Hugo Olsson grew up in Bygdeå in Västerbotten, Sweden, and began playing the clarinet at the age of nine. He completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, studying with Hermann Stefansson and Andreas Sundén, and bass clarinet with Mats Wallin.
After graduating, Olsson worked for one year as a substitute musician with the Swedish Army Band in Stockholm. Since autumn 2022, he has been engaged as an alternating principal clarinetist with the Vaasa City Orchestra. Alongside his instrumental career, Olsson is an enthusiastic choral singer and performs with the barbershop group Bygdeå Boys as well as the mixed choir NOX.
Gemma Rosefield is an internationally active British cellist who established herself at an early age as one of the leading musicians of her generation. She won the prestigious Pierre Fournier Award in 2007 and made her concerto debut at the age of sixteen after winning First Prize at the European Music for Youth Competition in Oslo, performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a televised concert.
She has been acclaimed by international critics including The Strad, the London Evening Standard, and BBC Music Magazine, and has appeared as a soloist in major concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall in London. She has also made several critically praised recordings, including releases on Hyperion with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze.
Gemma Rosefield performs regularly worldwide and has appeared with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, as well as participating in numerous premieres of contemporary works. A dedicated chamber musician, she is the cellist of Ensemble 360 and a member of the Leonore Piano Trio, with whom she has made several award-winning recordings. Alongside her performing career, she is Professor of Cello at the Royal College of Music in London and plays a cello made in Naples in 1704 by Alessandro Gagliano.
Erica Nygård is a Finnish flutist, born in Malax. She began her studies at the Legato Music Institute and continued at the Tampere Conservatory and the Soloist Department of the Sibelius Academy, where she completed her soloist diploma in 2006 with distinction and earned her Master of Music degree in 2008. She also studied as an exchange student in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Alongside her orchestral career, Nygård qualified as a church musician at Novia University of Applied Sciences in Jakobstad and has furthered her studies through masterclasses in both flute and organ, including with Jeanne Baxtresser and Ton Koopman.
Nygård has performed with several Finnish symphony orchestras and is the principal flutist of Vaasa City Orchestra. She has also served as acting principal flutist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. In parallel with her orchestral work she is active as a church musician.
As a chamber musician and soloist, Erica Nygård performs regularly in Finland and abroad. She is a founding member of Ensemble Transparent, which released a recording of specially commissioned repertoire in 2020, and together with Niels Burgmann she forms a flute–organ duo whose debut album Momentum (Alba) was released in 2019. She has received several grants and awards, including support from the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and the Malax Municipality Cultural Award, and is noted for her open and cross-genre artistic approach.
Christoffer Sundqvist is one of Finland’s leading clarinetists. He began his studies at the Jakobstad Conservatory and completed his diploma at the Sibelius Academy in 2002, before continuing his education at the Musikhochschule Basel under François Benda. In the same year, he was awarded a shared first prize at the Crusell International Clarinet Competition.
In 2004, Sundqvist was named Debut Artist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with most Finnish orchestras and internationally with ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Sinfonieorchester Basel. He has collaborated with conductors including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, and Hannu Lintu, and is a frequent guest at major European festivals.
Sundqvist has premiered numerous works by contemporary composers and has made several award-winning recordings for labels including BIS and Alba. He also co-founded the RUSK Chamber Music Festival together with composer Sebastian Fagerlund. Since 2005, he has served as principal clarinet of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and is active as a teacher at the Sibelius Academy and in international masterclasses.
Anna Paradiso Lauri is an internationally active harpsichordist based in Sweden and is regarded as one of the leading keyboard players of her generation. Born in Bari in southern Italy, she has an unusual background that combines an academic career in classical philology with the highest artistic standards in music. Since 2008 she has been fully dedicated to her musical career and was quickly recognised by international critics for her distinctive and expressive playing.
She has been widely praised for her vivid musicianship, refined Baroque phrasing, flexible rubato, and outstanding continuo playing. Anna Paradiso Lauri performs regularly as a soloist and continuo player with leading ensembles and orchestras in Scandinavia and internationally, and has appeared at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Her distinctions include two nominations for the International Classical Music Award (ICMA), a Swedish Grammy Award for Best Classical Recording, and the Bernadotte Scholarship from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In parallel with her performing career, she is active as a teacher and artistic researcher at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, with a special focus on historical instruments such as the harpsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano, combining historical insight with strong musical presence.
Angelika Klas is among Finland’s most charismatic and versatile vocal soloists. She graduated from the soloist department of Sibelius Academy and continued her studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Klas moves effortlessly between musical genres and is particularly acclaimed for her interpretations of both the classical lyric repertoire and tango music inspired by Astor Piazzolla.
As an opera singer, she has performed several distinguished roles, including the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen, and Maria in Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires. She has appeared on major stages such as the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Novaya Opera in Moscow, the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the Finnish National Opera.
Klas is also a sought-after interpreter of operetta and musical theatre, having sung leading roles in works such as Die Fledermaus, Viennese Blood, Orpheus in the Underworld, and The Count of Luxembourg, as well as the autobiographical musical Tamara at Turku City Theatre.
A frequent festival soloist, she has performed with most Finnish orchestras and appeared internationally in Sweden, Estonia, Germany, France, Spain, Lithuania, Hungary, Norway, Russia, and Denmark. Angelika Klas is also the soloist of the tango-focused Kotaja Quintet and has released several albums of tango and crossover music.
Alissa Margulis is one of the most expressive and internationally respected violinists of her generation. Born in Germany into a family of Russian musicians, she began playing the violin and piano at an early age and gave her first public performance at the age of seven as a soloist with the Budapest Soloists.
She has studied with some of the world’s leading teachers and has won numerous prizes at international violin competitions, including the prestigious Pro Europa Prize, presented to her by Daniel Barenboim in Berlin.
Margulis regularly appears as a soloist with major orchestras worldwide and performs in some of the greatest concert halls – from Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Musikverein to the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. She is widely acclaimed for her intense musicality, lyrical tone, and technical brilliance.
A dedicated chamber musician, she has collaborated with outstanding artists such as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Ivry Gitlis, and Mischa Maisky, and is a frequent guest at international festivals including the Verbier Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano.
Vladimir Reshetko has served as principal cellist of the Vaasa City Orchestra since September 2017. He is a prize winner of the International Heran Cello Competition and has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the St. Petersburg State Academic Orchestra, under conductors such as Vasily Petrenko and Ravil Martynov.
Reshetko studied in St. Petersburg and continued his education in Amsterdam and Berlin. He is a founding member of the Anima Quartet, with which he has won first prize and a special award for the best interpretation of works by Franz Schubert at the international chamber music competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music”. The ensemble has also received first prize at the C. Henne Chamber Music Competition and the Boris Pergamenschikow Chamber Music Prize.
Vladimir Reshetko plays a cello built in 2021 by Gabriele Jebran Yakoub, a copy of Antonio Stradivari’s 1710 model “Gore Booth”.
Mackenzie Melemed is an American pianist who has emerged as one of the most distinctive musical voices of his generation. He is the recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and has been praised by The New York Times for his refined interpretations, technical finesse, and strong communicative presence.
Born in Massachusetts, Melemed began studying piano at the age of four and amassed extensive stage experience early on, with over 500 performances by age thirteen. These formative years shaped his natural ease on stage and his close connection with audiences.
He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Polish Radio Orchestra, and has given recitals at venues such as Carnegie Hall. His programming is noted for combining core repertoire with lesser-known works and contemporary music.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and a Steinway Artist, Melemed has been based in Finland since 2020, where he performs regularly with orchestras and at major festivals.
Jan-Erik Gustafsson is one of Finland’s most distinguished and internationally sought-after cellists, active as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. He began his studies at the West Helsinki Music Institute with Markku Luolajan-Mikkola and continued at the Edsberg Institute in Stockholm with Mikhail Homitser and Frans Helmerson, completing his soloist diploma in 1992.
He gained international recognition at the age of fifteen through his success in the EBU Young Musicians Competition in Copenhagen. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as nearly all Finnish orchestras. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Paavo Järvi, Osmo Vänskä, Klaus Mäkelä, and Leif Segerstam.
A highly respected chamber musician, Jan-Erik Gustafsson is a regular guest at international festivals and has collaborated with artists including Pinchas Zukerman, Leonidas Kavakos, Christian Tetzlaff, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Ivry Gitlis. He has made numerous critically acclaimed recordings for the Ondine label. He serves as Artistic Director of the Korsholm Music Festival (Musikfestspelen Korsholm) and plays a cello made in 1890 by Stefano Scarampella.