Praised by critics as “a musician whose finesse, intelligence and sensitivity blend harmoniously” (Diapason) and who creates moments of “pure beauty” (Bachtrack), Dominic Chamot is emerging as “one of the new musical stars of the international piano scene” (Fono Forum).

Born in Cologne in 1995, he is the winner of the Viotti, Ferrol and CIPCE competitions, as well as six other competitions. He has also won 26 other prizes and awards at competitions such as Maria-Canals, Hilton Head and many more.

His career began at a young age when, at the age of 12, he was admitted to the class of Prof. Sheila Arnold at the Pre-College-Cologne of the HfMT Cologne, which provided him with crucial musical impulses. Soon after, he received international awards in Berlin, Zwickau, Enschede, Weimar, Cologne, etc., as well as performances in prestigious venues such as the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonie, the Wiener Musikverein, Palau de la Musica Catalana Barcelona, and many others.

Chamot then deepened his studies with Claudio Martinez-Mehner in Basel. He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Specialised Performance (Soloist) with top grades and honors, and at the end of his pedagogy studies with Zoltan Fejervari, he also won the award for the best recital of the year at the

 Basel Music Academy. Since 2024 he receives lessons from Rena Shereshevskaya as part of the “Elite”-programme at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.

Meanwhile, his reputation as a versatile musician developed, leading to performances worldwide. He played concerts in 17 countries on 4 continents, recently performed multiple times at the Berlin Philharmonie, won some of Switzerland’s most exclusive scholarships during his studies, and was invited by the WDR Symphony Orchestra as a soloist for a concert at the Cologne Philharmonie. After these successes, further invitations followed from orchestras throughout Germany, as well as the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, ORF Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, and many more. He has collaborated with conductors such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Cornelius Meister, Joseph Bastian, and many others. In New York, he captivated the audience with his performance at the Steinway Hall as part of the “Classical Bridge Festival.”

In 2025, highlights include recitals at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, at the Tokyo International Forum and at the Piano Festival La Roque-d’Anthéron.

He is also in high demand as a chamber musician: he is repeatedly invited to festivals (Gstaad, Davos, Schwetzingen Mozart Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival), regularly performs with musicians from Switzerland’s top orchestras (Tonhalle Zurich, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, among others), and released a duo CD with Sergio Pires, principal clarinetist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Other chamber music partners included Kian Soltani, Sirena Huang and many more.

Dominic Chamot has received scholarships from the Jürgen Ponto Stiftung, Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben, Migros-Kulturprozent, Lieven Piano Foundation, Jmanuel und Evamaria Schenk Stiftung, August-Pickhardt Stiftung, Stiftung für junge Musiktalente Meggen, and the Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung.

Dmitry Smirnov is widely regarded as one of the exceptional personalities of the young generation of violinists. The ARD prizewinner performs as a soloist with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra or the Festival Strings Lucerne and in concert halls from Carnegie Hall in New York to Nikkei Hall in Tokyo. As an ‘enfant terrible’, he inspires audiences with his bold artistic vision and outstanding virtuosity, including in historically informed interpretations of traditional repertoire. As a sought-after chamber musician, he regularly performs with partners such as Sol Gabetta and Ilya Gringolts, and also acts as concertmaster and soloist for Giovanni Antonini’s ‘Haydn Project 2032’.

In the coming season, Dmitry will make his debut with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic and the Stuttgart Philharmonic and will act as concertmaster for Cappella Gabetta’s European tour. In March 2026, at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, he will present the world premiere of the violin concerto by the illustrious Russian composer Gavriil Popov, which was thought to have been lost and which he completed after months of archival and transcription work. Recording projects with the lutenist and Harnoncourt student Luca Pianca with works by Paganini as well as the collaboration with Ilya Gringolts for Vivaldi’s double concertos will enrich his discography to date, which already contains solo works from J. S. Bach to Bartók as well as various romantic violin concertos (on gut strings).

Dmitry has won prizes at numerous international competitions, including first prizes at the Moscow Oistrakh Competition (2006), the Tibor Varga Competition (2015) and the Concours d’Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne (2017), second prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition (2008) and the ARD Music Competition (2021), a controversial elimination in the semi-finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2024) and three prizes at the Concours international Long-Thibaud-Crespin in 2018, including the Critics’ Prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music. He is the winner of numerous scholarships and his work is supported by generous donors such as the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation.

Dmitry regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician at renowned festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, LuganoMusica, Heidelberger Frühling, Rheingau Music Festival, Davos Festival, Grafenegg Festival, Stresa Festival, Solsberg Festival, Festival delle Muse Salentine and Inverno Musicale (Brazil).

As a soloist, he has worked with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Heinz Holliger, Philippe Herreweghe, Vladimir Spivakov, Gilbert Varga, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Philipp Chizhevsky, Delyana Lazarova and Aurel Dawidiuk and has performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Festival Strings Lucerne, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Kammerorchester Basel, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Argovia Philharmonic, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.

Dmitry was born into a musical family in St. Petersburg, where he received his first violin lessons at the age of four and continued his education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Subsequent studies took him to the Haute École de Musique Lausanne in the class of Pavel Vernikov followed by studies with Rainer Schmidt at the Basel Music Academy. In the context of baroque music, Dmitry also performs as a violist, cellist and harpsichordist. His main instrument is a violin by Philipp Bonhoeffer (2018).

German-British cellist Philip Skye Graham is a sought-after chamber musician and interpreter ofcontemporary music. His diverse career encompasses working with various ensembles and musical styles, solo projects, teaching activities, and collaborations with contemporary composers.
Early competition successes, numerous international scholarships, and studies with renowned professors such as Clemens Hagen (Mozarteum University Salzburg), Alexander Hülshoff (Folkwang University of the Arts), and Nicolas Altstaedt (Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin), alongside further musical guidance from eminent figures including Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Lucas Fels (Arditti Quartet), Heinrich Schiff, and Steven Isserlis, quickly led to an intense concert schedule. In 2015, he joined the Berlin-based Notos Piano Quartet.

From 2015 to 2024, Graham performed with the Notos Quartet on some of the world’s most prestigious stages across Europe, Japan, China, Australia, and North America. The quartet’s achievements include three critically acclaimed albums released by Sony Classical, numerous live recordings, radio and television features, and six first prizes at international competitions. Their excellence was further recognized with the Würth Prize of Jeunesses Musicales Germany.

Since leaving the quartet in 2024 to explore new artistic directions, Graham has pursued many different projects that span a wide range, including performances at the Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, recordings of solo works by H.W. Henze and B.A. Zimmermann, collaborations with artists such as Christian Tetzlaff and Heinz Holliger as well as guest appearances with the Esbjerg Ensemble and as principal cellist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic.

A key element of Graham’s career is collaboration with contemporary composers. Over the years, many works have been written for him and the Notos Quartet, including by distinguished composers such as Beat Furrer, Birke Bertelsmeier, David P. Graham, Jesús Torres, Bernhard Gander, Bryce Dessner, Hakan Ulus, and Elena Mendoza.

Beyond his performance career, Philip Graham is deeply committed to supporting young artists. In 2019 he co-founded the now annual Notos Chamber Music Academy in collaboration with Jeunesses Musicales Germany. He has also conducted workshops with his father, British composer David P. Graham, on teaching modern compositional techniques and interpreting new works for children and young people. Since the winter semester of 2024/25, Graham has been an adjunct faculty member at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.

Thanks to the generous support of the Merito String Instruments Trust, Philip Graham performs on a Giovanni Battista Grancino cello from 1700. As a Pirastro Artist, he exclusively uses strings crafted by the renowned string manufacturer Pirastro GmbH.

Christian Martinez, slagtøj

Christian Martinez begyndte sine slagtøjsstudier i sin hjemby Cali i Columbia. Senere fulgte studier på Manhattan School of Music i New York og på Rogaland Musikkonservatorium i Stavanger. I 1996 dimitterede han fra Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium i København, og samme år blev han medlem af Esbjerg Ensemble.

Christian Martínez har deltaget som kammermusiker og solist ved adskillige festivaler og koncerter i Skandinavien, Europa, USA, Latinamerika og Taiwan. Senest ved Nordic Music Days Festival i 2010, Athelas New Music Festival i 2011, Percussion Plus Festival Aarhus i 2012 og Kalliokuninkala Festival i 2012 og Percussion Plusin 2014, begge i Finland. I januar 2014 samarbejdede Esbjerg Ensemble med "kongen" af barytoner, Omar Ebrahim, i den første skandinaviske opførelse af György Kurtágs "Pas a pas, nulle-part" for baryton, strygetrio og slagtøj.

I 2010 udgav Christian Martinez sin første solo-cd "Rhythmical Séance" med Per Nørgårds I Ching samt stykker af Ivar Frounberg og Ejnar Kanding. Samarbejdet med Nørgård førte til to nye værker på denne cd: en koncert for slagtøj og ensemble kaldet Three Scenes samt Arabesques I, II, III (2011) for soloslagtøj. Begge værker er dedikeret til Christian Martínez og Esbjerg Ensemble.