RUBEN DALIBALTAYAN was born in Yerevan, Armenia. After completing music school in the class of Anahit Shahbazyan, he moved to Moscow to pursue his musical education in the Gnesin Music Academy under the mentorship of professor Arthur Berngardt. Ruben obtained his Master’s degree at the Moscow State Conservatory under the guidance of professor Valery Kastelsky. His professional and personal formation has been greatly influenced by a number of outstanding musicians such as Boris Berlin, Lazar Berman and Alexis Weissenberg, who gave Ruben his personal international prize in 2001. Winner of ten prestigious international piano competitions in Armenia, China, Croatia and Italy, Ruben quickly established himself in the international music scene, an accomplishment that didn’t go unnoticed by prominent performers and critics alike. The prize awards he collected at the Second China International Piano Competition in Beijing (China), the Svetislav Stančić International Piano Competition in Zagreb (Croatia) and at the Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition in Yerevan (Armenia) expanded his recognition as an “intelligent and subtle pianist, whose performance always reveals something new and consistently interesting” according to Lazar Berman’s testimony. Ruben’s concert tours include numerous countries of Europe, Asia and America. The performances range from solo recitals and concerts with Symphony orchestras to participation in chamber ensembles – a piano duo with his wife Julia Gubajdullina and the well-known trio “Amadeus” to be mentioned. Ruben is an active member of the SONEMUS organisation (Sarajevo’s Organisation for New Music). His repertoire encompasses music from baroque to present days. With more than 20 concerts in his program and a special emphasis on the Romantic period Ruben performs a wide range of musical works. In collaboration with the Croatian Radio he has recently recorded the entirety of the piano opus of the famous Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa. The pianist also gives special attention and dedication to the promotion of the works of Armenian composers, an interesting and original music inseparably linked to the culture of his native country. Ruben began his pedagogic activities at the Sarajevo Music academy in 2000 and has been serving since 2005 as a Professor of piano at the Zagreb University Music Academy. During the last ten years he raised a large number of young pianists who went on to become finalists and prize winners of more than 50 international competitions. These competitions include most notably the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, the Robert Schumann International Piano Competition in Zwickau, the Zhuhai International Mozart Piano Competition in Zhuhai, China, the Shura Cherkassky International Piano Competition in Milan, the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede, Netherlands, etc. As part of his pedagogical work Ruben holds master classes and seminars on a regular basis in Croatia and abroad. He is also frequently invited to serve as a jury member at various international music competitions. His noteworthy projects include the founding of the piano summer school in Makarska (Croatia) in 2005, together with Julia Gubaidullina. The seaside piano master course has since evolved into one of the most prominent events for young pianists in the region.

The Italian pianist TERESA TREVISAN was born in Palmanova and graduated “cum laude” from the Trieste Music Conservatory “Giuseppe Tartini”. She started her piano studies with Maria Puxeddu going on to learn with Professor Luciano Gante at the Trieste Music Conservatory. Afterward she advanced her studies at the Ecole normale de Musique “Alfred Cortot” in Paris with Aquiles Delle Vigne, becoming then his assistant there. Teresa Trevisan was awarded various recognitions at national and international competitions performing in numerous Italian cities (Venice, Rome, Padua, Milan, Gorizia, Udine) and abroad (Paris, Brussels, Skopje, Bitola, Rotterdam, New York, Hartford, Washington, Salzburg, Ulan Bator, Vilnius, Izmir, Tirana, Novi Sad, Sofia, Cork Konservatorium and Boesendorfer Saal im Mozarthaus in Vienna, Trinity Laban College in London…). Her interest in Chamber Music was born at the courses of the International Menuhin Academy of Gstaad and the International Academy of the Trio di Trieste in Duino. Her performing debut as a piano duo with her brother Filippo was held in 1989 at the Bourg Madame Festival (France). The Rachmaninov Opera omnia recording (for two pianos and four hands) and the Bach Brandenburg Concertos (arrangement for piano duet by Max Reger, revised by Filippo Trevisan for Velut Luna) received a great critical acclaim. In 1998 the duo was awarded the “Morét d’aur” prize. Since 2002 Teresa Trevisan has been playing with the pianist Flavio Zaccaria. Aiming to discover a repertoire of less well-known works, in 2005 they recorded a CD entirely devoted to unpublished works of Max Reger (2005 Velut luna). The Duo Trevisan-Zaccaria was awarded an Honorary Mention at the Web Concert Hall Competition 2006. She recently performed with the Italian cellist Luca Fiorentini in the USA reaching Washington and New York. As a teacher, many of her students have been selected and awarded in some of the most prestigious national and international competitions, such as the Gina Bachauer-Salt Lake, the Isidor Baijc-Novi Sad, the Jeunesses Musicales-Bucarest, the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, the Stefano Marizza International Piano Competition-Trieste, the Premio Pianistico Bengalli-Val Tidone, the Concorso Clementi-Firenze-Lastra a Signa,Italy; the Chopin Piano Competition, Radovljica, Slovenia; the “Stefano Marizza”-Trieste; the Premio Pianistico Bengalli-Val Tidone; The International Piano Competition-Osimo; the Adilia Alieva-Svizzera, The Thomas & Evon Cooper International Piano Competition, USA; The Ettlingen International Competition for young Pianists, Germany; the International Piano Competition for young pianists ARTHUR RUBINSTEIN, Poland; the Aarhus International Piano Competition; the Busoni Piano Competition. She is regularly sitting in the Jury of many National and International Competitions. Teresa Trevisan is currently full time piano professor at the Music Conservatory of Trieste after successfully participating in the last State National Competition. She is regularly invited to give piano and piano-duo masterclasses. Among the most recent, the Oulu University in Finland, the Conservatorio Superior de Música” Manuel Massotti Littel” of Murcia in Spain, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, the Conservatoire Royal de Mons, the Yasar University of Izmir, the Sofia Music Academy, the CIT School of Music in Cork, the Konservatorium Wien, the Trinity Laban College in London and, through a videoconference in the frame of the LOLA project, at the Fort Worth Texas Christian University (USA). Since 1998 she has been the artistic director of the Festival Musiche in Fortezza of Palmanova and the Piano Competition “Filippo Trevisan”.

 CRISTINA MARTON - ARGERICH

Born in Romania, Cristina Marton studied in Berlin wih Georg Sava. She also received lessons from Christian Zacharias, Leon Fleischer, Martha Argerich, Dmitri Baskirov, Stephen Kovacevich, Andras Schiff, Radu Lupu and Alfred Brendel. She has won numerous prizes at international competitions such as the "Arthur Schnabel" (Berlin 1994), "Geza Anda" (Zurich 1994), "Clara Schumann" (Düsseldorf 1997), "Mozart" (Salzburg 1999) and the First "Martha Argerich" International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires 1999. As a chamber musician, Cristina regularly perfoms since 1998 with violinist Barbara Doll and since 1995 with her piano duo partner Aglaia Bätzner, winning the First Prize in the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, USA and the First Prize in the Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta. During the past seasons Cristina Marton was invited to perform in several of the most renowned music centers worldwide such the Berliner Philharmonie, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Opernhaus Zurich, Herkulessaal Munchen, Taipei National Hall, Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, Mozarteum Salzburg, Atheneum Bucharest, Hong Kong City Hall, BAM Theater New York, Playhouse Theater Edinburgh, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Auditorium Conciliazione Roma, etc.                 

O. Uni. Prof. Em., Mag. art UROŠ LAJOVIC was born on 4th of July 1944 in Ljubljana. He studied composition and conducting at the Academy uf Music in Ljubljana, graduating in 1967 and in 1969, respectively. For his outstanding achievements in both fields, he was awarded the 1968 and 1969 Student Prešeren prize. He continued his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Prof Hans Swarowsky, where he graduated with honors in 1971 and was awarded the Graduating Prize ("Abgangspreis"). In 1968 and 1969, he took part in the Salzburg Summer Academy, studying conducting with Prof Bruno Maderna. 

From 1972 to 1991, he was employed in the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, first as Assistant Conductor and since 1978 as Permanent Conductor. In parallel, he led the RTV Slovenian Chamber Orchestra from 1974 to 1976, was Chief Conductor of the Croatian RTV Simpfony Orchestra from 1979 to 1981 and in 1988 founded the Slovenicum Chamber Orchestra, with which he organized an independent concert series in Ljubljana for the next twelve years and gave concerts around Slovenia. From 2001 to 2005, he was Chief Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2009, he became the Artistic Advisor and Permanent Guest Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic. Since autumn 2015 till spring 2017 he was chief conducor of Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2015 permanent guest conductor of Sofia Philharmonic and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (China).

Utoš Lajovic was appointed Professor of Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, in 1989, and, in 1991, he was promoted to Full Professor of Conducting. In his conducting class, there have been around 300 students from 58 countries. Since 2011 to 2014, he has been Full Professor of Conducting at the Zagreb Music Academy. He retired from the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in 2012. As a visiting professor, he has held conducting master classes in Stockholm (2001), Constanta (2006), Shanghai (2012), Hong Kong (concerts and master classes in the years from 2009-2012) and Dubrovnik (2016).

In addition to his work, he has conducted orchestras across Europe, the USA, Colombia (Bogota), South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Japan. During his 40-year career he has given over 1.400 concerts, conducted more than 90 different symphony orchestras and ensembles and accompanied over 900 soloists.

His repertoire consists of symphonic and opera works. He helped stage 14 operas. In addition to the standard repertoire, he has conducted over 1.500 symphonic works and premiered 80 pieces of music of Slovenian and international composers.

His work in the field of musicology includes the transcription and publication of Missa Viennensis by Slovenian baroque composer Janez Krstnik Dolar, the editorship of Figaro by Janez Krstnik Novak (stage music for Matiček's Wedding by Anton Tomaž Linhart), and the revision and publication of Marij Kogoj's opera Black Masks.

In November 2013 Uroš Lajovic was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

Uroš Lajovic was appointed honorary conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic in June 2023. 

MARTHA NOGUERA is an internationally recognized pianist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been President, Founder and Artistic Director of the Chopiniana Foundation of Argentina since 2001. She began her musical career in Buenos Aires, at the National Conservatory of Music "Carlos López Buchardo" (artistic career of Piano). She studied with Alexander Uninsky at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, USA), with Ilona Kalos in London (British Council, England) and with Jan Ecckier in Warsaw (Poland). The Argentine pianist of Italian origin Martha Noguera has received numerous international awards and recognitions in her long career and the silver medal of the municipality of Trieste for artistic merit for the performance of the complete Beethoven sonatas; she is invited to numerous festivals and has obtained important successes and recognitions, including that of “knight” of music and the arts by the City of Buenos Aires. In 2000, he received recognition from the Polish government, for the success obtained in different capitals of the world when performing the complete works of Frederick Chopin. Thus, the President of the Republic of Poland awarded her, on her merits and by decree, the Knight's Cross of the Republic of Poland. Throughout her career she has performed countless concerts in the most prestigious halls in America and Europe, accompanied by the most prestigious orchestras and the most notable conductors: She performed alongside the following directors: Carl Melles, Fabiano Mónica, Urs Schneider, John Neschling, Carl Stewart Kellogg, Stanislav Wislocki; Nello Santi, Anton Nanut, Gerard Devos, Pierre Michel Le Comte, Gabor Ötvoss, Edmond de Stontz, Ruggero Barbieri, Franz Paul Decker, Victor Tevah, Pedro Ignacio Calderón, Simón Blech, Guillermo Scarabino, Vladimir Delman Mircea Basarab, Pierre Colombo, Wolfgang Gröhs, Massimo Biscardi, Richard Edlinger, Christian Braneusi, Lukas Vis, José María Florencio, Alfonso Devita, Carlos Giraudo, Jorge Mariano Carciofolo, Esteban Gantzer y Mario Perusso, among others. Her vast repertoire includes the complete piano works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and Maurice Ravel and she has made several recordings for the RCA and Artenova BMG labels. She has taught Master Classes in Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Italy and has been a jury member of several international competitions.