Now regarded as one of the finest cellists of the younger generation, Alexander Chaushian has performed extensively throughout the world as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin-in- the-Fields, The London Mozart Players, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, The Boston Pops and The Armenian Philharmonic, and has given highly acclaimed performances in such venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Sala Verdi Milan, Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Japan, the main Carnegie Hall New York, and Symphony Hall Boston.

He performs regularly in festivals throughout the world and is the Artistic Director of the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus and the Yerevan Music Festival in Armenia.
After initial studies in Armenia, Alexander Chaushian studied in the UK at the Menuhin School and the Guildhall School, London. He then pursued advanced studies at the Hochschule Berlin, graduating with distinction in 2005. He is a laureate prize winner of many international competitions including the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the ARD Competition in Germany. As an alumnus of Young Concert Artists, New York, he toured extensively in the USA.

After receiving the Critics' Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1990), Pietro De Maria won First Prize in other prestigious international piano competitions, such as the Dino Ciani - Teatro La Scala in Milan (1990), the Géza Anda in Zurich (1994), and the Mendelssohn Award in Hamburg (1997).

An active concert pianist, he has played as soloist with the best known orchestras, with conductors of the stature of Roberto Abbado, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun Chung, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Alan Gilbert, Eliahu Inbal, Marek Janowski, Ton Koopman, Michele Mariotti, Ingo Metzmacher, Gianandrea Noseda, Corrado Rovaris, Yutaka Sado, Sándor Végh and Jonathan Webb.

Born in Venice in 1967, De Maria studied piano with Giorgio Vianello and Gino Gorini. Revealing a precocious talent, he won First Prize at the Alfred Cortot International Piano Competition in Milan at the age of 13. He graduated from the Conservatory of Venice and continued his studies with Maria Tipo at the Conservatory of Geneva, where he obtained the Premier Prix de Virtuosité with the highest honours in 1988.

His repertory ranges from Bach to Ligeti and he is the first Italian pianist to have played Chopin’s complete piano works in six public concerts. He has also been focusing on Bach, presenting both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier as well as the Goldberg Variations in his concerts and, more recently, he has performed Beethoven’s entire production of Sonatas and Concertos.

He has recorded Chopin’s complete piano works, The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations for Decca, Chopin’s Piano Concertos with Daniele Rustioni and the Orchestra della Toscana for Dynamic, receiving important acknowledgments from international publications of prestige such as Diapason, International Piano, MusicWeb-International and Pianiste. His next project will be to perform Beethoven’s entire production of Sonatas and Concertos.