Ingo Dannhorn has concertised at the most well-known music centres and concert halls, such as the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, the Seoul Arts Center, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, in Brasilia, Shanghai, Venice, Sydney, Chongqin, and Berlin, has collaborated with Kurt Eichhorn, Dennis Russell Davies conducted his debut at the Musikverein Vienna, and Kurt Masur has expressed high praise for his musical abilities. Gerhard Oppitz considers him among the “most remarkable pianists of his generation: he has fabulous technical skills, and an ideal combination of intelligence and highly developed sensitivity to tonal nuance”.

After winning numerous prizes at renowned international piano competitions such as the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, the Sydney International Piano Competition, and other international piano competitions in Salzburg, Vienna, Ettlingen, Pinerolo, and Senigallia, Ingo Dannhorn started concertising worldwide. “Magic moments of pianistic artistry” - these are the words of the “The Australian” in a review of the pianist, who rapidly gained international attention with his captivating musicality. Aside from his extensive career as a soloist, Ingo Dannhorn is also a passionate and highly sought-after chamber musician. The broad spectrum of his activities is well documented in studio, live, and CD recordings. In addition to his performing career, Ingo Dannhorn is equally passionate about his role as an educator. He is full professor for piano, Director of the International Office, and Vice-President at the University of Music Trossingen. Until March 2020 he was visiting professor of piano at the Yonsei University in Seoul, one of the most famous universities in Korea, and received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019. He held teaching positions at the Universities of Music in Munich, Bremen, Augsburg, and Wiesbaden. His students won prizes both at national and international competitions. Ingo Dannhorn is also the artistic director of the Wilhelm-Kempff-Festival, which is dedicated to the legendary Beethoven interpreter Kempff and his pianistic artistry and sound aesthetic.

Acclaimed as a “pianist of extraordinary gifts” (Gramophone) and “immense power” (The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances. In 2016, she won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 'Young Artist Award' in recognition of outstanding achievement. Recent highlights include Grieg Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Moussa and Carwithen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra, Panufnik with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and recitals at the Aldeburgh Festival, Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice (broadcast on RAI 3), Husum Festival in Germany, and in Denmark and Norway with Henning Kraggerud.

This season she performs Grace Williams’ Sinfonia Concertante with Jac van Steen and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rachmaninoff Paganini Variations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Lionel Bringuier, works by Piers Hellawell and Samy Moussa with the Ulster Orchestra and Jamie Phillips, and recitals at the Wigmore Hall, London’s National Gallery, Lammermuir Festival, and Festival Baroque de Pontoise, among others. She brings Ghosts and Whispers, a performance piece for piano and film with composer John Woolrich and animators the Quay Brothers, to Fundación Juan March in Madrid and to the Barbican, and continues her collaboration with actor and writer Tama Matheson.

Clare’s discs for BIS have been widely praised, most recently releasing an album of Études by visionary French composer Hélène de Montgeroult. A disc of 20th- and 21st-century variations was released in 2021, and received extensive critical approval for Clare’s “shimmering pianism and lightly-worn virtuosity” (BBC Music Magazine) and “artistry of the highest order” (Musical Opinion), while Crescendo (Belgium) hailed her as “one of the most exploratory pianistic personalities of our time”. Clare completed a BA at Cambridge University, where she obtained a double first in music, and undertook postgraduate study with Ronan O’Hora at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Carole Presland has performed throughout Europe, the Far East, and the United States. She has appeared frequently at the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank, and at International Festivals including Aldeburgh, Bath, Kronberg, Mecklenburg, and Montpellier. She has broadcast regularly for BBC Radio 3 and abroad for Bayerischer Rundfunk, Radio France, Belgian National Radio, RAI Italian Television, and WFMT in the United States. Her recordings for labels including Pavane, Meridian, and EMI Classics have met with wide critical acclaim, with chamber music performances selected by the Evening Standard’s ‘Critic’s Choice’ and BBC Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’.

Carole is frequently invited to examine and give masterclasses for leading conservatoires, festivals, and organisations such as the European Piano Teachers Association. She has acted as an adjudicator for a wide range of competitions including BBC Young Musician, Young Classical Artists Trust, Birmingham International Piano Competition, Royal OverSeas League Competition, and The Parkhouse Award, amongst many others.

Passionate about the chamber music repertoire, Carole has collaborated with many distinguished artists in recital, including the Belcea, Chilingirian, Endellion, Heath, and Vanbrugh String Quartets. She performed at the Musikverein, Vienna at the invitation of the Sandor Vegh Ensemble.

A dedicated teacher, Carole was appointed a piano professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1996. In 2008 she was invited to join the faculty at the Royal Academy of Music, where she worked for twelve years and was awarded an Honorary ARAM. Previously, she had worked at the Yehudi Menuhin School and The Purcell School. In 2013, Carole was appointed Senior Tutor in Keyboard Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she currently coaches and coordinates chamber music, alongside her work as a piano professor.

“Exceptional authority and impeccable taste” described the playing of pianist Marc Silverman in The New York Times. His “richly coloured sonorities” and “thrilling surges of power” have prompted critics to compare him to the legendary Josef Hofmann. Dr Silverman has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician. Among his appearances were six recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and seven performances in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He has toured China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic performing televised concerts, conducting masterclasses for piano soloists and chamber musicians, as well as presenting lecture-demonstrations on the traditions and techniques of Romantic interpretation.

Dr Silverman was Chairman of the Piano Department at the Manhattan School of Music from 1989-2022, and has coordinated piano chamber music at the school since 1985. He has taught students from over thirty countries and from every continent, and his students have been the recipients of an exceptional number of international awards and honours. In 2009, he was awarded the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service by the Manhattan School of Music, the highest award bestowed by the school.

Dr Silverman is an award winner of the Kapell International Competition, the Gina Bachauer Competition, and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition. He is frequently quoted in publications including Chamber Music America, Piano and Keyboard Magazine, The New York Times, and the Korean monthly, Eumag-Choonchu.

Consistently acclaimed for his exquisite tonal beauty and superb artistry, Boris Slutsky has appeared on nearly every continent as soloist and recitalist since his orchestral debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony in 1980. He won the First Prize along with every major prize at the 1981 William Kapell International (University of Maryland) Piano Competition. His other accomplishments include first prizes at the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition and San Antonio International Keyboard Competition, and major prizes at the International Bach Competition in Memory of Glenn Gould, Gina Bachauer, Busoni, Rina Sala Gallo, and Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competitions.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Slutsky’s almost three decades of chamber music collaborations include the critically acclaimed recording of Schumann’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Ilya Kaler on the Naxos label, as well as performances with many renowned artists.

Mr Slutsky has served as a jury member of many international piano competitions and presented masterclasses throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His students have won prizes at numerous prestigious international events.

Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Mr Slutsky received his early training at Moscow’s Gnessin School for Gifted Children as a student of Anna Kantor, and completed his formal studies at the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, studying with Nadia Reisenberg, Nina Svetlanova, John Browning, and Joseph Seiger. In addition, he has worked for many years with his mentor Alexander Eydeleman.

Mr Slutsky joined the faculty of The Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1993, where he taught until 2022. He was visiting faculty at Bienen School of Music of Northwestern University (2017-2018), and Visiting Professor of Piano at Eastman School of Music (2018-2019).

In the fall of 2019 Mr Slutsky was appointed Professor of Piano at The Yale School of Music.

Born in Cebu, Philippines, Albert Tiu has been called “an artist of uncommon abilities” by American Record Guide. His Centaur recording, “Grand Russian”, pairing Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata and Rachmaninoff’s First Sonata, was cited in ARG: “Even with some legendary competition in this repertoire, Tiu stands tall with his interpretations and technical accomplishment”. A previous disc, “The Classical Elements”, featuring twenty pieces grouped under Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, was rated 5 Stars in International Piano and praised by Fanfare for a “fascinating recital containing some stunning playing”.

Now the Head of Piano Studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, Tiu was a prizewinner of competitions in Calgary (Honens), Santander (Paloma O’Shea), and Helsinki (Maj Lind). He won the First Prize and two concerto prizes in the 1996 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed with the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Northern Sinfonia, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, and Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005, Tiu gave the Singapore premiere of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony.

Other recent recording projects include collaborations with violist Zhang Manchin in the Brahms Viola Sonatas, and with tenor Alan Bennett in Schubert’s “Winterreise”, both on Centaur; with violinist Kam Ning in “Road Movies”, a Meridian disc featuring American composers; and with cellist Qin Li-Wei, in two discs on Decca of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.

He studied with Jerome Lowenthal, Michael Lewin, John Winther, and Nita Abrogar-Quinto.