Pavel Vernikov, a student of David Oistrach and S. Snitkowsky, gained a reputation as a virtuoso violinist more than twenty years ago. Among other prizes he won the International ARD Violin Competition in Munich and the Grand Prix at the International Violin Competition “Vittorio Gui” in Florence. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, La Salle Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan and Santa Cecilia in Rome.

For the past 30 years he has been a member of the Tchaikovsky Trio.

His artistic partners have included Sviatoslav Richter, James Galway, Alain Meunier, Patrick Gallois, Maria Tipo, Natalia Gutman, Oleg Kagan, Yuri Bashmet, Elisso Virsaladze, Christian Zimmermann and Anthony Pay. He inaugurated the Russian Academy of Higher Learning in Portogruaro and was the Artistic Director of the Gubbio Music Festival, the Dubrovnik Chamber Music Festival and the Eilat Chamber Music Festival.

He teaches and gives masterclasses around the world, in Italy, France, Finland, Spain (Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia Madrid), Israel (Rubin Academy), Germany (Kronberg Academy), etc. and has been invited to be a member of the jury at international competitions (Szigeti, Kreisler, Gui, ARD-Competition in Munich, Sendai (Japan), Budapest, Sarasate, Wieniawski, etc.).

Pavel Vernikov has recorded for RCA, Ondine and Dynamic.

He was a Professor at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Lyon. At present he is a Professor at the famous Konservatorium Wien University and at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (Site de Sion).

Among his many laureate students are people like Massimo Quarta (1. Prize Paganini International Violin Competition, Genua), Fumiaki Miura (1. Prize Hannover International Violin Competition), Lorenza Borrani (Leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe), Fanny Clamagirand (1. Prize Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition, Vienna and 1. Prize International Monte Carlo Violin Competition) and Miki Kobayashi (2. Prize Wieniawski Competition).

In 2013 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Sion Festival in Switzerland, and in 2023, he was appointed as the Artistic Director of the Classic Violin Olympus International Competition, whose inaugural edition is set to take place in 2025 in Dubai, UAE.

Pavel Vernikov plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, 1757, violin.

Born in Tokyo, Fumiaki Miura starts his musical education with Tsugio Tokunaga at his hometown Conservatory before moving to Vienna to carry on his studies with Pavel Vernikov and Julian Rachlin. Since aged 16, Fumiaki is mentored and guided by Pinchas Zukerman. In 2009 he was awarded First Prize at the prestigious Joseph Joachim Hannover International Violin Competition, being the youngest winner ever.

Miura has performed with orchestras including Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Wiener Kammerorchester, Prague Philharmonia, Mariinsky Theater, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra Ottawa, Utah Symphony, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and hr-Sinfonieorchester, among others. In 2022 Miura served as Artist-in-Residence of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Fumiaki Miura plays under the baton of conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Gustavo Dudamel, Pinchas Zukerman, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Jakub Hrůša, Vasily Petrenko, Stéphane Denève, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Thierry Fisher and Rafael Payaré.

Regular invitations to international music festivals include Miyazaki, Ravinia, Schleswig-Holstein, Menton, and Menuhin Gstaad. Since 2018, he serves as artistic leader of ARK Classics, annual music festival at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

His discography includes Prokofiev violin sonatas with the pianist Itamar Golan for Sony Japan, as well as Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Hannu Lintu released by Avex-Classics label.

Miura performs on the Guarneri del Gesu 1732 violin “Kaston” kindly loaned by Crystco Inc. and its CEO, Mr. Hikaru Shimura.

Violinist Lucie Robert, a native of Montreal, has received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics alike for the expressive lyricism and tonal beauty of her playing.  Lauded in the The New York Times for her “melting tone” and “wonderfully supple approach to phrasing,” Ms. Robert carries on the great violin tradition of her teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Gingold.   

Highly sought after as a violin pedagogue, Ms. Robert has been a violin professor for over thirty-five years at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music in New York City.  She has given master classes throughout the world at prestigious institutions such as Seoul National University, Korea National University of the Arts, Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Tokyo College of Music, Franz Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, Hochschule für Music und Tanz Köln, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Sibelius Academy, Norwegian Academy of Music, the Glenn Gould School and the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal.  Ms. Robert has been a member of the jury at numerous international competitions including the Montreal, Fritz Kreisler, Kumho, József Szigeti, Seoul, Joseph Joachim, Isang Yun, Jean Sibelius, and the Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists.

A prize winner of the First Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Austria, Ms. Robert has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Far East. She has performed over thirty different works as violin soloist with major orchestras throughout North America.  Ms. Robert has also collaborated in chamber music with artists such as Menahem Pressler, Richard Goode, Claude Frank, Philippe Entremont and Isidore Cohen.  An active participant in the summer music festival scene, Ms. Robert has been a guest artist or faculty member at festivals such as Bowdoin, the American Conservatoire at Fontainebleau, Meadowmount, Orford, Busan Music Festival, Hida-Takayama Festival, Texas Music Festival, MusicAlp Academy, Puerto Piano and Strings, Adamant School of Music, the Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival, and the Ishikawa Music Academy.

Barry Shiffman co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet in 1989. During his 17 years with the quartet he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe, and recorded several critically acclaimed discs.

Since 2010, he has been Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, and directs the RCM's Taylor Academy for exceptional young performers.

As Artistic Director of Rockport Music in Massachusetts, he oversees classical music programming including a five-week summer chamber music festival.

At the Banff Centre in Canada he is Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Festival.

He has served on many juries including the Montreal and Tchaikovsky violin competitions and the Geneva, Wigmore Hall, Lyon string quartet competitions.

Violinist LIVIA SELLIN lives in Vienna/ Austria from where she tours the world giving concerts. Her great passion is chamber music. With her piano trio, Trio Alba, founded in 2009, she is a repeated guest at international festivals and in the ranks of major concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Vienna, Musikverein Vienna, Heidelberger Frühling, Quincena Musical in Spain, the world's largest chamber music festival in Ottawa, and the 2000-seat Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Tours have taken the ensemble not only to numerous European countries, but alsoto six continents, to North and South America, China, Northern Africa and Australia. On the German classical music label “Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm” (MDG) the Trio Alba has recorded four CDs. They have been awarded national and international prizes.

Born in Heidelberg, Germany, Livia Sellin began violin lessons at the age of five. She studied at the Music University of Freiburg, Germany, and at the University of Music in Graz, Austria, where she graduated with distinction in March 2011. Already during her studies Livia Sellin worked with orchestras like the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and performed under renowned conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Franz Welser-Möst and Fabio Luisi.

Livia Sellin always takes a lively view of music history and the repertoire. In addition to the classics, she always presents her audience with discoveries in her programs, be it lesser-known works by composers from the past or contemporary music.

Since autumn 2023 she is professor for violin and chamber music and head of the string department at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.