Bryce Dessner is a vital and rare force in new music. He has won Grammy Awards as a classical composer and with the band The National, of which he is guitarist, arranger, and co-principal songwriter. He is regularly commissioned to write for the world’s leading ensembles, from Orchestre de Paris to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and is a high-profile presence in film score composition, with recent films including Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo, and John Crowley’s We Live in Time starring Andrew Garfield. Over the years he has garnered great acclaim for his work on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and for his music to Netflix’s Fernando Meirelles’s The Two Popes.

During the 2024/25 season Bryce Dessner will be Artist in Residence at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and Ars Music Festival at BOZAR, Brussels. In addition to being the creative chair of the Tonhalle Zurich last season, his many past residencies include being one of eight San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners, Artist-in-Residence at London’s Southbank Centre and with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Over the 2024/25 season, Dessner’s music will be performed by orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonie Zuidnederland. Recent major new works include a Piano Concerto premièred by Alice Sara Ott and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in January 2024 and now being performed internationally; a Concerto for Two Pianos premièred by Katia & Marielle Labèque and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a Violin Concerto premièred and performed internationally by Pekka Kuusisto. Other major new works include a Trombone Concerto for Jorgen van Rijen commissioned by Dallas Symphony and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France; Voy a Dormir for mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor and Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Skrik Trio for Steve Reich and Carnegie Hall; the ballet No Tomorrow co-written with Ragnar Kjartansson; Wires for Ensemble Intercontemporain; The Forest for large cello ensemble, Gautier Capuçon and Fondation Louis Vuitton; and Triptych (Eyes for One on Another), a major theatre piece integrating the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe and premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dessner also scored the music - involving full orchestra and a 200-member choir - for the Louis Vuitton show at the Louvre in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week 2020.

In August 2024, Bryce Dessner released Solos (Sony Classical) which showcases his collection of solo instrument pieces in collaboration with some of the world’s leading musicians including Katia Labèque, Anastasia Kobekina, Pekka Kuusisto, Nadia Sirota, Colin Currie and Lavinia Meijer. Dessner’s recordings also include El Chan; St. Carolyn by the Sea (both on Deutsche Grammophon); Aheym, commissioned by Kronos Quartet; Tenebre, an album of his works for string orchestra recorded by Germany’s Ensemble Resonanz and which won a 2019 Opus Klassik award and a Diapason d’Or; When we are inhuman with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Eighth Blackbird (2019) and Impermanence (2021) with Australian String Quartet and which won the Libera award.

Also active as a curator, Dessner is regularly requested to programme festivals and residencies around the world at venues such as at the Barbican, Philharmonie de Paris, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and during the 2023-24 season was Creative Chair of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He co-founded and curates the festivals MusicNOW in Cincinnati, HAVEN in Copenhagen, Sounds from a Safe Harbour and PEOPLE.

Australian pianist Vatche Jambazian is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he completed his Master of Music following studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Australia, North America, Europe and Asia, appearing at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, UKARIA and City Recital Hall Angel Place. His performances have been featured on WQXR Radio New York and ABC Classic.

Jambazian has collaborated with artists, ensembles and orchestras including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Omega Ensemble, Australian Youth Orchestra, Nexas Quartet, Flinders Quartet and Orava Quartet, as well as Umberto Clerici, Andrew Haveron, David Greco, Lauren Fagan, Hyung Suk Bae, Emma McGrath, David Elton and Mayaan Licht. His repertoire spans the piano and chamber music canon, alongside a strong commitment to contemporary music.

He has premiered works by composers including Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, Kaija Saariaho, Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin, Lachlan Skipworth, Andrew Howes, Alex Turley and Holly Harrison.

Jambazian has been featured in festivals including the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Bangalow Music Festival, Adelaide Hills Summer Festival, Orange Festival and the Bowral Autumn Music Festival, where he has been Artistic Director since 2023. His other appointments include Principal Pianist of Omega Ensemble, and Lecturer in Piano at the Australian Institute of Music.

Originally from Australia, Sam Weller was one of six ‘designated winners’ of the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam 2025, which saw him conduct ensembles such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Klangforum Wien and Orchestra of the 18th Century. 

Sam is enjoying a blossoming career in The Netherlands and Australia with recent debuts including the Tasmanian, Queensland and West Australian Symphonies and conducting Opera Australia’s 70th anniversary gala concert in Melbourne. Recently he also returned to the Adelaide Symphony and Noord Nederlands Orkest. In the past Sam has led performances with The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, PHION, Phil Zuid and a national tour of Die Zauberflöte with Opera2Day and LUDWIG Orchestra. 

Coming up Sam will return to the Royal Conservatoire, Den Haag to conduct performances of Britten’s War Requiem and, in 2027, he will lead the Melbourne run of Opera Australia’s production of The Magic Flute. 

Sam founded Ensemble Apex in 2016, which has been hailed as ‘one of the most exciting new ensembles on the Sydney scene’ (Limelight Magazine). The orchestra creates exceptional orchestral music experiences for newcomers and seasoned concert-goers alike. Apex has presented sold-out seasons since 2016, with highlights including Bela Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin at Sydney Town Hall, Rhapsody in Blue with Simon Tedeschi, Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie and most recently a critically acclaimed production of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. In 2024 they launched Apex Festival supported by the Australian Government – a cutting edge new orchestral music festival in Australia. 

In 2022 Sam graduated from the prestigious National Masters of Orchestral Conducting in The Netherlands where he studied with Ed Spanjaard, Jac Van Steen, Kenneth Montgomery OBE and guest professor Antony Hermus. 

Sam is a guest lecturer and conductor at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Koninklijk Conservatoire - Den Haag.