Matthias Michael Beckmann
As a soloist, Matthias Michael Beckmann is best known for his rendering of works by Vivaldi, Boccherini, Haydn, Beethoven, Dvořák and Gulda, and since 2007 also for premièring works for 5-stringed cello.

He is a founder-member of the Salzburg Mozart Quartet, with which he has performed internationally since 1996. At home, the Quartet crowned the Salzburg Mozart-Haydn cycle (2000-2006) with an acclaimed performance of all 23 Mozart string quartets for the Mozart anniversary in 2006. CD recordings for Mozartiana Classics document the Quartet’s successful career.

He has also been greatly influenced through regular collaboration with musicians such as Irena Grafenauer, Julia Arsentjeva, Pepe Romero, Radovan Vlatković, Michael Martin Kofler, Milan Turkovic, Sergio Azzolini, Benjamin Schmid and the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

Matthias Michael Beckmann was eight years old when he received his first cello tuition from Claus Reichardt; aged ten, he was already a student at the Meistersinger Conservatorium. He later graduated from the Academy of Music in Munich, under Walter Nothas. Important musical influences came from master classes held by André Navarra, William Pleeth and Milos Sadlo, and from musicians including Irena Grafenauer, Jacqueline du Pré and Hannelore Leiffolts (Mozarteum, Salzburg).

Elena Braslavsky
has distinguished herself as both a soloist and chamber musician. Her appearances include concerts at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Melba Hall in Melbourne, Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, Bologna festival, and La Fenici in Venice. She has performed with musicians including Nobuko Imai, Steven Isserlis, and also appeared as a soloist in the German première of a composition "Alleluia" by Sofia Gubaidulina conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.

She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the Cracow Philharmonic, the Warsaw Camerata, the North Czech Philharmonic, and the Prague Philharmonia.

Ms. Braslavsky began piano lessons at the age of five in Moscow, USSR. In 1979 she graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Gnesin School of Music. After emigrating with her family to the United States, she continued her studies at the Juilliard School with Leonard Eisner, Nadia Reisenberg, and Oxana Yablonskaya until receiving her Doctoral Degree in 1991. She also studied at the Staatlische Hochschüle for Music in Cologne, Germany, as a Fulbright- DAAD scholar and at the European Mozart Academy in Prague.

In addition to her active concert schedule Braslavsky has served on the faculties of the Juilliad School of Music and Mannes College in New York. She is currently on the faculty of the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.