Now regarded as one of the finest cellists of the younger generation, Alexander Chaushian has performed extensively throughout the world as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin-in- the-Fields, The London Mozart Players, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, The Boston Pops and The Armenian Philharmonic, and has given highly acclaimed performances in such venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Sala Verdi Milan, Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Japan, the main Carnegie Hall New York, and Symphony Hall Boston.

He performs regularly in festivals throughout the world and is the Artistic Director of the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus and the Yerevan Music Festival in Armenia.

After initial studies in Armenia, Alexander Chaushian studied in the UK at the Menuhin School and the Guildhall School, London. He then pursued advanced studies at the Hochschule Berlin, graduating with distinction in 2005. He is a laureate prize winner of many international competitions including the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the ARD Competition in Germany. As an alumnus of Young Concert Artists, New York, he toured extensively in the USA.

Belgian violinist of Russian-Ukrainian heritage, Mr. Bouchkov is a sophisticated musician of impeccable aplomb and has carved an international career performing with leading orchestras and conductors across Europe. He is one of the most multifaceted and unique artists of the new generation. His orchestral appearances included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Jordan, HR Sinfonieorchester and Christoph Eschenbach, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Lorenzo Viotti, and the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. He has also appeared with the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Hessische Rundfunk Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI in Turin, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, and the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra among others, collaborating with conductors such as nominated Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Lorenzo Viotti, and Gábor Takács-Nagy, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Michael Sanderling, Andrey Boreyko, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Dmitry Liss, Christian Arming, Lionel Bringuier, Maxim Vengerov, James Judd, to name but a few.

Mr. Bouchkov has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Teatro alla Scala, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Dresden Frauenkirche, Concert Hall of St. Petersburg, Tonhalle Zürich, Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Paris’ Theatre de la Ville, Maison de Radio France, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin among several other venues. A fine chamber musician, he is a regular guest of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

An inspired and highly sensitive conductor, Tomàs Grau is characterized by his precise and clear gesture and by the sincerity of his musical readings, which seek to transmit the light, delicate emotions of each of the scores, sharing with the audience his love for the music.

He has conducted many international soloists, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maria João Pires, Midori, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Gautier Capuçon, Mischa
Maisky, Javier Perianes, Sabine Meyer,Steven Isserlis, Paul Lewis, Alexei Volodin, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Melnikov, Seong-Jin Cho, Mark Padmore and Alice Sara Ott in all the main concert halls in Spain, including the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Auditorio in Zaragoza, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Auditori in Barcelona, as well as internationally at the Tonhalle in Zurich.

Nowadays, Tomàs is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, and he is often invited to conduct other orchestras, such as the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta Sinfónica de Burgos, Beethoven Philharmonie and Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, among others. He has recorded for labels such as SONY Classical, ARS Produktion (label of the year at the International Classical Music Awards) and Discmedi.

Among his immediate commitments, he will be conducting such soloists as Ivo Pogorelich, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Katia & Marielle Labèque and, once again, Midori. Born in Barcelona in 1979, Tomàs Grau studied music at the Superior Conservatory of Music in his own city. He continued his conducting studies at the Superior School of Music of Catalonia, where he graduated in Orchestral Conducting, with top ratings. His Orchestral Conducting studies were completed in the Wiener Meisterkurse.

Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras. Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor in 2021, and Marin Alsop joined him as Principal Guest Conductor in 2023. They follow in illustrious footsteps: Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Ricardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Esa-Pekka Salonen are some of the key figures who have honed the renowned Philharmonia sound over eight decades.

The Orchestra is made up of 80 outstanding musicians. It has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errolyn Wallen, Laufey and many others, and performs with many of the world’s most admired soloists.

The Philharmonia thrives on creative collaborations: in the 2024/25 season, violinist Nemanja Radulović is Featured Artist, and dance artist Vidya Patel is Artist in Residence. Previous Featured Artists have included violinists Pekka Kuusisto and Nicola Benedetti, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and singer Julia Bullock. Multidisciplinary collective House of Absolute, Clean Bandit founder and climate activist Love Ssega, and sarod virtuoso Soumik Datta, have all been Artists in Residence.

The Philharmonia is resident at the Southbank Centre in the heart of London and also holds residencies in Basingstoke, Bedford, Canterbury and Leicester, at Garsington Opera and at the Three Choirs Festival. In each of these residencies, the Orchestra is deeply embedded in the community, empowering people to engage with and participate in orchestral music. Projects with primary and secondary schools, children in foster care, people living with dementia and their carers, young people learning instruments, and adults who face barriers to experiencing the arts, all testify to the many ways music enriches our lives.

The Orchestra tours extensively throughout Europe and has performed in China, Colombia, Japan, Mauritius and the USA. In the 2024/25 season, Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes the Orchestra to Estonia, Finland, Spain and Japan, and Marin Alsop leads a tour across mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.

The Philharmonia is known for embracing innovative technology. The Orchestra’s recordings include benchmark LPs, more than 150 film and videogame soundtracks and streamed performances. Its recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is travelling through interstellar space on board the Voyager spacecraft, and its immersive installations and virtual reality (VR) experiences have introduced many thousands of people to orchestral music.

The Philharmonia Records label was established in 2023. The Orchestra has released live recordings of major works by Strauss, Mahler and Stravinsky, with Santtu at the helm.

The Philharmonia’s Emerging Artists Programme nurtures and develops the next generation of instrumentalists and composers, with a focus on increasing diversity within the classical music industry.
The Philharmonia is a registered charity. It is proud to be supported by Arts Council England and grateful to the many generous individuals, businesses, trusts and foundations who make up its family of supporters.