talent studio

EXPERT & MENTOR

Arts Leader, Cultural Strategist & Advocate

EXPERT

SVP International, ZDF German TV & Founder/Board IJP e.V., International Journalists’ Programs

EXPERT & MENTOR

President Emeritus, OPERA America

EXPERT & MENTOR

Art Historian | Director, Premier Communications | Cultural Communications Strategist

EXPERT & MENTOR

Founder, Impresariat Simmenauer | Artistic Advisor

© Lennart Rühle

EXPERT & MENTOR

Executive & Artistic Director, European Union Youth Orchestra | Founder & President, Sistema Europe

EXPERT & MENTOR

Managing Director, Askonas Holt – Berlin

EXPERT & MENTOR

Music Director, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Conductor Laureate, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

EXPERT

Entrepreneur, Angel Investor | Managing Partner, Raw Ventures

EXPERT & MENTOR

President & Artistic Director, Musica Mundi | Co-Founder, Musica Mundi School | Violin Professor, Royal College of Music, London | Conductor

EXPERT & MENTOR

Founder, Partsch & Partner Rechtsanwälte | Lawyer, Attorney

EXPERT

GRAMMY® Award–Winning Record Producer | Founder, B-Sharp Studios | Die Funk Stiftung

© Funk Stiftung

EXPERT

Founding Director, Center for Creative Technology & the Future Stages Festival at The Juilliard School

EXPERT & MENTOR

Digital Strategy & Innovation Leader | Professor, The Juilliard School

EXPERT & MENTOR

Pianist, Composer | Educator, The Juilliard School & CUNY Graduate Center

© Tina Krohn

EXPERT

Double Bassist | Professor at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

EXPERT & MENTOR

Award-winning actress | Chair, German Actors’ Union | Emissary for Children with Rett Syndrome

MENTOR

Flutist, Educator & Founder of Verità Baroque Ensemble and Early Music Festival at University of Wisconsin

EXPERT & MENTOR

Double Bassist & Educator | Head of Strings and International Relations, Jerusalem Music Centre

MENTOR

Violinist & Educator | Faculty Member, New York Philharmonic & Lincoln Center | Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Symphony Conductor Chair

EXPERT & MENTOR

Founder & Managing Director, DeStella Consulting | Strategic Advisor in Cultural Leadership

EXPERT & MENTOR

Founder, Creative Producer & Artist Agent, Haefliger Production

EXPERT

Founder & Director, SKALA PR | Communications for Classical Music

EXPERT

Pianist | Artistic Director and Artist Manager, Fondazione Nicola Bulgari | Co-founder and Director, Festival Riviera di Ulisse

MENTOR

Violinist & Educator | Founding Member, Alinde Quartett

MENTOR

Concert Pianist | Lecturer, Kalaidos University, Zurich | Founder, Lilian Akopova Foundation

MENTOR

Soprano

SOPRANO

Mia Mandineau is a French soprano and Resident Artist at Detroit Opera. Her recent roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Micaëla in Carmen, alongside appearances in contemporary repertoire. Her work has developed through collaboration with leading figures of the opera world, among them Mané Galoyan and Alfred Walker.

CELLO

American cellist Johannes Gray is a recipient of the Pablo Casals International Awardand a lauréat of the International JS Bach Competition Leipzig. He gives concerts at venues such as the Pierre Boulez Saal and at international festivals across Europe and beyond, performing both as a soloist and in chamber music.

VIOLIN

Violinist Ruslan Talas performs internationally in major concert halls across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including a debut at the Elbphilharmonie. He is a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and has received prizes at the Rodolfo Lipizer and Stuttgart International Violin Competitions. He is currently Artist in Residence at Fondazione Nicola Bulgari.

VIOLIN

Italian-Austrian violinist Julian Kainrath is a prizewinner of the Ysaÿe International Music Competition and recipient of the ICMA Discovery Award. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 16 with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Adam Fischer at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and has since performed on many of Europe’s leading concert stages.

CONDUCTOR

Chunyi Zhao is a conductor and violinist. She was awarded Third Prize at the International Youth Conducting Competition Bucharest and is a recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium and the Forum Dirigieren scholarship. Chunyi Zhao has assisted George Benjamin, Kent Nagano, and Markus Stenz, worked with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Hamburg State Opera, and Theater für Niedersachsen, and been a guest conductor with the Bremen Philharmonic and the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra.

PIANO

Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Semykras has received awards at the Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition, the International competition for young pianists in memory of Vladimir Horowitz, the Cantu International Piano Competition, the Ettlingen International Piano Competition, the International Competition for Young Pianists in memory of Vladimir Krainev, and the Île-de-France International Piano Competition. His work brings together solo repertoire and chamber music.

PIANO

Wataru Hisasue has been recognised at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the ARD International Music Competition, and the Concours Géza Anda. He performs as a soloist with orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. His album Did it again, featuring works by Pascal Dusapin, was released by GENUIN Classics and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

PIANO

Taiwanese pianist Kuan-Wei Chen is a prizewinner of the Giovanni Colafemmina International Piano Competition, the Radovljica International Piano Competition, the Maria Canals International Piano Competition, and Les Étoiles du Piano. He performs internationally in recitals and with orchestras, including with the Orchestre de Picardie and the Orchestra da Camera del Friuli Venezia Giulia. He began piano studies at the age of four and made his orchestral debut in 2009 with the Taipei Century Symphony Orchestra.

PIANO

Italian pianist Martina Consonni performs internationally, with appearances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and collaborations with Gautier Capuçon and Steven Isserlis. Her orchestral engagements include the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Dresden Philharmonic, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich. She is a prizewinner of the International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn and the Maria Canals International Music Competition, with recordings released by Warner Classics.

VIOLIN

German-born South Korean violinist Mabelle Young-Eun Park is the First Prize winner of the Strings Section at the 2025 Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition and a recipient of the Prince’s Prize and Audience Award. She is currently on the Artist Diploma programme at the Royal College of Music as a Sue Balston Scholar. Mabelle Young-Eun Park has performed at Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, and Carnegie Hall, has given recitals across Europe and Asia, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestra and as a chamber musician across Europe and beyond.

PIANO

Chinese pianist Xiaofu Ju has appeared at the Wiener Musikverein, Lincoln Center, and the Salzburg Festspielhaus. He performs in recitals and at festivals, with a focus on contemporary repertoire and the premieres of new works. His debut album Waldeinsamkeit, released by NCPA Classics, presents a programme shaped by a strong narrative and poetic conception. He is a prizewinner of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition and recipient of the Tabor Piano Prize at the Verbier Festival Academy.

CELLO

Liav Kerbel has received awards at the Klaipėda David Geringas International Cello Competition and the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music, and has participated in programmes such as the Verbier Festival Academy. He has appeared with orchestras including the Belgian National Orchestra and the Flemish Symphony Orchestra, and made his debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Since September 2022, he has served as a chamber music faculty member at the Musica Mundi School in Waterloo.

VIOLIN

Eva Wetzel is a German violinist, she won First Prize and the Audience Award at the Rosen-Schaffel Competition and Second Prize at the Villa de Llanes International Competition. Her debut album with GENUIN unveils hidden treasures of the violin repertoire. She has appeared with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, and Vogtland Philharmonic.

PIANO

Franco-Ukrainian pianist Adrian Herpe has received awards at the Concours Brueghel, the Nice Côte d’Azur International Piano Competition, and the Bösendorfer Competition, and is a laureate of the Gautier Capuçon Foundation. He has also been recognised at Les Étoiles du Piano in Roubaix, where he received multiple special prizes. His work spans Romantic repertoire, contemporary music, and earlier styles.

CONDUCTOR

German conductor Leonhard Kreutzmann is Chief Conductor of the KHG Orchestra Freiburg and a scholarship holder of Forum Dirigieren of the Deutscher Musikrat. He has worked as assistant to Dirk Kaftan with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition.

SAXOPHONE

Spanish saxophonist Carlos Giménez Martínez is a classical saxophonist focused on expanding the artistic and expressive possibilities of the instrument. By engaging with established musical traditions, he approaches the saxophone as an instrument in development, building a stronger artistic foundation for its future. His debut recording includes Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Vorspiel und Liebestod), presented through a radically different instrumental perspective.

HARP

Harpist Alisa Sadikova has received distinctions at the International Harp Competition in Israel and the Yuri Temirkanov Prize. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Tonhalle Zürich, and collaborated with the Moscow Virtuosi. Her work also includes original arrangements and projects that expand the harp repertoire.

CELLO

Cellist Jiaxun Yao has received awards at the Irving Klein International String Competition and the Orchestra 914 Concerto Competition. She has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra. She also performs on historical instruments, bringing a distinct perspective to her work.

CELLO

Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman received distinction at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He has performed with the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Sakari Oramo. He is active in both solo and chamber music.

PIANO

Israeli pianist Tom Zalmanov is First Prize winner of the Aviv Competitions. He has performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel Symphony, the Tbilisi Symphony, and the Bayer Philharmoniker Leverkusen. A fellow of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, he is an avid chamber musician and collaborative pianist.

PIANO

Italian pianist Giorgio Lazzari is a prizewinner of the International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn and the Robert Schumann Competition in Düsseldorf, and a laureate of the Honens International Piano Competition. His work includes solo recitals, orchestral performances, and chamber music, with appearances at venues and festivals such as Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Beethovenfest Bonn, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Società Filarmonica di Trento.

PIANO

Praised as “a bundle of dynamite, combining quiet delicacy with thundering power”, Anastasiya Magamedova began playing piano in Tajikistan and is a graduate of the Juilliard School. She has performed in the Kammermusik Saal of the Berlin Philharmonic, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, and Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. She is a recent 2nd prize winner of the International Júlio Cardona Competition in Portugal, and the International ArsClassica Competition in Rome.

VIOLIN

Turkish violinist Bade Daştan was awarded first prize at the International Grumiaux Competition and has received further recognition at the Andrea Postacchini and Young Virtuosos Competitions. Her work includes performances at venues such as BOZAR in Brussels and the Süreyya Opera House in Istanbul, together with orchestral collaborations including the İzmir State Symphony Orchestra and the Musica Mundi Orchestra.

ACCORDION

Moldovan accordionist Radu Rățoi is a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Leonie Sonning Talent Prize. He has also been honoured with the “Master in Arts” Award by the President of Moldova. He has performed at the Berliner Philharmonie, Radio Concert House Copenhagen, and the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, and has been appointed soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. His programmes include his own arrangements of music by J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti, and F. Liszt.

PIANO

Elžbieta Liepa Dvarionaitė is a Lithuanian pianist. In 2025 she won second prize at the Málaga International Piano Competition and in 2022 received first prize at the International S. Vainiūnas Piano Competition. She performs throughout Japan and Europe and has appeared with orchestras such as the Málaga Philharmonic, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, and the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. She is a co-founder of Trio Kosmos, which performs both classical and contemporary repertoire, including premieres of works by living composers.

PIANO

Pianist Vladimir Petrov is a laureate and Audience Prize winner of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. He performs internationally across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including Carnegie Hall, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory. He has worked with conductors Valery Gergiev, Lanfranco Marcelletti, and Tito Muñoz, among others.

© Kate Kondratieva

VIOLIN

Turkish violinist İlke Işı Tuncer has been recognised at the Josef Micka International Violin Competition. She performs as a soloist with orchestras including the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra, and the Hacettepe Symphony Orchestra, and gives recitals in Turkey and abroad, including in New York.