CURRICULUM VITAE ANDRIY DRAGAN The required touch

Andriy Dragan was recognized early as an exceptional talent by teachers and the press. From the start of his life he is living from and for music. Numerous awards testify to his artistic ability.

An Ukrainian-born pianist based in Andriy Dragan gained recognition after winning the Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes Award 2009. His Debute recital at the Lucerne festival was aired on Swiss Radio DRS and later released on a CD. In the recent years, Andriy has performed in major venues of Switzerland, , Germany, Ukraine and , such as KKL Lucerne, Tonhalle Zürich, Kawasaki Hall, Stadtcasino Basel etc. In 2018 Andriy appeared as a soloist on the „Christmas Classics“ album of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra released by Sony.

His international festival appearances have included the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Festival of Verbier, La Roque d’Antheron, Lucerne Festival, Piano Campus Cergy-Pontoise, Rheingau Festival, «Les Muséiques» Festival in Basel, Menhir-Festival in Falera, Mus-iksommer am Zürichsee, Adelboden Chamber Music Festival, Festival in Annecy and many others.

Besides Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes 2009 Andriy Dragan succeed at numerous Piano competitions, such as S. Prokofiev International Piano Competition in Donezk, Seiler International Piano Competition in Kitzingen, Kiefer-Hablitzel Competition in Bern, Oldenburg International Piano Competition, V. Krajnyev International Piano Competition in Kharkiv, «Prix Rotary» in Basel, M. Lysen- ko International Piano Competition. During his studies in Switzerland he received scholarships from such foundations as Lyra Stiftung, Gerber Stiftung, Hirschmann Stiftung.

Andriy is a natural and keen chamber musician and plays with a variety of partners – with Ivan Monighetti, Kian Soltani, Alexandra Conunova, Andrei Ionita, Alexandru Gavrilovici, Francois Benda and others. In January 2018 Andriy, together with the Violinist Vasyl Zatsikha and cellist Alessio Pianelli, found the „Barvinsky Piano Trio“.

Andriy Dragan was born in Lviv (Ukraine). He began his piano studies with Prof. Lidia Krych in Lviv (Ukraine) and continued at the Music Academy of Basel with Prof. Adrian Oetiker. He attended masterclasses with Arie Vardi, Dmitry Bashkirov, Zoltan Kocsis, Milana Cherniavska, Piotr Anderszewsky, Eli- sabeth Leonskaja, Alfred Brendel, Ferenc Rados. Andriy has also been a student at the International Music Academy in the Principality of Liechtenstein in the years 2014-2015. phone: +41 76 406 22 55 | e-mail: [email protected]

«Virtuosity is always at the service of music.» Alessio Pianelli (Cellist)

Recently awarded a Borletti Buitoni Trust fellowship, Sicilian cellist and composer Alessio Pianelli brings to the stage the distinctive characteristics of his homeland, where one can still live and breathe the diverse cultures of Sicily, a unique region that was dominated throughout the centuries by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Germanics, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spanish. Curiosity, research and a love for traveling, arts and culture, all came easily and were befitting to his character, naturally broadening his emotional personality and crystalline talent.

Prizewinner of several international competitions, such as Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition 2006, and, with his piece Tanzen Wir!, the first prize at the International Composition Competition In Clausura organized by Ravenna Festival and 100cellos in 2016, Alessio has regularly performed as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras such as, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Philarmonie Baden-Baden and Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino. An avid chamber musician, Alessio is frequently invited to international festivals such as Marlboro Festival, Piatigorsky Festival, Davos Festival, bringing his music into prominent halls in Europe, Asia and North America (Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Hajuko Hall Tokyo and Tonhalle Zurich among others).

Since 2014 Alessio has been realising several albums issued by Almendra Music, a Palermo-based think tank, record label and art collective specializing in instigating collaborations among musicians and artists from different backgrounds, which Alessio has contributed to found and grow to stir up the creative environment of his birthland. His piece for two cellos “Sulla Quarta” eventually became also the title track of the second volume of an ongoing series of albums, in which Alessio turns his exploration of the six solo cello Suites by J.S.Bach into a voyage of discovery and self-discovery, coupling them with less-explored works composed in 20th and 21st century and with his own compositional reactions to the emotional and intellectual challenges which Bach's writing poses to musicians and listeners alike.

Some of his compositions are published by Casa Musicale Sonzogno and Mueller&Schade. In 2017 he was invited by Marianne Piketty as a composer in residence at Musique aux 4 Horizons in Ronchamp, France, where he performed in venues surrounded by the architecture of Le Corbusier, Jean Prouvè and Renzo Piano.

Born in 1989 into a family of musicians, Alessio Pianelli studied in Palermo with Giovanni Sollima and in Basel with Thomas Demenga. His training and development have also been influenced by renowned artists such as M. Brunello and W. Boettcher. Alessio plays a 1921 Evasio Emilio Guerra cello.

www.alessiopianelli.com

Vasyl Zatsikha (Violinist)

Ukranian born violinist, Vasyl Zatsikha, commenced his studies at Lviv Special Music School at the age of 5 through to 17 years of age as a student of Miroslav Sora. In 2008, he continued his studies under Prof. Igor Pylatyuk at the Lviv National Music Academy (LNMA). He is a student of Maxim Vengerov and Oleg Kaskiv at the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) on a full scholarship since 2015 and Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences since 2017. Vasyl is regarded as one of European’s finest young musicians, having had multiple international successes at competitions. A laureate of over 20 international competitions, Vasyl has notably been a second prize winner in Schoenfeld International String Competition (China, 2018), Grand-Prix in the Pila Festival and Masterclasses (, 2018), First Prize Winner in Rahn Musikpreis Competition (Switzerland, 2018), a second prize winner in Premio Rodolfo Lipizer competition (Italy, 2017), second prize winner in the Murten classic competition (Switzerland, 2016), a major prize winner in the Second Yankelevych International Violin Competition (, 2011) and the Fourth Lysenko International Violin Competition (Ukraine, 2012) and many others. Back in Ukraine, he was awarded the President Scholarship for musical studies in 2008. An active soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, Vasyl has been concertmaster of numerous ensembles including : IMMA Soloists, MBS Symphony Orchestra,“Perpetuum mobile” Chamber Orchestra, “Academia” Chamber orchestra amongst many oters. As a soloist, he has performed major works with “Trembyta” Chamber Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra, “Lviv Virtuoses” Chamber Orchestra, IMMA Soloists in major concert halls across Europe and also worked alongside some of the greatest living musicians and conductors including: Peter Falk, Alexis Soriano, Yuri Bervetsky, Miroslav Skoryk, Igor Pylatyuk and Maxim Vengerov. Recent activities have included professional solo artist recording with IMMA, multiple concerts in Europe and South America, concert with LSO in Zurich Tonhalle Maag conducted by Patrick Hahn.