Jadwiga Kotnowska
A laureate of top prizes in seven international contests, including the Queen Sofia Music Competition in Madrid, the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, the G.B.Viotti Competition in Vercelli, the V. Bucchi Competition in Rome, she also won a Gold Medal and a Grand Prix at the Festival in Bordeaux.
She studied with Maestri Aurele Nicolet, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Alain Marion.
She gave concerts at such venues as the Berlin Pbhilharmonic Hall, the Lincoln Center in NYC, the Tivoli Hall in Copenhagen, the Grieg Hall in Bergen (at the Bergen International Festival), the Palau de Musica in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Purcell Room in London, De Doelen in Rotterdam, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Warsaw Philharmonic and at festivals, including the Bergen Festival-Grieg, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), the Warsaw Autumn, The Premiere Festival in Katowice, the K. Penderecki Festival in Kraków or the Mozart Festival in Warsaw.
She participated in numerous premieres, including those of concertos by M. Górecki, A. Szczetyński and K. Dębski. She was the first Polish flutist to perform H.M. Górecki’s flute concertos (with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic) and the K. Penderecki concerto conducted by the composer . She also gave concerts with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon under C. Schimone and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders in Antwerp.
She has made many recordings for the radio in Spain, France, Switzerland, Holland and the U.S., and CDs for Polskie Nagrania, MDG, Quantum, Scotstown Music, Tonpress (a CD with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Mercadante’s Concerto nominated for the Fryderyk Prize).
The artist has taught master classes in the U.S., Finland, France and at the Royal College of Music in London.
Grażyna Auguścik
Singer, arranger, composer, producer and leader of her own ensemble, she has created her own performing style respected by audiences and critics. She ha made directness and spontaneity her chief quality.
After graduating in Poland and recording her first album, Sunrise Sunset, she began to study at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston (1988), which she completed in 1992 and received her honours diploma from Phil Collins and Al Jarreau. She has lived in Chicago since 1994. She has recorded, produced and published 11 albums. She works with musicians she knows and values, including Patricia Barber, Paul Wertico, John Medeski, Michael and Randy Brecker, Jim Hall, Michał Urbaniak, Leni Stern, Rachel Z, Urszula Dudziak, Eric Hochberg, John McLean, Terry Callier, Ernie Adams, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Robert Irving III, Paulinho Garcia, Ron Perrillo, Bogdan Hołownia, Jarek Bester, Andrzej Jagodzinski.
Ewa Bem
She began her artistic career in the Stodoła Blues Band (1969). She made her debut as soloist with the Zbigniew Seifert Quartet; she then sang with many other ensembles (1970). She won first prize at a jazz vocals competition in Lublin (1972).
Ewa sang with all major jazzmen. She collaborated with Marek Bliziński, Andrzej Jagodziński, Zbigniew Jaremka, Janusz Muniak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, the Old Timers and the Jazz Studio of the Polish Radio. The second half of the 1980s saw her in a duo with Andrzej Jagodziński and a new phase of her artistic development. She was acclaimed in Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Australia and the U.S., where she sang a programme of American jazz standards and a Polish repertoire in a swing interpretation. Tens of TV appearances, radio recordings and albums have assured her the position of the First Lady of Poland’s jazz vocals. Apart from a jazz repertoire, she performed songs by composers from outside the jazz scene yet always in her own, swinging style.
Urszula Dudziak
A versatile and pioneering artist of universal fame, original and creative, she stands out among contemporary singers (jazz and non-jazz alike) due to her remarkable vocal scale, original vocal technique and novelty in applying up-to-date electronic musical technology.
She began her career at the age of fifteen, achieving a broad popularity in Poland and Europe. She made her debut with Krzysztof Komeda in the early 1960s. Her arrival to New York in 1973 marked a new phase in her career with successes as soloist in Michał Urbaniak’s jazz ensemble throughout the US and Canada (including the Newport Jazz Festival and a concert at the Carnegie Hall).
She has worked with such celebrities as Bobby McFerrin, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton & Brandford Marsalis, Marcus Miller, Steve Gadd, Kenny Kirkland, Michael Brecker, Nina Simone, Carmen McRay, Randy Crawford, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Flora Purim. Since 1997, she has been collaborating with the Vienna Art Orchestra. She also sings Bach, Chopin and Paderewski.
Dorota Miśkiewicz
A graduate of the Academy of Music in Warsaw (violin class, 1997), she won second prize at the International Jazz Vocalists Meeting in Zamość in 1994. That was also when she began to work with the legend of Polish jazz, saxophonist, pianist and composer of many well-known songs, Włodzimierz Nahorny. As a member of his ensemble, she recorded the albums Kolędy Na Cały Rok (1995), Szymanowski-Mity (1997), Chopin-Fantazja Polska (1999), Karłowicz-Koncert (2002) and participated in the ballet production of Fantazja Polska (music by W. Nahorny, choreographed by Sławomir Gidel) at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk, 2003. In 1998, she gave concerts with Nigel Kennedy and his London ensemble in Vienna and Belgrade (From Bach To Hendrix).
She is now working on her own album; she records theatre music, writes songs, sings and arranges choir parts.
Andrzej Jagodziński
One of the best jazz pianists in Poland. He studied French horn and graduated from Music Academy. In 1975-80 he associated with the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra in Warsaw. The landmark of his carrier was the year 1979 when he got the prize as a pianist in Old Jazz Meeting "Złota Tarka" Competition. Since then he devoted himself to the piano and jazz. He has performed with the number of great Polish orchestras such as Old Timers, Swing Session, String Connection, Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet, Janusz Muniak Quartet, Big Warsaw Band, Quintessence, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski's "Czwartet". In 1993 he established Andrzej Jagodziński Trio. The CD "Chopin" recorded by the Trio was considered the CD of the year by the readers of Jazz Forum magazine in 1994 and it was awarded Fryderyk`94 - the prize of Polish Music Industry as well as Melomani '94 award given by Łódź Jazz Amateurs Association. Andrzej Jagodziński was awarded the prize of Polish Radio program 3 - Mateusz '94 for "Jazz Chopin and Poetry in Music”.
Henryk Miśkiewicz
A graduate of clarinet at the High School of Music in Wrocław (1970) and the Academy of Music in Warsaw (1974), he made his debut as a composer at the Jazz nad Odrą Festival in Wrocław (1965), where he won an honorary mention. He made his name as an arranger while working with the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra under A. Trzaskowski. He began his career in jazz by collaborating with the now-legendary band Jazz Carriers and Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski’s Jazz Studio.
He has worked with eminent Polish jazz musicians, including E. Bem, A. Jagodziński, J. Śmietana, W. Karolak, K. Stankiewicz, A. Sendecki; also, with Joe Lovano (a special project for Warsaw’s Jazz Jamboree), Mino Cinelu, Pat Metheny (projects by Anna Maria Jopek), Paul Kuhn (concerts with orchestra for the West Deutsche Rundfunk in Berlin), and most recently with David Marey (a joint programme at Kraków’s Słowacki Theatre for the Pilzner Prestige Jazz Festival).
He has appeared at many festivals in Poland and abroad, including the Pori Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival, the Jazz Jamboree, the JVC Jazz Festival.
He has made several original albums: More Love, Kakaruka, Remembrances, Lyrics, Full Drive, Alltissimonica, Uniesienie. All have been nominated for the Polish Fryderyk Prize. He won the award for his album Lyrics in 2001, and as Jazz Musician of the Year in 2004. He also won the “Melomani 2004” Jazz Grand Prix Jazz for lifetime achievement.
Henryk Miśkiewicz is also many-times’ winner of Jazz Top, the poll of the Jazz Forum Magazine as Best Alto Saxophonist.
Czesław Bartkowski
Jazz drummer, a legend of the Polish Jazz scene. He has been playing jazz for the last 45 years, performing with outstanding Polish and foreign musicians. He made his debut in 1960 with Jerzy Pakulski’s "Far Quartet", played with the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, the Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet, Niemen’s "Enigmatic", the Adam Makowicz-Tomasz Stańko Trio, the Jan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski Band, the Michał Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak Group, with Wojtek Karolak, Henryk Majewski and many others.
Bartkowski also worked with Art Farmer, Aladar Pege, Ben Webster, and Clark Terry.
He performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, the Pori Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Berliner Jazz Tage, the Molde Jazz Festival, the New York Jazz Festival, the Tauranga, the Comablain La Tour, the India Jazz Festival...
He is a Honorary Member of the Tauranga Jazz Festival Society and the New Orleans Clubs New Castle on Tyne, England; he has been awarded for his significant contribution to the country's cultural development and artistic education.
Since 1993, he has been a member member of the Andrzej Jagodziński Trio. Since the same year, he has been also teaching drums at the Faculty of Jazz of the High School of Music in Warsaw.
Adam Cegielski
Bass player born in 1967; a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He has won prizes at the Europe Jazz Competition in Belgium and the European Jazz Competition in Leverkusen, Germany. In 1994, he was ranked 3rd bass player by the reader's pool of the Polish Jazz Forum Magazine.
He has been playing with the Andrzej Jagodziński Trio for the last 5 years and, prior to that, he was a member of the Quintessence Quintet with Jagodziński for three years. He has played with the Kuba Stankiewicz Quartet, with whom he recorded "Northern Song" (GOWI Records 1994) - voted best record of the year by the reader's pool of Polish Jazz Forum Magazine.
Cegielski devotes his time to jazz and classical music and plays with the top-ranked Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, with whom he recorded several records under Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Jerzy Maksymiuk. He also plays in the soundtracks of Krzysztof Kieslowski's films "White" and "Red", and recorded a compact disc with jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko - "A Farewell to Maria" (GOWI Records).
Daniel Biel
Born in Świętochłowice in 1973, he began his musical education at the age of 17. He graduated from a four-year School of Music at Suwałki and then from Zbigniew Wegehaupt’s jazz-oriented doublebass class at the Bednarska State School of Music in Warsaw. He has an M.A. from Prof. Adam Kowalewski’s doublebass class at the Academy of Music in Katowice (Jazz Department).
He took part in many competitions and festivals, including the Pomeranian Jazz Autumn, Jazz Standards Festival in Siedlce, Jazz Juniors (second prize), and Jazz Krokus in Jelenia Góra, where he won first prizes with the Lukasz Poprawski Quartet and the Epsylon.
He coillaborates with such Polish artists as Urszula Dudziak, Lora Szafran, Artur Dutkiewicz, Tomasz Szukalski, and the Bisquit.
Tomasz Krawczyk
The laureate of the “Best Guitarist”prize at the International Jazz Workshop (Puławy 1995) and the Marek Bliziński Master Guitar Composition (1998), he has collaborated with such artists as Michał Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Justyna Steczkowska, Mariusz Lubomski. He wrote songs and co-authored the soundtrack for Leszek Dawid’s film My Place, which won the Best Music award at the Aix-en-Provence short film festival. Co-founder, with Joanna Włodarska, of the Bisquit ensemble, which made its debut album, Inny smak [Another Taste], in 2006.
Jan Smoczyński
A graduate of the Karol Szymanowski High School of Music in Warsaw, he studied jazz with A. Jagodziński at the Bednarska State School of Music in Warsaw, and went on to W. Niedziela’s class at the Jazz Department of the Katowice Academy of Music (graduated 2004). He and his brother co-founded the Mateusz Smoczyński Quartet. He works with the ensembles of M. Urbaniak, U. Dudziak (Artistic Director), the J. Małek Quintet, the M. Bałata Quintet, E. Kulm’s Quintessence, a duo with vibraphonist D. Bukowski and his own Trio with K. Pacan and S. Frankiewicz; he also participates in a new project, “Smoke and The Smokes” (J. Smoczyński, Ł. Poprawski, T. Krawczyk, D. Biel). He played concerts with T. Szukalski, J. Muniak, Z. Namysłowski, A. Cudzich, J. Kochan, A. Olejniczak. He co-authored the soundtrack for Leszek Dawid’s film My Place (Special Prize for Best Music at the Aix-en-Provence film festival).
A laureate of first prize (Trio) and individual prize at the 2001 international Jazz Juniors Festival, he also won an individual prize and a second group prize at the 2000 Jazz Standards Festival in Siedlce, first prize with the J. Namysłowski Quintet at the All-Polish Young Jazz Ensembles Review in Gdynia. He gives concerts in Poland and abroad, and, since 2004, has recorded in his own recording studio.
Artur Lipiński
Born in a musical family in Starachowice (his father is a concert drummer). He studied at the private Krzysztof Komeda School of Music in Warsaw and, at the same time, worked with the Szwagierkolaska, and then with such artists and bands as Natalia Kukulska, Ewa Bem, Kasia Stankiewicz, T. Love, Freedom Nation, and the Wojtek Pilichowski Band.
He participated in numerous festivals, including those at Opole, Sopot, Kołobrzeg, the JVC Festival, and Montreux 2005, where he played with Anna Serafińska.
For the last seven years, he has played on a constant basis in Maryla Rodowicz’s band, the Zbigniew Jakubek Quartet, Urszula Dudziak’s band, the Adam Sztaba Big Band, and the Niewinni Czarodzieje.
He gave concerts in many European countries (including Malta), the U.S., Canada, Israel, and Lebanon.
Michał Nesterowicz
Born in 1974, he studied violin and conducting at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. He was a laureate of the 6th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conducting Competition in Katowice and won the award of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra there for best Polish conductor.
He conducts concerts in Poland and abroad, with such orchestras as Sinfonia Varsovia, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Polish Radio Orchestra; he collaborates with Polish philharmonic and chamber orchestras, with musical theatres and operas.
He has been working closely with film music composer Zbigniew Preisner since 2000. He records for Polish Radio and TV and for music labels.
He conducted the European premiere of Jeffrey Stock’s symphonic poem Lulie the Iceberg (2005), collaborated with Jean Michel Jarre for the concert at the Shipyard of Gdańsk and for the premiere of Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s Freedom Cantata for the 25th anniversary of Solidarity.
This year’s engagements include further work with Kaczmarek and Journey to Light, a film music gala in Los Angeles.
Michał Nestorowicz is Artistic Director at the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk. According to many celebrities of the world of music, he belongs to some of the most interesting artistic personalities of the recent years.
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
In 1945, violinist and conductor Stefan Rachoń founded an orchestra that first performed pop music. In 1976-80, its new director Włodzimierz Kamirski worked to introduce a new repertoire and to transform the ensemble into a symphonic orchestra. This was carried on by Jan Pruszak (1980-88) and Mieczysław Nowakowski (1988-90). Taken over by Tadeusz Strugała (1990-93), the orchestra acquired its present name and moved to new headquarters in Warsaw’s Woronicza street to perform and record in the new concert hall of the Polish Radio. In 1993, the Polish Radio Orchestra was rejuvenated by its new Artistic Director Wojciech Rajski.
The orchestra’s duties include archival recordings for the Polish Radio and public concerts at the Lutosławski Studio. The Polish Radio Orchestra also performed successfully outside Poland: in France, Italy (La Scala in Milan, the Lingotto Auditorium in Turin), Switzerland, Sweden, Holland (the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Luxemburg, Austria, Spain, Germany (the Alte Oper in Frankfurt) and the Czech Republic, to the acclaim of the public and the respect of the press. The ensemble took part in many gala concerts abroad.
The Orchestra also records for the Polskie Radio CD label and for EMI Classic, KOCH, cpo and Olympia. It also records film music. Its live performances include those with Maurice Jarre, Michael Kamen, Ennio Morricone and Michel Legrand, when it played the composers’ own pieces.
Nelson Freire
Born in Brazil in 1957, he won the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition and went to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer. Seven years later he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London and First Prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon. He is constantly invited to collaborate with the most renowned orchestras and the most eminent conductors.
He performs recitals in the world’s major concert halls. He toured Japan (2003), Brasil and Argentina (2004) and North America (New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Quebec, 2005) with Martha Argerich. In 2005/06, he had a great success at the BBC Proms in London. Nelson Freire has recorded for Sony/CBS, Teldec, DGG, IPAM, and London labels. Philips released his most coveted performances on their acclaimed series, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and his recording of Chopin’s 24 Préludes for CBS received the Edison Prize. His DECCA recordings of Chopin, Schumann and Brahms Concertos 1 and 2 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Riccardo Chailly received prestigious prizes, including the Diapason d’Or, the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, the Choc du Monde de la Musique.
Nelson Freire was nominated Soloist of the Year 2002 by the French Victoires de la Musique and, in 2005, received a special Honours Award for lifetime achievement. In 2006, his Chopin CD won a Grammy nomination for best solo recording.
John Neschling
Grand nephew of both Arnold Schoenberg, the composer, and Arthur Bodanzky, the conductor, John Neschling was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947. He studied piano and followed his inclination to conducting under Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, and Leonard Bernstein in Tanglewood. The international conducting competitions that he has won include those of Florence (1969), of the London Symphony (1972) and of La Scala (1976).
In 1973, back in Brazil, he accepted the positions of Musical Director of the municipal theatres of both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In Europe, he directed the theatres Sao Carlos in Lisbon, Sankt Gallen (Switzerland), Massimo (Palermo) and Opéra de Bordeaux, apart from being Resident Conductor at the Vienna State Opera. He made his debut in the United States in 1996, conducting Il Guarany by Carlos Gomes, with Plácido Domingo in the role of Peri, at the Washington Opera.
At the direction of Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de Sao Paulo (OSESP) since 1997, Neschling (Artistic Director and Principal Conductor) has been gathering important achievements that mark a new phase in the history of the Orchestra. In addition to his engagements with OSESP, he has an intense schedule of activities abroad.
He also composes for cinema and theatre: he is the author of the score for films such as Pixote, The Kiss of the Spider Woman, Lúcio Flávio – o Passageiro da Agonia, Gaijin, Os Condenados and for the TV miniseries Os Maias. More recently, he wrote the music for Desmundo by Alain Fresnot, and incidental music for the soap-opera Esperança.
Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo (OSESP)
The Symphony Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo is considered today the most outstanding orchestra in Latin America, giving more than 130 concerts during its annual season.
It was founded by Maestro Sousa Lima in 1954. After the Italian Bruno Roccela, the orchestra was conducted by Eleazar de Carvalho for 24 years, until 1996. Under the direction of John Neschling since 1997, the orchestra has gone through changes leading to a high standard of quality and excellence in the fields of music, culture and education in Brazil.
With the support of the State Government, Neschling created the Maestro Eleazar de Carvalho Musical Documentation Centre, a subscription series, a coordination of educational programmes, a volunteer group, a music publishing company, Criadores do Brasil, and initiated a partnership with the Swedish recording company BIS to launch more than 20 CDs. Up to now, 6 CDs have been issued, one with some of the Bachianas Brasileiras by Villa-Lobos, others with the symphonies by Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Braga’s opera Jupyra and works by Francisco Mignone.
In 2005 the orchestra was joined by choruses (mixed, chamber, children’s and young persons’). Following tours through Latin America (2000), the United States (2002) and Europe (2003), the orchestra celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2004, with a tour of 15 Brazilian state capitals.
In 2005, the First Competition for Orchestral Conductors – the OSESP Prize – was launched. Its second edition, in February this year, was won by Chilean conductor Victor Hugo Toro, who will become the orchestra’s Assistant Conductor for the usual period of 2 years. In 2007, the orchestra will be touring Europe and appear in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Berne, Vienna, Warsaw, Cologne and Paris.
Maria Chiara Pavone
A graduate of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Rome, Italy, she studied the interpretation of German Lieder at the Musikhochschuele in Duesseldorf and specialised in chamber music under the guidance of the famous singer E. Ameling. Her performing activity is intense both in Italy and abroad, particularly in the realm of Baroque music, chamber music and contemporary music. She has performed works by some of the most important Italian contemporary composers, including world premieres that have been recorded and broadcast by RAI, the Italian broadcasting corporation. She sang at important Italian and foreign cultural institutions such as the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome, the East Cultural Center in Vancouver, the Grand Theatre of Reims, the Nuova Consonanza Festival, the Orchestra Regionale del Lazio, the Scarlatti Society in Naples. She performed in several European theatres with composer Ennio Morricone and conductors such as Marcello Panni, G. Rath, S.A. Reck and Lu Jia. Her repertoire includes works by major Italian composers of the 1600s such as Monteverdi’s opera Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, in which she sang the roles of Minerva and Penelope. Her repertoire also includes sacred music by the most influential Italian and European composers of the 1600s and 1700s. She made recordings for Die Schachtel, Edipan, MusicaImmagine, Stradivarius, and Tactus. She teaches at the Alfredo Casella Conservatory of L’Aquila.
Massimo Mercelli
Massimo Mercelli studied with Andre Jaunet and Maxence Larrieu. At the age of 19, h ebecame First Flute of Venice’s Teatro La Fenice and went on to win the Premio Francesco Cilea, the Concorso Internazionale Giornate Musicali and the Concorso Internazionale di Stresa.
He started an intense concert activity, performing as a soloist in some of the world most prestigious concert halls (the Carnegie Hall of New York, the Moscow Conservatory, Oslo’s Conserthuset, Monaco’s Herkulessaal and Gasteig, the Colon Theatre of Buenos Aires, RAI Auditoriums in Turin and Naples, the Victoria Hall of Geneva and the headquarters of the United Nations in New York) and important festivals (Ljubljana, Berlin Festival, Santander, Saint Petersburg, the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw). In 2006, he played the first performance of Façades by Philip Glass with the composer at the piano and performed at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Salzburg Mozarteum.
Massimo Mercelli is Artistic Director and founder of the Emilia Romagna Festival, and has been a member of the directive committee of the European Festival Association since 2001. Furthermore, he has been a juror at important international competitions such as the Jean-Pierre Rampal Competition of Paris, the Geneva Competition, the Concert Artist Guild of New York, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the USA.
Sandro De Palma
Sandro De Palma was born in Naples, where he began his musical education with Massimo Bertucci and Vincenzo Vitale. He was then invited by Nikita Magaloff to attend the Conservatoire in Geneva. At the age of 19, he won First Prize at the Alfredo Casella International Piano Competition. Two years later, he won the Bruce Hungerford Foundation First Prize in New York, which led to his American recital début at the Carnegie Hall. He also won prizes at the Clara Haskil Competition in Montreaux and the Dino Ciani Competition in Milan. In 1993, he took a pause from his engagements to study in London with Alice Kezeradze-Pogorelich.
Sandro De Palma has played concerts in every European country, in the former Soviet Union and, recently, in Japan. In his native Italy, he continues to play regularly with major orchestras including La Fenice, Rome, Milan and Naples Radio Orchestras; also with the San Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Monterrey Symphony Orchestra. He also plays chamber music in duo with violinists Boris Belkin, Pierre Hommage and Ilya Grubert, in quartet with the Salzburg Piano Quartet, and with winds and strings of the Berliner Philarmoniker.
Sandro De Palma participated in the world's first recording for Fonit Cetra of Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum - a recording which won the 20th Italian Critics Award. He is currently Artistic Director of Maggio della Musica Festival in Naples and President of the Associazione Muzio Clementi in Rome.
Stefan Vladar
As the youngest winner in the history of the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna, Austrian pianist Stefan Vladar is one of the most interesting and multi-versatile musicians of his generation. A Viennese by birth, he studied at the Vienna Music Academy with Renate Kramer-Preisenhammer and Hans Petermandl. His international career has led him to the major music venues and festivals of the world. He performs regularly in Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hong Kong, Osaka, Rheingau, Ludwigsburg and at the Schubertiade as soloist and, more and more often, as conductor. He is a frequent partner of world-famous chamber orchestras, such as the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, the Artis Quartet, Heinrich Schiff, Bo Skovhus, and violinists Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen.
As of the 2002/2003 season until this year, Stefan Vladar has been Chief Conductor of the newly founded „Grosses Orchestra Graz”. He plays and conducts with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Beethoven Academy (a Netherlands Tour with a concert at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw), the Residential Orchestra of The Hague, the Camerata Salzburg (back invitation after last season’s tour through Germany with Angelika Kirchschlager).
Stefan Vladar is Artistic Director of both the „Neuberger Kulturtage” in Styria, Austria and „Oberoesterreichische Stiftskonzerte” in Upper Austria. He is currently Professor of Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood is one of the greatest proponents of the early music movement, as well as a renowned conductor of twentieth-century works. This season he becomes Emeritus Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, the orchestra he founded in 1973, and begins a series of Handel operas in concert. In addition, he is Conductor Laureate of Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society and continues his close association with the Kammerorchester Basel
Hogwood began his career as a keyboard player over forty years ago and has been a major force in the revolution that has forever changed the way music is performed, recorded and heard. Based on the principle of discovering and, as far as possible, recreating the composer’s intentions, both in notation and performance, his approach begins with musicology – going back to the original sources, correcting published errors, tracking changes in subsequent editions. Only then does he apply his deep knowledge of performance practice to the rehearsal room, concert hall and recording studio. He s a celebrated catalogue of more than 200 recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music (including those for Decca, Sony/BMG’s Arte Nova, Chandos, Metronome).
An important contributor to numerous publishers and particularly Baerenreiter, Hogwood’s current editorial projects range from sixteenth century Italian music to the last orchestral work by Stravinsky. Of particular note is the publication of the many alternative versions of the great overtures and symphonies by Mendelssohn, revealing new insight into his working methods; major keyboard collections such as the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and complete keyboard works of Purcell; plus special arrangements by contemporaries of composers such as Mozart and Haydn. He has just completed a new edition of Elgar’s Enigma variations. In addition, he chairs the board of the Complete Works Edition of C.P.E. Bach and Martinu.
Hogwood is Honorary Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge; he holds Fellowships at Jesus and Pembroke Colleges, Cambridge; and is Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
Kammerorchester Basel (KOB)
The history of the Basel Chamber Orchestra - or Kammerorchester Basel (KOB) - dates back to 1984, when some graduates from various Swiss Conservatories decided to form an independent ensemble. The orchestra continues a tradition begun by Paul Sacher and his two chamber orchestras (Basel Chamber Orchestra and Collegium Musicum Zürich). In recent years, the orchestra has developed a considerable reputation for performing with a wide range of internationally renowned conductors and soloists.
In addition to its own series of concerts at the Stadtcasino and the Martinskirche in Basel, it makes regular guest appearances all over Switzerland. Following his debut with the orchestra in 1999, Christopher Hogwood was appointed Principal Guest Conductor.
Through its partnership with the SonyBMG/Arte Nova label, the KOB has embarked on a series of recordings with the thematic focus as well as with an emphasis on contemporary classics. The music on the first CD, produced in 2001, featured music from a concert programme from 1947, in which Paul Sacher and the Kammerorchester Basel gave the world premieres of works by Strawinsky, Martinu and Honegger. Another CD, with Christopher Hogwood and Emma Kirkby, focused on Britten and Strawinsky. A third, with neo-classical works with an Italian theme (Casella, Maliepiero, Stravinsky), was followed by CD number 4, containing works by Richard Strauss and Georges Bizet. The latest CD, released in September 2005, focused on Copland and Barber.
Past highlights include performances in the new concert hall in Dortmund and Porto, at the “Festspielhaus” Bregenz, the “Festa da Musica” in Lisbon and the Istanbul Music Festival.
Altenberg Trio
Since its „official“ debut during the Salzburg Mozart Week (January 1994), the Altenberg Trio Wien – one of the few full-time piano trios in the world of chamber music – has in over 600 performances earned the reputation of one of the most daring and consistent ensembles in this category: its repertory comprises – in addition to a large number of works from directly related fields (piano quartets & quintets, duos, triple concertos, vocal chamber music) no less than 150 piano trios, among them pieces which the Altenberg Trio suggested and first performed itself.
Simultaneously with its foundation, the ensemble became trio in residence of Vienna´s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, annually performing a cycle in the Brahms Saal for that society; as trio in residence of the Conservatory of the City of Vienna, the trio runs a class for majors in chamber music in form of a series of seminars.
Among the Altenberg Trio´s other regular activities are the International Brahms Festival at Muerzzuschlag (Austria), whose artistic director is Claus-Christian Schuster, the International Music Festival Hartberg (Austria), where the ensemble annually conducts a summer course with concerts, and the Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo (Piedmont), where the trio offers monthly master classes for young ensembles.
At the conferral of the Robert Schumann Award of the City of Zwickau in 1999, the Altenberg Trio succeeded in continuing the “Austrian” tradition of this award (winner 1997: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, winner 2002: Alfred Brendel); the immediate reason for its success was the recording of all Schumann piano trios which had just been released. The Altenberg Trio´s subsequent recording (Ives/Copland/Bernstein) in April 2000 already won the Edison Award in Amsterdam.
Claus-Christian Schuster
Pianist Claus-Christian Schuster was born in Vienna in 1952. He studied in Vienna, Bloomington/USA, and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with his father, with Wilhelm Huebner, Hans Graf, Dieter Weber and Vera Gornostayeva. His encounter with Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy, left an indelible impression upon him. He won awards at several international piano and chamber music competitions, performing as a soloist until 1984. That same year he founded the Vienna Schubert Trio, a regular guest at the most important music centers and renowned chamber music festivals (Musikverein/Vienna – with their own cycle since 1988; Salzburg Festival, Teatro alla Scala/Milan, La Fenice/Venice; Concertgebouw Amsterdam, etc.). After the Vienna Schubert Trio ceased to exist in 1993, he founded the Altenberg Trio Wien together with Amiram Ganz and Martin Hornstein, thus continuing and even intensifying his international chamber music activities.
Between 1976 and 1986 Claus-Christian Schuster taught at the Vienna Musikhochschule. In addition to performing widely, he is, together with his colleagues, at this point running a series of seminars for chamber music majors at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna as well as master classes in Europe an the U.S.
Amiram Ganz
Violinist Amiram Ganz was born in Montevideo in 1952. He began to study violin in Uruguay with Israel Chorberg, the Leopold Auer-pupil Ilya Fidlon, and Jorge Risi. At the age of eleven he won the Jeunesses musicales Contest and then continued his studies with Richard Burgin in the U.S.A. and Alberto Lysy at the International Academy of Chamber Music in Rome. Studying on a scholarship at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory between 1974 and 1979 he met Victor Pikaisen, who became his teacher. As finalist and award winner of several international competitions (Long-Thibaud/Paris, ARD/Munich, etc.), he became first concert master of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in 1980. From 1987 until the foundation of the Altenberg Trio he was the violinist of the Shostakovitch Trio, appearing at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, etc. In 1994 he became a founding member of the Altenberg Trio of Vienna.
Since 1981 Amiram Ganz has also been teaching at the Strasbourg Conservatory; as a member of the Altenberg Trio he is now in charge of a series of seminars for chamber music majors at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna.
Amiram Ganz plays a violin built in Saluzzo in 1686 by Goffredo Cappa (1644-1717); it was made available to the trio by an anonymous patron.
Alexander Gebert
Cellist Alexander Gebert was born in a musical family in Warsaw in 1977. He emigrated to Finland in 1980. At the age of five, he began to learn cello in Timo Hanhinen’s class at the Turku Conservatory. Admitted, in 1989, to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he studied with Victoria Yaglig, Kazimierz Michalik and Heikki Rautasalo. In 1995-98, he received a Polish government grant to study at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He then continued his studies with Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire de Paris and, with a DAAD scholarship, at the Higher School of Music with Natalia Gutman. In 2002, he received a three-year grant of the Groupe Banques Populaires. Alexander Gebert won his first international cello competition at the age of 16; he came second at the 1997 W. Lutosławski Competition in Warsaw and, in 2000, he won third prize at the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb, audience prize at the International Competition in Geneva (where he performed with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Heinrich Schiff) and first prize at the Concorso Valentino Bucchi in Rome.
He performed as soloist and chamber musician at renowned music festivals in Europe and North America (Kuhmo Festival, Oleg-Kagan-Musikfest, Festival de Deauville, Ravinia Festival). He has been cellist for the Altenberg Trio of Vienna since 2004.
Alexander Gebert plays a Nicolas Vuillaume cello (1800-1871).
Urszula Kryger
A graduate of the Academy of Music in Łódź: piano (1988) and vocal (1992, class of Jadwiga Pietraszkiewicz), she continued her studies with Andrzej Orłowicz in Copenhagen. She participated in many international musical competitions. Her numerous awards include first prizes at the 1st Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition for Young Singers in Warsaw (1992), the 6th J. Brahms International Vocal Competition in Hamburg (1994) and the 43rd International Music Competition of the ARD in Munich (1994). An enduring interest of music lovers and critics has accompanied her ever since.
In 1995, she appeared at La Scala with a Fruderyk Chopin song recital. A year later, she debuted successfully at Semper Oper in Dresden as Angelina in G. Rossini’s Ciderella. Audience in Poland and many countries around the world have often had the opportunity to admire her parts in oratorios performed by such great masters as Jan Krenz, Jerzy Semkow, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Hans-Martin Schneidt and Sir Colin Davis.
She is particularly keen on chamber music – her performance of songs is a combination of perfection and naturalness. This has always been acknowledged by her accompanying musicians, including eminent pianists Hartmut Höll, Charles Spencer, Melvyn Tan and Pascal Rogé, clarinettist Paul Meyer, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Petersen Quartet.
Urszula Kryger has recorded for radio stations in Poland, France, Germany and Switzerland. Her growing collection of recorded albums includes those for Decca (Polish songs by Poulenc) and Hyperion (songs by Chopin) in the United Kingdom, CPO in Germany (Löwe’s ballads) and DUX in Poland (Russian duets – the Fryderyk Prize of 2001, songs by Moniuszko, Songs by Karłowicz and Szymanowski – the Fryderyk Prize of 2002).
Henryk Wojnarowski
Since 1978, he has been Choir Master in the National Philharmonic. He studied symphony and opera conducting with Stanisław Wisłocki in the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw. In the period 1960-78, he was the conductor and Choir Master of the National Opera Teatr Wielki in Warsaw – there he prepared about 80 premieres and several first opera performances.
For many years, the artist has cooperated with the National Philharmonic Choir, gaining immense success both nationally and internationally in the performances with renowned Polish and European symphony orchestras (e.g. in La Scala of Milan in 1985, 1989 and 1990, in Berlin, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, Jerusalem). He collaborated with the most prominent contemporary conductors such as Bohdan Wodiczko, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Semkow, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Stanisław Wisłocki, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Krzysztof Penderecki, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Antoni Wit, Leopold Stokowski, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Sergiu Comissiona, Gary Bertini, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Zubin Mehta.
Henryk Wojnarowski prepared the National Philharmonic Choir to perform e.g. all the oratorio and a capella works of Krzysztof Penderecki. Besides he participated in many Polish and world first performances, and together with the Choir made many disc and radio recordings.
The National Philharmonic Choir
The National Philharmonic in Warsaw has been one of the few music institutions (both in Poland and abroad) which have a choir of their own. Now the choir consists of 90 singers. It started off in 1952 under Zbigniew Soja. Subsequently, the Choir Masters were: Roman Kuklewicz (1955-71), Józef Bok (1971-74) and Antoni Szaliński (1974-78). In 1978, the position was taken over by Henryk Wojnarowski, who has kept it ever since.
The vast repertoire of the choir comprises over 150 oratorio works and pieces for a capella chorus from various epochs since the Middle Ages. The mainstream activity of the choir consists in the participation in symphony and oratorio concerts (with the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras) and in a cappella concerts. The choir gives many performances each season and frequently takes part in the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn.” Many works performed during the concerts were recorded on the following discs: Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt and Judas Maccabaeus, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Fidelio and Symphony No 9, Verdi’s Requiem, Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Elsner’s Passion, Szymanowski’s Harnasie and Symphony No 3, Maciejewski’s Requiem, all the a cappella works by Penderecki and his Passion According to St Luke (recorded with the Great Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer, it received a Grammy nomination), Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Credo, as well as Kilar’s Missa pro pace.
Polish music, esp. works by K. Penderecki have a privileged position in the choir’s repertoire. It performs all his oratorio and a cappella works (Polish Requiem, Passion According to St Luke, Te Deum, Utrenya, Psalms of David, Dies irae, Veni Creator, Songs of Cherubim, Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Credo), and among his opera works – Paradise Lost. Concerts conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki are highly regarded by choir artists, have a unique atmosphere, are played to packed houses and are enthusiastically received all over the world.
The choir is frequently present at national music festivals, but also keeps an intensive international concert schedule. The invitation to perform in the opera Atem by Franco Donatoni at La Scala in Milan (1985) was an important event in the history of the choir and resulted in subsequent invitations to La Scala – Weber’s Oberon and Beethoven’s Fidelio (1989, 1990), to Teatro La Fenice in Venice – Stravinsky’s Żywot rozpustnika (Rake’s Progress) and Mozart’s Magic Flute (1986, 1987), to Paris – Beethoven’s Fidelio (1989), to Palermo – Szymanowski’s King Roger (1992), Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Honegger’s Antigone (1993), and to Pesaro – Rossini’s Italian Woman in Algiers (1994). In 1988, 1990 and 2001, the National Philharmonic Choir took part in the official concerts at the Vatican organized for His Holiness Pope John Paul II. The choir was conducted by eminent Polish and foreign conductors, e.g. Bohdan Wodiczko, Henryk Czyż, Stanisław Wisłocki, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Semkow, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antoni Wit, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Antoni Wit, Jacek Kaspszyk, Grzegorz Nowak, Leopold Stokowski, Gary Bertini, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Gabriele Ferro, Igor Stravinsky, Sergiu Comissiona, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Zubin Mehta.
Antoni Wit
Since 2002, Antoni Wit has been General and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic. He earlier headed Filharmonia Pomorska (1974-77), the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra and Choir in Kraków (1977-83), National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (1983-2000) and Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (1987-92). The above ensembles count the time under his leadership as the periods of their most intense artistic development and their greatest excellence.
He has conducted the most celebrated symphony orchestras (including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Zurich, Royal Philharmonic, BBC London, Montreal Symphony, NHK Tokyo) in all major centres of Europe, the Americas, the Middle and Far East.
He has recorded almost a hundred albums for such labels as EMI-HMV, CBS, Naxos, NVS Arts, Pony Canyon, Polskie Nagrania. His recording of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater for EMI was hailed by British critics as one of the best albums of 1985. The complete concerts by Prokofiev (with soloist Kun Woo Paik) published by Naxos received the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Academie (1983). Antoni Wit also won the prestigious Cannes Classical Award (Midem Classique 2002) for Messiaen's symphony Turangalîla. The artist also recorded a collection of complete symphonic works by Lutosławski for the same label (with the Katowice National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra). His first album with Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Lutosławski, Meyer, Penderecki), recorded for CD Accord, received the Fryderyk Prize in 2002. He conducted the same orchestra in June 2003 in a recording of complete Chopin works for piano and orchestra (again with soloist Kun Woo Paik) for Decca, and, in September the same year, the world premiere of Wojciech Kilar’s September Symphony, dedicated to conductor. In 2004, the recording of K. Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion conducted by Antoni Wit (made for NAXOS in 2002) received the Classical Internet Award and a Grammy nomination.
Muza Rubackyte
Born into a family of musicians; at 14, she won First Prize at the country's National Young Artists Competition, allowing her to enter the renowned Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where she studied with such celebrated pianists/teachers as Bela Davidovitch, Yakov Flier and Michail Voskressensky. During this period, she won First Prize in the Tallinn (Estonia) Piano Competition and shortly thereafter was awarded the Conservatory's First Prize in three disciplines: solo piano, chamber music and accompaniment.
She traveled to every corner of the Soviet empire, appearing with the orchestras of the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus to the great ensembles of Moscow, Vilnius and St. Petersburg. There were also "special" orchestral tours and recitals outside the Soviet Union to Cairo, Egypt, Prague, Czechoslovakia and Budapest, Hungary, where she performed with such maestri as Khatchaturian, Jarvi, Gergiev, Kogan, Kachidze, Jordania and Klas. As a positive side to this "restricted musical life," it allowed her to learn and perform 35 major concerti for piano and orchestra (including those by Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Stenhammar, Montvila, Dvarionas and Schnittke).
After winning the Grand Prix at the Budapest International Piano Competition, also known as the Liszt/Bartok Competition, she was constantly denied visas to perform in the West. Only with the advent of the “perestroika" (1989) and finally, Lithuanian independence (1991), circumstances allowed her to make the move to Paris, France. There, she immediately entered the prestigious Paris International Piano Competition and won its First Prize; as a laureate of that competition, Muza Rubackyte has received the title of “Le Grand Maitre Français” (the Great Master of France). The artist appears regularly in Europe, she is heard frequently on Radio-France, Radio-Classique and Radio Notre-Dame. Proficient in five languages, she is comfortable during her continental tours at such concert venues as the Wigmore Hall (London), the Beethoven House (Bonn), the Salle Gaveau (Paris), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam).
In recent years, she has been invited to North America for recitals at the Newport (RI), Portland (OR), Houston (TX) and Bermuda Music Festivals. The Bermuda press headlined her review as "Passion, fire and thunder from a musical magician."
In 1998, Lithuania honored Ms. Rubackyte and the late Sir Yehudi Menuhin with the country's highest cultural award the "Legion of Merit" for their extraordinary international musical accomplishments.
Arto Noras
One of the most prominent present-day cellists, he began learning the instrument already at the age of five. From the age of eight he was a pupil of Professor Yrjö Selin at the Sibelius Academy. In 1962-1964 he studied in Paul Tortelier’s master class at the Paris Conservatories and gained his diploma (Premier Prix) there in 1964. Two years later he was a runner-up at the Tchaikovsky competition.
Arto Noras appears regularly with the major orchestras all over the world. His repertoire encompasses almost the entire cello literature. He has recorded extensively. He is also well-known for his appearances as a distinguished chamber musician with the most famous instrumentalists in the world. He is the founder and the member of the Sibelius Academy Quartet.
Arto Noras is the founder and the Artistic Director of the Naantali Music Festival as well as the founder of the International Paulo Cello Competition. Professor of cello at the Sibelius Academy since 1970, he has taught master classes all over the world. He has also acted as a jury member in all major cello competitions.
Ralf Gothóni
Born in Finland. At 15 he made his debut as a pianist and in 1967, he appeared at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival as the ‘debutant of the year’. He has since acquired an international reputation as a phenomenally versatile musician – solo pianist, conductor, chamber musician, composer, musicologist and professor at several musical institutions.
Gothóni performs on many of the great stages of the world as soloist and conductor, often conducting from the keyboard. He has appeared at many prestigious music festivals including Salzburg, Berlin, Prague, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, La Roque de Antheron, Ravinia and Tanglewood. He has performed with, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Japan Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago, Detroit and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.
His discography amounts to some eighty albums on various labels, including BIS, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Ondine, with whom he has produced more than twenty CDs in recent years.
He is Artistic Director of ‘Aino Ackte’ Institute for Chamber Music in Savonlinna, professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and since May 2000 a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London.
Gothóni’s compositions include three chamber operas, the chamber cantata The Ox and its Sephard (recorded by Ondine) and a Concerto Grosso version of the same work for violin, piano and strings. His first book ‘The Creative Moment’ was published in Finland by Ajatus in 1998. October 2001 followed his second book “Does the moon turn?”
Ralf Gothóni has received several distinguished awards for his diverse achievements.
Gerhard Oppitz
Gerhard Oppitz was born in Frauenau, Bavaria, in 1953. He studied at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart with Paul Buck and then attended Hugo Steurer`s master class at the Academy of Music in Munich. In 1973, he met Wilhelm Kempff, who invited the young pianist to attend his private master classes in Positano, where he coached him particularly in the sonatas and concertos by Beethoven. Kempff was impressed by the striking similarities in their interpretative outlooks. It was Kempff`s own wish that – after his death – Gerhard Oppitz should continue the German musical tradition that linked them so closely.
In 1977, Gerhard Oppitz became the first and until today the only German to win First Prize at the Artur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv. This achievement and quasi-political event led to concert tours across Europe, Asia and the USA. In 1978 he recorded the first of his many discs, and the same year he was offered a position as professor at the Musikhochschule München. He finally accepted in 1981 to lead a master class for post-graduate students, becoming the youngest professor in the history of this Academy.
Gerhard Oppitz gives about eighty recitals and concerts a year, playing with the world`s most prestigious orchestras and eminent conductors. He has earned a reputation in the performance of contemporary music, particularly in works by Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Veerhoff, Boulez and Messiaen. Oppitz`s discography comprises about 50 CDs. His most recent album contains the 32 Beethoven sonatas for Hänssler Classic. Despite his busy performing and recording schedule, the pianist also has a broad spectrum of other interests: he is a qualified professional air pilot and frequently pilots himself to his concert engagements across Europe. He is an informed gourmet (never travelling to concerts without the appropriate restaurant guides) and a connoisseur of fine wines. He speaks seven languages and resides together with his Japanese wife near Munich.
Paavo Järvi
Born in Tallinn, Estonia, he studied percussion and conducting at the Tallinn School of Music. In 1980, he moved to the USA, where he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein.
He became Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2001, with which he toured throughout America and Japan. They will make their second tour of Europe in the spring of 2008. In 2006, Paavo Järvi was appointed Music Director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and, during his first season, visited the BBC Proms and the Robeco Summer series at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He also holds the posts of Artistic Director at Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, with which he recently made a tour of Japan, performing Beethoven’s complete symphonies. This project will be repeated in Strasbourg and at major US Festivals in the summer of 2007. They returned to the Salzburg Festival (2006), to play a concert with Steven Isserlis, which included the world premiere of the Wolfgang Rihm Cello Concerto. As Artistic Advisor to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Mr Järvi is known for having championed many works by Estonian composers, including Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Lepo Sumera and Eduard Tubin. Paavo Järvi is also frequently invited to perform with orchestras from all over the world.
The most recent additions to Mr Järvi’s discography for EMI/Virgin Classics include orchestral music by Grieg, the Grammy award-winning recording of Sibelius’s cantatas, and Grieg’s Peer Gynt, which won the best Orchestral recording in the 2006 BBC Music Magazine Awards. Paavo Järvi has also released a number of CDs for Telarc with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, featuring works by Ravel, Berlioz, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tubin, Stravinsky, Debussy, Dvorak, Martinu, Lutosławski, Bartók, Elgar and Britten. He is in the middle of recording a complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie for BMG, while works by Richard Strauss and Stravinsky with the same orchestra have already been released.
Antonello Palombi
Italian tenor Antonello Palombi performs around the world to tremendous acclaim, and recently made his American debut performing the role of Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West with Seattle Opera. "The most pleasant surprise was the discovery of a very fine new tenor in Antonello Palombi, whose singing in rehearsals had set the rumor mills abuzz. It's all true: Here is a tenor with that exciting, emotion-stirring, head-turning Italianate sound, and he ignited the show whenever he was on-stage...here's betting he will be in considerable demand in this country” says the Seattle Times. He is now in demand with houses around the country including recent performances as Cavaradossi in Tosca with the Cincinnati Opera, Canio in I Pagliacci with the Dallas Opera, and Radames in Aida with the Michigan Opera Theatre and Palm Beach Opera, as well as recent European engagements as Calaf in Turandot in both Cagliari and Genoa, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut in Frankfurt, Ismaele in Nabucco in Caracalla, Radames in Aida and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut in Munich.
American engagements for the 2006-2007 Season and beyond include a return to Seattle Opera as Radames in Aida and Canio in I Pagliacci, the title role in Don Carlo with the Cincinnati Opera, and Cavaradossi in Tosca and Baltimore Opera, as well as 2006-2007 European engagements including Radames in Aida and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at La Scala, a return to Oper Frankfurt for Faust in Mefistofele, Luigi in Il Tabarro, and Andrea Chenier in concert, Forza del Destino and the title role in Andrea Chenier with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Faust in Mefistofele in Liege and Genova, Calaf in Turandot in Caracalla and Venezia, and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut in Torino and Leipzig.
Antonello Palombi has performed leading roles with many important Opera Companies such as the Royal Albert Hall in London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Regio in Torino, Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Granteatro La Fenice in Venice, New National Theatre in Tokyo, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Allami Operahaz in Budapest, Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, Teatro Verdi in Florence, Teatro Bellini in Catania, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus in Zurich, Teatro Lirico and Teatro Romano in Cagliari, Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Hungarian State Opera, Ravenna, Cosenza, Pisa, Modena, Lucca, Livorno, Baden, Wiesbaden, Ludwigsburg, Mantova, Treviso, Rovigo, Savona, Bologna, Riga, Padova, Copenhagen, Zurich, Zagabria, Valladolid, in such roles as Don Jose in Carmen, the title role in Don Carlo, Pollione in Norma, Calaf in Turandot, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Radames in Aida, Loris in Fedora, Ismaele in Nabucco, Luigi in Il Tabarro, Manrico in Il Trovatore, the title role in Andrea Chenier, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, Jacopo Foscari in I due Foscari, Paco in La Vida Breve, and Avito in Amore dei tre Re.
Notable Conductors he has worked with include R. Abbado, Acs, Ahronovitch, Andretta, Aprea, Barbacini, Bartoletti, Bellugi, Benzi, Bernet, Caetani, Campanella,Campori, DelaCote, Desderi, Fedi, Fisher, Fedoseyev, Gandolfi, Gardiner, Gyorivanyi Rath, Handt, Karabtchevsky, Kuhn, Märkl, Martin, Mastrangelo, Medveczky, Mega, Morandi, Olmi, Pacor, Pons, Ranzani, Renzetti, Santi, Viotti, and Zambelli.
Sylvie Valayre
Sylvie Valayre studied in her home city of Paris with Christiane Eda-Pierre and then with Sergio Tedesco in Rome. From the very start, she mainly appeared in Italy ad France in a a remarkably broad repertoire by composers such as Mozart, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, but also Ravel, Poulenc, Zemlinsky, Berg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Wolff-Ferrari, Lehár and de Falla.
In 1996, she made her debuts at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Elisabeth (Don Carlos), as Abigaille (Nabucco) at the Covent Garden and again in Don Carlos (the 5-act version) at the Royal Albert Hall. Her numerous later debuts and performances include La Gioconda at Milan’s La Scala, Madama Butterfly in San Francisco, Jérusalem at the Carnegie Hall, Salome in Graz, Madama Butterfly at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Macbeth at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and Norma at the Macerata Festival.
Her great success in Nabucco and Aida at the Arena in Verona (1998) is reapeated there every summer, e.g. in the title part in Pierluigi Pizzi’s new production of Aida. She also performed with Placido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera in Andrea Chénier (2003).
Dimitris Tiliakos
Born on Rhodes Island, he first studied cello at the Athens Conservatory and then vocals with Kostas Paskalis. In 1966, he won a Maria Callas Foundation grant and graduated from Daphne Evangelatos’s class at the Musikhochschule in Munich. He soon made his debut as Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the Munich Prinzregententheater and won the Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender Price for young opera singers.
In 1997-2003, Tiliakos was a member of the Nuremberg Opera, where he performed the major parts of the lyrical baritone repertory but also received great appreciation in roles such as Escamillo, Germont and Luna. He has been freelancing since 2003. He appeared in Bern, Karlsruhe and the Munich Biennale in modern operas and is a regular guest at the most important opera houses and concert halls of his native Greece, including the Greek National Opera and the Megaron in Athens, the Epidaurus Festival and the Megaron in Thessaloniki. The artist captivates his audiences not only with impressive vocal culture and noble timbre, but also with his extraordinary stage presence and interpretive power.
César Augusto Gutiérrez
He began his musical education with Prof. Leonela Villa in Colombia and, in 1991, went on to Vienna’s Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst to study with Professors Margarita Lilova (vocals), Curt Equiluz and Charles Spencer (Lied and oratorio), and Curt Malm (scenic interpretation).
He won the Andrés Segovia Prize the interpretation of Spanish music in Santiago de Compostela (1991), 1st Prize at the International Hilde Zadek Singing Contest (2000) and 1st Prize, Gold Medal and Grand Prix at the Maria Callas Singing Competition.
Since 1996, he has given regular concerts in Austria, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Norway, the US and Japan. He has sung in operas and operettas by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Martinu and other composers.
He has been very active also as a concert and oratorio singer, appearing at the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Pleyel Concert Hall in Paris, the Osloer Philharmonie, the Beethoven Hall in Bonn, the Megaro Musikis in Thessaloniki, and the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. He has participated in the recording of Martinu’s The Greek Passion (National Radio and Television of Austria) as Nikolio, and in Lucia di Lammermoor as Arturo with Edita Gruberova (Nightingale Records).
Agnieszka Rehlis
An honours graduate of vocals at the Academy of Music in Wrocław (1996), she then won a 3-year scholarship of Poland’s Ministry of Culture and Art. She took part in
