Roberto Alonso Trillo
Born in Vigo (Spain) in 1983. He started his violin studies at the age of six in his hometown with professor Armando Toledo and professor Laura Quintillán. In 2001 he moved to London, becoming a student of professor Luzia Ibragimova (Yehudi Menuhin School) and, later, professor Jacqueline Ross (2002) and Nathaniel Vallois (2004) at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. During this period in the United Kingdom he completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2005, he was awarded a scholarship by the Pedro Barrié de la Maza Foundation to undertake a Master of Music postgraduate program, finished in 2006, and completed a doctoral program (PhD) in 2012. In 2017 he finalized a Doctor of Musical Arts program (DMA) at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, under the guidance of Dr. Kirsten Yon. He attended courses and master-classes with musicians and violin players as significant as Natasha Boyarskaya, Rosa Fein, Mark Lubotsky, Dora Schwarzberg, Isabelle Van Keulen, Joji Hattori, Malcolm Layfield, Boris Garlitsky, Victor Pikayzen, and William Preucil. In 2006 he was awarded the Joseph Weingarten Scholarship to attend lessons with professor Vilmos Szabadi at the Ferenc Liszt Conservatory in Budapest. Besides his ample individual, orchestral and theoretical training he is a founding and active member of various chamber music groups, developing an intensive international performing and pedagogical career. At present, he works as an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong’s Baptist University. He plays on an 1835 violin by Francesco Mauritzi and a bow by Claude Thomassin.
Aglaya Conzález
Spanish violist Aglaya González appeared as a soloist with the “Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León”, the Andrés Segovia Chamber Orchestra and Barockakademie Detmold. She has performed recitals and chamber music concerts throughout Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Israel and the United States. As a versatile musician, she is very interested in early and contemporary chamber music. She is a founding member of the Améi string quartet and Tempus Konnex Ensemble and collaborates with ensembles like Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble and Klangforum Wien. Furthermore, she also plays Fidle, baroque viola And Viola d’amore in chamber music ensembles like the Darmstädter Hofkapelle, Capella Academica Frankfurt, Bachorchester Wiesbaden, Freiburger Bachorchester or Le Concert Lorrain. Since 2018, she teaches as a viola Professor at the “Manuel Castillo” Conservatory (Sevilla, Spain) and gives masterclasses and workshops around Europe and Asia. By the early age of 14, Aglaya was admitted to study at Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía under the tutelage of Gerárd Caussé. She also studied at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Madrid, where she graduated in viola and music education with outsanding grades. She continued her artistic education in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold with Diemut Poppen and Christoph Desjardins acquiring the Master soloist. In 2011 she achieved the Performer Diploma after studying with Atar Arad at the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University). In addition Master’s program in contemporary music by EM (International Ensemble Modern Academy 2012-13). In 2013-14 she worked as an intern at the Opera Orchestra in Frankfurt. In 2017 she obtained her Master diploma in historical interpretation (baroque viola) with distinction after studying with Bernhard Fork, Petra Müllejans and Mechthild Karkow at the HfMDK Frankfurt and she completed her Doctorate in Music at Alfonso X University. She was principal viola in The World Orchestra, Orquesta Freixenet, Detmolder Kammerorchester and Orquesta-escuela de la Sinfónica de Madrid. She was also a member of the Latin-American Young Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, IU Baroque Orchestra, IU New Music Ensemble, Orquesta de Cámara Sony and other ensembles. She collaborates with RTVE orchestra, Frankfurt Opern & Museumsorchester, Symphony orchestra of Madrid, Spanish National Orchestra among others. As a chamber musician, she founded the Adlibitum and Cariatide string quartets, Detmolder Klavierquartett, Smile trio, Duo A + A and played chamber music concerts in collaboration with renowned musicians such as Garth Knox, Claudio Martinez-Mehner, Peter Orth, Piotr Oczkowsky, Xenia Jankovich, Hagai Shaham, Hillel Zori and Marco Ricci. She participated in Festivals like »Acht Brücken« (Cologne), »Mixtur« (Barcelona), »Cresc…Festival« and »Musikfest op.131« (Frankfurt), »Salzburger Festspiele«, Luzern Festival, »Europäische Musikwoche Montepulciano«, »Zermatt Musikfestival«, »Keshet Eilon«, »Encuentro de Música de Santander«, »Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival«, »Donaueschigen Musiktage«, »Ultima Festival« (Oslo) among many others. Aglaya was awarded 1st prize at the Yamaha-Hazen Chamber Music Competition, special prize CajAstur and viola prize at the Villa de Llanes International Music contest, 1st prize at the »Jóvenes Intérpretes Ibercaja« contest, Bärenreiter Award at »Juventudes Musicales de España«, Jacobs School of Music’s 2010 Travel Grant Competition, Jacobs School of Music’s annual Viola Concerto Competition, »Premio Monserrat Mirabent«, “Kammermusikpreis2012 der Polytechnischen Gesellschaft Frankfurt« and »Förderpreis Boris Pergamenschikow«. She has received several scholarships from Fundación Albéniz, »AIE«, Juventudes Musicales de Madrid and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation among others.
Brais González
Brais González is one of the most eclectic pianists of his generation, with a solida career that has always been divided between classical performance, extensive work as an accompanist and chamber musician and an interesting background as a composer and creator of sound landscapes that always aim to bring together different genres, from contemporary music to folk, indie or film music. His solo recordings synthesize all these worlds, and in them, Brais tries to suggest a walk through landscapes that are always drawn around improvisation. He was born in Vigo in 1987 and began his piano studies in his town with professors Aleksandras Jurgelionis, Aldona Dvarionaité, and Ricardas Biveinis, with whom he also studied composition. He continued his education at Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Austria) under the direction of Rolf Plagge, completing his training with Severino Ortiz and at CSM Vigo and CONSMUPA Oviedo. He has attended master classes with many teachers and concert pianists, such as Oxhana Yablonskaya (Juillard School of New York), Vitaly Margulis (UCLA), Galina Egiazarova (Reina Sofia Music School), Luiz de Moura Castro (Hartford School), Jun Kanno, Niklas Sivelov, Leonel Morales, Julius Andrejevas, Rina Dokshitsky, Carles Marqués, Vlad Dumilescu and Luis Fernando Pérez. In 2013 he was awarded at the 18th edition of the City of San Sebastian International Competition. In 2012 he won the ‘Gregorio Baudot’ prize at the 26th Cidade de Ferrol International Competition. He has also been awarded the special prize of the Málaga Music Foundation for the best performance of Spanish music. In 2006, he was awarded the first prize in the senior category of the International Competition of «Real Club Náutico de Vigo». Other awards include the 10th Ricard Viñes International Competition (2004), 1st ASGAIM Competition (2004), XII Maria Campina International Piano Competition (Portugal, 2004), Alto-Minho Piano Competition (Portugal), where he also won the prize to the best performance of Portuguese works (2003), «Real Club Náutico de Vigo» Regional Competition for Young Performers (1998, 2000 and 2002) and IV Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris (1999). He has performed as a soloist in several cities of Spain, as well as in Portugal, France, Austria and Germany. Dedicated to his work as an accompanying pianist and chamber musician, his work in different ensembles has led him to be present at the main Galician festivals and to perform also in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, United Kingdom and Italy. As a composer, his symphonic works have been performed by different Galician and Portuguese orchestras and conducted by masters such as Javier Viceiro, Christopher Bochmann or Iminas Kucinskas.He was the Artistic Director of the Malaga-based multidisciplinary collective «Bramnova» and is currently the founder and composer of «Caspervek Trio», a band devoted to live silent films sountracks with which he has performed in more than a dozen European countries. He has also developed an extensive career in different genres such as folk, jazz, electronics or improvised music, collaborating with artists as diverse as Peter Arnesen, the indie group Cervan, the Gharbo Orchestra or Nelson Quinteiro, and putting music at the service of other arts such as poetry or theatre. He has collaborated composing music for different shows of the Galician Dramatic Art School and with different theatre groups such as CinemaSticado. Since 2017, he has been co-directing the online radio programme «Anónimo IV», dedicated to musical research.