With a dynamic concert career as a soloist and chamber musician, Ecuadorian pianist Andrés Añazco has performed in renowned venues such as the Musikverein (Vienna), the MuTh (Concert Hall of the Vienna Boys’ Choir), Carnegie Hall (New York), the Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland) and at the Rheingau Musik Festival (Germany).
Winning first prize at the 1st International Piano Competition “Cuidad de Huesca” (Spain) at the young age of 12 was a turning point in his musical life and launched his performance career as soloist.
Since 2012, he has performed throughout Europe as pianist of the celebrated Acros Trio, winners of the Joseph Windisch Competition (Vienna). In the same year, he received the prize of the City of Lausanne together with violinist Yuuki Wong. As a member of the European Chamber Music Academy, he has received instruction from artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Hatto Beyerle, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ferenc Rados and Hariolf Schlichtig.
After completing his studies in his native country, Andrés received a scholarship from the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, to continue his studies at the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna with Oleg Maisenberg (piano) and Avedis Kouyoumdjian (chamber music). Since 2006, based in Vienna, his musical career has lead him to explore new musical styles as a member of the Vienna Tango Quintet.

Born in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Yuliya studied both piano and organ at the conservatory of her hometown, where she won numerous prizes and awards. Yuliya completed her master’s degree first in piano chamber music with Prof. Anthony Spiri and in piano solo with Paolo Alvares at the Cologne Musikhochschule and later in duo with pianists with Prof. Evgeny Sinaiski at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.

Yuliya performs regularly in various formations and at festivals such as in Italy (InterHarmony Music Festival), in Germany (Bavarian Music Academy) and in Austria (ClariArte).

Yuliya has distinguished herself not only on the concert podium but also as a radio personality: she produced her own series of programs on classical music for the radio “Classic” in Kazakhstan in 2007-13.

In February 2019, a new CD “Spectrum” with Christoph Schneider and Yuliya Balabicheva has been released by Genuin.

At the moment Yuliya is a Senior Lecturer in Correpetition at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The bulgarian pianist Ana Dimova began her musical education at the age of 5. She graduated with honors from the Music Academy in Sofia with the famous bulgarian pianist Prof. Milena Mollova, as well as from the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, was a laureate at international competitions and a guest student of renowned soloists. Her career as a pianist, which began on the podium at the age of 13, has been accompanied by a series of concerts and participation in music festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, and she has also become known as a sought-after soloist and chamber music partner of members of the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony Orchestra in Europe and Asia. Together with soprano Johanna Rutishauser, she can be heard on the world’s first CD recording of forgotten songs by Anton Rubinstein. Her love for rarities worth listening to led her and soprano Grazyna Wojtanowska to record the CD Die süße Stunde with songs by Raoul von Koczalski.  Various audio/video recordings in national and international media complete her work catalog.

Ana Dimova has been working as a university professor for solo correpetition (wind and string instruments) at the MUK Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna since 2005.

The bulgarian-austrian pianist Srebra Gelleva has performed as a soloist and sought-after chamber musician in Europe (including the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie), Asia (Toppan Hall Tokyo and National Concert Hall Taipei) and in New York (Weill Carnegie Hall). After her debut as a soloist with orchestra at the age of 9, she has repeatedly performed with the philharmonic orchestras in Sofia, Plovdiv and Vidin (Bulgaria), as well as with the KV Orchestra Zurich, the Tonkünstler Ensemble Vienna and the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (Mexico City). Srebra Gelleva also performs at various festivals and masterclasses with numerous renowned musicians. She is active as a pianist and official piano accompanist for the ARD Competition, the German Music Competition, the Mozarteum Salzburg Summer Academy, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Academy and the Allegro Vivo chamber music festival, among others. She has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2001.

Her early and intensive collaboration with her brother, violinist Vesselin Gellev, awakened her passion for chamber music. Srebra Gelleva is a founding member of the Lissy Quartet and has performed regularly with this ensemble and the Koll Trio in the Gläserne Saal of the Vienna Musikverein. In 2021, she founded the Lobkowitz Trio Vienna with flautist Wally Hase and violist Robert Bauerstatter, whose debut concert took place as part of the Austrian Music Weeks in Bulgaria.

Srebra Gelleva studied concert piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof Roland Keller (diploma with distinction) and completed further studies at the Trossingen University of Music (class of Prof Viktor Merzhanov) and at the Juilliard School New York (class of Prof Herbert Stessin). She has won prizes at various national and international competitions, as well as the Chamber Music Prize of the Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Matthias Gerstner was born in Franconian Erlangen and received his musical education with Michael Keller at the Detmold University of Music, passing the artistic maturity examination with distinction in 1993. He accompanies singers, instrumentalists of all kinds as well as silent movies and does not shy away from contemporary music. Since 1995, he holds a teaching contract at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, accompanying double bass, tuba and trombone players in performance classes. Throughout his career, he has had musical encounters with artists such as Jiří Hudec, Franco Petracchi, Joel Quarrington, Herbert Mayr, Ernst Weissensteiner and the Ensemble Wien. Matthias Gerstner devotes particular attention to the double bass duo with Josef Niederhammer, which celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2013 at the Vienna Musikverein.

Elina Gotsouliak was born in Riga (Latvia) in 1979. She started playing the piano at the age of 5. Later on she attended the Music High School and then the Jāzeps Vītols Music Academy in Riga, where she majored in piano and harpsichord. During this time, she won 1st prize at various international piano competitions, including the “Concours Musical de France Ginette Gaubert” and the “Concours International de Piano Maryse Cheilan” in France.

From 2002 she studied with Rudolf Buchbinder in Basel, where she graduated with a concert diploma with distinction. During this time, she immersed herself especially in the interpretation of the works of the “Viennese Classicism” as well as the German Romanticism, thus broadening her horizons, starting from the Russian piano tradition. Already during her studies in her home country and increasingly after the beginning of her studies in Basel, Elina Gotsouliak has been intensively engaged in chamber music and song accompaniment. Since 2010 she has been a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Basel.

She performs increasingly as a concert pianist and chamber musician and also as a soloist with various orchestras and as a chamber music partner of artists such as Felix Renggli, Sergio Azzolini, Gustavo Nunes, Emanuel Abbühl, François Benda in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Slovenia, Cyprus, Latvia and Brazil. She is a regular guest at various International Music Festivals and Concert Series, including Swiss Chamber Concerts (Switzerland), Musica Viva, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Crescendo Festival in Berlin ( Germany), “J. S. Bach International Chamber Music Festival” (Latvia), International Summer Academy in Payerbach and Music Forum Viktring (Austria), Beregneria Festival (Cyprus), Ljubljana Festival (Slovenia), Allegro Festival Guimarães (Portugal).

Her solo CD with the late works of Frédéric Chopin, which was received with the highest praise by the specialist press, as well as a chamber music CD with works by Robert and Clara Schumann were released on the Genuin/Artist Consort label in 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary year of the two composers.

Julia Gurvitch was born in Baku, USSR and learned playing the piano in the Gnessine Academy of Music in Moscow. Her concert career as pianist and accompanist started in 1980 in Moscow. From 1984 to 1990, she played as accompanist to the famous cellist Valentin Feigin (Second Prize Winner of the Tchaikovsky competition, winner of the Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris), giving over 300 concerts in countries like Russia, France, Japan, Germany, Rumania and Bulgaria. In 1990, Julia Gurvitch immigrated to Israel, where she is a faculty member of the Buchman-Mehta School of Music, Tel-Aviv University, working as an accompanist in the viola and violin department. She participates as invited pianist in international masterclasses and musical competition in the Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia and Germany and is a permanent member of the international master courses Keshet Eylon in Israel and isa in Austria. Julia Gurvitch successfully continues her concert activity as a member of the chamber music ensemble “Quattro Plus” under the support of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. During the past few seasons, she has given numerous concerts in Israel and the US as well as in various European countries including Italy, Austria, France, Croatia and Switzerland.

Sandra Jost was born in Vienna and has been working as a répétiteur at the MUK (Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna) and at the masterclasses of the international chamber music festival Allegro Vivo since 1994. Her versatile career has led her to work closely with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra, where she played in the orchestra as a pianist and celesta player. She is also intensively involved in chamber music, including with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and as a member of the Vienna Virtuosi.

The musician is a member of the Amadeus Ensemble and regularly performs in major concert halls in Vienna as well as at renowned festivals such as the Carinthian Summer, the Grafenegg Music Festival and Allegro Vivo. She has also had the honour of performing at international events such as the Festival de música en Frutillar in Chile. Her role as official audition accompanist for the major Viennese orchestras and her participation in competitions such as the Paganini Competition and Eurovision Young Musicians emphasise her importance on the musical scene.

Solo performances with the Austrian Chamber Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Academic Philharmonic Orchestra are just as much a part of her career as radio and CD recordings. Tours have taken her to numerous countries, including Germany, France, Japan and Chile. She completed her music education with honours at the Music Academy of the City of Vienna, the Franz Schubert Conservatory and the Conservatory of the City of Vienna. She also obtained a bachelor’s degree in Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna in 2004.

Luca Lavuri, pianist and organist, was born in Milan (Italy) in 1991. As a versatile musician, he is actively involved in a broad repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music in his dual role as pianist and organist in the context of chamber and ensemble music. Since autumn 2020, he has been teaching as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He is actively involved in contemporary music, both as a soloist and in ensembles, and focuses on premieres of new works as well as 20th and 21st century literature.

Luca Lavuri made his debut as a co-founder and active member of the N Ensemble in Vienna in 2018. He is a permanent member of the Chromoson Ensemble, with whom he has performed at major festivals in Europe and Singapore. He has also had important engagements with Viennese ensembles such as the Black Page Orchestra, the Kontrapunkt Ensemble and the Phace Ensemble and has performed at renowned festivals throughout Europe.

Since 2018, after participating in the Grafenegg Academy as a soloist and pianist in the orchestra, further collaborations have followed with various Austrian orchestras, including the Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Luca Lavuri is active as a répétiteur at international festivals and masterclasses and works with renowned performers on the international music scene.

Born in Split, Croatia, Nikolina Ljiljak began studying piano at the age of seven under the guidance of Natalia Curkan. At seventeen, she became a student of Jadranka Garin at the University of Split’s Arts Academy. After receiving her Master’s Degree in Piano Performance in 2012, she moved to Vienna to pursue postgraduate studies with Martin Hughes at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Two years later, she continued her postgraduate studies in Piano Chamber Music with Marialena Fernandes.

Nikolina has received several prizes in various competitions, including notable first prizes at international competitions for young pianists in Italy (Città di Minerbio 2001) and Croatia (Young Virtuoso Zagreb 2002 and EPTA Osijek 2003) and a first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition Cameristi dell’Alpe Adria in Italy (2014).

She was awarded the Dean’s and Rector’s Prizes from the University of Split for exceptional academic achievements. Nikolina has performed as both a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, including the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb and MuTh in Vienna. She has also participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians such as A. Valdma, N. Troull, K. Gekić, N. Flores, R. Mamou, and J.É. Soucy.

She collaborated as an accompanist at the Wiener Meisterkurse and served as the official accompanist at the 12th International Cello Competition A. Janigro (Junior) as well as at the 7th International Cello Competition A. Janigro in Zagreb, Croatia.
From 2019 to 2024, she held a position as an accompanist at the Strings Institute of the Music Academy in Zagreb. Since October 2024, she has been working as an accompanist at the Fritz Kreisler Institute at the mdw.

Aki Maeda was born in Japan and graduated from the Kyoto City University of Arts. In 2008, she further pursued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Roland Keller, obtaining her Concert Diploma with distinction in 2015.

She is a prize winner of the Elena Rombro-Stepanow Piano Competition, as well as of the Prof. Dichler-Competition in Vienna and of the International Competition Young Virtuosos Chamber Music in Sofia.

She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Japan and in famous Austrian concert halls (Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus), and has been a guest at several music festivals. In addition to her solorepertoire, she has played chamber music in Europe and accompaniments at various contests. She has performed as an official accompanist at renowned international master classes and competitions such as the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, Bled Festival in Slovenia, Orpheus Music Academy in Vienna, ISA International Summer Academy in Austria, European Music Institute Vienna.

Since 2019, she has been working as a piano accompanist at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Baiba Ošiņa is a sought-after pianist, soloist and chamber musician. She was born in the Latvian capital Riga, where she studied with Prof Ilze Graubiņa and Prof Sergejs Osokins. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Stefan Arnold, where she graduated with honours in concert performance.

She also took part in masterclasses with Paul Badura-Skoda, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexander Jenner, Dmitri Alexeev and Vitaly Margulis. She received further important impulses through her collaboration with Heinrich Schiff. Baiba Ošiņa has won several prizes at national and international competitions. She was awarded first prize at the Latvian State Competition in Riga and at the International N. Rubinstein Competition in Paris, she is a prizewinner of the Chamber Music Competition in Thessaloniki, the J. Windisch
Windisch Chamber Music Competition in Vienna and the Gradus ad Parnassum Competition in Linz.

She was a member of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation and a scholarship holder of the Vienna Beethoven Society and the Victor Bunzl Foundation.

She regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician at concerts and festivals in Austria and abroad, including the Wiener Festwochen at the Musikverein, the music festival in Varna, the Chopin Festival in Gaming, the Mondsee Music Days, the A l l e g r o Vi v o F e s t i v a l , the M o n t e c a s t e l l i
Chamber Music Festival and at the Ars Lituanica Festival.

Collaborations with István Várdai, Kian Soltani, Natalie Clein, Patrick Demenga, Marko Ylönen, Reinhard Latzko, Julian Steckel, Troels Svane and Maximilian Hornung, among others.

Since 2016, Baiba Ošiņa has been working at the

The Taiwanese-born pianist Thomas Yu-Tung Pan came to Vienna at the age of 15, where he initially studied piano with Martin Hughes and completed further studies in vocal accompaniment with David Lutz and chamber music with Avedis Kouyoumdjian with honours. Since 2014, Pan has worked as an accompanist at his alma mater mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Pan has won numerous national and international competitions for piano and chamber music, including first prize at the 14th International Flute Competition ‘Friedrich Kuhlau’ in the duo flute and piano category, first prize at the Maurice Ravel Competition Paris 2024, Medici International Music Competition 2024 and Gold International Classical Music Competition 2024, ‘Gold Star’ and ‘Best Romantic Performance’ prizes at the Music&Stars Awards 2024, etc.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Pan has performed at the Vienna Musikverein and Vienna Konzerthaus as well as at the Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg Laiszhalle and has given masterclasses in China and Taiwan. He has also substituted many times in the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The pianist Natalia Rehling lives in Vienna and teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts.

She received her artistic impulses from Ewa Poblocka, Noel Flores, Johannes Kropfitsch, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Matti Raekallio and Dominique Merlet and completed her concert studies in Poland and Austria with honours.

Natalia Rehling has won prizes at numerous international piano competitions (e.g. Chopin Competition in Warsaw and Marienbad, Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Yamaha Competition) and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at major concert halls and festivals in Europe, the USA and Asia.

In Austria, she performs at the Musikverein Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozarthaus Vienna, Bösendorfer-Saal, Yamaha Concert Hall, Vienna City Hall and in the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments in the Hofburg.

In addition to her concert activities on the modern grand piano, Natalia Rehling has been devoting herself intensively to the interpretation on original fortepianos for several years and regularly gives concerts in the collection of old musical instruments of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (KHM, Beethoven’s concert cycle 2020, Mozart piano duos 2023).

As part of the KHM CD edition, she has recorded a solo CD with works by Frédéric Chopin on an original Conrad Graf fortepiano (paladino music).

She is Vice President of the International Chopin Society in Vienna (www.chopin.at).

www.nataliarehling.com

Born in Brussels, to an Italian father and a German mother, Dunja Robotti began her musical studies with Piotr Lachert and then at the Brussels Conservatory. She finished at the University of the Arts in Berlin under the tutelage of Hans Leygraf and Georg Sava. Dunja also attended courses in Art Song (Lied) interpretation by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Aribert Reimann and took master classes with Vitalij Margulis, György Sándor and György Sebök.

Dunja Robotti has won numerous awards at international competitions, including 1st prize at “Claude Kahn” and “U.F.A.M.” in Paris, 3rd prize at the International Meeting of Pianists in Pointoise, France, and 5th prize at the “Città di Marsala”, Sicily; she was also a finalist at the “Franz Schubert und die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts“ in Graz, Austria.

Dunja Robotti has regularly performed as a soloist and with orchestras since the age of 10. She continues to give concerts in chamber music and Lied with several great musicians, singers and ensembles throughout Europe and the Americas. She has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls, such as the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Kölner Philharmonie, Munich’s Herkulessaal and the Schubertiade Feldkirch.

She has made several radio recordings for WDR and Radio Bremen and performs on Sender Freies Berlin and Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Dunja Robotti has worked for several years as a collaborative pianist for the cello classes at the University of Arts in Berlin, e.g. with Wolfgang Boettcher and Jens Peter Maintz.
2009 she became head collaborative pianist for strings and 2016 she was given a charge professorship at the University of Music in Nuremberg.
She is also an official accompanist at the renowned master classes given at the Carl Flesch Akademie in Baden-Baden and in Vaduz, Liechtenstein and others. Her services for orchestral auditions are also in great demand.

A part from her pedagogical interest, Dunja is a member of several ensembles, such as the “Ensemble Mediterrain” and the „Duo Viennese“. She is also a founder of the Three-Piano-Ensemble “Xinowa Sej” with Zsuzsa Bàlint and Kyoko Hosono and the Pocket-Operette “Mann trifft Frau” (“A Man Meets A Woman”).

Mari Sato was born in Japan. A winner of numerous national and international competitions, she has travelled to Europe and Japan as a soloist and chamber musician. She won first prize in the International Johannes Brahms Competition Pörtschach, first prize duo in the international interpretation competition ‘Verfemte Musik’ Schwerin, first prize with Stratos Quartett International Chamber Music Competition Pienerolo-Torino in Italy, third prize at the M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition in USA and first prize and Grand-prix at the International Beethoven Chamber Music Competition in Poland; concerts in Vienna Musikverein, Brucknerhaus, Dvorák Festival, Il Timbro Festival, Wigmorehall and Toppanhall.

Mari has played with numerous orchestras such as the Hiroshima Symphonic Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo New City Orchestra and Chubu Philharmonic Orchestra.

Studied at the Tokyo State University of Fine Arts and Music with Prof. Atsuko Okada and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Avo Kouyoumdjian; graduated with honours and an appreciation award. Since 2018 accompanist (Senior Lecture) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as well as at numerous international festivals.

Manfred Schiebel received his first musical education with the „Mozart Boys Choir Vienna“ and subsequently studied conducting with Karl Österreicher, accompanying with Harald Goertz and piano withThomas Kreuzberger at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since 1991, he has been teaching at the MUK – Music and Arts Private University of Vienna, where he was appointed professor in 2017, and since 2002 at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He was an acclaimed director of the Young Vienna Choral Society for 14 years and since 2011 of the “Klassik im Advent” Festival in Carinthia and has given numerous masterclasses for singers and pianists in Europe, Iran and Cuba. He has performed in concert on four continents and accompanied such renowned artists as Edita Gruberova, Grace Bumbry, Leo Nucci, Günther Groissböck, Giuseppe Taddei and the Vienna Boys’ Choir, among many others. He is much sought after not only as accompanist at masterclasses of world-famous vocal teachers such as Helena Lazarska, Julia Hamari, Walter Berry, Thomas Hampson, but also in various productions as assistant to many prominent conductors, including Alfred Eschwé, Carlos Kalmar, Peter Keuschnig and Karel Mark Chichon. Manfred Schiebel regularly performs piano four-hands concerts with his duo partner Marcin Koziel and with various chamber music formations.

Sawoko Yamada-Blankenship was born in Mie, Japan. She studied piano and graduated with a master’s degree from the Osaka University of Education. She continued her studies in lieder accompaniment at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Norman Shetler.
She won a special prize for lieder accompaniment at the International Robert Schumann Competition (Zwickau) and the International Brahms Competition (Hamburg).
Since 1994 she is an accompanist at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and also in several masterclasses of opera and lied of Francisco Araiza, Kurt Equiluz, Sona Ghazarian, Julia Havarie, Patricia Wise, Margit Klaushofer and Ramón Vargas. She participated at the Schubertiade in Feldkirch and performed at numerous concerts as soloist and accompanist at recitals in Europe and Japan.