Juhani Lagerspetz

Juhani LagerspetzJuhani Lagerspetz is a Finnish pianist trained at the Turku Conservatory in his home town, at the Sibelius Academy and the Leningrad Conservatoire. Juhani Lagerspetz made his debut with orchestra when he was just 13, when he played as soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto. In 1982 he won a special prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He also was prized by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation in 1994.

In addition to playing dozens of piano concerts, Lagerspetz has performed in ambitious series of concerts, including almost the entire output for piano by Brahms and, most recently, the solo piano works of Ravel.
Lagerspetz has made numerous recordings for radio and international record companies. Best known are his recordings for Ondine, including Mikko Heiniö and Jukka Tiensuu’s, respectively, „Hermes” and „Mind” Piano Concertos. He has also recorded Maurice Ravel’s solo piano works for YLE and served as an accompanist to Truls Mørk at a recording of Johannes Brahm’s Cello Sonatas for Simax Classics. Juhani Lagerspetz is also a professor of piano at the Sibelius Academy.

Régis Pasquier

Régis PasquierIn 1958 at age 12, Régis Pasquier was awarded the First Prize for violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Two years later, he went to the United States to give a recital in New York. This was a decisive year because he met Isaac Stern, David Oistrakh, Pierre Fournier, Nadia Boulanger and Zino Francescatti who heard him play, was impressed by his talents and a few years later requested his collaboration to record Bach’s Concerto for two violins. From that moment Régis Pasquier entered the very exclusive circle of great violinists of world fame. He performs with the greatest orchestras, particularly in the United States with the Cleveland Philharmonic conducted by the eminent George Szell.

His art has been acclaimed and rewarded in France with numerous prizes among which the Académie du Disque Français Prize, the Georges Enesco Prize and the Charles Cros Prize in 1988. In 1985, he was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Professor of violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Régis Pasquier has made numerous concertos and chamber music recordings, notably Prokofiev sonatas for violin and piano with Pascal Rogé, Prokofiev violin concertos with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Paganini’s 24 Caprices, Berg and Bartók violin concertos. His recording of Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano has won the Victoires de la musique. Recent releases include Mozart violin concertos.

Régis Pasquier is regularly invited abroad to Japan, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, South America and the United States.

Régis Pasquier is also well known as a chamber musician of a rare sensibility. The Piano Trio which he founded with Jean-Claude Pennetier and Roland Pidoux belongs to the world’s most praised chamber music groups. He plays a magnificent violin by Joseph Guarnerius (del Gesù), Cremona 1734.

Arto Noras

Arto NorasArto Noras is one of Finland’s most celebrated instrumentalists and amongst the most outstanding internationally acknowledged cellists of his generation. After completing his studies at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he studied with Paul Tortelier at the Paris Conservatoire where he gained the coveted Premier Prix Diploma in 1964. Two years later, he was awarded second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which immediately opened his way to the most important concert halls in Europe and both North and South America where he has performed regularly ever since.

Arto Nora’s repertoire covers all the principal works that have been written for his instrument, including those by contemporary composers, and he has recorded extensively for the Finlandia recording label. In 1970 Noras was appointed Professor of Cello at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and he teaches also at the University for Music and Theater in Hamburg. Noras has served as a jurist for some of the most important music competitions in the world, including the Tchaikovsky, Casals and Cassadó competitions. He can be heard as a most distinguished chamber musician as a member of the Helsinki Trio and as a founder member of the Sibelius Academy Quartet as well as with several other groups of similarly distinguished musicians.

In 1980, Arto Noras founded the Naantali Music Festival, Finland, and he is still the Artistic Manager. He also founded in 1991 and remains the Artistic Director of the Paulo International Cello Competition.

Naantali Music Festival

Michael Rieber

Michael RieberMichael Rieber was born in Tübingen in 1967. He is considered to be one of the most renowned figures on the world-wide double bass scene. He studied at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and won the First Prize at the German national competition „Jugend musiziert“ in 1988. Only a short time later, at the age of 22, he became a member of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. He left in 1997 to join as the first principal double bassist the Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and he is now sitting principal double bassist for the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg. He was also appointed professor of double bass at the University of Music and Theater Hamburg in 2007.

In addition to his orchestral duties Michael Rieber is also devoted to chamber music and the promulgation of the repertoire for double bass. He performs regularly not only with several orchestras, but also in a duo with the pianist Götz Schumacher and with the harpist Marina Paccagnella.

His extensive concert repertoire includes both original literature as well as numerous, largely self-written transcriptions from the Baroque period to the works of contemporary composers, which is documented by several CD recordings.

Michael Rieber plays a double bass of the Italian luthier Pietro Pallotta from 1819.

Michael Rieber (Website): http://www.michaelrieber-kontrabass.de/

Bruno Pasquier

Bruno PasquierAfter a classic start of career with several First Prizes, Bruno Pasquier got great responsabilities as first viola at the „Orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris“ (1965-1985) and then at the „Orchestre National de France“ (1985-1990). He won the confidence of prestigious conductors such as K. Böhm, S. Ozawa, L. Maazel and many others… but his increasing activity as a soloist all over the world led him to leave his orchestral posts.

Also as a chamber musician in great demand, Bruno Pasquier, who is frequently associated with his brother, the violinist Régis Pasquier, and also with the cellist Roland Pidoux for concerts in trio, performed with important musical personalities such as Nadia Boulanger, Salvatore Accardo, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose, Josef Suk, and with the most prestigious pianists of our time.

His pedagogical career starts in the seventies at the „Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris“, where he teaches viola and chamber music. Moreover, Pasquier is frequently solicited to give masterclasses in the most renowned international establishments. Having several prize-winning recordings from different disc Academies, his set of records is very large.

Bruno Pasquier plays a wonderful Paolo Maggini viola (early 17th century). He is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of the Legion of Honor) et Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite.

Michel Lethiec

Michel LethiecThe clarinettist Michel Lethiec is considered to be one of the most eminent figures on the world-wide classical musical scene. Besides his numerous concert and festival performances, he is also devoted to teaching and participates actively in research and the promulgation of the repertoire.
He teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and at the Nice Conservatoire and gives frequently masterclasses in other renowned music schools. He also participates regularly as a member of the jury in international competitions (Geneva, Leipzig, Prague, Osaka, Munich…). He is the Artistic Director of the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades.

Festival Pablo Casals