Andrey Stukalov

was born in 1987 in Krasnoyarsk (Russia). Received first piano lessons at the age of 6. Soon after Andrey took part in city and regional competitions and became laureate of the first prizes. Considering his success, in 2002 his family moved to Moscow where the young pianist entered Central Music School attached to Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, class of Nina Makarova. In 2006 won the 3-rd prize at the international piano competition «?omune di Cassina de'Pecchi» and the 2-nd prize at the IV international piano competition «Premio Benedetto XIII» in Italy. In the same year Andrey Stukalov entered Moscow State Conservatoire, class of famous professor Sergey Dorensky. Andrey Stukalov is a prize-winner of numerous international piano competitions including the following: "Sigismond Thalberg" (Naples, Italy, 2010), "Adilia Alieva" (Gailllard, France, 2010), "Delia Steinberg" (Madrid, Spain, 2011), "Valsesia Musica" (Varallo, Italy, 2011), "Stefano Marizza" (Trieste, Italy, 2011) etc. Andrey took part in concerts in Great, Small and Rachmaninov Halls of Moscow Conservatoire, frequently performs in Russia and abroad, solo and with orchestra. He is also a wonderful chamber musician. His repertoire includes works by composers from Baroque to Modern period. Andrey is fond of playing and premiering virtuoso piano transcriptions which always receive the highest praise in his performance.

Biography Proot Stephanie

Stephanie (°1987) started playing the piano at the age of 6. After graduating from the Antwerp Conservatory with L. Kende, she continues now her education at the 'Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth' in Brussels with A. R. El Bacha and at the 'Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot' in Paris with Ramzi Yassa where she was named first with unanimous votes and congratulations of the jury and where she now continues with the 'Diplôme supérieur de concertiste' and the 'Cycle de perfectionnement'. She attended masterclasses with Jerome Rose, Vladimir Krainev, Cécile Ousset, Richard Goode, Leon Fleischer, Dmitri Bashkirov...

Since her very young age she has been successful in Belgian competitions: she won first prizes at Jong-Tenuto, Charlier, International Kaufmann, Cantabile, André Modeste Grétry, Dexia, … Since 2005 she started winning prizes on the international scene: 1st prize at the 'International EPTA Competition' (2005), 1st prize at the 'Rencontre international de piano du Mée-sur-Seine'(2009), 2nd prize at the 'Nuéva Acropolis Competition in Madrid' (2006), 2nd prize at the 'International Pianocompetition Of The City Of Porto' (2008), 3rd prize in the 'Pianocompetition For Young Musicians' in Enschede (The Netherlands, 2008) and 6th prize at the Shanghai International Piano Competition (2009). She also played semi-finals in Kiev (Ukraine), Zagreb (Croatia), Rhodes (Greece) and London (United Kingdom). In London she was given an educational award, a prize given to participants under the age of 22 for exceptional achievement. After her performance in the semi-finals she was honored by the famous London newspaper 'The Independent' for her fantastic use of musical coloration.

In February 2011 she won the 3th Prize at the 4th Svetislav Stancic International Piano Competition in Zagreb (Croatia) and in Decemer 2011 she played the semi-final at the International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn (Germany) and received the Favorites Prize of the public. In march 2012 she won the first prize at the Neue Sterne Piano Competition in Wernigerode (Germany); in may 2012 she won the first prize at the Massarosa International Piano Competition (Italy).

Stephanie has been giving concerts all over Belgium, but also abroad: in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Great-Britain, China, Croatia… In the summer holidays she is very active in the French festivals. She has been performing in 'Festival de Saint-Lizier' (where she was personally invited by Mr. David Lively), 'Festival du Vexin', 'Festival du Pays Briard', 'Les Nuits de Cabasse', 'Festival de Menton', Festival de Nîmes…

She has worked with different conductors such as Eric Lederhandler, Ivo Venkov, Joanna Carneiro, Alain Paris, Mladen Tarbuk… in the concerto works of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov and Ravel.

Michael Bulychev-Okser

Born in Russia, pianist and composer, Michael Bulychev-Okser began his piano studies at the age of seven at the Moscow Central Music School for Gifted Children.

In 1996, Michael and his family came to the United States and he continued his studies in the piano division of the Manhattan School of Music. As First –Prize Winner of 1998 MSM Concerto Competition he performed with Manhattan Philharmonic Orchestra. Michael continued his studies at The Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music degree as a student of Oxana Yablonskaya. In 2005, he received his Master of Music degree from New York University where he studied with Martin Canin. Michael is a winner of many international competitions and has given numerous performances throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. Michael has won top prizes and special awards in both piano and composition, such as the Richard Kimball Award in Composition, the Carl Owen Award in Piano, First Prize in the1997 Young Artists Concerto Competition (USA), the 1999 International Piano Competition (Spain), winner of 2004 . at Citta di Gorizia International Piano Competition (Italy), Second-Prize in the 2005 Escaldes-Engordany International Piano Competition (Andorra),where he received The Best Interpretation for Spanish Music Award, and he was a top prize winner in the 2006 Parnassos International Competition (Mexico) where he was awarded the Best Interpretation Special Award for his performance of the music of Franz Liszt.

In 1994, Michael made his debut in his native Russia at the Rachmaninoff Recital Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, and in 1999 his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall, and was featured on WQXR's Young Artists Showcase. Michael has performed extensively throughout the United States, Israel, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Andorra, Korea, as well as in his native Russia, and is listed in the International Who's Who in Music and Musicians Cambridge, England).

Eugenia Ryabinina

"Eugenia is a very strong violinist that performs every note with finesse"
_the Strad Magazine.

Eugenia Ryabinina is a Belgian violinist that comes from a family which since several generations raised professional musicians.She took her first lessons at the age of six with her father,and four years later she made her debut with orchestra, gave recitals,and later started to perform chamber music with acknowledged international standing musicians.

Eugenia performs as soloist and with orchestras all over Europe,Asia and Canada in great halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin,the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, De Doelen, Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels, with the Rotterdam Philarmonic,the National Orchestra of Belgium,the Oshawa Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie and many others.

Eugenia is winner of several national and international competitions. Among them she is winner of the N.Philippart Belgian Foundation, laureate of the International "Rodolfo Lipizer" Competition in Italy,the Gold Medal winner of the "Internationaler Hindemith Wettbewerb" and the "Braunschweig Classic Open" Int. Music Competition.

Eugenia's principal professors were Prof. Valery Oistrakh at the Brussels conservatory and Augustin Dumay at the Queen Elisabeth Music College. Currently Eugenia is studying at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Prof. Zakhar Bron. Eugenia also follows regularly masterclasses with Dora Schwarzberg, Liana Issakadze, Boris Garlitsky,Viktor Tretjakov, Schlomo Mintz and Dmitry Sitkovetsky.