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.

Pablo Rapado Jambrina

Violinist/Spain

The Spanish violinist was born in Zamora, Spain in a musical family. He began his violin studies at age six, with Jesus Ramos at Zamora Music Conservatory. At 14 years of age, and with many solo apperances done, he performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Conservatory orchestra. Pablo continued at the Oviedo Superior Conservatory of Music, also studying baroque music with Zeljko Haliti, performing regularly as a soloist. During his musical studies, he performed with numerous Spanish and French orchestras, and took part in numerous violin and chamber music master classes with eminent violinists, more recently with Albert and Alexander Markov. In 2006, he was awarded First Prize with honours in Paris, and in 2008 received Cum Laude Bachelor degree from the Maastricht National Conservatory of Music, Holland with teacher Robert Szreder.

Double-laureate of the Sarasate International Violin Competition, Pablo performed as a soloist in the Berlin Konzerthaus with the JOSPA orchestra, in chamber ensembles with Albert and Alexander Markov at the Cordes et Pics Festival (France), and made his recital debuts in Paris in 2008 with pianist Christie Julien. In New York Pablo performed at Merkin Hall (Lincoln Center), WPM Concert Hall, Bargemusic, etc. Pablo began to teach in Spain in 2004, and from 2006 in France, also invited as a teacher at the Cordes et Pics Festival. In orchestral experiences from 2004-2011, Pablo has played at Navarra Symphony, Granada Symphony, Orchestra Les Arts (Valencia) under maestri Zubin Metha, Lorin Maazel, Lopez Cobos, among others. Nowadays he leads Premium Symphony Orchestra in Spain, also keeping residency in Brussels, Belgium, and touring. In 2014 Pablo has won first violin leading position in the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln.

Adelya Shagidullina

Violist/Tatarstan

A prizewinning violist, Adelya’s numerous awards include First Prizes at the Andrey Korsakov International Music Competition, Eugen Coca International Music Competition, All Russian International competition, and a First Prize and special prize for the best performance of a commissioned work at the International J.S. Bach Competition. Named Fellow of the Art Ministry of Russia and Russian Performing Art Foundation (2003-2006), Adelya has performed in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, her native Kazan, and throughout other large cities in Russia. Selected as a principal violist of numerous youth international orchestras under direction of prominent conductors, Adelya has been working professionally in the Kazan State Chamber Orchestra “La Primavera” and the Kazan State Symphony Orchestra. Adelya was selected to join iPalpiti for its east coast residency in 2009, and has since performed as an orchestra member and soloist in concerts throughout America, including the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

A graduate of the Kazan State Conservatoire, she has been studying in the United States since 2009 in the international studio of Professor Eduard Schmieder of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, where she received an Artist Diploma, Bachelor’s, and Master's degrees. In 2014, Adelya received her DMA from Temple University where she worked with Professor Daniel Avshalomov, violist of the eminent American String Quartet. She is a member of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra and Philadelphia Virtuosi.

Joseph Kauffman

Violinist-violist/USA

Born in Oakland, California, Joseph began his violin studies at the age of five.  He has studied with Yayoi Numazawa of the Philadelphia Orchestra, James Lyon and Max Zorin of The Pennsylvania State University, and Eduard Schmieder of Temple University.  A graduate of the Pennsylvania State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, he was honored to receive the Creative Achievement Award, given to only one exceptional student.  Winner of many competitions in Pennsylvania, Joseph received first prize in the PSU Philharmonic Concerto Competition performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto (2008).  He returns to State College every summer for the Penn’s Woods Music Festival under the direction of Maestro Gerardo Edelstein.  Joseph founded and performed with the “Valens” Piano Quartet, which received First Prize in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition. As a chamber musician – both as violinist and violist - Kauffman was featured live on classical radio in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.  In 2008, Kauffman was accepted into the international class of Prof. Eduard Schmieder in the Master’s Degree program at Temple University, which he completed in 2011, with distinction and received the Albert Tashjian Prize for excellence in performance.  He frequently served as concertmaster for the TU Symphony Orchestra and TU Opera Theater.  He has performed on major concert stages including Disney Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kimmel Center, and the Kennedy Center, among others.  He has participated in master classes with world-class soloists and ensembles, including Jaime Laredo, Philip Setzer, Martin Chalifour, the Shanghai, Emerson, the American, the Tokyo quartets, and many others.  Currently, Joseph is in the DMA program at Temple University, where he is also an adjunct faculty member. He teaches a talented class of students at the NBS School, maintains a thriving private violin studio, and leads an active performance career.  Together with iPalpiti alumnus and cellist Yoni Draiblate, in 2016 he founded and successfully directs the MUSIC TRANSFORMS concert series in Philadelphia. Joseph was selected to join the iPalpiti in 2010, taking principal roles as both violinist and a violist in orchestral ensemble as well as in chamber ensembles. He also has been a dedicated orchestra manager during the festivals.

Giorgi Kharadze

Cellist/Georgia-Germany

"... Exceptional musical expression and maturity..." —The Strad

Winner of important international competitions such as the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann at the Berlin Philharmonic (2006), Domnick Cello Prize International Competition (2001), Georges Prêtre International Competition in Douai (2003), Giorgi also was awarded Third Prizes and Special Prize at the Pablo Casals International Competition in Germany (2004) and the Rostropovich Competition in 2005.

Born into a musical family in 1984 in Tbilisi (Georgia), Giorgi Kharadze began playing the cello at the age of six and was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris at the age of fifteen, where he was tutored by Roland Pidoux and Xavier Phillips, graduating with distinction in 2003. A winner of the Natexis Foundation in France, the Concertante Foundation in Italy, and of the Langraf von Hessen-Prize awarded by the Kronberg Academy in Germany, where he received instruction from Frans Helmerson, Giorgi can regularly be heard on radio and television programmes in those countries.

Giorgi Kharadze now plays on stages such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Hague Theatre in the Netherlands, the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn, the Lithuanian Philharmonic in Vilnius, the Riga Philharmonic, the Hôtel National des Invalides in Paris and others. He has played with ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Republican Guard, the Frankfurt Sinfonietta, the Potsdam Kammerakademie, where the press gave a rapturous reception to his performance of Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky.

Recent performances included solo with Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Chamber Orchestra in Poland and Germany, with upcoming solo engagements with the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Beethovenorchester Bonn, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the KBS Symphony Orchestra and more. He will also appear at the Périgord Noir Festival and in the Auditorium du Louvre. Chamber music is a passion that he shares with luminaries such as Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Menahem Pressler and Roland Pidoux, and with young artists such as Fanny Clamagirand, Julien Gernay. His current discography includes a recording of Pezzo Capriccioso, op. 62 by Tchaikovsky and Cello Concerto by Vasha Azarashvili with the Kremerata Chamber Orchestra on the “Kronberg Academy – the Vision” label.