Jan Lisiecki with Banff Festival Orchestra

Jan Lisiecki’s interpretations and technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 28, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, and Claudio Abbado (†). 

In 2021/2022, Lisiecki presents a new recital programme featuring Chopins Nocturnes and Études in more than 30 cities all around the globe. Recent return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for performances at Carnegie Hall and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Lisiecki recently performed a Beethoven Lieder cycle with baritone Matthias Goerne, among others at the Salzburg Festival, and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra. 

At the age of fifteen, Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The label launched its celebrations of the Beethoven Year 2020 with the release of a live recording of all five Beethoven concertos from Konzerthaus Berlin, with Lisiecki leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano. His Beethoven Lieder cycle with Matthias Goerne, released shortly after, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Lisiecki’s eighth recording for the prestigious label, a double album of Frédéric Chopin's Complete Nocturnes which he also showcases in his current recital programme, appeared in August 2021 and in February 2022 on vinyl, immediately topping the classical charts in North America and Europe. Most recently, his previous solo programme Night Music, featuring works by Mozart, Ravel, Schumann and Paderewski, was released as a digital album. His recordings have been awarded with the JUNO and ECHO Klassik. At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012. 

The Afiara Quartet is a dynamic and award-winning ensemble, described as "a revelation" (La Presse) with performances balancing "intensity and commitment" and "frequent moments of tenderness" (Montreal Gazette). After residencies at The Juilliard School and San Francisco State University, the Afiara are currently Fellowship Quartet at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The ensemble is winner of the Young Canadian Musicians Award, Concert Artist Guild, Munich ARD, and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, including the latter's Szekely Prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven. Their relentless pursuit of beauty and discovery is documented in over 25 commissions of new music and new educational outreach initiatives for school children funded by the Ontario Arts Council.

The Dalí Quartet is acclaimed for bringing Latin American quartet repertoire to an equal standing alongside the Classical and Romantic canon. Tours of its Classical Roots, Latin Soul programming have reached enthusiastic audiences across the U.S., Canada and South America. Its fresh approach has been sought out by distinguished series in New York, Buffalo, Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Clevaland, Seattle, San Juan and countless communities beyond. The quartet has been called upon for return engagements at Bravo!Vail Music Festival, National Gallery of Art, Friends of Chamber Music in Portland, Chamber Music Tulsa, the Slee Beethoven Cycle Series, the SA’OAXACA International Music Festival in México, among others. Other recent appearances include the Virginia Arts Festival, Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts, Maverick Concerts, and the east coast premiere of Anna Clyne’s Quarter Days, Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra, co-commissioned by the Harrisburg Symphony, and the world premiere of Roydon Tse's work for string quartet and full orchestra with the Annapolis Symphony.

In addition to works of the masters from Haydn to Brahms and Amaya to Piazzolla, the group's adventurous and entertaining programming includes new works for quartet with percussionist Orlando Cotto, and quintets both Latin and Classical with the renowned clarinetist Ricardo Morales, principal clarinetist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and with acclaimed pianist Vanessa Perez. The Dalí Quartet has an ongoing collaboration with the Van Cliburn Competition’s gold-medal winning pianist Olga Kern, with whom they have toured from coast to coast and recorded the piano quintets of Brahms and Shostakovich released on the Delos label.  

The Dalí Quartet is Chamber Music America's 2024 Ensemble of the Year, recipient of the 2023 ACMP Foundation's Susan McIntosh Lloyd Award for Excellence and Diversity in Chamber Music, 2021 recipient of Chamber Music America's Guarneri String Quartet Residency, funded by the Sewell Family Foundation, and the 2021 Silver Medal at the inaugural Piazzolla Music Competition. The quartet is also the 2019 recipient of the Atlanta Symphony's esteemed Aspire Award for accomplished African American and Latino Musicians. The quartet’s latest CD is Voces Latinas is now available on Centaur Records.

The Dalí is devoted to audience development and to reaching communities of all kinds. The group’s Latin Fiesta Workshops and Family Concerts in both traditional and innovative settings move listeners – literally! The Dalí Quartet is sought after for master classes and professional development workshops for students, (recently at the National Repertory Orchestra, Miami University, Michigan State, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Iowa) and has opened musical vistas for younger kids with its week-long Any Given Child programs (over three seasons for the Tulsa Public School System). In addition, the quartet’s International Music Festival is an admired chamber music and orchestral program founded in 2004 which develops the performance skills of young musicians up through semi-professional level. The Dalí has also served as a guest resident ensemble at Lehigh University, and the Hartt School of Music's Composition Feldman/Geoffroy Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Hartford.  

Trained by world-renowned artists, members of the Dalí Quartet are from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the US, and have degrees from esteemed institutions including the New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, Juilliard, Indiana University Bloomington, and the Simón Bolivar Conservatory in Caracas, Venezuela. The quartet is based in Philadelphia, PA.

Inspired by its namesake, the great Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, the quartet holds imagination and excellence at the heart of its music making.

The quartet serves as faculty at West Chester University Wells School of Music as the Quartet in Residence, and is an Iris Collective Resident Ensemble . 

"...this was a performance of a profundity and kaleidoscopic colour that would have been astounding from any ensemble, let alone a young one still making itself known."
— Charlotte Gardner, Gramophone
 

First Prize winners at both the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in the spring of 2025, Opus13 is rapidly building a reputation on the international chamber music scene. Named after Mendelssohn’s youthful and passionate A Minor Quartet, Op. 13 — the first piece they ever played together — the quartet was formed in Oslo in 2014 by four teenagers eager to dive into the world of string quartets. Now based in both Oslo and Stockholm, Opus13 comprises Norwegian violinists Sonoko Miriam Welde and Edvard Erdal, violist Albin Uusijärvi, and cellist Daniel Thorell, both from Sweden.

In addition to performing standard string quartet repertoire by composers such as Mozart, Bartók, and Schubert, Opus13 are passionate ambassadors of Nordic classical and contemporary music, frequently programming works by Grieg, Stenhammar, Tarrodi, Byström, and Fagerlund. They also enjoy genre-crossing collaborations, having performed with Norwegian folk and popular music artists including Gjermund Larsen Trio, Sissel Kyrkjebø, and Sver.

The quartet has appeared at renowned festivals and series including Chamber Music Northwest (Oregon), East Neuk Festival (Scotland), International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht (Netherlands), Yeulmaru and Yonsei Chamber Music Festivals (South Korea), and Rusk Festival (Finland), as well as most of the major chamber festivals in Norway — from Bergen to Stavanger, Rosendal, Trondheim, and Risør.

Opus13 has collaborated with leading musicians such as Janine Jansen, Alisa Weilerstein, Tabea Zimmermann, Olli Mustonen, Julian Bliss, Jonathan Biss, and Anne Sofie von Otter. Their musical development has been shaped by ongoing mentorships with Bjørg Lewis and Berit Cardas of the Vertavo Quartet, and with Tim Frederiksen in Copenhagen. Beginning in 2025, the quartet studies with Prof. Oliver Wille of the Kuss Quartett in Hannover. In 2023, Opus13 received Norway’s prestigious Equinor Classical Music Award, joining a distinguished line of previous recipients including Leif Ove Andsnes, Lise Davidsen, and Vilde Frang.

Opus13 are the founders and artistic directors of Vinterspill på Lillehammer, an annual chamber music festival in Lillehammer, Norway.

The quartet performs on an exceptional set of instruments:

Sonoko Miriam Welde, violin — Antonio Stradivari (1736), on loan from Anders Sveaas’ Charitable Fund
Edvard Erdal, violin — Lorenzo Storioni (1790), on loan from Snefonn AS
Albin Uusijärvi, viola — Christophe Landon (2008)
Daniel Thorell, cello — Giuseppe & Antonio Gagliano (1772), on loan from the Järnåker Foundation