Born on 23 July 1944 in Lisbon, Maria João Pires gave her first public performance at the age of 4 and began her studies of music and piano with Campos Coelho and Francine Benoît, continuing later in Germany, with Rosl Schmid and Karl Engel. In addition to her concerts, she has made recordings for Erato for fifteen years and Deutsche Grammophon for twenty years.

Since the 1970s, she has devoted herself to reflecting on the influence of art on life, community and education, trying to discover new ways of establishing this way of thinking in society. She has searched for new ways which, respecting the development of individuals and of cultures, encourage the sharing of ideas.

In 1999, she created the Centre for the Study of the Arts of Belgais in Portugal. She broadened the reach of this philosophy to Salamanca and Bahia in Brazil.

In 2012, in Belgium, she initiated two complementary projects; the Equinox project which creates and develops choirs for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the Partitura project, the aim of which is to create an altruistic dynamic between artists of different generations by proposing an alternative in a world too often focused on competitiveness.

Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered performance on historical instruments with ›The English Concert‹, the orchestra which he founded in 1972  nd led for the next thirty years. He now divides his time between conducting, solo, chamber music and educational projects.

Recent conducting highlights include Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest.

Trevor brought Purcell’s ›Dido & Aeneas‹ and Theatre Music to the Wigmore Hall where later in the season 2015/16 he will also perform chamber music by Purcell, Corelli and Handel with Sophie Gent, Matthew Truscott and Jonathan Manson. He will also give solo recitals including music by Johann Jakob Froberger and Louis Couperin.

Recordings to be released this season include a solo recital ›Journey – 200 years of harpsichord music‹ as well as the Mozart ›Gran Partita‹ for winds and a Haydn ›Notturno‹ with the Royal  Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble. Trevor’s work at the Royal Academy of Music also  includes orchestral concerts as Principal Guest Conductor of the Concert Orchestra and opera projects.

Born in 1987 near Brussels, Belgium, Julien Libeer’s earliest musical memory was the famous documentary on the recording of West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. The piano, which he took up at age six, quickly became the faithful companion for expressing a love of music that, until today, thrives as much on opera, orchestra and chamber music as on the piano repertoire. His first five years study were with Jean Fassina and he then continued them with Daniel Blumenthal (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) and Maria Joao Pires (Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel).

Julien has performed at many prestigious concert halls across the globe including Palais des Beaux-Arts and Flagey in Brussels, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Barbican Hall London, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Sumida Tryphony Hall Tokyo and festivals including the Beirut Chants Festival and Miami International Piano Festival. Orchestras he has worked with include the Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, deFilharmonie, Sinfonia Varsovia and the New Japan Philharmonic among others, under conductors such as Michel Tabachnik, Augustin Dumay, George Pehlevanian, Joshua Weilerstein, Enrique Mazzola and Christopher Warren-Green. Julien is also an accomplished chamber musician and works on regular basis with Augustin Dumay, Camille Thomas, Frank Braley, Maria João Pires and Lorenzo Gatto, with whom he will perform the complete Beethoven violin sonatas over the next few seasons. He is also an associate artist of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where he also specialises in chamber music with the members of the Artemis Quartet.