American flutist Mark Rodrieg began his studies with renowned flutist Albert Tipton, with whom he trained throughout his music studies. Mark studied at the Shepherd School of Music – Rice University where he earned a B.A. Mark was then named a Presidential Fellow at Princeton University where he studied composition with Milton Babbitt and where he earned an M.A. Subsequently, Mark received a J.D. from Columbia University and continued advanced music studies at the Paris Schola Cantorum. Former Co-Principal Flutist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra Mark has performed with leading conductors and artists, including Sergiu Comissiona, James DePriest, Leonard Slatkin, Matt Haimovitz, Joseph Kalichstein, Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Serbian cellist Maja Bogdanovic first studied cello in Belgrade with Nada Jovanovic and then at the Paris Conservatory with Michel Strauss where she graduated with a 1st Prize in cello.  Maja’s international prizes include the Special Prize at the 2005 Rostopovic Competition and 1st Prize at the 2007 Aldo Parisot Competition. Maja has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras and performed with many leading artists, including the Tokyo Philharmonic, Serbian Radio Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Maria Belooussova, Sanja and Lidija Bizjak, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Gil Sharon, Nemanja Radulovic, Grigory Zhislin.

Belgian pianist Julien Gernay began his studies at the Nice National Conservatory and then continued at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) where he graduated with first prizes in piano and chamber music. Julien’s international prizes include the Queen Elisabeth in 2007 and the Vendome Prize. Julien performs regularly on television and radio programs and has performed with leading artists and ensembles, including Hortence Cartier-Bresson, Rolland Pidoux, Nemnja Radulovic, Antoine Tamestit, the Voce, Modigliani and Ebène quartets.Julien has recorded with the Lyrinx and Explora Concept labels.

“Estelle Revaz is a committed, experienced musician with a profound desire for greater musical knowledge.”
Gautier Capuçon

Born in 1989, Swiss cellist Estelle Revaz embarked on an international career at an early age. After her debut in her homeland, she studied with Jérôme Pernoo at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris then honed her concert skills at the Cologne Musikhochschule under the generous guidance of Maria Kliegel. She has received several prestigious awards. With the support of various cultural foundations, the young cellist embarked on an international career, performing in Europe, Asia and South America.

Her concerto performances with orchestra have been hailed by critics and audience alike. Her vast repertoire ranges from Baroque concertos to contemporary creations. As of 2017, Estelle Revaz will be soloist in residence for three years with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève under the direction of Arie van Beek.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Estelle Revaz particularly favours cello/piano recitals and trio performances. She has performed in prestigious venues in Switzerland and abroad, including the Victoria Hall (Geneva), the Centre Paul Klee (Bern), the Martinskirche (Basel), the Salle de Musique (La Chaux-de-Fonds), the Louvre (Paris), the NCPA (Beijing) and the Oriental Art Center (Shanghai). Her music partners include Gautier Capuçon, Lena Neudauer, Pavel Vernikov, Sergey Ostrovsky, Sine Nomine Quartet, Finghin Collins, Gérard Wyss and Christian Chamorel.

In 2015, her first album CANTIQUE (NEOS), coproduced with Radio Télévision Suisse, received rave reviews from the international press. The programme featured Ernest Bloch’s Hebraic Rhapsody, Schelomo, and the world premiere recording of Pitture, a concerto composed for, and dedicated to her by Andreas Pflüger, performed with the Orchestre Musique des Lumières under the direction of Facundo Agudin.

In 2015, Estelle Revaz was listed among the “100 Most Influential Personalities in Tomorrow’s Switzerland” (“Forum des 100”).

Thomas Ragossnig is one of the most distinguished Austrian harpsichordists of his generation. He was born in Vienna and grew up in Basel. He encountered early music in the family home at an early age and began harpsichord tuition when he was eight. He later studied with Jörg Ewald Dähler at the Conservatory of Berne and with Jean Goverts and Rolf Junghanns (harpsichord) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, thus acquiring knowledge of true-to-style early music interpretation and performance practice. He attained the early music diploma at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 1984. He went on to study with Jesper Christensen, Kenneth Gilbert, Gustav Leonhardt and Johann Sonnleitner.

Both as soloist and chamber musician, he has performed and made radio recordings in many European countries, in the USA and Mexico and at major international music festivals like the Ambras Palace Concerts, the International Lake Constance Festival, the Carinthian Summer, the Engadin Festival, the Halle Bach Festival and the Ludwigsburg Palace Festival. He holds annual harpsichord summer courses within the framework of the Arosa Masterclasses.

His rich experience in chamber music has resulted from his collaboration with renowned musicians, ensembles like the Linde Consort, the London Baroque, Les Nations and orchestras like the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado and Yehudi Menuhin.

He has made several recordings as chamber musician and soloist. His CD “Virtuosic Variations” (Bayer Records) was enthusiastically received by the press. Thomas Ragossnig is the initiator and for more than 25 years artistic director of the concert series “CIS – Cembalomusik in der Stadt Basel”, where the world’s leading harpsichordists can be heard alongside young hopefuls.

Razvan Popovici, in einer Musikerfamilie in Bukarest geboren, erhielt den ersten Bratschenunterricht bei seinem Vater Mugur Popovici. Er studierte in Salzburg, Paris und Freiburg bei Peter Langgartner, Jean Sulem und Wolfram Christ. Wichtige künstlerische Impulse bekamm er durch die Zusammenarbeit mit Tabea Zimmermann, Paul Coletti, Wilfried Strehle, Christoph Wyneken, Thomas Riebl, dem Hagen Quartett und Peteris Vasks. Razvan spielte als Solist in mehreren europäischen Ländern, u.a. in der Kölner Philharmonie, im Festspielhaus Baden-Baden und im Théatre-des-Champs-Elysées in Paris. Razvan ist regelmäßig Gast bei europäischen Festivals, u.a. bei den Schwetzinger Festspielen, Open Chamber Music Prussia Cove in Cornwall, Harrogate Festival, St.Gallen Musikfestival, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Music at Plush, Ferrarra Musica, George Enescu Festival in Heidelberg und Kobe International Arts Festival. Er trat als Kammermusikpartner von Konstantin Lifschitz, Rainer Kussmaul, Alexander Lonquich, Thomas Brandis, Daishin Kashimoto, Adrian Brendel, Baiba Skride, Carolin Widmann, dem Voces Quartett und Mitgliedern des Amadeus Quartetts u.a. in der Wigmore Hall und im South Bank Centre in London und im Prinzregententheater in München.

Als Mitglied im ensemble raro trat er in in mehreren europäischen Ländern und Japan u.a. in der Tate Gallery in London, im Atheneum in Bukarest und in der Münchener Residenz auf. Das Ensemble spielte die englische und deutsche Erstaufführung des Klavierquartetts von Peteris Vasks und ist Ensemble en résidence beim International Arts Festival in Kobe, Japan, bei der Mozartiade in Augsburg, bei den Pèlerinages in München und beim Chiemgauer Musikfrühling in Traunstein. Rundfunk- und Fernsehaufnahmen für deutsche (BR, SWR), englische (MTV) und rumänische Sendeanstalten (TVR, RRM) liegen vor.

Eine prägende musikalische Erfahrung war die Aushilfstätigkeit beim Berliner Philharmonischen Orchester unter Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Daniel Harding und Günter Wand. Als Gast war Razvan Solo-Bratschist u.a. des Kölner Kammerorchesters, des Münchener Kammerorchesters, der Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie und der Essener Philharmonikern. Razvan gab im vergangenen Sommer Meisterkurse in der Tschechischen Republik. 2007 wird er Meisterkurse in Rumänien und Japan leiten. Razvan ist Initiator und Leiter des Chiemgauer Musikfrühlings in Traunstein (www.chiemgauer-musikfruehling.de). Gleichzeitig ist er künstlerischer Leiter der Kammermusikreihe “Pèlerinages” in München und Intendant des Kammermusikfestivals “SoNoRo” in Bukarest (www.sonoro.ro).

Giancarlo Pontiggia was born in Seregno (Province of Milan) in 1952. He studied literature at the University of Milan. He was the editor of the Niebo poetry magazine from 1977 to 1981. In collaboration with Enzo di Mauro he published the book La parola innamorata. Poeti nuovi (Feltrinelli 1978). Pontiggia has translated Sade, Céline, Mallarmé, Valéry, Supervielle, Bonnefoy, ancient works by Pindar, Sallust, Rutilius Namatianus and the Disticha Catonis. He and his wife Maria Cristina Grandi published Letteratura latina. Storia e Testi in three volumes (Principato 1996-1998). He is the editor of various literature magazines and a literary critic for the Avvenire daily newspaper. Together with Paolo Lagazzi he manages two series of publications for Moretti & Vitali (Fabula and I volti di Hermes). The Guanda publishing house published his two poetic anthologies Con parole remote (1998, which was awarded the Eugenio Montale International Prize) and Bosco del tempo (2005). Further publications include three volumes of essays, titled Contro il Romanticismo. Esercizi di resistenza e di passione (Medusa 2002), Selve letterarie and Lo stadio di Nemea. Discorsi sulla poesia (Moretti & Vitali 2006 and 2013 respectively) and the drama essay Stazioni (Nuova Editrice Magenta 2010). His works have been translated into various languages. Giancarlo Pontiggia lives in Milan.

Janet Perry was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.  As the daughter of musical parents, she had lessons on piano and violin and ballet, was active in children’s theater productions, and soon discovered an unusual vocal talent which led her to her debut as child star in “The Wizard of Oz”.

She studied voice at the Curtis Institute of Music with Eufemia Giannini Gregory. After her degree, she left for Europe and was engaged immediately by the Chamber Opera of Vienna, followed by the Landestheater Linz, Gärtnerplatztheater of Munich, Cologne and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. With her career firmly established in the lighter Mozart, Strauss, and Italian opera roles, she appeared as guest in the major European opera houses, and in international festivals, notably Salzburg, Vienna Festival, Glyndbourne, Aix-en-Provence, Bregenz, Granada, Martina Franca, Montpellier, and with conductors such as Karajan, Kleiber, Böhm, Muti, Barenboim, Harnoncourt, Rostropovitch, Kubelik, and Sawallisch.
The concert repertoire of Janet Perry includes important literature from Early Music to the twentieth century. With Karajan she recorded Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Bruckner’s Te Deum, with Kubelik the C-minor Mass by Mozart for television, with Harnoncourt the Coffee Cantata of J.S.Bach, and Monteverdi’s 8^th Book of Madrigals. Lieder concerts have been an important part of Janet Perry’s concert activity, which she has presented in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and the USA.

Janet Perry began teaching voice relatively early in her career, she loves to help young singers and share her experience with the great musicians of her time. From 2003-2012 she was voice professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern, Switzerland, from 2012 at the Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and has given master classes in many music academies in Italy. More information on www.janetperry.com