JOHANNA VAHERMÄGI works as a freelance soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player both in Estonia and abroad. Since 2016, she has been a lecturer of viola and chamber music at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She graduated from Tallinn Music High School (under Viljar Kuusk), earned her bachelor's degree in Spain at the Higher Conservatory of Music of Aragon (under Prof. Avri Levitan), and received her master’s degree in Israel at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (viola under Prof. Roi Shiloah, chamber music under Prof. Zvi Plesser). She has been awarded First Prize at the “Illa de Menorca FIDAH” soloist competition in Spain (2011), the David Gritz String Competition in Jerusalem (2015), and the Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Sound Art Endowment for outstanding concert performance (2017). She has appeared as a soloist with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO), the Chamber Orchestra of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Young European Chamber Orchestra in Estonia, Israel, Italy, and Finland, and has frequently performed at the “Voice of Music” chamber music festival in Israel, the Musethica chamber music festival in Zaragoza and Tel Aviv, the Berlin Music Festival, Pärnu Music Festival, Nargen Festival, and Arvo Pärt festivals in Estonia and Moscow, among others. She has collaborated with notable musicians including Guy Braunstein, Amihai Grosz, Nicolas Chumachenko, Sharon Roffman, Roi Shiloah, Marina Chiche, Zvi Plesser, Ivari Ilja, Triin Ruubel, Henry-David Varema, Riivo Kallasmaa, Anna Staskiewicz, and many others. Vahermägi has worked with the orchestras of the Barcelona Liceu Opera House, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian Festival Orchestra, ERSO, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and others, and has recorded works by Arvo Pärt, Dmitri Shostakovich, Luis de Pablo and others with Vox Clamantis, the Estonian Festival Orchestra, the contemporary music ensemble Ensemble Plural, and ERSO. Her recent activities include solo concerts in Jerusalem, chamber music concerts at the Jerusalem Music Center with Achinoam Keisari (piano) and Ido Azrad (clarinet), a concert tour in Italy as soloist with the Young European Chamber Orchestra (performing Mozart's “Sinfonia Concertante”), and a showcase concert of young Estonian soloists at the Pärnu Music Festival with Sten Heinoja (piano), among others. Vahermägi plays a 1650 viola by Thomas Urquhart, on loan from the Estonian Instrument Foundation. She is a scholarship recipient of the PLMF Musician’s Fund.

​

YEVGENIY KOSTRYTSKYY, originally from Kyiv, began studying violin at the age of 8. He studied at the Kyiv Music School and the National Music Academy of Ukraine under Prof. Yaroslava Rivnyak. In 2003, he received a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying with Professors Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno. There, he earned a master’s degree along with diplomas in orchestral training and chamber music, and in 2007 was awarded the school’s Artist Fellowship. Kostrytskyy has performed successfully in many European countries, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. He has taken part in numerous music festivals and has given solo concerts with more than 20 orchestras. He has participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Oleg Krysa, Mari Tampere-Bezrodny, Mark Lakirovich, Lewis Kaplan, Zvi Zeitlin, Charles Castelman, Boris Garlitsky, Mikhail Kopelman, Ani Schnarch, Yair Kless, and Sergiu Schwartz. He has won prizes at several competitions, including the Pierre Lantier International Violin and Chamber Music Competition and the Petar Konjović Competition, and has received a special award at the Jascha Heifetz Violin Competition. In November 2005, he was recognized with the title "Slaughter and May – Musician of the Year." The following year, he was accepted into the string program of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), which led to two years of performances under conductors such as Valery Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis. In 2006, he was appointed an Artist Fellow of the Guildhall School, and that same year performed with the Forte String Quartet at the residence of the UK Prime Minister. Kostrytskyy was the long-standing concertmaster of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra (2008–2018) and later worked with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Turkey (2018–2023). He is also a soloist and guest leader of the Dnipro chamber orchestra “Seasons,” under principal conductor Dmitri Logvin. In 2014, Kostrytskyy began collaborating with the Young Musicians European Orchestra, performing as both soloist and concertmaster under conductor Paolo Olmi. That same year, he co-founded the Odessa Chamber Orchestra, which became the resident ensemble of Urban Music Hall in March 2018. He currently resides in Germany and serves as concertmaster of the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn. Kostrytskyy plays an Italian violin made by Luigi Legnani in 1850–60.