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 Piano and Music Theory at the Athens Conservatory he completed his conducting degree at the College of Music and Drama in Munich. Today, Carydis is an internationally sought-after musician, receiving invitations from renowned ensembles worldwide, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Luxemburg Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bavarian State Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 Carydis was awarded the Bavarian State Opera ›Carlos Kleiber Prize‹.

As an opera conductor, Carydis regularly works with the Bavarian State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Netherlands Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin as well as Lyon Opera. Engagements during the 2017/18 season took him back to Salzburg Festival for a new production of Mozart’s ›Zauberflöte‹ with the Vienna Philharmonic. He also worked with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

The 2020/21 season now takes him to orchestras such as the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and again to The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, before the season ends with a new production of ›Idomeneo‹ as part of the Bayerische Staatsoper´s Munich Opera Festival. Most recently, Constantinos Carydis was invited to orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.