The striking cellistic art of Jelena Ocic has met with standing ovations on three continents. Energetic, poetic, virtuoso, her playing is a rich kaleidoscope of colours and emotions. Bernard Greenhouse, founding cellist of the great “Beaux Arts” Trio, lauded her as “one of the most remarkable cello talents today”. The late Siegfried Palm, a major figure in 20th century music, called her “one of the most promising interpreters of New Music”. Her chamber music partners have been Bernard Greenhouse, Konstanty Bogino, Ulrike-Anima Mathé, Federico Lovato, Friedemann Eichhorn, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Yuri Gandelsman, José Gallardo, etc…. She concertizes internationally as a soloist with chamber and philharmonic orchestras and as recitalist in Eastern and Western Europe, in the United States and Asia. Numerous composers (Cornell, Dott, Sorg, Prohaska, etc.) have dedicated works to her. At the Musikhochschule in Mannheim, where she is a member of the faculty since 2004, she is spearheading projects in performance for cellists, and in the composition and interpretation of new music for cello for composers.

Federico Lovato received his diploma as a pianist from the Conservatorio “Benedetto Marcello” of Venice, having studied there with his father, Giorgio Lovato, and Enzo Mabilia. His postgraduate soloist training brought him to the renowned academy “Incontri col Maestro” at Imola (Italy) to study under the auspices of Piero Rattalino, after which he immediately initiated his career as concert pianist, appearing with most major Italian orchestras and winning numerous awards in national and international competitions. He has held recitals in all Italy and much of Europe, performing in such venues as the “Gasteig” in Munich, the “Teatr Mały” in Warsaw, Milan’s “Teatro alle Erbe”, Bologna’s “Sala Mozart”… His career as a chamber musician parallels that as a soloist and has been enriched by the guidance of musicians as Bernard Greenhouse, Michael Flaksman and the Trio di Parma. Frequent participation in festivals of note, at which he collaborates with musicians of prestigious renommée in the most varied ensembles, has led him to develop a notably large repertoire that extends from early classicism to the most recent forms of expression. For instance, with his “Archipelago Quartet” (two pianos and two percussionists) he premiered six new works commissioned by the Italian Third Program (“RAI Tre”) in a broadcast concert. Federico Lovato, in addition to being a significant emerging pianist on the European musical scene, also has a diploma as a cellist and is active in the area of pedagogy and as artistic director of the orchestra “I Solisti in Villa”, located in northern Italy. In duo with Jelena Ocic , Federico Lovato has given recitals in Europe and the United States, as well as two evenings broadcast live on Croatian Radio.