Entertainment

Lucia Lacarra, born in Zumaia, began her ballet training in the Basque Country and was already dancing with the Ballet de Victor Ullate at the age of 15. In 1994, she joined Roland Petit’s Ballets de Marseille, where she danced leading roles, and later moved to the San Francisco Ballet, performing classical roles such as Giselle and Odette/Odile. From 2002, she was part of the Bavarian State Ballet and received numerous awards, including the Prix Nijinsky and the Premio Nacional de Danza. In 2016, she joined the Dortmund Ballet as a guest star.

Matthew Golding, who trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, won the Youth America Grand Prix in 2002 and joined the American Ballet Theatre in 2003. In 2010, he was promoted to Principal Dancer at the Dutch National Ballet and was a Principal Dancer at the Royal Ballet from 2014 to 2017. He has collaborated with renowned ballet companies worldwide, including the Bavarian State Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, and Hong Kong Ballet. His major roles include Manon, Onegin, and Giselle. In 2010, he received the Zwaan Award, and in 2012/13, he was nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse. Together with Lucia, he founded GOLDENLAC Productions, where they created the shows FORDLANDIA (2020) and IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT (2021). In 2023, he choreographed the first production for the "Lucia Lacarra Ballet" company.

She has played the main roles in numerous musicals across Europe and Asia (Notre Dame de Paris, The Wizard of Oz, Roméo & Juliette, Les Misérables, Hair, Holiday on Ice...). She also uses her voice for dubbing and voice-over in commercials, documentaries and cartoons in French but also in English. Selected for the show “The Voice” in 2017, she chose to continue the adventure with Florent Pagny. The same year, she joined “Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox” (the American group with a billion views on Youtube) on stage at the Olympia, at the Salle Pleyel and on tour in France. In philharmonic concerts for Disney in France and Belgium, she is also the active ambassador of Audition Solidarité, and represents France at the UNICEF global galas on several occasions. By joining “Les Folies Gruss”, Candice has been able to combine her passion for horses with that of singing and performing since 2019, within a live orchestra, in a vibrant and eclectic repertoire. 

Being the official singer of the “Paris’ Firemen Orchestra” (BSPP) since 2018, Candice sang during the final scene of the military parade of July 14, 2022, Place de la Concorde, notably performing the song “F.R.A.N.C.E”, as well as "La Marseillaise", in front of the President of the Republic.

Praised by The New York Times for his “magnificent sound and expressive playing,” pianist and composer Matan Porat has appeared in major concert halls including the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with renowned conductors including Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim. Porat is a regular guest at international festivals such as Marlboro, Verbier, La Roque d’Anthéron, the Heidelberg Spring Festival, and Musikfest Berlin, and is an avid chamber musician, having collaborated with ensembles including the Artemis Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet. Born in Tel Aviv, he studied piano with Emanuel Krasovsky, Maria João Pires, and Murray Perahia, and composition with Ruben Seroussi and George Benjamin. He earned his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School.

Photocredit: Hombroich

Hamburg-born violinist Hellen Weiß started her extensive performing career at an early age. At 14, she gave her concerto debut with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra playing Mendelssohn’s E Minor concerto. A year later she was awarded 1st prize and overall victory at the International Radio Competition in Prague. As a soloist, she performed with leading orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, Czech Philharmonic in renowned concert venues such as Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum Prague and Berwaldhallen Stockholm. Her 2020 recording of the Kodály Duo with Gabriel Schwabe for NAXOS was nominated for the Opus Klassik and won the Pizzicato Supersonic Award. Her highly acclaimed album with works by Strauss and Dohnányi was released in 2024. Furthermore she received the EMCY Art for Music Prize, the Eduard-Söring-Prize from "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben" and, as a pianist, the Steinway-Prize for piano. She regularly performs at music festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mendelssohn-festival Leipzig, the music festival "Heidelberger Frühling", the German Forum New York and participated in the chamber music project "Young Artists & Friends" with members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Her solo and chamber music performances have been broadcasted by radio and TV stations worldwide, including NDR, WDR, SWR and Sveriges Radio. She teaches at the „Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber“ Dresden and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and has given masterclasses in Germany, Spain, Italy, South Korea and New Zealand. She plays a Matteo Goffriller violin from 1698, a generous loan from a private collection.

Gabriel Schwabe is a laureate of three of the world’s most prestigious cello competitions: the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin, the Concours Rostropovich in Paris and the Pierre Fournier Award in London. As a soloist he has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Ulster Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Danish Chamber Orchestra, the Malmö and Norrköping Symphony Orchestras and the China NCPA Orchestra, Beijing with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Eivind Gullberg-Jensen, Dennis Russell-Davies, Adam Fischer, Joana Mallwitz, Cornelius Meister, Giancarlo Guerrero, Michael Sanderling and Marc Soustrot. In 2010 he gave his recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall. He is a regular guest at festivals such as the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Kronberg Festival, Amsterdam Biennale and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and has performed with artists including Pinchas Zukerman, Isabelle Faust, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt, Kirill Gerstein, Roland Pöntinen and Enrico Pace. He was born in Berlin to German-Spanish parents, studied with Catalin Ilea at the Universität der Künste Berlin and with Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy, and received further stimulus from János Starker, Gary Hoffman, Gidon Kremer and András Schiff. He is a cello professor at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. He is married to violinist Hellen Weiß, and plays a cello by Giuseppe Guarneri (Cremona, 1695).

Photocredit: Studio Monbijou