Composer

Elise Bertrand

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Violin

Clarissa Bevilacqua

Clarissa Bevilacqua, violin (Italy-USA) / Open Application

Dream Catcher

Fiddle Dance Suite - 1. Sidestep Reel

Violin Sonata, Op. 31, No. 2 - IV. Fünf Variationen über das Lied “Komm, lieber Mai” v. Mozart

Recitativo and Scherzo, Op.6

Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006

Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 27 “Jacques Thibaud”

Violin Recital

Dmitry Smirnov

Dmitry Smirnov, violin (Russia) / Ambassador: Sonia Simmenauer

Improvisation inspired by Angelo Poliziano (Lyra da Bracchio)

Sonata highlights (from No. 1, No.3 and No.6)

Circle of Attitudes for violin solo and dancer

Kafka-Fragmente Op. 24 for soprano and violin (Selected songs)

Alexey Stychkin

Alexey Stychkin talks about the Ambassador Programme, the Staatskapelle Berlin, his experience at the Kronberg Academy and his openness to chamber music and working with other artists, in this interview with Benjamin Woodroffe. 

Alexey Stychkin Interview

with Benjamin Woodroffe

 (composer) as the two young artists joining  us this season for the Ambassador Programme 2023-2024, via our open application. 

These two wonderful artists stood out in a highly competitive application process, and we are very happy to support them in their development over the coming year. 

We would like to thank everyone who applied, for their effort and time that went into applying, and encourage anyone who did not receive a place this year to apply next year. Applications for next season will be open in early 2024, please check our 

Clarissa and Elise will join the nominated artists on the Ambassador Programme for the season 2023-24. The full selection of artists will be announced later this week.  

__________________________________________________________________________________

Violinist Clarissa Bevilacqua is known to enchant audiences with her dazzling technical skills and deeply inspiring musicality. Music director and conductor Terry Lowry says she has that 

“rare star quality that is difficult to describe, but impossible to miss.” 

Clarissa debuted at the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago in front of ten thousand people when she was nine years old. She has performed solo recitals and concerto engagements at venues throughout North America and Europe. Recent and upcoming soloist performances include the opening concert of the Mozartwoche 2023 with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the premier recording of the Augusta Read Thomas concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Cape Symphony, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, El Sistema Orchestra and the Salzburger Orchester Solisten. 

Winner of several international competitions, she was awarded First Prize, Audience Award and Special Bärenreiter Award at the International Mozart Competition Salzburg, as well as the Grand Prize at the Cape Symphony International Violin Concerto Competition. She is a Young Artist of the Classically Connected Organization in New York, and an Affiliate Artist of the Guarneri Hall Program in Chicago. An avid and enthusiastic learner, Clarissa received her Bachelor of Music at age sixteen, graduating summa cum laude. In 2021, she completed her Master of Music in Violin Performance at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Pierre Amoyal and  is currently studying with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin.

Born in 2000, Elise Bertrand began playing the piano at the age of 5, the violin at the age of 8, and began composing just three years later. After studying at the CRR in Toulon, Elise went on to obtain her master's degree at the CNSMDP in the class of Roland Daugareil and extended her career in higher writing classes in the same establishment (harmony, counterpoint, etc.). In 2022 she also became Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in the class of Augustin Dumay. 

After studying at the CRR in Toulon, Elise went on to obtain her master's degree at the CNSMDP in the class of Roland Daugareil and extended her career in higher writing classes in the same establishment (harmony, counterpoint, etc.). In 2022 she also became Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in the class of Augustin Dumay. 

Elise has also won numerous violin, chamber music and composition competitions, including 2nd Prize at the Ginette Neveu International Competition and the Special Prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary piece, in 2019; 1st Prize and Special Prize at the Léopold Bellan International Competition; and in 2022 she was awarded the 1st Prize of the Rotary Club Paris as well as 1st Prize – Honorary Prize at the International Competition for Young Talents in Normandy. 

Her first album "Lettera Amorosa" (on the Klarthe label) around her works is hailed by critics and the press.

Classeek announces talented Open Application winners 

Season 2023-2024

We are delighted to announce 10 very promising open application instrumentalist finalists for the Ambassador Programme 2023-2024. Like last year, we were extremely impressed with the high standard of the applicants and thank everyone sincerely for the time and effort that has gone into applying. 

Here are the 10 finalists of our Ambassador Programme (instrumentalists) open application, for season 2022-23:

Next week we will be announcing the final instrumental artist and composer joining our Ambassador Programme from our open application, along with all nominated artists. Stay tuned for the final result! 

Open Application Finalists 

Ambassador Programme 2023-2024

Winning the place on Classeek's first ever open application, violinist Alexey Stychkin joins the Classeek Ambassador Programme for the 2022-23 season.

Russian-Greek violinist Alexey Stychkin comes from a family with deep musical and artistic roots. Born in Moscow in 2000, at the age of five he started his violin studies at the Central Music School for Gifted Children in the class of Galina Tourchaninova. During his school years, he performed in Greece, Israel, Italy and throughout Russia. He has continued his studies with Marc Bouchkov in Liege Royal Conservatory. Currently, Alexey is studying with Mihaela Martin in the masters program at the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz in Cologne. Concurrently, starting with the 2022/23 season, he has received an academy position in the first violin section of the Staatskapelle Berlin and moved to Berlin. 

Alexey Stychkin  | Tchaikovsky  - Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42 -  No. 3 Mélodie

Classeek Showroom performance, 24 May 2023

Russian-Greek violinist Alexey Stychkin comes from a family with deep musical and artistic roots. Born in Moscow in 2000, at the age of five he started his violin studies at the Central Music School for Gifted Children in the class of Galina Tourchaninova. During his school years, he performed in Greece, Israel, Italy and throughout Russia. He has continued his studies with Marc Bouchkov in Liege Royal Conservatory. Currently, Alexey is studying with Mihaela Martin in the masters program at the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz in Cologne. Concurrently, starting with the 2022/23 season, he has received an academy position in the first violin section of the Staatskapelle Berlin and moved to Berlin. 

Alexey Stychkin & Raúl da Costa | Cesar Franck - Violin Sonata

Classeek Showroom performance, May 2023

Bilal Alnemr

Nominated by Sonia Simmenauer, violinist Bilal Alnemr joins the Classeek Ambassador Programme for the 2022-23 season.

Bilal was born in Damascus and at the age of eight, he began to study violin at the Solhi-AL-WADI Conservatory. In 2007, he won the first prize in the national competition for young Syrian talents. His mentor Sonia Simmenauer says, “I was stricken when I met with Bilal the first time and his seriousness about being a musician. I admire his courage and dedication to music.”

Bilal Alnemr & Giuseppe Mentuccia | Manuel de Falla, Danse Espagnole (encore)

Danse Espagnole

Classeek Showroom performance, March 2023

Bilal Alnemr & Giuseppe Mentuccia | Fauré, Sonata No.1 in A major

 Sonata No.1 in A major

Bilal Alnemr & Giuseppe Mentuccia | Schumann, Sonata in A minor, Op. 105

Sonata in A minor, Op. 105

Bilal Alnemr & Giuseppe Mentuccia | Solhi al Wadi, Violin Sonata No.2

Violin Sonata No.2

Bilal Alnemr talks about his upbringing  as a violinist, his life experiences, connections in the musical world and upcoming opportunities, in this interview with Benjamin Woodroffe.

Bilal Alnemr Interview

Following last week's announcement of the finalists of our Ambassador Programme open application, we are excited to announce the final artist on our programme this season as violinist Alexey Stychkin!

Alexey, our first ever open application winner, joins eight other exceptional young artists who were nominated on the Ambassador Programme this season. Each musician will have the opportunity to perform a concert, broadcast live and in high definition from the stunning setting of Classeek’s private recital hall in Aubonne, Switzerland, and will receive opportunities for career enhancement, throughout the one-year programme.

Nominated by Sir András Schiff, 21-year-old pianist Avery Gagliano recently made her Carnegie Hall debut and released her debut album “Reflections” on the Steinway & Sons label. She gained international acclaim as the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition and was the only American semifinalist at the 18th International Chopin Competition in 2021.

Nominated by Renaud Capuçon, 22-year-old Paul Zientara began studying the viola at the age of seven at the Music school of Yerres in Yves Pruvot's class. In 2015, he joined the CRR (Regional Conservatory) of Paris in Françoise Gnéri's class. He regularly participates in international academies and masterclasses including the Kronberg Academy Festival

Nominated by Gautier Capuçon,  20-year-old cellist Jeein You was born in South Korea in 2002 and began studying cello at five. When she was seven she joined the Korea National University Of Arts Preschool under her tutor Chung Myung-Wha. Her ambassador Capuçon says, “Jeein is such a talented cellist and a very sensitive musician with an incredible ability to carry her emotions through music."

Nominated by Sir András Schiff, pianist Julia Hamos performs a programme of Bach, Bartók and Schumann. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Hamos currently studies with Sir András Schiff at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin and at the Kronberg Academy. In 2021 she worked with Daniel Barenboim in a succession of filmed masterclasses on Beethoven's solo piano and string sonatas.

Nominated by Sonia Simmenauer, violinist Bilal Alnemr began to study violin at the age of eight, at the Solhi-AL-WADI Conservatory. In 2007, he won the first prize in the national competition for young Syrian talents. His mentor Sonia Simmenauer says, “I was stricken when I met with Bilal the first time and his seriousness about being a musician. I admire his courage and dedication to music.”

Nominated by Sonia Simmenauer, 22-year-old Gigashvili is a frequent soloist and chamber musician working with various orchestras and taking part in festivals and masterclasses all over the world. He has always been passionate about music and was trained by famous Georgian pianist and teacher Revaz Tavadze where he continued his formal musical training at the Paliashvili Central Music School for Gifted Children. 

Nominated by Emmanuel Pahud, 24-year-old flautist Alberto Navarra began his studies under Maurizio Valentini at the Ghedini Conservatory in Cuneo. His ambassador Emmanuel Pahud says, “Alberto Navarra is a leading talent of his generation.” Alberto is also a laureate of the Severino Gazzelloni International Flute Competition and the Carl Nielsen Flute Competition.

Nominated by Sir András Schiff, 21-year-old pianist Tom Borrow began playing the piano at the age of 5 and has performed as a soloist with many native orchestras of his country, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Symphony Orchestra.

Welcomed onto the programme via the open application, Russian-Greek violinist Alexey Stychkin, born in Moscow in 2000, comes from a family with deep musical and artistic roots. He began his musical studies at the age of five and continued on to study with Marc Bouchkov at the Liege Royal Conservatory. Alexey is currently studying his masters degree at the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz in Cologne with Mihaela Martin, and this season  holds an academy position in the first violin section of the Staatskapelle Berlin. 

Each artist on the programme will perform at the Classeek concert hall during the season, in a variety of solo, duo and chamber recitals. Find out more about our 

Ambassador Programme Artists 2022-23

Latest news

Alexandra Conunova

In this specially curated concert featuring Alexandra Conunova, Suzana Bartal and David Kadouch, the artists join forces with composer and Classeek Ambassador, Eric Tanguy, in a recital programme featuring Tanguy's own music, bookending a trio of works from the first half of the 20th century. 

Alexandra Conunova & Suzana Bartal | Eric Tanguy, In a Dream

In a Dream

Classeek Showroom performance, October 2022

In this specially curated concert featuring Alexandra Conunova, Suzana Bartal and David Kadouch, the artists join forces with composer and Classeek Ambassador, Eric Tanguy, in a recital programme featuring Tanguy's own music, bookending a trio of works from the first half of the 20th century.

Alexandra Conunova & Suzana Bartal | Bartók, Romanian Folk Dances

Romanian Folk Dances

This season we have 8 wonderful emerging artists nominated onto the Classeek Ambassador programme, by our ambassadors, including pianists Avery Gagliano, Julia Hamos, Giorgi Gigashvili and Tom Borrow, flautist Alberto Navarra, violinist Bilal Alnemr, violist Paul Zientara, and cellist Jeein You. 

This year for the first time, we also opened up the programme to applicants all over the world, to fill our last space on the programme. Having received applications from very high level musicians and a diverse range of instruments and applicants, the process has been difficult. We are thankful to all artists who applied this year as we have been amazed to discover so much talent through the application process.

We are delighted to announce the 13 finalists of our Ambassador Programme open application, for season 2022-23

Following the next round of the application process, we will be announcing the final artist of our Ambassador Programme, next week. 

Open application finalists

Ambassador Programme 2022-23

Eric Tanguy

A specially curated programme, by the performers and Classeek Ambassador Eric Tanguy, this recital programme features the music of Eric Tanguy, bookending a trio of works from the first half of the 20th century. Having studied under the likes of Horatiu Radulescu, Gérard Grisey and Betsy Jonas, Tanguy has become one of France’s most widely performed composers. Violinist and Classeek Ambassador Programme alumnus Alexandra Conunova is a featured artist in this recital, along with pianists David Kadouch and Suzana Bartal.

The recital opens with Tanguy’s Passacaille for solo piano, before Alexandra Conunova leads a performance of In a Dream, a piece she recorded for an acclaimed album of Tanguy chamber works earlier this year. The recording was awarded a four-star review by BBC Music Magazine, who praised Conunova’s rendition, stating that it was ‘performed with strength and conviction.’ Now better known in its orchestral arrangement, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances is heard here in its original version: a suite of short piano pieces based on Romanian folk tunes. The dances include ‘Stick Dance’ – a piece inspired by a tune Bartók overheard two gypsy violinists playing, ‘Sash Dance’ and ‘Romanian Polka’, showing the richness and variation of traditional Romanian gypsy music and dance. 

We then cycle forwards a few decades to 1940s Paris with Poulenc’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Written in memory of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, the sonata is peppered with Spanish influences throughout and, as a result, is not instantly recognisable as Poulenc’s style. Premiered with the composer himself at the piano, this was never a piece Poulenc looked too favourably upon. In fact, he had difficulty writing the piece at all, with various attempts made. It is an intense and deeply moving work, with moments of grief, anger and bittersweet sentiment. 

Staying with the French theme, the musicians present Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye in its original piano duet form. Another work now better known in its orchestral arrangement, Ma mère l’Oye was originally written by Ravel for the Godebski children, whose parents had been the dedicatees of an earlier work by the great composer. With the subtitle ‘Five Children’s Pieces’, the work is made up of a series of movements which take their names from children’s stories, such as Sleeping Beauty and Tom Thumb. 

The evening is then brought to a close with another contemporary work by Eric Tanguy, Deux Moments Musicaux.

An evening with Eric Tanguy

Ma mère l'Oye

Passacaille

Deux Moments Musicaux

Sonata for violin and piano

Alexandra Conunova, David Kadouch & Suzana Bartal

Syrian violinist Bilal Alnemr kickstarts his time on the Classeek Ambassador Programme with a selection of sonatas by Schumann, Fauré and 20th-century Syrian composer Solhi al-Wadi. 

Opening the programme is Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, a piece written at the tail end of Schumann’s life, long after his other chamber works. Unlike these, the sonata is set in three movements as opposed to the usual four, with the central Allegretto combining the stylings of both a slow and scherzo movement. The surging main theme shows off the rich sonorities of the violin, particularly in the first movement where the low registers of both violin and piano are exploited. The second movement is faster paced, with short phrases, more frequent tempo changes and barlines hidden with syncopations and overlapping phrases. The perpetually moving finale sees the melody passed back and forth between the two instruments, before a dramatic final flourish. 

While Schumann’s sonata was one of his later successes, Fauré’s First Violin Sonata marked a turning point in his career, with fame coming rather late to the French composer. The sonata quickly made its way into the programmes of some of Europe’s top performers, including Ysaÿe, Enescu and Saint-Saëns, who was Fauré’s former piano teacher and a notable fan of his work. It was Saint-Saëns who introduced Fauré to the French mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot and her daughter Marianne, with whom Fauré quickly fell in love. The violin sonata was dedicated to her brother, Paul Viardot, who gave the premiere of the piece with Fauré himself on the piano. 

To complete this evening’s programme, Alnemr tips his hat to a fellow Syrian musician, Solhi al-Wadi. Having been born in Iraq, al-Wadi moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He spent the rest of his life in Syria, where he was a significant champion of opera and music in the country. He campaigned for the opening of various musical institutes and the Damascus Opera House, and also helped form the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra.

Bilal Alnemr, violin | Giuseppe Mentuccia, piano

Sonata in A minor, Op. 105 

Sonata No.1 in A major

Duo Recital

It is with great pleasure that we present violinist Alexey Stychkin's debut recital on the Classeek Ambassador Programme, featuring a captivating duo performance alongside pianist Raúl da Costa. The technical prowess of both musicians will be placed under the microscope this evening, with a range of demanding, diverse and highly expressive works.

The recital opens with one of Ysaÿe’s six violin sonatas, written in the early 20th century and representing the evolution of musical techniques and stylings of the time. Each sonata is dedicated to a fellow virtuoso of Ysaÿe, who was himself a celebrated violinist. The second plays homage to Ysaÿe’s friend and mentee, Jacques Thibaud, a violinist renowned for his elegant phrasing and charming tone. While the complete set of sonatas were inspired by the sonatas and partitas of JS Bach, Sonata No. 2 is subtitled ‘Obsession’ because of its particularly notable preoccupation with the great Baroque composer. The piece opens with a reference to the prelude of Bach’s Partita No. 3, which is soon dissected by Ysaÿe, who blends it with references to the Dies irae plainchant from the traditional Requiem mass.

It was Ysaÿe who, in turn, provided the inspiration for the next piece in tonight’s programme. Franck’s lone violin sonata was penned as a wedding present to Ysaÿe and his new wife, Louise Bourdeau, when they married in 1886, and quickly became a mainstay of Ysaÿe’s touring programmes around Europe. Imbued with lyricism and introspection, it has become a beloved gem in the Romantic repertoire, shifting between dramatic and delicate as the violin and piano dance around one another.

Ravel began writing his Second Violin Sonata in 1923, the very same year Ysaÿe wrote his sonatas. Unlike Ysaÿe however, Ravel wasn’t interested in the seamless interplay between the violin and piano. Instead, his focus was on their independence, describing the instruments as ‘essentially incompatible, which not only do not sink their differences, but accentuate incompatibility to an even greater degree.’ In this sonata, he celebrates their own distinct identities. As is the case in several other of Ravel’s works – not least his opera L’enfant et les sortilèges and his two piano concertos – the sonata pays tribute to the composer’s love of jazz, with its central movement ‘Blues’ referencing the American idiom with syncopations, honky-tonk rhythmic patterns and violin slides. Stychkin and da Costa will showcase Ravel’s unique blend of impressionistic and neoclassical elements in the intricate dialogues within this sonata.

From Ysaÿe’s technical brilliance to Franck’s emotional depth and Ravel’s innovative sonorities, this promises to be a fine display of music-making at its most dynamic, showing the full expressive range on offer to the violin.

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