Festival Beethoven del Barolo

Featuring performances by:

• Cécile Leblond, Viola
  Cécile Leblond

  Recognised for the refinement and poetry of her interpretations, Cécile Leblond is a sought-after musician, invited to perform both in chamber music ensembles and in prestigious orchestral formations.

  Having begun her musical studies on the violin, Cécile Leblond was quickly drawn to the warm sound of the viola. Dedicating herself fully to its study, she swiftly won numerous prizes, including the First Prize of the City of Paris — awarded unanimously with the Congratulations of the Jury — as well as the First Prize unanimously at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris.

  In 2003, she was awarded the First Prize at the 20th Épernay String Competition and the Prize of the Champagne-Ardenne Regional Council.

  A passionate chamber musician, she brings a sensitive and vivid approach to every work she performs. She now regularly takes part in summer festivals such as “Le Goût de la Musique” and the “Festival Sérénade”, where her chamber music partners include Pierre Lenert, Patrick Messina, Etsuko Hirose, Ariane Jacob, Hervé Joulain, Marina Chiche, Suzana Bartal, Frédéric Moreau, Eunju Park, and others.

  Drawn to the operatic repertoire, Cécile Leblond is invited to perform with the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris at the Palais Garnier and at the Opéra Bastille.
  She performs under the baton of the most distinguished conductors — Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Oren, Hartmut Haenchen, and Evelino Pidò.

• Chiara Cattani, Cembalo
  Chiara Cattani

  Chiara Cattani is an italian maestro al cembalo, harpsichordist, pianist, and historical pianist, holding degrees with honors in piano from the Conservatorio “B. Maderna” in Cesena under Maestro Denis Zardi and in harpsichord from the Conservatorio “G.B. Martini” in Bologna under Maestro Silvia Rambaldi. Cattani furthered her studies at the International Piano Academy in Imola, graduating in chamber music and fortepiano with Maestro Pier Narciso Masi and Maestro Stefano Fiuzzi, respectively. She furthered her studies at the Conservatorio di Bologna and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where she obtained a Post Graduate Harpsichord Degree under Maestro Florian Birsak.

  As a harpsichordist and conductor, Cattani regularly leads historical instrument ensembles. In August 2022, she made her international conducting debut at the harpsichord with the finalists of the Cesti Competition at the prestigious Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck. The following year, she conducted Vivaldi’s “La Fida Ninfa” at the same festival, receiving rave reviews. In June 2025, she debuted at the Theater An der Wien. Cattani has been appointed music conductor of the esteemed Baroque Orchestra Academia Montis Regalis for the 2025-2027 season and has recorded Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio “Humanità e Lucifero” with the ensemble, which was featured on the cover CD of Amadeus Magazine.

• Elisabeth Pion, Pianoforte
  Elisabeth Pion

  A curious explorer of the piano repertoire with a rare combination of sensitivity and strength, French-Canadian pianist Élisabeth Pion is the Gold Laureate and Audience Choice Award winner of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, where she fulfilled Honens’ vision of the Complete Artist through performances marked by passion, insight, and intellectual acuity.

  Named a 2024-25 Radio-Canada Breakthrough Artist, Élisabeth appears internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, earning acclaim for her technical precision and deeply considered interpretations.

  Élisabeth has performed at major venues including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, and Sala Cecília Meireles. She collaborates regularly with leading ensembles such as the Orchestre Métropolitain, Edmonton Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy, and has worked with conductors including Gerard Schwarz, Elias Grandy, Nathalie Marin, Kensho Watanabe, and Nicolas Ellis.

  Her concerto repertoire spans cornerstone masterworks and lesser-known gems, bringing them to new audiences. She has released two ATMA Classique albums —Femmes de Légende and Amadeus et l’Impératrice with Arion Orchestre Baroque and Mathieu Lussier—both Prix Opus finalists. Upcoming recordings include Beethoven’s complete piano concertos with Arion and Lussier, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and Alain Trudel, and a solo album for Steinway & Sons.

  Born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Élisabeth studied in Montréal and London, where she now lives.

• Enrico Pace, Pianoforte
  Enrico Pace

  Enrico Pace was born in Rimini, Italy. He studied piano with Franco Scala both at the Rossini Conservatory, Pesaro, where he graduated in Conducting and Composition, and later at the Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro, Imola. Jacques De Tiège was a valued mentor. Winning the Utrecht International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 1989 marked the beginning of his international career.

  He has performed with many major orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia Rome, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic, the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Hungarian National Philharmonic, the Göteborg, London and Stavanger Symphony Orchestras, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, the Rheinische Philharmonie, the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, the G. Verdi Orchestra Milan and the Filarmonica Toscanini Parma.

  Enrico Pace enjoys on-going partnerships with violinists Leonidas Kavakos and Liza Ferschtman, as well as with cellist Sung-Won Yang and clarinettist Sharon Kam, performing with them throughout Europe, the USA and Asia.

• EunShik Kim, Violino Baroque
  EunShik Kim

  Violinist EunShik Kim has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician all over the world: in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Spain, France and Italy, where she has appeared with artists such as Olivier Charlier, Emmanuel Strosser, Kazuki Sawa and Sung-Won Yang.

  She graduated with honors from Seoul National University school of music and received a master’s degree from Yale University School of Music, and the Artist Diploma from Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She is a member of Korea Festival Ensemble, Seoul Baroque Ensemble and artistic director of Woolim and Peojim.

  She has performed as a soloist with Hibiki String Orchestra of Japan, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Busan Sinfonietta, Alte Musik Seoul.

  From 2017, she has been very active as a baroque violinist, participating in many festivals in Italy, France, Belgium and Holland and is now currently the concert mistress of Alte Musik Seoul, performing regularly with Il Gardellino of Belgium and performing with artists such as Ryo Terakado, Jan de Winne, Kaori Uemura, François Guerrier, Aurélien Delage and Peter van Heyghen.

  EunShik Kim is regularly gives master classes both in Baroque and Modern violin and appears as a guest performer in various festivals such as Tenerife in Spain, Chateau La Bourdaisiere, Uzes, Château d’Artigny in France, the festivals in Cennina and Urbino in Italy and the Utrecht Early Music festival in Holland.

• Jan de Winne, Flauto
  Jan de Winne

  Jan de Winne teaches the traverso, chamber music, and the study of musical treatises at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris as well as at the Conservatoire de Bruxelles.

  He specialized in baroque flute with Barthold Kuijken after obtaining degrees in musicology and art history at the University of Ghent. He has collaborated with some of the greatest early music ensembles, including Il Fondamento, Salzburger Barockorchester, and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and participated in groups directed by Philippe Herreweghe, before founding Il Gardellino, a chamber music ensemble with which he has released recordings devoted to Telemann cantatas, Haydn piano trios, Boismortier concertos, C.P.E. Bach quartets, and more.

  His work in the making of baroque and classical flutes makes him a musician deeply knowledgeable about all aspects of instrumental practice, both past and present.

• Ji-yoon Park, Violino
  Ji-yoon Park

  Ji-yoon Park, a South Korean national, began playing the violin at the age of 4 and made her debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 10. She came to France to study at the CRR and later at the CNSM of Paris under Roland Daugareil. At 18, she won the First Prize and the Audience Award at the Varga Competition.

  She has built a rich career as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Orchestre National de France, Janáček Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre de Nice, Orchestre National de Belgique, and has performed in prestigious venues such as Salle Gaveau, Théâtre du Châtelet, Cité de la Musique, Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Kennedy Center in Washington, and the Seoul Arts Center in Seoul.

  Ji-yoon is also a highly sought-after chamber musician and has been a member of the Trio Jade with Hyo Joo Lee (piano) and Jung-Ran Lee (cello) since her studies at the Conservatoire de Paris. The trio has won international competitions in Trondheim, Norway, and the Schubert Competition in Graz.

  Since 2018, Ji-yoon has been the concertmaster of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris and is regularly invited as guest concertmaster with the Orchestre de Paris, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

  Ji-yoon Park plays on a Domenico Montagnana violin, made in Cremona in 1623, graciously loaned by Emmanuel Jaeger.

• Julien Szulman, Violino
  Julien Szulman

  Winner of numerous international competitions – in particular those of Geneva and Long-Thibaud, at just 20 years of age – French violinist Julien Szulman divides his musical life between concerts with orchestra and chamber music.

  As concertmaster, he has played with numerous international orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saito Kinen Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France.

  A passionate pedagogue, he teaches at the Seiji Ozawa Quartet Academy in Okushiga, Japan, and in Rolle, Switzerland, where he is also musical advisor. He teaches in Paris at the CNSMDP and in the violin-soloist class at the Conservatoire du Centre.

  Julien Szulman began playing the violin at the age of 5 and continued his musical studies in Tours and Paris with Suzanne Gessner and Patrice Fontanarosa. After a Konzertexamen at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin in Stephan Picard’s class, he obtained his doctorate in “Research and Practice” from the CNSMDP-Sorbonne Université in 2024.

• Pierre Lénert, Viola
  Pierre Lénert

  Praised for “his high-flying interpretations, with purity of intonation, evenness of tone and bewildering ease” (Costin Cazaban, Le Monde de la Musique), Pierre Lenert founded the “Duo Lenert-Hirose” in 2020, bringing together two artists of exceptional musical talent. Etsuko Hirose and Pierre Lenert first met through Brahms’s Opus 120 sonatas in 2015, and their understanding and musical chemistry immediately proved to be a natural fit. Their debut recording, Passion, blossoms naturally around these two masterworks.

  Pierre Lenert also founded the “Lenert-Fantasy-Group” in 2015, bringing together musicians of exceptional human qualities. His aim was to revisit masterworks drawn from the lyrical repertoire and share with audiences an original programme ranging from Aznavour, Trenet and Brassens, arranged in new settings by Frédéric Sans and Régis Prudhomme.

  On disc, his discography includes the complete works for viola and piano by Henry Vieuxtemps, as well as several recital recordings devoted to the music of Carl Reinecke, Niccolò Paganini, Felix Mendelssohn, George Enescu, Jean Françaix, Darius Milhaud, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim.

  Pierre Lenert is Artistic Director of the International Chamber Music Festival “Sérénade” and of the Festival “Le Goût de la Musique.” He is a professor at the École Normale de Musique Alfred-Cortot and at the CRR de Créteil.

• Sung-Won Yang, Violoncello
  Sung-Won Yang

  Sung-Won Yang, Direttore Artistico
  A celebrated cellist of international renown, Sung-Won Yang has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious stages, including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Salle Pleyel and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Opera City.

  Born in Korea, Sung-Won Yang studied at the Paris Conservatoire and served as an assistant to the legendary cellist János Starker at Indiana University. He frequently serves on juries for prestigious competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Cassadó International Cello Competition, and the André Navarra International Cello Competition.

  As Artistic Director of the Music in PyeongChang Festival in Korea and the Festival Beethoven de Beaune in France, Mr. Yang brings visionary programming to festivals, fostering cultural exchange and inspiring audiences worldwide with performances that bridge the past and present. Honored as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government, he also holds professorships at Yonsei University School of Music in Seoul and the Royal Academy of Music in London.

  Mr. Yang has formed significant musical partnerships throughout his career, including a longstanding duo collaboration with pianist Enrico Pace, resulting in acclaimed recordings of works by Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. Additionally, with violinist Olivier Charlier and pianist Emmanuel Strosser, he co-founded the Trio Owon, with which he has recorded numerous albums, including the complete works of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Weinberg. His collaborations also include performances with Hans Graf, Zdeněk Mácal, Miklós Perényi, Peter Eötvös, Myung-Whun Chung, and Christoph Eschenbach, among others.

  Driven by a profound belief in the power of music to create a more harmonious society, Mr. Yang views cultural heritage as a bridge connecting individuals and communities. He often reflects on Victor Hugo’s words, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent,” and draws inspiration from Beethoven’s ability to convey “non-expressible sentiments,” especially after losing his hearing. These ideals shape his artistic vision, guiding his efforts to leave a lasting impact through music.

• Vittorio Ghielmi, Viola da Gamba
  Vittorio Ghielmi

  Vittorio Ghielmi is a viola da gamba player, director, and composer. He is the director of the Institut für Alte Musik, Professor of viola da gamba at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music London (RCM). Compared by critics to Jascha Heifetz (“Diapason”) for his virtuosity, he has drawn attention to a new instrumental approach to the Viola da gamba and the sound of the Baroque repertoire. His ensemble “Il Suonar Parlante Orchestra”, founded in 2007 with the Argentine singer Graciela Gibelli, is regularly invited to the most important international institutions. He has collaborated with artists such as G. Leonhardt, C. Bartoli, A. Schiff, T. Quasthoff, V. Mullova regularly with his brother Lorenzo Ghielmi.

  He obtained the title of Docteur dès Lettres at the Catholic University of Milan and has published studies and editions of early music (Minkoff, Fuzeau and others), as well as a method for the viola da gamba (Ut Orpheus ed.).

  His fieldwork within old musical surviving traditions led to him being presented the “Erwin Bodky Award” (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 1997), and the prestigious Echo Klassic Award, 2015 (Germany). He has recorded countless CDs as soloist. His latest award winning discs are: “Gypsy Baroque” 2018 and “Le Secret de Ms. Marais” (2020) for Alpha Classic (Paris).