AWAKING TO LIFE

At the age of fifteen, Isabelle Faust wins the First Prize at the prestigious Leopold Mozart Competition, and, shortly after, she also wins the gold medal at the Paganini Violin Competition. Since then, she has been appearing in the most important venues around the world, collaborating with the most prestigious orchestras and conductors of our time. An audacious, virtuoso, passionate, and eclectic artist, Isabelle Faust possesses a remarkable repertoire, ranging from Baroque – which she performs on period instruments – and all the way to classical, romantic, contemporary and avant-garde works.

In the last few seasons, Isabelle Faust has performed as soloists with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, L’Orchestre de Paris, the BBC Symphony, the Tokyo NHK Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with legendary conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding et Philippe Herreweghe.

Isabelle Faust has recorded numerous albums, all awarded by prestigious prizes. Her recording of the Bach Violin Concertos has received the greatest international distinctions, such as the “Diapason d’Or”, the “Gramophone Award”, and the “Choc de l'Année Classica”. Her recording of the Beethoven and Berg Violin Concertos have also been awarded numerous prizes by the most important newspapers and musical magazines.

With pianist Alexander Melnikov, her trusted duo partner for many years, Isabelle Faust has traveled around the world, performing, among many other projects, the Beethoven complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Passionate about new music, she has collaborated with some of today’s greatest living composers, such as Helmut Lachenmann, Jörg Widmann, Oscar Strasnoy, Beat Furrer, and Peter Eötvös.

In addition to her career as soloist, Isabelle Faust is also a fervent pedagogue. Today, she is a violin professor at the University of Arts in Berlin, and has given masterclasses in numerous institutions, schools, and festivals.

Isabelle Faust performs on a 1704 Stradivarius violin, named “The Sleeping Beauty”.

Recognised internationally as one of today’s greatest living jazz trumpeters, Avishai Cohen has recently been hailed by the New York Times, comparing him to the legendary Miles Davis. Thanks to his stunning virtuosity, exquisite sound, and ground-breaking way of making music, Avishai Cohen has established himself as one of the most fascinating voices in the world of jazz.

Avishai Cohen began giving concerts at the age of ten, playing his first solos with a big band. While still a teenager, he was invited to perform with legendary orchestras and conductors, such as Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur and Kent Nagano. As a young musician, he also appeared numerous times on TV and Radio, and later started his studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, in Boston. In 1997, the young musician was among the prize-winners at the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, an award that instantly gave him international recognition.

Avishai Cohen has performed in the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals and venues, such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Marciac, Jazz à Vienne, Northsea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Deutschen Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, Cully Jazz Festival, The Village Vanguard in New York, Teatro Romano in Verona, Jazz Dock Festival in Prague, and The New Morning in Paris.

He has recorded numerous award-winning albums, and in 2017 he signed an exclusive contract with the ECM label. His debut recording for ECM, “Into The Silence”, has won several international awards, including TSF Magazine’s “Best Album of the Year”. His following album, “Cross My Palm With Silver”, recorded with his quartet, has also been lauded by the press.

Avishai Cohen has collaborated with the most important artists and groups in the fields of jazz, rock, and world music. He has performed with the legendary Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Mingus Big Band, Karen Ann, and Zakir Hussain. In addition, he has extensively toured as part of the Cohen Trio, alongside his brother Yuval Cohen and sister Anat Cohen – both of them renowned jazz artists. 

After going back to in his native Israel several years ago, Avishai Cohen decided to found Big Vicious, a fascinating group devoted to creating a new, imaginative, and mind-provoking musical language. The group brings together many different genres and styles, such as psychedelic rock, free jazz, electronics, ambient music, and hip-hop. Big Vicious has released its first album in 2019, and has since then been on several major tours around the world.

Born into a family of musicians, Ziv Ravitz starts his musical training by studying piano, guitar, and drums. At the age of nine, he decides to fully devote himself to the art of percussion. Shortly after that, his mentors notice his immense musical talent and he is quickly recognized to be a prodigy drummer. At the age of thirteen, he is already giving his first professional concerts, in Israel. During his entire adolescence, he performs in prestigious jazz clubs and collaborates with various artists and groups in the fields of rock, pop, blues, classical, and jazz music.

During his first international tour in Europe and the United-States, in 1999, Ziv Ravitz is hailed by the press as a virtuoso drummer who possesses a unique, audacious, and adventurous musical language. He then completes his studies in jazz and composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, after which he decides to move to New York, where he has resided for several years.

In 2001, Ziv Ravitz meets jazz pianist Florian Weber and double bass player Jeff Denson. Together, they found the Minsarah Trio, embarking on numerous international tours and gaining tremendous acclaim. At the same period, Ziv Ravitz also performs in Europe, Asia, and the United States with legendary jazz artists, such as Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Eugene Friesen, Mick Goodrick, James Genus, George Garzone, Ben Monder, Stéphane Kerecki, and Christoph Pepe.

In 2011, Ziv Ravitz establishes a new trio with pianist Shai Maestro and double bass player Jorge Roeder, performing with this group on tour, in the most important concert halls and festivals worldwide. Their most recent album, The Stone Skipper, released in 2016, has been praised by the press, and has received numerous international awards. At the same period, Ziv Ravitz also released several award-wining albums, with the celebrated Israeli jazz pianist Yaron Herman.

In 2019, Ziv Ravitz releases No Man is an Island, his first album as leader. This unique recording presents a fascinating and unusual journey, thanks to a variety of unexpected musical encounters, such as a stunning exploration of traditional oriental tunes that were taught to Ziv Ravitz by his Egyptian grandfather.

In the past years, Ziv Ravitz has been extensively touring with the great trumpet player Avishai Cohen and his group, performing together in the world’s most important jazz festivals and venues.

Recently, Ziv Ravitz recorded with the Geneva Camerata and pianist Yaron Herman an audacious new album, named Sounds of Transformation. This recording, released by Sony Classical, revealed a surprising and unexpected musical voyage between Baroque, Classical and jazz music.

Known for his eclectic and fascinating programmes, conductor and pianist David Greilsammer is recognised as one of today’s most audacious and adventurous classical artists. The New York Times has awarded his albums Baroque Conversations and Mozart In-Between as “Recordings of the Year”, in addition to selecting his recital Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas as one of the ten most important musical events of the year.

Praised as creator of numerous ground-breaking musical projects, ranging from baroque to contemporary music, David Greilsammer has also been celebrated for his Mozart performances. He has performed in Paris all of Mozart’s piano sonatas in a one-day “marathon” and recently, he has played and conducted all of Mozart’s twenty-seven piano concertos, in one season. In the past years, David Greilsammer has released four recordings on the Naïve label, and more recently, three prize-winning albums for Sony Classical.

Since 2013, David Greilsammer serves as Music and Artistic Director of the Geneva Camerata, one of the most daring, bold and innovative orchestras internationally. He has recently performed as guest conductor/soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, La Verdi Orchestra di Milano, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Mexico National Symphony, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony.

He has recently given solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, Verbier Festival, Forbidden City Theatre in Beijing, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Venice Biennale, and Kennedy Center in Washington.

David Greilsammer’s latest piano recital, named Labyrinth, has been described by the press as “fascinating and courageous”. This daring solo programme will be released this season on a new album, in addition to being performed on tour throughout the USA, Europe and Asia.