Musicians | Classicaval

©Anne Lise Gastaldi Credit Lyodoh Kaneko 1|Lyodoh Kaneko

Anne-Lise Gastaldi Artistic director - Piano

The winner of several international competitions, Anne-Lise Gastaldi is the pianist in the George Sand trio. Her discography includes various pieces that won awards from Classica, Le Monde de la Musique, Diapason and Télérama. Anne-Lise Gastaldi has performed with Marianne Denicourt, Anny Duperey, Benoît Poelvoorde, Lambert Wilson and artists from La Comédie-Française. Winner of the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs programme, she designed the show Escales Romaines, which was the subject of a documentary shown on LCI. Her latest project, called Le voyage imaginaire de Mozart au Japon, has been the subject of concerts and lectures, as well as a CD-book that was released in October 2024. Her passion for literature, and for Proust in particular, led her to set up the Journées Musicales Marcel Proust with Pierre Ivanoff, which have been covered on France 2 and France 3 since their first edition in 2012.

She teaches at the CNSMD de Lyon and the CNSMD de Paris. She and Valérie Haluk set up the Piano Project and Univers Parallèles, two collections of piano pieces written specifically for students by the great composers of our time. Anne-Lise Gastaldi is collections director for Editions Billaudot.

Volkhard Steude Violin

Since 2000, Volkhard Steude has been concertmaster for the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Passionate about chamber music, he has also been leader of the Wiener Virtuosen since 2020, an ensemble made up of members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He founded the Steude Quartet, who are often called upon to play concerts across Europe and in Japan. In 2016, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra awarded him the honorary title of musical partner.

He plays an Antonius Stradivarius from 1714, the “Smith Quersin”, which is on loan from the Republic of Austria’s Central Bank.

©Virginie Buscail Credit Lyodoh Kaneko|Lyodoh Kaneko

Virginie Buscail Violin

Following her musical studies (CNSMD in Paris, where she won first prizes in violin and chamber music, and the Geneva Conservatoire), Virginie Buscail joined the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in 1996 under Marek Janowski, where she is currently concertmaster and where she has played under Myung-Whun Chung and, now, Mikko Franck. Her repertoire ranges from Bach to the composers of our century, many of whose works she has premiered (Noriko Baba, Daï Fujikura, Michael Jarrell, Mauro Lanza, Misato Moshizuki, Philippe Leroux, Gérard Pesson). Violinist with the George Sand Trio, she and Anne-Lise Gastaldi founded the Elstir label to record the ensemble’s discs, including “Mahler intime” in 2020, “Ecrits dans une sorte de langue étrangère” in 2022, and “Le voyage imaginaire de Mozart au Japon” in 2024. She has performed at numerous festivals alongside Franck Braley, Sol Gabetta, Augustin Dumay, Barbara Hannigan, Roland Pidoux, Anne Queffélec and others.

Virginie Buscail has been teaching at the Paris CRR since 2017. In 2024, she began working with the Toyota Master Players, musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra who tour Japan’s finest concert halls every year. She plays a violin by Domenico Montagnana from 1729.

Kojiro Okada Piano

Born in Bordeaux in 1999, Kojiro Okada began playing the piano at the age of seven with Anne-Lise Gastaldi. He soon attracted attention, performing at the Salle Pleyel in 2010 for the Chopin bicentenary, and then on major stages such as the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Concertgebouw.
the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and La Seine Musicale. A guest at prestigious festivals (Nohant, La Roque d’Anthéron, Folles Journées de Nantes, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, etc.), he also performs internationally, notably on tours of North America.

A keen chamber music player, he has been pianist with the Pantoum Trio since 2024, with whom he has recorded for La Dolce Volta. Winner of several international competitions and supported by the Fondation Banque Populaire and the Fondation Safran, he is currently continuing his training at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth with Frank Braley and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

Aurore Doise Violin

After studying the organ, writing and violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, Aurore Doise won the unanimous first prize in violin and chamber music in Pierre Doukan and Régis Pasquier’s classes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 1992, she was awarded a Fondation de la Vocation grant. Having gained a qualification to teach the violin, she taught at the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Soissons and in Cachan. From 1988 to 1992, she was a member of the European Community Youth Orchestra, under prestigious conductors such as Claudio Abbado and Carlo Maria Giulini. With this orchestra, she performed in top concert halls in Europe and the United States, developing a love for the profession of orchestra musician.

For two seasons, she played with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, under Philippe Herreweghe, and since 1997, she has been a member of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra. She particularly enjoys playing chamber music and is part of the Storia ensemble.

Olivier Doise Solo oboe

Oboe soloist for the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and oboe teacher at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Olivier Doise has a wealth of experience playing in orchestras such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Utopia Orchestra and Beirut Festival Orchestra. Eager to enrich the repertoire for his instrument, he creates pieces for the oboe: Concerto Sacra by Richard Dubugnon, L’Ange Double by Laurent Cuniot, “…que la princesse Salomé est belle ce soir…” by Alain Louvier.

A lover of chamber music, he has played at the Seoul Spring Festival for many years and is a member of the Storia ensemble. He was involved in the complete recording of Poulenc with Alexandre Tharaud and has recorded an album of oboe pieces and cantatas by J.S. Bach for Arion.

©Diana Ligeti Credit Lyodoh Kaneko|Lyodoh Kaneko

Diana Ligeti Cellist

Scouted by Lord Yehudi Menuhin when she was young, Diana Ligeti, the George Sand trio’s cellist, also plays with prestigious partners such as Martha Argerich, Philippe Entremont and Chang-Cook Kim. Her records have been critically-acclaimed, with an “ffff” rating from Télérama, a “Choc” from Monde de la musique and “Diamant” from Opéra magazine.

She teaches at the CNSMD in Paris, the CRR in Rueil-Malmaison and, in 2018, she was appointed as artistic director for the Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Art, where she also teaches.

Ferréol Molle Double bass

Ferréol Molle started playing the double bass at age 7, at the Conservatoire de Bourg La Reine. After moving to Algeria for 3 years, where he had private lessons at home every week, he moved back to France at age 11 and joined the Conservatoire de Pau. There, he gained a diploma in musical studies in 2022 and was accepted on an undergraduate course at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva for 2022/2023.

Now, having graduated as a bachelor of arts, he is doing a Masters at the CNSMD de Lyon.

Paul Erdmann Violist

Paul Erdmann is a viola player, currently studying in John Stulz’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. Born in 2001, he started playing the viola at age 7 at the Conservatoire de Reims, where he studied for ten years before joining Claire Merlet’s class at the Conservatoire de Rueil-Malmaison for 2 years.

Alongside his studies, he is starting to perform in different settings, namely the Opéra de Lyon with the Adeona quartet, the Paris Philharmonic and La Seine Musicale with the Pasdeloup orchestra, and the Institut Goethe de Lyon in a sonata. His interest in theatre also led him to take part in the Festival d’Avignon, where he played the music for the show “A true story” in 2022 and 2023.

The Georges Sand Trio

The musicians have chosen the name George Sand as a tribute to the novelist who loved music as much as literature, and who was fervently committed to defending human values.

The George Sand Trio performs at festivals and iconic venues around the world, from the legendary Villa Medici in Rome and the Fenice in Venice to the St Petersburg Palace and the Hamarikyu Asahi hall in Tokyo. The trio regularly shares the stage with partners such as Anny Duperey, Lambert Wilson and artists from the Comédie Française.

The George Sand Trio have set up their own label, Elstir, and produce their records in the spirit of their concerts, off the beaten track. Their latest CD, ‘Mozart’s Imaginary Journey to Japan’, won a TTT award from Télérama.

They are a regular feature on France Inter, France Musique and Radio Classique, and have also appeared in television reports on France 2, France 3 and LCI.