Ferenc Kiss was born in Budapest in 1943.He began to play the violin and piano at the age of 5, first learning with his father who was concert master of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, then at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1959, and also inDüsseldorf with Sándor Végh. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 20, and from 1965 he played throughout Europe, Mexico and Japan, as well as making recordings for numerous Radio and TV Stations all over the world. From 1963 he became concertmaster of the Philharmonia Hungarica, then later at Opera Saarbrücken 1968-74, München Symphonie Orchestra 1974-79, and from1979 at the German State Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a guest concertmaster and soloist for many years with orchestras such as the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Köln Radio Orchestra, Opera Nürnberg, Basque National Orchestra (San Sebastian), Orchestra Sinfonica di Bolzano e Trento, Symphony Orchestra Xalapa (Mexico) and Pro Arte Orchestra München. This is his first Portrait album.

The present release pays tribute to Kurt Redel. Redel studied conducting and flute at the Breslau Conservatory. In 1938, when he was still quite young, he received a professorship for flute at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1941 he joined the Bavarian State Orchestra in munich as solo flautist. From 1946 to 1956 he was professor of flute at the Hochschule fur Musik Detmold. In 1952 Redel founded the Kammerorchester Pro Arte Munchen in Munich, with which he gave numerous concerts worldwide and made award-winning recordings, especially with works by Bach, Telemann, Haydn, and Mozart. For twenty years he directed the Easter Festival of Lourdes in France, which he also founded. He received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque, the Prix Orphee of the Paris Opera, and the German Federal Merit Class Prize.

Bireli Lagrène and Dorado Schmitt (guitar and violin) are the two giants of the "French manouche jazz", created by the great Django Reinhardt. They are playing on this album Django's most known title: Nuages (the singer is Olivier Kirsch). They are surrounded by the best young jazz musicians in France. Bireli Lagrène was born on in Saverne, Alsace, France, into a Romani family and community. His father and grandfather were guitarists, and he was raised in the gypsy guitar tradition. He started playing at age four or five and by seven was improvising jazz in a style similar to Django Reinhardt's, whom his father admired and wanted his sons to emulate. In 1980, while in his early teens, he recorded his first album, Routes to Django: Live at the Krokodil (Jazzpoint, 1981). Dorado Schmitt was born in Saint-Avold, Lorraine, France on May 29, 1957. He started playing guitar at the age of seven with his father as his teacher. His father also introduced him to violin. Schmitt composed his own pieces, incorporating improvisation and challenging techniques, among which Bossa Dorado which has become a jazz standard. He eventually became as comfortable with swing and gypsy waltz as with bossa nova and flamenco. He established the Dorado Trio in 1978 with Gino Reinhardt on double bass and Hono Winterstein on rhythm guitar. Later, guitarist Claudio Favari joined the group and performed at the Burghausen Jazz Festival in 1983. He recorded the albums Hommage a la Romenes and in 1984 Notre Histoire. The first remained a jazz best-seller for several weeks in Germany.

Elena Kuschernova was the last pianistic discovery of Harold Schonberg, music critic for the New York Times and prolific author on great performers. After listening to her debut album, he dubbed her a “Pianist who grabs the imagination,” and he lauded her Scriabin album as “the best recorded performances I am familiar with.” Elena has performed at many important festivals such as the Gustav Mahler Music Festival in Toblach, the Bach Festival in Ansbach, the Festival of Rarities of the Piano Music in Husum, and others. She is also internationally recognized as a piano professor, giving master classes in Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, and the USA. Since 2006 she has been guest professor at the Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima, and has been a Steinway Artist since 2002. She resides in Baden-Baden and Manhattan.