GRANTS

Born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, French-Canadian soprano Carole-Anne Roussel is appreciated for the purity of her voice, as well as her natural stage presence and her contagious cheerfulness. She holds a Master’s Degree from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec where she studied with mezzo-soprano Sonia Racine and renowned coach Martin Dubé. Over the last few years, we have heard her in many roles such as: Annina in The Saint of Bleecker Street by Menotti, Micaela in Carmenby Bizet and Lucy in The Telephone by Menotti with the Conservatoire de musique de Québec; Una Novizia in Suor Angelica by Puccini with the Opéra de Québec; and Laurette in Le Docteur Miracle by Bizet with the Relève Musicale de Québec. She was also a member of the chorus for Verdi’s Requiem in 2014 and Louis Riel by Harry Sommers in 2017 at the Festival d’opéra de Québec. In the last two years, she has sung as a soloist in The Bourgeois Gentleman by Lully with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, in the Paukenmesse by Haydn with the Orchestre symphonique de Lévis, and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Chœur des Rhapsodes and with the Orchestre de l’Estuaire. She has also taken part in many singing programs in Canada and in the US, where she has received Masterclasses from Marlena Malas, José Van Dam, Sophie Koch, Kathryn LaBouffe, Joseph Rouleau, Richard Margison, Jordi Savall, Sir Simon Keenlyside and Joseph Rouleau. In September 2019, she’s artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the direction of José van Dam & Sophie Koch.

• Kaja Nowak, violin (1989 Belgium/Poland)
• Natalia Kotarba, violin (1990 Belgium/Poland)
• Diede Verpoest, viola (1992 Belgium)
• Julia Kotarba, cello (1990 Poland)

The Karsky Quartet was founded in 2018 by violinists Kaja Nowak and Natalia Kotarba, violinist and violist Diede Verpoest and cellist Julia Kotarba. Having played with one another in many different combinations, the four met as a quartet during the 2018 Resonances Festival Academy, where they were coached by Elisabeth Kufferath and Philippe Graffin, and again at the Rencontres Internationales Musicales d’Enghien, where they participated in masterclasses with Amy Norrington and David Waterman. Soon after they went on to take part in their first competition as a string quartet, the 4th International Music Competition Triomphe de l’Art in Brussels, where they were awarded the Grand Prix as well as the Special Prize for the alumni of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.

Based in Brussels, their concert engagements since the inception of the quartet have brought them to Belgian venues as well as concert series and chamber music festivals in France, the Netherlands and the UK.

From January until June 2019 they will be joining the String Quartet Studio at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, working closely with violinist Donald Grant (Elias Quartet) and members of the RNCM’s Chamber Music faculty. In September 2019 they will be starting a two-year study programme focused on chamber music and co-organised by the European Chamber Music Academy. The RNCM being the quartet’s homebase, the programme involves exchanges with other prominent European conservatories as CNSMD in Paris and NMH in Oslo.

Karski Quartet takes its name from Jan Karski, the legendary World War II resistance-movement figure. Commited as he was to showing others the dramatic truth about the war, the Karski Quartet members strongly believe that every era needs heroes like him. Amid the serious difficulties which the whole human population is facing now, they find Karski’s profound compassion and uncompromising attitude an example to be emulated in art as well as in life.

After studying German language and literature at university, Clémence studied at the Département Supérieur pour Jeunes Chanteurs in Paris, before continuing her training at the HfMT in Cologne. In the 2015/2016 season, she took part in the French premiere of Joanna Lee’s The Way Back Home (Vol Retour) at the Bastille in Paris, and joined artists from the Opéra de Paris Academy in performances of The Cunning Little Vixen, singing the roles of the Forester’s Wife, the Woodpecker and the Owl. Following on from that, between 2016-9, Clémence joined the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth in Belgium, where she was artist in residence, working with José van Dam and Jocelyne Dienst as Aritstic Directors. During that period, she was also a member of the Studio at the Opéra de Lyon, making her debut as the Lady-in-waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth, continuing her relationship with the theatre in the roles of Concepción L’Heure Espagnole, Polia in Tchaikovsky’s The Sorceress and L’Enfant in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (both in Lyon and at the Royal Opera House, Muscat in Oman). Her other recent roles include Bellangère and Marie in a triple-bill by Benjamin Attahir at La Monnaie in Brussels, and Consuelo in John Adam’s genre-defying I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky at the Théâtre de la Croix Rousse in Lyon.

Cellist JeongHyoun “Christine” Lee strives to bring powerful and transformative experiences to the audience through music. Recent engagements range from La Jolla SummerFest Fellowship Artist, solo recitals in NYC, masterclasses at Kronberg Academy (Frankfurt) and IMS Prussia Cove (Cornwall), as well as collaborative premieres on contemporary music with Eighth Blackbird and Juilliard’s AXIOM. In the 2015-16 season, she will perform with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, make her European recital debut at the Louvre Auditorium in Paris. Since making her debut performance with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of nine, she has also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, and the Calgary Symphony. She also performed on concerts presented by The New School: Schneider Concerts, Curtis 20/21 Ensemble, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Alice Tully Hall (NYC), Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, Library of Congress (D.C.), Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Victoria Hall (Geneva). In addition to concertizing, Ms.Lee has been heard on WQXR’s McGraw-Hill Financial Young Artists, WHYY “On Stage at Curtis”, and American Public Media’s “Performance Today. Ms.Lee’s passion for chamber music has led to festival appearances with Music@Menlo (CA), Seiji Ozawa Academy (Rolle), Music from Angelfire (NM), Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (NY). She has also collaborated with artists such as, Roberto Diaz, Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, and the members of Orion Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet. Originally from Seoul, Korea, Ms. Lee studied with Orlando Cole, Peter Wiley, and Carter Brey at the Curtis Institute of Music (B.M.), and with Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School (M.M.). Since September 2015, she has been studying at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the direction of Gary Hoffman. She plays with a Patigny bow.

Tony was granted a scholarship during during 2015 and 2016. Tony is the top prizewinner of ten national and international piano competitions including the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Louise Henriette International Piano Competition, Scriabin International Piano Competition (Paris), Adilia Alieva International Piano Competition and the Australian Youth Classical Music Competition among others. Professional training began at the Australian Institute of Music and the National Academy of Music before furthering studies at the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory. He completed his BMus in Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium and is currently enrolled in a Master’s Degree in Performance at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway with Professor Michael Endres. Since 2014, Tony is artist in residence at the Music Chapel in Belgium under the guidance of Maria João Pires.

Vladyslava is granted an ongoing scholarship since 2014. Vladyslava Luchenko showed her extraordinary musical gift already in early childhood. Aged six, she entered the Lysenko Special Music School in Kiev, and only four years later she won her first international competition. At the age of 11, she made her debut in the Kiev Philharmonic Hall and since then she has played throughout Europe as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Ukraine, the Verbier Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. Vladyslava continued her studies in Zurich and Berlin under Prof Zakhar Bron and Prof Stephan Picard. During this time, she was a prizewinner at many international violin competitions, such as the Tibor Varga Violin Competition, Martigny (2010), Andrea Postacchini, Fermo (2009 and 2010), and the Rahn Musik preis Competition in Zurich (2010). She has also won other prestigious awards such as the Rotary Excellence Prize, Lugano (2013) and the Migros Culture Percentage in Zurich (2012). Vladyslava plays with the Stradivarius Piatti – 1717 kindly lent by Michael Guttman Foundation. She also plays with a Eury bow. Since 2014 she is artist in residence at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel, under the direction of Augustin Dumay.