Categoria: Selected

Hailed by the Boston Musical Intelligence as a pianist who “breezed through the most technically difficult bits with impressive panache”, Zhiye Lin is a KNS classical pianist who is increasingly being heard in important concert halls. After winning numerous competitions, he has performed in many major concert halls in the world, including Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Ningbo Concert Hall, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. He was the laureate of piano competitions in Tokyo, Spain, West Virginia, New York, Singapore, and Hawaii.

He also appeared as soloist with Mercury Orchestra, West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra under the batons of Channing Yu, Mitchell Arnold, and Joseph Stepec.

He earned his Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of HaeSun Paik and Hung-Kuan Chen. Currently, he is completing the Artist Diploma at the Peabody Institute under Richard Goode’s guidance.

Born in 1997, Vitor Zendron da Cunha took his first piano lesson at the age of eight. Between 2008 and 2015 he studied at the Carlos Gomes Conservatory in Blumenau (Brazil) and participated in the main festivals in Latin America. He continued his formation at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in the class of Sontraud Speidel, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in 2020 and took part in Master classes with artists such as Klaus Hellwig and Cyprien Katsaris. From 2020 to 2022 he studied at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne.

Vitor won first prizes at the National Edna Habith Competition and at the Federico Chopin Piano Competition (Peru) in 2013. In 2015 he was a finalist at the Prelúdio Competition, broadcast in Brazilian national television. In 2019, he won the “Gerold Joachim Förderpreis” in Germany, and in 2022 the “Prix Mireille Klemm“, awarded by the Chopin Society of Geneva. He performed in venues such as Sala São Paulo, Gran Teatro Nacional de Lima and Warsaw Music Society and collaborated with conductors Júlio Medaglia and Pierre-Stéphane Meugé. Currently, he is at the Master de soliste program at the Haute École de Musique de Genève in the class of Ricardo Castro. Vitor also studied “Conducting from the Keyboard” at the Scuola di Musica Fiesole (Italy).

Lauded by the New York Concert Review as “truly exceptional,” the accomplished Steinway Artist, Rixiang Huang has evoked effusive praise from both audiences and critics worldwide. After clinching the top honors at the 12th Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford and the Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition back in 2021, Huang swiftly forged an eminent global standing for himself. His newest CD album, Eternal Soul, released by KNS Classical in May 2023, has already earned accolades from audiences and critics.

Winner of an impressive array of prizes, Dr. Huang was a top prizewinner of Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition, Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, Dallas International Piano Competition, New York International Artists Piano Competition, International Piano Competition La Palma d’Oro in Italy, along with WPTA International Piano Competition.

Dr. Huang received Doctoral of Musical Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music, Master of Music in Piano Performance at The Juilliard School Rixiang Huang is a Steinway Artist.

Orlando BASS is a franco-british pianist and composer born in 1994.

He attended the CNSM in Paris, where he studied piano (Roger Muraro), chamber music (Itamar Golan), accompaniment (Jean-Frédéric Neuburger) and composition (Thierry Escaich). He is pursuing an artist diploma at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Kirill Gerstein.

He has obtained first prizes at the Paris CFRPM Competition for Modern Piano Repertoire, at the Virtuoses du Cœur Piano Competition and at the Bologna Competition run by the Paola Bernardi Foundation. Since June 2019, he has been a laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire, which actively supports him in his diverse and varied projects, both as a performer and composer.

A disc of Preludes and Fugues for solo piano, spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, was released in 2018 by Indésens, and a solo double disc featuring both his own compositions and some by Olivier Penard was published by Dux in 2021. Other discs as a chamber musician or as a composer are published by Odradek, Paladino media, Triton, Hortus and Paraty, and soon by Naxos, Aparté, and Soond.

Muzi has won prizes at many prestigious competitions – most recently winning the 1^st Prize and Expressive Performance Prize at the 2023 Grand Prize Salzburg International Music Competition in Austria, and 1^st prize at the Obertello international Piano Competition in Italy.

Muzi also received the ^1st Prize and the Audience ‘ s choice prize at the 5^th Francesco Cardaropoli International Piano Competition, and the 1^st Prize at the 2023 Mimas Festival International Piano Competition, and a special scholarship award, sponsored by Krause Musical Instrument Co., Ltd. Amongst her many additional honors, she also won 1^st prize at the 15^th Giovani Musicisti International Piano Competition in Venice.

This past season, Muzi has performed extensively in Europe, she has given performances at such prominent venues as Solitär performance hall (Mozarteum University) in Salzburg, the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Madrid, and the Santa Margherita Nuova in Naples.

She has also performed in master classes of such distinguished teachers and performers as Alfred Brendel, Pavel Gililov, Michel Béroff, Arie Vardi, Jacques Rouvier, Boris Berman, James Giles, Ian Jones, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, and Robert Levin.

Muzi is currently studying at the University of Arts Berlin with Prof. Markus Groh.

A unique blend of technical skill, great sensitivity and deep passion in his playing has established Leo de María as one of the best performers of his generation.He began his musical training at the age of 11. He studied at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts of the Alfonso X el Sabio University in Madrid under the direction of Maestro Leonel Morales, and later completed his Master’s studies with Maestro Pavel Gililov at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Leo de María has won more than 40 national and international awards. Highlights include the First Prizes in the International Piano Competitions Ciudade de Ferrol (November, 2017, Spain), MozARTè (September, 2016, Germany), Grand Prix de Lyon (June, 2016, France), and the National Prize Cultura Viva 2018 to the Artistic Revelation.

He has also been recently awarded with the Second Prize in the International Competitions Johann Nepomuk Hummel of Bratislava (WFIMC), Santa Cecilia of Oporto in Portugal (WFIMC), Épinal of France (WFIMC), Russian Music of Italy, Neue Sterne of Germany, Valsesia Musica of Milan.

Gabriele Strata is quickly establishing himself as one of the leading Italian pianists of his generation. In 2018 he won first prize at the XXXV Premio Venezia, the prestigious Italian piano competition where he was awarded the Plaque of the President of the Italian Republic and the Medal of the Italian Senate. Regularly performing throughout Europe, recent and upcoming performances include debut concerto appearances in the Berliner Philharmonie with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London’s Barbican Centre and Cadogan Hall with Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and English Schools Orchestra, Venice with the Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice,  Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall with the Cardiff Philharmonic, Mumbai’s National Centre for Performing Arts with Chamber Orchestra of India, Sala Puccini in Milan, as well as a debut recital in Wigmore Hall. Gabriele received his Master of Music degree from Yale University 2019 aged 19, under the guidance of Professor Boris Berman. He holds Artist Diploma degrees from the Guildhall School in London where he studied with Ronan O’Hora and from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Benedetto Lupo.

Brazilian-born pianist Ervino Rieger had his debut with orchestra with the Montevideo Philharmonic in Uruguay with the conductor Ligia Amadio. In addition, he has been working with prominent Latin-American conductors such as Silvio Viegas, Emiliano Patarra, Martin Garcia and Fernando Ortiz de Villate with GRU-Symphony, Porto Alegre`s Symphony and Botucatu Symphony Orchestras.

Ervino was the 1st prize winner at the WPTA Portugal International Competition, as well as the Young Soloists Competition of the GRU Symphony and Botucatu Symphony orchestras.

He is also the artistic director of a concert series in his home state, Rio Grande do Sul,  where he brings classical music to country towns. He has collaborated with violin and voice on many programs, and recently took part in a concert series at the Ling Institute and Vermelhos Festival.

Ervino is now pursuing his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying with Meng-Chieh Liu. In Brazil, he studied with Eduardo Monteiro and received his bachelor’s degree with Ney Fialkow at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

A curious and innovative artist, pianist Élisabeth Pion stands out as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborator on the cultural scene. Based in London UK, she is a Young Artist of the Musicians’ Company of London and an alumna of the Imogen Cooper Trust. Among the highlights of her 2023/2024 season are the opening of Arion Orchestre Baroque’s season as well as the recording of an ATMA Classique CD with this orchestra, performances as part of IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music in England, and her debut with Nézet-Séguin’s Orchestre Métropolitain in January 2024.

In 2022/2023 Elisabeth made her concerto debut in the United States with the Toledo Symphony, gave a recital at St-John’s Smith Square in London, and made her first recording with ATMA Classique. In 2019, she made her debut on BBC Radio 3; in 2021 performed a solo recital at Wigmore Hall, London; then in 2022, at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in New York.

Élisabeth is a student of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she studied with Ronan O’Hora and obtained the Artist Diploma as well as the Artist Masters. She also worked in the school as a Junior Fellow in 2022/2023. Élisabeth is the 2022 recipient of the Choquette-Symcox Prize from the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation and thanks the Foundation for its support.