“Maurice Steger, who conducted the whole thing musically, merging his inimitable virtuoso recorder playing with inspired dance-like conducting, created something unique, and the entire ensemble swayed along as if in a trance.”

Steger is dubbed the “Paganini” and “magician of the recorder” or “the world’s leading recorder player“. In order to live up to such high expectations, one requires not only astonishing technique, but also charisma, intellect and a special sensitivity for 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 Barockorchester Basel, Venice Baroque Orchestra, The English Concert, Il Pomo D’oro, and I Barocchisti. He also performs with leading modern orchestras such as the Zurich 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 several new pieces, one by Iris ter Schiphorst amongst others.

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 has toured Asia as well as Australia with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Violons du Roy from Canada and the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He was also the first recorder player from the West to perform with the Traditional Taipei Chinese Orchestra.

His commitment to musical education is also highly 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.

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 reflects on Handel’s opera performances in London and especially their intermissions. In autumn 2023, Steger’s very personal Tribute to Bach, also recorded with La Cetra, was released with Berlin Classics.

One wonders sometimes, where Maurice Steger gets all this energy that helped him support the comeback of the recorder, as Arte 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 2024/2025 | Photo: Molina Visuals | Quote: Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung, January 22nd 2024
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“In Robert Schumann’s Spring Symphony, even the clarity is mixed with something mysterious. When he holds the final chord of the third movement surprisingly long and finally sinks into nothingness, Venzago creates a magical moment of pause before things inexorably take their course in the powerfully optimistic finale.”

Conducting is the greatest fulfillment of Mario Venzago’s life – he has wanted to do it from an early age on. Imagination and a willingness to take risks characterize his very own style and have allowed him to conduct concerts, recordings, operas and increasingly so, his own compositions around the world for some years now.

Mario Venzago was, until summer 2021 and for 11 years, the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Before that, he was Principal Conductor or General Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Basque National Orchestra in San Sebastian, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Graz Opera und Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt (now Bremen), the Theatre and Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Heidelberg and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. From 2010 to 2014 he was Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, from 2010 to 2019 Artist in Association of the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta and from 2000 to 2003 Artistic Director of the Baltimore Summer Fest, as successor to Pinchas Zukermann and David Zinman.

The season 2024/25 takes him, among others, back to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore and Taiwan Philharmonic in Asia, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra and to the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hannover as well as the Estonian National Orchestra.

Mario Venzago has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the orchestras in Philadelphia and Boston, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Filarmonica della Scala and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor with internationally renowned orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Frankfurter Museumsorchester. He has given concerts with the world’s most famous soloists, and collaborated for opera productions with directors such as Ruth Berghaus, Peter Konwitschny and Hans Neuenfels.

Several of his CDs have won international prizes such as the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’Or and the Edison Award. His recordings of the operas Venus and Penthesilea and of all choral works by Othmar Schoeck with the MDR choir and symphony orchestra received great international recognition and prestigious awards, as well as the film, My Brother the Conductor by Alberto Venzago, which was shown in cinemas across Europe and released on DVD. The project The other Bruckner with the recording of all ten symphonies, whose individual releases were acclaimed by international critics, was released by CPO. A collaboration with Sony Classical led to the spectacular recording of Franz Schubert’s Finished Unfinished Symphony with the Kammerorchester Basel, completed and conducted by Mario Venzago, as well as the recording of all serenades and symphonies by Johannes Brahms. His most recent CD projects have been recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s opera Schloss Dürande in a new version with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the cantata Vom Fischer un syner Fru with the Musikkollegium Winterthur (both Claves) and the recording of Schubert’s reconstructed 7th Symphony with the Bern Symphony Orchestra (Prospero). In June 2023, the recording of the suite from Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has been released on Chandos Records.

In addition to his activity as a conductor, Mario Venzago recently has increasingly devoted himself to his passion for composing. In 2021 he premiered his violin concerto with Soyoung Yoon and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Mario Venzago also finished two operas, in preparation for publication by Universal Edition, as well as two shorter orchestral works.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Alberto Venzago| Quotation: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, March 21st 2023
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“His approach is often meticulous and detailed, with particular attention to clarity and balance of sound that emphasises transparency of musical lines and structural cohesion, allowing the discourse to flow naturally and each thematic unit to shine with its own character while maintaining an overall unity.”

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 conductor and pianist, 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. He is also Associate Conductor of the Orchestre National Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and in 2020 he wasappointed Honorary Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest. Zacharias has also been associated for many years with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfonica Do Porto Casa da Musica and performs regularly with 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 as well as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, he is a welcome guest at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the National Orchestra of Lyon.

Piano recitals, which are a rarity, take and took him to the major cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Madrid and Frankfurt, as well as to the Schubertiade, Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron and to 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 di 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 all Schumann symphonies and the complete Mozart piano concertos which were awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Choc du Monde de la Musique and ECHO Klassik. In 2022/2023 two solo albums with sonatas by Haydn as well as partitas and suites by Bach were finally released with MDG after a long pause.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Constanze Zacharias | Quote: Granady Hoy, April 28th 2024
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“His abilities for very fine dynamic and colorful shading and for emotional penetration of the material form a happy combination […].”

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 has appeared as a soloist/conductor with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Eighteenth-Century, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.

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. In 2023 Casken’s double concerto That Subtle Knot was released. It was 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. He has released several albums with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra on the orchestra’s own label with works ranging from Mozart, Schubert and Brahms to Bartok, Schönberg and Adams. 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, his own composition for string trio Passacaglia, Burleske and Meditation was premiered in Switzerland. Zehetmair also made a reconstruction of the first movement of the fragment of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in A major K 320e.

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 2024/2025 | Photo: Wolfgang Schmidt | Quote: Stuttgarter Zeitung, September 30th 2022
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“It is his compelling, beyond all technical doubt, sovereign and self-confident narrative art with which he casts a spell over classical music fans.”

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.

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. This work was dedicated to him and premiered in 2014 at the Salzburg Festival together with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach before being performed in many musical metropolisis like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne, Stockholm and Washington.

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 rarely 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 both books of J. S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier digitally. And in autumn 2024 Capriccio wil release all three of Bartók’s Piano Concertos, recorded with the Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach.

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.

Between 2006 and 2016 he awarded 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. It was perforemd as a stage version in Frankfurt and Vienna. In 2010, his novel Harold Flanders was published.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Malolm Yawn | Quote: Die Rheinpfalz, November 13th 2023.
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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 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. A recording of the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Belcea Quartet for Alpha Classics has won the Diapason d’Or. Most recently, 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 the Graz University of Music and Performing Arts as well as at the Festival Virtuoso & Belcanto in Lucca (Italy).

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

Season 2024/2025 | 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.”

At a young age Jean-Paul Gasparian 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 Bremer Philharmoniker, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestre de l ‘Opéra de Rouen, Orchestre de Normandie and Valencia Symphonic Orchestra. In 2022 Gasparian debuted with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France under Ilyich Rivas at the Paris Philharmonie playing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The young Frenchman is also interested in more unusual repertoire: he has performed Howard Shore’s (known for The Lord of the Rings) Ruin and Memory with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as Scriabin’s Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

Gasparian has appeared 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 2020, he played selected Beethoven sonatas for Radio France as part of the Festival Intégrales des Sonates de Beethoven. Gasparian has performed in venues such as the Salzburg Mozarteum, Tonhalle Zurich, 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.

Classica magazine ranks him as one of the 10 most promising young pianists of his generation. The young Frenchman already attracted attention with his debut CD with a Russian program featuring Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev, which was released by Évidence Classics in February 2018, making both audiences and the press sit up and take notice. With both his second solo album with works by Chopin and his third album with works by Rachmaninov, Gasparian once again proved that he is a musical talent to keep an eye on. Gasparian dedicated his first album for the naïve label to Debussy. His second album for naïve, released in August 2024, reflects his own cultural heritage: with Origins he presents solo piano works by the Armenian composers Babadjanian, Katchaturian and Komitas.

In 2019, he won the Prix Therry Scherz at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad. This prize enabled him to record Babadjanian’s Heroic Ballad and Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, released by claves in spring 2022.The recording received excellent reviews from the press.

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

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 masterclasses 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.

Gasparian has been artist-in-residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation since 2020. He is also supported by the Safran Foundation for Music and is a Steinway Artist.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Bernard Martinez | Quote: Bremen2, Wilfried Schäper, August 11th 2024
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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.”

Genesis, Piano Songbook, Homage to Bach: For Martin Stadtfeld, his successful compositions, which are regularly published by Schott Music, are in the tradition of the great composers and follow the credo: ‘Creating something new from the old’.

The guiding principle is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Stadtfeld’s fascination with preludes and fugues began during his early piano lessons. In his youth, he spent nights playing the Well-Tempered Clavier, laying the foundations for a special kind of relationship with Bach and exploration of his music. At the age of 15, Stadtfeld discovered the Goldberg Variations and memorized them in just a few days. This work became the celebrated start of his recording career.

By now, Martin Stadtfeld has been collaborating with Sony Classical for over 20 years and this artistic cooperation has resulted in dozens of albums, all of them bestsellers and decorated with awards such as the Echo Klassik. Continuing into the streaming age, Martin Stadtfeld is also one of the world’s most listened-to classical pianists with over 100 million clicks. Particularly successful: the genre of free arrangements initiated by Stadtfeld with albums such as Handel Variations, German Folk Songs and Baroque Colors.

As a soloist, Martin Stadtfeld is invited to perform with orchestras all over the world and fills major concert halls with his recitals. Audiences appreciate his original interpretations of piano concertos from Mozart to Rachmaninov, as well as his exciting programs in recital, which resemble journeys through music history.

After performing as a concert pianist since the age of 9, Martin Stadtfeld has now also found his passion in teaching and has been appointed professor for piano at the University of the Arts in Bremen.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Uwe Arens | Quote: Trierischer Volksfreund, July 18 2023
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“His interpretations testify to his spiritual and intellectual penetration of the works and his ability to always realize his ideas masterfully and with natural effect.”

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 and the accompanying album Méditation was released in 2024 by Alpha Classics (Outhere Music). The sheet music is published by Editions Lemoine.

All this is documented on numerous recordings, almost all of which have received prestigious awards. Staier himself has often been honored for his work: In 2024 he was awarded the prestigious Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig. He was Artist in Residence at the AMUZ in Antwerp from 2012-2016, and between 2011 and 2021 at the Opéra de Dijon.

Both on harpsichord and on 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. With the release of Book 1 in 2023, the publication of his work was completed. 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 2024/2025 | Photo: Josep Molina | Quote: Leipziger Zeitung, June 16th 2024
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“Hardly any other violinist plays as edgy, boldly, unconventionally and yet with such stylistic confidence and taste as Kadesha. He improvises, uses ornaments in his own way and puts everything at the service of expression.”

Jonian Ilias Kadesha’s studies in philosophy and rhetoric affect the stylistic accuracy of his interpretations of both early and contemporary music. His rich imagination is evident in his creation of soundscapes and projects that he curates as a soloist, conductor and chamber musician.

Kadesha has performed throughout Europe, with, among others, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Sir András Schiff, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Jonathan Bloxham, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig with Martijn Dendiviel, the Tapiola Sinfonietta with Ryan Bancroft and the Slovenian Philharmonic with Aziz Shokhakimov. Kadesha made his debut with the Greek State Orchestra of Athens in the fall of 2019 with Skalkottas’ Violin Concerto, whose Little Suites he recorded together with works by Enescu and Ravel for CAvi-music in 2017 with pianist Nicholas Rimmer. Together with cellist Vashti Hunter, in collaboration with Deutschlandfunk Kultur, CAvi-music released the CD A Journey for two with works by Honegger, Skalkottas, Xenakis and Kodály. It is clear that Skalkottas is particularly important to Kadesha. In 2021, Linn Records signed him and in 2022 released the CD Homage à J.S.B.: Works for Violin Solo with Bach’s Partita in D minor, a world premiere of Helena Winkelmann’s Ciaccona, as well as works by Kurtág, Biber, Schnittke and Auerbach. In 2024, the first recording of Giovanni Sollima’s Violin Concerto Tyche was released on the album Suite Italienne, together with CHAARTS Chamber Artists and paired with works by Stravinsky and Vivaldi. The world premiere of Tyche took place at the Boswiler Sommer 2022.

The young violinist performs at major concert halls and renowned festivals throughout Europe. Performances have taken him to the Wigmore Hall London, the Louvre Paris, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Schubertiade, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival as well as to the opening of the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin.

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

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.

Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, Kadesha studied from a young age at Musikhochschule Würzburg, 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. Since summer 2023, Kadesha himself has held a professorship at Bern Academy of the Arts.

He has won prizes at the German Music Competition (2016), Windsor International (2017) and the Leopold Mozart Violin Competition (2013).

Kadesha plays a violin by Guarneri del Gesù (1743) and a Strad-copy by Dimitrios Kakos from 2023.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Kaupo Kikkas | Quote: rbbKultur, March 7th 2024
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“Tianwa Yang always plays at the high level of spirit, sensuality, passion, profundity and seriousness of the music in question.”

With great sovereignty, uncompromising musical understanding and ravishing interpretations, Tianwa Yang has quickly earned a place among the ranks of the leading violinists. The works of Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann and her work with contemporary composers are as close to her heart as the “classics” of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Prokofiev, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. Her profound preoccupation with music and her authentic playing, which is both at ease and electrifying, have been honored with numerous prizes. In 2022 she received the Opus Klassik as “Instrumentalist of the Year”.

Tianwa Yang works with conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Francesco Angelico, Nicholas Collon, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Francis, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Clemens Schuldt and Jaap van Zweden. As a soloist she has performed with the WDR, MDR and hr symphony orchestras, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestras in Detroit, Baltimore, Seattle, Vancouver, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, NCPA Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

With her chamber music and recital programes, she performs at most important venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Wigmore Hall London and the Lincoln Center New York, as well as at renowned festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Mozartfest and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. She is also a regular guest at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, where she has premiered contemporary chamber music works by Ramon Lazkano or Luca Francesconi, among others.

In the course of her long-standing collaboration with the Naxos label, she has already produced several award-winning recordings, including the complete works for violin and orchestra by Wolfgang Rihm, the violin concerto and the double concerto by Johannes Brahms with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester, the six solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe, the complete recording of the violin works by Pablo Sarasate, a CD with both of Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s violin concertos and Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Darrell Ang. In September 2021 she released her album featuring Prokofiev’s two violin concertos with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jun Märkl. And most recently, in June 2023 an album with pianist Nichola Rimmer featuring violin sonatas by George Antheil was released.

Tianwa Yang thanks Lin Yaoji, Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn and Anner Bylsma, who have accompanied and significantly shaped her artistic development.

In addition to her concert activities, Tianwa Yang teaches at the Bern Academy of the Arts since 2015 and holds a professorship at the Würzburg University of Music since 2018.

Season 2024/25 | Photo: Andrej Grilc | Quote: Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 18th 2023
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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 participated 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 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, Filharmonia Poznanska, 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 2024/2025 | 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 Zimmermann Trio with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit. In a piano 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 and still performs with colleagues such as Mitsuko Uchida, Isabelle Faust, Sharon Kam, Lars Vogt, Leif Ove Andsnes and Kathryn Stott, as well as with the Chiaroscuro, Gringolts, Hagen, Auryn and Zehetmair string quartets. He was Artist in Residence at the Schwetzinger Festspiele where he programmed and played three chamber music concerts.

He is also a welcomed guest at other major international festivals such as Salzburg, Lucerne, Schwarzenberg (Schubertiade), Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Schleswig-Holstein and London (Proms). In addition, Christian Poltéra presented a cycle of Bach’s Cello Suites in Brussels, Vevey and as Artist in Residence at the Schwäbische Frühling.

Christian Poltéra’s much acclaimed recordings reflect his versatile and extensive repertoire. Among the award-winning (BBC Music Award, Gramophone Choice, Diapason D’Or) CD recordings with BIS 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. In 2024, a recording with Ronald Brautigam and Brahms’ sonatas has been released, as well as an album dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev, that features Juho Pohjonen and 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 professor 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 2024/2025| 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 still 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.For the gala marking the 50th anniversary of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, he returned after several invitations for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with Antje Weithaas and Lars Vogt under the direction of Horst Stein.

In the US, hehas performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and with orchestras in Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Washington D.C. as weöö as 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 and 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. In 2025, he will play the world premiere of Roland Kunz’s Cello Concerto with RSO Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern.

Along with his solo work, Gustav Rivinius devotes himself to chamber music. He plays regularly alongside his brothers in the Rivinius Piano Quartet and in recitals with his brother Paul at the piano. Gustav Rivinius is also an annual participant in the Heimbach Spannungen festival, where he performed and perform 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 2024/2025 | Photo: Jean M. Laffitau | Quote: Wochenblatt, February 14th 2022
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“Dominik Wagner plays the double bass with a lightness and virtuosity that is second to none.”

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. 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 and the Nikolaisaal Potsdam is currently presenting him as their debut artist for three seasons. 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. Also in 2023, his album Double Bass Rhapsody was released. In this recording, Dominik Wagner and up to five further double bassists bring new facets of their instruments to life.

In addition to his solo activities, Wagner is a passionate chamber musician and is constantly searching for innovative timbres through new orchestrations. This has resulted for example in a duo with jazz double bassist Georg Breinschmid, as well as a clarinet trio with Sebastian Manz and Danae Dörken and a double bass quartet.

Dominik Wagner was initially trained as a cellist before switching to the double bass in 2007. His four years in the concert choir of the Vienna Boys Choir were a formative musical influence.

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 to2022 with Prof. Dorin Marc at the HfM Nuremberg. Since 2023 he is student of the Professional Studies Programme at Kronberg Academy. Since the fall of 2023, he has held a professorship for double bass at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg. In addition, he regularly gives master classes in Europe and the USA.

In 2025 Dominik Wagner will be added to the development program of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists. This will include a concert with Julia Fischer and more.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Maria Frodl| Quote: NDR.de, January 25th 2024
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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.

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 im Deutschlandfunk 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. He performed Ethyl Smyth’s Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra with the Brucknerorchester and Francesca Dega under Markus Poschner in Linz in 2024/2025 he can be heard in Ankara with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

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 musicians released their debut recording on the CAvi-music label, featuring works from Dubugnon, Taffanel, Holst and Françaix. As a chamber musician, Marc Gruber has also 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.

In 2016, the horn player won the 2nd prize at the ARD International Music Competition (1st prize was not awarded) and was also awarded the Brüder-Busch Special Prize and the Audience Prize. In 2013, the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund appointed him as a scholarship holder. He is prizewinner of the Lions European Music Competition, the South German Chamber Music Competition and was a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy Frankfurt in 2010. He was the first brass player ever to receive the sponsorship award Debut um elf.

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 2024/2025 | Photo: Philippe Schwarz | Quote: Nürnberger Zeitung, April 20th 2023
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“The precious jewel of this work shone in the horn part, in all timbres the glorious gold of the Romantic instrument, especially in the slow movement from which one could hear a strong musical connection to Brahms’ favorite instrument. ”

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). In 2013, Marie-Luise Neunecker was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize and has performed on almost all the world’s major concert stages.

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 often 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 repertoire 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 more recently, one with works by Hindemith, Kirchner, Brahms, Beethoven and Schumann with Lars Vogt at the piano.

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

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Andreas Knapp | Quote: Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt, March 2023
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Daniela Koch | Flute
Johanna Stier | Oboe
Nemorino Scheliga | Clarinet
Theo Plath | Bassoon
Marc Gruber | Horn

“Here, all members of the Monet Quintett were able to inspire with lovingly formed cantilenas as well as with brilliant virtuoso passages.”

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 of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, having previously held the same position as the youngest horn player with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn.

Season 2024/2025 | Photo: Studioline| Quote: rp-online.de, June 7th 2024.
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Nicholas Rimmer | Piano
Jonian Ilias Kadesha | Violin
Vashti Hunter | Violoncello

 

“Here, three artists make music as one, three with completely different characters, who make their program shine with intelligence and originality.”

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 all of Haydn’s originals. The third instalment of the project was released in 2024 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 and Boulez Hall, Essen Philharmonie, Grafenegg Castle, Salle Molière Lyon and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Highlights of the 24-25 season are debuts at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Sydney Opera House, a tour through Scandinavia and the release of the fourth volume of their complete recording of Haydn’s piano trios.

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. Since 2023 he is professor at Bern Academy of the Arts.

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 such as the Wigmore Hall, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Salle Moliere Lyon, the Berlin Philharmonie and Pierre Boulez Hall, among others. She studied in London and Hannover with Leonid Gorokhov and in Berlin with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. A significant influence has been cellist Steven Isserlis, with whom she studied for many years at IMS Prussia Cove. Vashti Hunter is now a professor herself at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Vienna. Before that she held this position at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz and at the Hochschule für Musik und Medien in Hannover. Vashti Hunter is also a member of the renowned Kelemen Quartet.

Season 2024/2025 | Photos: Andrej Grilc | Quote: Nach(t)kritik, April 17th 2024.
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH

Eckart Heiligers | Piano
Ulf Schneider | Violin
Martin Löhr | Violoncello

 

“The music was played with great intimacy, the musicians were extremely harmonious – simply superb.”

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 German Music Competition. 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. Extensive tours have taken 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 a CD featuring piano trios by Joseph Haydn was brought on the market. Most recently, 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 German Music Competition 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 characterized 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.

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 2024/2025 | Photos: Irène Zandel | Quote: Gießener Anzeiger, January 17th 2024
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH

Thomas Zehetmair | Violin
Jakub 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 Quartet 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 Quartet. The 2009 performance by the Zehetmair Quartet 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 Quartet 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 recognized with the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Most recent is an album 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 2024/2025 | Foto: Frederic Laverriere | Quote: Tiroler Tageszeitung, May 3rd 2022
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH