North Carolina Museum of Art

Born in Italy in 1979, Alessandro Marangoni studied the piano obtaining a diploma with honours and continuing his studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole with Maria Tipo and Pietro De Maria. He graduated with honours in Philosophy at the University of Pavia as a student of the Almo Collegio Borromeo. Alessandro Marangoni burst onto the international concert stage when he played at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as pianist soloist during a tribute to the great Italian conductor Victor de Sabata, with Daniel Barenboim. Soon after he was signed as an international recording artist with Naxos.

The Calidore String Quartet is recognized as one of the world’s foremost interpreters ​of a vast chamber music repertory, from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices like György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw. For more than a decade, the Calidore has enjoyed performances and residencies in the world’s major venues and festivals, released multiple critically acclaimed recordings, and won numerous awards.

Since forming in 2010, GRAMMY®–nominated Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura – has earned enormous praise for its engaging, cutting ­edge performances. New York's classical music radio station WQXR explains, "'Neave' is actually a Gaelic name meaning 'bright' and 'radiant', both of which certainly apply to this trio's music making." Gramophone has praised the trio's "taut and vivid interpretations," while The Strad calls out their "eloquent phrasing and deft control of textures" and BBC Music Magazine describes their performances as balancing "passion with sensitivity and grace."