Alexander Melnikov completed his studies with Lev Naumov at the Moscow Conservatory, concentrating even from a very early age on historical performance practice. Today, this Russian pianist performs regularly with renowned early music ensembles such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Musica Aeterna, the Academy for Ancient Music in Berlin and the Orchestre des Champs Elysées. He is equally a much sought after soloist with ensembles such as the Royal Concertgebouw, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony.  In addition, he has also worked with conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Paavo Järvi, Thomas Dausgaard and Valery Gergiev.

Melnikov‘s intensive involvement with chamber music is a vital facet of his work, typically with the cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and his longtime duo partner Isabelle Faust. Their recording of the complete set of Beethoven violin sonatas, which has not only been nominated for a Grammy but which has also been awarded a Gramophone Award, is considered a reference recording. Melnikov’s recordings of Shostakovich’s op. 87 Preludes and Fugues have also been named by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the most important recordings of all time. Since 2017/18, Alexander Melnikov’s ›The Man with the Many Pianos‹ project has presented a programme played on various historical instruments and which reflects the styles of the respective periods. A highlight of the 2018/19 season is his residency at London’s Wigmore Hall.

With his captivating musicality and instinctive sense of style, Maximilian Hornung, born in 1986, has been conquering the world for years. Even early on, this musician was making far-reaching musical waves at the highest level. He studied in Zurich and Berlin with renowned Professors Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher and David Geringas. Aged 23, Hornung became principal cellist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – a position most sought-after among cellists.

For some time, Maximilian Hornung has been performing as soloist with conductors such as Daniel Harding, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, and with world famous ensembles such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.  As a chamber musician, Hornung has also played with outstanding musical partners such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Hélène Grimaud, Daniil Trifonov and Christian Tetzlaff. In addition to the most prestigious concert halls – Concertgebouw Amsterdam or London’s Wigmore Hall for example, Hornung also performs at festivals from Salzburg to Hong Kong. In September 2018 he was Artistic Director of the VivaCello Festival in Liestal.

His extensive and varied discography includes solo concerts as well as extremely prominent chamber music recordings. He received the Echo Klassik Prize as Young Artist of the Year (Sony 2011) and in the 2019 season he will be making his debut with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

With his compelling interpretations of Mozart, Jérémie Rhorer took the international music scene by storm almost twenty years ago. Since then, this French conductor and composer has successfully moved between opera and symphonic music. Rhorer was already performing at a high level as a child and went on to study conducting with Emil Tchakarov, Karajan’s renowned assistant, before finally finding his artistic calling whilst studying composition with Thierry Escaich.

Through Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, which he founded in 2005 and continues to lead to this day, Rhorer is regarded as one of the pioneers of historically informed performance practice for the Classical and Romantic repertoire, exploring a path stretching from Haydn and Mozart through Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to Bruckner, and from Gluck and Berlioz to Verdi and Wagner –  always with the aim of reviving the timbres and theatricality, in keeping with the spirit of the work.

Guest engagements regularly take him to renowned orchestras worldwide as well as to Europe’s leading opera houses and festivals in Vienna, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels, Salzburg, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Venice and Florence, with a repertoire expanding from Mozart to Schoenberg.

In 2025, Jérémie Rhorer received the Honor of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.

This sought-after conductor has been working closely with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen for many years. Their current collaboration focuses on works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Sarah Christian’s wish is to convey the honest emotion and energy of classical music to her listeners. In her artistic life, she enjoys combining all influences, not having to compromise anything in her many roles as soloist, chamber musician, the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen’s concert master or as Artistic Director of a chamber music series in her home town of Augsburg. Here she makes the highest demands on herself. Her focus, when studying scores, is always on the music itself, which she approaches with the greatest respect. Her most important teacher is Antje Weithaas, with whom she studied at the Hanns Eisler Music College in Berlin and whose assistant she later became. As professor, Sarah Christian supervises her own class at the Stuttgart College of Music and Performing Arts.

One of her greatest competition success is the ARD Music Competition 2017, at which she won 2nd Prize (no 1st prize was awarded). She also won the audience prize and the Munich Chamber Orchestra’s special prize. Sarah Christian has performed in many European countries, as well as in China, Japan, South America and The United States. As soloist, she has played with orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia. She gave her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Bavarian State Orchestra in March 2018. Her Debut CD (GENUIN, 2017), featuring Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 80 and Schubert’s C Major Fantasy has been greatly praised by the press »Sarah Christian’s solo debut is simply fantastic! This violinist has proven to be an extremely sensitive interpreter and she is technically quite simply unimpeachable.« (klassik.com).