Stephanie Appelhans

violinist/Germany

A protégé and a student of iPalpiti Concertmaster Peter Rainer since 2015 at the University of the Arts Berlin, Stephanie is a First Prize winner of numerous competitions, including the International Spohr Competition in 2009.  As a soloist with orchestras she performed major concertos such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, and Barber throughout Germany and Scotland and, in 2014, performed Martinu’s Sinfonia Concertante under Sir Neville Marriner in a live broadcast on “Radio Suisse Romande.”  Prestigious scholarships such as Erasmus, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and German Academic Exchange Service enabled Stephanie to study at famous institutions such as the “Hanns Eisler” Music School Berlin and the Guildhall School of Music in London.  She also took violin master classes with Vesselin Paraschkevov, Petru Munteanu, Heime Müller, Pierre Amoyal, Boris Brovtzyn and performed chamber music with Pavel Gililov, Kolja Blacher, Fabio Bidini, and the Belcea Quartet.  A concertmaster of Westfälische Kammerphilharmonie Gütersloh since 2012, Stephanie’s orchestral leadership experience include concertmaster and soloist of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (2014-15 seasons), Radio Orchestra Frankfurt, German Radio Orchestra Berlin, concertmaster of the festival orchestra ORFF-Festspiele Andechs, and most recent 2015-2017 seasons with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Kammerakademie Potsdam.  Stephanie’s community activities include volunteering in Guatemala, teaching a youth orchestra of indigenous kids and, since 2016, singing weekly with refugee kids.

Sara De Ascaniis

pianist/Italy

Born in Italy in 1987 into a family of musicians, Sara began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At seven years old she entered the Music Conservatory Arrigo Pedrollo in Vicenza, and two years later she gave her first solo recital. By the time she was eleven, Sara was already appearing as a soloist with orchestras throughout Italy. Her performances of Beethoven Piano Concerto n.3 and Schumann Concerto have been broadcast on the national radio and television with high acclaim. After the Master's Degree summa cum laude at the age of 18, she studied at the Santa Cecilia Music Academy in Bergamo with Konstantin Bogino and at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg under Claudius Tanski and Imre Rohmann. In addition, she has worked with outstanding musicians and pedagogues, such as Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Pavel Gililov, Leonid Margarius, Benedetto Lupo and Lilya Zilberstein. Winner of prestigious awards in Italy and abroad, including the Mozartpreis at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Baden-Württemberg International Piano Competition (Germany), Sara has been performing as a soloist in prestigious venues in Europe. As chamber musician, she performed with various ensembles from Duo up to Quintet, working together with great artists such as Rainer Schmidt, Wolfgang Redik, Igor Ozim, Enrico Bronzi and Alois Brandhofer. Her numerous appearances have included Aurora Chamber Music Festival (Sweden), Internationaler Konzertverein Bodensee (Germany), Salzburger Kammermusikfestival, LeXGiornate in Brescia, La Societá dei Concerti in Milan. During her studies she developed her skills as a teacher, earning the Master's Degree in Piano Pedagogy at the Mozarteum in 2014. She has recently been appointed Piano Professor at the Music Conservatory Cesare Pollini in Padua. Upcoming engagements include concerts in Europe, USA and Mexico, also with her brother, renowned violinist Davide de Ascaniis. Sara and Davide have been performing together in concert halls worldwide since their childhood.