Argentine conductor based in Europe since 2017, Silvina Peruglia holds a Master's degree in orchestral conducting from the Geneva University of Music. The 2025-2026 season will be marked by important guest conducting engagements with leading orchestras on the international scene, including the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Orquesta de Extremadura, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, among others. For the 2024-2025 season, she is Assistant Conductor at the Opéra National de Lorraine, where she will conduct six symphonic projects and assist on five opera productions. She will also return to the Orchestre National d'Auvergne as Guest Conductor, among other engagements.

Since her opera debut in 2012, she has conducted productions of Die Fledermaus, Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Luisa Fernanda, Don Giovanni, and L'Élixir d'amour in Buenos Aires. The 2023-2024 season marked her debut at the Opéra Nouvel de Fribourg and the Opéra de Lausanne, where she conducted Les aventures du Roi Pausole, co-produced by NOF and HEMU.

Silvina has conducted prestigious orchestras and ensembles, including the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National d'Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Opéra de Lorraine Orchestra, the Contrechamps Ensemble, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, among others. She has been invited to international events for young conductors, including the 56th International Besançon Competition, the Gstaad Conducting Academy, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 2024, she was selected for the La Maestra International Conducting Competition at the Philharmonie de Paris.

A mentee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentoring Program, she benefits from the guidance of Marin Alsop and other renowned conductors. In 2022, she participated in a masterclass with the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation under the direction of Peter Eötvös. She has worked as Assistant Conductor in opera with Georg Fritzsch, Antonio Pappano, and Roberto Fores Veses, in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Opéra de Vichy, and the Teatro Colón, among others. She also collaborates with contemporary composers such as Martin Matalon and Philippe Leroux.

Recipient of several scholarships, she has received the Excellence Scholarship from the Geneva University of Music - Wilsdorf Foundation, as well as support from the Engelberts, Edmond de Rothschild, Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, OSSESP Foundation, and Mozarteum Argentino foundations.

Born in Kyiv, Maria Tolck Strelbitska began violin lessons at the age of five, and at eleven, she joined the class of Prof. Igor Pylatyuk. At just 12 years old, she performed the Second Violin Concerto by Wieniawski. This was followed by numerous concerts with various national orchestras and conductors in Ukraine. She earned her Master's degree from the Lviv National Music Academy and, after winning first prize at the National Competition in Lviv (2006), she continued her studies at the Basel Music Academy in the class of Prof. Adelina Oprean. Later, in the class of Prof. Rainer Schmidt, she graduated with distinction as a soloist with the Basel Symphony Orchestra. She has been successful in international competitions and has won several scholarships. In 2013, Maria Tolck Strelbitska was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and an intern with the Basel Symphony Orchestra. After further studies with Prof. Barbara Doll in 2015, Maria joined the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra while also developing a parallel career as a chamber musician and soloist.

The violinist Anna Maria Środecka was born in 1993 in Poland. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in concerts in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, and Liechtenstein, and regularly participates in festivals, including: Les Jardins Musicaux, Festival du Jura, Klosters Music Festival, Chamber Music Festival "Spaces of Music", Tuns Contemporans – Biennale für Neue Musik Graubünden, Rigi Literaturtage, Osterfestival Ludwig van Beethoven, and La Folle Journée de Varsovie. She has also appeared in live broadcasts for Polish Radio in Warsaw and RTS in Switzerland. She regularly performs with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel, and Sinfonietta de Lausanne.
From a young age, she successfully participated and became a laureate in music competitions, both in Poland and internationally.
She has taken part in masterclasses with professors such as Benjamin Schmid, Yair Kless, Wolfgang Marschner, Igor Petrushevski, and Wanda Wilkomirska. Anna is a scholarship holder of the Villecroze Music Academy, where she had the opportunity to take masterclasses with the renowned Japanese violinist Kazuko Sawa. In 2019, she was a member of the ProQuartet in Paris, where she had the pleasure of working with Isabel Charisius and Alasdair Tait. She completed her Master's degree at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and at the Bern University of the Arts, in the class of Prof. Monika Urbaniak-Lisik, as well as in music mediation with Prof. Barbara Balba Weber, with distinction. She is a scholarship holder of the Rita Zimmermann Musik-Stiftung and the Stiftung Pro Libertas et Humanitas Kazimierz Bartkowiak, and has received a scholarship from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute for the promotion of Polish culture abroad.

Elizaveta Yarovaya, a violinist born in Russia and based in Switzerland, is an active musician who performs with orchestras, in chamber music, and at festivals across Europe, Russia, and the United States. A graduate of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (class of Renaud Capuçon) and the Moscow State Conservatory (class of Prof. Irina Bochkova), Elizaveta has taken masterclasses with Boris Garlistky, Pavel Vernikov, Pavel Berman, Gregory Kalinovsky, and Sophie Heinrich. Elizaveta has participated in various festivals, including the Verbier Festival, Grafenegg, the Gustav Mahler Academy, the Paris Orchestra Summer Academy, and the Lead! Festival (Finland). Currently, she works as a guest musician with numerous orchestras in Switzerland, France, and Russia, including the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, MusicAeterna (St. Petersburg), Sinfonietta de Lausanne, Les Siècles (Paris), City Lights Orchestra (Lucerne), the Verbier Chamber Orchestra, and others

Shelley Soerensen is a versatile musician who was born in England and currently lives in Switzerland. She is a regular guest in orchestras in Switzerland, such as the Berner Symphonieorchester, the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Sinfonieorchester of Biel and Solothurn (SOBS/TOBS). She has worked as a guest principal violist with the Kammerorchester Basel, Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra and Argovia Philharmonic. She is the principal violist in Musique des Lumières and performs at Oper Schloss Waldegg in the Cantus Firmus Consort (this year as the principal violist) for their bi-annual Baroque Opera.

For twelve years she lived and worked in Australia, where she was employed with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (at the Sydney Opera House) playing regularly in the role of principal violist. Shelley was also a member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Australian Haydn Ensemble (both on period instruments). She lead the viola section for both of these groups in many concerts and on chart-topping recordings released by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Shelley has also performed regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, with whom she has toured both in China and Australia. Prior to this, Shelley worked in England as a freelancer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia and the Orchestra of Opera North.

As a founding member of the Enigma Quartet, Shelley toured internationally, performed at numerous chamber music festivals and was a session musician on many recordings, including an international No. 1 pop hit. Shelley was able to rejoin the group to perform with Shakuhatchi legend Riley Lee and the other members of the quartet in Hawaii in early 2020 as part of the Honolulu Chamber Music Series and this year performed at the Galway International Festival with a new musical adaptation of an album of work from the Irish singer-songwriter, Mick Flannery.

Mariia Pliskina was born in 1997 in St. Petersburg. She began her musical training at a music school and continued at the Rimsky-Korsakov College with Professor Lyudmila Gurevich, an art historian. During her studies, she performed several times as a soloist, notably with the Youth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alexey Vasiliev, Rector of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and People's Artist of Russia. She has also toured extensively in Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, China, and many other countries. Since 2018, Mariia has been studying in Switzerland at the Zurich University of the Arts with Ilya Gringolts and is a scholarship holder of several Swiss foundations. Currently, she is pursuing her studies at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland with Klaidi Sahatçi, concertmaster of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She is a laureate of numerous international competitions in Finland, Russia, Sweden, Belarus, Latvia, and elsewhere. Recently, she won the Grand Prix at the "Rising Stars" competition by Michail Kazinik in 2022 in Riga, after performing a solo sonata by Eugène Ysaÿe at the Great Guild. She had previously performed at the same venue in 2019 on a Guarneri violin. In November 2025, Mariia gave a recital on a violin by luthier Luigi Galetti at the Sheremetev Palace in St. Petersburg. In addition to her solo appearances, Mariia is deeply committed to chamber music. She is a member of several ensembles and plays as first violin in the "Jaccottet" quartet. Mariia is distinguished by her beautiful and deep sound and virtuosic technique. Her interpretations are unique, full of expressiveness, and marked by a strong energetic presence that the audience immediately feels during her concerts.

Lidiia Kocharian was born in 1994 in St. Petersburg, Russia. She began playing the violin at the age of six at the St. Petersburg Arts Lyceum with Elena Dmitrieva, graduating with honors in 2010. She continued her studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College under the guidance of Elena Zaytseva, Anastasia Milka, and Tatiana Prasnikova, before entering the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory where she studied with Professor Antonina Kazarina. From 2009 to 2012, Lidiia performed numerous tours across Europe as a soloist and concertmaster of the St. Petersburg Youth Orchestra Vasiliev Ostrov. Since 2015, she has been based in Belgium, where she has studied at the Royal Conservatory of Liège with Philippe Koch. She has participated in masterclasses with Mihaela Martin, Gyula Stuller, Erik Schumann, Marc Bouchkov, Aylen Pritchin, Joseph Rissin, Daniel Hope, and others. Lidiia is a laureate of several international competitions and was a finalist in 2016 at the prestigious Arthur Grumiaux Violin Competition. The same year, she represented the Liège Conservatory at the chamber music festival bringing together conservatories from Rotterdam, Sion, and Liège. In addition to her work as a concert performer, she regularly participates in interdisciplinary projects. She collaborated on Anton Chekhov's play "The Bear," directed by Elena Prokina, and on Jean Cocteau's "The Human Voice" and "Belissima," based on the film by Luchino Visconti, both directed by the Belgian-Italian director Salvatore Calcagno. In March 2025, she performed in the dance-theater production "Niebo Hotel" by the French choreographer and director Christophe Garcia. She has appeared as a soloist with the Luxembourg Military Orchestra in concerts broadcast on Luxembourg television. In 2019, she won a competition for an internship with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and, from 2019 to 2025, she worked as a tutti first violinist with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. In 2024, she furthered her artistic development at the Zurich University of the Arts in Ilya Gringolts' class. Since March 2025, she has been a member of the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra.

Alexandra Dzyubenko is a young 29-year-old double bassist from Moscow, Russia. A graduate of the Geneva University of Music, she is regularly invited to perform with orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Ensemble Symphonique Genevois, Festival Strings Lucerne, Empyrean Orchestra, among others. Alexandra also performs as a soloist. Among her recent concerts are "The Double Bass in the 20th Century" at the Le Rameau d'Or bookstore, as well as a carte blanche at the Rudolf Steiner School, where she performed some of her favorite pieces for double bass, including Russian music. She is also interested in jazz and improvised music: in 2019, she participated in a series of concerts at the AMR in Geneva with the group GrHouse, and several pieces were released on CD. Alexandra has also performed solo during her carte blanche at the AMR in April 2023. Alexandra's repertoire ranges from the Baroque period to jazz and improvisation, including classical and romantic works.

Ellina Khachaturyan was born in Ashgabat in 1983 into a family of architects. She began playing the violin at the age of 6. At the age of 12, Ellina entered the Central Music School in Moscow. She decided to dedicate herself to the viola and completed her studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow in 2007. Drawn to Hungarian culture, Ellina continued her studies in 2009 at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest, where she met and played with wonderful musicians, including Gábor Takács, who suggested she come to Switzerland. A graduate of the Master of Concert Performance and Master Soloist programs at the Geneva University of Music in the class of Ori Kam, Ellina also holds a Master's degree in Pedagogy from Kalaidos University and has extensive experience teaching young children. As an active concert performer, Ellina performs as a soloist with various orchestras in French-speaking Switzerland, in different chamber music formations, and in recitals with pianist Paul Coker. Since 2018, Ellina has held the position of Principal Viola with the Fribourg Chamber Orchestra. She is regularly invited by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Zurich Opera, the Camerata Bern, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, as well as other orchestras in Switzerland and abroad. Passionate about orchestral music, since 2025 Ellina has been pursuing a CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) in orchestral conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK).

Romana Bleischwitz, a Swiss-German cellist, was born in Zurich and received her first cello lessons at the age of eight. Her exceptional receptiveness and natural relationship with the cello were quickly noticed by her early teachers, Kurt Hess and Nancy Chumachenco. Romana studied at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, under the guidance of Susanne Basler, Thomas Grossenbacher, and Richard Lester. She holds a master's degree in music pedagogy and musical performance. As a passionate and experienced chamber musician, Romana made her debut at the Barbican Hall in London in January 2014, performing a sextet by British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. In 2015, Romana was selected for the European Chamber Orchestra Academy program and joined the orchestra on tour for the Lucerne International Festival. She gained valuable orchestral experience through her membership with the CIVIC Orchestra of Chicago and the Civic Engagement Ensemble. Currently, Romana is based in Zurich and leads a varied career as a performer, educator, and cultural manager. She teaches cello at a federal music school in Frauenfeld, with the Swiss Animato Foundation, which supports emerging young professional musicians. Romana is a member of the KLAN String Quartet, which regularly performs as part of the Candlelight Concert Series.

Nata in una famiglia di musicisti a Voronež (ex-URSS), Lilia Leutenegger è stata immersa nella musica fin dall’infanzia: con una madre pianista e una sorella flautista, ha iniziato a suonare il violino a cinque anni. Grazie al loro sostegno e alla sua dedizione, a quattordici anni è stata ammessa alla prestigiosa Scuola Centrale di Musica di Mosca (ЦССМШ, classe di I. Iordanova), un momento decisivo nella sua formazione artistica.
Ha conseguito il Bachelor e il Master sotto la guida di Alexander Trostyansky al Conservatorio Čajkovskij di Mosca. Nel 2008 si è trasferita in Finlandia per proseguire gli studi con Alexander Vinnitsky al Turun Ammattikorkeakoulu di Turku. Tra il 2009 e il 2015 ha approfondito il suo linguaggio musicale in Svizzera, studiando con Sergey Ostrovsky all’Haute École de Musique de Genève, Gyula Stuller e Pierre Amoyal all’Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, e Barbara Doll all’Hochschule der Künste Bern. Parallelamente agli studi, ha partecipato a numerose masterclass e ha suonato con importanti orchestre europee, tra cui l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, la Tampere Filharmonia, l’Orquesta de la Comunitat Valenciana, l’Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana e la Sinfonietta de Lausanne.
Dal 2016 al 2021 ha insegnato violino presso l’Académie de Musique de Genève, bilanciando performance e pedagogia come due facce della stessa esperienza artistica. Dal 2015 è inoltre membro fondatore del Quartetto d’archi KLAN.
Oggi, è membro permanente dell’Orchestra Sinfonique Bienne Soleure e si esibisce regolarmente come solista e primo violino con l’Orchestra da Camera a Rotkreuz, nel cantone di Zugo.

The violinist Franziska Baran, born in 1996 in Ravensburg, Germany, is a passionate chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator. Her studies took her to the Bern University of the Arts, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen. Masterclasses and participation in festivals in Switzerland and abroad have shaped her artistic profile and complemented her solo and chamber music training. Franziska Baran loves the diversity of musical expression and has a particular passion for chamber music. She seeks out subtle nuances of sound and musical dialogue that invites the audience to engage. As a member of the Amber string trio, she is dedicated to rediscovering lesser-known composers and preserving the rarely played string trio genre. Since the 2022/23 season, she has also been part of a string quartet at the Theater La Grenouille in Biel and regularly participates in the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra (TOBS). In addition to her work as a concert performer, she is deeply committed to music education. At the Köniz music school, she leads her own violin class and supports young talents in their musical journey. For her artistic commitment, Franziska Baran has been awarded a German scholarship and a scholarship from Baden-Württemberg.

Amandine Lecras-Paraire is an eclectic cellist, passionate about varied encounters and with a curiosity for the entire cello repertoire. She holds a Master's degree in Concert Performance from the Geneva University of Music in the class of D. Grosgurin, a Master's degree in Solo Performance from the Tibor Varga Academy in the class of M. Carneiro, as well as a Master's degree in Instrumental Pedagogy from the HEMU in Lausanne in the class of F. Salque. With boundless energy, Amandine practices music in all its forms, from solo to chamber music, orchestral formation, and teaching. She has performed in over 20 countries around the world and has participated in numerous international festivals. She has worked closely with several prominent figures of our time, such as J. Bell, M. Maïsky, M. Vengerov, R. Capuçon, and has performed under the baton of conductors like M. Janovsky, C. Dutoit, E. P. Salonen, Z. Mehta, J. Levine, J. Nott, and others. Amandine Lecras-Paraire was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra and then the Verbier Chamber Orchestra. She was principal cellist of the Camerata de Lausanne under the musical direction of Pierre Amoyal. Also very active in the field of contemporary music, as she has a particular interest in contemporary composers. Amandine is the principal cellist and founding member of the Lemanic Modern Ensemble.