Family Reunion: Three Generations of Martin musicians

Fiorenzo Pascalucci studied piano under Giuseppe Squitieri and Giovanni Valentini at the conservatories in Campobasso and Pesaro, graduating with honours in 2007 and 2010. He then attended the Imola International Academy where he worked with Leonid Margarius, Anna Kravtchenko and Franco Scala. He went on to study at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) under Benedetto Lupo and Stefano Fiuzzi, graduating with honours in 2014. He has won a number of awards, including First Prize at the Premio Venezia National Piano competition (2008), Third Prize at the Grand Prix International de Piano de Lyon (2011), First Prize at the Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition (2012) and First Prize at the Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition (2014). He was also granted the “Giuseppe Sinopoli Award” for his artistic achievements. Fiorenzo has performed in major venues all over Europe and abroad, with concerts in Thailand, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates. He has played with many acclaimed orchestras, including the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice and North Czech Philharmonic Teplice, and collaborated with renowned conductors like Isaac Karabtchevsky, Carlo Tenan and Alfonso Scarano. His recordings include a 2019 album devoted to Mozart (Warner Classics). He currently teaches at the Conservatorio Guido Cantelli in Novara and often performs to raise money for humanitarian causes.

Paloma Martin was born into a multicultural, musical family in Geneva. She began learning the violin at age five with Saskia Filippini and François James. She then studied under Sasha Rozhdestvensky at Geneva’s Haute École de Musique, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in 2017, followed by a master’s degree in 2019. During her time as concertmaster of La Scala Academy Orchestra (2020-2022), she continued her studies with Francesco Manara (concertmaster, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra) and Lorenza Borrani (Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Florence). She studied chamber music with Gábor Tákacs-Nagy and regularly plays in various ensembles, including Quintetto Tebaldi, Trio Faust and Quartetto d’archi dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Paloma was invited to serve as principal second violin for the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, under the baton of Riccardo Muti. In 2021-2022, she stepped in as the principal second violin and concertmaster for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra, where she had the opportunity to work with Zubin Mehta, Sir John-Eliot Gardiner and Diego Fasolis. In October 2021, Paloma participated in the orchestra’s European tour under Zubin Mehta’s direction, performing in the most prestigious venues in Europe, including the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Musikverein (Vienna) and Brucknerhaus (Linz). In summer 2023, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she studied with Naoko Tanaka (Julliard School) and performed Schulhoff’s Sextet at a concert dedicated to Holocaust victims.

Da Won Ghang was born in Daejeon, South Korea. She began playing the violin at age 11 and studied under Alberto Bologni at the Luigi Boccherini Conservatorio di Musica in Lucca, where she graduated with a Master’s degree (Diploma accademico di secondo livello) with honours in 2020. She has taken masterclasses with Pavel Vernikov, Uto Ughi, Alessandro Cappone and Chiara Morandi. She has specialised in chamber music since 2018. In 2019, she studied with the Cremona Quartet at the Stauffer Center for Strings (Cremona) and since 2022, she has been taking quartet lessons with Cuarteto Casals and Heime Muller at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. She has also taken masterclasses with Giulio Rovighi, Aldo Campagnari, Danusha Waskewicz, Francesco Dillon (Quartetto Prometeo), Heime Muller, Eckart Runge (Artemis Quartet ) and Sergei Bresler, and Kyril Zlotnikov (Jerusalem Quartet). From 2019 to 2022, Da Won attended an advanced programme for orchestral musicians at the La Scala Academy and performed with the orchestra as concertmaster. In 2023 she was awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and School, which is regarded as America’s top classical music festival.

Born in Geneva in 1958, Denis Martin studied the violin with Liliane and Corrado Romano at Geneva’s Conservatory of Music, then the viola with Bruno Giuranna and Christoph Schiller. In 1985, he was awarded a diploma in music performance (“Konzertreifediplom”) from the Hochschule in Zurich. He also obtained a diploma in Choral Conducting under the guidance of Michel Corboz. Denis has participated in numerous chamber ensembles and has also been invited to play as a soloist with the SODRE Symphony Orchestra of Montevideo. He was appointed principal viola of the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie before being hired by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 1990 to 2023, where he taught for the Diploma of Advanced Studies programme in orchestral performance. Between 2005 and 2016, he gave a series of masterclasses in Buenos Aires. Denis has also teamed up with guitarist Sergio García to form the Latin-American duo “Cantor de Tram 12”. His recordings include a 1992 album (Erato) with the Choeur du Chambre du Midi that features Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir a cappella.