FINAL VIOLIN AND VIOLA CONCERT NO. 2

PROGRAMME:

The participants of the violin masterclass with Felix Froschhammer as well as of the violin, viola and chamber music masterclass with Jonian Ilias Kadesha, Pablo Hernán Benedí and Lily Francis take the stage. They are joined by pianists Stephanie Gurga and Pavlos Mastrogiannis.

The detailed concert programme will be announced during the days of the masterclasses.

Karolina Bagarič Vujanić, Julie Marie Becht, Louise de Crombrugghe, Lena Donven, Mila Donven, Juliette Dunoyer Greer, Labros Alexios Fouyas, Maria Galanopoulou, Zoi Katsapara, Dimitri Martinuzzi Mathian, Stelios Mastrogiannis, Antonios Maziotis, Antonia Meyer, Viviane Plekhotkine, Anna Rakhmatullaev, Rucca String Quartet, Pippa Sieppala, Coco Tomita, Yume Tomita, Gustavo Vieira Rebelo, Daphné Vonlaufen & Cosima Weidmann

Stephanie Gurga piano

Pavlos Mastrogiannis piano

ARTIST RÉSUMÉS:

Stephanie Gurga is a polyvalent musician, performing on piano, harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano, as well as an opera conductor. In 2010, she was named to the Haute Ecole de Musique Vaud-Valais-Fribourg, and has specialized in accompanying strings. She has accompanied the classes of numerous acclaimed teachers, including for Janine Jansen, Tatjana Masurenko, François Salque, Gerard Caussé, and Clemens Hagen.

As harpsichordist and pianist, Stephanie frequently appears with L’Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Prague Symphonic Ensemble, and the Sharoun Ensemble. As conductor, she has directed productions for the Nouvel Opéra Fribourg, at the Puy-du-Fou attraction park, L’Oriental de Vevey, the Grimeborn Opera Festival London, and the Woodhouse Opera.

Stephanie has mostly recently developed an electronic composition project, “Air(e)”, a mix of baroque and classical songs and arias re-composed and performed with a unique harmonic language and background. This project is supported by the Ensemble Valéik and has been the recipient of diverse grants in Switzerland and in Italy.

Pavlos Mastrogiannis was born in Athens and received his first piano lessons at the age of twelve with Christiana Platania. Under her guidance, he earned his Piano Diploma from the National Conservatory of Athens in July 2021, graduating with the highest distinction (Excellent) and the Second Prize. He subsequently completed a Bachelor’s degree in Historical Keyboard Instruments at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, where he studied fortepiano with Dr. Prof. Stefania Neonato and harpsichord and basso continuo with Arianna Radaelli. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Harpsichord with Arianna Radaelli.

He regularly participates in masterclasses specializing in Early Music, including the Urbino Musica Antica Festival, the Alte Musik Tage Bremen, and most recently a harpsichord masterclass with Jean Rondeau at the Piccola Accademia di Montisi.

His repertoire includes solo works, chamber music, and Lied repertoire, with a particular focus on historically informed performance. In August 2025, together with the soprano Maryam Jalalikandy, they won the 1st International Young Artists Competition of the International Kalamata Music Days. They have been performing together as a Lied duo for the past four years.

Jonian Ilias Kadesha is a violinist of striking imagination and intellectual breadth, recognised for performances that combine stylistic precision, physical intensity and vivid colour. Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, he studied at the Musikhochschule Würzburg, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and Kronberg Academy, and worked with teachers and mentors including Antje Weithaas, Sir András Schiff, Salvatore Accardo, Grigori Zhislin, Ulf Wallin, Ferenc Rados, Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Leonidas Kavakos and Hatto Beyerle.

He has appeared with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir András Schiff, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Beethoven Sinfonieorchester Bonn, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Slovenian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras, and Lübeck Philharmonic. Increasingly sought after as soloist-director, he collaborates with ensembles such as the Netherlands and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, Aurora Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and London Mozart Players, bringing to orchestral repertoire the freedom of chamber music, improvisation and personal ornamentation.

A passionate chamber musician and curator, Kadesha is co-founder of the award-winning Trio Gaspard and founder of Caerus Chamber Ensemble. His programming reflects a restless curiosity across early, classical, modern and contemporary repertoire alike. He has performed with Martha Argerich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Nicolas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis, Gábor Takács-Nagy and Antje Weithaas, and appeared at Wigmore Hall, the Louvre, Berlin Philharmonie and Salle Molière Lyon. His recordings for Linn Records, including his solo debut Hommage à J.S.B. and Suite Italienne with CHAARTS, have received outstanding international praise for imagination, originality, stylistic confidence and taste across several major European publications.

Pablo Hernán Benedí enjoys a varied career as a violinist and violist. He was born in Spain where he carries his studies as well as London where he lived for over a decade. As a chamber musician he is a founder member of Trio Isimsiz with whom he plays since 2010 having recorded three albums, including their commission to Francisco Coll and performing in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall and featuring recently in a MusicaViva Tour in Australia. He was also a member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet for fourteen years until 2024, featuring in their first 14 recordings and enjoying a varied performing scene.

Currently he is also a member of the Caerus Ensemble, a group of great variability and scope, in which all members rotate and perform different roles as well as different formations ranging from the duo to piano quintet.

Since 2020 Pablo joined the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra and Choir as concertmaster, also taking the role as mentor in their academy. Pablo works regularly as guest leader with groups such as Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra amongst others. As a soloist Pablo has performed with Philarmonia Orchestra, Mozart Players and Concerto Budapest.

In 2024 he joined Timothy Ridout as a professor at Haute Ecole de Musique de Sion teaching violin and viola. Pablo enjoys playing a Jean Baptiste Vuillaume from 1851.

Lily Francis is an American violinist and violist living in Austria. As a top prize-winner at the 2009 ARD competition (violin), Lily has appeared with a number of European orchestras, including the Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchester, the Münchener Kammerorchester and the Münchener Rundfunkorchester. She made her Carnegie Hall Debut in 2008 and was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two in New York. Highlights of late include performances of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (viola) with Ilya Gringolts, appearances at the Heidelberger Frühling and Mozartfest Würzburg, as well as at the Lockenhaus and Marlboro Festivals. This year sees the CD release of the complete Mozart Quintets on gut strings with the Gringolts Quartet, as well as the launch of Klangraum Oberbauer, Lily’s concert series at her farm in Kremsmünster. As a passionate member of the Caerus Ensemble, she can be heard on violin or viola: in London at Wigmore Hall, Vienna, Tresanton, Tirana or Kalamata. Past chamber music collaborators and influences have included Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Clemens Hagen, Nicolas Altstaedt, Kim Kashkashian, Gidon Kremer, Vilde Frang and Pekka Kuusisto. A student of Joseph Silverstein and Miriam Fried, Lily is Professor of Violin at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg since 2017, and plays at being a farmer with her 4 children, 9 chickens and 6 sheep.