Fahmi Alqhai is regarded as one of the most outstanding and prestigious viola da gamba players in the world and is one of the most significant interpreters of early music of our time. His approach to the early repertoire is expressive and communicative; through his artistic vision and creativity, he brings together different cultures. Born in Seville in 1976 to a Syrian father and a Palestinian mother, Alqhai embodies the cultural dialogue of the Mediterranean region. Alqhai spent his early childhood in Syria, where he began his musical training. He continued his studies in Seville under Ventura Rico, and later studied with Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum in Basel and with Vittorio Ghielmi at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. Alongside his musical studies, he also qualified as a dentist at the University of Seville.

He is the artistic director of FeMAS (Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla), the oldest and foremost early music festival in Spain.

His projects with flamenco performers are particularly innovative, while he also collaborates with contemporary and jazz musicians such as Uri Caine. His solo albums A piacere (2014) and The Bach Album (2016) further cemented his reputation as a visionary performer, with both winning numerous GEMA, Scherzo and Melómano awards. In 2018, he was awarded the Medal of the City of Seville.

Since his youth, Alqhai has collaborated regularly with renowned international early music ensembles such as Hespèrion XXI and Il Suonar Parlante, and has also performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and the Seville Baroque Orchestra.

He has recorded music for the labels Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Alia Vox, Glossa and Winter & Winter, as well as for his own label, Alqhai & Alqhai.

Soprano Nuria Rial has recently become one of the most highly regarded singers on the Baroque and classical music scene, praised for the clarity of her voice and its radiant timbre, her natural and emotive singing, and her elegant phrasing. Her work consists mainly of concerts and recordings; to date, the singer has released more than 30 albums. Since 2009, she has held an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical. Nuria’s wide-ranging artistic interests also include Romantic-era music and music of the 20th and 21st centuries, fusions of styles (such as jazz or flamenco), as well as genres such as Lied and opera. Nuria Rial has collaborated with conductors René Jacobs and Iván Fischer, and theatre director Peter Sellars, appearing at theatres including La Monnaie, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Teatro Real, amongst others.

Having studied in Basel with Kurt Widmer, Rial regularly performs at major European concert halls and festivals, such as the Salzburger Festspiele, the Lucerne Festival and the Leipzig Bachfest, and collaborates with renowned conductors (including Antonini, Bonizzoni, Capuano, Cummings, Currentzis, Equilbey, Goodwin, Hengelbrock, Leonhardt, Minkowski and Pinnock). She is regularly invited to perform with ensembles such as the Accademia del Piacere, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Bach Stiftung St. Gallen, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Café Zimmermann, Concerto Köln, Il Giardino Armonico, Il Pomo d’Oro, Insula Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

Her recordings have won the Orphée d’Or award, as well as various Echo Classical Music prizes in different categories, such as Best Young Artist (2009) and the award for Best Opera CD (2012). In 2020, Nuria was awarded the Opus Klassik prize for Best Vocal Album (Soloist) for the album Muera Cupido, recorded with Fahmi Alqhai and the Accademia del Piacere.