Alessandra Ammara
Alessandra Ammara has drawn the attention of the musical world from a young age, succeeding in major international piano competitions such as the "J. Iturbi" in Valencia, the "Casagrande" in Terni, "G. B. Viotti" in Vercelli, and the "Van Cliburn" in Fort Worth. In 2000 she was awarded “Laureate” by the "Esther Honens" international piano competition in Calgary, Canada.
Ms. Ammara’s concert highlights include performances at Grosses Philharmonie in Berlin, Salzburg Grosse Festspielhaus, Musikverein in Vienna, Salle Cortot in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Gasteig in Munich, Jack Singer Hall in Calgary, Bass Hall in Fort Worth and Meridian Center in Washington. She has thrilled audiences as soloist with orchestras such as Wiener Symphoniker, Berliner Symphoniker, Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai, Calgary Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic with conductors like Fabio Luisi, Georg Pehlivanian, Roberto Minczuk, Bernard Labadie, En Shao, Lior Shambadal.
An enthusiastic chamber music performer, Ms. Ammara gave concerts with Ingrid Attrot, Rocco Filippini, Alban Gerhardt, Anton Kuerti, Shauna Rolston, the Takacs Quartet and the Sine Nomine Quartet. Since 1999 she has formed a piano duo with her husband Roberto Prosseda. The duo's recording of Mendelssohn's complete woks for piano duet was released by Decca in 2015, winning the “Disco del mese” Award of Classic Voice magazine. She also recorded Mendelssohn’s Concertos for Two pianos with Roberto Prosseda and the Residentie Orkest den Haag conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend (Decca). Ms. Ammara’s discography for the German label Arts includes Chopin’s 4 Ballades, Giacinto Scelsi’s Preludes, Schumann's Carnaval, Davidsbündlertänze and Album for the Young, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Miroirs.
Together with some of the greatest pianists in the world, she recorded the new complete Chopin edition produced by Brilliant Classics. For the same label, Ms. Ammara recorded a CD dedicated to the Italian composer Roffredo Caetani (1871 – 1961) in 2014.
Piano Classics has recently released the first two albums of her recording project dedicated to Debussy's Complete Piano Works.
Alessandra Ammara graduated from the "L. Cherubini" Conservatory of Florence and the Accademia Pianistica of Imola. She honed her talents as a student of great musicians like Maria Tipo, Paul Badura-Skoda, Dmitri Bashkirov, Franco Scala, Boris Petrushansky, Leon Fleischer, William Naboré and Fou Ts'ong at the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
Ms. Ammara is piano professor at Conservatorio “Cherubini” in Florence and is often invited to sit in international piano competitions and to give master classes for American and European Universities and Conservatories.
Anush Nikogosyan
Armenian violinist Anush Nikogosyan was born in 1989 in Yerevan and appeared for the first time with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra aged only 10 on stage of Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in e minor.
Since then, she has made concert engagements in many important concert halls and festivals, among others: the Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles (USA), Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall St. Petersburg, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall.
Anush Nikogosyan has been awarded a number of prestigious awards. In 2010 she won the International Wörthersee Kärntner Sparkasse Violin Competition (Austria). The chairman of competition Maestro Fabio Luisi further invited her to the "Pacific Music Festival" in Sapporo (Japan) to perform Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in D major. In addition to classical repertoire,
Anush Nikogosyan also performs works by contemporary composers. Above all, it is important to her to present music of her homeland Armenia.
Among the works of composers she performed it is important to mention those by Khachaturian, Mansurian, Baghdasaryan, Babajanyan, Mirzoyan and many others.
Anush Nikogosyan plays a Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini violin (Milan, 1753).
Christophe Coin
French cellist Christophe Coin was born in Caen in 1958.
He studied in his native city with Jacques Ripoche, then in Paris with André Navarra. He was a disciple of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Jordi Savall, with whom he worked for several years as a member of Hespèrion XX.
As a soloist he is regularly invited to appear with the most prestiguous Early Music ensembles, such as Concentus Musicus Wien, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Il Giardino Armonico.
He was artistic director of Ensemble Baroque de Limoges for 20 years, winning recognition for instance for its recordings of Bach cantatas. In 1984 he founded the Quatuor Mosaïques, which he has since led. Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert are among their main repertoire; their recordings repeatedly received the prestigious Gramophone Awards.
Christophe Coin taught cello and viola da gamba at Schola Cantorum in Basel and at the Paris Conservatory.
Over the course of his career, he as released more than 50 albums including Fantaisies Royales (1980), Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts (1982), Vivaldi: Six Cello Concertos (1989), Brossard: Grands Motets (1997), Le Souvenir (2011), and Vivaldi: Concerti Per Violoncello III (2019).
Alessandro Carbonare
Alessandro Carbonare was born in Desenzano del Garda ( Northen Italy ). He is presently principal clarinetist with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome since 2004.
For 15 years he lived in Paris where he was the principal clarinet with the Orchestre National de France.
Mr. Carbonare won many international competitions around the world as Geneve 1990, Prague 1991 , Toulon 1991, ARD Munich 1991 and 1992 and Paris 1992.
His concerto appearances include the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, National Orchestra of Spain, Oslo Philarmonic Orchestra, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, Wien Sinfonietta, Orchestre National de France, Berlin Radio Orchestra and all major italian orchestras .
As principal clarinet he played also with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philarmonic Orchestra.
With a personal invitation from M° Claudio Abbado he plays now in his Lucerne Festival Orchestra and has recorded-live the Mozart clarinet concerto K622 for Deutsche Gramophon.
This record won the 49° Record Academy Awards 2013.
Many others recordings for Decca are available.
Mr Carbonare is active not only in classical music but also in Jazz and Klezmer projects.
He is an active member of FESNOJIV in Venezuela, teaching music for free to hundreds of paupers young people in Caracas.
He worked with many famous friends in all kind of music: Leonidas Kavakos, Pinkas Zuckerman, Alexandre Lonquich, Lang Lang, Martha Argherich, Paquito D'Riveira, Luis Sclavis, Enrico Pieranunzi and Stefano Bollani.
Mr Carbonare is professor in Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and during summer in Accademia Chigiana di Siena
Silvia Careddu
Silvia Careddu made an outstanding start to her career by unanimously winning the First Prize and the Audience prize at the 66th Concours International de Musique de Geneva.
Following this award, Lorin Maazel invited Silvia to become the principal flautist in his newly founded orchestra, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. She later joined the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Wiener Symphoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker - Wiener Staatsoper.
Since November 2021, Silvia Careddu is Principal Flute of the Orchestra National de France in Paris.
She has been guest principal flautist as well with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In 2012, Silvia became artistic partner of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, winner of the Echo-Preis 2015 for the best German orchestra.
Silvia is a founding member of the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien, a chamber music group with which she records for Deutsche Grammophon.
She is regularly invited to important festivals as a soloist and as a chamber music partner. Among these festivals are Schleswig Holstein, Salzburg Festspiel, Cartagena, Festival Berlioz, Festival des Arcs, Burgenstock Festival, Australian National Academy for Music, Festival de Pollenca, Festival de Salon, Musiktage Mondsee, Riva del Garda, Hitzacker Festival, Flautissimo, Festival de Colmar and Styriarte.
Recently appointed as flute professor at the Ecole Normale de Musique “A. Cortot” in Paris, teaches in Italy as well, at the Scuola de Musica di Fiesole and at the Martha Academy in Palermo. Between 2009 and 2020, she taught at the Hochschule fur Musik “Hanns Eisler” and at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin.
She regularly gives masterclasses in Europe and Asia and has served as juror for the Concours de Geneve, the A. Nicolet Competition and the Prague Spring International competition.
Silvia Careddu was born in Cagliari, Italy. She studied at the Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she graduated with distinction.
She owes important influences and artistic impulses to A. Nicolet, R. Ghiani, R. Guiot, F. Souchard and E. Pahud.
Michael Guttman
Michael Guttman is a violinist, conductor and music director of prominent festivals around the world, including Pietrasanta in Concerto, Crans Montana Classics in Switzerland, Le Printemps du Violon in Paris, and Made in Polin in Warsaw. Guttman received the prestigious Scopus Prize (2014) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his achievements in music, and was also nominated for a Grammy award for his Hindemith Album with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
He was the youngest violinist ever admitted to the Brussels Royal Conservatory at age 10. His debut at age 14, with Jean-Pierre Rampal, led to the meeting with his mentor Isaac Stern who recommended him for further studies at the Juilliard School in New York City where he studied with Dorothy Delay and The Juilliard Quartet.
He premiered the Philip Glass Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the USA and the Hong Kong Philhamonic for Asia, which were both conducted by Jaap Van Zweden. He has toured with Martha Argerich, Nestor Marconi, Nigel Kennedy, Boris Berezovsky and Vadim Repin, among others.
After collaborating with composers and conductors such as Lukas Foss and Noam Sheriff, he developed his conducting career and in 2017, toured the most prestigious halls in Spain appearing with the legendary pianist Ivo Pogorelich. His encounter with Astor Piazzolla encouraged him to discover different styles of tango music, and in 2017 he created the first double concerto for violin and bandoneon with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and J.P. Jofre, the famous Argentinian bandoneon player.
Michael Guttman plays on a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin once owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Giovanni Battista Viotti.
Maya Oganyan
Maya Oganyan was born in Moscow in 2005 and has been living and studying in Venice since 2011. She started taking piano lessons at the age of 4 and studies with Alexander Maykapar and in 2015 she entered the “Benedetto Marcello” Conservatory in Venice, studying with Massimo Somenzi, Muriel Chemin and Olaf Laneri.
Maya won several international competitions, including the "Schumann Prize" of the "Rospigliosi Competition", "Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition", "Orbetello Piano Competition", "La Palma D'Oro”. She has performed in many Italian and foreign halls and performed music by Valentin Silvestrov in his presence at Cremona Musica in 2022. She debuted with Armenia Philharmonc Orchestra in 2021, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto n. 3, conducted by M° Eduard Topchjan, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 488 with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in the Cappella Paolina of Palazzo del Quirinale, in the presence of the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and the President of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian.
She currently attends the Accademia Pianistica di Imola for the chamber music course with Marco Zuccarini and continues her piano studies under the guidance of Roberto Prosseda and Lilya Zilberstein.
Robert Prosseda
Roberto Prosseda’s sensational discovery of new works by Mendelssohn made the headlines in Europe and led to several Decca releases. His albums have won much acclaim in the press, including the CHOC from Le Monde de la Musique Classique, the Diapason d’Or and Chamber Music CD of the Month in the UK’s Classic FM magazine. In 2014 Prosseda completed his 10-year project of recording Mendelssohn’s complete piano works for Decca in 10 CDs, also released in a Box-set in 2017 ("Mendelssohn Complete Piano Works”).
Roberto Prosseda has performed regularly with some of the world’s most important orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Bruxelles Philharmonic, Saatskapelle Weimar, Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus. He played under the baton of David Afkham, Marc Albrecht, Christian Arming, Harry Bickett, Oleg Caetani, Riccardo Chailly, Pietari Inkinen, Yannik Nezeit-Seguin, George Pehlivanian, Dennis Russel-Davies, Tugan Sokhiev, Jurai Valcuha, Jan Willem de Vriend. With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, he recorded live the 3rd Piano Concerto in E minor by Mendelssohn, released on the Decca in September 2009.
Other than Mendelssohn, of whose piano music he is considered to be one of today's leading interpreters, Prosseda’s performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Chopin have been particularly praised, and these composers have in fact featured in Prosseda’s recent Decca recordings, including the complete Mozart Sonatas (2015-18).
In September 2011 Prosseda gave his debut on the pedal piano, performing the Concerto for Pedal Piano by Gounod in the world premiere in modern times. He has given more than 50 concerts with the pedal piano, rediscovering the original compositions by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Charles Valentin Alkan. Several composers, including Ennio Morricone, have already written new pieces for pedal piano for Roberto Prosseda, and a recording of Gounod's four pieces for pedal piano and orchestra with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana conducted by Howard Shelley was released on the Hyperion label in 2013.
Roberto Prosseda is also very active in musical divulgation. He wrote the book “Il Pianoforte” for Edizioni Curci (2013) and made three documentaries dedicated to Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt (Euroarts).
Jing Zhao
Cellist Jing Zhao has established herself internationally as one of the most versatile cellists of her generation. She has performed with conductors such as Yuri Bashmet, Myung-whun Chung, Jean Fournet, Eliahu Inbal, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Lorin Maazel, Ricardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Seiji Ozawa, Mikhael Pletnev, Muhai Tang, Jaap van Zweden.
A passionate chamber musician, Jing is playing regularly with Martha Argerich, Guy Braunstein, Boris Berezovsky, Bertrand Chamayou, Michael Guttman, Igor Levit, Emmanuel Pahud, Trevor Pinnock, Vadim Repin, Antoine Tamestit, Maxim Vengerov and Lilya Zilberstein.
Jing Zhao has recorded Tchaikovsky trio with Martha Argerich and Doa Schwarzberg and 5 CDs for Victor entertainment in Japan.
The 1st prize winner of the prestigious ARD international competition in Munich in 2005, Jing Zhao started her music studies in China and Japan and then moved to Berlin, where she studied with David Geringas, being also mentored by Yo-Yo Ma and Rostropovich.
Jing currently plays on a Matteo Goffriller cello (1711) on a generous loan to her from a private foundation.
Quartetto Adorno
Edoardo Zosi violin
Liù Pelliciari violin
Benedetta Bucci viola
Stefano Cerrato cello
“They play with one mind, beauty of sound, intonation, precision and beautiful musical ideas and expression”
Geraldine Walther- Takács Quartet In 2017
Quartetto Adorno won the Third Prize (First Prize not awarded), the Special Prize for the best performance of a contemporary piece and the Public’s Prize at the International String Quartet Competition “XI Premio Paolo Borciani”. During the thirty-year history of the Competition, no Italian quartet had such an important recognition.
In 2018 Quartetto Adorno is the winner of the X International Competition for String Quartet “V. E. Rimbotti” and they also becomes associate artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. In 2019 Quartetto Adorno received the prestigious Prize “Una vita nella musica giovani 2019”.
From 2019 Quartetto Adorno is supported by CIDIM.
Quartetto Adorno was founded in 2015: their name is a tribute to the great philosopher Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno who, in an age of musical and social decline, saw chamber music as the only path to salvation. Adorno claimed that this genre kept the relationship between human beings and music authentic, upholding values such as respect and a desire of perfection.
Despite their recent foundation, the Quartetto Adorno has already performed for important promoters such as “London Chamber Music Society Series at Kings Place” and “Wigmore Hall” London, “Ravenna Festival”, “La Società dei Concerti” Milan, “Fondazione I Teatri” Reggio Emilia, MITO Festival, “Unione Musicale” Turin, Festival di Portogruaro, “Fazioli Concert Hall” Sacile, “Podium für junge Solisten” Tegernsee, “ACM Chamber Music” Trieste, “Amici della Musica” Perugia,“Festival Musique Chalosse” France, “Allegro Vivo Festival” Altenburg,“Musica Insieme” Bologna, “Amici della Musica” Campobasso, ”Amici della Musica” Firenze, “Appassionata Festival” Macerata, “Società del Quartetto” Bergamo ,“Micat in Vertice – Fondazione Chigiana” Siena, “Associazione Scarlatti” Naples, MUCH Brussels, “Soireès Musicales” Grimaud, “Fondazione Cini” Venezia, “Musikerlebnis” Munich, “Amici della Musica” Padova, “Richmond Concert Society” London.
Important collaborations include great artists such as P. Badura-Skoda, G. Bandini, E. Bronzi, B. Canino, A. Carbonare, F. Di Rosa, S. Gramaglia, L. Lortie, F. Meloni, P. Meyer, A. Oliva, F. Ragghianti, G. Sollima.
In 2019 the first CD is published by the Label Decca Italia with the A. von Zemlinsky No. 3 String Quartet and the J. Brahms Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 together with Alessandro Carbonare.
In 2019/20/21 they are engaged in the performance of the complete Ludwig van Beethoven quartets at “Associazione Musicale Lucchese”, “Viotti Festival” in Vercelli, “Amici della Musica” in Cagliari,”Festival di Musica da Camera” Urbino, “Musikamera” at Sale Apollinee in Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Special thanks to Asmana Wellness World Firenze for supporting Quartetto Adorno’s activity.
EDOARDO ZOSI PLAYS HIS ANSALDO POGGI 1929 VIOLIN.
LIÙ PELLICIARI PLAYS HER STEFANO SCARAMPELLA 1917 VIOLIN WHICH BELONGED TO THE AMERICAN VIOLINIST SERGIU LUCA.
BENEDETTA BUCCI PLAYS THE VIOLA IGINO SDERCI 1939 WHICH BELONGED TO, AND WAS PLAYED BY, PIERO FARULLI DURING A FORTY YEAR CAREER WITH THE QUARTETTO ITALIANO. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THIS TO ANTONELLO FARULLI.
STEFANO CERRATO PLAYS HIS CELLO, ANONYMOUS 1920S.
Quartetto Adorno
Edoardo Zosi violin
Liù Pelliciari violin
Benedetta Bucci viola
Stefano Cerrato cello
“They play with one mind, beauty of sound, intonation, precision and beautiful musical ideas and expression”
Geraldine Walther- Takács Quartet In 2017
Quartetto Adorno won the Third Prize (First Prize not awarded), the Special Prize for the best performance of a contemporary piece and the Public’s Prize at the International String Quartet Competition “XI Premio Paolo Borciani”. During the thirty-year history of the Competition, no Italian quartet had such an important recognition.
In 2018 Quartetto Adorno is the winner of the X International Competition for String Quartet “V. E. Rimbotti” and they also becomes associate artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. In 2019 Quartetto Adorno received the prestigious Prize “Una vita nella musica giovani 2019”.
From 2019 Quartetto Adorno is supported by CIDIM.
Quartetto Adorno was founded in 2015: their name is a tribute to the great philosopher Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno who, in an age of musical and social decline, saw chamber music as the only path to salvation. Adorno claimed that this genre kept the relationship between human beings and music authentic, upholding values such as respect and a desire of perfection.
Despite their recent foundation, the Quartetto Adorno has already performed for important promoters such as “London Chamber Music Society Series at Kings Place” and “Wigmore Hall” London, “Ravenna Festival”, “La Società dei Concerti” Milan, “Fondazione I Teatri” Reggio Emilia, MITO Festival, “Unione Musicale” Turin, Festival di Portogruaro, “Fazioli Concert Hall” Sacile, “Podium für junge Solisten” Tegernsee, “ACM Chamber Music” Trieste, “Amici della Musica” Perugia,“Festival Musique Chalosse” France, “Allegro Vivo Festival” Altenburg,“Musica Insieme” Bologna, “Amici della Musica” Campobasso, ”Amici della Musica” Firenze, “Appassionata Festival” Macerata, “Società del Quartetto” Bergamo ,“Micat in Vertice – Fondazione Chigiana” Siena, “Associazione Scarlatti” Naples, MUCH Brussels, “Soireès Musicales” Grimaud, “Fondazione Cini” Venezia, “Musikerlebnis” Munich, “Amici della Musica” Padova, “Richmond Concert Society” London.
Important collaborations include great artists such as P. Badura-Skoda, G. Bandini, E. Bronzi, B. Canino, A. Carbonare, F. Di Rosa, S. Gramaglia, L. Lortie, F. Meloni, P. Meyer, A. Oliva, F. Ragghianti, G. Sollima.
In 2019 the first CD is published by the Label Decca Italia with the A. von Zemlinsky No. 3 String Quartet and the J. Brahms Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 together with Alessandro Carbonare.
In 2019/20/21 they are engaged in the performance of the complete Ludwig van Beethoven quartets at “Associazione Musicale Lucchese”, “Viotti Festival” in Vercelli, “Amici della Musica” in Cagliari,”Festival di Musica da Camera” Urbino, “Musikamera” at Sale Apollinee in Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Special thanks to Asmana Wellness World Firenze for supporting Quartetto Adorno’s activity.
EDOARDO ZOSI PLAYS HIS ANSALDO POGGI 1929 VIOLIN.
LIÙ PELLICIARI PLAYS HER STEFANO SCARAMPELLA 1917 VIOLIN WHICH BELONGED TO THE AMERICAN VIOLINIST SERGIU LUCA.
BENEDETTA BUCCI PLAYS THE VIOLA IGINO SDERCI 1939 WHICH BELONGED TO, AND WAS PLAYED BY, PIERO FARULLI DURING A FORTY YEAR CAREER WITH THE QUARTETTO ITALIANO. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THIS TO ANTONELLO FARULLI.
STEFANO CERRATO PLAYS HIS CELLO, ANONYMOUS 1920S.