After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici has consolidated his diverse artist achievements to rapid acclaim as a conductor. Umberto is now the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino following which he was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2021.

It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. Following a swift trajectory of prestigious conducting engagements, Umberto is now in high demand across Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

In addition to his role Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Umberto's recent conducting engagements include Elgar’s cello concerto with Steven Isserlis for the Volksoper Vienna, and debuts with Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Orchestra Regionale Toscana. Umberto has also curated a three-week series with the Sydney Symphony for ‘Symphony Hour’ and returned to the podiums of the Dunedin, Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.  

In November 2024, Queensland Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of Umberto’s Chief Conductorship until the end of their Season 2027.

Highlights in 2025 will include conducting Daniil Trifonov playing Rachmaninov’s piano concerto No.3 with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a return to Teatro Massimo in Palermo and his second collaboration with Opera Queensland for which Umberto will conduct Puccini’s La Boheme.

As a cellist, Umberto remains beloved by audiences worldwide, having performed internationally as a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Salzburg Festival and is one of only two Italians to have ever won a prize for cello in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).

Hailed as an ‘unrivaled musician’ by Le Figaro, Anastasia Kobekina captivates audiences with her stunning musicality, multi-layered interpretations, and charismatic stage presence. She is the recipient of the 2024 Leonard Bernstein Award.

In May 2023, Anastasia signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical. Her debut album Venice was released in February 2024, followed by the prestigious Opus Klassik Award in October 2024. Her next album, featuring the solo cello suites by JS Bach, was released in September 2025. In February 2025, the German broadcaster ARD released a four-part documentary about her titled Anastasia Kobekina – Jetzt oder nie (Now or Never).

She made her acclaimed BBC Proms debut in 2024 with the Czech Philharmonic under Jakub Hrůša, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. In 2025, she returned to the Royal Albert Hall for two more appearances: in From Dark Till Dawn, curated by Anna Lapwood, and with Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, performed alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Delyana Lazarova.

In 2024, Anastasia was the focus artist of the Rheingau Music Festival. In 2025, she served as Artist-in-Residence at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Beethovenfest Bonn.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season included performances with the Czech Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Iván Fischer, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

A special highlight was the world premiere of Trembling Earth, a new cello concerto by Bryce Dessner, written especially for Anastasia.

Her performances have taken her to leading venues and festivals worldwide, including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie, Tonhalle Zürich, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Verbier Festival.

She has worked with renowned conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Paavo Järvi, Jakub Hrůša, Krzysztof Penderecki, Heinrich Schiff, Omer Meir Wellber, Vasily Petrenko and Charles Dutoit.

Anastasia is a prizewinner at international competitions including the Tchaikovsky Competition (2019) and the Enescu Competition (2016). From 2018 to 2021, she was a BBC New Generation Artist and received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2022.

Born in Russia, Anastasia began cello lessons at the age of four. She studied with Frans Helmerson and Jens-Peter Maintz in Germany, with Jérôme Pernoo in Paris, and completed her baroque cello studies with Kristin von der Goltz in Frankfurt.

She performs on a 1717 “Bonamy Dobree-Suggia" cello by Antonio Stradivari, generously loaned by the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger-Huggler-Coray.

Bryce Dessner is a vital and rare force in new music. He is an Oscar-nominated composer and has won Grammy Awards for his work in classical, with his band The National and for his film music. He is regularly commissioned to write for the world’s leading ensembles, from Orchestre de Paris to Los Angeles Philharmonic, and is in demand as composer in residence. He is also a high-profile presence in film score composition, with credits including Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.  

In 2027 Dessner presents his major new opera, Herakles Mad, in collaboration with author Anne Carson and visual artist Ragnar Kjartansson. Based on Carson’s book, H of H Playbook, the opera takes a contemporary look at Greek tragedy Herakles, by 5th century BC poet Euripides, and explores the equally contemporary themes of patriarchy, toxic masculinity, war and redemption. Co-commissioned by Theater Basel, LA Philharmonic, English National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, the world premiere takes place in Basel in May 2027.

Dessner also premieres a second important staged work in 2027, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, based on the ground-breaking book of poetry by Ocean Vuong. Further details on the world premiere and subsequent performances will be announced.

In the 2026-27 season there will be two album releases of large works by Dessner, firstly from violinist Pekka Kuusisto who, as global champion of the work, pairs Dessner’s Violin Concerto with a series of pieces inspired by the concerto, co-written with Dessner and produced by the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Jon Hopkins (Sony Music, autumn 2026). Secondly, pianist Alice Sara Ott releases Dessner’s Piano Concerto – herself the dedicatee of the work – plus solo piano works from Love Icebox, the conceptually staged program based on excerpts of the letters from John Cage to Merce Cunningham. (Deutsche Grammophon, spring 2027). Dessner, Ott and French actress Isabelle Huppert premiered Love, Icebox at Paris’s Fondation Louis Vuitton in December 2025 and the work will receive its UK premiere at London’s Barbican in March 2027.

Further highlights of the season include Dessner’s artist residency with Sydney Symphony in September, which will see multiple works of his performed as well as Dessner appearing with the orchestra. Dessner also performs in concerts to celebrate Steve Reich’s 90th birthday, including at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the Philharmonie de Paris.

Meanwhile Dessner’s high level film and TV soundtrack collaborations continue with a major new film for Netflix by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, with whom Dessner previously worked on The Two Popes. Dessner has also scored the forthcoming film, A Statement, by Oscar winner Tom McCarthy and which premiered at the New York Film Festival.

The 2025-26 season included composer residencies at Konzerthaus Berlin and with Czech Philharmonic, world premieres including that of his Cello Concerto, plus the soundtrack release to Train Dreams (Netflix). The score’s title song, co-written by Dessner and Nick Cave, received an Academy Award nomination in 2026 for Best Original Song.

Also in 2025 Dessner was the recipient of the Samuel Beckett Gold Medal from Trinity College Dublin, recognising his outstanding contribution to public discourse through the arts.

Dessner’s previous albums include: Solos (Sony Classical), showcasing his collection of solo instrumental pieces in collaboration with some of the world’s leading musicians; El Chan and St. Carolyn by the Sea (both on Deutsche Grammophon); Aheym, commissioned by Kronos Quartet; Tenebre, an album of his works for string orchestra 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 program festivals and residencies around the world, such as at the Barbican, Philharmonie de Paris, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich, where during the 2023–24 season he was Creative Chair. Dessner currently co-curates the festivals Sounds from a Safe Harbour and PEOPLE Berlin, which returns for a new edition in October 2026.

Described by internationally renowned guitarist Slava Grigoryan as ‘an incredible soloist’, Australian guitarist Dr Zane Banks has established himself as one of the most versatile and compelling performers of his generation. His artistry has been recognised widely: he was awarded Best Newcomer by Limelight magazine in 2011, and critics have praised him as a ‘multi-genre firebrand’ (Adelaide Symphony Orchestra), ‘an expert guitarist’ (The American Record Guide) and ‘an outstanding young Australian artist’ (Limelight). His performances have been described as ‘genuinely moving’ (Sydney Morning Herald) and ‘glorious’ (Hobart Mercury).

Equally at home on classical, electric and steel-string guitars, Zane’s career reflects an uncommon breadth. He has appeared across Europe, Asia and Australia in roles ranging from concerto soloist to chamber musician and ensemble collaborator. His orchestral engagements include performances with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Eminence Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, bringing a distinctive musical voice to both traditional and contemporary settings.

Born and educated in Sydney, Zane studied classical and jazz guitar at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he later completed a Doctor of Musical Arts focusing on The Role of the Electric Guitar in Art Music. This research reflects his long-standing commitment to expanding the presence of the electric guitar within the concert hall. Outside the classical sphere, he maintains an active profile as a performer of rock, blues, country, bluegrass, folk and jazz, regularly appearing at festivals and venues throughout Australia.

Zane has worked closely with leading Australian composers, including Georges Lentz, Brett Dean and Andrew Ford, premiering numerous works written specifically for him. A landmark moment in his career came in 2007 with the world premiere of Georges Lentz’s Ingwe, a monumental 60-minute work for unaccompanied electric guitar, presented at the Luxembourg Philharmonie. His subsequent Naxos recording of the work received international acclaim and introduced his artistry to audiences worldwide.

In 2016, Zane gave the world premiere of Andrew Ford’s electric guitar concerto Raga with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, a performance broadcast nationally on ABC Classic and celebrated for its originality and expressive power.

A dynamic advocate for the guitar in all its forms, Zane Banks continues to champion new music while bringing exceptional clarity, versatility and musical imagination to every performance.