Christoph von Dohnányi, one of the world's pre-eminent orchestral and opera conductors, regularly appears as a guest with the major opera houses and orchestras of Europe and North America. His appointments have included opera directorships in Frankfurt and Hamburg; principal orchestral conducting posts in Germany, London, and Paris; and his 20-year tenure as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra. During his years in Cleveland, he led the orchestra in 1,000 concerts, 15 international tours, 24 premieres, and the recording of more than 100 works.

Mr. Dohnányi's longstanding partnership with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London — where he is honorary conductor for life — began in 1994, when he was appointed principal guest conductor and, from 1997 onwards, served as principal conductor and artistic adviser. Together they developed a successful collaboration with the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, where their many performances have included productions of operas by Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Humperdinck's.

In the 2011–2012 season, he returns to North America to lead subscription concerts with the Boston and Kansas City Symphony Orchestras and The Cleveland Orchestra. Highlights of recent seasons include concerts with New York and Israel Philharmonic orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic (where he led the four Brahms symphonies over two weeks), Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre de Paris. He frequently leads the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia and the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, and last season was the music director for the Tanglewood Music Center's production of Ariadne auf Naxos.

Christoph von Dohnányi conducts frequently at the world's great opera houses, including Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, and Vienna Staatsoper, as well as in Berlin and Paris. He has been a frequent guest conductor with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, leading the world premieres of Hans Werner Henze's Die Bassariden and Cerha's Baal. He also regularly appears with the Zurich Opera.

Mr. Dohnányi has made many critically acclaimed recordings for London/Decca with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. With The Cleveland Orchestra, his large and varied discography includes the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann.

Pianist Radu Lupu is widely acknowledged as a leading interpreter of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert. Since winning the Van Cliburn (1966) and Leeds Piano Competitions (1969), Mr. Lupu has regularly performed as soloist and recitalist in the musical capitals and major festivals of Europe and the United States.

Mr. Lupu's first major American appearances were in 1972 with The Cleveland Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim in New York, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Carlo Maria Giulini. Concerts with the New York Philharmonic soon followed and Mr. Lupu has since appeared with all of the foremost American orchestras. This season his annual winter tour includes concerts with the orchestras of Cleveland, Boston, and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa) as well as the National Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic; he also gives recitals for Friends of Chamber Music in Kansas City and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Michigan. Recent orchestral engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, Berlin Philharmonic with Bernard Haitink, and a tour of Germany with Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra and David Zinman.

Mr. Lupu has made more than 20 recordings for London/Decca, including the complete Beethoven concertos with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta, the complete Mozart violin and piano sonatas with Szymon Goldberg, and numerous solo recordings of works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert. His recording of Schubert sonatas received a Grammy Award in 1995. He has also recorded for the Sony Classical, EMI, and Teldec labels.

Born in Romania in 1945, Radu Lupu began studying the piano at the age of six, and made his public debut with a complete program of his own music at twelve. He won first prize in the 1967 Enescu International Competition. In 1989 and in 2006 he was awarded the prestigious "Abbiati" prize given by the Italian Critics' Association. He is also the recipient of the 2006 Premio Internazionale Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli award.