Events – FirenzeOnStage

THE SOUND OF MUSIC 60th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING, WITH THE CAST OF THE FILM!

TAKE PART IN THE 60th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF THE ICONIC MOVIE “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” WITH SPECIAL GUESTS FOR AN AUDIENCE TALKBACK – THE CHILDREN OF THE MOVIE!

The 60th anniversary screening of THE SOUND OF MUSIC film, with special guests: cast members who played the children in the movie!

ARTISTS IN ATTENDANCE

Angela Cartwright (Brigitta von Trapp)

Debra Turner (Marta von Trapp)

Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich von Trapp)

Duane Chase (Kurt von Trapp)

Kym Karath (Gretl von Trapp)

Based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp and is set in Salzburg, Austria.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC film is a fictional retelling of nun Maria von Trapp’s experience as governess to seven children, her eventual marriage to their father Captain Georg von Trapp, and the family’s escape from Salzburg during the Anschluss of 1938.

Beautifully realized as a film produced and directed by the great Robert Wise, with a script by Ernest Lehman, this iconic film is based on the 1959 stage musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Lindsay and Crouse is beloved throughout the entire world.

SUPERVIRTUOSO PIANO CONCERT, WITH INNA FALIKS

PROGRAM

“Basso Ostinato” – Rodion Shchedrin (b.1932)

“Barcarolle (June)” Op.37 no. 6 – Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

“Fantasia on an Ostinato” – John Corigliano (b. 1938)

“Fantasie op 77” – Beethoven (1770-1827)

“Black Earth” – Fazil Say (b. 1970)

“Gaspard de la Nuit” – Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Ondine

Le Gibet

Scarbo

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative, and poetic artists of her generation. She has made a name for herself through commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. Her new memoir, Weight in the Fingertips, A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage, was published by Globe Pequot Press in October 2023.

Ms. Faliks’s distinguished career has brought thousands of recitals and concerts throughout the US, Asia, and Europe. Recent seasons have included performances at Alice Tully Hall, National Sawdust, Ravinia Festival, National Gallery of Art, the Wallis Annenberg Center, Oji Hall in Tokyo, tours of China, with appearances in all of its major halls including the Beijing Center for Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater and Tianjin Grand Theater; debuts at the Festival Internacional de Piano in Mexico, the Fazioli Series in Italy, Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum, Portland Piano Festival, Camerata Pacifica and a collaboration with the contemporary dance company, Bodytraffic at the Broad Stage. She has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall and many more.

Inquisitive and versatile, Inna Faliks has had a strong commitment to contemporary music, giving premieres of works composed for and dedicated to her by Timo Andres, Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Paola Prestini, Ljova, Clarice Assad, Peter Golub.

Faliks created a one-woman show “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist”, an autobiographical monologue for pianist and actress, premiered in New York’s Symphony Space and performed worldwide. Inna Faliks has been featured on radio and television throughout the world; she is founder and curator of Music/Words, an award-winning poetry-music series: performances in collaboration with distinguished poets.

Her CD releases, Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel on Navona Records and The Schumann Project Volume 1, on MSR Classics, received rave reviews, and were named to several “best of 2021” lists. With her all-Beethoven CD release on MSR, WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, concert pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” on Delos captures her autobiographical monologue-recital with short piano works from Bach to Carter.

A past winner of many prestigious competitions, Inna Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. She is in demand as Artist Teacher and is frequently invited to judge competitions and give masterclasses at major conservatories and universities. As a writer, she has been published by the LA Times and Washington Post. During Covid, she started a weekly online recital series, Corona Fridays, featuring children’s concerts, new music, and poetry.

VENETIAN SINGING SENSATION, GIADA VALENTI in CONCERT

In “The Italian Heart of the American Songbook”, internationally acclaimed singer Giada Valenti invites you to discover the surprising, emotional, and often little-known stories behind the music that shaped generations.

This unique concert experience is more than a performance—it’s a journey through memories, emotions, and hidden legacies.

Giada takes you behind the curtain, revealing how Italian lyricists, composers, and musicians quietly left their mark on the American and international music scene. From a fisherman in Naples who unknowingly wrote a tune that would echo across the globe, to a young Venetian whose melody would become a global anthem, these are stories of passion, fate, and musical genius.

With songs made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Édith Piaf, Tom Jones, and Shirley Bassey – from the glitz of Hollywood to the bright lights of Broadway, the Italian touch helped shape the very soundtrack of American life.

Giada Valenti was born and raised near Venice, Italy. However, she moved to the United States in 2005 and has been residing in Las Vegas since 2019. Giada is well-known for her breathtaking PBS special, “From Venice with Love,” which can be found at www.formvenicewithlove.com.

She made her debut as a headliner in Las Vegas in November 2017, performing at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. In October 2018, Giada performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and due to popular demand, she returned to the venue in 2019. One of her most significant highlights was being asked to sing alongside Andrea Bocelli at a concert benefiting his foundation.

Giada has released several albums, including “And I Love You So,” “Italian Signorina,” “My Lullaby,” and “From Venice with Love.”

Additionally, Giada also co-hosted for ABC7 the Columbus Day Parade in New York in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

PIANO VIRTUOSO, BORIS BERMAN in CONCERT

“Berman shows why he’s a pianist’s pianist. Even though this is an age of spectacular pianists, there are yet relatively few spectacular musicians among them. Pianist Boris Berman is one of them. His performance…was one of those rare evenings that ended much too soon, despite the audience’s prolonged invitation.”

– Boston Globe

“An undisputed aristocrat of the piano. Few artists have such a refined sense of sound and only the most dashing fanatic has a virtuoso technique of this order. Gieseking seemed to have been raised from the ashes in his hands…”

– Helsingin sanomat (Finland)

“With a cool head, a warm heart, and lapidary precision, Berman defined the essential character of each score, impeccably integrating all the important musical gestures into a satisfying total picture.”

– New York Magazine

Boris Berman is regularly performing in more than fifty countries on six continents. His highly acclaimed performances have included appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, The Philharmonia (London), the Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Royal Scottish Orchestra. A frequent performer on major recital series, he has also appeared in many important festivals.

Born in Moscow, he studied at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the distinguished pianist Lev Oborin. In 1973, he left a flourishing career in the Soviet Union to immigrate to Israel where he quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after keyboard performers. Presently, he resides in New Haven, USA.

A teacher of international stature, Boris Berman heads the Piano Department of Yale School of Music and conducts master classes throughout the world. He has been named a Honorary Professor of Shanghai Conservatory, of the Danish Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen, and of China Conservatory in Beijing. He is frequently invited to join juries of various international competitions.

A Grammy nominee, Mr. Berman’s recorded all solo piano works by Prokofiev and Schnittke, complete sonatas by Scriabin, works by Mozart, Weber, Schumann, Brahms, Franck, Shostakovich, Debussy, Stravinsky, Berio, Cage, and Joplin. Most recently French label Le Palais des Degustateurs released Boris Berman’s recording of Brahms’s Klavierstücke and Variations, and a double CD retrospective of piano works by Ukranian composer Valentyn Silvestrov.

In 2000, the prestigious Yale University Press published Professor Berman’s Notes from the Pianist’s Bench. In this book, he explores issues of piano technique and music interpretation. The book has been translated to several languages. In November, 2017 Yale University Press has published the newly revised version of the book electronically enhanced with audio and video components. In 2008, Yale University Press has published Boris Berman’s Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer. Boris Berman has also been an editor of the new critical edition of Piano Sonatas by Prokofiev (Shanghai Music Publishing House).

In 2024-25, Boris Berman is performing and teaching in France, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, and the USA.

PROGRAM

Schubert – Four Impromtus op. 142 (1827)

Allegro moderato

Allegretto Andante

Allegro scherzando

Three preludes from Book 2

La Puerta del Vino

Bruyérs

“General Lavin” – excentric –

Estampes (1894-1903)

Pagodes

La soirée dans Grenade

Jardins sous la pluie

BROADWAY at THE NICCOLINI

Continuing with our international star series, join Tony-nominated Broadway star Jenn Colella for an unforgettable evening of show-stopping anthems, heartfelt ballads, and behind-the-scenes Broadway stories from her celebrated career. With her signature charisma and powerhouse vocals, Jenn brings the magic of Broadway to Florence in an intimate and electrifying performance.

Featuring Broadway and contemporary hits by Lerner & Loewe, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder and many more!

JENN COLELLA is a Grammy Award winning, Tony Award nominated Broadway actress. She originated six principal roles on Broadway. Jenn’s been a guest star on many television series including “The Good Wife,” “Madam Secretary,” “FBI Most Wanted,” “Evil” and several others. She currently plays Captain Alison Kershaw on “Elsbeth” on CBS. She stars in the live capture film of the Tony Award-winning smash hit musical Come From Away on Apple Plus. Jenn teaches acting at Columbia University and Pace University, and holds an MFA from The University of California, Irvine and an Honorary Doctorate degree from Columbia College.

CHRIS RANNEY, pianist and musical director has performed on stages all over the world. His Broadway credits include the Tony Award winning Come From Away, and Tony-nominated A Christmas Story. Chris also works as an arranger and music supervisor of new theatrical works, including upcoming musical Signs of Life, currently in development. Chris is an accompanist at Columbia University, and holds multiple degrees from the University of Michigan

White Nights Live!

In 1985, Academy Award Winning director Taylor Hackford made the musical thriller film WHITE NIGHTS starring international ballet superstar MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV, tap dancing phenom, GREGORY HINES, and world renowned actor, Dame HELEN MIRREN. For the first time, BARYSHNIKOV, MIRREN and HACKFORD will appear LIVE ON STAGE at TEATRO NICCOLINI to accompany a screening of their film, WHITE NIGHTS, and to share stories of the making of the film, discussing the creation of the sequences and what it took to create one of the most iconic dance films, not to mention one of the first films to use a real 747 airplane to capture a crash scene.

A stunning “behind the scenes” event with the stars and artists who made a prescient film the story of which resonates today in our complicated world.

This evening at TEATRO NICCOLNI promises to be the cultural event of the season!

DAME HELEN MIRREN

Actor

Dame Helen Lydia Mirren is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She received an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for the same role in The Audience, three British Academy Television Awards for her performance as DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, and four Primetime Emmy Awards, including two for Prime Suspect.

Excelling on stage with the National Youth Theatre, Mirren’s performance as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra in 1965 saw her invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company before she made her West End stage debut in 1975. Since then, Mirren has also had success in television and film. Aside from her Academy Award-winning performance, Mirren’s other Oscar-nominated performances were for The Madness of King George (1994), Gosford Park (2001), and The Last Station (2009). For her role on Prime Suspect, which ran from 1991 to 2006, she won three consecutive British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress (1992, 1993 and 1994), a joint-record of consecutive wins shared with Julie Walters, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Playing Queen Elizabeth I in the television series Elizabeth I (2005), and Queen Elizabeth II in the film The Queen (2006), she is the only actor to have portrayed both the regnant Elizabeths on screen.

After her breakthrough film role in The Long Good Friday (1980), other notable film roles included Cal (1984), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, 2010 (1984), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), Calendar Girls (2003), Hitchcock (2012), The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Woman in Gold (2015), Trumbo (2015), and The Leisure Seeker (2017). She also appeared in the action films Red (2010) and Red 2 (2013) playing an ex-MI6 assassin, and in the Fast & Furious films The Fate of the Furious (2017), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), and F9 (2021). Current projects include television’s 1923 (2024) with Harrison Ford, The Thursday Murder Club, (2024) .

In the Queen’s 2003 Birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE) for services to drama, with investiture taking place at Buckingham Palace. In 2013 she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2014 she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2021, she was announced as the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award

MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV

Dancer/Actor

Mikhail Baryshnikov is a Soviet-born American actor and ballet dancer who was the preeminent male classical dancer of the 1970s and ’80s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.

The son of Russian parents in Latvia, Baryshnikov entered Riga’s opera ballet school at age 12. The success that he achieved there convinced him to devote himself to dancing. In 1963 he was admitted to the Vaganova ballet school (the training school for the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet in Leningrad [St. Petersburg]), where he was instructed by Aleksandr Pushkin. In 1966 he joined the Kirov Ballet as a soloist without having to serve the customary apprenticeship as a member of the corps de ballet. As the Kirov Ballet’s premier danseur noble, Baryshnikov appeared in the leading roles in Gorianka (1968) and Vestris (1969), two original ballets that had been especially choreographed for him.

Baryshnikov was extremely popular with Soviet audiences, but he began to chafe at the official restrictions that were placed upon him as an artist, particularly the prohibition on his performance of contemporary foreign ballets. While on a dance tour in Toronto in June 1974, Baryshnikov defected and was granted asylum by the Canadian government. Soon thereafter he began a series of highly successful appearances before North American audiences. As a dancer, his great physical prowess and unsurpassed leaping ability enabled him to perform the most difficult combinations of steps with remarkable elegance of line.

Baryshnikov joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and danced with that company for four years, during which time he rechoreographed the Russian classics The Nutcracker (in 1976) and Don Quixote (in 1978). He danced with the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine in 1978–79, but from 1980 to 1989 he returned to the ABT as that company’s artistic director. In 1990 Baryshnikov created the White Oak Dance Project, a small touring company of experienced dancers, and served as its director until 2002. Three years later he founded the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, a creative space that supports multidisciplinary artists from around the world.

In addition to his ballet career, Baryshnikov played a leading role as dancer and actor in the motion pictures The Turning Point (1977), White Nights (1985), That’s Dancing! (1985), and Dancers (1987). He played a dramatic role in the Franz Kafka play Metamorphosis (1989) and appeared as a recurring love interest of lead character Carrie Bradshaw in the television series Sex and the City (2003–04).

Baryshnikov has received numerous awards, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2000). In 2017 the Japan Art Association awarded him the Praemium Imperiale for theater/film, a prize recognizing lifetime achievement in fields not covered by the Nobel Prize.

TAYLOR HACKFORD

Director

In addition to helming the iconic feature hits An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Against All Odds (1984), Ray (2004), and the cult thriller The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Taylor Hackford has directed the films Dolores Claiborne (1995), Everybody’s All-American (1988), and Proof of Life (2000) and White Nights (1985). Taylor developed and produced La Bamba (1987), the most successful Latin-themed feature film in history. Mr. Hackford has been an active member of the Directors Guild of America for over 40 years, including twice as elected President of the DGA, beginning in 2009.

Chamber Music All Stars – Program 2

Featuring musical superstars from all around Europe and the world’s most beloved music

Artists:

Alessio Bax, piano

Lucille Chung, piano

Daishin Kashimoto, violin

Adrien La Marca, viola

Claudio Bohórquez, cello

Nabil Shehata, double bass

Program:

Francis Poulenc Sonata for piano four hands, FP 8
-Prélude
-Rustique
-Final
Chung/Bax

Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata for piano and violin no. 9 in A major, op. 47 “Kreutzer”
-Adagio sostenuto – Presto
-Andante con variazioni
-Presto
Kashimoto/Bax

—

Franz Schubert Quintet in A major, D. 667 “Trout”
-Allegro vivace
-Andante
-Scherzo: Presto
-Andantino – Allegretto
-Allegro giusto
Kashimoto/La Marca/Borórquez/Shehata/Bax

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Alessio Bax

(Piano)

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the 2000 Leeds International Piano Competition and the 1997 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and is now a familiar face on five continents as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. He has appeared with over 150 orchestras, including the New York, London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the Tokyo and NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.

Highlights of the 2023-24 season include his debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, return performances with the Dallas Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Buenos Aires Philharmonic, his fifth performance at the famed Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, a tour of Asia with violinist Daishin Kashimoto, and of Japan with flutist Emmanuel Pahud, numerous New York appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a wide range of high-profile chamber music projects, recitals, and concerto performances in Europe, Asia, and across the United States.

As a renowned chamber musician, he recently collaborated with Joshua Bell, Lisa Batiashvili, Ian Bostridge, Lucille Chung, James Ehnes, Vilde Frang, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, François Leleux, Sergei Nakariakov, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Paul Watkins, and Tabea Zimmermann, among many others.

Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, and Music@Menlo.

In 2009, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and four years later he received both the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

Bax’s celebrated Signum Classics discography includes his latest recital “Forgotten Dances,” “Italian Inspirations,” Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”); Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto; “Debussy and Ravel for Two” and Bax & Chung, two duo disc with Lucille Chung; Alessio Bax plays Mozart, recorded with London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month … and quite possibly … of the year” by MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays Brahms (a Gramophone “Critics’ Choice”); Bach Transcribed; and Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice”). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice.” He performed Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available on DVD from EMI.

At the age of 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. He has been on the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory since the fall of 2019 and serves as co-artistic director of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation for emerging pianists.

Bax lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila.

Lucille Chung

(Piano)

Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined performances” by Gramophone magazine, “combining vigor and suppleness with natural eloquence and elegance” (Le Soir).

She made her debut at the age of ten with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and Charles Dutoit subsequently invited her to be a featured soloist during the MSO Asian Tour in 1989. Since then, she has performed an extensive concerto repertoire spanning from Bach to Adams with over 70 leading orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerífe, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Staatskapelle Weimar, Philharmonie de Lorraine, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Belgrade Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Dallas Symphony, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, MAV Symphony (Budapest), Lithuanian National Symphony, Israel Chamber Orchestra as well as all the major Canadian orchestras, including Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Calgary, Winnipeg and Métropolitain, among others. She has appeared with conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Stéphane Denève, Peter Oundjian, Gerd Albrecht and Charles Dutoit.

As a recitalist, she has performed in over 35 countries in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Spivey Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Seoul Arts Center, and Sala São Paulo. Festival appearances include the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Incontri in Terra di Siena in Italy, MDR Sommer Festival and Moritzburg Festival in Dresden, Lübecker Kammermusikfest, Salon-de-Provence Festival, Santander International Festival and Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain, Við Djúpið Festival in Iceland; Felicja Blumental Festival in Israel, Music@Menlo, Montreal International Festival, Ottawa Chamber Festival, Bard Music Festival in NY, International Keyboard Institute and Festival in NYC, Chang Chun Festival in China, and the Bravissimo Festival in Guatemala.

In 1989, she was recognized on the international scene as the First Prize winner at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. She won Second Prize at the 1992 Montreal International Music Competition, at which she also won a Special Prize for the best interpretation of the unpublished work. In 1993, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Governor General of Canada and in 1994 won the Second Prize at the First International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar. In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.

She graduated from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School before she turned twenty, where she studied with Seymour Lipkin. She decided to further her studies in London with Maria Curcio-Diamand, Schnabel’s protégée, at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and received the Konzertexam Diplom from the Hochschule “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, where she worked with the late Lazar Berman. She was the first non-Italian recipient of the honorary title of “Master” upon graduating from the Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, Italy. She also worked with Joaquín Achúcarro at Southern Methodist University, where she held the Johnson-Prothro Artist-in-Residence endowed position. Ms. Chung is the recipient of the Honors Diploma at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy and was named Honorary Professor of the Jilin Arts College in China.

Lucille Chung has been hailed as “a considerable artist, admirable for her bold choice of music” by The Sunday Times for her recordings of the complete piano works by György Ligeti on the Dynamic label. The first volume was released in 2001 to great critical acclaim, receiving the maximum R10 from Classica-Répertoire in France, 5 Stars from the BBC Music Magazine, and 5 Stars in Fono Forum in Germany. The final volume, which also contains works for two pianos, was recorded with her husband, Alessio Bax and once again received the prestigious R10 from Classica-Répertoire. Her all-Scriabin CD won the “Best Instrumental Recording” prize at the 2003 Prelude Classical Awards in Holland as well as the coveted R10 from Classica-Répertoire in France.

She also recorded the two Mendelssohn Piano Concerti on the Richelieu/Radio-Canada label, which was nominated for the Prix Opus in Canada. In August 2005, Bax and Chung recorded Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony under Maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya, which was released in 2006. In 2007 she released a solo album for the Fazioli Concert Hall Series. Lucille then embarked on an exclusive contract with Disques XXI/Universal: Piano Transcriptions of Camille Saint-Saëns and Mozart & Me. 2013 marked the release of a piano duo disc with Alessio Bax, presenting Stravinsky’s original four-hand version of the ballet Petrouchka as well as music by Brahms and Piazzolla for Signum Records. In 2015, she released an all-Poulenc album for Signum Records, which was chosen as the “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb and in 2018, her 13th album titled Liszt Piano Works was released to great acclaim. Her latest album for Signum Records featuring works by Debussy and Ravel was released in 2024.

Lucille is fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German, and Russian. She and husband, pianist Alessio Bax make their home in New York City with their daughter, Mila, and are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation, which seeks to further the careers of young pianists.

Daishin Kashimoto

(Violin)

Both as the soloist of international orchestras and as a sought-after chamber musician, Daishin Kashimoto is a regular guest of major concert halls around the globe. The tremendous wealth of experience gained in over 15 years as first concert master of the Berliner Philharmoniker benefits him in his equally adept role as a soloist, where he plays a wide repertoire ranging from classical to new music.

Recently, Daishin Kashimoto performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi and appeared with the City of Birmingham Orchestra under the baton of Kazuki Yamada, the Gürzenich Orchestra under the direction of François-Xavier Roth as well as the NDR Radio Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Søndergård. A highlight of 2023 is the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s new violin concerto Prayer with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Paavo Järvi at the Philharmonie Berlin, followed by the Swiss premiere at the KKL Luzern with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the Asian premiere at the Suntory Hall with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The new season also sees the start of his residency as soloist with the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim.< /p>

Daishin Kashimoto has appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, the Bavarian, Hessian, and West German Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin, Paavo Järvi, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, and Philippe Jordan. He can also be heard as a soloist in concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Past engagements include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the Grafenegg Festival and Lucerne Festival, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, and Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique and Valse Scherzo at Berlin’s Waldbühne under direction of Andris Nelsons.

As a chamber musician Daishin Kashimoto has appeared alongside Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alessio Bax, Emmanuel Pahud, Itamar Golan, Tabea Zimmermann, Yefim Bronfman, Claudio Bohórquez and Konstantin Lifschitz, among others. With Konstantin Lifschitz, he also recorded a highly acclaimed CD of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas in 2014. His other recordings include a CD of Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Myung Whun Chung for Sony Music.

His parents introduced him to various instruments early on, with the three-year-old opting for the violin and receiving his first lessons in Tokyo. After moving to the United States, Daishin Kashimoto was accepted, at the tender age of seven, as the youngest student to ever attend Julliard School’s pre-college program; at age eleven, he transferred to the Lübeck University of Music under Zakhar Bron, before becoming a student of Rainer Kussmaul at the Freiburg University of Music from 1999 to 2004. He also had great success in major competitions as a teenager, taking first prize at the Menuhin Junior International Competition in 1993, the Cologne Violin Competition in 1994, and in 1996 at the Vienna Fritz Kreisler and the Long-Thibaud Competitions. Daishin Kashimoto has been the artistic director of the Le Pont Music Festival in Ako and Himeji (Japan) since 2007. He plays on a del Gesu 1744 “de Beriot” kindly loaned by Crystco, Inc. and its chairman Mr. Hikaru Shimura.

Adrien La Marca

(Viola)

Both as the soloist of international orchestras and as a sought-after chamber musician, Daishin Kashimoto is a regular guest of major concert halls around the globe. The tremendous wealth of experience gained in over 15 years as first concert master of the Berliner Philharmoniker benefits him in his equally adept role as a soloist, where he plays a wide repertoire ranging from classical to new music.

Recently, Daishin Kashimoto performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi and appeared with the City of Birmingham Orchestra under the baton of Kazuki Yamada, the Gürzenich Orchestra under the direction of François-Xavier Roth as well as the NDR Radio Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Søndergård. A highlight of 2023 is the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s new violin concerto Prayer with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Paavo Järvi at the Philharmonie Berlin, followed by the Swiss premiere at the KKL Luzern with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the Asian premiere at the Suntory Hall with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The new season also sees the start of his residency as soloist with the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim.

Daishin Kashimoto has appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, the Bavarian, Hessian, and West German Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin, Paavo Järvi, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, and Philippe Jordan. He can also be heard as a soloist in concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Past engagements include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the Grafenegg Festival and Lucerne Festival, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, and Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique and Valse Scherzo at Berlin’s Waldbühne under direction of Andris Nelsons.

As a chamber musician Daishin Kashimoto has appeared alongside Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alessio Bax, Emmanuel Pahud, Itamar Golan, Tabea Zimmermann, Yefim Bronfman, Claudio Bohórquez and Konstantin Lifschitz, among others. With Konstantin Lifschitz, he also recorded a highly acclaimed CD of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas in 2014. His other recordings include a CD of Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Myung Whun Chung for Sony Music.

His parents introduced him to various instruments early on, with the three-year-old opting for the violin and receiving his first lessons in Tokyo. After moving to the United States, Daishin Kashimoto was accepted, at the tender age of seven, as the youngest student to ever attend Julliard School’s pre-college program; at age eleven, he transferred to the Lübeck University of Music under Zakhar Bron, before becoming a student of Rainer Kussmaul at the Freiburg University of Music from 1999 to 2004. He also had great success in major competitions as a teenager, taking first prize at the Menuhin Junior International Competition in 1993, the Cologne Violin Competition in 1994, and in 1996 at the Vienna Fritz Kreisler and the Long-Thibaud Competitions. Daishin Kashimoto has been the artistic director of the Le Pont Music Festival in Ako and Himeji (Japan) since 2007. He plays on a del Gesu 1744 “de Beriot” kindly loaned by Crystco, Inc. and its chairman Mr. Hikaru Shimura.

Claudio Bohórquez

(Cello)

The German-born cellist of Peruvian-Uruguayan descent is one of the most sought-after musicians in his field. As a student of Boris Pergamenschikow, Claudio Bohórquez achieved success at an early age at international competitions such as the Tschaikowsky Youth Competition in Moscow and the Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris.
This culminated in 2000 with three awards at the first International Pablo Casals Competition held under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy: Marta Casals Istomin presented Claudio Bohórquez with first prize, a special award for the best chamber music, and also the use of Casals’ Gofriller cello for a period of two years. He also won first prize at the International Music Competition in Geneva, an achievement that marked the start of his career as a soloist. Meanwhile he has become a teacher himself: from 2011 to 2016 he was professor at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, in September 2016 he was appointed to the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, where he has been a guest professor since 2003.

Among others, Claudio Bohórquez has performed with almost all German radio orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Collegium Musicum Basel, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In Japan, he performs with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US, Claudio Bohórquez recently gave concerts with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Renowned conductors Claudio Bohórquez has worked with include Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Sir Neville Marriner, Eiji Oue, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, Tugan Sokhiev, Lothar Zagrosek and David Zinman.

Claudio Bohórquez is a guest at numerous festivals. Among them are the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the City of London Festival, the Penderecki Festival in Warsaw and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. Appearances in the United States have included performances at the Tanglewood, Ravinia and Aspen Festival as well as the Hollywood Bowl. He participated in the chamber music festival Lockenhaus in Austria and at Gidon Kremer’s festival “Les Musiques” in Basel. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed together with Jörg Widmann in Bilbao/Madrid, and with Viviane Hagner and Jonathan Gilad at the Beethoven Marathon at Konzerthaus Berlin.

The past seasons have led the artist to many festivals, including: a. to the Rheingau Music Festival with the Columbian Youth Philharmonic under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, to the Dresden Music Festival with a Chamber Music Project together with the violinist Philippe Quint and the pianist Boris Giltburg, to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival. The upcoming season includes, among others, the Elbphilharmonie debut on November 8, 2018 and an Elgar cello concert with the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg on February 15, 2019.

In addition to numerous CD recordings, radio recordings and television appearances Claudio Bohórquez worked as an interpreter for the soundtrack of Paul English by to the film “Ten Minutes Older – The Cello”, which was shown in theaters worldwide. Together with the painter Klaus-Peter Kirchner, Claudio Bohórquez developed the installation project “Raum für Pablo Casals” in homage to this great cellist. He was part of the ECHO-winning album “Four Seasons” (2017) of Daniel Hope, released by Deutsche Grammophon. In July 2018 Berlin Classics will release a new CD with the sonatas of Johannes Brahms and some bonus tracks together with Claudio Bohórquez’s duo partner Péter Nagy.

Since the season 2017/18 Claudio Bohórquez is Artistic Director of the Festival Winnenden.

Claudio Bohórquez plays a G. B. Rogeri violoncello presented to him by the Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg.

Nabil Shehata

(Double Bass)

“Giving space to music” runs like a thread through Nabil Shehata’s life, both literally and figuratively. As a nine-year-old, the double bass opens the door to, in his words, “the most beautiful repertoire there is” – namely that of classical music. As a young person, he feels the growing desire to be involved in this music as a conductor. Shehata follows this impulse, gives up his position as principal bass player of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and has since successfully embarked on a career as a conductor. A critic recently wrote that he conducts with “authority full of ease” an observation that corresponds precisely with what Shehata is aiming for. “It is about resonating with each other. This is what creates music. This is what I want to achieve with orchestras”. Shehata has developed a conducting style that is closely related to chamber music making, because he is convinced that “this is how music is created that can achieve what audiences, orchestras, and conductors alike desire:unforgettable concert experiences!”.

The BBC Music Magazine honoured Nabil Shehata’s realisation of this intention by presenting him with the BBC Music Award for the best orchestral recording 12|2021.

Nabil Shehata’s career began as principal bass player with the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic. As a conductor, he has been mentored and taught by Christian Thielemann, Rolf Reuter, and Lawrence Forster, among others. He was chief conductor of Philharmonie Südwestfalen from 2019 to 2024 and has recently< conducted as a guest, among other ensembles, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Robert Schumann Philharmonic, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Not long ago, he made his conducting debut with great success at the sold-out Elbphilharmonie. Prior to his current position, he was the chief conductor at the Munich Chamber Opera, and broadened his experience at the Berlin State Opera as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim. As a professor of double bass in Munich and Berlin as well as a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, he has passed on his experience to younger musicians for many years. In his hometown of Verden, Shehata founded the “Maiklänge” chamber music festival, which is a heartfelt project for him to organize high-quality concerts where he grew up.

Chamber Music All Stars – Program 1

Featuring musical superstars from all around Europe and the world’s most beloved music.

This special concert is in honour of our dear friend and world class artist, Antonio Lysy, and the Tuscan music festival that he created, Incontri in Terra di Siena.