Charlie Westhoff was born in Australia and studied in Sydney and Melbourne, winning many awards and prizes in international violin competitions including Australian National Kendall Violin Competition, and the Animato International Violin Competition. He now studies at the Royal College of Music with Itzhak Rashkovsky on a full scholarship. He has performed in festivals and concerts across Australia and Europe. This year he performed the Sibelius concerto under the baton of Maxim Vengerov. He plays an 18th century Milanese violin made by the Grancino brothers.
Cristian Anton was born in 1995 in Moldova, and began taking violin lessons at the age of 6 with his father. At the age of 12, he toured in the USA to perform charity concerts for Moldova's orphan children. During the years, Cristian has collected 12 prizes at national and international competitions such as “W.A. Mozart International Competition”, “Garabet Avachian”, “Cantabile” and many others, where he has obtained 2nd and 1st prizes, as well as a Grand Prize. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Music with Itzhak Rashkovsky.
British cellist Ariana Kashefi is in high demand as a chamber musician and soloist performing in such venues as the Wigmore Hall, Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin Philharmonie, Royal Albert Hall, Southbank centre and more. Ariana is a Park Lane Group Young Artist, as well as being the winner of the Making Music ‘Awards for Young Concert Artists' (AYCA), a finalist in the Royal Overseas League competition, and 3rd prize winner in the International Rubinstein Competition held in Berlin. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society's ‘Julius Isserlis Scholarship' for instrumental studies abroad which allowed her to study for her masters at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler' in Berlin with professor Claudio Bohorquez. Ariana is currently studying for an Artist Diploma with Professor Frans Helmerson at the Barenboim-Said Academy. She began at the junior department of the Royal Academy of music and later completed her bachelors of music with first class honours at the Royal College of Music, where she won the cello prize and names an ‘RCM rising star'.
South Korean born New Zealand pianist, Somi Kim has established herself as one of today's most highly regarded young pianists. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with an Advanced Diploma in Performance with DipRAM, receiving the HRH Princess Alice the Duchess of Gloucester's Prize. Somi is a winner of the Gerald Moore Award for Accompanists and the Royal Over-Seas League Accompanist Prize. She is a Samling Artist and a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and is an official pianist for the International Holland Music Sessions, International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Gisborne International Music Competition and the New Zealand Opera School. She has recently been appointed as the pianist for the NZTrio .
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