Audiences and critics alike appreciate Anna Vinnitskaya’s talent for not only lighting spectacular fireworks with her technical brilliance but also combining beautifully lucid images with a rich and colourful sound. Born in the Russian town of Novorossiysk, this pianist has been resident in Hamburg since 2002, initially as a Masters student with Evgeni Koroliov but today as Professor of Piano at Hamburg’s College of Music and Drama. As a soloist, Vinnitskaya has performed regularly with many major orchestras, from the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin to the Royal Philharmonic London, the Munich Philharmonic and the Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and many more.

Vinnitskaya’s repertoire ranges from Bach to Gubaidulina but she has a particular passion for the great Russians such as Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, as well as the dazzling piano works of Ravel, Debussy and Chopin. She has also caused a sensation in recent years with her interpretations of Brahms and Bartók. Among the conductors she has worked with to date feature many stars of the younger generation such as Andris Nelsons, Kirill Petrenko and Krzysztof Urbański as well as veterans of the podium; Vladimir Fedoseyev and Marek Janowski. Her most significant prizes include First Prize at the ›Concours Reine Elisabeth‹ in Brussels in 2007 and the ›Leonard Bernstein Award‹ at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2008. Vinnitskaya’s CD recordings have also received numerous awards including the ›Diapason d’Or‹, the ›Gramophone Editor’s Choice‹ and the ›Echo Classic‹.

Constantinos Carydis was born in Athens. After studying music theory and piano at Athens Conservatoire, he went on to complete his conducting studies at Munich College of Music and Performing Arts. Sought after across the world, he now receives invitations from numerous internationally renowned orchestras, including the Wiener and Berlin Philharmoniker, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, to name but a few.

During the 2025/26 season, he will be guest conductor with ensembles such as the Orchestra della Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester Berlin and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. He is also returning to the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, amongst others. As an opera conductor, Carydis works regularly at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Wiener Staatsoper and the Berliner Staatsoper and many others. Constantinos Carydis can also be seen at major festivals in Salzburg, the Edinburgh International Festival, Dresden and Bucharest. In 2018, he made an impressive debut with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the following year, he conducted that same orchestra at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall.