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The Russian-born American violinist Philippe Quint studied at Moscow’s Special Music School for the Gifted and made his orchestral debut at the age of nine. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1991 he studied at Juilliard where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and picked up top prize at the Juilliard Competition in 1998.

At the age of 22, Chloë Hanslip has already established herself as an artist of distinction on the international stage. Her recent recordings for Naxos have received outstanding reviews, and include John Adams's Violin Concerto and Romantic Concertos by Benjamin Goddard. Her latest recording – Hubay Concertos with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – was released in September 2009. In May Chloë will tour the UK with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky and Glass concerti.

Stefan Solyom’s career has flourished from beginnings in Scandinavia and Finland where he established himself early on as an exciting new talent in the world of both operatic and orchestral conducting. Solyom studied under Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula and went on to become a prize-winner at the 2000 International Sibelius Conducting Competition. Solyom's most recent success was his appointment last year as General Music Director of Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Norman Lebrecht is one of the most widely-read commentators on classical music and cultural affairs. His new book, Why Mahler?, is published by Faber and Faber on 1 July. Later this year, he will be the first Western arts critic to have an anthology of essays published in China. His series, The Lebrecht Interview, is aired on BBC Radio 3 throughout the Proms series.

Over the past decade, Alban Gerhardt has established himself as one of the leading cellists of our time. He has performed with more than 170 orchestras worldwide under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, Marek Janowski, Michael Tilson-Thomas and Neeme Järvi.

Jessica Duchen, novelist, music journalist, etc, started trying to write novels at the age of 12, but thought for a while that she wanted to become a pianist. Since realising that she didn’t, she’s been concentrating on the music of words and words about music. She writes regularly for The Independent as well as BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM Magazine, and has been lucky enough to interview many of the world’s greatest musicians. Her novels all involve music to some degree, especially Hungarian Dances, about a Gypsy violinist who is transformed into a classical virtuoso.

Guitarist Christoph Denoth was born in Basel, Switzerland and spent much of his early life in the Grisons, a Swiss canton. His extraordinary musical talent emerged early on, and he began his concert career when he was only 15. Subsequent studies led him to the conservatories of Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich. Sergiu Celibidache - with whom he studied the Phenomenology of Music and Conducting - proved to be one of Denoth's most important influences. 

Composer, clarinetist and conductor Evan Ziporyn is a founding member of the Bang on a Can All-stars (Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year), with whom he has toured the globe since 1992. His widely-renowned involvement with the Balinese gamelan led to an acclaimed Zankel Hall appearance in 2004, followed by a 2005 tour of Bali.

Scott Ellaway made his professional debut at the age of twenty-one in a performance befitting a native Welshman, conducting players from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera. He went on to conduct the New World Symphony, the Philharmonia, the Oxford Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart players. Ellaway has also worked with high-profile artists including the BBC Singers, Lisa Milne, James Bowman, David Owen Norris, Robin Blaze and Nicola Benedetti, whose concert with Ellaway was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Considered one of the world's most innovative musicians, the iconoclastic pianist Joanna MacGregor has pursued a life connecting musical genres, from classical to jazz to world. She has performed in more than 60 countries, often as a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony. Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle are just a few of the many eminent conductors with whom Joanna has worked.

The Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips has been recognised around the world for her beautiful and sophisticated voice. In 2005, Susanna won an astonishng four of the world's leading vocal competitions - Operalia, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards and the George London Foundation. She debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in the 2008-09 season as Musetta in La Boheme, as well as returning to her native Alabama to perform Strauss's 'Vier letzle Lieder' with the Huntsville Symphony.

Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson began lessons at the age of six and made her concerto debut ten years later. She has performed throughout Europe and Australia, gracing the stages of the Wigmore Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and performing with ensembles like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.

Founder of the genre-bending burning petals records, Richard Anthony Jay released his album This is What I Live For late last year on his own label. Featuring Grammy-award winning artist Davy Spillane and musicians from the much-lauded Halle orchestra, the album is marked by a 'contemporary, ambient, classical sound, and suggests the influence of a range of artists, from Stevie Wonder to Michael Nyman.

Hailed as 'the Jascha Heifetz of our day' (Globe and Mail), violinist James Ehnes has rapidly established a pre-eminent reputation among young concert violinists. Beginning his violin studies at the age of four, he became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin when he was nine and went on to make his orchestral debut with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at 13.

James Jolly was editor of Gramophone Magazine, the world's oldest and most respected classical music magazine, from 1989 to 2005. He stepped down from the role on the publication of the magazine's 1000th issue taking on the title of editor-in-chief. His passion for classical music was ignited while still a young student at Bradfield College where he studied with the composer Christopher Steel and had his ears opened to ideas of musical interpretation by his tutor, the critic, writer and broadcaster Richard Osborne.

John Evans has been editor of Classic FM magazine since 2001. He studied piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and postgraduate piano at the Royal College of Music before embarking on a career in sales that led to car and caravan journalism and eventually to his present position. It's a strange old world.

Oliver Condy has been the editor of BBC Music Magazine for five years, before which he was deputy editor at Classic FM Magazine. Now living in Bristol, Oliver sings tenor with the Exultate chamber choir and gives organ recitals from time to time.

 

At seventeen, violinist Caroline Goulding combines fearless technique and innate artistry with an unadulterated joy for music-making that is unmatched by most violinists of any age. In her young career, she has already graced the stage with prestigious orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. She has won the coveted first prize of the Aspen Music Festival’s Concerto Competition and has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, the MARTHA show, and been featured on National Public Radio’s From The Top as well as From the Top: Live at Carnegie on PBS Television.

Donato Cabrera made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in April 2009 when he stepped in on short notice to lead the orchestra in a programme of Mozart and Mussorgsky's masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition. He is the SFS Assistant Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Born and educated in Kansas, the dynamic and engaging mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has soared to international prominence in operas by Rossini, Handel, and Mozart, as well as in high-profile world premieres. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2005, and her growing discography has earned accolades far and wide. DiDonato's Wigmore Hall recital disc was a Gramophone 'Editor’s Choice,' while The Deepest Desire, her first solo disc, was awarded France’s 'Diapason d’Or de l’année.'

The bass-baritone opera and concert singer Bryn Terfel was born in North Wales in 1965. Bryn entered London's Guildhall School of Music in 1984, studying first with Arthur Reckless and later with Rudolf Piernay. In 1988 he won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship and graduated from Guildhall the following year, earning the the school's Gold Medal. Soon afterward, Bryn represented Wales in the 'Cardiff Singer of the World' competition where he won the lieder prize which launched his career.

Rouse's musical and theatrical repertoire has its roots in the high art-meets-popular culture of the early '80s downtown Manhattan music and art scene from which he emerged.

His ‘rock star’ attire might attract as much attention as his playing, but there’s nothing smoke-and-mirrors about the organist Cameron Carpenter. A 2008 Grammy nomination for his debut disc Revolutionary made him the first organist ever to be shortlisted for a solo album. And with expressions like ‘mind-boggling virtuosity’ rolling easily off the tongues of critics and listeners alike, and global gigs scheduled from Philadelphia to Leipzig to Moscow, the word is spreading fast.

A dozen years ago, the Australian-born American soprano Danielle de Niese became the youngest artist ever to enter the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and she hasn't looked back. She went on to debut with the Netherlands and Paris operas, before a 2005 performance at Glyndebourne affirmed her place on the international stage. Danielle has performed with some of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and many others.

Matthew Barley is known internationally as a cellist, improviser, arranger, music animateur and Director of Between the Notes and the Matthew Barley Ensemble. His musical world is about creating cultural and musical connections, ignoring human-made boundaries, and bringing people together, and he's as comfortable playing concertos with large orchestras as he is jamming with teenagers in a school. Matthew's versatility is shown in his latest CD 'Dance of the Three Legged Elephants', a collaboration with his close friend, the jazz pianist Julian Joseph.