Martin BEAVER Canada www.montrosetrio.com Canadian violinist Martin Beaver was First Violin of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet from June 2002 until its final concert in July 2013. As such, he appeared to critical and public acclaim on the major stages of the world including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and the Sydney Opera House. As a member of the Tokyo String Quartet, Mr. Beaver was privileged to perform on the 1727 Stradivarius violin from the “Paganini Quartet” set of instruments, on generous loan to the quartet from the Nippon Music Foundation. Recordings of the Tokyo String Quartet during his tenure notably include the complete Beethoven quartets on the Harmonia Mundi label. Mr. Beaver’s concerto and recital appearances span four continents with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and under the batons of Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Raymond Leppard, Gilbert Varga and Yannick Nézet-Séguin among others. Chamber music performances include collaborations with such eminent artists as Leon Fleisher, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Sabine Meyer and Yefim Bronfman. Mr. Beaver is a regular guest at prominent festivals in North America and abroad. Among these are: the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla SummerFest, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Edinburgh Festival (U.K.) and Pacific Music Festival (Japan). Mr. Beaver’s discography includes concerti, sonatas and chamber music on the Harmonia Mundi USA, Biddulph, Naim Audio, René Gailly, Musica Viva, SM 5000, Toccata Classics and Naxos labels. His recorded repertoire ranges from Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to the music of living composers Alexina Louie, Gerard Schurmann and Joan Tower. Following his early studies with Claude Letourneau and Carlisle Wilson, Mr. Beaver was a pupil of Victor Danchenko, Josef Gingold and Henryk Szeryng. He is a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal and Indianapolis competitions. Subsequently, he has served on the juries of major international competitions including the Queen Elisabeth and Montreal violin competitions, the Osaka International Chamber Music Competitions and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Over the course of his career, Mr. Beaver has been the grateful recipient of generous support from the Canada Council for the Arts. This includes Arts Grants for his studies at Indiana University, Career Development Grants and the 1993 Virginia-Parker Prize. In 1998, through the generosity of an anonymous donor, the Canada Council awarded Mr. Beaver the loan of the 1729 “ex-Heath” Guarnerius del Gesù violin for a four-year period. A devoted educator, Mr. Beaver has conducted masterclasses throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He has held teaching positions at the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of British Columbia and the Peabody Conservatory. More recently, he served on the faculty of New York University and as Artist in Residence at the Yale School of Music, where he was awarded its highest honor - the Sanford Medal. He joined the faculty of the Colburn School in Los Angeles in August 2013 where he is currently Professor of Violin and Chamber Music. Martin Beaver is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Clive Greensmith. Mr. Beaver performs on a 1789 Nicolo Bergonzi violin. Esther HOPPE Switzerland www.estherhoppe.com The Swiss violinist Esther Hoppe is amongst the most interesting artists of her generation. Over the recent years she has made a name for herself as a soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. After studying in Basel, Philadelphia (Curtis Institute of Music), London and Zürich she went on to win 1st Prize at the 8th International Mozart Competition Salzburg. Soon after she founded the Tecchler Trio with whom she concertized intensively for several years. The trio won several first prizes at important competitions, such as 1st prize at the ARD- competition in Munich in 2007. Since 2013 Esther Hoppe is professor for violin at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She leads an exciting concert calendar and performs as a soloist with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre Les Siècles Paris, Kammerorchester Basel, Zürcher Kammerorchester amongst others, and her chamber music partners include Ronald Brautigam, Christian Poltéra, Francesco Piemontesi, Clemens and Veronika Hagen and Vilde Frang. Esther Hoppe is a regular guest at festivals such as Lockenhaus, Ernen, Luzern, Gstaad, Salzburg, Delft, Prussia Cove, Styriarte etc. After her first CD for Claves records (2014, with works by Mozart and Strawinsky with pianist Alasdair Beatson) was highly acclaimed by the press, a second CD with sonatas by Mozart and Poulenc was released by Claves records in January 2017, again together with pianist Alasdair Beatson. Also this CD got the best reviews. She has also recorded with Virgin Classics, Neos, Concentus Records, and Ars Musici. Esther Hoppe plays on a 1690 Gioffredo Cappa violin. She lives with her family in Zürich. Dong-Suk KANG South Korea Hailed for his outstanding artistry, musicianship and virtuosity, violinist Dong-Suk Kang has performed on five continents to extraordinary acclaim. Dominic Gill, a London music critic, describes Dong-Suk Kang in his book « The Book of the Violin », as « one of the world’s great violinists. His flawless technique and perfect bow arm certainly produce one of the most beautiful violin tones to be heard anywhere today ». Ormandy, Serkin, Menuhin, Francescatti, and other eminent musicians also have praised him as one of the most outstanding violinists of his generation and a musician of the highest order. Born in Korea, Dong-Suk Kang went to New York to study at the Juilliard School and later at the Curtis Institute with Ivan Galamian. He first came to the attention of the American public when he created a sensation by winning both the San Francisco Symphony Foundation Competition and the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington D.C.. Following a debut at the Kennedy Center and an appearance with Seiji Ozawa, he went on to win top prizes in a number of international competitions including the Montreal, the Carl Flesch in London and the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels. Since then, he has appeared with many great orchestras of the world including those of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Baltimore, Washington and Montreal in America, and Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonia, BBC Orchestras, English Chamber, Halle, Birmingham, Scottish National, Munich, Stuttgart, Gewandhaus, French and Belgian National Orchestras, Gothenburg, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Polish National and Rotterdam in Europe. Tours of Asia have brought performances with the orchestras of NHK, Yomiuri, Tokyo Metropolitan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Beijing, Shanghai, KBS and Seoul Philharmonic with whom, he has toured the U.S.A. and Europe. He has also performed with all the major Australian orchestras. The conductors he has worked with include Dutoit, Ozawa, Masur, Jarvi, Menuhin, Salonen, Slatkin, Chung, Barshai, Jansons, Norrington, Foster, Svetlanov, Berglund, Lazarev and Herbig. He has performed at major music centers and festivals throughout the world and his concerts, such as London Proms, were frequently televised and broadcast on the radio in many countries. His strong interest in chamber music has resulted in his participation at various chamber music festivals including those in Spoleto, Santa Fe, Kuhmo, Korsholm, Seattle, Vancouver, Newport and Australian Festival of Chamber Music. As a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center he has performed in New York and toured throughout the country. Dong-Suk Kang’s wide-ranging repertoire includes all the standard works as well as many unusual and neglected works. He has given the premiere of the violin concerto « Mistral » by Alan Hoddinott in Great Britain which was commissioned by BBC as well as the Asian premier of the the Third Concerto by Isang Yun at the opening concert of « World Music Days » Festival after having performed Isang Yun's First Concerto earlier. In the field of recording, in addition to the well-known works, such as Vivaldi Four Seasons (with Academy of St. Martin in the Fields), he has recorded Nielsen and Elgar concertos, complete chamber music of Honegger and Alkan, and Furtwängler Sonata. His recordings have won critical acclaim and awards among which are the Grand Prix du disque from both the Académie Charles Cros and the Nouvelle Académie du disque. His Walton Concerto CD was chosen as the CD of the month by the Gramophone magazine and nominated for the « Gramophone Award ». He has served on the jury for the major international competitions, the Queen Elisabeth, Indianapolis, Montreal, Wieniawski, Long-Thibaud, Menuhin, Michael Hill, Sendai, Tibor Varga, Qingdao and others. Dong-Suk Kang is a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul and artistic director of both « MusicAlp Festival » in France and « Seoul Spring Festival » in Korea. He is « Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres », a distinction received from French government Sergey MALOV Russia/Hungaria https://sergeymalov.com Sergey Malov is a creative artist. He brings music of different styles and epochs to his audience in an authentic way. He performs on 4 instruments: violin, viola,