Pirosmani Quartet

BIOGRAPHIES

Mairead Hickey, violin
Celebrated Irish violinist Mairéad Hickey is acclaimed for her captivating expression, soaring tone and fearless virtuosity.  Her natural ability to communicate sincerely, with beauty and integrity, entrances audiences worldwide. 
As a soloist Mairéad has performed with the RTÉ Irish National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Irish National Concert Orchestra, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, Kremerata Baltica and Camerata Ireland and many others in some of the major halls around the world.  Her Carnegie Hall debut was described as ‘…magical, penetrating to the heart and soul of the music.’ (New York Epoch Times) 
A passionate chamber musician, Mairéad has performed with Sir András Schiff, Barry Douglas, Tabea Zimmermann, Fazil Say, Marc Coppey, Mate Bekavac, Irena Grafenauer, Alexander Lonquich, Andreas Reiner, Paul Neubauer, Andrés Díaz, Pieter Wispelway, Michel Lethiec, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Boris Berezovsky and the Vanbrugh Quartet among many others. Mairéad has been invited to perform at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Westport Festival of Chamber Music, the Clandeboye Music Festival, Mantova Chamber Music Festival, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Rolandseck Festival and Chamber Music Connects the World Kronberg 2016 where she performed with Steven Isserlis and Christian Tetzlaff. Her love of chamber music led her to co-found the Ortús Chamber Music Festival in 2016 in her native Cork, of which she is Artistic Director. 
Mairéad was Irish NCH Young Musician of the Year 2010 – 2012.  As well as winning prizes at renowned Irish competitions, she won third prize as well as a Special Prize for the best interpretation of a virtuoso work at the 2016 International Louis Spohr Competition and first prize in the Jeunesses Musicales Violin Competition, Romania 2012. In 2017 she was awarded a Special Prize in the Berliner International Music Competition and the Manhattan International Music Competition.   
Born in 1996,  Mairéad began playing the violin at the age of three with Jyrki Pietila.  From 2003 to 2014 she studied with Adrian Petcu at the CIT Cork School of Music, Ireland and spent a year in France studying at the Conservatoire de Nantes with Constantin Serban.  She is now studying with Mihaela Martin at Kronberg Academy, sponsored by the Hilmar Kopper Stipendium. Mairéad has taken masterclasses and worked intensely with artists such as András Schiff, Rita Wagner, Ferenc Rados, Gidon Kremer, Dora Schwarzberg, Elena Bashkirova, Hugh Maguire, Vadim Repin, Mariana Sirbu, Ana Chumachenco, Vadim Gluzman, Steven Isserlis, Yossi Zivoni, Mauricio Fuks, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Christoph Eschenbach, Marc Danel and Ivry Gitlis among others. 
Highlights of her upcoming season include a performance in Wigmore Hall, London with Sir András Schiff and in Frankfurt with the HR-Sinfonie Orchester and Christoph Eschenbach. Mairéad also plays traditional Irish music and has won eight world Irish fiddle titles. She has an instructional app ‘Irish Fiddler’ which is available on iTunes. 
Mairéad currently plays a Giovanni Tononi violin, kindly loaned to her through the Beares International Violin Society.  .

William Hagen, violin
William Hagen has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across the United States, Europe, and Asia. This season, William performs with orchestras across the United States, including his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and performs recitals and chamber music around the United States, England, France, and Spain. 
The 18-19 season included his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and appearances at the Louvre in Paris and other venues around Europe. Summer of 2018 featured debuts with the San Francisco Symphony and Alexander Prior, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Brett Mitchell, and an appearance at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago with Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra.
His 2017-18 season featured debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (HR Sinfonieorchester) conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and the Seattle Symphony directed by Pablo Rus Broseta, and return engagements with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Matthias Pintscher and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra led by Andrew Gourlay.
A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, William began playing the violin at the age of 4. He has studied with Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School, Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy, and was a longtime student of Robert Lipsett, studying with Mr. Lipsett both at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts and at the Colburn Conservatory of Music. In 2015, William won 3rd prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, one of the highest-ranking Americans in the competition’s history. 
William performs on the 1732 “Arkwright Lady Rebecca Sylvan” Antonio Stradivari, on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.

Natanael Ferreira, viola
Natanael Ferreira began studying the piano at the age of nine. He then began to teach himself the viola with the help of his uncle, a conductor. Shortly after joining the Youth Orchestra of Goias in Brazil, he toured Europe as first viola, later earning a scholarship to study at the academy of the São Paulo Symphonic Orchestra. In 2013 he won first prize at the Campos do Jordão Winter Festival in Brazil and began his studies with Miguel da Silva at the Haute Ecole de Musique Genève the following year. In 2015 he won several prizes at the Académie Ravel as well as third prize at the 2018 Rahn Musikpreis. Natanael Ferreira was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in 2016 and often performs with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He regularly gives concerts in Switzerland, France and Belgium with such musicians as Régis Pasquier, Miguel da Silva, Henri Demarquette, Lorenzo Gatto, Marc Coppey, Ilya Gringolts and Heinz Holliger.
During the 2018-2019 season, he was regurly invited to perform at La Belle Saison and Les Folles Journées de Nantes. He will soon release his first CD with clarinettist Vitor Fernandes and pianist Elio Coria. He plays a viola from the El Pasito Foundation and is supported by the Music Academy of Villecroze.
In 2019 he entered the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel as Artist in Residence in the class of Miguel da Silva.

Aleksey Shadrin, cello
Cellist Aleksey Shadrin, who was a member of the Kronberg Academy Master Program, was born into a family of musicians in Ukraine. He won the first prize of the 4th M. Lysenko International Music Competition in 2012. In 2018, he has been awarded the 3rd Prize at the Prague Spring Competition and the 4th Prize at Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2022.
In 2005, Aleksey Shadrin was a finalist in the 3rd David Popper International Competition in Hungary, and in 2008, he won the 2nd prize at The International Competition in Minsk. Following his competition successes, he has performed in major concert halls of Ukraine, Germany, France, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Holland, Singapore, and Belgium.
Aleksey Shadrin has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, the Opéra national de Montpellier, the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, and the Belgian National Orchestra. In 2016, he made his debut appearance at the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2017, he appeared as a soloist with the NDR Radiophilharmonie with Andrew Manze in the Grosser Sendesaal in Hannover, and made his debut appearance at the Hamburg Chamber Music Festival.
Aleksey Shadrin received his Bachelor and Master of Musical Arts at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover with Prof. Leonid Gorokhov and studied with Prof. Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy. He is currently studying with Gary Hoffman at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.