Marc Sabbah
viola | USA
Artistic Director
As artistic director and founder of the Kâsteaux Chamber Music Festival, Marc Sabbah is also a Solo Violist at the Belgium National Orchestra and plays solo and chamber music concerts throughout Europe. Marc Sabbah (1988, New York City), described as"a magnificent player" by legendary conductor Zubin Mehta, Marc is regularly invited as guest principal violist of the Israeli Philharmonic. As of September 2017, he has been teaching viola as a guest professor at the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium. Graduating Cum Laude from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Marc was a pupil of Sven Arne Tepl and Nobuko Imai. His recent awards include the 1st prize at the 2016 Rising Stars Grand Prix music competition performing solo at the Berlin Philharmonic hall as well as his recent 1st Grand Prize at the Manhattan International Music Competition with a recital at Carnegie Hall. Having played numerous concerti with European orchestras such as the Belgian National Orchestra, Casco Philharmonic, de Filharmonie Amsterdam, the Hochreinisches Kammerorchester, Marc Sabbah is creating a path as a musical force of his generation.
Violinist Asi Matathias, protégé of Pinchas Zukerman, is already recognized as one of the most celebrated talents of his generation. He made his debut at the age of fourteen with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, displaying a musical maturity and inspiration far beyond his years.
This success was immediately followed by another invitation from Maestro Mehta to play with him in the following season. Since then, Mr. Matathias has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras around the globe with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Leon Botstein, Stephen Gunzenhauser, The late Mendi Rodan, Oliver Weder and Yaron Traub. He has recorded for the BBC, CBC, WQXR, IBA and ORF. Mr. Matathias is a frequent recitalist and has performed extensively throughout Europe, USA, Asia and Israel in halls such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weil hall, Berlin Philharmonie, The Mann Auditorium in Tel-Aviv, Izumy Hall in Japan and The National Arts Center in Canada. He has performed in Festivals such as the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, The Con Anima Festival in Austria, Vienna Bezirk Wochen Festspiele, Israel Festival and Prussia Cove in England.
Asi Matathias
violin | Israel
Bas Treub
violin | The Netherlands
Bas Treub (The Hague, 1987) is a Dutch violinist. He studied with Peter Brunt and Philippe Graffin at the Royal Conservatoires of The Hague and Brussels and graduated summa cum laude for his Master’s degree in 2013.
Bas presently holds the position of Principal 2nd violin in the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. He has been engaged as guest concertmaster of the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orpheus Sinfonia. As Principal 2nd violin he has been invited as a guest with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Ensemble, the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Next to that he performs as a freelance violinist with ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, London Sinfonietta and Spira Mirabilis. Bas used to be a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra for many years and served as their concertmaster during his last seasons.
A passionate chamber and orchestral musician, Bas has performed at international festivals and venues like the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Abu Dhabi Festival, Carnegie Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. As an orchestral leader he worked closely with renowned musicians such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Isabelle Faust and Gautier Capuçon.
Bas has a special love for performing orchestral music in a chamber music manner; with lots of freedom, individuality and spirit. It is his sheer belief that music making should always be about creating, rather than reproducing. He enjoys performing music from all periods and in different settings.
Bas plays on a beautiful violin made by Emile Germain in Paris in 1891, generously loaned to him by the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.
Ofer Canetti
cello | Israel
Ofer Canetti is the principal cellist of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. He completed his studies in The Buchmann-Mehta School of music at the Tel-Aviv University with Prof. Hillel Zori, and was granted the Bachelor of Music Degree of Cello playing followed by studies for the "Diplom" degree in the Hochschule für Musik in Köln, Germany, with Prof. Claus Kanngiesser. In June 2012 Ofer completed his Master degree studies of Cello playing in the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria, with Prof. Clemens Hagen and was continued his studies in the Post-graduate program. In addition, Ofer was studying regularly with Prof. Uzi Wiesel.
Throughout his studies, Ofer attended master-classes and lessons with artists such as prof. Bernard Greenhouse, prof. Janos Starker, prof. Wolfgang Boettcher and many others. Ofer performed his Debut Recital in the Carnegie-Hall, New-York in February, 2010. Performed as a soloist with Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Georgische Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, Jenaer Philharmonie, Moscow Chamber Orchestra of the Slobotkin Center, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and others, and regularly performs in recitals around Israel and Europe. Recorded numerous times as a soloist and with different chamber groups in the Israeli classical-music Radio station "Kol Hamusika" and the ORF in Austria. Ofer performs in many occasions Israeli compositions such as Paul Ben-Haim Cello Concerto, "Kaddish" by M. Kopitman and "Confession" by N. Sheriff.
Prize winner of the “Bucchi” International Competition for Cello playing in the 20th-21st centuries, Rome, 2011, and the "Enerico Mainardi Competition", Salzburg 2012. Won the Buchman-Mehta school of music competitions in the Solo instrument and Chamber music categories as well as special prizes in the "Allegro Vivo" festival in Austria, and the "Paul Ben-Haim" competition in Israel. Winner with excellence of the American-Israeli cultural foundation scholarship and from 2007 was granted the prestigious scholarship for studies abroad.
Nicolas Dupont
violin | Belgium
"With over 80 concerts per year, violinist Nicolas Dupont (°1992) is one of the most active Belgian chamber musicians of his generation.” (El Diario Montanes)
As a member of the Kugoni Trio, the Malibran Quartet, the Urban Piano Quartet, the Argenta Trio and the Duo Andaluza, he has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, King’s Place, Colston Hall (UK), BOZAR, Flagey, AMUZ, deSingel (BE).
Based in Brussels since 2017, Nicolas frequently travels as a soloist, in duo with the pianists Olga Kirpicheva and Giulio Potenza, or with his trio and quartet colleagues across Europe and Asia. His ensembles are ambassadors for contemporary music and have commissioned over fifty pieces in close collaboration with composers. Despite his young age, Nicolas’ discography includes around ten CD’s with music by Astor Piazzolla, Josef Suk, Leoš Janáček as well as Belgian music by Wilfried Westerlinck, Jan Van Landeghem, Jan Van Damme, Piet Swerts, Wim Henderickx, Mathias Coppens, Pieter Schuermans and Jeroen d’Hoe.
Over the course of the 2019-2020 season, he will record new CD’s with the Kugoni Trio, the Duo Andaluza, as well as a CD dedicated to the music of Emil Hartmann with Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, Tony Nys, Justus Grimm and Daniel Blumenthal.
Born in Japan, Kei Tojo began playing the violin at the age of 3. Attracted by the instrument through various chamber and orchestral experiences she started playing the viola at 12 years old. She finished a master's degree at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris (CNSMDP) in the class of Jean Sulem and continued her studies with Tabea Zimmermann in Berlin. She also studied with Jeffrey Irvine at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the United States. She arrived in Paris in 2010 and successively won international competitions such as the Lionel Tertis International Competition in England (2nd prize and the prize for the contemporary piece), William Primrose International Competition in the United States (special prize for Bach), Concours International Beethoven in the Czech Republic (2nd prize). She has recently won the 2nd prize, the J.S.Bach Award, the Special Prize for a Japanese Work, and the Losque Public Prize at the 3rd Tokyo International Violin Competition in Japan. Passionate about orchestra, she was selected by the Academy of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2012/13 season and by the Orchestre de Paris for the 2014/15 season. In addition to her orchestral activity, she also participates in chamber music ensembles such as the "Quintes et plus" concerts at the Invalides, "Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland", "Ravel Days" at Montfort l'Amaury, "Les Moments Musical " in La Baule, "La Folle Journée" in Japan and Nantes," Viola Space "in Tokyo," Marlboro Music Festival "in the United States, the "International Festival of Chamber Music in Giverny" etc ... From September 2017 onwards she will perform concerts at the Berliner Philharmoniker in the role of an academic at the Karajan Akademie.
Kei Tôjô
viola | Japan
Sébastien Walnier
cello | Belgium
Sébastien Walnier likes to use all the opportunities of 21st century and had many experiences to enrich himself with different musical styles. He is Principal Cello of the Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels. He has been exposed to chamber music from a very early age. This ever growing passion has led him to perform with musicians of international renown, such as Roland Pidoux, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Lorenzo Gatto, Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden, Liviu Prunaru, Boris Belkin, Gaby Van Riet … Sebastien Walnier started playing the cello at a very early age with Laurent Chantraine. He won a first prize at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège (Belgium) at the age of 13, and obtained post-graduate diplomas in cello (with Maryse Douin) and in chamber music (with Cécile Evrard) four years later. He taught chamber music at that same conservatory from 2001 till 2008. He also studied with Edmond Carlier, a disciple of André Navarra. His meeting with Roland Pidoux at CNSM in Paris has had a decisive influence on his career. He has also benefited from Daria Hovora’s and Michaël Hentz counsels/directions. He's a founding member of Trio Talweg (Alexander Gurning, piano and Sebastien Surel, violin) and makes arrangements for his Cello Octet, Ô-Celli. In addition, for several years he has been playing jazz on stage with Andre Klenes (double-bass) and the group Moonly Delights, and has founded the jazz-fusion group named Blade Runner with Jeanfrançois Prins (guitar). Sébastien Walnier was awarded "Musician of the Year 2012" by the Belgian Musical Press Union. He's playing on a cello by Giovanni Grancino from 1699.