Grammy nominated conductor, cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonksy was born in Moscow into a musical family. He began playing the cello when he was 5 years old and was accepted to the Central Music School for gifted children. At the age of 9 he gave his orchestral debut playing Haydn’s cello concerto.

Since then, his career had taken him to the most important stages in the world, such as the Carnegie Hall, La Scala, Moscow Great Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Taiwan National Hall, Theatre Champs Elysees, Tokyo Opera City Hall among others.

He has collaborated with many world renown artists as Monserrat Caballe, Roberto Alagna, Olga Borodina and many more. Dmitry started to conduct at age 26 and has conducted more then 50 orchestras all over the world including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he made 4 cd’s.Dmitry Yablonsky has studied cello with Isaak Buravsky, Lorne Monroe, David Soyer, Aldo Parisot and Zara Nelsova. He also took master classes with Mstislav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Andre Navarra, Maurice Gendron, Misha Schneider among others.

Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan is the Founding Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. 

The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra performing internationally to great acclaim. Under Smbatyan’s artistic direction, its players are energetic, enthusiastic musicians with the shared objective of raising cultural awareness in Armenia and pursuing spiritual excellence through classical music. 

Smbatyan has presented the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Malta Philharmonic throughout Europe, Russia and the United States. Performances include Vienna’s Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, Salzburg’s Großes Festspielhaus, London’s Barbican Centre, the Gasteig Munich, Rudolfinum in Prague, Grand Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory and New York’s Carnegie Hall where he made his debut at the age of 28.

Born in Yerevan, Smbatyan was first introduced to music by his grandmother, the violinist and teacher Tatyana Hayrapetyan, who gave him violin lessons from an early age. He later studied at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan and the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, receiving lessons from Bagrat Vardanyan and Zakhar Bron. Whilst studying for a PhD in Fine Arts in Yerevan with Yuri Davtyan, Smbatyan developed his passion and conducting skills working with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra which he founded aged 18. As a conductor, Smbatyan has been significantly influenced by his lessons with Riccardo Muti and Sir Colin Davis which he undertook during his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. 

A winner of multiple European conducting and violin competitions, Smbatyan has developed an international reputation that includes guest conducting engagements at the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, and many others.

Kristóf Baráti is recognised increasingly across the globe as a musician of extraordinary quality with a vast expressive range and impeccable technique. Applauded repeatedly for the poetry and eloquence that he brings to his playing, he has been described as “a true tonal aesthete of the highest order”.

In recent seasons, Baráti has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and he was the featured soloist in the opening concert of the 2019 Verbier Festival. Baráti has played with orchestras such as Zurich Tonhalle, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic and Hague Philharmonic orchestras. He performs regularly with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra both in Russia and on tour around the world including in the US and China.

Highlights of his 2020/21 season included performances with the Budapest Festival and Bern Symphony orchestras, and his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and in 21/22 he looks forward to his debut with the Indianapolis Orchestra. A regular recital and chamber music player, Baráti has performed with partners such as Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet, Enrico Pace, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Zoltán Kocsis and Kim Kashkashian amongst others. He performs every year at the White Nights Festival and in 2019 made his debut at the Seattle Chamber Music and Aspen Festivals.

American violinist Stella Chen garnered worldwide attention with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition, followed by the 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.

Following debuts with the Chicago Symphony and Chamber Orchestra of Europe in summer 2021, her auspicious 2021-22 season sees her recital debut at Carnegie Hall, concerto debuts at the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie, and appearances throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. Also this season, she performs with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, and German State Philharmonic and she appears frequently with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both in New York and on tour.

Stella’s most recent engagements include appearances with the Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic and the Luxembourg Philharmonic and at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Salzburg Mozarteum, Ravinia, and Kronberg Academy Festivals. Stella has appeared as a chamber musician in festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, Bridgehampton, Rockport, and Sarasota. Chamber music partners include Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Matthew Lipman, Robert Levin, and more.

Winner of the First Prize in the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels at the age of 23, Denis Kozhukhin has established himself as one of the greatest pianists of his generation.

Kozhukhin’s performances have been praised by critics as “spellbinding”, “imperious” and “mesmerizing”. Technically flawless, Kozhukhin combines wisely the brilliance and power of his playing with a masterful sense of form, maturity, and a very unique sensitivity.

Kozhukhin frequently appears with many of the leading international orchestras, such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, HR-Sinfonieorchester, NDR Radiophilharmonie, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Bamberg Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Mariinsky Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse and NHK Symphony, among others. In 2018 he debuted at the BBC Proms, performing Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 with the Aurora Orchestra.

One of Israel's eminent musicians, cellist Hillel Zori, who has been hailed by the international press to "have his playing linked directly to the Jewish-romantic tradition", has distinguished himself as winner of the gold medal at the Canals Competition in Barcelona, a laureate of the Geneva-CIEM, the Whitaker and the Cremona-Premio Stradivari competitions as well as winner of the Dutilleux prize at the Rostropovich competition and the Jackson Award at Tanglewood Music Center.

A consecutive awardee of the AICF, he studied with Uzi Wiesel at the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy and later at the New England Conservatory in the US with Bernard Greenhouse. His vast repertoire spans from Bach cello suites to contemporary music including numerous premieres.

Since his 1984 debut with the Israel philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Zori has been featured as soloist with many orchestras such as the Dusseldorf Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Bremen Kamerphilharmonie, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Israel Camerata and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra to name a few, performing with prominent conductors such as Mehta, Shalon, Sloane, Paternostro, Brabins, Volkov, Welber, Sheriff and many more.

An avid chamber musician he has toured the globe extensively being guest in festivals such as Marlboro, Tanglewood, Solsona, Keshet Eilon, Jerusalem and Dartington festivals collaborating with celebrated artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Shmuel Ashkenazi, Hagai Shaham, Atar Arad, Pnina Saltzmann, Eugene Drucker and Vadim Gluzmann to name a few. His versatile activities have brought him to major venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Carnegie Zankel Hall, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Moscow Music Dome and the UN General Assembly Hall in NY performing Bruch Kol Nodrei under the baton of Zubin Mehta for the 2009 International Holocaust Memorial Day.

First Decade (1936 - 1946)

On 26 December 1936, The Palestine Orchestra was born. The great Polish-born Jewish violinist and musician, Bronislaw Huberman, who foresaw the Holocaust, persuaded 75 Jewish musicians from major European orchestras to immigrate to Palestine, creating what he called the “materialization of the Zionist culture in the fatherland” on the sand dunes of Tel Aviv.

Huberman invited the greatest conductor of the time, Arturo Toscanini, to conduct the opening concert, performed at the Levant Fair in Tel Aviv on 26 December 1936. Toscanini abandoned his renowned NBC Orchestra for several weeks “to render paternal care to the newly born…” The great Maestro, who had previously escaped the rise of Fascism in his homeland of Italy, said: “I am doing this for humanity…”

The first decade saw intensive work on the musical crystallization and unity of the orchestra, whose excellent players had brought with them diverse styles. The primary languages spoken at this time were German, Polish, Hungarian and Russian. The young members spoke a little bit of Hebrew. The orchestra already hosted great conductors in its first decade, including Molinari, Steinberg, Dobrowen and Sargent. Its own artists were also invited to appear with the orchestra, among them conductors Michael Taube, George Singer, Mark Lavri and Paul Ben-Haim; soprano Bracha Zefira; pianist Pnina Salzman; cellist Thelma Yellin and others. The orchestra’s attempt to integrate into the Middle East scene led to tours in Egypt in 1940-43 (with Huberman as soloist), conducted by Toscanini and Molinari. During World War II, it appeared in a concert before Allied Forces in the Western Desert for soldiers of the Jewish Brigade, conducted by the Concertmaster at the time, Joseph Kaminski.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA was established in 1936 as a small studio ensemble, which grew into the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra. With the foundation of the State of Israel the orchestra became the national radio orchestra, known as the Kol Israel Orchestra. In the 1970s, the orchestra was expanded and became the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority. The orchestra was the first to perform in Israel the works of Sofia Gubaidolina, Henri Dutilleux, Alfred Schnittke and others. Through the years some of the greatest musicians have performed with the orchestra, among them Arthur Rubinstein, Igor Markevitch, Otto Klemperer, Henryk Szeryng, Isaac Stern, Radu Lupu and Yefim Bronfman.

One of the most notable premières performed by the orchestra was The Seven Gates of Jerusalem by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, conducted by Lorin Maazel, which was composed for the finale of the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations. This was a joint venture with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. The orchestra often tours in Europe and the United States, and has played in some of the most prestigious venues. Recently JSO had successful tours to USA, where concerts took place from Florida to Massachusetts and for the first time a tour in Japan, both tours with Dmitry Yablonsky as conductor and soloist.