Winner of the 2018 Beverly Hills National Auditions, CA, and of the 2019-2020 Audience Choice Award of the San Francisco Classical Voice, Delirium Musicum, is an emerging self-conducted chamber ensemble that brings together some of the most creative and refined musicians in Los Angeles. Led by violinist Etienne Gara, Delirium Musicum defines itself artistically by taking a new stand on the daring and varied repertoire it tackles. Created with a distinctive voice, the ensemble of 15 musicians showcases its signature style, creativity, and the gift the musicians have for communing deeply with the audience. It was called “ferocious and rhythmically mesmerizing” by the San Francisco Classical Voice and was hailed as performing "with a brilliance that will electrify your whole body” by The Korea Times. "Seasons", Delirium Musicum’s debut album with Warner Classics will be released in April 2023.

Praised for the warm tone and expressiveness of his playing, French born violinist Etienne Gara has performed extensively worldwide in some of the most renowned venues.

Internationally broadcast on TV and radio and numerous awards winner, he recorded in 2014 on the Leonora Jackson, a 1714 Stradivarius, an album of French music titled "French Recital".

Mr. Gara cultivates a boundary breaking curiosity that brought him to be featured on Leonard Cohen's last album and to found the award winning Sunset Club Trio, an ensemble joining the forces of the violin, the electric and the flamenco guitars in their own arrangements of the great classical repertoire. He also created "Sketches of Miles", a production that brings together the classical and the jazz worlds.

In addition to his solo career, his creative musical productions and his activities as guest principal violin with many ensembles brought him to perform in halls such as Disney Concert Hall and the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. He has been the concertmaster and artistic director of the "Neo-Baroque" conductorless Kontrapunktus Chamber Orchestra between 2015 and 2018 and took part in the recording of the debut album of the ensemble. In 2018, he founded the award-wining conductorless chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum, an ensemble dedicated to providing impassioned and engaging musical performances influenced by the bustling artistic mosaic of LA. He also records for the movie and TV industry.

A graduate of the New England Conservatory, with Donald Weilerstein, he also studied with Midori at the University of Southern California. Among many international festivals, he was invited to join star violinist Itzhak Perlman at his festival in NY, as well as residencies in Sarasota, FL and Israel. Mr. Gara has been named Artist in Residence 2019 at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, led by Prof. Antonio Damasio.

Antonio Lysy, an artist of international stature and a dedicated pedagogue, has performed as a soloist in major concert halls worldwide. He has appeared with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras of London, Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Zurich Tonhalle, the Zagreb Soloists, Orchestra di Padova e il Veneto, Israel Sinfonietta, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les Violions du Roi, and several other orchestras around the world. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sandor Vegh, and Kees Bakels, and continues to perform regularly both as a solo, and chamber music artist. 

Lysy enjoys exploring the versatility of the cello’s voice, from Baroque to electric, and is committed to projects which enrich his diverse interests in music:

The touring show he co-produced and directed, Te Amo, Argentina, premiered at BroadStage— a personal journey through the heart and soul of Argentina’s fascinating culture, featuring solo cello and chamber works, dance, film, and spoken word, met with widespread acclaim. Te Amo, Argentina is based on Lysy’s Latin Grammy award-winning CD on the Yarlung Records label - Antonio Lysy at the Broad - Music From Argentina, featuring the works of Piazzolla, Golijov, Ginastera, Bragato, and Schifrin. A review on Musicangle.com declares it “among the most beautiful recordings of cello and piano you are likely ever to hear”, and Absolute Sound recognized it as one of the 40 best recordings of all time.

Other highlights of his work include a multi-faceted recital, broadcast on live radio, celebrating Bach and the cello through performances on baroque, acoustic, and electric cellos at the Los Angeles County Museum of the Arts ; He produced and presented a multimedia concert with pianist and actor Jean Marchand, showcasing the history of his Carlo Tononi cello on its the 300th birthday; Most recently he performed and recorded the cycle of Bach Suites for solo cello, on a mid-summer’s evening, within the acoustically resonant T.E.U.C.L.A. sculpture by Richard Serra. This endeavor was born from an invitation three seasons ago to perform the same cycle at BroadStage. The sold-out performance included an ornamentation of the stage with stunning projections, inviting the audience to a new “delight of spirit” through the art of digital photography. Following that success he was asked to return to the Broad Stage for a performance of the cycle of Beethoven sonatas, with the pianist Tom Beghin. Beghin played on two fortepianos from Beethoven's time, for a journey through Beethoven's life, covering all three of the composer's major creative periods.

Antonio Lysy has recorded extensively for CBC Radio, BBC Radio, Classic FM, and other European radio networks. His live recording of solo cello repertoire by Bach, Berio, Henze, and Walton, released on the Pelléas label, is "...some of the most beautiful Bach ever heard" (La Presse, Montréal). In addition, he has recorded for the Claves, Dinemec Classics, and Fonè labels. In January 2012, he recorded and premiered the reworked Eric Zeisl cello concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia directed by Neal Stulberg. This cd, highly praised by Donald Rosenberg on Gramophone is also available on the Yarlung Records label.

Yarlung Records and Antonio partnered soon after in a unique recording of South American-connected compositions and arrangements. Titled South America, the nine compositions honor Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Gardel, Antonio's violinist father Alberto Lysy (with whom he recorded the Kodaly Duo in 2001), and Argentine bandoneon master Coco Trivisonno. Several works are recorded with ingenuous multi- tracking which, thanks to all-analog Sonorus Holographic Imaging technology, Antonio plays all the parts! For both Villa-Lobos' arrangement of Bach's Prelude and Casals' Les Rois Mages, Mr. Lysy created a virtual cello orchestra of 16–28 cellos playing 4–7 parts.

Antonio’s love and commitment to chamber music is demonstrated by his musical directorship and founding in 1989, of the annual Incontri in Terra di Siena Chamber Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy (www.itslafoce.org). Distinguished artists from around the globe take part in this idyllic summer retreat, which is crowned by performances in medieval fortresses, palazzi, and churches in the Southern Tuscan region. The series celebrated its 30th anniversary in the summer of 2018. Antonio invited his friend and colleague, the greatly admired italian pianist, Alessio Bax, to collaborate closely with him and act as Artistic Director for an undetermined term.

In 2003 Antonio accepted the position of Professor of Cello at University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to moving to the United States, he held a professorship at McGill University in Montréal. He was also, for a number of years, visiting professor at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland. Mr. Lysy appears regularly on prominent online platforms in ‘cello chats’, blogs and interviews, and shares his passion for teaching at international festivals in the summer such as the Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia, NUME in Cortona, Italy, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival in Canada.