ABOUT US
| Varya Violin Varvara Vasylieva is a Ukrainian violinist based in Switzerland. As a soloist over the last few years she performed with the Sinfonieorchester Basel in Stadtcasino Basel, the Mriya Orchestra in Die Glocke, Laeiszhalle and Berlin Philharmonie and regularly gives concerts with the Kyiv Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a laureate of several competitions, such the Max Rostal International Competition (2nd Prize), the Odesa International Violin Competition (3rd Prize) and the Ysaÿe International Music Competition (1st Prize) among others. Varvara finished her Bachelor degree in June 2025 in the class of Prof. Barbara Doll at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, FHNW. She in currently continuing her studies at the same school with Prof. Claudio Martínez Mehner. She has actively participated in numerous festivals, such as the Zwischentöne Engelberg, Beethovenfest Bonn, Riehener Serenaden, Im Spiegel, Fiskars Summer Festival and performed alongside inspiring musicians such as Valentin Erben, Claudio Martinez Mehner, Rafael Rosenfeld, Winfried Rademacher, and Silvia Simionescu to name a few. |
| Aino Violin Aino Yamaguchi (born in 2003) is a Finnish/Japanese violinist. She started to play the violin when she was 5 years old. In autumn 2025 she started her master studies with prof. Barbara Doll and prof. Rainer Schmidt at the Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW in Switzerland where she finished her bachelor degree. Prior to that she studied at the Sibelius Academy Youth Department with Réka Szilvay. Yamaguchi has also studied with Elina Vähälä and Janne Malmivaara at the Viuluakatemia, a Violin Academy for selected, highly talented young Finnish violinists. Yamaguchi has participated in masterclasses of Leonidas Kavakos, Miriam Fried, Mi-kyung Lee, Mihaela Martin, Yura Lee and Sirkka Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch among others. In January 2025 Yamaguchi was chosen as one of the finalists of the Kuopio National Violin Competition in Finland and was appointed as a soloist to the Mikkeli Music Festival 2025. In 2023 Yamaguchi was awarded 1st prize in the Anja Ignatius Competition in Helsinki. She is also a prize winner of the Juhani Heinonen Violin Competition in Jyväskylä 2022 (1st prize), 2019 (2nd prize) and Anton Rubinstein Violin Junior Competition in 2017 (3rd prize). As a soloist Yamaguchi has performed with the Vivo Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Wegelius Chamber Strings among other orchestras. Yamaguchi plays an Antonio Stradivari 1707 -violin generously on loan from the Sibelius Academy. |
| Chanu Viola Charlotte Lefebvre is a French violist. She began playing the violin at the age of 6 at Angers Conservatory. At the age of 16, she won the special ‘Jean Peyras’ prize at the Marie Cantagrill competition. In 2016, she entered Basel Musikhochschule in Adelina Oprean's class and obtained a bachelor's degree in violin in 2019. The following year, in her first Master year in Raphaël Oleg's class, she switched to playing viola as her main instrument in Silvia Simionescu's class and obtained her Master's degree in Performance in 2022. She joined Amandine Beyer's class at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 2024 for a Specialised Master's degree in Early Music Performance (baroque viola and viola d'amore). She has played in many masterclasses, notably for Tabea Zimmermann in 2022. In addition to numerous chamber music projects, she now coaches local amateur and student orchestras and performs professionally with symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, and baroque ensembles such as Basel Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Turicum ensemble, O Tempora ensemble, and has been the viola section leader of Tsura ensemble since 2023. |
| Nadya Cello Nadzeya Kurzava is a Belarusian cellist and cultural project manager. She collaborates regularly with the Kammerorchester Basel, Orchestre Musique des Lumières and the Ensemble Symphonique de Genève, and has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Ensemble of the Theater Basel and the Deutsche Skandinavische Jugend Philharmonie. Dedicated to cultural exchange and social impact, Nadzeya worked with the Elpida Cultural Integration Association until 2024 and later served as project manager of the Maya International Summer Academy (2023–2024). Since 2025, she has been the artistic director of the Vitznau Musikfestival & Akademie 2026. Her education includes a Master of Performance from the Hochschule für Musik FHNW in Basel, where she studied with Thomas Demenga and Anita Leuzinger, and both a Master of Music Pedagogy and a Bachelor of Arts from the Haute école de musique HES-SO in Geneva–Neuchâtel under Denis Severin, all completed with distinction. Since 2024, she has been studying Baroque Cello at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Christophe Dangel. Her work has been recognized with numerous distinctions, including the HES-SO Prize for the best Bachelor recital, the Orpheus Chamber Music Competition Special Prize with the Arda String Quartet, and scholarships from the Fondation Barbour, Fondation Jean Tanner, DOMS Stiftung, and the Musikakademie Basel Foundation. |