“With his exuberant technical differentiation and, above all, his expressive diction, Steger was able to ignite flights of fancy, sometimes touching and warm, sometimes virtuosic with bravura, with recorders in various registers.”

That he is dubbed the “Paganini” and “magician of the recorder” or “the world’s leading recorder player” is not surprising. In order to live up to such high expectations, one requires not only astonishing technique, but also charisma, intellect and a special sensitivity for the music. Maurice Steger has been proving all of this to his audiences, inspiring with his intense tone and unstoppable energy in various concert formats all over the world.

As a soloist, conductor or both at once, he regularly performs with the top period instrument ensembles, such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, La Cetra Basel, Venice Baroque Orchestra, The English Concert, Il Pomo D’oro, and I Barocchisti. He also performs with leading modern orchestras such as the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, or the NDR Radiophilharmonie.

Chamber music plays a notable role in the richly varied spectrum of Maurice Steger’s artistic endeavors. With fellow musicians and friends such as Hille Perl, Avi Avital, Daniele Caminiti, Lee Santana, Naoki Kitaya, Mauro Valli, Sebastian Wienand, Sol Gabetta or the French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, he dedicates himself to a continuously updated repertoire of Early Music. Besides this, Maurice Steger also engages with new concert formats and contemporary compositions, as shown in projects with pianist Martin Stadtfeld or the Kuss Quartet. In 2021 Steger premiered three new pieces: A dining experience with Telemann by Johannes Fischer, Sei gutes Muts by Iris ter Schiphorst with the Kuss Quartet as well as the Sinonietta per archi by Massimiliano Matesic.

Maurice Steger loves the interaction between different cultures and getting to know other ways of working and interpretive approaches, working as a concert artist, teacher and juror, not only in Europe but throughout the world. He’s led tours of Asia and Australia with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Violins du Roy from Canada and the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He was the first recorder player from the West to perform with the Traditional Taipei Chinese Orchestra.

His commitment to musical education is also extremely important to him: besides the directorship of the Gstaad Baroque Academy at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, which he took over in 2013 in addition to diverse master classes, he invented the character of Tino Flautino in order to encourage young children to playfully engage with classical music. Tino Flautino’s newest adventure with his tomcat Leo will be presented in German, Swiss-German and Italian.

Through his own unending thirst for knowledge, he succeeds time and again to show how much there is still to be discovered about Baroque music. For example, on his recording Souvenirs, he presented works that he discovered in the private library of Count Harrach in Naples. His album Baroque Twitter with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the singer Nuria Rial was inspired by birdsong. Mr. Handel’s Dinner with La Cetra Barockorchester Basel was released in the spring of 2019 and reflects on Handel’s opera performances and especially their intermissions in London. In September 2023, Steger’s very personal Tribute to Bach, also recorded with La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, was released on Berlin Classics.

One wonders sometimes, where Maurice Steger gets all this energy with which he has helped the recorder to make a comeback, as Arte recently presented in a documentary The Recorder: A Comeback. But when you see how much love for the instrument, the music and the audience he puts into each of his many projects, it becomes clear: Maurice Steger is also carved out of very special wood.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Molina Visuals | Quote: Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 26th 2023
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“The charismatic conductor Conrad van Alphen breathed an impressive breath of fresh air into this truly symphonic
marathon.”

Conrad van Alphen is known as much for entrepreneurial spirit and depth of preparation as he is for performances that combine exceptional sensitivity, vision and freshness. Van Alphen’s interpretations stand for musical quality paired with extraordinary sensitivity, visionary power, musical farsightedness, and energetic freshness.

In 2000 Conrad van Alphen founded the Sinfonia Rotterdam. With its own concert series in De Doelen Rotterdam, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Nieuwe Kerke Den Haag, the orchestra has become an indispensable part of the Dutch cultural landscape. Under van Alphen’s direction, it developed into an internationally recognized ensemble and toured Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, China, and Russia.
Since the 2020/21 season, Conrad van Alphen has also been principal guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra Republic of North Macedonia.

Van Alphen was principal conductor of the Safonov State Philharmonic Orchestra for four years. He also performed regularly in Russia, for example with the Russian National Orchestra, in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the legendary Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

As a guest conductor, Conrad van Alphen has worked with major orchestras worldwide, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Brussels and Bogotá, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, the Stuttgart and Bochum Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He is not only considered an accomplished conductor of the symphonic and operatic repertoire, but also for his interpretations of cantatas, masses and oratorios such as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah or the requiems by Fauré, Verdi and Mozart. In addition, Conrad van Alphen is always open to contemporary works, crossover projects and the implementation of new ideas.

In the recording studio, the conductor has worked for the labels Channel Classics, Telarc, Talent Records, Cybele, ARS Production and Brilliant Classics. His CD of music by Joaquin Rodrigo with Sinfonia Rotterdam became Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice. Van Alphen publishes live recordings on YouTube and the Sinfonia Live label. For ARS, van Alphen conducts the North German Philharmonic and cellist Benjamin Kruithof with works by Rachmaninov and Glazunov.

Conrad van Alphen regularly works with internationally renowned soloists, including Benjamin Schmid, Ronald Brautigam, Alban Gerhardt, Simone Lamsma or Nikita Boriso-Glebky, Mikhail Pletnev, Nikolai Luganski or Alexei Volodin.

The conductor was born in 1963 in Pretoria, South Africa. After an extensive musical education, he moved to the Netherlands at the age of 26, where he was a member of the double bass section of the Hilversum Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Beethoven Academy Antwerp. He studied conducting in the class of Eri Klas and Roberto Benzi.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Marco Borggreve| Quotation: pieuvre.ca, January 11th 2018
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“Christian Zacharias is also remarkable as a conductor. He captures and transmits the energy of Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, bringing the ideal combination of suppleness, rigor and warmth. He makes the orchestra sound like one of the great German orchestras, with that deep and mysterious, rich and colorful sound that is representative of the German Romantic repertoire. The audience was thrilled!”

Zacharias is a narrator among the conductors and pianists of his generation. In each of his elaborate, detailed and clearly articulated interpretations, it’s clear what he means: Zacharias is interested in what lies behind the notes.

With a unique combination of integrity and individuality, brilliant linguistic expressiveness, deep musical understanding, and a sure artistic instinct, paired with his charismatic and engaging artistic personality, Christian Zacharias has established himself not only as a world-class pianist and conductor, but also as a musical thinker. Numerous acclaimed concerts with the world’s best orchestras and outstanding conductors as well as multiple honors and recordings characterize his international career.

Since 2021/2022 Christian Zacharias is Principal Guest Conductor at the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, as well as from 2020-2023 at the Orquestra Sinfonica Do Porto Casa da Musica. He is also Associate Conductor of the Orchestre National Auvergne Rhône-Alpes. In 2020, Zacharias was appointed Honorary Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest. In general, the Classical-Romantic repertoire forms an important musical focus, as in concerts with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Orchestre National du Toulouse, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra as well as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He is also a welcome guest with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra or the National Orchestra of Lyon.

Piano recitals, which are occasionally still part of the full calendar, take him to the metropolises of Europe, including Paris, London, Madrid, Essen, as well as the Schubertiade and Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse.

In addition to recitals, Zacharias offers his audience impressive musical insights in piano lectures on topics such as Why does Schubert sound like Schubert or Haydn, A Creation from Nothing?

A particular fondness of opera has led to him directing productions of Mozart’s La Clemenza the Tito and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène. The production of Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, which he conducted at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, was awarded the Prix de l’Europe Francophone 2014 by the Association Professionnelle de la Critique Théâtre, Musique et Danse in Paris.

Since 1990, the following films have been produced featuring Christian Zacharias: Domenico Scarlatti in Seville, Robert Schumann – the Poet Speaks (both for INA, Paris), Zwischen Bühne und Künstlerzimmer (for WDR-arte), De B comme Beethoven à Z comme Zacharias (for RTS, Switzerland) and the complete Beethoven piano concertos (for SSR-arte).

The musical work of Zacharias has been honored many times, for example with the Midem Classical Award Artist of the Year 2007, the Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French state and a tribute from Romania for his services to culture. In addition, he was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2016, and in 2017 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg.

Numerous internationally acclaimed recordings were made during his time as Principal Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Particularly noteworthy are the recordings of the complete Mozart piano concertos – awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc du Monde de la Musique and ECHO Klassik – and all Schumann symphonies. After almost twenty years, two albums with sonatas by Haydn and partitas and suites by Bach appeared with MDG in 2022/2023.

From 2015-2021, Christian Zacharias was chairman of the jury of the Clara Haskil Competition, and in 2018 president of the jury of the Geza Anda Competition where he also conducted the final concert.

2023/2024 season | Photo: Constanze Zacharias | Quote: Crescendo Magazine, April 11th 2023
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“Virtuosic technique combined with a musical spirit that questions everything. Zehetmair finds answers where other musicians don’t even see the question.”

Thomas Zehetmair knows how to combine his multifaceted musical predilection like nobody else. He enjoys an outstanding reputation worldwide not only as a violinist, but also as a conductor and chamber musician.

He maintains close musical collaboration with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Poznań Philharmonic as well as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, with the Seattle Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra as well as the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Since the 2019/2020 season, Zehetmair is principal conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and assumed the same role with the Orchestre National Auvergne Rhône-Alpes in the 2020/2021 season. Zehetmair has also been principal conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra since May 2022.

From 2012 to 2015 he held this position with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and from 2016 to 2021 with the Musikkollegium Winterthur. From 2002 to 2014, Thomas Zehetmair led the Royal Northern Sinfonia and developed it into one of England’s leading orchestras. As Conductor Laureate, he will remain associated with the orchestra in the future. The extremely successful collaboration is documented by a number of recordings. Just released in 2023 is Casken’s double concerto That Subtle Knot, recorded with Ruth Killius, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Bartok’s Viola Concerto.

Thomas Zehetmair has recorded most of the violin repertoire and many of his recordings have received multiple awards. These recordings include Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Heinz Holliger (Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2009), the 24 Paganini Caprices (Best List Prize of the German Record Critics 2009, Midem Classic Award 2010), a recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Hallé Orchestra Manchester under Sir Mark Elder (Gramophone Award 2010), as well as Mozart’s violin concertos with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, which is referred to as a reference recording. More recent recordings include the four Brahms symphonies and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 with the Musikkollegium Winterthur as well as J. S. Bach’s six solo sonatas and partitas.

Furthermore, the recording of Manto and Madrigals with his duo partner Ruth Killius was released in 2011 by ECM, presenting contemporary works for violin and viola.

He is also a founding member of the Zehetmair Quartet, with which he was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the city of Hanau in 2014 for its outstanding musical achievements.

In 2023, he will premiere his own composition for string trio Passacaglia, Burleske and Meditation in Switzerland.

For his diverse artistic activities, Thomas Zehetmair has received the certificate of honor of the Prize of the German Record Critics and the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize of the State of Styria, among many other accolades. He also holds honorary doctorates from the Liszt School of Music in Weimar and Newcastle University.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Wolfgang Schmidt | Quote: BBC Radio 3
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“Barto is audibly interested in the spirit of the piano concerto and not in himself”

The connection between poetry and music is for Tzimon Barto of utmost importance and meaning, both as a pianist and in his writings. His musical interpretations are exceedingly personal and unconventional. They captivate audiences with his zeal, exquisite sense of tonal color, subtle nuances and superb technique. A colorful, surpassingly varied range of expressive elements from feather-light melodic lines to expressive chord series characterize his performance.

As one of the foremost American pianists, Tzimon Barto celebrated his international breakthrough in the mid-1980’s when he performed at the Wiener Musikverein and the Salzburger Festspiele at the invitation of Herbert von Karajan. Tzimon Barto has performed with almost every major international orchestra and is a regular guest at the most renowned festivals.

Highlights of previous seasons include his performances at La Scala Milan as well as his Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In 2016/17, as part of his residency with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, he played Ravel’s Piano Concerto on an extremely successful tour in Spain. As part of the Présences Festival 2019 in Paris, Tzimon Barto performed with the Orchestre National de France, playing Rihm’s Second Piano Concerto, a work dedicated to him and premiered in 2014 at the Salzburg Festival together with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach. After focusing on the piano concertos of Brahms and Bartók, he is currently concentrating on the less frequently performed Dvořák concerto, among others.

Tzimon Barto’s extensive discography includes albums featuring works by Haydn, Rameau, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Brahms. His latest releases are dedicated to the Ives Concord Sonata, the Busoni version of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, as well as the Paganini Variations of Liszt, Brahms, Lutoslawski and Rachmaninov. The seldom heard Piano Concerto by Hans Pfitzner in E-flat major has been released in 2013 under the Dresdner Staatskapelle label conducted by Christian Thielemann. naïve published the first book of J. S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier digitally in the spring of 2023, with the second book to follow in the fall.

Born and raised in Florida, Tzimon Barto received his first piano lessons from his grandmother at the age of five. He studied under the famous music-pedagogue and pianist Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where he won the Gina Bachauer Competition in two consecutive years.

In 2006 he initiated The Barto Prize, promoting contemporary piano compositions in an international competition, and integrated the winning compositions in his recital programs.

Tzimon Barto speaks five languages fluently, reads ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew and is learning Mandarin. His book A Lady of Greek Origin was published in 2001 and again in 2008 in a revised version, and a stage version was performed in Frankfurt and Vienna. In 2010, his novel Harold Flanders was published.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Malolm Yawn | Quote: Berliner Morgenpost, March 2 2020
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“The Viennese pianist, one of the countries real hidden gems, was enchanting with his soft, yet energetic touch, with expression full of poetry and excellent technique. The third movement, which points far into the Romantic period, sounded particularly beautiful.”

Till Fellner’s international career began in 1993 winning First Prize at the renowned Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey, Switzerland. Since then, he has been a sought-after guest with major orchestras and in the great music centers of Europe, USA and Japan as well as at numerous renowned festivals.

As soloist, he has appeared with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

The conductors with whom he has performed include Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, Kirill Petrenko and Hans Zender, among others.

In the field of chamber music, Till Fellner regularly collaborates with the violinist Viviane Hagner, British tenor Mark Padmore and the Belcea Quartet. In 2023 he has been touring Japan with mezzo-soprano Anna Lucia Richter.

In recent years, Till Fellner has devoted himself intensely to two milestones of the piano repertoire: Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. He played a seven-part cycle with all Beethoven sonatas in New York, Washington, Tokyo, London, Paris and Vienna. Till Fellner has premiered works by Kit Armstrong, Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Larcher, Alexander Stankovski and Hans Zender.

The ECM label has released the First Book of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Two & Three-Part Inventions of J. S. Bach, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano as well as chamber music by Harrison Birtwistle. In Fall 2016, a recording of the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Belcea Quartet for Alpha Classics was released, which won the Diapason d’Or de l’Annee. In Fall 2018, ECM released Till Fellner In Concert, a recording of live performances.

Till Fellner studied piano in his hometown Vienna with Helene Sedo-Stadler. Further studies with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg and Claus-Christian Schuster followed.

Till Fellner teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts and University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

In 2019, he was the president of the jury of the 62nd Busoni International Piano Competition in Bozen.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Gabriela Brandenstein| Quote: DrehPunktKultur, September 10th 2021
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“Jean-Paul Gasparian hits the right note, never sparingly, but never overdoing it either. It is a squaring of the circle of musical perfection and artistic imagination that come together in this significant interpretation.”

Jean-Paul Gasparian is prizewinner at among others the 2014 Bremen European Piano Competition, the 2013 Lyon International Piano Competition and the 2013 Hastings International Concerto Competition. He was also a semi-finalist in the Geza Anda Competition in 2015, and in 2020 he was a finalist at Victoires de la Musique France. In 2013, he also received the 1st prize at the Concours Général des Lycéens de France (French national competition).

In 2019 he won the Prix Therry Scherz at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, which enabled him to record Babadjanian’s Heroic Ballad and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, which was released by claves in spring 2022. The recording received excellent reviews from the press.

At a young age he already brings a wide-ranging repertoire to the stage, including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Babadjanian, Khachaturian, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Gershwin. Gasparian performs with orchestras such as the Orchestre National d’ Île-de-France, the Bremen Philharmonic, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Orchestre de l ‘Opéra de Rouen, the Orchestre de Normandie and the Valencia Symphonic Orchestra. In 2022 Gasparian made his debut with Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France under Ilyich Rivas at the Paris Philharmonie. Unusual repertoire brought him to the stage in 2022/23: with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France he plays Howard Shore’s (known for Lord of the Rings) Ruin and Memory, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra as well as Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

Gasparian has appeared as guest at major festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, La Roque d’Anthéron, Nohant Festival Chopin, Montpellier-Festival, Piano aux Jacobins Toulouse, Festival Chopin de Bagatelle, Lisztomanias, and Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo. In summer 2020, he performed selected Beethoven sonatas as part of the Festival Intégrales des Sonates de Beethoven by Radio France. He has given performances in venues such as the Salzburg Mozarteum, Tonhalle Zürich, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Glocke Bremen, Belgrade Kolarac, the Museum of Modern Art in Tel-Aviv, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Maison de la Radio, the Salle Cortot and the Salle Gaveau in Paris.

The Classica magazine has ranked Jean-Paul Gasparian among the ten most promising young pianists of his generation. His debut CD with a Russian program around Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev was released in February 2018 on Évidence Classics and has received rave reviews. With his second solo album, released in 2019 and dedicated to the works of Chopin, as well as his third record with works by Rachmaninov, he yet again proves that he is a musical talent that you absolutely must keep an eye on. Gasparian dedicated his first album for the naïve label to Debussy.

Gasparian studied at the Conservatoire National de Paris under Olivier Gardon, Jacques Rouvier, Michel Beroff, Laurent Cabasso, Claire Désert and Michel Dalberto. He took part in international piano master classes with Pavel Gililov, Elisso Virsaladze and Tatiana Zelikman. In June 2018 he completed his artist diploma with Prof. Vanessa Latarche at the Royal College of Music in London.

Since September 2016, Gasparian is Artist in Residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation. He is supported by the Safran Foundation for Music and is a Steinway Artist.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Bernard Martinez | Quote: crescendo magazin, July 17th 2023
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“Under the hands of the pianist, who has long since played himself into the upper league of his instrument, each piece becomes a deeply moving character piece in which the essence of the music combines with that of the performer to produce new insights.”

By the age of seven, his professional aspirations were already clear: to be a concert pianist. Early on, Martin Stadtfeld studied the rules and secrets of counterpoint and harmony, then entered as a young student into the class of Lev Natochenny in Frankfurt, and won first competitions , among other at the Busoni Competition Bozen. The sensational victory at the Leipzig Bach Competition in 2002 became the starting point of a career that has taken Martin Stadtfeld to the most important festivals and the major concert halls and orchestras.

Recitals with the music of Bach, the sonatas of Beethoven, German Romanticism and orchestral invitations with the piano concertos of Mozart to Rachmaninov have taken Martin Stadtfeld all over the world in the last two decades.

During this time, he has recorded 26 CDs for Sony Classical, which are award-winning and acclaimed by international critics. Again and again, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the cornerstone of this impressive discography. Recordings of the Goldberg Variations, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the music of the young Bach are made. At the same time, this intense preoccupation points the way to recordings of Chopin’s Etudes, works by Mozart and Beethoven, and German Romanticism, bathing this music in a new light.

Almost inevitably, this courage for personal interpretation also leads to original compositions and free arrangements. Händel Variations, Piano Songbook, Homage to Bach, Deutsche Volkslieder, Genesis, Baroque Colours are titles that make Martin Stadtfeld’s very personal involvement with music come alive. Available on CD, as a stream, but also as music books, these are published with great success by Schott Music.

Martin Stadtfeld has also been committed to music education for many years: Countless visits to schools, concerts for children and young people, CD radio plays designed to make it easier for children and adults to enter the world of classical music bear witness to this.

Martin Stadtfeld will now put his broad experience to good use as a professor of piano: He has been appointed to the University of the Arts in Bremen starting in fall 2023.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Uwe Arens | Quote: Trierischer Volksfreund, July 18 2023
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“Staier played the instrument with such a wealth of colors, so expressive, cantabile, sometimes profound, rumbling, or even introverted.”

The pianist Andreas Staier first became world famous as a harpsichordist. After studying with Lajos Rovatkay and Ton Koopman, he worked for three years with the Musica Antiqua Köln. But Staier is far more than a virtuoso representative of so-called historical performance practice. Rather, one could describe him as a passionate sound seeker. Each work that the pianist undertakes is not only analyzed in terms of its structure, but also explores the historical situation in which it originated. Through his meticulous approach, he has opened up completely new interpretive approaches and made surprising listening experiences possible. This is why he also works with instrument makers to explore special nuances of sound – be it works of the 16th century such as the English virginalists, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the Diabelli Variations of the late Beethoven or the last piano works by Brahms. Staier has also always turned to lesser known composers when he could discover original aspects in their works, such as Sebastián de Albero or Josef Antonín Štěpán.

His commitment does not end with the music of the 19th century. This is shown by Staier’s collaboration with the French composer Brice Pauset (b. 1965) from whom several compositions have been commissioned. The Kontra Sonata (2000), a hybrid of Schubert’s Sonata in A minor D 845 and Pauset’s Kontrakompositionen is a prime example of Staier’s epoch-crossing musical thinking. Staier himself used the time during the Corona Pandemic to finish his composition Sechs Cembalostücke which he puts in connection with Bach’s Preludium and Fugue E Major of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2. The work was premiered at the Philharmonie in Cologne in January 2023, will be published by Editions Lemoine, and will be released by Outhere Music in 2024.

All this is documented on numerous recordings, almost all of which have received prestigious awards. Staier himself has often been honored for his work. He was Artist in Residence at the AMUZ in Antwerp from 2012-2016, and between 2011 and 2021 at the Opéra de Dijon.

Whether at the harpsichord or the fortepiano, Staier performs at numerous renowned music festivals worldwide with ensembles such as the Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin or the Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música Porto with which he recorded À Portuguesa with works by Spanish composers for harmonia mundi in October 2018. For the Beethoven jubilee, Staier presented his album Ein neuer Weg – Beethoven, based on the three op. 31 piano sonatas and the variations 34 and 35, which received rave reviews. His recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 is considered a reference recording, and he has since released Book 1. Together with Roel Dieltiens he also released Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas op. 102 and the Bagatelles op. 119 & 126.

Longtime musical partners include the pianists Alexander Melnikov, Christine Schornsheim and Tobias Koch, the violinists Isabelle Faust and Petra Müllejans or the tenor Christoph Prégardien. Andreas Staier maintains a close collaboration with Daniel Sepec and the cellist Roel Dieltiens, with whom he has released an album of the Schubert piano trios amongst others.

Staier’s extensive interests and abilities have made him a much sought-after educator from an early age. In addition to masterclasses worldwide, he was Professor of Harpsichord and Fortepiano at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis from 1987-1995. During the 2017/18 season, Andreas Staier was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

For several years, Andreas Staier also has been performing as a conductor and orchestra leader.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Josep Molina | Quote: General-Anzeiger Bonn, February 5th 2019
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“And then there is this musician: Jonian Ilias Kadesha. Between you and me, one of the best violinists I’ve heard in recent years. Hommage à J.S.B., that’s the name of the album, without orchestra, without piano, just Kadesha and his violin […]. Kadesha’s interpretation is one sounding contradiction: vulnerable and strong, flexible and resigned, melancholic and with a diabolical mischievousness in his neck”

Jonian Ilias Kadesha is a Renaissance musician in the diversity and creativity of his intellectual interests and music-making. His studies in philosophy and rhetoric influence the stylistic accuracy of his interpretations, whether of early or contemporary music, and his rich imagination is clear both in the sound worlds he creates and the projects he curates as soloist, player–director and chamber musician.

As a soloist he has performed throughout Europe, including with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Sir András Schiff, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Jonathan Bloxham, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Ryan Bancroft and Slovenian Philharmonic conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov. He has given recitals in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Louvre, Berlin Philharmonie and Salle Moliere Lyon.

Kadesha is a committed chamber musician, collaborating with renowned musicians such as Martha Argerich, Steven Isserlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Nicolas Altstaedt and Antje Weithaas. He is co-founder of the award-winning Trio Gaspard, which regularly appears at festivals and venues around the world. He is also a member of the Kelemen Quartet.

He is increasingly in demand with leading chamber orchestras as play/director and has worked with the Netherlands, Irish and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, Aurora Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and London Mozart Players. His approach to the classical orchestral canon is informed by his chamber music playing and he often improvises his own cadenzas and ornamentation.

Kadesha’s curiosity for repertoire is wide-ranging as demonstrated by recordings he has made for Linn Records to which he signed in 2021. His debut solo album featured Bach’s Partita in D minor alongside the premiere commercial recording of Helena Winkelman’s Ciaccona and works by Biber, Schnittke, Kurtág and Auerbach. His follow-up recording will be released in 2024 and includes the premiere recording of Giovanni Sollima’s violin concerto TYCHE with CHAARTS Chamber Artists. With pianist Nicholas Rimmer he recorded works by Enescu, Ravel and Skalkottas for Cavi Music and with cellist Vashti Hunter he recorded a disc of violin and cello repertoire in collaboration with Deutschland Radio.

In 2017 Kadesha founded and assumed the role of Artistic Director of the Caerus Chamber Ensemble, a flexible chamber ensemble made up of outstanding instrumentalists from the young generation of European musicians.

Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, Kadesha studied from a young age at Musikhochschule Wurzburg, followed by Kronberg Academy, where he completed his Masters in 2020. He has studied with Antje Weithaas, Salvatore Accardo, Grigori Zhislin and Ulf Wallin. He studied chamber music with Hatto Beyerle in Hannover and has taken part in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Leonidas Kavakos and Eberhard Feltz.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Kaupo Kikkas | Quote: Deutschlandfunk Kultur, July 8th 2022
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“Ruth Killius shines in a revelatory performance of Bartók’s Viola Concerto.”

Ruth Killius’ extraordinary ability to use her instrument to revive the wealth of viola literature from the Classical to the Modern Age is without equal. The versatility of her playing has bestowed her instrument with new meaning.

Particularly through her interest and commitment to contemporary music, Ruth Killius, who studied with Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian, has succeeded in establishing the viola as an integral part of the musical 21st century and in expanding the standard repertoire for her instrument. She collaborated in the performance of numerous original premieres e.g. the Brian Ferneyhough String Trio together with members of Geneva’s Ensemble Contrechamps as well as in Elliott Carter’s Oboe Quartet with Heinz Holliger. Holliger wrote his double concerto for violin, viola and a small orchestra, a commission from the Salzburg Festival, for her. The performance of the original premiere of John Casken‘s double concerto That Subtle Knot, dedicated to the duo Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius, together with the Royal Northern Sinfonia attracted widespread attention. In the spring of 2023, the work was released paired with Bartók’s Viola Concerto on ECM New Series.

Ruth Killius can be heard on the international concert podiums with solo and double concertos and as a chamber musician. She has made guest appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Russian National Youth Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and repeatedly in Gateshead and Clermont-Ferrand. Ruth Killius was Artist in Residence with the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2016/17 season.

Together with Thomas Zehetmair, Ruth Killius formed the Zehetmair Quartet in 1994, which is now considered one of the world’s leading string quartets. A recording featuring Hindemith’s String Quartet No. 4 and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5 was distinguished with the Diapason d’Or de l’Année of the year. In 2013, the ensemble released a recording dedicated to Beethoven, Bruckner, Hartmann and Holliger.

For ECM, Ruth Killius has recorded a CD featuring works by Elliott Carter and Isang Yun together with Heinz Holliger and Thomas Demenga. The recording released under the Glossa label featuring Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen is considered to be a reference recording. In April 2018, her latest recording of all Hindemith sonatas for viola was published by NoMadMusic.

The duo Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius can be heard in numerous music centers. The widely regarded album Manto and Madrigals, inspired by Scelsi’s Manto for a singing violist featuring works of Bartók, Holliger, Martinů et al. was released on ECM in March 2011.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Jean-François Mariotti | Quote: Radio France, March 5 2023
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“Poltéra […] knows how to make his instrument sing. […] It’s Poltéra’s direct, glowing golden tone and smooth flow that’s out front and centre. Always there’s the impression of silky connective tissue between his gracefully articulated notes.”

As one of the most impressive cellists of his generation, Poltéra’s performance focuses on music alone: without excessive gestures, he reveals the essence of a work. His unique timbre is characteristic of his interpretations, masterfully adapted to each epoch and style.

Already at a very young age, the Swiss Christian Poltéra gravitated to the cello. He began his studies with Nancy Chumachenco and then continued with Boris Pergamenschikov and Heinrich Schiff in Salzburg and Vienna. In 2004, he was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Prize and named BBC New Generation Artist. As a Rising Star two years later, he was able to present himself to audiences in all the great European concert halls.

Invitations from renowned orchestras take him all over the world. He has made guest appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Los Angeles and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchester de Paris, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic. His conducting partners have included Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Paavo Järvi and Andris Nelsons.

In addition to his solo career, Poltéra devotes himself to chamber music. A number of recordings (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Hindemith, Schoenberg) document the unique interplay of the unsurpassed Zimmermann Trio with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit. In a trio with Esther Hoppe and Ronald Brautigam, he plays historically-informed or modern programs in European centers such as Edinburgh, Amsterdam, London and Zurich. In addition, he performed with colleagues such as Mitsuko Uchida, Isabelle Faust, Gidon Kremer, Lars Vogt, Leif Ove Andsnes and Kathryn Stott, as well as with the Chiaroscuro, Hagen, Auryn and Zehetmair string quartets. He was Artist in Residence at the 2023 Schwetzinger Festspiele and played in specially arranged chamber concerts.

He is also frequently heard performing at major international festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne, Schwarzenberg (Schubertiade), Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Schleswig-Holstein and London (Proms). In addition, Christian Poltéra presented the cycle with Bach’s Cello Suites in Brussels, Vevey and as Artist in Residence at the Schwäbischen Frühling.

Christian Poltéra’s much acclaimed recordings reflect his versatile and extensive repertoire. Among the award-winning CD recordings (awarded the BBC Music Award, Gramophone Choice, and Diapason D’Or de l’Année) are the cello concertos of Haydn, Dvořák, Walton, Ligeti, Barber, Dutilleux, Lutosławski, Honegger, Hindemith, Shostakovich, Martinů and Martin, as well as sonatas of Mendelssohn, Fauré and Saint-Saëns. This season, a recording with Ronald Brautigam and Brahms’ sonatas will be released, as well as an album dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev, that features Juho Puhjonen next to the Sinfonia Lahti under the direction of Anja Bihlmaier.

Since 2013, Christian Poltéra is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Days in the mountain church of Büsingen. He is also a lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and regularly gives masterclasses.
He plays an Antonio Casini cello built in 1675 and the legendary Mara cello of Antonio Stradivari from 1711.

Season 2023/2024| Photo: Irene Zandel | Quote: Gramophone, November 2022
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“In this context, the performer’s chordal playing proves to be of unsurpassed brilliance, starting with the wonderfully powerful, finely graduated bow hand and ending with flawless intonation. It seems as if there were at least four hands at work at the same time, and it is astonishing how natural the cellist, with a relaxed smile on his lips, lets the bow bounce over the strings in a playful and spirited manner, as if he wanted to dance with his instrument.”

Gustav Rivinius is the first and only German musician to be awarded a First Prize Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In addition, he received a special prize for the best interpretation of a Tchaikovsky composition, outperforming all other competitors. Since then he has appeared with leading musicians, orchestras and conductors around the world.

Among the many high points of an illustrious career, Gustav Rivinius has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lorin Maazel, Ingo Metzmacher and Hans Zender. In celebrations marking the re-opening of the Spanish Hall at Prague Castle, Gustav Rivinius joined the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Vaclav Neumann, and in a gala marking the 50th anniversary of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, where he has since been invited back as soloist many times.

In the US, Gustav Rivinius has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and with orchestras in Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Washington D.C. and with the Houston Symphony. In Seoul, he performed with the KBS Symphony Orchestra and in Beijing with the National Ballet Orchestra. He has worked together with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Christoph Eschenbach and Dmitri Kitajenko. He has also played alongside orchestras of Lisbon, Toulouse, Lyon, the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio Orchestra, as well as in Lucerne with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. Gustav Rivinius has appeared with all of Germany’s radio symphony orchestras as well as with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Leipziger Gewandhausorchester and the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin.

Along with his solo work, Gustav Rivinius devotes himself chamber music. He plays regularly alongside his brothers in the Rivinius Piano Quartet and does recitals with his brother Paul at the piano. Gustav Rivinius is also an annual participant in the Heimbach Spannungen festival, where he performs alongside his muscial friends Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Isabelle Faust and Sharon Kam, and in numerous festival CD recordings.

Rivinius founded the Gasparo da Saló Trio, the Bartholdy String Quintet and the Tammuz Piano Quartet, which recorded both piano quartets by composer George Enescu for the cpo label. This label also released Gustav Rivinius’ performance of the Cello Concerto by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari accompanied by the Frankfurt Radio Sympony Orchstra under Alan Francis, and Henze’s Ode to the West Wind featuring the RSO Saarbrücken conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewki was released by Arte Nova. Gustav Rivinius recorded the Brahms Clarinet Trio along with Sharon Kam and Martin Helmchen for Berlin Classics.

For many years Gustav Rivinius has been a Professor at the University of Music in Saarbrücken. He is co-founder of the Kammermusiktage Mettlach and thus has influenced the musical landscape of his native Saarland for over 30 years. He teaches a number of masterclasses regularly, including at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and is a regular juror at major music competitions, including the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Jean M. Laffitau | Quote: Wochenblatt, February 14th 2022
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“Born in 1997 in Vienna, Dominik Wagner takes Bottesini’s tonal beauty, vocal and melodic attractiveness so passionately serious, and masters the required artistry with such breathy lightness that one would like to think the double bass is the softest-sounding and most virtuosic string instrument.”

Dominik Wagner aims to liberate his instrument from the shadowy existence of the cello and present new facets of the double bass. He succeeds not only with an engaging stage presence, impressive virtuosity and vocal melodic delivery, but also through his tireless efforts to expand the repertoire, whether through commissions or the search for rarities, he makes the double bass sound in a new variety. For example, together with his father, the composer Wolfram Wagner, he arranged Dvořák’s fragments of the Cello Concerto in A major into the Double Bass Concerto in D major, which he premiered at the KKL Lucerne in the summer of 2023.

In just his mid-20s, Wagner is a scholarship recipient of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and an ECHO Klassik winner. In 2022 he was awarded the Opus Klassik as Young Talent of the Year. He has also won prizes in almost all double bass competitions, including the Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Solo Competition, the ARD International Music Competition, the Fanny Mendelssohn Price and the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition.

Dominik Wagner has already performed with renowned orchestras such as the Camarata Salzburg, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra or the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and in concert halls in New York (Carnegie Hall), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Vienna (Musikverein and Konzerthaus), Munich (Herkulessaal) and Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), among others. He is associated with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra as a Young Artist. He is also a regular in the United States with orchestral concerts, solo recitals, chamber music and master classes.

In 2021 Wagner’s first solo CD Giovanni Bottesini – Revolution of Bass was released by Berlin Classics. Chapters – A Double Bass Story, a recital recording together with Lauma Skride, was also released by Berlin Classics in 2023. Both the album and the concert programs feature works ranging from Bach and Schubert to Piazolla and Mancini, showcasing Wagner’s entire musical range.

In addition to his solo activities, Wagner is a passionate chamber musician and is constantly searching for new timbres through new orchestrations. This has resulted in a duo with jazz double bassist Georg Breinschmid, as well as a clarinet trio with Sebastian Manz and Danae Dörken. In 23/24 he will perform in a bass quartet and release a corresponding recording.

Dominik Wagner was initially trained as a cellist before switching to the double bass in 2007. His 4 years in the concert choir of the Vienna Boys Choir were a formative musical influence. In addition, he regularly gives master classes in Europe and the USA.

He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Josef Niederhammer and Mag. Werner Fleischmann from 2009 to 2015, and from 2015-2022 with Prof. Dorin Marc at the HfM Nuremberg. Since 2023 he is student of the Professional Studies Programme at Kronberg Academy. In addition he already gives master classes in Europe and the USA.

Since the fall of 2023, he has held a professorship for double bass at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Maria Frodl| Quote: Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 6th 2021
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“Marc Gruber shows here all the possibilities of the horn, with convincingly varied expression, tonal and dynamic nuances through the use of the mute, and astonishes the audience with his long breath in broad melodic arcs.”

Born in 1993, Marc Gruber discovered the horn at the age of 4. Now, thirty years later, he stands as a model of virtuosic, timeless interpretations and richly nuanced performances.

Marc Gruber won Second Prize at the International ARD Competition (no First Prize was awarded), receiving also the Brüder-Busch-Sonderpreis as well as the Audience Prize. In 2013, he was named a fellow of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund. He is a prizewinner at the Lions European Music Competition, the Süddeutsche Chamber Music Competition and in 2010 was named fellow of the Internationale Musikakademie Frankfurt. He is also the first-ever brass musician to win the Debut um elf Prize.

As a soloist, Marc Gruber has appeared with the Bochumer Symphoniker, Bavarian and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Prague Radio Orchestra, the Düsseldorf Symphony and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. With this orchestra, he made his debut recording performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for four solo winds and orchestra. In summer 2018, Marc Gruber made his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Antonio Méndez as part of the Debut in Deutschland Kultur series, performing Glière’s Horn Concerto. In May 2022 he stepped in at German Hornsound for the world premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Symphony No. 10 Æris for four horns and orchestra in Bochum. In Linz, he performs Ethyl Smyth’s Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra with Francesca Dega under Markus Poschner.

Marc Gruber is Solo Horn of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra since April 2016. He previously held the same position with the Beethovenorchester Bonn from 2014-2016, the youngest ever solo horn in the orchestra. He’s toured extensively with orchestras such as the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the European Union Youth Orchestra in China, Japan, Korea and all over Europe.

Gruber is a permanent member of the Monet Quintett, which received a scholarship from the German Music Competition 2016 and was awarded a special prize. In 2017, the quintet was a laureate at the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and has since performed all over Germany and Europe. The quintet released its debut recording on the CAvi-music label, featuring works from Dubugnon, Taffanel, Holst and Françaix. As a chamber musician, Marc Gruber has performed with renowned ensembles and soloists such as the Schumann Quartett, the Linos Ensemble, the Mannheim String Quartet and hr-Brass at national and international festivals.

Marc Gruber was a young student of Professor Joachim Pöltl in Düsseldorf and then continued studies with Professor Paul van Zelm in Cologne. Further tutelage came from Hermann Baumann, Erich Penzel, Prof. Christian Lampert and Froydis Ree Wekre.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Philippe Schwarz | Quote: Nürnberger Zeitung, April 20th 2023
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“Her technical mastery on this delicate instrument is so great that she can give free rein to her strong musicality. Her playing has drive and the demanding solo part, characterized by many intermittent jumps, came so easily through the tight windings of her horn, as though she was singing us a song.”

Hailed for her exceptional talent and virtuosity, hornist Marie-Luise Neunecker has already achieved worldwide success. She has built a successful international career and is much in demand as soloist and chamber musician.

During her tenure as principal horn of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1989, she attracted attention as prize winner at several prestigious international competitions such as the German Music Competition in Bonn (1982), the ARD competition in Munich (1983) and the Concert Artists’ Guild Competition in New York (1986). Today, she is invited to the world’s most renowned concert venues. In 2013, Marie-Luise Neunecker was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize.

Besides being a successful soloist with ensembles such as the radio symphony orchestras of the NDR, SWR, MDR, hr, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna Philharmonic as well as the Bamberg Symphony, Marie-Luise Neunecker also appears regularly as a chamber musician. She regularly works with partners such as Christian Tetzlaff, Tobias Feldmann, Lars Vogt, Antje Weithaas, Silke Avenhaus, András Schiff, Martha Argerich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, as well as with the Zehetmair Quartet.

She frequently appears as guest chamber musician and soloist at the most important festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Risør Festival as well as at the Wiener Festwochen.

György Ligeti wrote his Hamburg Concerto for Marie-Luise Neunecker, which she premiered in January 2001. Since then, she has performed the concerto in several countries, including with the Aurora Orchestra in London. In September 2020, she presented the concerto in its namesake city of Hamburg at the Elbphilharmonie, and recorded it with the Asko Ensemble and Reinberg de Leeuw for the Ligeti Edition on Warner Classics.

Her numerous recordings, awarded with prizes such as the ECHO Klassik and a Grammy Award nomination, have not only demonstrated her outstanding quality as an artist and her exceptional musical versatility, they have also contributed to a wider knowledge of horn repertory of various epochs. She released the Strauss Concertos with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ingo Metzmacher and Britten’s Horn Serenade with tenor Ian Bostridge. Other recordings include the Hindemith concerto, and horn concertos by Russian composers Reinhold Glière, Alexander Glazunov and Vissarion Shebalin. As a chamber musician she has released recordings of the horn trios by Brahms with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Wolfgang Sawallisch, a recording with works from Othmar Schoeck, Charles Koechlin and Ethel Smyth and most recently, a recording with works by Hindemith, Kirchner, Brahms, Beethoven and Schumann with Lars Vogt at the piano.

Marie-Luise Neunecker is for many years Professor of Horn at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and travels all over the world to give masterclass

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Andreas Knapp | Quote: Die Welt, June 23 2001
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Daniela Koch | Flute
Johanna Stier | Oboe
Nemorino Scheliga | Clarinet
Theo Plath | Bassoon
Marc Gruber | Horn

“A magnificent interaction with perfect technique and musical wit.”

Named after the French impressionist painter Claude Monet, this young ensemble stands for a colourful sound – just as the paintings of its namesake are vibrant and expressive.

In 2014, the musicians, who already knew each other through the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, founded the ensemble during their studies. They now perform regularly at prestigious festivals, such as the Heidelberger Frühling, the Davos Festival or in concert halls such as the Essen Philharmonic Hall.

In addition to winning a prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Lyon, the ensemble was awarded two scholarships at the German Music Competition and was included in the German National Selection of Concerts by Young Artists in 2016 and 2019.

All five musicians hold positions as section principals in renowned orchestras, including the Bamberg and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and have won prizes in national and international competitions.

Daniela Koch | Flute
won first prize at the most important competition for flute, the Kobe International Flute Competition, at the age of 19, and second prize at the ARD Competition in the following year. Since then she has made a name for herself as a sought-after soloist and chamber musician at numerous festivals (including Lucerne, Davos and Rheingau). Since 2011, Daniela Koch has been solo Flute with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and, in addition to master classes, also teaches at the HfM Nürnberg and UdK Essen.

Johanna Stier | Oboe
was a member of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for two years and plays as a guest in orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. Since 2019 she has been principal Oboe at the NDR Radio Philharmonic in Hanover.

Nemorino Scheliga | Clarinet
studied with Norbert Kaiser in Stuttgart and played for three years as principal Clarinet at the State Opera there until 2020. In the same position, he is a welcome guest at the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Bavarian State Orchestra. Since 2022 he has been assistant principal Clarinet of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.

Theo Plath | Bassoon
has been principal Bassoon with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2019, and is much in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, making guest appearances at prestigious festivals. He has won numerous prizes, most recently at the ARD Competition in Munich.

Marc Gruber | Horn
is a winner of the ARD Competition, where he was awarded second prize along with the audience prize in 2016. Many performances as a soloist, including in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall followed. Since 2016 he has been principal horn player of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, having previously held the same position as the youngest horn player with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Studioline| Quote: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, September 28 2022
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Nicholas Rimmer | Piano
Jonian Ilias Kadesha | Violin
Vashti Hunter | Violoncello

 

“Heartbreakingly honest, true to style and rich in color, with transparency and good agogics. This trio belongs to another league.”

Trio Gaspard has championed the entire breadth of piano trio repertoire to become one of the most sought-after trios of its generation, praised for its unique and fresh approach to the score. As well as exploring well-known classics, the players work with contemporary composers and research seldom-played masterpieces, sharing their discoveries with audiences at prestigious venues around the world.

Their curiosity for uncovering repertoire has led to recent performances of Ethyl Smyth’s Piano Trio in D minor at the BBC Proms, broadcast live by the BBC, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann rarely performed Présence: Ballet Blanc, alongside dancer Luka Fritsch, recorded live at the Pierre Boulez Saal and released on the trio’s “Live in Berlin” CD, in cooperation with Deutschlandradio.

Also committed to commissioning new works, the trio has launched an extensive project to commission composers such as Olli Mustonen, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Helena Winkelmann, Sally Beamish, Kit Armstrong, Johannes Fischer and Leonid Gorokhov to write companion pieces to Haydn’s piano trios. For its debut project with Chandos Records, the group is currently recording these works alongside Haydn’s originals. The second instalment of the project was released in 2023 to great critical acclaim and The Strad wrote of the first volume, “It’s truly a delight, and leaves this listener hungry for more.” Alongside their Haydn recordings, 2023 also saw the first release in a new series of Stories discs, focussing on different European cultural capitals and the composers associated with them. Berlin Stories was released in 2023 and included music by Mendelssohn, Juon and Skalkottas, with BBC Music Magazine and The Strad both awarding it five stars. Future discs in the series will focus on Prague and Budapest.

Trio Gaspard is regularly invited to major international concert halls including Berlin Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonie, Boulez Saal, Grafenegg Castle, Salle Molière Lyon and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Highlights of the 23–24 season include a residency at Wigmore Hall, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Uppsala Chamber Orchestra in Sweden and recitals at the prestigious series of the Amici Della Musica Firenze, Lucerne Chamber Music Society, Musik Theater Bern, Sibelius Academy Helsinki, Sage Gateshead and Heidelberger Frühling Festival.

Founded in 2010, the trio’s members hail from Germany, Greece and the UK. They studied at European Chamber Music Academy under Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet), Ferenc Rados, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Jérôme Pernoo and Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet), as well as with Hatto Beyerle. They were Chamber Music Fellows at the Royal Northern College of Music (2017–19) and won first and special prizes at the Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Weimar, the International Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna and the International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach, France.

All musicians are also successfully pursuing their careers as soloists. 

Short biographies

Nicholas Rimmer | Piano

has already performed on renowned stages such as London’s Wigmore Hall, Munich’s Gasteig, Zurich’s Tonhalle and Berlin’s Philharmonie and as a soloist and chamber musician at renowned festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Ludwigsburg, Grafenegg and Heidelberg. His CD recording with Nils Mönkemeyer was awarded the Echo Klassik in 2009, and his recording of Rihm’s complete works for violin and piano with Tianwa Yang received the Diapason d’Or, the Pizzicato Supersonic Award and the International Record Review ‘Outstanding’ Award. Rimmer studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Christopher Oakden. Since 2020, Rimmer has held a professorship in piano at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. He is a member of the Belli-Fischer-Rimmer trio in the unique and experimental instrumentation of trombone-percussion-piano.

Jonian Ilias Kadesha | Violin

is pursuing a successful career as a soloist and has already performed with renowned orchestras such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Russian State Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir András Schiff, the London Mozart Players and the Aurora Orchestra. He is keen to expand the standard repertoire and can be heard, for example, with the Skalkottas Violin Concerto, Hillborg’s Bach Materia or the world premiere of Giovanni Sollima’s Tyche. Kadesha studied at the Kronberg Academy with Antje Weithaas and is a laureate of international violin competitions. He is also a member of the Kelemen Quartet and co-founder of the Caerus Chamber Ensemble.

Vashti Hunter | Violoncello

enjoys a diverse career as a soloist and chamber musician, and is a regular guest at leading music festivals and concert halls concert halls such as the Wigmore Hall, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Salle Moliere Lyon, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Pierre Boulez Hall, among others. She studied in London and Hannover with Leonid Gorokhov and in Berlin with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. A very important influence is cellist Steven Isserlis, with whom she studied for many years at IMS Prussia Cove. Vashti Hunter is now a professor herself at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz and teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Medien in Hannover. Vashti Hunter is also a member of the renowned Kelemen Quartet.

Season 2023/2024 | Photos: Andrej Grilc | Quote: Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 2022
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Eckart Heiligers | Piano
Ulf Schneider | Violin
Martin Löhr | Violoncello

 

“The Trio Jean Paul played with excitement and grace and brought out the most beautiful in every movement. The result was wonderfully balanced chamber music to sink into.”

The Trio Jean Paul has remained unchanged for more than three decades and continues to rank among the most successful and consistent chamber music ensembles today. The trio captivates audiences around the world with its sophisticated ensemble culture, keen sense of tonal aesthetics not to mention the musicality of the three artists with their poised style.
Their career together started with first prizes at competitions in Melbourne and Osaka as well as at the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb. The name of the ensemble was also quickly set: Jean Paul was the favorite poet of Robert Schumann, whose works are particularly dear to the trio. As more than a mere namesake to the trio, the name reveals the musicians’ primary aim: to explore the similarities of music and language and make it audible for the audience.

Their engagements regularly take the ensemble to major concert halls around the world such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels or Wigmore Hall in London. Their extensive tours take them to the USA and Canada.

The ensemble’s work focuses on the performance of contemporary repertoire, which also includes numerous original premieres by famous composers. Wolfgang Rihm dedicated his “Trio Concerto” to the ensemble which the Trio premiered in 2014 at the Berliner Philharmonie together with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Further performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich and the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover followed. Currently, the trio is dedicated to the new composition commissioned from Tobias Rokahr.

Numerous CD productions by the trio with CAvi-music garnered prizes: The recording of Brahm’s Trio in B major and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; the recording of the two Mendelssohn trios in 2009 and the Schubert trios in 2012 were distinguished with the Supersonic-Award. In 2015 their CD featuring piano trios by Joseph Haydn was brought on the market. At least the Trio enthuses with their CD of Brahm’s String Sextets arranged for piano trio by the composer’s friend Theodor Kirchner.

For more information, visit the homepage www.triojeanpaul.de.

 

Short biographies

Eckart Heiligers | Piano
studied under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hanover and Leon Fleisher in Baltimore (USA). His achievements earned numerous scholarships early on from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb as well as a France Graage Performance Scholarship. Eckart Heiligers delivered award-winning performances at numerous international competitions in Vercelli, Athens, Salt Lake City, Oslo and others. His concert work is characterised by tremendous breadth as he regularly performs as a soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist. He also serves as professor for piano and chamber music at the Zurich University of the Arts. His work also has him offering master classes both in Germany and abroad as well as participating as a jury member at international music competitions.

Ulf Schneider | Violin
studied in Hanover, New York and Berlin with Jens Ellermann, Masao Kawasaki, Felix Galimir and Thomas Zehetmair.
In addition to his worldwide concert activities with the trio, he has a continuous collaboration with the Bartholdy Quintet and the pianists Jan Philip Schulze and Stephan Imorde. He particularly enjoys developing programs in which language and music enter into a special connection with one another.
Ulf Schneider has been a professor at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media for 20 years. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses and competitions as a juror.

Further information: www.ulfschneider-violine.de

Martin Löhr | Violoncello
completed his studies under Wolfgang Mehlhorn in Hamburg, Zara Nelsova at the Juilliard School in New York and Wolfgang Boettcher at the Berlin University of the Arts. He is also a recipient of a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, a Masefield scholarship, was included in the Federal Selection of Concerts for Young Artists and was awarded the prize of the Mozartgesellschaft Wiesbaden. In 1995, he won 1st prize at the “Jeunesses Musicales” International Cello Competition in Belgrade.
Martin Löhr is a solo cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic, teaches at the Orchestra Academy and is a regular lecturer at master courses in Germany and abroad. His extensive concert performances include, in addition to orchestral concerts, solo performances as well as chamber music in a variety of formations.

Season 2023/2024 | Photos: Irène Zandel | Quote: Westfälischer Anzeiger, March 6 2020.
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH

Thomas Zehetmair | Violin
Kuba Jakowicz | Violin
Ruth Killius | Viola
Christian Elliott | Violoncello

“The four musicians mastered their instruments with somnambulistic certainty; only in this way was it possible for them to go to the limits of what is possible.”

Founded in 1994 by Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartett now ranks among the world’s finest string quartets. The quartet is renowned for its refined, intellectual interpretations characterized by a pristine, uncompromising approach. The four virtuosos perform at an exceptionally high technical level, instilling in their music an exceedingly rare combination of authenticity and remarkable expressiveness. In addition to a repertoire of widely known works, the quartet also captivates audiences with its profound understanding of contemporary music.

One of the unique artistic feats achieved by the quartet include, among other things, its cyclical performance of all string quartets by Robert Schumann in London’s Wigmore Hall, the world premiere of String Quartet No. 2 by Heinz Holliger – a work commissioned by Köln Musik GmbH for the Zehetmair Quartett. The 2009 performance by the Zehetmair Quartett during festivities celebrating the 100th birthday of Elliott Carter in New York proved to be a phenomenal success.

The quartet regularly performs at Europe’s most important musical centers such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Luxembourg or Helsinki and at the most renowned festivals, among these, the Salzburg Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival or the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

For its recording of Bartók’s 4th and Hartmann’s 1st String Quartet as well as the 1st and 3rd String Quartet by Schumann with ECM, the Zehetmair Quartett garnered awards such as the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the Gramophone Award (Record of the Year) and the Edison and Klara Prize for the year’s best international production.
A recording featuring string quartets No. 4 by Hindemith and No. 5 by Bartók was acclaimed as a reference recording in the media and was recognised with the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. The ensemble’s most recent album is dedicated to Beethoven, Bruckner, Hartmann and Holliger.

In November 2014, the Zehetmair Quartett was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the city of Hanau for its outstanding musical abilities.

Season 2023/2024 | Foto: Frederic Laverriere | Quote: Tiroler Tageszeitung, May 3rd 2022
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH