Ling-Yi Ou Yang, Cello

Master of the New England Conservatory and Doctor of Musical Arts of the Michigan State University, Ms. Ou Yang is very much in demand as a pedagogue, currently teaching at National Taiwan Normal University and Sochow University.

Since returning to Taiwan in 2002, cellist Ling Yi Ou Yang actively participates in the musical life of her native country as a soloist and chamber musician, performing a wide variety of recitals, solo performances with orchestras, and premiering numerous pieces of contemporary composers.

Her artistic collaborations include recitals with such renowned artists as clarinetist Fan Lei, violinists Nai-Yang Hu, Nanette Chen, Walter Verdehr, Kin Cau, cellists Suren Bagratuni and Natalia Khoma.

Her recordings include the albums “First Taiwanese Cello Quartet Live Recording”, “Ou Yang Ling-Yi’s J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Violoncello Solo”, “Beethoven’s complete works for Violoncello and Piano”, “Cello4 -Two Years” and “Dialogs-Two Cellos”. Some of these albums were selected by Taiwan Eslite Corporation as “Elite Listen Top 15” in 2007 and 2008, as well as winning nominations for the “Best Classical Album”, “Best Producer”, and “Best Performer” at the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards from 2006 to 2009.

Lilit Navasardian, Piano

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Ms. Navasardian studied at the Special Music School in Yerevan, and later at the Moscow Conservatory. She holds a Doctoral degree in piano teaching and performance from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Russia.

Early in her career she was awarded an honorary Diploma at the Montreal International Piano Competition in 1984 and was a Laureate of the Buzoni International Piano Competition in Boltsano, Italy in 1985.

Ms. Navasardian has a distinguished international career as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has appeared in recitals in Armenia, Russia, the United States, Italy, Canada, and Lebanon amongst other countries. Her chamber music appearances include guest invitations with the San Francisco, St. Petersburg and Yerevan Chamber Orchestras.

Alexandre Brussilovsky, Violinist and conductor

“ Sacha Brussilovsky is a most admired colleague and an excellent musician and violinist ... ’’    Lord Yehudi Menuhin

Born in the Ukraine, Alexandre Brussilovsky completed his musical education at the Moscow Conservatoire under Yuri Yankelevitch, Maya Glezarova, Felix Andrievsky and Leonid Kogan. He won top prizes at several international competitions, including the Grand Prix at the International Prague Competition in 1969, and the Grand Prix and Albert Roussel Special Prize at the Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1975. In 1985, after having been prohibited from performing abroad for eight years, Brussilovsky was able to leave the USSR and establish his residency in France. He rebuilt his career, dividing his time between concert performances and teaching. At the same time, his dream of having his own ensemble came true on the creation of the Ensemble Ricercata de Paris.

Alexandre Brussilovsky has played in the most prestigious concert halls (Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Bolchoi Hall at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, South Bank Centre in London…) with renowned artists such as Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Emmanuel Krivine, Misha Maisky, Maurice André, Paul Meyer, François Salque, Marielle Nordmann, Volodymyr Vynnytsky, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Patrick Gallois, Zhu Xiao-Mei, Nathaniel Rosen, Suren Bagratuni, Paul Neubaur, Bion Tsang, Vladimir Feltsman, Gary Hoffmann, Eduard Brunner, Kun-Woo Paik, Neeme Jarvi, Jean-Kacques Kantorow, Francoise Pollet, Natalia Gutman, Boris Berezovsky, the Lindsays and Fine Arts Quartet...

As an international soloist, Alexandre Brussilovsky is invited to give master-classes at the Yehudi Menuhin School (England), the School of Music in Bloomington (Indiana University), the Longhy School of Music in Boston and the Alfred Schnittke Academy in Hamburg (Germany).  He also participates in numerous festivals and summer academies, such as those in Geneva, Nice, Les Arcs, Prades and New York, at the University of Montreal and the festival of the Chaise Dieu… Alexandre Brussilovsky is the artistic director of the French - Russian Music Festival Pont Alexandre III in Moscow, Lviv (Ukaine), Hamburg (Germany) and Paris. He is also artistic director of the Suoni e Colori recording label. Alexandre Brussilovsky is the founder of the Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition at Omsk Russia in 2009.

Perlman, Pauk, Stern, Brussilovsky and Belkin have most frequently returned to the CD player.   The STRAD magazine

 …  une véritable révélation : le violoniste Alexandre Brussilovsky!        Le Monde

… un violoniste de haute lignée.    Jaques Lonchampt, Le Monde

Un violoniste à retenir absolument parmi les virtuoses d'aujourdhui.                Festival de Montpellie

 … intense tone and precise projection…    Strings

The performances are first-rate… Brussilovsky could not be more sensitive to colour. DSCH Journal

 « … Un port d’archet royal et un jeu tout en finesse… le jeu de l’artiste anime la musique de l’intérieur et s’interdit de la brusquer… son Bach est à la fois lyrique et poétique… fugues magnifiques de structure comme de son, final admirablement architecturé… »  Philippe Venturini, Le Monde de la Musique

Violoniste d'exception, reconnu par ses pairs… soliste raffiné, sensible…         Michel le Naour, Le Monde de la Musique

Der brillierte als Solist, verwirklichte seinen emotionalen Zugang zur Violine in überzeugender Manier, ließ seinen Ton zwischen zwitschernd jubilierender Süße und strahlender Ausdruckskraft variieren. Neuburger Rundschau

Kei SAOTOME, pianist

Kei Saotome was born in Tokyo to a family of artists. After hearing young Kei’s performance Olivier Messiaen and his wife Yvonne Loriod invited her to study in Paris, where she completed her musical education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris under the tutelage of Yvonne Loriod and Michel Béroff, and received «Premier Prix» for piano and chamber music at age 18.

She has performed in such venues as Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Sala Verdi in Milan, Teatro Comunale in Florence, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo.

Her appearances include music festivals in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, UAE, US and Japan, as well as performances with Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique Français, and the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia.

Kei Satome has won prizes at several international competitions, including Clara Schumann International Piano Competition in Düsseldorf, the Robert Schumann International Piano Competition in Zwickau, and the Prize of the best performance at the «Virtuoses of  the Year 2000» International Music Festival in Saint-Petersbourg in Russia.

She has released CD with music by Chopin and Brahms on Phoenix Classics label.

Currently Ms. Satome is professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Versailles Grand Parc, Faculty-in-residence at the  Académie Internationale de musique de Hourtin-Médoc  and Masters au Château de Crémault in France, serves as jury member in several national and international piano competitions, as well as conducts master classes in Europe, US and Japan.

Vagram Saradjian, Cello

Guest Artist

Vagram Saradjian gave his first public recital at age 9 and won his first prize at the Russian National Competition at age 18, which put him in the country’s national spotlight. International recognition of his prodigious talent came when he won awards at several major contests, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1970 and the Geneva International Cello Competition in 1975. By the time he was twenty, Mr. Saradjian was being compared with such masters as Mstislav Rostropovich, his teacher of eight years at the Moscow Conservatory. As a recitalist, Mr. Saradjian has performed around the world in such concert halls as the Barbican Centre in London, Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle in Zurich, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and the Leningrad Philharmonic Hall.

In 2002, Mr. Saradjian founded the Schlern International Music Festival in the town of Voels am Schlern in South Tyrol, Italy. In 2015, the festival was renamed to Semper Music International Festival, of which Mr. Saradjian was the general director. The festival took place each summer for sixteen years and welcomed distinguished guest artists and faculty.

His orchestral debut coincided with the conducting debut of his mentor, Mstislav Rostropovich, when in 1969, under the Maestro’s baton, young Saradjian triumphantly performed Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Kiev Philharmonic. He has since toured internationally with leading orchestras and has played with distinguished conductors, including Gergiev, Khachaturian, Kondrashin, Svetlanov, Rostropovich, Shostakovich, and Temirkanov.

Contemporary music has for many years been an important part of Mr. Saradjian’s repertoire. In recent seasons, he has premiered major works by internationally acclaimed composers, such as Alexander Tchaikovsky, Gia Kancheli, Karen Khachaturian, Arno Babadjanian, and Myroslav Skoryk. The highlights of the past seasons included Mr. Saradjian’s appearances at Valery Gergiev’s Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Shostakovich Festival in Houston, TX, extensive tour of Europe, where in addition to his solo performances Mr. Saradjian appeared in highly acclaimed new trio programs with violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Vag Papian. Mr. Saradjian’s extensive discography may be found on Melodya and Art & Electronics labels and includes Schumann and Honegger Cello Concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic (Valery Gergiev, Conductor), Saint-Saens Cello Concerto no. 1 and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Moscow RTV Orchestra (Vladimir Fedoseev, Conductor), Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic (Fuat Mansurov, Conductor). Among his recent releases is the world premiere recording of Ilya Zelenka Cello Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic (Yuri Bashmet, Conductor).

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Vagram Saradjian began his cello studies at age 7 with Alexander Chaushian at the Special School for Gifted Children of the Yerevan Conservatory. Later, he was invited by Mstislav Rostropovich to enter his studio at the Moscow Conservatory, where he earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees. In the United States Mr. Saradjian has taught at Oberlin Conservatory, Connecticut College, Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College (CUNY, NY), Purchase Conservatory (SUNY), and numerous festivals and masterclasses. Currently he is Professor of Violoncello at the University of Houston.