Artist
Kacper Nowak & Christia Hudziy
Born in Poland, Kacper Nowak began playing the cello at the age of eight. A year later, he was the laureate of the Liezen Cello Competition in Austria and entered the Fryderyk Chopin School in Poznan, in the class of D. Taczanowska. Having won several national and international competitions, he became a member of the National Foundation for Gifted Children. In 2005 he won first prize at the Concours de Woluwé St-Pierre in Brussels and the following year he entered the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in the class of D. Poskin. In 2010 he joined the class of M. Kliegel in Cologne and won both the Van Cutsem prize and the Fely Wasselle prize. He subsequently pursued his studies with J. Grimm at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and in 2012 won the grand prize of the Prix Edmond Baert competition. In 2014 Kacper obtained his master’s degree summa cum laude and was awarded the Oranjebeurs scholarship from the Netherlands.He has participated in a number of master classes with musicians such as G. Caussé, B. Vodenitcharov, F. Springuel, G. Capuçon, the Danel Quartet and J. G. Queyras.
Born in Ukraine, Christia Hudziy studied piano from 1990 to 1998 at the Special Music School of Lviv. In 1999 she obtained first prize for the Alfred Roussel scholarship. At the age of 10 she won first prize at the Leopold Bellan competition (advanced level). At 14, she was the laureate of the Ukrainian New Talent competition in Kiev, which enabled her to obtain a presidential scholarship. In 1999 she was selected to play in the Cortot Hall in Paris and took part in the first “Art de l’enfance” festival. During her training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris she was supported by the Lili and Nadia Boulanger foundation. She has won several piano competitions: first medal at the Brest international piano competition (2002); first prize at the Mérignac international competition and at the piano competition of Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche (2003); first prize at the Giovani Talenti-Pia Tebaldini piano competition in Italy (2004); first prize at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (2004). Christia has entered the advanced level of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. She has taken part in many festivals (Saintonge, Menton, La Roque d’Antheron, Chartres, etc.). In 2008, she won the Yamaha international scholarship and was a finalist of the Concertgebouw chamber music competition in Amsterdam. Having perfected her skills at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium (Sept. 2008-June 2013) under the direction of Abdel Rahman El Bacha first and then Maria João Pires, she is currently a piano accompanist. During her years of training at the Music Chapel, she enjoyed the support of an InBev-Baillet Latour scholarship.