Agnese Egliņa Agnese Egliņa is currently amongst the most active and versatile Latvian pianists – a passionate soloist, a captivating chamber musician and a sensitive accompanist. In 2010 she received the Latvian Grand Music Award 2010 for Excellent Work in Ensemble. During her studies at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music together with the clarinetist Mārtiņš Circenis she won the 1st prize in the Best Chamber Ensemble of JVLMA competition; in 2007 she received the Annual JVLMA and Swedbank Award for the Young Musician of the Year. Agnese Egliņa has received diplomas as the best accompanist in various competitions. She has taught at Emīls Dārziņš Secondary Music School and at Riga Cathedral Choir School and has held a lecturer’s position at the JVLMA Department of Accompanists. Agnese’s stage partners include the singer Elīna Volkmane, flutist Dita Krenberga (trio DEKO), clarinetists Mārtiņš Circenis and Ints Dālderis (trio DEKO), violinist Jana Ozoliņa (Duo extatique), double bass player Gunārs Upatnieks, Kurland Quintet, clarinetist Chen Halevi, oboist Christian Schmitt and other distinguished artists. Agnese has collaborated with the Latvian Radio Choir and with all professional orchestras of Latvia. She is a member of the extravagant Latvian trio Art-i-shock. Agnese has premiered several Latvian contemporary music opuses and is actively engaged in modern music promotion. Agnese has performed across the whole Europe, in the USA and in several countries of Africa. Next year her schedule will take her to the Peoples Republic of China, Republic of South Africa, and to several European countries. Agnese Egliņa studied piano at her native Liepāja and graduated with Master’s Degree the class of professor Arnis Zandmanis at Jāzeps Vītola Latvian Academy of Music. The list of her teachers also includes Inta Villeruša, Dace Kļava and Aldis Liepiņš. From 2011 to 2013 with a Swiss government scholarship she studied on the postgraduate study programme Chamber Ensemble and Accompaniment at the Zurich Academy of Music with Eckart Heiligers and Daniel Fueter, graduating with distinction.

Lisa Smirnova Austrian-Russian pianist Lisa Smirnova is an internationally recognized concert artist renowned for her interpretations of baroque and Classical repertoire. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently remarked that her “sense of style, use of phrasing and ornamentation and tempi, that make the piano an instrument of harmony of vibrating strings, gave her performance its transcendent and unmistakable character.” A champion of contemporary music, the artist regularly collaborates with renowned composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Rodion Shchedrin, Giya Kancheli and Valentin Silvestrov. Lisa Smirnova appears in the world’s finest recital halls – the Wigmore Hall London, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as well as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and has also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein and Salzburg’s Mozartwoche. She performs with distinguished conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Carlos Kalmar, Andrey Boreyko, John Storgards, and Ivor Bolton among others. Highlights this season include performances with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Tallinn Sinfonietta, Ljubljana and Belgrade Philarmonics, and the Kuopio and Lahti Philharmonic orchestra at major European concert halls such as Vienna Konzerthaus and Cologne Philharmonic Hall among others, and a US Tour.

Laura Mikkola The Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. The list of her teachers includes such recognized masters of piano performance as Tapani Valsta, Menahem Pressler, Gary Graffman, Dmitri Bashkirov and Ferenc Rados. She won the 2nd prize and the Audience Prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels in 1995. She is also a prizewinner of the Maurice Ravel Piano Competition, Maj Lind Piano Competition and other prestigious events. In 1995 she was the recipient of the Young Artist’s Prize in Finland. Laura Mikkola has collaborated with such outstanding conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leif Segerstam, Philippe Entremont, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and with such exceptional orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, and collectives of Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan and other countries. There are over 60 piano concertos in Laura’s repertoire, including famous masterpieces by Bartok, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, the Piano Concerto by Erkki-Sven Tüür and all three concertos by Einojuhani Rautavaara. The latest CD of Laura Mikkola was released by the ECM. It features Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Piano Concerto with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi. Since 2003 Laura Mikkola is the Artistic Director of the Iitti Music Festival in Finland.

Antoņina Suhanova In 2011 Antoņina Suhanova graduated Jāzeps Mediņš Riga Secondary Music School after studies with Gunta Boža. Currently she studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) with Ronan O’Hora and at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music with Juris Kalnciems. She has participated in masterclasses of Dominique Merlet, Noriko Ogawa, Mícéal O’Rourke, Georgy Fedorenko, Dmitry Bashkirov and Vladimir Ashkenazi. Antonina has won many prizes in national and international competitions in Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Italy, Spain and France. In 2011 she represented Latvia in the 3rdInternational Festival Rising Stars of Kremlin for young classical music performers in Moscow, giving a debut performance with the world famous State Chamber Orchestra Moscow Virtuosi under the leadership of Vladimir Spivakov. In 2013 the young pianist won the 2nd prize and an award for excellent interpretation of Jāzeps Vītols piano music at the 6th International Jāzeps Vītols Piano Competition in Riga. As a soloist she has appeared with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Concertante under the leadership of Andris Vecumnieks, and with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons. Mei Yi Foo Winner of the BBC Best Newcomer of the Year award, Mei Yi Foo dazzled critics and audiences at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013with her “liberating” and “virtuoso display” (The Times). In her recent debut at the Lucerne Festival 2014 she championed a programme of contemporary music that “glittered and sizzled” (SRF Radio 2). Since winning the Maria Callas Grand Prix 2008 in Athens, Mei Yi has transformed from “a pianist to watch” (BBC Radio 3) to a “rising star” (International PianoMagazine). A devoted new music advocate, Mei Yi played at Vienna’s Schoenberg Centre, Park Lane Group at the Southbank, Huddersfield Festival, Ultraschall Festival in Berlin and Das Neue Werk in Hamburg. Her exploration in contemporary music, through working closely with living composers and especially with Unsuk Chin, drew international attention when her award-winning album Musical Toys became a rapid hit, reaching No. 3 on Amazon’s classical chart. and was featured in The Times, Lebrecht’s CD of the Week and garnered 5* reviews from the BBC Music Magazine and Germany's Klassik. Mei Yi also enjoys working in chamber music partnership with Dmitri Ashkenazy, Nicolas Dautricourt, Shlomy Dobrinsky, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Antti Siirala, Hugo Ticciati a.o. Following a season of international debuts, ranging from Hong Kong (City Hall)to Istanbul (CRR Concert Hall) and Oviedo Filharmonia to Poznan Philharmonic, Mei Yi’s new season 2014/15 continues with performances at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Casa da Musica in Porto, Pianodrom Festival in Tirana and at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra. In addition to her performing schedule, Mei Yi holds a teaching position at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. A native of Malaysia, Mei Yi was awarded the medal of Setiawan Tuanku Muhriz for her contribution towards art and music in her home country. In London where she now resides, Mei Yi enjoys hiking with her friends and is a certified scuba-diver.

Xiayin Wang Xiayin Wang, an artist of keen musicality and sweeping virtuosity, has brought audiences to their feet with playing in the grand Romantic tradition. Having made numerous celebrated recordings and performed throughout the world, from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, to music centers in South America, Europe, and Asia, Ms. Wang’s impressive music-making excites music lovers and critics alike. Ms. Wang’s most recent recording, an all- Rachmaninoff disk for the Chandos label, received a singularly enthusiastic review from Jeremy Nicholas in the August 2014 issue of Gramophone. This marks the second time Ms. Wang’s disks were selected as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice. During the 2014–2015 season, Ms. Wang will be releasing three new recordings on the Chandos label. a solo CD of Scriabin sonatas, the Ginastera Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Philharmonic, and both the Khachaturian Piano Concerto and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Guest appearances will include a tour of China and Korea with the St Petersburg Symphony and a live performance of the Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This past summer, Ms. Wang played the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major with the Pittsburgh Symphony, appeared at the Budapest Music Festival, joined the Fine Arts Quartet in concerts on the Amalfi Coast of Italy, was guest soloist with the St Petersburg State Orchestra, and performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. Xiayin Wang completed studies at the Shanghai Conservatory. She was heard with some of China’s leading orchestras and in many of the country’s most prestigious concert halls. Ms. Wang, who began piano studies at the age of five, came to New York in 1997. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Professional Studies degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.