Nour Ayadi was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and began playing the piano at the age of 6. At age 17 she was admitted to the Conservatoire of Paris, in Claire Désert’s class, and to the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot. She moved to Paris to pursue her musical career and to complete her final school year (Terminale Scientifique) and a baccalaureate, graduating with distinction.

Nour quickly made her mark in France: at the age of 20, she was awarded the prestigious Prix Cortot. That same year, she was a laureate of Virtuoses du coeur (first prize) and in 2017 she was awarded first prize at the Baku International Classical Music Competition. In 2016 she won the Grand Prize at the HRH Lalla Meryem International Piano Competition in Morocco. The Prix Cortot gave her the opportunity to perform at several festivals: the International Piano Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, the Folles Journées de Nantes, the Glafsforden Musik Festival in Sweden, the Chopin-Nohant Festival, the Solistes à Bagatelles, and the Pianissimes.

She was also able to play with the Opéra de Massy Orchestra, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra and, soon, the Orchestre des lauréats du Conservatoire and the Orchestre de Paris. She has performed in such prestigious venues as the Musikverein (Vienna), Flagey (Brussels), Salle Cortot (Paris), Opéra de Dijon, Opéra de Massy and La Seine Musicale, among others. In 2020 Nour released her first album, featuring works by Robert and Clara Schumann as well as Stravinsky, which was broadcast on France Musique and the Women’s Radio Station in London.

Nour is currently supported by the ADAMI Foundation, the Fondation l’Ambassadrice, the Meyer Foundation, the Fondation Banque Populaire Maroc, the Lieven Piano Foundation, the Centre Nadia and Lili Boulanger, and the Académie Musicale de Villecroze. Alongside her budding career as a soloist, Nour is studying for a master’s in public affairs at Sciences Po in Paris, where she is involved in cultural projects at the French National Assembly, the UN in Geneva, and UNICEF. She was recently named laureate of the Fondation Gautier Capuçon. 

After obtaining a master’s degree with distinction from the Conservatoire, Nour joined the 2021–22 class of artists at the Académie Jaroussky and is studying for an artist diploma at the Conservatoire of Paris.

Nour is also interested in the teaching aspect of the musician’s profession and is following an educational course at the Conservatoire of Paris. This has enabled her to work on several outreach projects in partnership with the Philharmonie de Paris, among others. Since September 2021, Nour has been artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where she is accompanied and supervised by Louis Lortie and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

She also works with the famous teacher and pianist Nelson Goerner in Geneva, as part of the Master Soloist program at the Haute École de Musique, which she will complete at the end of 2023.

Her future engagements include a series of concerts with the Orchestre de Paris at the Philharmonie, chamber music recitals with cellist Marc Coppey and violinist Emmanuel Coppey, Mozart’s Concerto K. 459 with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, and the preparation of her second solo album.

Nour benefits from a scholarship granted by M. & Mrs. Régnier Haegelsteen, from a scholarship granted by La Banque Populaire du Maroc and the outstanding support of l’Académie de Villecroze.

Piano

Nour Ayadi

Gautier Capuçon is a true 21st century ambassador for the cello. Performing internationally with many of the world's foremost conductors and instrumentalists, he is also founder and leader of the 'Classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle' at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and a passionate ambassador for the Orchestre à l'École Association, which brings classical music to more than 40,000 thousands school children across France. A multiple award winner, he is acclaimed for his expressive musicianship, exuberant virtuosity, and for the deep sonority of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello "L'Ambassadeur".

Cello

Gautier Capuçon

 (Piano), nominated by (and performing with) 

An expressive meditation on Rachmaninov, Debussy, and Liszt

For me, [the piano] is the place where I find myself, where I can meditate, be almost in a sort of trance…it allows me to discover who I am, my limits…

The cellist is anchored in the ground, around his instrument, there is a union of two bodies… we wrap around each other, it’s very sensual.

Pianist Nour Ayadi, and cellist Gautier Capuçon, share an intimate relationship with their instruments that surpasses physical touch. It is a relationship that nourishes their sense of identity and grounds them in a universe that spins on the axis of musical strings. 

Mysticism echoes through Sergei Rachmaninov’s 

Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19

. Reaching psychological breaking point in 1897 after a catastrophic premiere of his Symphony No. 1, hypnotherapy lulled the composer into recovery, after which emerged this sonata. Featuring close intervals, passionate single-note repetitions and bell-like sonorities, the symphony is reminiscent of the spirit of the Russian Orthodox Church. 

Mysticism and mystery are not limited to the four-movement form. Claude Debussy’s 

 (From a sketchbook) is a brief, yet seductive piano work of just fifty-five measures. Its “very slow (without rigour)” rhythm has a persuasive quality, rich with thoughtful repetition and meaningful pauses. First publicly performed by Ravel in 1910, it remains one of Debussy’s least known and most neglected works.

 lets its anxiety and torment be known. As repeated themes turn incessantly around each other, we can almost feel the anguish regurgitating through the notes. With obsessive motifs and sharp staccatos, the work departs from the slow pondering of the previous work. Written in the summer of 1904, Debussy had just left his first wife for singer Emma Bardac. Its title, he said, “is not [a reference to] Commedia dell’arte, but the tragic expression of existence.”

After ceaseless probing, we start a gradual descent into an inferno through the Devil’s Interval (a tritone). 

Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata)

 by Franz Liszt describes the journey of the soul into hell, beginning with descending tritones and dissonant harmonies that brings us to D minor – a key infamously associated with death in Romantic music. The second theme of this work is an enchanted chorale in the major, representing the uplifting nature of Heaven. Perhaps it is here that we witness the meditation and intimacy that both Ayadi and Capuçon experience with their instruments.

Nour Ayadi and Gautier Capuçon

D'un cahier d'esquisses

Masques

Après une lecture du Dante - Fantasia quasi Sonata

Piano and Cello Recital

The Romanian soprano graduated from the National University of Music Bucharest and is currently a Master’s degree student at the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj. She was born to a family of operatic singers, who provided her with musical preparation from her early childhood. 

She sang on many theatre, Philharmonic, and Radio stages in Romania, as well as Italy, Bulgaria,  

She was a student of masterclasses with soprano Gabriela Benackova in the Czech Republic, as well as Larisa Gergieva, Eleonora Pacetti, and Boiko Tzvetanov in Romania. She has studied at Conservatorio “Vecchi-Tonelli”, where the New Bulgarian University offered her a 2-year scholarship for the “Vocal technique and interpretation masterclass” with soprano Raina Kabaivanska, her current teacher. 

Her evolution was marked by the debut in the role of Mimì, in La Bohème by Giacomo  Puccini, at the Sofia National Opera, in 2022. The following year, she proceeded to portray Donna  Anna in Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart at the National Cluj Opera, Romania, as well as Nedda in Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo at the Stara Zagora Opera, Bulgaria. She was also Mimì at  National Bucharest Opera, Romania, and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Italy.  In 2024, she won the ICMA Young Artist of the Year award.  

She was the winner of the 1st Prize Ex Aequo at Luciano Neroni International Singing  Competition, in October 2021 (Ripatransone, Italy), and the winner of the 3rd Prize at Spiros Argiris  International Singing Competition in October 2022 (Sarzana, Italy).  

In June 2021, she was a finalist of Ionel Perlea International Singing Competition (Slobozia, Romania), where she won the “InArt Management Milano Special Prize”, as well as a  masterclass with soprano Nelly Miricioiu.  

In 2020, she participated in the International Grand Prix of Romania Competition, where  she won the “Prize for the best interpretation of a French aria”.  

Lied Grand Prix of Romania 2019 brought her the “Prize for the best interpretation of a  Romanian lied”. After this accomplishment, she was invited to sing in a relevant concert, hosted by  the National University of Music Bucharest, in collaboration with the Mariinsky Theater Academy  of Young Singers from Saint Petersburg. She won the Grand prize, the Public prize and the “George  Enescu” prize for lieder at Grand Prix George Enescu 2019, which took place in Paris. 

Soprano

Aida Pascu

 (Soprano), ICMA Young Artist 2024 award winner.

Opera is a dramatic extravaganza: love, betrayal and tragedy set against intense vibratos. Romanian soprano Aida Pascu reveals another side, “…this is a very lonely world… You go home, and you’re alone most of the time. Even if you’re married, you have a family. You’re alone. You’re on your own.” This stillness is captured in 

. A rare moment of lyrical calm and peace in an otherwise tumultuous and dark story, this aria presents a quiet moment of appreciation that individual introspection can offer. 

Individual introspection can also reveal vulnerabilities. In the aria 

, the eponymous character, Thaïs, implores for an affirmation of her beauty. Massenet effectively uses melodic repetition until we can feel Thaïs tugging on our arms, pleading for validation as she grapples with the idea that to be loved and valued in society, she must be beautiful.

, written towards the end of his life, provides a brief instrumental meditation before the stage gives way to a well-known operatic heavyweight: Puccini’s 

. This is the 19th century version of a meet-cute: the love interest, Rodolfo, opens the door of his apartment to Mimi, who wants to borrow a matchstick. She introduces herself singing, “Yes, they call me Mimi” and describes her peaceful life as a seamstress. It is a rare moment of simplicity in opera, as she shows a sincere humbleness in her appreciation of everyday beauty.

Replacing simplicity for existential longing, we continue with the first of George Enescu’s three melodies, 

. Enescu paints a graphic picture of an empty landscape through the use of wide intervals, while an ambiguous tonal landscape is supported by arpeggiated figures in the piano, reflecting inner turmoil. It is an inner turmoil that is quickly resolved in the second piece, 

, which expresses the intensity of a fervent love. The final melody, 

, reflects on mortality, with long sustained notes and descending sequences.

Halting the descent into existentialism is Albéniz’s 

. This is a vibrant piece that whistles the charming character of the Spanish city of Cádiz with its dance-like feel and playful melodies. The programme concludes with Fernando Obradors’ 

. Drawing on traditional Spanish folk songs, we see a cultural richness married with the lyrical expressiveness of our previous arias.

Aida Pascu & Gabriel Gîțan

“Tranquillo ei posa... Com'è bello" (Lucrezia Borgia)

"Dis-moi que je suis belle" (Thaïs)

Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2

“Sì, mi chiamano Mimì" (La Bohème)

Trois mélodies Op. 4

Suite Española No. 1 Op. 47: IV. Cádiz

Canciones clásicas españolas

Vocal Recital

 (Violin), Open Application instrumentalist winner

Stay tuned for updates. More information coming soon.

Kryštof Kohout

Violin Recital

When he was 6-years-old and living in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Illia Ovcharenko’s mother took him to hear a performance of Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto. After the concert, Illia told his mother he wanted to be a pianist when he grew up.

Today, just a dozen years later, Illia Ovcharenko is one of the world’s most celebrated young pianists, playing concerts all over the world.

Most recently, he won the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Canada—a competition that seeks to identify the “Complete Artist”—someone who demonstrates technical mastery, perseverance against adversity, and an understanding of musical text that is both intellectual and emotional. He’s also won top prizes at the Busoni and Horowitz competitions.

There wasn’t a lot of music in Illia’s household when he was growing up. Mom is a computer engineer, and Dad is an athlete and coach. But, there was an old upright piano in the corner of the living room, and Illia started plunking away as soon as he could reach the keys. He took singing lessons at 6-years-old, began formal piano studies at 9, and gave his first concert at 12 on the stage of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine.

His parents weren’t sure music was a terrific career path, but they encouraged his success. At 13, Illia went to study in Kyiv at a special high school for gifted musicians and later moved to Tel Aviv. He’s currently living in Hannover, Germany, where he’s finishing a master’s program with his longtime mentor, Arie Vardi.

For Illia, the piano is a real friend, sometimes filling him with joy, sometimes serving as a painkiller. The piano reveals who he is, to himself and to an audience.

He thrives on live performance, feeling as if two souls—his and the composer’s—are united together on stage. He’s most at home playing romantic repertoire.

Off the stage, Illia loves athletics (Roger Federer is an idol) and practices origami.

In the future, Illia hopes to combine teaching with an international touring career. He’s played with La Monnaie Symphony in Brussels, Jerusalem Symphony, and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France. Highlights of the 2023/24 season include debuts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Liechtenstein Symphony, and Haifa Symphony, as well as return engagements with the Calgary Philharmonic. Illia is scheduled to perform at Koerner Hall in Toronto, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Sendesaal in Hannover, Robert-Schumann-Saal in Düsseldorf, and Salle Bourgie in Montréal in the upcoming season.

“I’m so happy when people hear me play and say I brought something new to their life or let them forget about their current troubles,” he says. “Playing the piano is usually a much better way of communicating since there is something intimate involved in this process.”

Illia Ovcharenko

Piano Recital

Born in 1999, Arthur Decaris began studying violin at the Caen Conservatory with Alexandra Mus and Stéphanie-Marie Degand. After completing an advanced cycle with Suzanne Gessner at the CRR in Paris, he joined the CNSMDP at the age of 16 in the class of Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian. Since 2021, he has been honing his skills with the renowned violinist Julia Fischer at the Munich Hochschule.

He won the Rampal-Vatelot competition in 2016 and then the Arthur Grumiaux international competition in 2017.

He joined the Jaroussky Academy in 2021, which allowed him to play Brahms' Double Concerto at the Seine Musicale with the Appassionato ensemble and Mathieu Herzog. In October 2022, he made his debut with the Colonne Orchestra under the direction of Jean-Jacques Kantorow in Chausson's Poème.

Passionate about chamber music, he founded the Astreos Quintet in 2017, with which he won the 1st prize, the jury prize, and the audience prize at the Bellan International Competition in 2018. Arthur regularly performs at numerous international festivals such as Les Folles Journées in Nantes, La Grange de Meslay, La Roque d’Anthéron, Les Journées Ravel, and the Beauvais Cello Festival. He performs alongside artists such as the Wanderer Trio, Christophe Gaugué, and Stéphanie-Marie Degand.

An eclectic artist, he performs in the show around Marc-Olivier Dupin's The Little Prince, which has been performed since 2019 at the Aix-en-Provence Theater, the Seine Musicale, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

In 2019, he founded the Nebelmeer Trio with Albéric Boullenois and Loann Fourmental. They are in residence at La Roque d’Anthéron and have trained with the Wanderer Trio at the CRR in Paris, as well as in the classes of Claire Désert and Louis Rodde at the CNSM in Paris. They are completing their master's degree in chamber music. They have benefited from masterclasses with the Ébène, Modigliani, and Diotima Quartets, as well as Johannes Meissl, Lise Berthaud, and others.

Supported by the Caen Theater, they are recording their first album dedicated to Chausson and Saint-Saëns for the Mirare label, which will be released in the spring of 2023. They made their debut at the Folle Journée in Warsaw and at Pianissimes in 2022 and will perform at the Folle Journée in Nantes in 2023. They joined the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium in September 2022, in the class of Corina Belcea, Miguel da Silva, and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden.

Arthur Decaris plays on a magnificent Italian violin by Pressenda, loaned by Mrs. Cougoul, through the initiative of the TALENTS & VIOLON’CELLES endowment fund.

Violin

Arthur Decaris

Born in Ibiza, Spain, Rafael started studying the flute at the age of 8 at the Ibiza Conservatory with Joana Moragues. Other teachers such as Anikó Pusztai and Vicens Prats in Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya have supported his passion in music. His determination and eagerness to learn took him to study at the Musikhochschule München and work with Prof. Andrea Lieberknecht and Natalie Schwaabe (piccolo) and Marion Treupel-Franck (baroque flute).

3rd Prize Winner and Prize for Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Piece at the Carl Nielsen International Competition, Rafael has appeared as a soloist with Odense Symphony Orchestra and Copenhagen Philharmonic at the Odense Koncerthus. He has also performed with Münchener Kammerorchester at the Isar Philharmonie, with Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock at Audi Zentrum Rostock and Webern Kammerphilharmonie at the Congress Centre Baden, recorded by ORF (Austrian Radio) as part of the Festival “Licht ins Dunkel”.

Acknowledged by his curiosity and freshness on stage, he is a PE-Förderkreis and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now fellow, as well as a Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz and Yamaha Europe scholarship holder since 2022. Passionate about orchestral playing, Rafael has collaborated as Principal Flute at NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Augsburger Philharmoniker.

Rafael Adobas participates in several festivals such as the Tongyeong International Music Festival with the Kammerorchester Hannover playing at the Tongyeong Concert Hall, the 10th Anniversary of the International Flute Seminar Bruges (Belgium) at the Ryelandt Zeal as a Special Guest, the Klänge von Heute Festival at Schloss Engers as member of the Academy of Chamber Music Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, the Opernfestspiele Heidenheim with the orchestra Cappella Aquileia, at the Ustvolskaya Festival with Kammerensemble held at Folkoperan (Stockholm, Sweden) and at the Music Festival of Santa Eulària des Riu with a flute and harpsichord recital at the Jesús Cultural Center in Ibiza, among others. 

In 2022, Adobas performed a solo recital at the Carnegie Hall in New York, supported by Siemens Arts Program. Other prestigious venues include the Fundación Juan March in Madrid as part of the Jóvenes Intérpretes concert series. The Cognito concert cycle organized by Tribühne and Yamaha Music Europe in Hamburg, Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao as part of the Festival Msika Musica and at the Cas Serres Auditorium in Ibiza, Spain. In February 2023, he performed at Kobe Bunka Hall and Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo as the First Prize Winner of the 10th Kobe International Flute Competition 2022.

In addition, he keeps working with national ensembles which are close to his heart and he has played as a soloist with the Jove Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Orquestra Simfònica "Ciutat d'Eivissa", Banda Municipal de Música Sant Antoni de Portmany, Orquestra del Conservatori Superior de les Illes Balears i l'Orquestra del Conservatori d'Eivissa Catalina Bufí, among others.

Flute

Rafael Adobas Bayog

Flute Recital

Open Application winner (composer), 2024-25

American composer and pianist Miles Walter's music weaves together song and dance in vivid, intelligent counterpoint, drawing on a global wealth of musical strands to plumb the depth and range of human feeling. Praised as “densely contrapuntal” and for its “churning, Romantic-era-infused harmonies'' (Aspen Times), his work has been commissioned and performed by (among others) the Venice Biennale, Lontano Ensemble, New York Virtuoso Singers, Aspen Chamber Symphony (cond. Nicholas McGegan), Argento Ensemble, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Merz Trio, Yale Percussion Group, Bertrand Chamayou, Lee Dionne, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and Cameron Stowe; his composition work has received recognition from BMI, the Aspen Music Festival and School (Jacob Druckman Prize), and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Charles Ives Scholarship). 

As a pianist, Miles is an avid collaborator and chamber musician. He has worked with numerous musicians and ensembles including Rolston, Callisto, and Isidore Quartets, Argento Ensemble, icarus Quartet, Cantata Profana, Orchestra New England (world-premiere Ives recordings, released on Naxos), New York Virtuoso Singers, choreographer Jennifer Jancuska (Hamilton) & the BringAbout, New Chamber Ballet, and Mark Morris Dance Group. Committed to an eclectic and wide-ranging performance practice, he has premiered over four dozen works by his peers, students, and mentors alike, and plays fluently in numerous non- and semi-notated styles, both in- and outside the concert hall.

Miles holds a BA (Music) and an MM (Composition) from Yale, where he studied Piano with Wei-Yi Yang and Composition with Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, and David Lang. He is presently a PhD candidate at King’s College London, where he studies with Sir George Benjamin

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Season Programme

10.10.24

10.10.24

Nour Ayadi and Gautier Capuçon

CONCERT PROGRAMME

03.12.24

11.06.24

Aida Pascu & Gabriel Gîțan

CONCERT PROGRAMME

21.01.25

12.12.24

Kryštof Kohout

CONCERT PROGRAMME

11.02.25

01.15.25

Illia Ovcharenko

CONCERT PROGRAMME

15.04.25

03.13.25

Arthur Decaris

CONCERT PROGRAMME

06.05.25

04.10.25

Rafael Adobas Bayog

CONCERT PROGRAMME

24.06.25

05.22.25

Miles Walter

CONCERT PROGRAMME

12.06.25

06.12.25

Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel collaboration

CONCERT PROGRAMME