Artists 2024
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.
Gaja BAŠIC / flute
Born in Slovenia in 1999, Gaja Bašič studied the flute at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Liza Hawlina’s class. In 2021, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts with Andrea Oliva at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and in 2023 the master’s in music performance with Felix Renggli. During her musical career she has participated in numerous competitions in Slovenia and abroad. In 2022 she won second prize at the national Temsig (SLO) competition and in 2023 she received the Wind Soloist prize at the Isa Academy in Austria. In 2024 she won the audition to participate in the Grafenegg Academy.
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Gaja has collaborated with several orchestras including the Orchestra Giovanile del Mediterraneo (OJM), the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI), the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Human Rights Orchestra, the United Soloists Orchestra, the Orchestra Le Nove di Beethoven, the La Toscanini Orchestra of Parma; she has performed under the direction of many conductors including Markus Poschner, Juraj Valcuha, Alessio Allegrini, Arturo Tamayo, Yuram Ruiz, and Duncan Ward.
She has performed on important stages including the LAC in Lugano, the Opera Berlioz (France), the Grand Theatre de Provence, the KKL in Luzern, the Auditorium N. Paganini in Parma, the La Fenice Theatre in Venice.
Gaja deepens her musical knowledge with renowned musicians such as Trevor Wye, Julien Beaudiment, Mario Caroli, Davide Formisano, Jacques Zoon, and Andrea Lieberknecht.
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.
Rennosuke FUKUDA / violin
Rennosuke Fukuda, a Japanese violinist born in 1999 has been described by The Violin Channel as “quickly building an international reputation as a young virtuoso of outstanding potential”.
Rennosuke won the 2014 Menuhin Competition for young violinists in Austin, TX, USA, which earned him the honor of playing with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Other performances of note include those with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Radio Orchestra of Romania, North Czech Philharmonic, Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Okayama Philharmonic Orchestra among others.
Rennosuke has worked with conductors such as Giancarlo Guerrero, Dimitri Jurowski, Kazuki Yamada, Norichika Iimori, Masahiko Enkoji and others.
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International prizes that Rennosuke has awarded is 4th prize at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover 2018, 1st prize at the 33rd Valsesia Musica 2017. And also, he won the Reinhold Wurth Promotion Prize with the highest score in the All Age Group, and the 2013 Sonderpreis “Virtuoz” for best interpretation of a virtuoso piece in the 15th International Kloster Schöntal violin competition in Germany.
In 2017, Rennosuke was awarded the Ivry Gitlis Prix as an active young violinist in the world and was awarded a scholarship from Rahn Kulturfonds in Switzerland the same year. Rennosuke is a scholar of le prix d’études du Pour-cent culture Migros in 2019 and 2020.
Rennosuke has studied the violin with Sonoko Kouno, Chihiro Kudo, Machie Oguri, and Keiko Urushihara before moving to Switzerland where he graduated the bachelor at the Heute École de Musique de Lausanne, where he studied under Prof. Pavel Vernikov and Prof. Svetlana Makarova.
Rennosuke is currently studying under Prof. Janine Jansen as a master’s student at the Heute École de Musique de Lausanne.
In 2020, Rennosuke became the Artistic Director and the Concertmaster of The MOST(Magical Orchestra of Special Talents).
Rennosuke now performs on a violin made by Nicolo Gagliano (ca. 1773).
Rennosuke has his first album“Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2”released from Nippon Columbia.
SUSANNA DANIELA BRAUN / PIANIST
Susanna Braun, winner of the 10th International Piano Competition for Young Musicians, was born in The Hague in 1999 to Swiss parents and began her professional piano training at the age of 9 with Danilo Manto in Milan. After studying with Helen Krizos at Chetham’s School of Music and Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester, she completed her Bachelor of Music with “First-Class Honours”. She was further awarded the “Diplôme Superiore” with unanimous highest mention» from the Schola Cantorum de Paris, in the class of Maurizio Moretti.
Presently she is studying at the Imola International Academy Foundation “Incontri con il Maestro” in the class of Boris Petrushansky. Simultaneously, she is preparing for her Master of Music at the Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar, where she works with Grigory Gruzman. In addition, she receives guidance from Helen Krizos and Philippe Cassard.
Susanna has been invited to participate in the 16th Concours Géza Anda 2024. In August 2024, she will make her debut at the Tonhalle Zürich with W.A. Mozart’s Piano Concerto KV 466. In the 2024/2025 season she will make her debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sinfonietta Schaffhausen.
In autumn 2023 she performed L.v. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in Munich and 48 hours later S. Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in Hamburg. Some highlights of her first concert tour in Holland in 2022 was a live Radio 4 interview followed by a recital in the Spiegelzaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
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O.a. she has also performed in venues such as Town Hall in Birmingham, St. James Piccadilly Church and St Mary’s Perivale in London, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, Lanserhaus in Eppan during the Piano Academy Eppan 2019, Palazzo Arese Borromeo in Cesano Maderno during Piano City Milano, Martinskirche and Elisabethenkirche in Basel, ETH Zurich und Universitaetsspital Zurich (USZ), Chiesa Evangelica in Lugano, Palais Ehrbar in Vienna, and Weimarhalle in Weimar.
Appearances with orchestra have been made with the Jena Philharmonie, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, the Orchestra d’archi Ferruccio Bevenuto Busoni and the Orchestra del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, Florence.
Susanna is the founder and the artistic director of the annual chamber music festival “BlenioMusica”, which was realized under her artistic direction for the first time in July 2021 in the Valle di Blenio in Switzerland.
Still in her young career, Susanna already received numerous awards. At the 21st International Competition Piano Campus 2023 in Paris, she received the “Brigitte Engerer prize”, which honours the candidate with the greatest career potential as “Jeune espoir” and the partner “Sogel Pontoise prize”. In 2018 she won first prizes at the 10th International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede and the Ferrara International Piano Festival in Italy. The following year she received the encouragement prize from the Neues Orchester Basel, and in 2020 the “RNCM Chopin Prize” from the RNCM. She celebrated further successes at the 7th Andrea Baldi International Piano Competition, International Anton Rubinstein Competition, 8th International Rosario-Marciano Competition, Mazovia XXII International Chopin Festival, 4th International Piano Competition Piano Talents, Euterpe International Music Competition.
Susanna is grateful for the support of the charity Talent Unlimited.
Viola BENAGLIA / violin
Born in 2000, she attended “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Como and graduated from the “A. Boito” Conservatory of Music in Parma.
She studied at the Accademia L. Perosi in Biella under the guidance of Eva Bindere. She took part in several courses and masterclasses with Felix Ayo, Mihaela Costea, Kirill Troussov, Anna Serova, Klaidi Sahatçi, Paolo Beschi, Denitsa Laffchieva, and Bruno Canino.
She played in numerous orchestras such as Philarmonic Orchestra of Como Conservatory, Philarmonic Orchestra A. Boito di Parma, Solo d’Archi Ensemble, European Youth Ensemble, OTM Orchestra, Orchestra Settembre Classico and Insubria Chamber Orchestra.
She performed as a solo player with italian chamber orchestras such as ‘I Musici di Parma’ and ‘Solo d’Archi Ensemble’ and played in numerous festivals like “Sebino Summer Class & Festival”, “Salso Summer Class & Festival”, “Livorno Music Festival”, “Talent Music Courses and Opera & Festival”, “Blenio Festival”, “SdA Masterclasses & Festival”, “Lac de Ènden Festival” and “Blackmore International Music Academy”.
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She performed in “Note in Galleria”, an event sponsored by Milano Municipality at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
She performed as chamber musician and soloist in important venues like Società del Giardino in Milan, Villa Paganini, Teatro Farnese, Teatro Regio di Parma, Gläserner Saal in Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Royal Albert Hall (London).
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.