Christophe Horak
Swiss violinist Christophe Horak began playing the violin at the age of four. He studied with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was awarded a Bachelor and a Concert Recital Diploma in 1999 and 2000, as well as numerous awards such as the Max and Peggy Morgan Concerto Prize and a grant from Migros cultural foundation.
Between 2000 and 2002, Christophe Horak was granted a place at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where his mentors were Toru Yasunaga and Axel Gehrardt. He subsequently won a position at the Berlin Philharmonic in 2002, and became Principal Second Violin in 2008.
Christophe Horak is a dedicated chamber musician. He is a member of the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin and the Philharmonic Stradivari Soloists Berlin. Christophe Horak has been a teacher at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 2010 and is presently performing on a 1719 Francesco Goffriller violin, on loan from the Society of the Friends of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Francesca Zappa
Italian violist Francesca Zappa has pursued her passion for chamber music already since her studies at the University of the Arts in Berlin, where she was a student of Wilfried Strehle and Ulrich Knörzer.
She took part in many international Festivals such as Zermatt, Schloss Werdenberg, Max Reger Tage Weiden, L´Aura des Arts, La Camerata delle Arti Matera, Festival Piana del Cavaliere, Encuentros Musicales de Santander and played with the Scharoun Ensemble at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
She performed with orchestras such as Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin and MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig.
At the invitation of Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Francesca played with the Nimrod Ensemble - of which she is founding member - in the Bundestag for the 2018 ceremony of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She performs in European venues with a large chamber music repertoire.
Yannick Van de Velde
The Belgian Pianist Yannick Van De Velde was born in Antwerp.
He is one of the leading musicians of Belgium. Van de Velde participated in numerous national and international competitions and has won more than 20 first prizes. He was a prize winner in many international competitions including Queen Elisabeth Competition (Walckiers-Carbonelle Prize 2013), Nany Phillepart Competition, Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy, ...
Yannick Van De Velde has a strong experience as a soloist and chamber musician Strongly interested in contemporary music and performed across the whole world in famous venues such as the Philharmonie of Berlin, the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Lincoln Center in New York, Center of Fine Arts and studio 4 of Flagey in Brussels, Casa da Musica in Porto, Palacio de Festivales in Santander. In 2020 he plays the integral Beethoven sonatas by memory in numerous countries across Europe. Despite his young age, Yannick Van De Velde is already a sought-after pedagogue. He currently combines three prestigious teaching positions in three different countries: Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Conservatory of the Nord in Luxemburg and Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, Germany.
Nur Ben Shalom
Clarinetist Nur Ben Shalom has performed across Europe both as a soloist as well as a chamber musician in a wide range of venues; among them, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and the Musikverein in Wien.
Ben Shalom participated in international festivals such as the Luzern Festival, the Bonn Beethoven Festival, the Podium Festival and the ID Festival Berlin; He also played in orchestras such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. As a Soloist, Ben Shalom performed with the Jerusalem Chamber orchestra, the Ra’anana Symphony Orchestra, Rishon-Le’zion Symphony, and the Jewish-Arab Orchestra. After studying with Eva Wasserman and Prof. Izhak Katap in Israel, Ben Shalom continued his musical education at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Prof. Diethelm Kühn. Ben Shalom was invited to Hollywood to participate in various film productions, recording under the composer John Williams.
Outside of his performances, Ben Shalom has researched many forgotten, unknown Jewish composers from the World War II era, aiming to revive and highlight them in the modern cultural discourse.