Irakli Tsadaia

Violinist/Georgia-GERMANY

Concertmaster of the Georgian Chamber Orchestra since 2013, Irakli has been calling Ingolstadt home when Audi and the City of Ingolstadt teamed up in 1990 to offer the Tbilisi musicians a new home in the heart of Bavaria.  The company and orchestra have been inextricably linked ever since.  Born into a musical family in Tbilisi, Georgia, Irakli’s first music training started with Tamaz Batiaschvili and Konstantin Vardeli, both members of the Georgian State Quartet.  Since the age of eight, he received regular lessons in Moscow and Germany with Galina Turchaninova, who also taught Maxim Vengerov.  At thirteen, Irakli was accepted as a student at the Munich Conservatory, where he also attended the master classes of Alexander Brussilovsky, Boris Garlitzky, Felix Andrievsky and Victor Tretjakov.  In 2002, he continued his studies with Professor Victor Tretjakov at the “Hochschule für Musik Köln”. First Prize winner at the music competition “Jugend musiziert” in Germany, he received diplomas in the Louis-Spohr International Violin Competition in Weimar (1999) and at the Paganini International Competition in Moscow (2006), and won Second Prize at the International Violin Competition Valsesia Musica in Italy (2008).  In 2007, he recorded a CD of Four Seasons by Astor Piazolla (released by Sony BMG), performing as a soloist with “Kölner Klassik Ensemble.”  Irakli is performing as a soloist and in chamber music with eminent musicians and conductors.  His concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saëns, Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate and Four Seasons by Astor Piazolla were recorded for Radio and Television and broadcast on ARD, SWR, BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk), and in Tbilisi, Georgia.  He was selected to join iPalpiti in 2010.  In 2012, he was a selected as one of ten prize winners from 1,003 participants at the Mozarteum Summer Academy Salzburg and concluded the finale concert of the Salzburg Festspiele. Irakli plays Giovanni Paolo Maggini violin of the 17^th century as a competition winner in the instrumental foundation of the “Hochschule für Musik Köln” which offers young musicians an opportunity to perform on high quality instruments.

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.”

Emma Wernig

Violist/USA-Germany

19 year-old violist Emma Wernig is from Los Angeles, California and a first generation American in her Austrian-German family. Emma is the first place winner of the 2017 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition and as a result will perform a series of high profile recitals and release a debut CD through Champs Hill. She recently won the Colburn Concerto Competition and will perform with the Colburn Orchestra in Fall 2018. She is a prizewinner of the Rising Stars Grand Prix 2016 International Music Competition Berlin and was the 2016 Leiber & Stoller Scholarship Recipient, receiving $10,000 towards her musical education. As an alumna of the Heifetz Institute, she performed with their Heifetz-On-Tour-Program in Washington, DC and Virginia. She recently participated in the 2017 Gstaad Menuhin Festival Academy, IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses in Cornwall, England, and the Taos School of Music Festival. Emma’s greatest passion lies in chamber music. She has collaborated with renowned artists such as Lynn Harrell, Clive Greensmith, Ettore Causa, Robert Chen, among others. As a part of the “Chimera Quartet” she won first place at the 2016 Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, the WDAV’s Young Chamber Musicians Competition, and the inaugural 2016 M-Prize Chamber Music Competition at the University of Michigan in the Junior Strings Category as part of the Chimera Quartet. As a member of the Incendium Quartet, she won the Gold Medal at the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, subsequently featured on NPR’s From the Top. Emma plays on a Viseltear viola generously loaned to her by the Colburn Foundation. Emma Wernig is a Bachelor of Music candidate at the Colburn Conservatory where she studies with Paul Coletti. This is her first season with iPalpiti.

Egor Antonenko

Cellist/Russia

Russian-born cellist, Egor Antonenko has distinguished himself as a versatile soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Making his solo debut at the age of eight with the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra, he continued to perform with many of the prestigious Eastern European orchestras including the Moscow and Ryazan chamber orchestras, and the Petrozavodsk, Yaroslavi and Volograd Symphonies. Egor has made his American orchestral solo debut at the Longy School of Music performing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Bard College Symphony, and most recently, performed Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Egor has performed under the baton of Marius Stravinsky, Leon Botstein, Miguel Etchegoncelay, Gil Rose, Benjamin Zander, Terry King  amongst many others. A prize winner in numerous competitions including the International Competition of Moscow’s Young Musicians “Rising Stars”, the 18^th “Citi di Barletta” Italian International Young Artist Competition, and “Gradus ad Parnassum” of Lithuania 2^nd International competition, he has collaborated in performances with Shanghai and Hausmann String Quartets, William Preucil, the Newport and Lyrica chamber music festivals and the International Music Festival of St. Marks.  Egor received diplomas from the Moscow State Conservatory and Central Music School as a student of Maria Zhuravleva, an undergraduate diploma in cello performance at Longy School of Music of Bard College as a student of Dr. Terry King and currently continues at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University as Teaching Assistant to his mentor Dr. King. In 2016, Egor toured more than 30 countries, performing over two hundred chamber music concerts through a partnership of the Lincoln Center Stage and the Holland America Line. He also participated in a live performance collaboration between BBC Earth and Holland America Line for a documentary series known as “Frozen Planet Live”.  Currently, Egor is a member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under maestro Benjamin Zander, as well as principal cellist of Lyrica Chamber Orchestra and has participated as acting principal cellist with Boston Modern Orchestra Project. This is his second season with iPalpiti. Egor joined iPalpiti in 2019.

Sam Shuhan

Bassist/USA

A native of New York, Samuel Shuhan currently resides in Los Angeles where he stays active performing, teaching, recording and composing on upright and electric bass. Shuhan completed his Master’s Degree at the University of Southern California, and is finishing a Graduate Certificate with professor David Allen Moore. As winner of state and national competitions, Sam performed as a soloist with orchestras. He studied classical and jazz and has been performing professionally in and round the upstate New York area, and in various music festivals, including Domaine Forget in Québec, where he also studied with master and pedagogue François Rabbath.