Following his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14, cellist Johannes Gray (27) won the International Pablo Casals Award, was a Gold Medalist of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, received the Verbier Festival’s Prix de l’APCAV award, and was awarded the prestigious “Talent Adami Classique”. In 2024, he became a multiple prizewinner of the International JS Bach Competition in Leipzig, receiving 2nd prize, audience prize, and the prize for a CD production with Genuin Classics.

Solo engagements have taken him across four continents – including performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, the festivals of Ravinia and Verbier, Lincoln Center, SuperCello (Beijing), and the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam. Last season he gave his concerto debut in New York at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.

During his studies with Hans Jørgen Jensen in Chicago, Jérôme Pernoo in Paris, Frans Helmerson in Berlin, and Ivan Monighetti in Madrid he won numerous national and international prizes – in 2022 this included the first prize at the “World’s Biggest Stage” International Competition (dedicated to contemporary music), laureate at the “Classic Strings” International Competition (Dubai) and the special prize at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann.

Anastasiya Magamedova, a 2016 National YoungArts Winner, embarked on her musical journey at the age of 5 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Graduating with Academic Honors from the Juilliard School under the mentorship of Julian Martin and Matti Raekallio, she now pursues further studies in Paris and is mentored by Gabriela Montero.

Anastasiya’s passion for performance has led her to engagements in renowned halls worldwide, including Alice Tully Hall in NYC, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and Libby Gardner Hall in Salt Lake City, UT, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall.

Recipient of numerous prizes, Anastasiya most recent awards include a 2nd prize in the 2024 International ArsClassica Competition and being a finalist in the 2023 International WPTA Spain Piano Competition.

As Duo Gray-Magamedova, they have been performing together since 2019 and enjoy giving concerts throughout Europe and the United States as well as the Middle East and Asia. They are known for their unique and varied recital repertoire programs, particularly enjoying bringing unknown pieces into the spotlight and curating these programs often around a particular theme or concept such as Fairytales in music, pieces inspired by folk melodies, or neoclassicism and how composers look to the past to create new works. Their Fairytales project was recorded with the franco-swiss label Evidence Classics and will be released in early 2025.

As Young Artists in Residence at the Scandinavian Cello School in Denmark, they participate in numerous music outreach projects as well as public concerts throughout Scandinavia. Since their debut at Lincoln Center in 2019, the duo has continued to perform around the world, in venues such as the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Theatre for Digital Arts in Dubai, and the Tajikistan National Opera. As a duo, they continue their studies in the Masters of chamber music program at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris.