From his very first piano lesson it was clear that Emre Yavuz possessed an exceptional musical talent. Born in Izmir in 1990, he was accepted at the State Turkish Conservatory of Hacettepe University in Ankara at only 8 years old. While still at school, this young pianist took additional piano lessons at the Bilkent University in Ankara, where he also studied composition. From 2006, Emre Yavuz studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Hanover College of Music, Theatre and Media, as well as with Roland Batik at the Vienna Music and Arts University. For his final recital, Yavuz was the first student to receive the highest possible marks from all the adjudicators.

Emre Yavuz has performed several times with the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the symphony orchestras of Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Bilkent, and also with the Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra Istanbul. He has performed several piano concertos with conductors such as Gürer Aykal, Ibrahim Yazici, Rengim Gökmen and, in 2013, Zubin Mehta, with whom he perfomed Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto at the Gala Concert in Tel Aviv. Even in early years, he won a number of international prizes; in 2016 he won both first prize and the Schubert Prize at the Vienna Piano Competition. At the recent 2017 Kissinger Piano Olympics, Emre Yavuz emerged as the winner with an unconventional programme of works by Scarlatti, Rameau, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Rachmaninov and one of his own compositions.

Joshua Weilerstein is the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, where his contract has been extended until the end of the 2020/21 season. He enjoys a flourishing guest-conducting career and has established a number of close relationships both in Europe and the USA, including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, BBC Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, where he was assistant conductor. Joshua Weilerstein is known for his clarity of musical expression, unforced manner and natural musicianship.

In the 2019/20 season Weilerstein will return to orchestras such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. At the beginning of the season, he will lead the Orchestra de Chambre de Lausanne on a tour to Germany and will also make his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

During his time as Assistant Conductor with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Weilerstein was actively involved in the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts. In August 2018, he conducted a specially devised programme, ›The Sound of an Orchestra‹, for the BBC Proms which was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s televised presentations in New York and was described as »…an exhilarating musical ride through three centuries’ worth of orchestral music to try to investigate ‚the sound of an orchestra‘.« (Bachtrack)

An advocate of easy communication between the stage and audience, Weilerstein welcomes discussion about all aspects of classical music, programming, and the experience of concert-going.