Raro Ensemble in Jubilee Concert at Carnegie Hall

RCI USA
Nov 27, 2025
6 min read

Updated: Dec 13, 2025

On the occasion of Romania’s National Day and the 20th anniversary of the SoNoRo Festival

"… the ensemble was on fire - truly exciting, wild and fabulous. The audience roared its approval" — NY concert review, December 2015

About the Event

A memorable celebration of Romanian musical excellence is on the horizon as the SoNoRo International Chamber Music Festival marks its 20th anniversary with a special concert bringing together the festival’s signature artistry and the brilliance that has defined its two decades of international acclaim.

Marking two decades of artistic vision, innovation, and international acclaim, this special anniversary performance concludes an extensive SoNoRo 2025 tour that traveled through eight countries and thirteen major concert halls. The evening will be performed by the festival’s signature ensemble, Raro Ensemble—featuring Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Răzvan Popovici (viola), Justus Grimm (cello), and Diana Ketler (piano)—, and will bring to life a radiant program featuring works by George Enescu and Johannes Brahms—a tribute to both Romanian musical heritage and the great European tradition that inspired it.

Founded in 2006 by violist Răzvan Popovici and pianist Diana Ketler, the SoNoRo Festival has grown into one of Eastern Europe’s most refined and admired chamber music platforms. With a mission to elevate chamber music to the forefront of cultural life, SoNoRo has built a European and global network of collaborations, performing at world-renowned venues such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Returning to Carnegie Hall for the fourth time, the festival now celebrates a legacy defined by artistic daring, excellence, and a loyal, ever-growing international audience.

More details about the event are available HERE.

Raro Ensemble in Jubilee Concert at Carnegie Hall

December 4, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 PMNew York

About Ensemble Raro

Formed in 2004 by four brilliant young musicians and later expanded with equally exceptional artists, Ensemble Raro has grown into a daring, tradition-rooted chamber collective celebrated across Europe, Asia, and the US for its imaginative performances and festival residencies. From improvising with DJs and creating multimedia shows with international VJs to crafting literary soirées with acclaimed actors and writers, the ensemble thrives on artistic freedom, collaborating with world-class partners and appearing at major festivals from Lucerne and Rheingau to Spoleto and Riga. With acclaimed debuts at Wiener Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Musashino Hall, and Wigmore Hall, Ensemble Raro champions both classical and contemporary repertoire, premiering works by composers like Pēteris Vasks while earning praise from outlets such as Gramophone Magazine and Radio France International for their innovative, vividly recorded albums. Their performances—broadcast by major European and Asian radio networks—are matched by a strong commitment to education through masterclasses and the Sonoro-Interferences project, nurturing young talent across Romania, Italy, Ukraine, and Germany. Today, Ensemble Raro continues to enchant audiences from Athens to Kobe to Washington, reaffirming its reputation as one of the most vibrant, visionary forces in contemporary chamber music. (Photo credit: Șerban Mestecăneanu)

Meet the Musicians

ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY (violin) was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. He made his concerto debut at the age of eight, and the same year moved to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School where he is now an Associate Artist. Lord Menuhin was his inspiration throughout his school years, and they performed together on several occasions. Following a three-year residency at the Lincoln Center in New York through the prestigious Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), in 2016 Alexander received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and now retains a position on the CMS artist roster, making several visits annually to perform at the center. Also, an alumnus of The Royal Academy of Music in London and the Kronberg Academy, Germany, his outstanding talents as soloist, orchestra director, and chamber musician have attracted accolades and won many awards, including 1st prize at the 2011 Trio di Trieste Duo Competition alongside pianist Wu Qian, and he is now increasingly in demand worldwide across multiple roles. He is much in demand as a director and has worked with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Liszt Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Players, Camerata Zurich, Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Romanian Sinfonietta. Alexander is a founding member of the award-winning Sitkovetsky Trio with whom he has performed worldwide. The Trio won the BBC Music Magazine award for Chamber Music in 2022. He also tours regularly as a permanent member of the Julia Fischer string quartet. Alexander plays the 1679 ‘Parera’ Antonio Stradivari violin, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous sponsor.

RĂZVAN POPOVICI (viola) was born into a a family of musicians and studied in Salzburg, Paris and Freiburg with Peter Langgartner, Jean Sulem, Wolfram Christ and Christoph Wyneken. He is founder and executive director of the Chiemgauer Musikfrühling Festival in Germany and of the SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest. He was appointed executive director of the Europalia Festival 2019/20 in Brussels. He has performed as a soloist in prestigious venues such as the Cologne Philharmonie, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Prinzregententheater in Munich and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris alongside ensembles such as the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Kobe Chamber Orchestra, Romanian Radio National Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic, Chaarts Chamber Artists and Orchestra Comunale del Teatro di Bologna. He has collaborated with artists such as Juliane Banse, Shlomo Mintz, Elena Bashkirova, Radovan Vlatkovic, Daishin Kashimoto, Olli Mustonen, Gilles Apap, Frans Helmerson, Nobuko Imai or Mihaela Martin. He is a regular guest at festivals around the world including the Lucerne Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Spoleto Festival, Mintz Festival Tucumán, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Mittelfest Cividale, Festival Academy Budapest and the festivals in Stavanger, Delft, Tallin, Rolandseck, Korsholm or Kuhmo. Among the concert halls he has performed in are Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, Wigmore Hall in London, YMCA in Jerusalem, Bozar in Brussels, Philharmonie de Paris and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. He performs internationally as a member of Ensemble Raro and is a professor of viola at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp.

JUSTUS GRIMM (cello) was born in Hamburg, Justus Grimm began studying the cello at the age of five under the guidance of his father and continued in Saarbrücken with Ulrich Voss and in Cologne with Claus Kanngiesser and Frans Helmerson. He won First Prizes at the Maria Canals International Music Competition and the German National Competition As a soloist, the cellist has collaborated with numerous orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Klassische Philharmonie Bonn. An avid chamber musician, Justus Grimm has recorded Beethoven, Brahms and Shostakovich cello sonatas with pianist Florian Wiek. Together with flutist Christina Fassbender they form the "Trio Wiek". They have recorded works by Weber, Farrenc and Mendelssohn, and in 2009 a Philippe Gaubert album was released, awarded 5 Diapasons. Since 2008, Justus has joined the Malibran Quartet. As a chamber music performer, he has collaborated with musicians such as Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Gérard Caussé, Augustin Dumay, Benoît Fromanger, Stephen Kovacevich, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Christian Poltéra. Since 2008, Justus Grimm has held a teaching post at the Antwerp Conservatory. As part of the Montepulciano Festival "Cantiere", Justus has been appointed Artist in Residence since 2010.

DIANA KETLER (piano) was born in Latvia, Diana Ketler began studying piano at the age of 5, encouraged by her parents. Her father, a well-known baritone, and her mother, a choral conductor and voice teacher, inspired her early love for opera. Diana began her solo career at an early age, making her debut with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra at just 11. Her musical career, both as a solo pianist and as a chamber musician, has taken her to countless countries in Europe, Asia and the United States. She has performed on important stages such as the Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Centre, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, etc. She regularly participates in festivals such as Lucerne, Gstaad, Boswil, Kuhmo Finland, Rheingau, Wiener Musikwochen, etc. Diana is a founding member of the Raro Ensemble, and together with Răzvan Popovici is the founder of the SoNoRo cultural platform and of the Chiemgauer Musikfrühling Festival in Bavaria. Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, she was appointed a Fellow of this Academy in 2016. Since autumn 2018 she has been a member of the chamber music department at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. The pianist received the Great Music Award, the highest Latvian award in the field of music, from the Latvian state.