Abramski Trio Mirjam Budday (Oboe), Rebekah Abramski (Bassoon), Ron Abramski (Piano) |
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Abramski Trio Mirjam Budday (Oboe), Rebekah Abramski (Bassoon), Ron Abramski (Piano) |
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Allan, Miriam
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Allsopp, David
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Amati Quartet |
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Argenta, Nancy
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Arte Ensemble Arte Ensemble, Kathrin Rabus (Violin), Birte Paeplow (Violin), Christian Pohl (Viola), Ute Sommer (Violon Cello), Albert Sommer (Double Bass), Guido Schaefer (Clarinet), Theodor Wiemes (French Horn), Uwe Grothaus (Bassoon) |
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Balbach, Steffen
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Wolfgang Bauer Consort Setting I: Setting II:
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Begemann, Hans Christoph |
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Berner, Michael |
Beethoven Academic Orchestra / Beethoven Akademie Orchester |
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Blochwitz, Hans Peter |
Budday, Jürgen
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Budday, Mirjam
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Chance, Michael
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Christensen, Birgitte |
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Dimitrov, Petko
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Dirksen, Pieter
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Eckert, Simone
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Eittinger, Ursula
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Fuerst, Michael
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Georgieva, Mila
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GrauSchumacher
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Hamburger Ratsmusik
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Härtling, Peter |
Hannoversche Hofkapelle / Hanoverian Court Orchestra The Hanoverian Court Orchestra under concertmistress Anne Röhrig remains totally faithful to the tradition of historic court orchestras. Performing on reconstructed historical instruments the sound of this ensemble is hallmarked by the fact that the musicians also have experience of playing with different music ensembles on the European Baroque scene and view historical performance practices as a means of keeping current. The repertoire of the Orchestra is not restricted to the many forms of Baroque music alone, but also includes classical works, with Mozart operas and the Romantic era being particularly favoured. Their constant involvement with 17th and 18th-century music has made the Court Orchestra musicians masters of their respective instruments. The result is the expressive and elegant style of playing, that assures the orchestra its prominent position. The Hanoverian Court Orchestra has been the "orchestra in residence" at the Herrenhausen Festival Weeks since 2006.
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Hauptmann, Cornelius |
Heinavanker Eve Kopli (Soprano), Kadri Hunt (Altus), Margo Kõlar (Tenor), Anto Õnnis (Tenor), Taniel Kirikal (Baritone), Vambola Krigul (Bass), Margo Kõlar (Conductor) |
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Herkenhoff, Ulrich |
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Hulett, Benjamin |
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Humphries, Charles
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Iannella, Federica
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Friedemann Immer Trumpet Consort Friedemann Immer (Baroque Trumpet), Klaus H. Osterloh (Baroque Trumpet), Jaroslav Roucek (Baroque Trumpet), Thibaud Robinne (Baroque Trumpet), Frithjof Koch (Baroque Timpani), Matthias Nagel (Organ) |
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Kammervereinigung Berlin Iris Jess (Flute), Gudrun Reschke (Oboe), Alexander Roske (Clarinet), Bodo Werner (Horn), Mathias Baier (Bassoon) |
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Keller, Matthias |
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King, Catherine
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Kirkby, Emma |
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Knizia, Martin
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Laffin, Frank |
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Le Brocq, Mark
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Lika, Peter
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Lunn, Joanne
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Maulbronner Kammerchor / Maulbronn Chamber Choir The Maulbronn Chamber Choir was founded in 1983 and counts today as one of the renowned chamber choirs in Europe. Awards like the first places at the Baden-Württemberg Choir Competitions in 1989 and 1997, the second place at the German Choir Competition in 1990, the first prize at the German Choir Competition in 1998 and the second place at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf 2008 show the extraordinary musical calibre of this ensemble. The Chamber Choir has managed to make quite a name for itself on the international scene, too. It was received enthusiastically by audiences and reviewers alike during its debut tour through the USA in 1983, with concerts in New York, Indianapolis and elsewhere. Its concert tours in many European countries, in Israel and Argentina as well as in South Africa and Namibia have also met with a similar response.
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Maulbronn Cantor Choir / Kantorei Maulbronn The Maulbronn Cantor Choir (Kantorei Maulbronn) is the large oratorio choir of the monastery in Maulbronn. The choir was founded in 1948 as a federation of the Evangelic Church Choir Maulbronn and the choir of the Evangelic Seminar Maulbronn. In this tradition the choir is formed today with ambitious choral singers from the region and students and former students of the Seminar Maulbronn (gymnasium with boarding school). Over those many years of its existence the choir has performed the complete repertoire of popular oratorios and worked together with orchestras like the "Southwest-Radiosymphony-Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg", the "Central German Chamber Orchestra", the "Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim" or the "Baden Philharmonic Orchestra". Soloists of these performances were artists like Barbara Schlick, Maya Boog, Sandra Moon, Sophie Daneman, Marga Schiml, Elisabeth von Magnus, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Aldo Baldin, Marc Clear, Markus Brutscher, Peter Lika (Bass), Gotthold Schwarz and Ludwig Güttler. The German television station ZDF broadcasted a portrait about the Choir, and the choir has participated in live radio recordings for the SDR, SWR, Deutsche Welle and Deutschlandfunk.
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Mäder, Thorsten
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Meier, Heidi Elisabeth
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Meyer, Miriam
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Meyer, Hubert |
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Michalska-Taliaferro, Jolanta
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Mields, Dorothee
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Milanov, Rossen Rossen Milanov is one of two conductors of the New Symphony Orchestra Sofia. He currently works at academies and orchestras in the United States and Bulgaria. Mr. Milanov won many awards ("Orchestra of the Year 1998" for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, "Adventurous Programing" for originality in concert programing of the American Symphony Orchestras League a.o.) and teaches at the State Musical Academy Sofia, the Juilliard School New York and the Curtis Institute of Music Philadelphia. |
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Monastery Baroque Orchestra
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Morsch, André
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Müllerperth, Magdalena
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Musica Florea Prague
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The New Symphony Orchestra Sofia was founded in 1991 by the music critic Julia Hristova, its current president. The orchestra was established as an alternative organisation to the state subsidized cultural institutions in Bulgaria. It recruits young musicians offering them professional field, where sharing their skills, new chances and opportunities to play music and create a flowering of more kinds of music in more people’s lives. Since 1997 the orchestra is directed by Rossen Milanov.
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Nolte, Raimund
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Northoff, Ulrike |
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Orpheus Quartet Charles-André Linale (Violin), Emilian Piedicuta (Violin), Laurentiu Sbarcea (Cello), Emile Cantor (Viola) |
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Oitzinger, Margot
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Paulsen, Melinda |
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Petersen, Marlis |
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Pfeiffer, Thomas |
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Podger, Julian
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Plagge, Rolf |
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Pratschke, Sinéad
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Przytocki, Pawel
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Purves, Christopher
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Raschinsky, Daniel |
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Reviol, Laurie
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Renz, Christoph
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Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg
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Rutherford, James |
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Rzepka, Marek
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Schäfer, Markus
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Schubert High Four / Schubert hoch vier Thomas Seyboldt (Piano), Markus Schäfer (Tenor), Hubert Mayer (Tenor), Hans Christoph Begemann (Bass), Cornelius Hauptmann (Bass), Frank Laffin (Baritone) |
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Schwarz, Gotthold
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Seyboldt, Thomas |
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Stein, Willi
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Storojev, Nikita
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Strezeva, Svetlana
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South-west German Chamber Orchestra
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SWR-Symphony-Orchestra Baden-Baden & Freiburg, Members of
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Tewinkel, Sebastian |
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Thomas, David |
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Trio Fontenay Michael Mücke (Violin), Jens Peter Maintz (Cello), Wolf Harden (Piano) |
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Ullmann, Marcus
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Van Goethem, Patrick |
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Varcoe, Stephen |
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Vinke, Stefan |
Vorraber, Franz
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Wegener, Sarah |
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Wagner, Josef
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Wedemeier, Ulrich
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Miriam Allan (Soprano), master class graduate student of Emma Kirkby and Julianne Baird and winner of the London Handel Competition 2003, was born in Newcastle (Australia) in 1977. She studied at Newcastle University and graduated from there with several distinctions. She has performed the most important works of Bach, Handel and Purcell with leading choirs and orchestras such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonic. She has also appeared as a guest with the Song Company and Sounds Baroque, including at their concertante performances. In addition to this she also gives recitals. In the summer of 2003, she sang not only the title role in the Handel opera "Semele" for the Pinchgut Opera, she also appeared in the world premiere of "Dreaming Transportation" at the Sidney Festival and sang in the first Australian performance of Bach's St Mark Passion by the Sidney Philharmonic under Arno Volmer as well as performing in Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater". Meanwhile, Miriam Allan (Soprano) lives in London, where she teaches singing at the Westminster Under School. She performs with ensembles such as Concerto Copenhagen, Israel Camerata, the London Handel Orchestra, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra or Concerto Köln and is working with conductors like Trevor Pinnock, Sir John Elliot Gardiner and William Christie.
Jürgen Budday (born 1948 in Germany) is a German conductor, director of church music, music teacher and artistic director of the concert series at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Maulbronn Abbey. He started teaching at the Evangelical Seminar in Maulbronn in 1979. This also involved his taking over as artistic director of the Maulbronn Monastery Concerts and the cantor choir. He studied church music and musicology at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart from 1967 to 1974. In 1992, he was named Director of Studies, in 1995 came the appointment as Director of Church Music and in 1998 he was awarded the "Bundesverdienstkreuz" (German Cross of Merit) as well as the Bruno-Frey Prize from the State Academy in Ochsenhausen for his work in music education. In 1983 Jürgen Budday founded the Maulbronn Chamber Choir ("Maulbronner Kammerchor"), with whom he won numerous national and international awards. At the Prague International Choir Festival, for example, Jürgen Budday received an award as best director. Since 2002 he has also held the chair of the Choral Committee with the German Music Council.
Mirjam Budday was the recipient of scholarships from the "Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes", the chamber music foundation "Villa Musica", the "Rotary club" and was also a prize winner of the "Jugend Musiziert" competition. She completed her Undergraduate studies in Stuttgart with Prof. Ingo Goritzki, and from 2002-2003 she spent one year studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Tess Miller, Douglas Boyd and Celia Nicklin. Mirjam has also participated in numerous master classes with teachers such as Albrecht Mayer, Prof. Christian Wetzel, Jonathan Kelly, Alexei Orgrintchouk and Prof. Günther Passin. From January until July of 2004 she played with the Baden State Opera, Karlsruhe. From 2004 through 2005 she was Principal Oboist of the "European Union Youth Orchestra" with whom she toured throughout Scandinavia and the Baltic States under the direction of Paavo Järvi and Yan Pascal Tortelier. She has gone on to work with the "Bamberg Symphony orchestra", the "Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin", the "Hamburg Philharmonic", and plays regularly as Principal Oboist with the "South-west German Chamber Orchestra". In 2004 she founded the Abramski Trio (oboe, bassoon, piano) and with whom she has since performed regularly. From November 2006 until April 2007 Mirjam played with the Stuttgart Opera and since August 2008, she is the Principal Cor Anglais player of the "North German Radio Philharmonic orchestra" (NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover).
Michael Chance (Countertenor)'s carrier began, as did so many of his colleagues, in King's College, Cambridge, as countertenor in England's conceivably most famous choir. Today he is one of the worlds most sought after countertenors, not only for opera - he sang, for example, the military governor in the world première of Judith Weir's "A Night at the Chinese Opera" - but also for oratorios and songs. He is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music, London. He performs often in Paris, Amsterdam, Stuttgart and Berlin and has also been in America, Japan and Australia many times. Frieder Bernius, Frans Brüggen, John Eliot Gardiner and Trevor Pinnock are just some of the conductors that he works with regularly. A specialty of Michael Chance (Countertenor)'s is the song evenings he gives with the Gamben-Consort Fretwork, Nigel North and, more recently, Roger Vignoles, in which he sings pieces for voice and lute from the English Renaissance and also, frequently, works from contemporary, mostly English composers.
Petko Dimitrov was born in 1973 in the town of Plodiv. He entered the Plodiv Musical Academy in 1991 and the Sofia Musical Academy in 1993. He studied with prof. Vassil Kazandjiev and prof. Ivan Bakalov.
Pieter Dirksen is the organist of the historical organ of the Martinus-Church in Cuijk. He completed his musicological studies with honours and received his doctorate "cum laude" with a dissertation on the keyboard music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which was awarded the Dutch Praemium Erasmianum. His complete recordings of these organ- and cembalo works was awarded 2003 with the "Edison". Pieter Dirksen is a member of the "Combattimento Consort" Amsterdam and the Netherlands Bach Society as well as the chamber music group "La Suave Melodia". 
At the age of eight, when asked what she wanted to be Simone Eckert answered: "gamba player". Ignoring the warning that she should get a "proper job" she lives and works as a freelance musician in Hamburg. She studied at the Musikhochschule Hamburg and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensiswith H. Mueller and J. Savall. She finished her studies in 1990 with a diploma in early music. In 1991 she founded the ensemble Hamburger Ratsmusik. She has taught, since 1992 at the Hamburger Konservatorium and holds seminars on the viola da gamba in both Germany and England. Apart from the repertoire of the renaissance, baroque and early classics she also concentrates on modern music for the viol. A large number of works have been dedicated to her and performed by her for the first time. She performs as a soloist, ensemble leader and lecturer in Germany, other European countries an Japan.
The German mezzo-soprano Ursula Eittinger studied singing at the Detmold Music Academy, where she was awarded a concert and opera diploma with distinction in 1990. While she was still a student she took part in various master courses, for example with Sena Jurinac, Kurt Widmer and Charles Brett. Ursula Eittinger has worked with ensembles like the WDR Radio Orchestra, the Hannover and Hamburg Radio Orchestras, the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and the Munich Bach Soloists. Concert tours have taken her to the Royal Albert Hall in London, to Barcelona (Palau de la Musica) and many festivals such as the BBC Prom Concerts, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and the Cracow International Festival for Old Music. The variety which characterises he repertoire shows clearly in her television, radio and CD recordings (for example Schumann duets with Scot Weir), also in a duet programme with Barbara Schlick.
Mila Georgieva (violin) was born in Bulgaria in 1976. She began playing the violin at the age of four and even before she reached her teens she had a worldwide reputation, winning two prizes in competitions in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, touring in Spain, Holland, the Philippines, Singapore, India and China, appearing on Italian, French and Swiss television. Fittingly, her Grand Prize, in Bologna, was named for another violin playing prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Miss Georgieva is studying at the Juilliard School in the United States. Miss Georgieva has performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig under Kurt Masur, the orchestras of Bulgarian and Dutch Radio & Television, the Sofia Philharmonic and Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra Budapest and the RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin. She has toured Germany, South America and Japan and already appeared with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Richard Hickox and toured in France with the Orchestre National des pays de la Loire under Herbert Soudain. She was invited by the Houston Symphony and performed with Christoph Eschenbach at the Ravinia Summer Festival.
Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher, with their talent for putting together clever and innovative programs, have established themselves as one of the world's top piano duos. Their cooperation at the piano is evidence that the two expert pianists are nothing short of musical soul mates. The vast breadth of the duo's expressiveness has garnered it invitations to various festivals and concert halls, such as the Kölner Philharmonie, Berliner Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique Paris, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Salzburger Festspiele, Tonhalle Zürich, and the Piano Festival La Roque d'Anthéron, and has resulted in collaborations with renowned conductors such as Michael Gielen, Lothar Zagrosek, Emanuel Krivine, Heinz Holliger, Kent Nagano, Bertrand de Billy, Andrej Boreyko, Georges Prêtre, and Zubin Mehta. The pair's most recent projects have included concerts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian State Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de Lyon, as well as performances at the Lucerne Festival, the Wiener Konzerthaus, and the Concertgebouw Brugge. Their keen ability to conceive well-considered program concepts is also evident in their recordings. Their album of Stockhausen's Mantra won awards from Le monde de la musique and Diapason. Gramophone selected their CD Visions de l'Amen, featuring works by Messiaen and Schütz/Kurtág, as Editor's Choice.
The beginnings of the Ensemble Hamburger Ratsmusik go back as far as the 16th century. As the city fathers considered good instrumental music to be an important part of civic representation at official ceremonies and in the main churches they made sure that respected musicians worked for them. Based on the principal "for the glory of God - and the pleasure, delight and benefit of Hamburg" the city boasted an elite ensmble of eight civic instrumentalists who were able to compete with many a princely court orchestra. The ensemble enjoyed its heyday during the 17th century under such leading musicians as William Brade and Johann Schop. During the 18th century, Georg Philipp Telemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach called on the services of Hamburg's civic instrumentalist for their performances, before the ensemble fell victim to effiency measures in the 19th century.
Federica Iannella is regular organist and artistic director of the "Church of Santa Maria della Neve" in Senigallia and one of the teachers of the "Accademia Organistica". She studied the organ and composition with Professor M. Arlotti at the "Conservatory G. Rossini" in Pesaro and graduated as musicologist at the University of Bologna. In May 2005 Federica Iannella recorded, in word premier recording, "Sonate per organo a Quattro mani" by Giovanni Morandi, an important composer of Italian romantic music for organ. 
Martin Knizia is music director at the Lutherian Church "St. Anne's" in London, artistic director and conductor of the English Bach Festival and founder of the Sweelinck-Ensemble. He was educated at the Musikhochschule Lübeck (Germany) and the Royal Academy of Music in London. After having held a Junior Fellowship and position as Associate Professor for Baroque Organ Improvisation and Figured Bass at the Royal Academy of Music, he now pursues a busy career as conductor, soloist and continuo player. His interest in editing has resulted in a critically acclaimed edition of Orlando Gibbons's Complete Organ Works. 
The German bass soloist Peter Lika, born in Augsburg (Germany) 1947, began his singing career as a boy soloist with the Regensburger Domspatzen. He is considered one of the leading basses in the concert and opera repertoire. Lika's unmistakable timbre is paired with delicately balanced dramatic expressive power, which makes him a natural soloist for roles such as that of Elijah or Moses. It is not surprising, therefore, that conductors like Masur, Schreier, Rilling, Gardiner, Marriner, Norrington, Celibidache and Herreweghe have appreciated working with Lika, as have renowned orchestras, not least for his extensive repertoire and many years of experience, also with early music. Performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and nearly all of the German radio orchestras have brought Peter Lika to the major musical centres of Europe, Asia and the USA.
Joanne Lunn (Soprano) studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where she was awarded the prestigious "Tagore Gold Medal". She performs as a soloist with early music groups like the English Baroque Soloists, the Hilliard Ensemble, Philippe Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale Gent, the Gabrieli Consort and the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Concert appearances have also included Bach's St Matthew Passion conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, Bach's "Magnificat" at the BBC Proms with the Academy of Ancient Music, Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Bach Collegium Japan conducted by Masaaki Suzuki, or Bach's "Easter Oratorio" with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales under Nicholas Kraemer.
Thorsten Mäder is a concert organist and winner of numerous competitions and various scholarships. He studied with Daniel Roth in Frankfurt, Halle and Paris. In addition to worldwide concerts and the recording of several CDs, Thorsten Mäder is an regular lecturer at masterclasses in Germany and abroad and, since 1999, Professor of artistic organ playing at the Hansei University in Seoul, South Korea.
Heidi Elisabeth Meier is considered an exceptional phenomenon among up-and-coming soloists and can already look back on numerous successes in concerts, operas and song. The soprano, who was a member of the Bayerische Singakademie from an early age and completed her studies with honours under Adalbert Kraus at the academy of music in Munich, has performed in concert with the Münchener Symphoniker under Prof. Schneidt, the Münchener Bach-Chor under Christian Kabitz, the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Kent Nagano and the Ensemble für neue Musik. In 2003 she debuted at the Gärtnerplatz Theatre and elsewhere.
Miriam Meyer (Soprano)
Dorothee Mields is one of the leading interpreters of 17th- and 18th-century music and is beloved by audiences and critics alike for her unique timbre and moving interpretations. Her flawless technique and the ethereal clarity of her voice also make her ideally suited for works by contemporary composers. She appears regularly with the Collegium Vocale Gent, Bach Collegium Japan, Netherlands Bach Society, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, RIAS Kammerchor, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Lautten Compagney and Klangforum Wien under such conductors as Stefan Asbury, Ivor Bolton, Frans Brüggen, Beat Furrer, Paul Goodwin, Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt, Emilio Pomárico, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Masaaki Suzuki and Jos van Veldhoven.
18 year old pianist Magdalena Müllerperth excited audiences in many concerts in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Austria, The Czech Republic, France and Switzerland and was also invited to perform in Russia, Ukraine and the USA. In 2008 she performed there as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis. With an impressive recital program she gave her debut recital in 2009 at the Klosterkonzerte Maulbronn and the Liederhalle Stuttgart, Germany. In 2011 she performed Gershwins "Rhapsody in Blue" at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Magdalena Müllerperth, born in 1992 in Maulbronn, Germany, began piano lessons at the age of five. When she was seven, she became a student, and in 2003 junior student at the University of Music Karlsruhe, of the renowned Prof. Sontraud Speidel. From 2007 until 2010 she studied with Prof. Alexander Braginsky at Hamline University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. At the moment she is a student of the pianist Jerome Rose at Mannes College - The New School of Music in New York City. Since 1999, she earned many international prizes and awards, amongst others the First Prize at "Les Reoncontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes" in Belgium (2002), the First Prize and Premio della Critica (RAI) at the Concorso Europeo di Musica "Pietro Argento" in Italy (2004), a First Prize at the national competition "Jugend musiziert" (2005) and the First Prize at the Minnesota Orchestra, Young People's Symphony Concert Auditions in Minneapolis, USA (2008). Since 2007 Magdalena Müllerperth is "Youth Ambassadress of Music" of her hometown Maulbronn. For her outstanding achievements Magdalena Müllerperth was awarded scholarships from the Mayer Foundation, the Karin Riese Foundation, "Lichtenberger Musikpreis", the Kunststiftung Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Foundation Deutsches Musikleben and the Richard Wagner Association.
New Symphony Orchestra Sofia
Pawel Przytocki is one of the most talented and exciting young Polish conductors. He studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków, where he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Conducting (1985) under Professor Jerzy Katlewicz. He perfected his skills at the Bartok International Seminar with Peter Eötvös and with the Master Conducting Course at the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene with Helmuth Rilling. From 1983 to 1987, Przytocki collaborated with the Krakow Philharmonic and, since 1987, with the Grand Opera Theatre in Lodz. From 1988 to 1991, he worked as the Conductor and Music Director of the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra in Gdansk. In May 1990, he made his debut with the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. Since 1995, he has worked with the Orchestra Sinfonia Varsovia and, from 1995 to 1997, was Music Director of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz. Przytocki is a regular guest conductor with orchestras throughout Poland as well as with the Budapest Concert Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica de Xalapa in Mexico, Real Filharmonia de Galicia in Spain, Capella Istropolitana in Bratislava, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Halle, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra Ankara, Everett Symphony Orchestra in the United States and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava. His guest performances and concert tours have led him throughout Europe. Pawel Przytocki has participated in numerous international music festivals, including the Athens Festival, 1987, the Musikfest Stuttgart, 1988, the Flanders Festival, 1989, La Chaise-Dieu Festival, 1996, the Kissinger Sommer, 1998, the Bratislava Music Festival, 1999, the Prague Spring, 2001 and the Wratislavia Cantans, 2005. Since 2005, Przytocki has been the conductor for the National Opera in Warsaw. During the 2005/2006 and the 2006/2007 season at the National Opera, he conducted Aram Khachaturian's ballet, Spartacus (premiere -November 2005), Tchaikovsky's opera, "Oniegin", Verdi's, "La Traviata", Puccini's "La Boheme" and the ballet, "Oniegin" with choreography by John Cranko (premiere- April 2007). He has made archival recordings for Polish Radio and CDs for DUX, Aurophon and Point Classic. His recording of Rachmaninoff`s First Symphony, in 1991, has been recognized by the American "La Folia Music Review Magazine" as very special.The magazine labeled it one of the world`s five best recordings and compared it favorably to those of Carlos Kleiber and Svjatoslav Richter.
Christoph Renz, born in Tübingen 1976 was a student of Professor A.-G. Tatu in Trossingen, Professor R. Dohn in Stuttgart and Professor M. Kofler at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Additionally, he completed studies for a Master's in chamber music at the "Hochschule für Musik und Theater" in Munich. The education was concluded with participation in master seminars held by flutists like Aurèle Nicolet, Jean-Claude Gérard and Emmanuel Pahud. Numerous times he won first prizes as a soloist as well as a chamber musician in the national competition "Jugend musiziert". He also received scholarships from various foundations and in 1995 received a special award from the city of Erlangen for his performance of modern music. In 1998 he received a prize at the international woodwind player competition "Pacem in terris" in Bayreuth. At the "Deutscher Musikwettbewerb" in Berlin in 1999 he was awarded a stipend and elected to play numerous concerts at the "concerts of young artists". He was a jury member at various national and international competitions, one of which was a preliminary competition of the ARD in 2004. After four years as a principal flutist of the national Youth Orchestra and steady employment at the SWR symphony orchestra in Baden-Baden/Freiburg as well as at the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart he became, at the age of 20, co-principal flutist at the Munich Radio Orchestra. Since 2005 Christoph Renz is principal flute of the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Hanover. He is also principal flute of the orchestra "Klangverwaltung Munich", a member of the Arte-Ensemble and the ensemble "Oktoplus". There he served as a guest player during many national and international festivals. Moreover, since 2006 he has given flute lessons at the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover.
The German bass-baritone Gotthold Schwarz, son of a cantor from Zwickau (Saxony), began his musical career as a member of the Thomanerchor Leipzig. He studied singing with Gerda Schriever and Peter Schreier (for example) and organ with Wolfgang Schetelich and Hannes Kästner. Since 1986 Gotthold Schwarz has been a lecturer at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig. Extensive international engagements as soloist have taken him, interalia, to the USA, Finland and Japan. In Germany he has been a guest at all famous festivals. His repertoire embraces a wide spectrum of concert and oratorio literature. He has taken part in numerous radio and record productions.
The hallmark of the South-west German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim is its fresh and gripping musical approach and stylistic diversity from early to contemporary music. The ensemble consists of fourteen musicians of seven different nationalities and is one of the few full-time chamber orchestras in Europe. This allows for exceptional richness and flexibility of sound, which is maintained even when the Orchestra is enlarged with further wind or string players. The ensemble was founded in 1950 by Paul Hindemith's former student Friedrich Tilegant. Soon the ensemble won international recognition: One talked of the "Tilegant-sound", which could not only be heard at the festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne and Leipzig as well as on world-wide tours, but which was also documented on numerous recordings. Maurice André, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Frans Brüggen and Yehudi Menuhin are only a few of the celebrity names who have worked with the Orchestra. After the Tilegant-era, which ended far too early after the premature death of its founder in 1968, the Orchestra was moulded by the Viennese Paul Angerer (1971-1981) and Vladislav Czarnecki (1986-2002), who came from the Czech music tradition. Since the beginning of the 2002-03 season, the young German conductor Sebastian Tewinkel, winner of several international competitions, has been the new Music Director. On its road to success the South-west German Chamber Orchestra has made numerous broadcasts for almost all European radio stations and released nearly 250 records and CDs, many of which were awarded international prizes (Grand Prix du Disque, Monteverdi Prize, Prox Artur Honegger). Several premiere performances (Jean Françaix, Harald Genzmer, Enjott Schneider) prove its competence in contemporary music. Currently the Chamber Orchestra plays together with renowned soloists such as Gidon Kremer, Rudolf Buchbinder, Christian Tetzlaff, Sabine Meyer, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Mischa Maisky and Anatol Ugorski. Together with them - but also with up-and-coming young musicians - the Orchestra has been invited to perform in all European countries as well as in the USA and Japan. Ideas for new programmes beyond the traditional subscription concerts extend the ensemble's profile. In 2001, the South-west German Chamber Orchestra toured Europe's great concert halls with Giora Feidman and Facundo Ramirez, playing Klezmer and Argentinian folklore (Misa Criolla), and the ensemble continues to tread new paths with American violinist Monique Mead to win young audiences for classical music ("Classic for Kids"). The Orchestra recently recorded a newly composed score which was mixed with original soundtracks of the Comedian Harmonists and performs other projects of chamber opera, dance (Flamenco with Nina Corti) and marionette theatre.
Born in Unna (Germany) in 1971, Sebastian Tewinkel started his violin and general music studies at the Hannover University of Music and Drama. He then continued at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts with Thomas Ungar, graduating with a mark of distinction and supplementing with master courses given by Gianluigi Gelmetti and Sir Colin Davis. After his studies Sebastian Tewinkel was awarded a scholarship by the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in Berlin and admitted to the patronage programme "Dirigentenforum" of the "Deutscher Musikrat". Shortly after, he succeeded in winning two important competitons: in 2000 he received the first (and only) prize at the International Conducting Competition of the foundation "Fundação Oriente" at Lisbon, and in 2001 he won the Conductors Award in Bad Homburg. Already early in his career, Sebastian Tewinkel conducted numerous well-known orchestras, among them the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Radio Philharmony Hannover, the Halle Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Sofia Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, as well as Russia and Japan. With the start of the 2002-03 season, he was appointed Music Director and Chief Conductor of the South-west German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. He broadened the range of stylistic versatility and developed new programmes for this ensemble of long-standing tradition. Besides working with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, Sebastian Tewinkel continues conducting large orchestras. He was invited by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Hamamatsu Philharmonic in Japan, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the St Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra and the Lisbon Metroplitan Orchestra for concerts, CD and broadcasting productions alike.
Marcus Ullmann (Tenor) studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden with Hartmut Zabel and Margaret Trappe-Wiel, later with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin and Marga Schiml in Karlsruhe. He began his career at Opera Houses including the State Operas in Dresden and Mainz, the Teatro La Fenice, the Opera House in Rome, Teatro Florence and the Los Angeles Opera, where he appeared successfully in most of the major Mozart-roles, in addition to staged versions of the "St John's Passion" and "B-Minor Mass" by Bach, as well as "The Creation" and "The Seasons" by Haydn. Conductors with whom he has worked include Marcus Creed, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier and Frieder Bernius for example. Beside his performances with choirs like the Dresden Kreuzchor and the Thomanerchor Leipzig and performances at many music festivals, Marcus Ullmann has given recitals in Tokyo, at the Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Opera House Cairo.
Born in Graz (Austria) - August 24, 1962 - Franz Vorraber has been fascinated by the piano since his early childhood. At the age of seven, he played the organ in church standing up - as he could hardly reach the pedals. At the age of thirteen, he was admitted to the piano class for exceptional students at the Music Conservatory in Graz, also learning the violin. The Viennese School in the tradition of Bruno Seidlhofer and the traditional German school of Wilhelm Kempff, handed down by Joachim Volkmann, dominated his study years. He has won many prizes for his skills on the piano. Here, just some of the awarders: the Austrian Culture Minister, the piano manufacturers Bösendorfer in Vienna and the city of Graz. He also won the Joachim Erhard prize. He completed his studies in Frankfurt and Graz receiving unanimously the highest awards.
The musical education of the Austrian Bass-Baritone Josef Wagner, born in 1975, began with a membership in a boys' choir and with violin and piano lessons. Later he studied singing at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, where he was inspired by Paul Esswood, Walter Berry and Christa Ludwig. His current teacher is the tenor Wicus Slabbert. After the debut with "Don Alfonso" ("Così fan tutte" and Dulcamara ("Elisir d'amore") Josef Wagner became a member of the Vienna Volksoper in 2002. His repertoire includes "Figaro" in "Le nozze di Figaro", "Don Alfonso" and "Guglielmo" in "Cosi fan tutte", "Masetto" in "Don Giovanni", "Papageno" in "Die Zauberflöte" (Mozart), "Dulcamara" in "L'elisir d'amore" (Donizetti), "Publio" in "La clemenza di Tito" (Mozart), "Alidoro" in "La Cenerentola" (Rossini), "Colline" in "La boheme" (Puccini), "Philebos" in "Der König Kandaules" (Zemlinsky), "Fra Melitone" in "La forza del destino" (Verdi) and other roles. He performs at the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Volksoper and the opera houses of Bern, Geneva, Ireland and Japan. At the Israeli Opera he sang Lord Sidney in Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini). In addition to his career as an opera singer Josef Wagner also performes as a concert singer. Thus he gave concerts under the conductors Ton Koopman, Dennis Russell Davies and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Vienna's Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus.
Ulrich Wedemeier first studied classical guitar under Klaus Hempel at the University of Music and Theatre in Hanover. This was followed by the study of lute instruments under Stephen Stubbs. Besides performing as a soloist and a member of early music ensembles in international concerts, he also makes CD and radio recordings a regular focus of his work. Ulrich Wedemeier is much in demand as a guest at many opera houses. He is a specialist in historical guitars, playing rare 18th and 19th century original instruments.
The path that Lilya Zilberstein has taken reflects the triumph of a calling, a dogged determination to overcome obstacles that would have shattered any other talent: the eighties in the USSR were times of overt, yet unofficial antisemitism.
