Paul Lewis - Piano

Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded CBE for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

Lewis often focuses on specific composers in projects that allow him to take audiences deep inside the works. In 2026 and 2027, he will tour his Mozart+ series around the world, juxtaposing Mozart’s lesser-known piano repertoire with works by composers such as Poulenc, Chopin and Weber, illuminating Mozart’s influences over subsequent generations, as well as shining a light on works that are often overshadowed by his concertos. Previously, between 2022 and 2025, Lewis embarked on a Schubert Piano Sonata Series, presenting four programmes of the completed sonatas at over 40 venues around the world.

With a natural affinity for Beethoven, Lewis has performed the composer’s complete piano concerto cycle all over the world and was the first pianist to present it in a single BBC Proms season, in 2010. He has subsequently performed it in Tanglewood in 2022, Boston in 2023 with Andris Nelsons and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in 2025 with Eivind Aadland and Oslo Philharmonic. He took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven.

Beyond many award-winning Beethoven and Schubert recordings, his discography with Harmonia Mundi also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in Romantic repertoire such as Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt. In March 2025 he gave the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Piano Sonata in Oviedo, Italy, and he continues to perform it around the world.

In chamber music, Lewis works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together – and he is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK. In May 2025 he was the first non-American pianist to chair the jury of the The Cliburn Piano Competition.

www.paullewispiano.co.uk

Bjørg Lewis - Cello

Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls, and is sought after both as a cello teacher and chamber music coach. She was artistic director of the Elverum Festival from 2000 until 2015, and is joint artistic director of Midsummer Music, a chamber music festival she founded together with her husband Paul Lewis.

Bjørg studied with Geir Tore Larsen at the conservatory in Oslo and later with Frans Helmerson at Edsberg Music Institute in Stockholm where she graduated with a soloist diploma in 1991. Other influential teachers have been Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirschbaum and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Bjørg is a founder member of the Vertavo String Quartet which has taken her to some of the world’s prestigious venues including the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Köln Philharmonie, as well as Sydney Opera House and Tokyo’s Toppan Hall. 

The Vertavo Quartet won the 1st Prize, Audience Prize and the Radio Listener’s Award at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in 1995, and in 1996 the Quartet won 1st prize in the Nordic Chamber Music Competition in Copenhagen and the critic’s Prize in Oslo. The Quartet is also the recipient of the prestigious Grieg Prize. The Quartet won the Spellemannspris, a Norwegian Grammy, and a Diapason d’Or for their recording of the Grieg and Debussy Quartets. In 2024 the Vertavo Quartet celebrated their 40th years anniversary and marked it with an event in the Oslo String Quartet Series.

Bjørg is a frequent guest at many of the world’s important festivals including the Schubertiade, Proms, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, Schleswig Holstein, Berliner Festspiele, Kuhmo and Risør where she has collaborated with musicians such as Antje Weithaas, Elizabeth Batiashvili, Martin Fröst, Leif Ove Andsnes, Yura Lee, Alexandra Madzar, Kathryn Stott and Paul Lewis.

Bjørg Lewis is currently Associate Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She regularly teaches at masterclasses and is often invited on to the jury of competitions such as the ARD, London and Carl Nielsen International String Quartet Competitions.

She plays on a cello by Gennaro Gagliano from 1748, previously played by Martin Lovett of the Amadeus Quartet, provided by Dextra Musica AS. This company is founded by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.

www.vertavo.com

Alasdair Beatson - Piano

Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson works prolifically as soloist and chamber musician, adept on modern and historical instruments, and renowned as both performer and pedagogue. Notable performances in the 2025-26 season include multiple appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, performing as concerto soloist with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and in festivals including Bath Mozartfest, Cumnock Tryst, IMS Prussia Cove, Musikdorf Ernen, Resonances, Shenzhen Verbier Festival, and Yellow Barn. Musical collaborators include Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, Viktoria Mullova, Pieter Wispelwey, and the Nash Ensemble.

Alasdair is renowned as a sincere musician and intrepid programmer. He champions a wide repertoire with particular areas of interest: Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Schumann; the solo and chamber music of Gabriel Fauré, Bartók and Janáçek; concertos of Bach, Bartók, Britten, Fauré, Hindemith, Messiaen and Mozart; and contemporary works, including the piano quintet of Thomas Adès, George Benjamin’s Piano Figures and Shadowlines, and Harrison Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks.

Recent recordings include a solo piano recital Aus Wien on Pentatone, featuring music of Schumann, Schoenberg, Ravel, Korngold and Schubert, and Beethoven and Schubert works for violin and fortepiano with Viktoria Mullova on Signum. These join an acclaimed discography of solo and chamber recordings on BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Claves, Evil Penguin, Onyx, Pentatone, SOMM and Rubicon labels.

Alasdair teaches solo piano at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and regularly teaches and mentors for Chamber Studio and MusicWorks. From 2012 to 2018 Alasdair was founder and artistic director of Musique à Marsac, and since 2019 is artistic director of the Kammermusikfest at Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland.

alasdairbeatson.com

Irène Duval - Violin

Praised for ‘her mastery of phrasing and of the dramatic dimension’ (Diapason), ‘poised, fearless energy, chamber intelligence and musical finesse’ (Charlotte Gardner, 2024), French violinist Irène Duval is establishing herself as a uniquely compelling performer with a strong interest in combining works central to the repertoire with little-known gems. She is one of the ten Bachtrack’s Rising stars to watch for 25/26.

Recent highlights include her participation in Stephen Kovacevich’s 85th birthday concert at Wigmore Hall alongside Martha Argerich, her debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the first symphonic concert given by an international orchestra in Mauritius, her debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the inauguration concert of the Casals Forum in Kronberg, her first appearance at the Verbier Festival playing with Janine Jansen, a Debussy concert with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at Wigmore Hall, and her fourth collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In November 2024, she played in a 5-concert celebration of the centenary of Gabriel Fauré at Wigmore Hall, performing sonatas and ensemble works with Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk, Blythe Engstroem, Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih.

As a soloist, she has collaborated with major orchestras including the Dresdner Philharmonie, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Sinfonia Varsovia, and Kremerata Baltica, working with such conductors as Maxim Emelyanychev, Michael Sanderling, and Karel Mark Chichon.

Irène gives recitals at major venues and festivals in Europe, Japan and Australia, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Salle Gaveau, Dresdner Kulturpalast, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Philharmonie de Paris, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and Les Folles Journées in Nantes, Nigata and Tokyo. She frequently appears with pianists Sam Armstrong, Alasdair Beatson, Ariel Lanyi, Mishka Rushdie Momen, and Angus Webster.

Chamber music holds an important space in Irène’s heart and she enjoys participating in Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall each year, at the Krzyzowa Chamber Music Festival in Poland, and in Kronberg’s Chamber music connects the world festival.

Her second disc ‘Fauré and Friends’, recorded with Angus Webster, was released by Capriccio in September 2024, and a third one is to come on the theme of ‘Lost Violin Concertos’.

Born in France to a French father and Korean mother, Irène Duval grew up in Japan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong before returning to France at the age of 11. She studied with Suzanne Gessner and Jean- Jacques Kantorow, before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in 2008 in the class of Roland Daugareil; in 2014 she joined the Kronberg Academy in Germany, where she studied with Mihaela Martin for three years.

She has been supported by ArteMusica Stiftung, Fondation pour la vocation Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire, Günther Caspar Stiftung, Fondation de l’Or du Rhin, Fondation Safran pour la musique, and in 2021, she was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions.

Irène plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini which is kindly loaned to her by a private sponsor.

Steven Isserlis - Cello

British cellist Steven Isserlis CBE enjoys an international career as a soloist, chamber musician, author, educator, and broadcaster. Equally at home in music from baroque to the present day, he performs with the world’s greatest orchestras, including period ensembles, and has given many world premieres, including Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, four works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holliger, Jörg Widmann, Olli Mustonen, Mikhail Pletnev and many others.

His vast award-winning discography includes most of the cello repertoire, including the JS Bach suites (Gramophone Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He has received two Grammy nominations, for his recordings of Haydn’s cello concertos, and Martinů’s cello sonatas with Olli Mustonen. Premiere recordings include late works by Sir John Tavener (BBC Music magazine Premiere Award). His latest recordings, Mendelssohn Piano Trios with Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, and Boccherini Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets, were released in 2024.

As an author, his latest book is a critically acclaimed companion to the Bach cello suites, while his two books for children about music are among the genre’s most popular ever written and have been translated into many languages.He has also authored a commentary on Schumann’s famous Advice for Young Musicians. As a broadcaster, he has written and presented two in-depth documentaries for BBC Radio, on Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.

An insightful musical explorer and curator, he has programmed imaginative series for London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd St Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs orchestras from the cello, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in 2019 with Radu Lupu in his final public performance.

He was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, in recognition of his services to music. International recognition includes the Piatigorsky Prize (USA) and the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award (Germany). Since 1997, he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, Cornwall.

He plays the 1726 ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.

Henninge Landaas - Viola

Henninge Landaas was co-principal violist in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for 18 years and also a member of the internationally-renowned Vertavo String Quartet, with whom she performed in concert halls all over the world. The ensemble’s critically acclaimed recordings, include works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, Brahms, Bartok, Grieg and Debussy. As a member of Vertavo Quartet, she shared the Norwegian Music Critics’ Prize, Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy), and the prestigious French award, Diapason d’Or.

Henninge Landaas is a founding member of the Ssens Trio since 2014. She has released several CDs on the LAWO Classics label, among them, Johannes Brahms: Sonatas for Viola & Piano Op. 120 with Tim Horton and The Golden Hindemith with Bjørg Lewis.

She plays a G.B. Guadagnini viola on loan from Dextra Musica.

Kelley O'Connor - Mezzo-soprano

The Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. She is known for a commanding intensity on stage, a velvet vocal tone, and the ability to create sheer magic in her interpretations. O’Connor performs and inhabits a broad selection of repertoire, from Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms to Dessner, Corigliano and Adams; she is sought after by many of today’s most accomplished composers. She performs with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, with preeminent artists in recitals and chamber music, and with highly acclaimed opera companies in the U.S. and abroad.            

In the 2025–2026 season, Kelley O’Connor returns to the Aspen Music festival for the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’s Siddhartha, She, under the baton of Robert Spano. She opens the Grand Rapids Symphony season with Beethoven 9 and performs the work again with the San Francisco Symphony; joins the New World, and Fort Worth Symphonies for Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs; appears with the Colorado and Winston-Salem Symphonies for Handel’s Messiah; sings Mahler 2 with the Indianapolis Symphony; returns to the Atlanta Symphony for Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony; and appears with the Nashville Symphony in two programs: Verdi’s Requiem and Bernstein’s “Jeremiah.”

Recently, O’Connor has premiered an extended version of Thomas Adès’s America (A Prophecy) in her debut with the Gewandhausorchester under Andris Nelsons; performed Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and his Third Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony; John Adams’s El Niño with the Houston Symphony; and a gala performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.            

Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has recently premiered works by John Corigliano, Kareem Roustom, Joby Talbot, and Bryce Dessner. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for O’Connor and she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, having performed this moving set of songs with orchestras around the world. She also created the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, for which she has received unanimous critical acclaim.            

Operatic highlights include her Seattle Opera debut as Anna in a concert version of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia presented by Boston Lyric Opera in a new production by Broadway theater director Sarna Lapine, Carmen with Los Angeles Opera, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madama Butterfly in a new production by Lillian Groag at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston, Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.            

For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony in Ainadamar, Kelley O’Connor joined Robert Spano for performances and a Grammy® Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording.  Her recording catalogue also includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. O'Connor's newest recording, a collaboration with pianist and composer Robert Spano, is “Songs of Orpheus,” a series of song cycles by Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, George Crumb, and Spano himself, on Sono Luminus (August 2025). 

Tom Poster - Piano

Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music).

Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier, or sometimes directing from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.

Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope is particularly renowned for its championing of unjustly neglected gems alongside deservedly celebrated classics. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has enjoyed residencies at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals. Its albums for Chandos Records have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, while recent performance highlights have included concerts with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.

During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukeBox series with Elena Urioste - featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman - brought a staggeringly eclectic selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. Their subsequent recording, The Jukebox Album, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Tom has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, NMC, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and in collaboration with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.

Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Roderick Williams. His chamber opera for puppets, The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak, received an acclaimed three-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017. He is a lifelong fan of animals with unusual noses.

Anthony Robb - Flute

Described by The Times as “a glorious individual player” and a player of “intelligence and distinction”, Anthony Robb is currently solo flute of the Oxford Philharmonic and the flautist with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

After his studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London, Anthony was appointed principal flute with the BBC Radio Orchestra. This led to invitations to play as guest principal with the London Symphony, Philharmonia, and Academy of St Martins in the Fields.

As well as his positions with the Oxford Philharmonic and BCMG, Anthony regularly appears as a guest principal with the City Of Birmingham Symphony , Royal Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National and many other orchestras.

As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the Halle, BBC Concert Orchestra, City of London Chamber Orchestra, and Oxford Philharmonic. In 2025 he commissioned Roderick Williams to write a flute concerto which he premiered at the Chipping Campden Music Festival; further performances include Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Oxford Philharmonic conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

Recordings include discs of chamber music by Jean Francaix, chamber music by English and French female composers where his playing was singled out by the Gramaphone magazine in 2017 as being “highly impressive”, and most recently a disc of French and British music for flute, oboe and piano.

Anthony is firmly committed to outreach and educational work. He leads projects for Oxford Philharmonic at the Churchill Hospital; Wigmore Hall “Music for Life” project, working with people living with dementia; He trains students at the Royal Academy in working with children in hospitals.

Anthony lives in leafy Hertfordshire with his wife (a qualified Iyengar yoga teacher) and three dogs.

Elena Urioste - Violin

Elena Urioste is a musician, yogi, writer and entrepreneur, whose musical passion and honesty communicates to audiences across both solo and chamber music repertoire. As a soloist, she has performed with major orchestras across the US, including the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras, as well as ensembles such as the London Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Urioste has performed concertos at prestigious venues across the world, including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw and Royal Albert Hall, and given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Sage Gateshead and Bayerischer Rudfunk Munich. She receives regular invitations to festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, La Jolla, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, and the BBC Proms.

In the 2025–26 season she performs with Academy of St Martin in the Fields, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and Baltimore Symphony. Her broad discography includes many studio albums with pianist Tom Poster: Le Temps retrouvé (2024), From Brighton to Brooklyn (2022) and THE JUKEBOX ALBUM (2021). She features as soloist on Max Richter’s The New Four Seasons: Vivaldi Recomposed, recorded on period instruments; and in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto and Romance, on Chineke! Records.

An avid chamber musician, Urioste is founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music by the Sea, an annual festival on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She is co-director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. The group recorded Transfigured, a disc of Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, Webern and Alma Mahler, in 2023, followed by the piano quartets of Brahms and Le Beau in 2024, both for Chandos. Urioste is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard School and is a former BBC New Generation Artist (2012–14).

She is the co-founder of Intermission, a programme that combines music, movement and mindfulness, and received her RYT-200 hour yoga teaching certification from the Kripalu Center in 2019. She plays a c.1706 Alessandro Gagliano violin with a Nicolas Kittel bow, both on generous extended loan from the private collection of Dr Charles E. King, through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.