Trained under the guidance of Maria Tipo, Andrea Lucchesini garnered international recognition at a very young age when he won the "Dino Ciani" International Competition at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Since then he has performed throughout the world with leading orchestras, working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Semyon Bychkov, Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Dennis Russell Davies, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Gabriele Ferro,Franz Welser Moest, Daniel Harding, Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda and Giuseppe Sinopoli. His wide-ranging activities, marked by a desire to explore music with no limitations, lead him to offer programs ranging from classical to current repertoire. In 1994 this earned him the recognition of European musicologists from which he received the Accademia Chigiana International Prize (the only Italian honoured so far). The following year he won the F. Abbiati Prize, which confirmed the appreciation of the Italian critics. Lucchesini has made several recordings, the first few of which date back to the 1980s for EMI International (Liszt's Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Sonata op.106 Hammerklavier and Chopin’s Sonata op.58). He then recorded Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Berg's Chamber Concerto for Teldec with the Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. For BMG the pianist recorded Luciano Berio’s Concerto Echoing Curves, conducted by the composer himself. This marked one of the milestones of a close collaboration with Berio, with whom Lucchesini witnessed the creation of the composer’s final and challenging work for solo piano, Sonata. Lucchesini performed the world premiere of this piece in 2001 which - together with all of Berio’s other piano works - became part of a CD for AVIE Records, which met with unanimous international critical acclaim. Equally appreciated is Lucchesini’s live recording of Beethoven’s complete cycle 32 sonatas for Stradivarius. The collective work obtained the recognition of "CD of the month" by the prestigious German magazine “Fonoforum” in August, 2004. In recent years, Lucchesini has enthusiastically immersed himself in the Schubertian repertoire, starting with the recording of the improvisers, in an AVIE Records CD accepted by the applause of international critics; In 2018 the German label AUDITE releases the new recording of Andrea Lucchesini: Dialogues, with music of Scarlatti/Berio, Schubert/Widmann: different musical eras face one another in a dialogue which rises more affinities than ever thought. In Fall 2018 Lucchesini will present partially this program in New York and in Vancouver Since 1990, the pianist has dedicated his attention to chamber music as well, including in particular a close collaboration (performing and recording) with cellist Mario Brunello and Quartetto di Cremona, and exploring various formations in chamber music repertoire. Convinced that imparting musical knowledge to the younger generations is a moral duty, Lucchesini is passionately dedicated to teaching. He currently teaches at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, where he has been artistic director from 2008 till 2016. He is frequently invited to hold masterclasses at major music institutions in Europe, such as the Musik Hochschule in Hannover and the Sommer Wasserbuger Festspiele and Musik Hochschule in Salzburg and in New York. He serves on juries at numerous piano competitions all over the world and was named Accademico of Santa Cecilia in 2008. 2018/2019

Violinist Liana Gourdjia has been acclaimed for her “astonishingly pure tone, artistry and bewitching lyricism.” Liana was introduced to the violin by her grandmother, a violinist of a “Mosfilm” orchestra, at the age of four. Her first debut as a soloist with an orchestra was at the age of nine. At the age of six, Liana appeared on Moscow television as a rising star and has since performed concertos with orchestras and recitals with her mother, a collaborative pianist at the Moscow State Conservatory, in many prestigious venues throughout Russia including the Great Hall and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and the Philharmonic Hall in Saint-Petersburg. As a laureate of the prestigious New Names foundation in Moscow and a fellow of the Spivakov foundation, she performed in the Vatican for Pope Jean Paul II, released a CD with the Melodia label for the performances at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and was invited as a young my talent to The International Colmar Festival. Liana Gourdjia became a laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Artists in Sendai in Japan at the age of fourteen and subsequently appeared numerous times on television and radio programs dedicated to presenting young stars in Russia and Europe. Winner of the Sion-Valais International Competition, Liana has also won prizes at the Michael Hill, Corpus Christi, Hudson Valley and Kingsville International Competitions. She has soloed with orchestras of Lille, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Moscow Philharmonic, Zagreb Soloists, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Lithuanian National Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Ashville Symphony, City Music Cleveland, the Cleveland Chamber, and the orchestras of Indiana University and the Cleveland Institute of Music under François- Xavier Roth, Andrew Grams, Daniel Hege, Paul Haas, James Gaffigan, Shlomo Mintz, Carl Topilow, Thomas Hinds, David Effron, Steven Smith, and Sergei Stadler. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Gourdjia has collaborated with such artists as Jaime Laredo, Lawrence Power, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Marc Coppey, David Soyer, Antonio Meneses, Giovanni Belucci, François-Frederic Guy, Alexander Melnikov, Peter Laul, and members of Talich, Vogler, Juilliard, Guarneri and Tokyo String Quartets among many other musicians. Liana is a founding member of the Gourdjia- Coppey- Laul piano trio. The trio has been invited the perform in many prestigious venues including the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the West Cork festival, to name but a few. Liana has performed at festivals including the Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo, Musique de Chambre de Lyon, the 92/Y in New York, Les Musicales de Compesieres in Geneva, Les Musicales de Colmar, and is a laureate of Juventus festival in France. She was awarded a three year fellowship at The Marlboro Music festival, where she had a chance to collaborate with Mitsuko Uchida, Leon Fleisher, Km Kashkashian... A proponent of contemporary music, she has frequently premiered works, commissioned by her from prominent and upcoming composers. She is a member of the Paris based Ensemble Variances under direction of Thierry Pécou and served as a concertmaster of the New Music Ensemble at Indiana University under direction of David Dzubay. Liana Gourdjia was awarded the 2009-2011 residency with the Montgomery Symphony in US, where she served as a soloist, concertmaster and recitalist. The Montgomery Symphony had proudly supported Liana's debut CD with pianist Efi Hackmey. Liana began her studies at the famous Central Music School at the Moscow State Conservatory with renowned professors Iryna Bochkova and Maya Glezarova. Upon graduating, she moved to the U.S. to continue her studies with David and Linda Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Liana received an Artist Diploma from the Jacob’s School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington, studying with Jaime Laredo. At The Indiana University she was the first recipient of the prestigious Jacob’s scholarship, and was subsequently awarded the Performance Certificate in recognition for outstanding performances at her degree recitals. Liana benefited from master classes with Menahem Pressler, Janos Starker, Gil Shaham, Alex Kerr, Pamela Frank, Arnold Steinhardt, Gabor Takacs and the Orion String Quartet. An avid reader, she is fluent in Russian, French and English. Liana now lives in Paris, pursuing a career as a soloist and a chamber musician.