Artists

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Narihito Mukeda is a very versatile pianist, who masters an immense repertoire, as well as a creative artistic thinker, who is equipped with a distinct sense for the development of attractive programs. His programs in general and his personal performances on the piano in particular are highlights that generate extraordinary musical, intellectual and emotional moments, touching the mind and the soul of the audience. 

Narihito Mukeda easily performs large parts of the classical piano repertoire from Bach to Tchaikovsky with virtuosity and knowledge, while he is also in great demand as an ensemble musician and accompanist. His fellow musicians appreciate him for his ability to establish an intense musical relation on stage both with the other performers as well as with the audience.

Born in 1987 in Japan, Narihito Mukeda won various piano competitions in his youth, but moved to Europe for his studies, graduating as a solo pianist from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 2015. Since then he has performed regularly in Europe and Japan often together with renowned ensembles or artists, such as the principal clarinetist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wenzel Fuchs, the principal cellist of the Budapest Festival Orchestra Péter Szabó, the Hungarian violinist and Emmy Award winner Vilmos Oláh or with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.

Additionally Narihito Mukeda is also active as a respected mentor for exceptionally talented young artists and acts as the Artistic Director of Support Excellence. 

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The award-winning violinist Aya Matsuda enthuses her listeners with generating an extraordinary sound universe, utilizing all the opportunities of her instrument and even developing new ways for playing it. The result is outstanding music which attracts the attention of the audience. 

Aya Matsuda received her first musical education in her family, as both her grandfather and her mother play the violin. She later graduated from the Tokyo College of Music before moving to Budapest in 2019 to continue her studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and to get a more detailed exposure to European music and concert life. 

Aya Matsuda met a number of renowned violin virtuosos during her education. Among them was the internationally renowned violinist Vilmos Szabadi, whose Finland-based "Lohja International Master Course" Aya Matsuda attended. In spring of 2021, Aya Matsuda won the first prize at the III "Vienna Classics" International Online Music Competition of Danubia Talents. 

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As a trained opera and concert singer, the Mexican bass-baritone and Plácido Domingo scholar Manuel Betancourt Camino offers a large and varied repertoire, ranging from the established opera and oratorio repertoire to folkloristic music from Latin America. 

His audiences appreciate him for his varied interpretations, his deep knowledge about various cultures as well as for his soft and nuanced voice. On top of this Manuel Betancourt Camino is very open for innovative ideas and approaches for presenting classical music in a new way.

Manuel Betancourt Camino grew up in San Felipe in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. From 1993 to 1999 he studied at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia and then from 1999 to 2002 at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City. 

Since 2002, he sang at the National Opera in Mexico City as well as at several major festivals and stages in Mexico before coming to Europe in 2005 and becoming a member of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House. Since 2010 he has been working as a freelance singer, taking on roles such as Figaro in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" at the Opéra de Massy and other stages, or, for example, the role of Marullo in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg. 

Since 2015 Manuel Betancourt Camino has been living and working in Hungary, where he has performed at the National Theater in Pécs, among other places, as well as pursuing other musical projects in both areas the classical music and the Latin American musical traditions. 

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