Davide de Ascaniis

Violinist/Italy

“Exquisite control” — Baltimore Sun Winner of the AGIMUS Prize in Rome, the Szeryng International Violin Competition in Mexico, and the Grand Prix at the LISMA Foundation in New York City, among other numerous awards, Davide has been concertizing extensively.  Following performances with symphonies and solo appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Music Center in New York, de Ascaniis performed in Taiwan at the Taipei Arena for an audience of 15,000 and played to great media acclaim in concert halls in Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Rome (Auditorium Parco della Musica), Venice (Teatro La Fenice), Milan (Teatro dal Verme) and across America. In the United States, de Ascaniis made his debut with the Gateway Orchestra in May, 2014, prompting a Brooklyn Eagle reviewer to write: “His dazzling finger work, musicality, pizzicato and incredible cadenzas evoked the wizardry of Paganini.”  He also participated and performed in international music festivals including Orford in Canada, Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Nippon Foundation festival in Japan. Davide has been an iPalpiti artist since 2012, performing at iPalpiti festivals in prestigious venues throughout Los Angeles, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Soka Performing Arts Center. Born in Italy in 1991 to a family of pianists, Davide's first professional engagement was in 2000 in France, performing Bruch’s concerto with orchestra.  After earning a Master's Degree cum laude from the Conservatorio in Vicenza at the age of 16, he was awarded a Diploma at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and studied in New York with Albert Markov.  Last September, de Ascaniis toured Mexico playing the Paganini Concerto with Maestro Franz Krager and received press accolades such “...after this memorable performance, the conductor knelt before de Ascaniis, as never seen, and congratulated him… the audience offered him an endless standing ovation.”

Haoyue Liao

Violinist/China

Haoyue was born in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China. In 2002 she was admitted to Central China University with the first high honor prize where she studied from Prof. Pen Shuzhi. From 2004-2008, she continued with Prof. Maighread Maccrann, first concertmaster from Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, at Graz Music University, Austria. After receiving Bachelor Degree, Haoyue enrolled in chamber music master program in Graz and in the Violin Solo performance at Salzburg Mozateum at the same time, receiving Master’s Degree from both schools ( 2011 and 2013 respectively). During the years of studies she has consecutively won four annual scholarships of Graz Music University and the annual scholarship of Salzburg Music University with honor, and performed as soloist and chamber musician in many countries such as the United States, Israel, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, Italy and Austria, etc. In 2007 TRENTA FORUM sponsored by Vienna Philharmonic for outstanding young musiciansshe had her first solo performance at the famous Golden Hall of Vienna, and in 2008 -2009 was invited again by Vienna Philharmonic to perform in well-known Salzburg Music Festival. Haoyue has performed with many orchestras as a soloist and first violinist in Austria, Spain, Germany, and Czech Republic, including 2011 - 2013 featured soloist with Wien Klang Sinfonietta, touring more than 10 cities in China. She has been awarded the “Mature/excellent musician” by the Italian IBLA Foundation, 2nd prize of Young Talents in Italian IMPERIA, and the Audience Prize for “the best presentation of performance” at the MORITZBURG music festival in Dresden. Since 2013 Haoyue holds principal send violin position at Guiyang symphony China, and performed as soloist in “the Paste and the Voice” violin and piano concerto. “Music is life”- is her constant power on the road of pursuit of music. Her musical goal is to convey the most natural sound to all of people by the violin, “the queen of instrumental kingdom”.

Julia Clancy

Violist/USA

Violist Julia Clancy is currently based in Northwest Louisiana where she is on faculty at the Academy of Fine Arts at FBC Shreveport. Before pandemic Julia worked in the Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of Daniel Barenboim.  She performs regularly with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Boulez Ensemble, Konzerthaus chamber orchestra, Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and  has been a principal violist in Krzysztof Penderecki’s festival orchestra, Britten-Pears Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, Sarasota Festival Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, and Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Orchestra. As a member of Aldeburgh Strings, Julia performs regularly in London and Snape, England, and has collaborated with the ensemble in two albums for Linn Records. She can also be heard in the iPalpiti album, “Life Cycles” by BCM+D records.  As an educator, she has taught or assisted in teaching music theory, history, writing, and viola performance at both the Cleveland Institute of Music and Yale School of Music. She is currently an associate faculty member of the Encore Chamber Music Institute and teaches at the Moabit Musikschule. As a writer, Ms. Clancy was a guest columnist for the Case Western Observer, and was regularly published by the Yale School of Music as a program annotator. Her early musical education began at the Juilliard Pre-College program where she studied with Heidi Castleman. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in medical anthropology from Case Western Reserve University and with a Bachelor of Music with honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Jeffrey Irvine, Lynne Ramsey and Robert Vernon. Julia received her MM and is currently pursuing her DMA from Yale University, where she was a two-time winner of the Georgina Lucy Grosvenor Memorial Prize. Julia joined iPalpiti in 2016

Carl-Oscar Østerlind

Cellist/Denmark

Celebrated for his versatility, charisma, and directness of communication, Scandinavian cellist Carl-Oscar Østerlind enjoys a career as a soloist and chamber musician. Praised for his “incredible presence” in the Danish newspaper Politiken, Carl-Oscar Østerlind’s qualities have been recognized with many awards. First Prize winner of the Danish String Soloist Competition and a top prizewinner in Sweden's prestigious Ljunggrenska Competition, Carl-Oscar Østerlind appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals such as Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, Piatigorsky Cello Festival, Verbier Festival, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Copenhagen Chamber Music Festival and Bergen Festspillene. As a soloist he performed with orchestras in Denmark, Sweden, USA and Mexico. Since his early achievements of winning the Jury´s Special Prize in the Danish-Swedish Øresund Soloist Competition, Carl-Oscar Østerlind received many prizes and awards in Sweden, Norway, and Netherlands. As a chamber musician, he won the Danish Broadcasting Chamber Music Competition, The Netherlands Charles Hennen Competition and Trondheim String Quartet Competition in Norway. For the recordings of the complete String Quartets by Carl Nielsen for DACAPO, Mr. Østerlind co-received a Danish Music Award. Mr. Østerlind is a member of Ensemble Mutatis, Northern Lights Ensemble and the Sheridan Piano Trio. He worked as a solo cellist in the Danish Chamber Players, Esbjerg Ensemble and Ensemble MidtVest, and as a principal cellist in Copenhagen Philharmonic, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Østerlind studied at University of Southern California in Los Angeles with Ralph Kirshbaum, Royal Academy/Edsberg Institute in Stockholm with Torleif Thedeen, and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Morten Zeuthen. Furthermore, he received guidance from Frans Helmerson in Piteå and Hans-Jørgen Jensen in Chicago. Mr. Østerlind currently plays a 1703 Giovanni Grancino cello, on generous loan from the Augustinus Foundation.

Duo Gurfinkel

Clarinetists/Israel

The twin brothers Daniel and Alexander Gurfinkel, duo clarinetists, have established themselves among today's important artists in their country. Born in 1992, they began their musical education in the year 2000 and by age 12, they were invited by Zubin Mehta to appear as soloists in the annual concert for young musicians with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent seasons, Duo Gurfinkel were re-engaged with Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, and performed abroad with the Zagreb Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, with Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists at the Tchaikovsky Hall, with Capella Istopolitana, Berliner Camerata, as well as on tour in France with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. In March 2013, the duo won the 3rd prize at the 18th International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach, France, and during that year the duo performed at Gewandhaus with Leipziger Symphony Orchester, Grand Hall in Moscow with Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra, in Rome and Vatikan. The DUO have appeared in USA (Detroit, New York, Chicago), in Hong Kong, Slovenia, Italy, Russia, Germany, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Croatia, Austria, and South Africa with performances across Europe in international music festivals. Daniel and Alexander Gurfinkel preserve a rich family tradition of three generations. Their grandfather Arkady Gurfinkel was a well-known clarinet player, teacher, and arranger, while their father, Michael Gurfinkel, is among the leading clarinet players in Israel as principal of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and Israeli Opera, as well as in chamber music both in Israel and abroad. Among forthcoming engagements of Duo Gurfinkel there are a series of concerts in Germany with Brandenburger Symphoniker Orchestra, concerts across Russia with La Primavera String Orchestra and Voronezh Academic Symphonic Orchestra, and in Estonia with Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta.

Jacopo Giacopuzzi

Pianist/Italy-USA

 As a soloist as chamber musician, Jacopo has performed at major festival and venues throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is a winner of 14 international competitions including the International Piano Competition San Dona` di Piave, Ibiza International Piano Competition, International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles, and the Beverly Hills National Auditions. Jacopo has taught at the Conservatory of Verona E.F. Dall’Abaco, worked as collaborative pianist at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, has been performing regularly in collaborative duos with international instrumentalists, and, most recently, formed Solo Due with pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski with a premiere at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center Protostar Series in the fall of 2021.  Born in Italy to a family of pianists, Jacopo studied in Weimar at the Liszt Hochschule, earned his first Master`s Degree in Piano performance, Master`s in Sound Design (with Mauro Graziani) at the Conservatory of Verona in 2012, obtained his Diploma at the International Piano Academy of Imola Incontri col Maestro with Leonid Margarius, and completed his studies in Piano Performance from University of Southern California (2016) with Kevin Fitz-Gerald. After attending the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Jacopo found himself embraced by this loving community and makes Santa Barbara his home, surfing at sunrise before heading to his piano. Verona is still his home as he continues his international career. His most recent musical engagements take him every year to Harmos Festival in Portugal, iPalpiti festival in Los Angeles, Pianofest in the Hamptons and at the Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii. He  has  been  invited  to  serve  on  competition  juries  and  to  give  presentations, masterclasses and concerts throughout the world.  Jacopo was selected as an iPalpiti artist for the 2016 iPalpiti Festival of international laureates in Los Angeles and since, has been an active member as a musician as well as great web and graphic design staff.  He is also a talented photographer and film maker.