SCHUMANN: Fantasiestücke, op. 73
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1 in E minor, op. 38
DEBUSSY: Sonata No. 1 in D minor
FRANCK: Sonata in A major

Described by Le Figaro as an “unrivaled musician”, Anastasia Kobekina is renowned for her musicality and breathtaking technique, her extraordinary versatility, and her infectious personality.

As a soloist, Kobekina has performed with world-renowned orchestras such as Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, Wiener Kammerorchester, Symphoniker Hamburg, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, under the direction of Krzysztov Penderecki, Heinrich Schiff, Omer Meir Wellber, Vladimir Spivakov, Charles Dutoit, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Xian Zhang, and Dmitrij Kitajenko.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season included concerts with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich conducted by Paavo Järvi, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrusa, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, as well as performances at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival.

Anastasia Kobekina has won awards in international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition (St. Petersburg 2019) and the Enescu Competition (Bucharest 2016). She was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2018 to 2021 and became a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Artist receiving an award in 2022. The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival selected her for its Leonard Bernstein Award 2024.

She performs at major venues and festivals including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Les Flâneries Musicales de Reims, the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival, Wigmore Hall, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and the Rheingau Music Festival.

Anastasia Kobekina is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, and her debut album Venice was released in February 2024.

Born in Russia, she began studying cello at the age of four. She studied with Frans Helmerson and Jens-Peter Maintz in Germany, and later in Paris with Jerome Pernoo. She currently studies baroque cello with Kristin von der Goltz in Frankfurt. She plays a 1698 Antonio Stradivari cello, generously loaned by the Stradivari Stiftung Habisreutinger.

Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula leads a dynamic and varied musical life as both a pianist and composer. During the 2023/24 season, he performed concerts worldwide; notable appearances included the Vancouver Recital Society, Wigmore Hall, Casals Forum Kronberg, Stadthaus Winterthur, and Unione Musicale Torino.

He recorded the complete solo piano works of Janáček, using the composer’s original piano, including previously unrecorded works, with release scheduled soon. As a composer, in 2023 he received a commission for a new piano trio from the Orpheus Chamber Music Competition and wrote the soundtrack for the film Colombine directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard.

This season, Abdelmoula returns to perform at Wigmore Hall, the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, and will play Schumann’s Concerto at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham.

Born in Switzerland, Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula studied at HEMU Lausanne with Christian Favre, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Ronan O’Hora, the Royal Conservatory Toronto, the Kronberg Academy with Sir András Schiff and Ferenc Rados, and finally at the Barenboim-Said Akademie with Jörg Widmann. He attended masterclasses with Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, György Kurtág, among others.

He has received numerous awards, including the Guildhall Wigmore Prize, the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award (Boston), and first prizes at the Ciurlionis Piano Competition (Vilnius), Grieg Composition Competition, YCAT International Auditions, and the Concours d’Interprétation de Lausanne.

He has performed extensively internationally, both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles, in venues such as the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Koerner Hall (Toronto), Banff Music Centre, 92nd Street Y, and Weill Recital Hall (New York), as well as in festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Prussia Cove IMS, and Schumannfest Düsseldorf.

His compositions have been performed by artists such as Heinz Holliger, Antje Weithaas, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sylvia Nopper, Gilles Colliard, and Einar Steen-Nokleberg, and by ensembles including Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, Swiss Chamber Soloists, Camerata Bern, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Quartetto Sine Nomine, and Ensemble Séquence.

Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula travels, whenever possible, with an 88-key electric keyboard carried like a backpack, performing freely and bringing music into the heart of the community: schools, hospitals, and care homes.