Artists 2025
Nina HAUG / conductor
Swiss conductor Nina Haug is praised by musicians for her deep musicality and inspiring personality. Recent highlights of her career have included concerts with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (NOR), the Filarmonica de Stat Dinu Lipatti (ROM), and with Sinfonietta Schaffhausen in Tonhalle Zürich (CH). In autumn 2025 she will make her debut at the Theater Magdeburg (GER) and with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (NOR). She has been collaborating with multiple youth orchestras, as for example the Nutcracker production in 2024 with NOR59 in Oslo, and summer 2025 she will lead concerts with the National Youth Orchestra of Ukraine and the Orchestra Giovane (CH). In 2022 she was leading the Christmas Gala with choir, children choir, orchestra and soloists at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo.
Nina Haug is currently based in Oslo, where she is a member of the Norwegian elite programme Dirigentforum and teaching at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Through Dirigentforum, Nina Haug regularly works with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She participated in the renowned Conducting Academy of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival 2024, and the Järvi Academy 2023 in Estonia. In summer 2024, she completed her master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Prof. Ole Kristian Ruud.
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Nina Haug graduated as a pianist from Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and has been working as a soloist, chamber musician and song accompanist. She made her début at Tonhalle Zurich in 2022 with Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto and she played Alban Berg’s Kammerkonzert as a soloist at Helsinki Music Centre. Nina Haug regularly enjoys leading from the piano. Her most influential teachers include Matti Raekallio, Tuija Hakkila, Gerold Huber and Silke-Thora Matthies. Nina Haug is currently employed by the Norwegian Academy of Music as a teacher for conducting.
SUSANNA DANIELA BRAUN / PIANO
Praised for her “gentle, bittersweet and evocative quality” (The Arts Desk), Swiss pianist Susanna Braun made her debut with the BBC Philharmonic in June 2025 performing Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto. The concert was also recorded for a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast.
Highlights of the second part of the 2025 include Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (YSOU) and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Manchester Camerata.
In 2024, Susanna made her debut at the Tonhalle Zurich with Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor, KV 466, earning praise for her mature and nuanced interpretation. Susanna has appeared with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Schaffhausen, Jena Philharmonie, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Orchestra d’Archi Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni, and the Orchestra del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini in Florence.
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She has performed at major venues such as TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Spiegelzaal of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Town Hall Birmingham, St James’s Piccadilly and St Mary’s Perivale in London, Teatro Comunale Ferrara, Palais Ehrbar Vienna, Weimarhalle Weimar, Elisabethenkirche Basel, and the Lanserhaus Eppan.
Still in her early career, Susanna has already gained international recognition. In 2025, she reached the semi-finals of the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht; in 2024 she was a top ten candidate at the Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition in Monza and one of only 36 participants selected for the Concours Géza Anda. Some further notable achievements include the Brigitte Engerer Prize (awarded to the candidate with the greatest career potential as Jeune Espoir) and the Sogel Pontoise Prize at the Piano Campus International Piano Competition 2023 Paris; first prize at both the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede and the Ferrara International Piano Festival; the Encouragement Prize from the Neues Orchester Basel.
She holds an International Artist Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), an Academy Diploma from the Imola International Academy “Incontri con il Maestro”, a Master’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar, a Bachelor of Music with honours from the RNCM, and the Diplôme Supérieur with the highest unanimous distinction from the Schola Cantorum Paris. She is currently pursuing the Post-Diploma Course at the Imola Academy and a Master’s in Specialized Music Performance – Soloist at the ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts). Her principal teachers include Boris Petrushansky, Grigory Gruzman, Till Fellner, Helen Krizos, and Danilo Manto.
A passionate chamber musician, Susanna is the founder and artistic director of BlenioMusica, an annual chamber music festival in Switzerland’s Valle di Blenio. Now in its fifth year (2025), the festival is acclaimed for its innovative programming and the high quality of performance by young soloists from across Europe.
Susanna Braun is part of the Valaris Music family and is grateful for the Excellence Scholarship of the ZHdK Foundation.
YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF UKRAINE / YSOU
The Youth symphony Orchestra of Ukraine/YSOU is a unique musical project that brings together musicians aged 12 to 25 from all over Ukraine. The Youth symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was founded in 2016 on the initiative of the Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv. Her idea was supported by three German partner institutions: the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Federal Youth Orchestra of Germany (Bundesjugendorchester Deutschland) and Deutsche Welle. Since its founding, the YSOU has conducted over 35 concert tours and projects in 14 countries.
In 2022 the YSOU went on large scale European tour «United for the future», bringing up a strong message for peace, justice and freedom from Ukraine’s young generation. In frames of the tour the ensemble performed more than 30 concerts and played at 10 of the biggest festivals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, among others at Bachfest Leipzig, Munich Opera Festival, Lucerne Festival, Young Euro Classic Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Herbstgold Eisenstadt, Festival «Aus den Fugen!» at the Konzerthaus Berlin and gave a great French debut in Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
In April 2023, the Berliner Philharmonic orchestra took on the patronage of YSOU.
In 2023, the orchestra performed at Mainzer Dom, gave the opening concert at the Audi Festival in Ingolstadt, participated in the Young Euro Classic Festival, and made its debut in Brescia, Vicenza, and Bologna as part of the Italian tour.
Additionally, the orchestra launched a significant project, ‘LOST CHILDHOOD,’ under the patronage of Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, at the Centre for Fine Arts, BOZAR in Brussels. The event featured the world premiere of Evgeni Orkin’s cantata “Daddy’s Book”, commissioned by conductor Oksana Lyniv specifically for this project.
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In 2024, during the spring tour, the YSOU presented a concert dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe, featuring the French premiere of the cantata “Daddy’s Book” by Evgeni Orkin. Additionally, the orchestra performed two Easter benefit concerts at the Casals Forum of the Kronberg Academy in Germany, as well as an Easter charity concert at St. Stephen’s Church in Mainz. Furthermore, as part of the spring tour, 25 musicians from YSOU played alongside fellow students from the Sibelius Academy Helsinki in Finland in the joint charity project “Let There Be Light,” under the direction of Dalia Stasevska.
During the summer tour in 2024 the orchestra performed at the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, the Berlioz Festival in France and gave the opening concert at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland under the direction of the chief conductor Oksana Lyniv.
In autumn 2024, the orchestra made its debut in Poland at the “Ukrainian Spring” festival under the direction of Polish conductor Norbert Twórczyński.
In January 2025, YSOU performed at the traditional San Geminiano Charity Concert in Modena, Italy, under the baton of Oksana Lyniv. Broadcast live on Italian TV, the concert raised donations to support Ukrainians in need, including children and youth.
Alessandra DONINELLI / cello
The Swiss-Austrian cellist Alessandra Doninelli earned international recognition with her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie giving the premiere of Daniel Pacitti cello concerto. Her radiant personality and expressive musicianship, brought Alessandra on the stages of the world’s leading venues, including the Tokyo Opera City, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Minato-Mirai Hall in Yokohama, the Swiss federal Palace, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, and the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid.
Alessandra recently appeared as a soloist with the “Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana”, the “Basel Sinfonieorchester”, the “Stuttgarter Kammerorchester”, the “Camerata dei Castelli” and the “Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra” under the baton of Andrey Boreyko, Kevin Griffiths, Andreas Laake and François Benda.
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“Music is capable of moving the mountains and when we share those fleeting episodes of sound with others, the entire planet finds itself in another galaxy” through those words Alessandra expresses the power that chamber music has for her. She worked with inspiring mentors including Günter Pichler (Alban Berg quartet), Eberhard Feltz, Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet, Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quaret), Heime Müller (Artemis Quaret), Heinz Holliger and won the prize for the “most outstanding chamber music group with piano” of 2020-2021 academic year at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia awarded by the queen of Spain. Alessandra is member of the Trio Michelangeli, prize winner at the 2023 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan.
Alessandra performed at various festivals including “Herbst in der Helferei”, “Pablo Casals Festival”, “Monighetti&Friends, “Musik Miteinander” at the Kronberg Academy, “Musique à Flaine”, “Eggenfelden Klassisch”, “Ceresio Estate” and collaborated with inspiring chamber music partners such as Vilde Frang, Yura Lee, Fabio di Casola, Mi-kyung Lee, Roland Glassl and Calogero Palermo.
BBC Radio3 broadcasted multiple times the live recording of her Saint-Saens cello concerto with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. She created a long-lasting relationship with the Swiss-Italian Radio-television (RSI) giving a live-concert recital with the pianist Dominic Chamot, appearing in the tv program “Paganini” and in the documentary film “Archi nel Sol Levante”. For the RSI Alessandra also recorded the piano trio of the Dutch composer Elisabeth Kuyper, showing her passion for the discovery of neglected composers and her aim to bring their music to light.
Alessandra studied under the guidance of Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta at the Hochschule für Musik Basel and later at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. Furthermore, she was part of the 2019 class at the Pavia cello academy with Enrico Dindo and is currently studying with Wen Sinn Yang at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.
Alessandra plays a 1840 cello by Bernard Simon Fendt II.
Michele FONTANA / clarinet
In 2021 Michele Fontana graduated in Clarinet with honours at the ISSM “G. Verdi” of Ravenna, studying with M. Stefano Franceschini.
He has collaborated as first clarinet and soloist with numerous festivals including Emilia Romagna Festival, Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, Ravenna Festival, Verdi Festival, Reggio Parma Festival and Angelica Festival. He has performed for various artistic institutions such as Biennale of Venice, MamBo, Art City and Fabbrica del Vapore.
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Finalist in various national and international competitions, he wins the first absolute prize at The International Competition “Luigi Zanuccoli”, at the International Competition “Premio Crescendo” and the UK International Music Competition, in the category “Duo”. He also obtains the “Jury Prize” at the “Crescendo A.GI.MUS Award”.
He played in several orchestras with conductors such as Wayne Marshall, Timothy Redmond, Pietro Borgonovo, Hossein Pishkar and Matthew Taylor.
He is co-founder of the contemporary music collective “Wko – Camerata degli Ammutinati”, with which he realized the Italian premiere of the contemporary opera “The Tell-Tale Heart” by the Dutch composer Willem Jeths.
SOFIKO TCHUMBURIDZE / VIOLIN
Born in 2000 in Mersin, Turkey, into a Georgian musical family, Sofiko Tchumburidze began studying the violin at theage of six under the guidance of her mother, Lily Tchumburidze, at the Mersin University State Conservatory. She started her undergraduate studies in 2018 at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Prof. Lena Neudauer and completed her degree under Prof. Julia Fischer. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree with Prof. Julia Fischer, while also studying Baroque violin under Prof. Mary Utiger.
The violinist has participated in masterclasses withrenowned musicians such as Lukas David, Nora Chastain, Rudens Turku, Volker Jacobsen, Sergey Kravchenko, Dora Schwarzberg, Pierre Amoyal, Mayumi Hirasaki, Cihat Aşkın, Özcan Ulucan, and Dimitri Sitkovetsky. Chamber music holdsa prominent place in her artistic life. As a chamber musician, she has performed at prestigious events such as the Istanbul Boğaziçi Albert Long Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Days of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, and the Schloss Elmau Chamber Music Festival, with some performances recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk radio station.
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In addition to her chamber music work, Tchumburidze also appeared on stage as a soloist with orchestras such as the Presidental Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Türkiye, Bursa Government Symphony Orchestra, Eskişehir Symphony Orchestra, Antalya Symphony Orchestra. She has also participated in national and international festivals, including the Youth Classics Festival, Semmering International Summer Festival, Istanbul Young Classical Musicians Festival, Seefeld Starnberger Music Days, Salzburg Festival, Tsinandali Festival, and Insel Festival, in Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, and Germany. recorded a CD with the Mozarteum Orchestra under the direction of Howard Griffiths for Alpha Classics and has performed concerts with Julia Fischer in Grünwald. She shared the stage with Maxim Vengerov at a concert organized by ÇEV Sanat at Istanbul’s Zorlu PSM. Since 2022, she has been performing with the renowned West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, appearing in cities such as Cologne, Ljubljana, Salzburg, Berlin, and Lucerne. Additionally, she performed at the Schloss Elmau Georgian Festival alongside world-famous mandolinist Avi Avital and the celebrated Georgian ensemble, the Rustavi Ensemble.
Sofiko has won numerous awards from an early age. She earned first prize at the Gülden Turalı National Young Musicians Violin Competition and was named “Student of the Year” by the Rudens Turku Foundation through audience choice, receiving a special award as well. She won first prize at the Ana Chumachenco Competition in Germany, first prize at the 3rd National Chamber Music Competition in Turkey with her piano trio. Also she was the winner of the first prize given in the name of Meriç Soylu at the concert series organized in İstanbul “İş Sanat Parlayan Yıldızlar” which is one of the important organizations for young artists.
A scholarship recipient of the ÇEV Sanat (Contemporary Education Foundation), Sofiko Tchumburidze continues her musical career playing a highly valuable 1890 Lorenzo Ventapane violin, awarded to her as a result of winning the 2024 Musikinstrumentenfonds competition, organized by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
VERIKO TCHUMBURIDZE / VIOLIN
Since winning the 2016 International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition at the age of 20, Veriko Tchumburidze has built a reputation as a captivating soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. “She is a breath of future,” said Andrzej Wituski, the competition’s director, “She brings us closer to the world of her own imagination”. Andante, Turkey’s leading classical music magazine named her the country’s Best Emerging Musician. Born into a Georgian family in Adana, southern Turkey, Veriko Tchumburidze initially trained at Mersin University State Conservatory with Selahattin Yunkus and Lily Tchumburidze.
In 2010 she has started to study in with Dora Schwarzberg at the MDW in Vienna as a scholar of the Young Musicians on World Stages (YMWS) project. Between 2015-2022, she studied at Prof. Ana Chumachenko’s class and since 2022 she continues her second master’s degree studies in chamber music with the Dirk Mommertz and Raphael Merlin at the Munich’s Musikhochschule. She has also participated in the masterclasses of Albert Markov, Shlomo Mintz, and Igor Ozim, in the Seiji Ozawa Academy Masterclass and, also in Switzerland, the Verbier Festival Academy.
In the 2025/26 season, Veriko Tchumburidze makes her Polish debut of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra under Pawel Przytocki. She also debuts at Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, performing Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano. Additionally, she returns to NOSPR Katowice for Kancheli’s Chiaroscuro with Andrey Boreyko. She appears for the first time at Schiermonnikoog Festival, Wonderfeel Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn and Europäische Wochen Passau, while returning to the Istanbul International Music Festival and Storioni Festival. This season also features the world premieres of two works dedicated to her: Kaan Bulak’s Solo Violin Sonata No. 2 and Aris Alexander Blettenberg’s Byzantine Rhapsody.
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As a keen exponent of chamber music, she partners in recital with Pianists Ketevan Sepashvili and Mamikon Nakhapetov and was formerly a member of Trio Arte, a piano trio which in 2016 won first prize at the Pietro Argento International Music Competition in Gioia del Colle, Italy. 2016 also brought the world premiere at the Istanbul Music Festival of Ludus Modalis, a work dedicated to Trio Arte by the distinguished Turkish composer Özkan Manav. Since 2022, she is a member of Trio Vecando, a piano trio.
Veriko Tchumburidze recorded Anton Wranitzky’s Violin Concerto in C for Sony Classical with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and conductor Howard Griffiths. Her recording on the Klanglogo label of John Williams’ music for the film Schindler’s List with Howard Griffiths conducting the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt led to a headlining appearance, under the aegis of the Orpheum Musik Stiftung, at the opening concert of the 2016 Zurich Film Festival at the Swiss city’s opera house.
Since 2016 Veriko Tchumburidze has played a Giambattista Guadagnini violin, made in Milan in 1756 and generously loaned by Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Vittorio BENAGLIA / viola
The interpretation of Vittorio Benaglia is magnificent, who knows how to draw unique sound and timbre capacities from the viola, creating new and magical sounds, almost attributable to the human voice.” Rivista MUSICA
Vittorio Benaglia has performed as a solo viola in concert venues like Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall in New York, Wiener Saal of Mozarteum in Salzburg and Madinat Theater in Dubai. As a soloist with orchestra, he played with I Musici di Parma, Master Orchestra di Verona, Eurasia Chamber Orchestra and Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra.
Vittorio won the first prize in numerous national and international competitions including: IV London International Music Competition (2019) and Golden Classical Music Awards (2020).
Born in 1999, he studied at Conservatorio G. Verdi di Como, HEMU in Lausanne and Accademia L. Perosi di Biella. He took part in courses and masterclasses with Nobuko Imai, Hartmut Rohde, Anna Serova, Alexander Gordon (Zemtsov), Timothy Ridout, Bruno Giuranna, Wilfried Strehle, Danilo Rossi, Andrea Lucchesini, Paul Silverthorne, Marco Rizzi and Zakhar Bron.
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He collaborates as a soloist and chamber musician with Livorno Music Festival, Emilia Romagna Festival, LacMus Festival, Spoleto Festival, Accademia Perosi and with artists such as Pavel Berman, Alexander Gordon (Zemtsov), Ivan Karizna, Eva Bindere, Denitsa Laffchieva, Mairead Hickey, Teofil Milenkovic, Marco Rizzi, Massimo Mercelli, Andrea Lucchesini, Marc André Teruel, Anna Serova, David Geringas and with ensembles like Divertimento Ensemble, Conductus Ensemble and Cesar Franck Quartet.
He participated in the chamber music project ‘Mit Musik Miteinander’ organized by Kronberg Academy.
His first album ‘English Music for Viola and Piano’, with the pianist Fabio Napoletano, was released by the Japanese label Da Vinci Classics in March 2021 and was presented by Rai Radio 3, Radio Vaticana and Radio Musica Con le Ali. The album got positive reviews by Archi Magazine, Rivista MUSICA and many more.
The latest album sees Benaglia as solo viola with Alexander Gordon as conductor, Denitsa Laffchieva as solo clarinet and the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra with music by Max Bruch, Nino Rota and Paul Hindemith.
He received a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, and he is participating in the Intensive Music Weeks and activities offered by the Academy.
From 2022 Vittorio is a Pirastro Artist.