An internationally acclaimed violinist, who for many years had a respected duo partnership with her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld, she taught at USC Thornton School of Music, California, for almost 60 years. She was also the founder of the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition and Schoenfeld International Music Society.

Born in 1921 in Yugoslavia, Alice Schoenfeld studied the violin in Berlin under Karl Klingler, a student of Joseph Joachim, and made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic aged ten. In 1952 she and her family immigrated to the US, where in 1959 both she and Eleonore were invited to join the string faculty at USC. At first, they taught part-time while still maintaining their touring schedule, but eventually became full-time faculty members. Both Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky numbered among their colleagues at the school. Among Alice Schoenfeld’s students were Anne Akiko Meyers and Suli Xue.

The sisters received the USC’s Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the American String Teachers Association named them joint winners of the Artist Teacher Award in 1996.

In the 1980s both Alice and Eleonore were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China, after formal diplomatic relations had been established between the Chinese and American governments. On their recommendation, more than a hundred Chinese string students studying abroad received scholarship support.

One of the most outstanding Chinese-American violinists, Suli Xue enjoys an active career on today’s international music stage. He is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, president of the Schoenfeld International Music Society, artistic director of the Schoenfeld International String Competition, artistic director of the Hong Kong International Music Festival, artist in residence at the Azusa Pacific University, artistic advisor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, former professor of violin at the USC Thornton School of Music, and former concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of two Gold Medals of Global Music Awards. Xue has earned high acclaim around the world for his unique artistry. 

Xue graduated from USC Thornton School of Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a protégé of world-renowned violin professor Alice Schoenfeld. Xue has been frequently invited as a guest artist and faculty to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has also served as a juror for numerous international music competitions. He performed as a soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for their New Year’s Concert Tour in China, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra for their Chinese New Year’s concert.

Recently, he has participated in many important performances as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Summer Music Festival, and others. In 2014, Xue introduced the Schoenfeld International String Competition to Harbin. In 2017, the competition joined the United Nations ESCO “World Federation of International Music Competitions,” fortifying and promoting music cultural exchange internationally. In August 2017, Mr. Suli Xue collaborated with maestro Zubin Mehta as a soloist and concertmaster to perform in the gala symphony concert at the Harbin China-Russia Cultural and Arts Festival. Maestro Mehta described Xue as “a brilliant violinist and outstanding leader that performs with virtuosic musicality.”

Of Russian heritage, French-born Jean-Jacques Kantorow received all his training as a violinist in the Franco-Belgian tradition at the Conservatoires of Nice and Paris: his teacher at Paris was René Benedetti, who had learnt at the École César Franck. This is reflected in his discography of over 130 recordings, which leans strongly towards the virtuoso repertoire often favored by French and Italian players throughout history. Within five years of graduating with a premier prix aged thirteen, Kantorow started winning prizes at major international competitions, including the London Carl Flesch, Genoa Paganini and Geneva International.

Combining the careers of soloist and conductor does not always work especially well. Kantorow appears to be one of the exceptions and has appeared to critical acclaim in both roles at all the major musical centres of Europe, North America, India, the Far East and Africa. He has held residencies with the Orchestre de l’Auvergne, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestrale de Paris, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and made guest appearances with ensembles including the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre de Lyon, the Hallé Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony. Teaching (notably in Paris and Rotterdam) is another important activity for Kantorow, along with chamber music, in which he has perhaps given his most successful performances in a piano trio with pianist Jacques Rouvier and cellist Philippe Muller.

Whilst there are, certainly, more accurate violinists in this modern age of astonishingly high technical standards, there are few who communicate more powerfully and directly (whether or not the stylistic decisions suit everybody). Kantorow is a fiery and impassioned player, truly in the spirit of the best of violin virtuosity.

The Lithuanian cellist and conductor David Geringas belongs to the musical elite of today. An unusually broad repertoire from the early Baroque to the contemporary is testament to the flexibility and curiosity of the artist. His intellectual rigor, his stylistic versatility, his melodic feeling, and the sensuousness of his tone have brought him praise the world over.

The Rostropovich pupil and gold-medal winner of the 1970 Tchaikovsky Competition can now look back on a career that has spanned decades. David Geringas has performed world-wide with some of the leading orchestras, and important conductors of our time. His discography, which now approaches 100 CDs, includes many that have been honored with important prizes, including the Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or d’Année, Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and “Echo Klassik”. Well-known contemporary composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Ned Rorem, Peteris Vasks and Erkki-Sven Tür have dedicated cello concertos to him. He has premiered many works of the Russian and Lithuanian avant-garde in the West. As conductor, David Geringas appears regularly in Germany and abroad, and appears frequently in a dual role as cellist and conductor. 

Besides the invitations from the citadels of West and East European music centers, from Asia and the USA, David Geringas has for decades taught a world-famous cello class.  For his championing of Lithuanian music and composers, David Geringas has won the highest awards of his homeland. He was awarded the Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse of Germany for his achievements as musician and cultural ambassador for the country on the international musical scene. David Geringas is honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory, St. Petersburg Rimski-Korsakov Conservatory and at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, as well as having received an honorary doctorate from the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy.

In 1990 Ole Bøhn gave the world premiere of Elliott Carter's violin concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He has performed this concerto, which was written for and dedicated to him, with the leading orchestras in Europe and the United States. In 1994, this record won the prestigious "Grammy Award" in the category "Best Contemporary Composition".

Since his debut in 1969, Ole Bøhn has performed regularly with orchestras in Europe, USA and South America. In 1983 he toured the People's Republic of China. He has collaborated with conductors such as Moshe Atzmon, Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, Lukas Foss, Michael Gielen, Marek Janowski, Franz Welser-Möst, and Oliver Knussen.

Ole Bøhn is professor of violin at the Sydney Conservatory of music. He also holds position of concertmaster of the Norwegian National Opera. He has previously held a similar position with the Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra, and worked for shorter periods as concertmaster of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro del Fenice in Venice, Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, the Residentie Orchestra in Den Haag and the Hamburg State Opera.In addition to his busy life as a performing musician Ole Bøhn is artistic coordinator of The summer concerts at the Vigeland Museum in Oslo. He is a Commander of the Order of the Norwegian Artists' Association and was awarded by King Harald V the King’s Order of Merit Medal in Gold.

Ole Bøhn uses a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1766 which was acquired for his use by Nordea Bank of Norway.

Recognized worldwide as a musical phenomenon, Grammy-nominated Andrés Cárdenes parlays his myriad talents into one of classical music’s most versatile careers. An intensely passionate and personally charismatic artist, Cuban-born Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his compelling performances as a violinist, conductor, violist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and recording artist.

Since capturing Second Prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, Mr. Cárdenes has appeared as a soloist on four continents with over 100 orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, Sinfonica Nacional de Caracas, Sinfonica de Barcelona, and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. He has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Jaap van Zweden, David Zinman and Manfred Honeck.

As an ambassador for music of our time, Mr. CÁRDENES has commissioned and premiered over 70 works by American, Turkish and Latin American composers such as David Stock, Mike Garson, Erberk Eryilmaz, Leonardo Balada, Ricardo Thomas. His concerto repertoire includes over 100 works, ranging from the Baroque era to the present.

Mr. Cárdenes has thrice served as President of the Jury of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and in 2011 joined the jury of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Mr. Cárdenes was appointed Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Maestro Lorin Mazzel in 1989 and departed after the 2010 season to concentrate on his conducting, solo and chamber music careers.

Kun HU is a legendary violinist, conductor and pedagogue. He has been described already in the 80s as “a great artist” (Le Monde), as having “Undoubted power” (The Times), as “HU Kun... Chinese musicians, especially violinist, are establishing an increasingly high profile on the Western concert scene.” (The New York Times/ International Herald Tribune), and as “One of the most individual string players to burst on to the scene... the fines to the younger generation of violinist.” (The Strad).

Kun has studied violin with his father Professor Hu Weimin and Professor Lin Yaoji, piano with his mother Professor Peng Shijun and conducting with Professor Xu Xin. Kun gained his first soloist post at age of thirteen in the Chinese Radio Symphony. He was the first mainland Chinese violinist ever to establish a solo career on the international stage after winning the fifth prize at the Sibelius Violin Competition at just seventeen years old in Helsinki 1980, raising Chinese flag on the international violin competition stage. 

He has toured around world, became the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin’s only private student for 15 years.  Kun has taking up conducting under the personal direction of late Sir. Colin DAVIS for 10 years and founded his own orchestra HUKUN and Friends in London. 

Kun currently enjoys touring as a conductor, a Professor/ Hon RAM at the Royal Academy of Music, giving masterclass at music festivals, chairing and serving as jury member at the world’s major violin competitions and building bridges for East and West cultural exchanges. There have also been a number of films and TV documentaries about his pioneering musical career.

“Virtuosity is so natural to him, in each tone, in each phrase, that he truly musically creates, he sings and lights up a myriad of colours.”

– NZZ Zürich 

One of Jascha Heifetz's last pupils (LA, 1978 to 1981) and first leader of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (until 1999), Dutch violinist Rudolf Koelman teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and is frequently invited as a juror and guest professor at international violin competitions and master courses around the world.

Rudolf KOELMAN regularly performs worldwide as a soloist with numerous internationally renowned orchestras, such as KBS Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, WDR Radio Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra, Combattimento Consort and many others. He has also made numerous TV-, radio- and CD recordings among them a live recording of all 24 Paganini’s Capricci. In 2010, he performed in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and recorded live both Violin Concertos No. 1 & 2 by Paganini. These performances were released on Challenge Records and won the prestigious Edison Award 2010 in the Netherlands.

Koelman plays the "Woolhouse" Stradivari 1720 and a Pressenda 1829.

Grzegorz KOTOW founded “Liu-Kotow International Management & Promotion” with Shannen Liu in Hannover, Germany after 20 years of successful performing career as a violinist.  As the artist manager he works with an extensive roster of top performing artists like Midori, Pinchas Zukerman, Giuliano Carmignola, Nemanja Radulović, Isabelle Faust, Rudolf Buchbinder, Igor Levit to name a few.

His intense desire is to help young artists, using his experience, to develop their performing career, like recently the Korean violinist Bomsori KIM.  Before dedicating his life to the field of artist management, as a founding member of the Szymanowski Quartet, Mr. Kotow performed at world’s prestigious concert halls - New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Philharmonie de Paris and he regularly appeared at international festivals like BBC Proms, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Schubertiade, Lockenhaus, Bath and Cheltenham.

In the early years he won top prizes in many competitions including Melbourne, Osaka, Florence, Munich and Weimar.  Mr. Kotow studied violin and chamber music at “Hochschule für Musik und Theater” in Hannover with Krzysztof Wegrzyn and Hatto Beyerle and further musical development was sparked by pivotal encounters with such eminent musicians like Isaac Stern, Alfred Brendel, Gidon Kremer and the members of Amadeus, Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets.

Mr. Kotow can be heard on the recordings for Decca, Hyperion, Hänssler, SWR Classics, Avie labels.

He has been artistic director and advisor to the music festivals and concert series in Germany, Austria and Poland. In 2006, he was awarded with Medal of Honor for services to Polish culture.

Anne Gastinel took up the cello at the age of four. At just eleven years of age she entered the Lyon Conservatoire (CNSM). After being awarded her Premier Prix there in 1986, she went on to postgraduate studies at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM). Her teachers there, Yo-Yo Ma, János Starker and Paul Tortelier, had a profound influence on her personal and musical development, and already recognized in her the maturity of an exceptional artist. She won numerous prizes in major international competitions (Scheveningen, Prague, Rostropovich) and began to appear all over Europe, making a lasting impact on the general public in the 1990 Eurovision Competition.

Her career now takes her to the leading venues in Europe, as well as Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Canada, and the United States. She has appeared there with such great masters as Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Kurt Sanderling. During her travels she enjoys exchanging ideas and experiences with many distinguished musicians and composers, including Henri Dutilleux, Emmanuel Krivine, Josep Pons, Vladimir Spivakov, Pinchas Steinberg, Krzysztof Penderecki, Edmon Colomer, Michel Plasson, Yuri Bashmet, Tan Dun, and Michael Schønwandt. 

For nearly fifteen years now, her recordings have received the highest distinctions. In 2006, Anne Gastinel was awarded the Victoire de la Musique in the category ‘Soloist of the Year’ (after ‘Young Talent’ & ‘Best Recording’). Unanimously recognised as the ambassador of the French cello school, she was selected to play for one year the legendary Matteo Gofriller cello that once belonged to Pablo Casals. She now performs her programmes on a Testore instrument of 1690, combining the standard repertoire with regular performances of new works.

Praised internationally for his performances of the contemporary cello repertoire, Jakob Kullberg, is one of the most established and diverse Danish instrumentalists.  Top prize winner at international solo and chamber music competitions, Jakob was artist in residence at the International Carl Nielsen Competition and New Music Orchestra, Poland with which he enjoys a close and continued collaboration. In 2017 he was in residence with the 29^th International Krakow Composers’ Festival and at the Tivoli Garden Concert Hall in Copenhagen.

Jakob is halfway through a large-scale recording project with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he will release five concertos on two CDs. He is twice winner of the Danish Grammy, most recently in 2013 for his concerto CD ’Momentum’. This CD was also nominated for the Gramophone Award and Album of the Week with Q2 Music, New York.  Other high profile orchestras that he regularly appears with include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Ensemble Intercontemporain, as well as the Danish symphony orchestras and Sinfoniettas to mention a few.

Jakob enjoys a unique working relationship with the Danish composer Per Nørgård, who has composed and dedicated numerous works for him. The two have developed a rare dialogical collaboration facilitating the cellist as co-creator. Similarly Jakob is also a notable interpreter and collaborator of Bent Sørensen and Kaija Saariaho, who have both composed for him.

Professor of Cello at the Royal College of Music, London and Associate Professor and Head of Strings at the University of Stavanger, Norway, for a decade he taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Between 2004 – 2015 he was artistic director of the Open Strings Academy, and has given numerous masterclasses throughout Europe and the USA. 

From the United States to Europe to the Middle East and Asia, Israeli cellist Amit Peled, a musician of profound artistry and charismatic stage presence, is acclaimed as one of the most exciting instrumentalists on the concert stage today. 

During the 2017/18 season, Mr. Peled will continue to share with audiences around the globe the sound of the historic cello of Pablo Casals. Mrs. Marta Casals Istomin, the widow of Maestro Casals, personally handed him this historic instrument, a Goffriler ca. 1733.  Mr. Peled has performed as a soloist with many orchestras and in the world’s major concert halls such as: Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, New York; Salle Gaveau, Paris; Wigmore Hall, London; Konzerthaus, Berlin; and Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium. 

As an active chamber musician, Peled is a founding member of the famed Tempest Trio with pianist, Alon Goldstein and violinist, Ilya Kaler. Mr. Peled is also a frequent guest artist, performing and giving master classes at prestigious summer music festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Schleswig Holstein and Euro Arts Festivals in Germany, Gotland Festival in Sweden, Prussia Cove Festival in England, The Violoncello Forum in Spain, and Keshet Eilon Festival in Israel, among others. 

One of the most sought-after cello pedagogues, Mr. Peled is a Professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University. A promising basketball player, at 6’5, Mr. Peled had to make a tough choice between the basketball arenas and the concert halls. As difficult as it was to leave the professional basketball behind, he enjoys following fanatically the NBA league and playing hoops with his kids.

The cellist, James Tennant, has enjoyed a wonderfully varied and fruitful career spanning over 35 years. He has performed concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor in over 25 countries, and has made many recordings from Motown’s Michael Jackson to more recently award-winning CD’s of Russian and New Zealand music. 

As a conductor, he has collaborated with many distinguished orchestras and international artists such as Piers Lane, Wolfgang Schmidt, Li-Wei Qin, Julian Lloyd Weber and Daniel Blumenthal, and has conducted the world premieres of 5 operas by David Griffiths. Mr. Tennant has also been the principal cellist of many orchestras including: the Auckland Philharmonia, the Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia, the Michigan Opera Theatre, and has been a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

For the past 18 years James has devoted himself to teaching at the University of Waikato and giving master classes and workshops around New Zealand, China, Singapore, USA, England, Australia and Colombia. At the University, James created a unique Soloist programme designed specifically for extremely talented cellists to be groomed in media training, languages, the history of cellists and composers of cello music, while giving over 30 performances each year with New Zealand’s leading pianist Katherine AUSTIN, to prepare for competitions and a concert career. He has taught many wonderful cellists in this programme including Santiago Canon Valencia, who aged 13 in 2010 received the equal top prize in the Beijing International Cello Competition and more recently 3rd prize in the Queen Elizabeth 2017 Cello Competition.  James has also been at the forefront of musical development in New Zealand for over 30 years having been a founder of the Adams Festival of Chamber Music, the Waikato International Cello Fest, the Wallace International Cello Competition, the Millennium International Chamber Music Festival, Cellophonics and the Belle Celli.

Raphael Wallfisch is one of the most celebrated cellists performing on the international stage. At an early age, Raphael was greatly inspired by hearing Zara Nelsova play, and, guided by a succession of fine teachers including Amaryllis Fleming, Amadeo Baldovino and Derek Simpson, it became apparent that the cello was to be his life’s work. While studying with the great Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky in California, he was chosen to perform chamber music with Jascha Heifetz in the informal recitals that Piatigorsky held at his home.

At the age of twenty-four he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. Since then he has enjoyed a world-wide career playing with such orchestras as the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Hallé, City of Birmingham Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Berlin Symphony, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic and many others. He is regularly invited to play at major festivals such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Spoleto, Prades, Oslo and Schleswig Holstein.  Teaching is one of Raphael’s passions. He is in demand as a teacher all over the world and holds the position of professor of cello in Switzerland at the Zürich Hochschule der Kunst.

Britain’s leading composers have worked closely with Raphael, many having written works especially for him. These include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kenneth Leighton, James Macmillan, John Metcalf, Paul Patterson, Robert Simpson, Robert Saxton, Roger Smalley, Giles Swayne, John Tavener and Adrian Williams.

Raphael plays a 1760 Gennaro Gagliano, the 1733 Montagnana “Ex-Romberg” and an exquisite modern cello built for Raphael by Patrick Robin.

Raimund Trenkler was born and raised in Berlin. After completing his cello studies at Basel Music Academy (with Distinction), he continued his education at Folkwang University of the Arts and ultimately gained a diploma in solo performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1991 he took up the position of first solo cellist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra until he founded the “Cellissimo” ensemble of five cellists in Frankfurt am Main, with which he performed in international festivals worldwide.

In February 1993, Raimund Trenkler founded Kronberg Academy together with private sponsors following an idea he had developed together with Marta Casals Istomin, the widow of Pablo Casals, and Mstislav Rostropovich, of celebrating Pablo Casals and his message of universal humanity by bringing together musicians of all generations from across the globe in Kronberg to make music together and learn from one another. From the outset, its aim was to support and train highly talented young musicians from all over the world. In autumn of the same year, Raimund TRENKLER directed Kronberg’s first Cello Festival with Marta Casals Istomin and Mstislav Rostropovich as patrons.

Today at Kronberg Academy, the most renowned teachers in their fields train gifted young artists to become soloists in the disciplines of violin, viola and cello.  Raimund Trenkler is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Artistic Director of the Kronberg Academy Foundation, as well as Chair of the Rostropovich Cello Foundation and the Gidon Kremer Stiftung.

He has regularly served on juries, and continues to do so, for several international music competitions, such as the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in Kronberg and Frankfurt, the Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, the Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition in Moscow, the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin, the Beijing International Music Competition, the Isang Yun Cello Competition in Korea, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition Sion Valais and the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg.

An internationally acclaimed violinist, who for many years had a respected duo partnership with her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld, she taught at USC Thornton School of Music, California, for almost 60 years. She was also the founder of the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition and Schoenfeld International Music Society.

Born in 1921 in Yugoslavia, Alice Schoenfeld studied the violin in Berlin under Karl Klingler, a student of Joseph Joachim, and made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic aged ten. In 1952 she and her family immigrated to the US, where in 1959 both she and Eleonore were invited to join the string faculty at USC. At first, they taught part-time while still maintaining their touring schedule, but eventually became full-time faculty members. Both Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky numbered among their colleagues at the school. Among Alice Schoenfeld’s students were Anne Akiko Meyers and Suli Xue.

The sisters received the USC’s Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the American String Teachers Association named them joint winners of the Artist Teacher Award in 1996.

In the 1980s both Alice and Eleonore were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China, after formal diplomatic relations had been established between the Chinese and American governments. On their recommendation, more than a hundred Chinese string students studying abroad received scholarship support.

One of the most outstanding Chinese-American violinists, Suli Xue enjoys an active career on today’s international music stage. He is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, president of the Schoenfeld International Music Society, artistic director of the Schoenfeld International String Competition, artistic director of the Hong Kong International Music Festival, artist in residence at the Azusa Pacific University, artistic advisor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, former professor of violin at the USC Thornton School of Music, and former concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of two Gold Medals of Global Music Awards. Xue has earned high acclaim around the world for his unique artistry. 

Xue graduated from USC Thornton School of Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a protégé of world-renowned violin professor Alice Schoenfeld. Xue has been frequently invited as a guest artist and faculty to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has also served as a juror for numerous international music competitions. He performed as a soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for their New Year’s Concert Tour in China, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra for their Chinese New Year’s concert.

Recently, he has participated in many important performances as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Summer Music Festival, and others. In 2014, Xue introduced the Schoenfeld International String Competition to Harbin. In 2017, the competition joined the United Nations ESCO “World Federation of International Music Competitions,” fortifying and promoting music cultural exchange internationally. In August 2017, Mr. Suli Xue collaborated with maestro Zubin Mehta as a soloist and concertmaster to perform in the gala symphony concert at the Harbin China-Russia Cultural and Arts Festival. Maestro Mehta described Xue as “a brilliant violinist and outstanding leader that performs with virtuosic musicality.”

Shlomo Mintz is considered by colleagues, audiences, and critics one of the foremost violinists of our time, esteemed for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He has long been acclaimed as a celebrated guest artist with many of the great orchestras and conductors on the international stage and continues to enchant audiences with his playing.

Awarded with many prestigious international prizes including the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Diapason D’Or, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Gramophone Award, the Edison Award and the Cremona Music Award, in 2006 he received an Honorary Degree from the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba (Israel).

Born in Moscow and immigrated when he was 2 to Israel, he studied with Ilona Feher who introduced Mintz to Isaac Stern becoming this his mentor. He was also a student of Dorothy DeLay in New York.

On stage from an early age and along his career, he has collaborated with such a famous artists like Isaac Stern,  Mstislav Rostropovich, Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Muti, Yuri Temirkanov, Ida Haendel and Ivry Gitlis, among many others, and played with the best orchestras in the world as the Berlin, Vienna, Concertgebouw, Chicago, Los Angeles,  Philadelphia and New York Philharmonic 

At 18 years old, Mintz launched a parallel career as a conductor, and has since led acclaimed orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic (United Kingdom), the NHK Symphony (Japan), and the Israel Philharmonic.

Regularly invited by the most prestigious international competitions, Mintz has served as a jury member of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznań, Poland. He was also invited to be jury president of the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition in Japan, for several years.  From 2002 to 2011, he was jury president of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland and from 2012 to 2018, the Artistic Director of Crans-Montana Classics, a high-level violin Mastercourse and Festival, also in Switzerland.

Currently, he is the Mentor and President of the Jury of the International Violin Competition Buenos Aires in Argentina, President of Jury and Artistic Director of Tucuman (Argentina) Festival and National Violin Competition, as well as the president of the Ilona Fehér Budapest Violin Competition in Hungary.

Cellist Lynn Harrell, one of the finest and most prominent American classical musicians of his generation, has died. He was 76 years old.

His death was initially announced by his wife, violinist Helen Nightengale, on social media. She did not disclose the cause of his death. In a statement provided Wednesday by Columbia Artists, the company that managed Harrell, Nightengale said that the cellist's death was unexpected.

Over the course of his wide-ranging career, Harrell performed as a soloist with just about every major orchestra in the U.S. and Europe. Within the classical music world, Harrell was also widely beloved as a generous chamber music colleague, a respected teacher and a musician's musician.

When he made his debut at Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) at age 20 in 1964, the New York Times enthused: "He has music in his bones, plus a technique that a cellist two or three times his age can envy."

Harrell was born Jan. 30, 1944, in New York City. He was the son of two notable musicians: baritone Mack Harrell, a regular presence at the Metropolitan Opera for many years, and violinist Marjorie McAlister Fulton. His godfather was the revered choral conductor Robert Shaw. When he was 12, the family moved to Dallas, but spent summers in Aspen, Colo., while Mack Harrell taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Throughout his own career, Lynn Harrell maintained a deep relationship with the Aspen festival as well.

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Celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016. Founded  by students of the Ferenc Liszt Academy, Budapest,  the quartet took on the name of the  Hungarian  composer  Zoltán Kodály in 1972.

They have been  ambassadors of  Hungarian string quartet culture both  domestically  and  internationally. In the last few decades they have toured with great success in almost every European country, as well as in the United States, Japan, China, India, Australia and  New Zealand.

„The Kodaly’s rich tone was assured….the playingwas so elegant… a brilliant lesson in the string quartet’s first quartercentury… intelligent ensemble”  The Washington Post

„Immensely satisfying”  The Strad

International critics have been full of praisefor the Kodály Quartet’s numerous (some 70) recordings, including the monumental undertaking of the complete cycles of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert for Naxos.  The interpretation of Haydn’s Op. 64 was called by  Classic CD Magazine „ Best chamber music release of 1993”, Vol. VI of  the Beethoven series was  BBC Music Magazine’s “Pick of the Month” and gave it five stars for both performance and sound, calling it an “extraordinary achievement.”

 „The Kodaly’s playing throughout the last of the Rasumovsky trilogy, op.59/3 in C, is spellbinding. There is an Olympian breadth and intensity here… Op.127 is a triumph for these players.” BBC Music Magazine on the Quartet’s rendering of Beethoven Octets of Bruch and Mendelssohn received  “10 out of 10” for both artistic and recording quality from ClassicsToday.com.

In addition to its standard classical repertoire the Kodály Quartet regularly includes in its programmes works by Hungarian composers –  Kodály, Bartók, Dohnányi and others.

An internationally acclaimed violinist, who for many years had a respected duo partnership with her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld, she taught at USC Thornton School of Music, California, for almost 60 years. She was also the founder of the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition and Schoenfeld International Music Society.

Born in 1921 in Yugoslavia, Alice Schoenfeld studied the violin in Berlin under Karl Klingler, a student of Joseph Joachim, and made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic aged ten. In 1952 she and her family immigrated to the US, where in 1959 both she and Eleonore were invited to join the string faculty at USC. At first, they taught part-time while still maintaining their touring schedule, but eventually became full-time faculty members. Both Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky numbered among their colleagues at the school. Among Alice Schoenfeld’s students were Anne Akiko Meyers and Suli Xue.

The sisters received the USC’s Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the American String Teachers Association named them joint winners of the Artist Teacher Award in 1996.

In the 1980s both Alice and Eleonore were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China, after formal diplomatic relations had been established between the Chinese and American governments. On their recommendation, more than a hundred Chinese string students studying abroad received scholarship support.

One of the most outstanding Chinese-American violinists, Suli Xue enjoys an active career on today’s international music stage. He is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, president of the Schoenfeld International Music Society, artistic director of the Schoenfeld International String Competition, artistic director of the Hong Kong International Music Festival, artist in residence at the Azusa Pacific University, artistic advisor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, former professor of violin at the USC Thornton School of Music, and former concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of two Gold Medals of Global Music Awards. Xue has earned high acclaim around the world for his unique artistry. 

Xue graduated from USC Thornton School of Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a protégé of world-renowned violin professor Alice Schoenfeld. Xue has been frequently invited as a guest artist and faculty to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has also served as a juror for numerous international music competitions. He performed as a soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for their New Year’s Concert Tour in China, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra for their Chinese New Year’s concert.

Recently, he has participated in many important performances as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Summer Music Festival, and others. In 2014, Xue introduced the Schoenfeld International String Competition to Harbin. In 2017, the competition joined the United Nations ESCO “World Federation of International Music Competitions,” fortifying and promoting music cultural exchange internationally. In August 2017, Mr. Suli Xue collaborated with maestro Zubin Mehta as a soloist and concertmaster to perform in the gala symphony concert at the Harbin China-Russia Cultural and Arts Festival. Maestro Mehta described Xue as “a brilliant violinist and outstanding leader that performs with virtuosic musicality.”

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An internationally acclaimed violinist, who for many years had a respected duo partnership with her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld, she taught at USC Thornton School of Music, California, for almost 60 years. She was also the founder of the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition and Schoenfeld International Music Society.

Born in 1921 in Yugoslavia, Alice Schoenfeld studied the violin in Berlin under Karl Klingler, a student of Joseph Joachim, and made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic aged ten. In 1952 she and her family immigrated to the US, where in 1959 both she and Eleonore were invited to join the string faculty at USC. At first, they taught part-time while still maintaining their touring schedule, but eventually became full-time faculty members. Both Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky numbered among their colleagues at the school. Among Alice Schoenfeld’s students were Anne Akiko Meyers and Suli Xue.

The sisters received the USC’s Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the American String Teachers Association named them joint winners of the Artist Teacher Award in 1996.

In the 1980s both Alice and Eleonore were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China, after formal diplomatic relations had been established between the Chinese and American governments. On their recommendation, more than a hundred Chinese string students studying abroad received scholarship support.

One of the most outstanding Chinese-American violinists, Suli Xue enjoys an active career on today’s international music stage. He is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, president of the Schoenfeld International Music Society, artistic director of the Schoenfeld International String Competition, artistic director of the Hong Kong International Music Festival, artist in residence at the Azusa Pacific University, artistic advisor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, former professor of violin at the USC Thornton School of Music, and former concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of two Gold Medals of Global Music Awards. Xue has earned high acclaim around the world for his unique artistry. 

Xue graduated from USC Thornton School of Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a protégé of world-renowned violin professor Alice Schoenfeld. Xue has been frequently invited as a guest artist and faculty to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has also served as a juror for numerous international music competitions. He performed as a soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for their New Year’s Concert Tour in China, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra for their Chinese New Year’s concert.

Recently, he has participated in many important performances as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Summer Music Festival, and others. In 2014, Xue introduced the Schoenfeld International String Competition to Harbin. In 2017, the competition joined the United Nations ESCO “World Federation of International Music Competitions,” fortifying and promoting music cultural exchange internationally. In August 2017, Mr. Suli Xue collaborated with maestro Zubin Mehta as a soloist and concertmaster to perform in the gala symphony concert at the Harbin China-Russia Cultural and Arts Festival. Maestro Mehta described Xue as “a brilliant violinist and outstanding leader that performs with virtuosic musicality.”

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Ms. Pin Fei Tang graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-champion and the Peabody Music Conservatory with Master of Music and the Artist Diploma studied with Professor Laurien Laufman and Stephen Kates. During the years of study there, she won the first prize of the Rolland String Competition. She also studied with Pro. Evelyn Elsing and the Guarneri String  Quartet while she was enrolled in doctoral program in the University of Maryland. She has been teaching cello and chamber music in La Sierra University and Azusa Pacific University. 

Ms Tang is actively involved on stage performance for chamber music and solo, also she has been frequently invited to judge competitions and teaching in music festivals such as American String Teachers Association Competition, the 6th China National Cello Competition in Beijing China, CMTANC International Youth Music Competition in San Jose, the Steinway Midsummer Music Festival, the International String Music Summer Festival in Vancouver, Canada and the Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara. 

Over those years of teaching, Pin Fei has brought students to achieve the goal of winning cello solo and chamber music competitions including the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition, Enkor International Music Competition and etc.

 She also won the Excellent Teacher’s award of at American Protégé International Music Competition Carnegie Hall. 

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