From Sydney, Australia, violist Isabella Bignasca is an expressive young performer with a passion for chamber music and community engagement. She is a 2023-25 fellow at Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute. As part of her fellowship, she teaches at City College Academy of the Arts in Manhattan. She recently completed her master’s degree under the tutelage of Paul Neubauer and Heidi Castleman at The Juilliard School, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. Isabella has collaborated with and performed alongside renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, the Borromeo Quartet, and artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has participated in the Verbier Festival Academy, Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Heifetz International Music Institute, where she became a part of the Heifetz on Tour series.

Pianist Nadia Azzi, a Florida native with Lebanese-Japanese parents, has earned numerous top prizes and accolades internationally, including from the Beverly Hills National Auditions, National YoungArts Foundation, Ishikawa Music Academy, and Nordmann Scholarship Competition. Most recently she won both second prize and the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition with Trio Tokava. Azzi has received fellowships at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Yellow Barn, and Sarasota, Norfolk, and Aspen Festivals. In addition, she has performed at the Newport Music Festival, Bravo Niagara of the Arts, Arabs’ Got Talent, NPR’s From the Top, WGN-TV Chicago, Radio Canada International, NHK-FM Japan, FBC Japan, Fukui TV, and WFMT Chicago. Ms. Azzi has also performed with several orchestras under distinguished conductors. She graduated from the pre-college division of The Juilliard School studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky and received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the Colburn Conservatory of Music studying with Fabio Bidini.