From November 2017 Braaten is pianist at the Wermlandopera in Karlstad, Sweden. She is a sought after pianist amongst instrumentalists and singers, and have been working as accompanist at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Opera school.
Braaten has won several awards, both as a chamber musician and as solo pianist. She has been soloist with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and have had solo recital with the prestigious Ultima festival in Oslo.
Alison Rhind was educated at the Chetham´s School of Music Oxford University and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied with Edith Vogel. Since 2006 Alison regularly has been invited to work at the Royal College of Music i London. This was formalized in 2009 when she was offered a position as coach/accompanist for the string Institute.
Maria Tarasewicz has already gained an enviable international reputation as a chamber musician, duo partner and a pedagogue. The depth and quality of Maria’s credentials can be judged through the collaborations she has had with many great international artists, such as Ivry Gitlis, Maxim Vengerov, Gavriel Lipkind and Truls Mørk. She is also committed to working with and developing younger artists. Maria has performed in all of London major concert venues including Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Southbank, Royal Albert Hall and many others. One of Maria’s current projects is the initiative of cofounding The Thinking Musician©, the platform organising summer music courses combining music as art, philosophy, intellectual provocations and speaking of the artist’s role in world.
In much demand as a chamber musician and duo partner for instrumentalists and singers, Craig studied at The Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Diana Ketler. Craig spent some time living and working in Germany at the Köln Hochschule für Musik und Tanz and has since worked at the Kronberg Academy as a staff accompanist In 2012, Craig won the accompanist prize at the centenary Kathleen Ferrier Awards, following accompanist prizes at the Thelma King Awards, Great Elm Vocal Awards and AESS Finals. This October will see the release of a Debut CD of early songs by Joseph Jongen with Belgian Soprano Sarah Defrise. Craig also works as an arranger and 2019 saw the publication of a set of 5 new violin and piano arrangements of Debussy Piano Preludes.
Padgett attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, The Peabody Conservatory of Music, and the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts. Awards as a soloist include a Silver Medal at the William Kappell International Competition and a Beethoven Fellowship from the American Pianists Association. He has performed in major venues around the world with the Philip Glass Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Lukes. He records regularly for film and television, and can be heard on the Harmonia Mundi, EMI Classics, and Orange Mountain labels. Mr. Padgett is on the faculty of The Ridgewood (NJ) Conservatory, and teaches privately in New York City. He performs nearly every Friday and Saturday throughout the year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of Orion Music’s Balcony Series.
Ivar Anton Waagaard is associate professor in piano accompaniment at the Norwegian Academy of Music with focus on vocal repertoire. He has been playing with many of the leading singers and instrumentalists in the country, on concerts, radio, TV-shows and CDs. Waagaard has been opera- and theater pianist and accompanist at the Queen Sonja competition.
Photo: Dagfinn Hobæk
Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos is educated at the Norwegian Academy of Music for Liv Glaser and Einar Henning Smebye, and at the «Hans Eisler Hochschule für Musik Berlin» for Galina Iwansowa. He is currently working at NMH and released his first solo CD in 2015.
Erik Lanninger teaches piano accompaniment at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Chamber musician in several different constellations with recordings on Caprice, ChamberSound and dB-productions.
Georg Öquist has a diploma in piano from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He has done tours in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the UK, Poland, USA, Turkey and Italy, both as a soloist and chamber musician. George has a very wide repertoire and broad knowledge which makes him a very popular pianist and chamber musician. He is part of Oliver Manoury Quartet which specializes in Argentine tango and Joseph Feher Ensemble performing Hungarian and Romanian folk music. George has also made a series of recordings for the Swedish and Italian radio and television and has given master classes internationally. Since 1987, he’s been teaching at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he is a professor of rehearsal.