athens, Danae Papamattheou-Matschke started playing the violin at the age of five. She studied with Professor Igor Ozim at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg and completed postgraduate course Konzertexamen in 2017 with honours at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg in the violin class of Professor Tanja Becker-Bender. First prizes were awarded to her, amongst others at the international violin competitions Andrea Postacchini, Henri Marteau, Jugend Μusiziert, and she repeatedly received scholarships from Greek and German foundations and institutions. She has performed in Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, Cyprus, the United States of America, and China and has been invited to play in major music centres, such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Beijing National Performing Arts Centre and the concert halls of Athens and Thessaloniki. Since 2019 she has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, and from 2024 at the University of Macedonia Thessaloniki. Her new CD Bridges under the label BIS Classical was honoured in March 2024 by the Union of Greek Theatrical and Music Critics as the Βest Recording of Greek Interest of the year 2022/23.

Ioannis Nikolis (b. 2022) grew up in a music family in Athens and started playing the violin at the age of five. He graduated from the National Conservatory of Athens at the age of fifteen (in his father’s, Panagiotis Nikolis class), with a violin diploma, honours, and special prizes for his performance and his young age. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with Professor Jacqueline Ross, as a recipient of the Athena Scholarship and the Guildhall Financial Award. Ioannis Nikolis a winner of the London International Music Competition 2023, the Amadeus International Music Award 2023, and recently he has been awarded the Silver Prize in the New York International Music Competition 2024. He has been accepted in the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Young and the Athens Philharmonic, performing in prestigious venues, such as the Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Warsaw Philharmonie, Musiikkitalo (Helsinki), Flagey (Brussels), Carnegie Hall (New York), the Ancient Theater of Delos, under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda, Iván Fischer, Pablo Heras-Casado et al. As a soloist he has performed in Greece, in venues such as Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall, Theocharakis Foundation, Nakas Conservatory Hall. He has participated in music festivals, such as the Naxos Festival, Musa Ηellenica Chios, City of Athens Summer Festival, collaborated with professional ensembles such as the Athens Symphony Orchestra, and with acclaimed pianists of his generation, such as Stelios Kerasidis and Mary Alexandratou. He has participated in many masterclasses, among which are the Talent Music Course Brescia and at the Ibiza Ιnternational Classical Music Festival, with soloists Donald Walerstein, Ilya Grubert, Linus Roth, Isaac Malkin, Reiner Schmidt, with members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) et al. Ioannis is under the guidance of the acclaimed German soloist Linus Roth (2024), he is a sponsored artist of the Ιrene Association, and has many sold out multiple recitals with pianist Mary Alexandratou in Athens, and a full schedule coming up around Europe.

Orkun Pala has begun his aural training at the age of five and his violin studies at the age of six at the Bilkent University Music Preparatory School in 2005. He performed many times as soloist with youth and professional orchestras in Turkey. He participated in many international festivals, such as Bodrum Music Festival, Bilkent Chamber Music Festival Beethoven, Harmos, Clara Schumann, AIMA, Mahler, and GNP Paax Festival. He has worked many times as concertmaster or section leader of the 2nd violin section in various youth, chamber and professional orchestras. He has participated in solo and chamber music masterclasses with leading musicians, such as Alessandro Cappone, Alexander Markov, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Andrej Bielow, Misha Nodelman, Frans Helmerson, Rebekka Hartmann, Önder Baloglu, Alexander Vinnitsky, Tatjana Masurenko, Peter Bruns, Aleksey Igudesman, Valentin Erben, and Lauma Skride. He won 2nd prize and the Audience Prize twice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HMT) Chamber Music Competition. In 2022, he was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium and the Yehudi Menuhin Scholarship “Live Musik Now”. Orkun Pala is currently studying for a Μaster’s degree with Professor Franck Reinecke at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, and is also an academist in the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Rosanne Philippens is an extraordinary communicator, with an innate musicality and an infectiously joyful yet sincere approach to music-making. She is in high demand across the Netherlands, both as soloist and chamber musician. She is also a keen play/director and recently made her debut with the Orchestre National de Lyon leading the orchestra in a hugely successful performance. Recent highlights include performances with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and the Residentie Orkest both in The Hague and at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Elsewhere, Philippens has played with the Barcelona Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, and with orchestras across Germany, Finland, and Switzerland, with conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Lawrence Foster, Otto Tausk, Jan Willem de Vriend, Antony Hermus, and Nicholas Collon. Philippens plays regularly with artists such as István Vardai, Vilde Frang, Julien Quentin, Vikingúr Olafsson, Amihai Grosz, Camille Thomas and Zoltán Fejérvári. She runs her own concert series “The Amsterdam Salon Pop-Up”, presenting high-quality concerts in carefully sought-out and unusual locations. Philippens records exclusively for Channel Classics and all her recordings have received glowing praise. The Strad has described her latest CD Insight as being “both softly spoken and intensely powerful”. Earlier albums include Dedications, featuring works by Kreisler, Fauré and Ysaÿe, and a recording of Prokofiev’s 2nd Concerto, described by BBC Magazine as “a triumph”. Philippens was taught from an early age by Anneke Schilt at the Amstelveen music school. She continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Vera Beths, Anner Bylsma and Ulf Wallin, receiving the highest distinction from both institutes. Philippens won 1st prize at the Dutch National Violin Competition in 2009 and the Freiburg International Violin Competition in 2014. Philippens plays on the “Barrere” Stradivarius (1727), thanks to the generous support of the Elise Mathilde Foundation.

A versatile musician, Bart van de Roer (b. 1972) pursues an active performing career, both as a soloist and chamber music player and he devotes a regular part of his schedule to teaching. Twenty-eight years ago, together with Marc and Wouter Vossen, he founded the very successful Storioni Trio. In 2008 they founded the Storioni Festival, an annual international chamber music festival in and around Eindhoven. Bart van de Roer had his first piano lessons at the age of nine. In 1997, he graduated from the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, where he studied with Jan Wijn. As a student he participated in a number of masterclasses, notably ones led by György Sebók, and later had lessons with eminent musicians, such as Menahem Pressler, Peter Frankl, Eugen Indjic. Bart van de Roer has been a prize winner in several competitions, including the Princess Christina Competition, the Steinway Competition, and the International Tromp Music Competition in Eindhoven. In November 1997, he made an acclaimed recital debut in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.  Chamber music partners include Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Natalia Gutman, Torleif Thedéen, Jorg Widmann. As a soloist and in triple concerti he has appeared with various orchestras, including the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Antwerp Philharmonic, RTÉ Orchestra Dublin, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Bart van de Roer is Professor of piano at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.

Starting her career in Finland in 2014 after winning the Turku Cello Competition and became a finalist of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, today Senja Rummukainen becomes one of the brightest cellists of her generation. Praised by critics for her “unbelievable power and intensity”, she performs with the renowned orchestras at the most remarkable venues. 2024/25 season’s highlights include her debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and BBC Orchestra of Wales, a performance at the BBC Proms with Sakari Oramo, at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Senja Rummukainen is regularly invited as a soloist by the leading conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Nicholas Collon, Dima Slobodeniouk, to perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. As chamber musician, Rummukainen had the opportunity to share stage with Janine Jansen, Ilya Gringolts, Augustin Hadelich and Olli Mustonen, to name a few. She finished her Master’s and Konzertexamen degrees at the University of the Arts Berlin with Professor Jens Peter Maintz. Other teachers have included Marko Ylönen, Taru Aarnio and Truls Mørk. Rummukainen currently plays a Giovanni Grancino cello (1698) owned by OP Art Foundation.

Umut Sağlam (b. 1998) started his music education with Tufan Tolga in 2009 before advancing his studies with Dilbag Tokay in Istanbul from 2014. He continued his studies at the Barenboim – Said Academy in 2016 with Professor Frans Helmerson, graduating in 2020. Afterwards, Sağlam pursued his Master’s degree with Professor Claudio Bohorquez at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, completing it in 2024. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra, among others. His accolades include the Aydın Gün Award from the Ιstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), along with prizes in competitions such as the Gaetano Zinetti Music Competition and the Tremplin International Cello Competition in France. In 2024, as a member of the Viatores Quartet, he won the Freunde Junger Musiker Preis and 1st prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition. Participating in esteemed festivals like the Kronberg Academy and the Istanbul Music Festival, Sağlam has collaborated with renowned artists, including Daniel Barenboim, Sir András Schiff, Steven Isserlis, and Gautier Capuçon. He performs on a cello crafted by George Winterling (1914) and continues his chamber music graduate studies with Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt with the Viatores Quartet.

Bart van de Roer: piano, Wouter Vossen: violin, Marc Vossen: cello

The Storioni Trio is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost piano trios. It was formed in 1995 and takes its name from the violin played by Wouter Vossen which was made by Laurentius Storioni in 1794. In their first years together, the three musicians worked intensively with the Vermeer Quartet, violinist Isaac Stern, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and Menahem Pressler, the pianist of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio. Winning the Kersjes Prize in 2000 helped get them off to a flying start. “We’re still as enthusiastic as we were twenty-five years ago”, says Wouter Vossen. “We’re constantly driven forward by our enthusiasm for the next step, which is usually rooted in a musical angle. It’s really energizing”. Over the last quarter of a century, the Storioni Trio has found its own sound and colour. Their concerts are as incisive as their rehearsals are intensive. These are musicians whose aim is to go further than just the music; they want to tell a story. The belief that music can bridge divides inspires them to open up this living music so it can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. The social aspect of how music is experienced is seen as essential by the Storioni Trio. Together with their audience, they enjoy the interaction that takes place not only in the concert hall but also outside it. The Trio often plays in unique spaces and at extraordinary locations so they can take their audience with them on a voyage of discovery. The Storioni Trio’s repertoire is wide, ranging from classical to contemporary works, from Haydn to Aho. Beethoven occupies a special place in the musicians’ hearts: “He continually challenges us to rediscover what his music is about and where our personal boundaries lie”. The ensemble has performed the cycle of all Beethoven’s piano trios several times, using both period and modern instruments.

Lucas Thanos is a renowned composer, choreographer, director, and translator from Athens. His extensive education includes dance studies at the Rallou Manou School, Scuola di danza (Teatro dell’ Opera di Roma), Steps New York, and Dupree Dance Academy Los Angeles. He studied theater at the Pelos Katselis School, Veakis School, and Actor Studio Los Angeles. His music education was under Giannis A. Papaioannou and at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also studied sociology and philosophy at Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”.

Teaching Experience
Lucas Thanos has taught theater and dance at several prestigious institutions, including:

Veakis Higher School of Dramatic Art
Actors Studio Los Angeles
Iakovos Kampanellis Higher School of Dramatic Art
Paper and Plastic Theater, Los Angeles
Moscow Studio of Plastic Arts
Duncan Dance Research Center, UCLA
Kschessinska Mansion, Saint Petersburg
Higher School of Dramatic Art of the Regional Theater of Patras

Compositions
Lucas Thanos has composed music for numerous theatrical works such as:

“Bones and Clubs” by David William Rabe
“Choose Your Dream” by Pagia Veaki
“Mouse City” by Filisa Chatzichanna
“Snow White” by Lane Bradbury
“Dreams” by Eli Rill
“Olympic Games” at Ebell Wilshire Theater
“Isadora Dance Suites” with Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Aeschylus’ plays (Persians, Choephoroi, Oresteia)
Oratorio “Kostis Palamas”
“ Women at the Ecclesia /A Comedy”
Aristophanic Choreodrama “Iakovos Kampanellis”

He has also composed music for films including:

“Eclipse”
“Myrto”
“The Flight of the Swan”
“Seraphim”
“Retreat”
“Smile in the Mirror”
“Nostos”

Symphonic and Operatic Works
His symphonic works have been performed by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Minsk Symphony Orchestra, and Sofia Symphony Orchestra. He has composed operas such as ISADORA, PROMETHEUS, and ORESTEIA, with his librettos.

Direction and Choreography
Notable directorial and choreographic works include:

“Choose Your Dream”
“Snow White” in Los Angeles
“Rhea” by Samaras at the National Opera
Aeschylus’ plays (Persians, Choephoroi, Oresteia, Seven Against Thebes)
Tribute to Aeschylus
Oratorio “Kostis Palamas”
“Nutcracker” with the Patras Ballet
“Women at the Ecclesia /A Comedy”
Ballet “MOZART by Lucas Thanos” with the Patras Ballet

Translations and Research
Lucas Thanos has translated several classical works by Aeschylus and Sophocles into modern Greek and English. He is a scholar of Isadora Duncan’s dance philosophy and served as the artistic director and reviver of the Duncan Dance Research Center from 1990 to 1994. He is the founder and artistic director of the Patras Ballet and served as the director of the Higher School of Dramatic Art of the Regional Theater of Patras from 2021 to 2024, where he was also the artistic director. Additionally, he is a researcher of Aeschylus’ works.

Lucas Thanos continues to make significant contributions to the fields of music and theater.

The interpretations of Vilém Vlček, winner of the Jiří Bělohlávek Prize 2023, are characterised by sensitive artistic expression and technical ease. In 2023, he won two prestigious international competitions, the Krzysztof Penderecki Cello Competition in Krakow and the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen. He has performed with several major orchestras, such as the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with leading conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Petr Altrichter, Jiří Rožeň, Jonathan Bloxham, Nicolas Ellis et al. He has gained experience in chamber music through lessons with many renowned performers, such as Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, and Alfred Brendel. Vilém Vlček was born in 1998 in Prague. He started playing the cello at the age of six under the guidance of Martin and later Mirko Škampa. Since graduating from high school in 2018, he has been studying at the Musik-Akademie in Basel in the class of Professor Danjulo Ishizaka. In addition to his studies, he regularly participates in masterclasses (Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, and Steven Isserlis). Since 2023, he has been assistant to Danjulo Ishizaka at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. He has performed in over thirty countries, playing an instrument made by Lorenzo Ventapane (Naples, 1830/1850).

Brimful of energy, Weithaas brings her compelling musical intelligence and technical mastery to every detail of the music. Her charisma and stage presence are captivating, but never overshadow the works themselves. She has a wide-ranging repertoire that includes the great concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, new works such as Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto, modern classics by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti and Gubaidulina, and lesser performed concertos by Hartmann and Schoeck. As a soloist, Antje Weithaas has worked with most of Germany’s leading orchestras and the major German radio orchestras as well as numerous major international orchestras. She has collaborated with the illustrious conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Neville Marriner and Marc Albrecht, among others. Through her infectious zest for communication, Weithaas’ reputation for inspiring play-lead concerts with international renowned chamber orchestras is rapidly growing. Having been the Camerata Bern’s artistic director for almost ten years, she was responsible for the ensemble’s musical profile with whom she still works regularly. There were rave reviews for Weithaas’ complete recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas and Eugène Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas. 2023 saw the release of Vol. 1 and 2 of the complete recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s violin sonatas with pianist Dénes Várjon, Vol. 3 appeared in spring 2024. In 1991, Weithaas won the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hanover. Together with Oliver Wille, she has taken over the artistic leadership in 2019. After teaching at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Weithaas became a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in 2004.