Astona is a two-week international Summer Music Academy, accompanying many students  on their path to a musical career and providing them 15 days with a free and protected space in which to work and grow and enjoy.

Founder (1988) and director:

Nancy Chumachenco

Students and applicants:

click the next pages for all information

Final closing date for application:

March 15, 2023 

Please use the application form on this website.

I took up the cello because I heard another boy playing it and fell in love with the sound. My teacher was Nancy Chumachenco. She expected a lot right from day one, and if you were a talented student she would go full steam ahead, not for just 30 or 60 minutes a week but a whole lot more. There was chamber music, too, and every year she would organise a summer school with students from other countries. Meeting kids from places like South Africa, Finland and the US as a twelve-year-old was so exciting, and it gave us a network of friends and colleagues to draw on as we got older. Not many people are lucky enough to be guided by someone like Nancy Chumacenco from the first time they pick up their instrument. 
The Strad, 2/2020

Christian Poltéra, born 1977,  Astona participant 1988 - 1993. Renowned international Cello soloist and chamber music player, Professor at Lucerne University.  

At the age of 15 to 17, I had the good fortune to attend Astona  International. I can attest to the fact that these years were the most formative in my musical education.

Philippe Jordan, born 1974, 

Astona participant 1990 - 1992,

Music Director of the Wiener Staatsoper