With a repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, American soprano Laura Aikin is a universally welcome presence on the world’s great operatic and concert stages. She began her over three-decade career as an ensemble member at Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden (1992–98) under the artistic direction of Daniel Barenboim.
Aikin is a regular guest at venues including the Vienna State Opera, Milan’s La Scala, the Bavarian State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Dutch National Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, the Frankfurt Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
As a frequently requested concert singer, Aikin performs together with orchestras such as the Berlin, Munich, and Vienna Philharmonics, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the WDR, SWR, and MDR Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as with formations including Ensemble Intercontemporain, Les Arts Florissants, the Gürnzenich Orchestra Cologne, Concerto Köln, and Concentus Musicus Wien.
As a teacher, Laura Aikin has given numerous master classes such as at the Würzburg University of Music, the University Of Michigan, the Komische Oper Berlin Opernstudio, and 2022’s annual conference of the Bundesverband Deutsche Gesangspädagogen (Federal Association of German Voice Teachers). She has been on the faculty of the Lotte Lehmann Academy since 2020 and an instructor at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences’ Institute of Music since 2021, and October 2022 saw her appointed as a full professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, into a family of scientists and musicians of Bohemian origin, Tanja Becker-Bender burst onto the violinists’ scene already as a young girl, winning 1st prize in Italy’s Lipizer competition at age 18, as well as top prize in the Geneva International competition shortly after. Tokyo’s renowned Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award and prizes in the international competitions of Genoa, Houston, and Chimay in Belgium evened out her path of regular solo performances with eminent orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, and Houston Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart of the SWR, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, and the Vienna, Zurich and Prague Chamber orchestras, as well as the English Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra Leopoldinun Wroclaw. Conductors she has collaborated with include Kurt Masur, Gerd Albrecht, Peter Ruzicka, Fabio Luisi, Uriel Segal, Hartmut Haenchen, Hubert Soudant, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Dan Ettinger, Zsolt Nagy and Carlos Miguel Prieto. Regular festival performances include those of Schleswig Holstein, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Rheingau, Engadin, West Cork, Chautauqua (US), and Kronberg, with chamber music partners such as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Boris Pergamenschikow, Péter Nagy, Ralf Gothóni, Alexander Lonquich, Sofya Melikyan, Eduard Brunner, Andrzej Bauer, Miguel da Silva, Lawrence Power, Claudio Bohórquez, Dimitry Ashkenazy, and many others.
Tanja Becker-Bender has studied in Stuttgart, London, Vienna, and New York, with some of the world’s leading quartet musicians: Wilhelm Melcher (Melos Quartett), David Takeno, Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartett), Robert Mann (Juilliard String Quartet) – also finding important inspiration through Bartók’s student György Sándor in New York and through Ferenc Rados in Budapest, as well as through work with Eberhard Feltz in Berlin.
Besides the core pieces of the violin repertoire, she performs a wide range of styles and genres, from Baroque period instruments to collaborations with composers of our time such as Cristóbal Halffter, Peter Ruzicka, Peteris Vasks and Michael Gielen, and first performances of works by Rolf Hempel, Alexander Goehr, Gabriel Irányi and Benedict Mason. Performances of Concertos such as the one by Max Reger – the longest violin concerto ever written – those of the 1920ies composers Kurt Weill and Ernst Krenek and the landmark Concerto by György Ligeti belong to her notable projects as well as solo recitals with the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Paganini’s 24 Caprices or solo programs themed around the 1920ies.
In 2009, a fruitful collaboration with the British label Hyperion began. Her recording of Paganini’s 24 Capricci was a great success right away, being praised by critics around the world and awarded the “Editor’s Choice” of both Gramophone and Classic FM magazines. Subsequently, her next recordings set out to explore lesser known repertoire: Schulhoff, Hindemith, Respighi, as well as the Violin Concertos by Reger, by Busoni and by Strauss. These have received distinctions by the “BBC Music Magazine”, the International Record Review, German “Fonoforum”, and French “Classica”. Additionally, a double disc album with Bartók’s complete works for violin and piano was released by the SWRmusic/Naxos label, as well as an album by the cpo label with three violin concertos by Friedrich Eck, a virtuoso contemporary and friend of Mozart. A recording of 1920ies Concertos together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin will be released by the label Es-Dur.
In 2006 she was appointed professor at the University of Music in Saarbrücken, taking the chair which Maxim Vengerov held before. Since 2009, she is professor of violin at the University for Music and Theater in Hamburg. Students of her class have become laureates at important international solo and chamber music competitions, enjoy versatile chamber music careers and play in renowned orchestras worldwide.

François Benda was born in Brazil, but his musical roots are in Europe. François Benda’s international career began in 1988, when he debuted as a clarinet soloist at Zurich’s prestigious concert venue Tonhalle and at the Victoria Hall in Geneva.

In 1991 François Benda was awarded the Premio internationale per le Arti dello Spettaccolo in Rome. Today François Benda performs at many of the most important music venues (Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, the Tonhalle in Zurich) and appears as clarinet soloist with all leading orchestras. François Benda regularly appears as a guest artist at music festivals such as the Pablo Casals Festival, the Berliner Festwochen, Styriarte, Musicades Lyon, and the Pentecost Concerts in Ittingen, Switzerland. He appears in chamber concert recitals with Heinz Holliger, Paul Badura-Skoda, Bruno Giuranna, Isabelle Faust, Josef Silverstein and Bruno Canino. He’s also a member of the Benda Musicians, the Weimar Soloists and the Variazioni Ensemble.

His comprehensive discography (for ECM, Fono, Pantheon, EPU, Hänssler und Genuin) includes also the clarinet concertos by Nielsen, Debussy, Busoni, and Rossini and most recently albums with the complete Schumann works and complete Brahms works. François Benda’s intensive study of recent instrument making developments led to the founding of the Clarinartis Company, in collaboration with instrument makers René Hagmann and Jochen Seggelke. His broad repertoar has been enriched in collaboration with contemporary composers Krzysztof Penderecki, Heinz Holliger, Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang von Schweinitz and Bernhard Lang. In addition to his solo career, François Benda is one of the most highly sought after Professors of Clarinet. He teaches at the University of Arts in Berlin and the Hochschule für Musik der Stadt Basel, Switzerland.

She does hold diplomas from the Paris and Lyon conservatoires, is a Laureate of the Rostropovich Cello Competition, has won first prizes from the Japan Chamber Music Competition and the Académie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel, a Révélation Classique award from ADAMI, a Grand Prix de la Critique. It was a Victoire de la Musique that drew her to the public’s attention in 2002, and since then every one of her recordings has been hailed as an event by the national and international press, which has showered her with distinctions: a Diapason d’Or of the year, a “Choc” from Classica, a Gramophone Award, a Cannes Classical Award, a “Bestenliste” award from the German Record Critics’ Award.
As a soloist, Emmanuelle Bertrand has performed with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Busan Symphony Orchestra, Musica Vitae, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestras of Lille, the Ile de France and Lorraine, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Strasbourg and Monte Carlo.
She is an enthusiastic chamber musician and for the last 15 years has performed in a duo with the pianist Pascal Amoyel, with whom she explores unpublished works just as much as the core repertoire. Keen to transmit her art and also continually to rethink the musician’s role in society, Emmanuelle Bertrand devotes some of her time to teaching chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire and cello at the Gennevilliers Conservatoire as well as in international masterclasses.
Voted Artist of the Year in 2011 by Diapason magazine and France Musique listeners, she is the artistic director of the Beauvais Cello Festival and a patron of the Estival de la Bâtie in the department of Loire. She is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

The Austrian oboist Paul Blüml was born in 1999 and received his first musical instruction on piano from Stephanie Timoschek-Gumpinger. He won several 1st prizes at the national competition “Prima la Musica” as well as internationally at the Pavel Egorov Promotional Award and the Jenő Takács Competition. In 2014, he received his first instruction on the Viennese oboe as part of the preparatory course for especially talented students at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Since 2018, he has been enrolled at the same institution as an oboe major in the class of Prof. Klaus Lienbacher.
Paul Blüml performs regularly with the International Ignaz Joseph Pleyel Society and plays in diverse orchestras and chamber music ensembles. In the summer of 2018, he went on a concert tour to Japan with his quintet. He has also already gathered valuable orchestral experience with such prominent orchestras as the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra.

Mario Caroli begun his musical training at the age of 14 and got his soloist diploma at the age of 19. He studied with Annamaria Morini in Bologna and Manuela Wiesler in Vienna. At the age of 22, he won in Darmstadt the coveted Kranichsteiner International Prize and started a very highly successful career as a solo flutist. His activity starts, as a logical prosecution of the Prize of Darmstadt, as an advocate of contemporary music: his fame has grown very fast and he quickly became the preferred interpreters of the many of the biggest living composers. Salvatore Sciarrino, György Kurtag, Doina Rotaru, Toshio Hosokawa, Ivan Fedele, Olga Neuwirth, Philippe Hurel, Wolfgang Rihm and many others wrote for him some beautiful soloflute works as well as new flute concertos, which contribute to wide the flute litterature. Some years later, his career turns back to the whole repertoire, without any distinction of styles and historical periods. An unique figure among the flutists of today, Mario is one of the very rare artists capable of passing from the most classical composition to the most extreme contemporary piece, witht the same vivd virtuosity, vibrant personality and rigorous both analytic and aesthetical approach. The critics didn’t hesitate to call him a “phenomenon” for his refreshing interpretations of Bach, Schubert or Debussy and the “New York Times” wrote that “he has a sound you want to drink in”. Mario has appeared as a invited soloist with many prestigious orchestras, such as Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris, Tokyo Philharmonic in Tokyo, SWR and WDR Radiosinfonieorchester of Stuttgart and Cologne, National Orchestra of Belgium in Brussels, Italian Radio National Orchestra in Torino, the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, in Athens, Basel Sinfonietta, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in Reykyavik, Sofia Soloists, Mozart Kammerphilharmonie, the Orchestras of the Opera Houses of Stuttgart, Verona, Rouen, Bari, Cagliari, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Strasbourg, Nice, Montecarlo, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, the Ensemble Contrechamps of Geneva, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart… Present in the biggest festivals, Mario has performed at the Berliner and Kölner Philharmonie, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Royal Festival Hall in London, at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, at the Linclon Center in New York, the Scala in Milano, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Megaron in Athens, the Herkulessaal in Münich, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, at the Cité de la Musique in Strasbourg. He has recorded more than 60 Cds, including many important world premiere as well as the big classical of the repertoire. Very much in demand as a teacher, he has been teaching masterclass all over the world. A cosmopolitan and polyglot artist, Mario lives in Strasbourg. After teaching more than twenty years at the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg and five years at the University of Music in Lugano (Swiss), Mario has been appointed Flute Professor at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg I’m Breisgau, in Germany. Mario plays a platinum Miyazawa flute.

Holding a Master of Arts in Performance, Education and composition, stands as a versatile saxophonist, improviser, composer, and arranger based in Vienna, Austria. His profound musical journey has been enriched through studies under the tutelage of renowned mentors on a global scale.

Alvaro’s saxophone and artistic studies began in the University of Chile under the guidance of Miguel Villafruela. His musical journey then traversed to Bordeaux, France, where he honed his skills at the Conservatoire under the mentorship of Marie-Bernadette Charrier. Vienna, Austria, became the next destination, where he immersed himself in the rich musical culture of the city at the Music and Arts Private University. Here, he studied under the guidance of distinguished mentors such as Lars Mlekusch, Andrew Middleton, Julia Purgina, Wolfgang Liebhart, Abazari Sara amongst others.

A laureate of multiple international music competitions, Alvaro’s exceptional talent has garnered recognition worldwide. His accolades include triumphs at the Pan American Competition of Classic Saxophone in Mexico City, the Vienna Fidelio Competition in 2012 and 2014, and the Osaka International Competition in 2015. Special honors, including the Hyogo Governor Awards, Vienna Performing Award, and “Also Award” from The Sax Magazine, further illustrate his musical excellence. Alvaro was also recognized at the 2017 Michigan M-Prize Competition and received the Startstipendium für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in 2017.

Alvaro Collao León is a consummate performer of contemporary music, renowned for collaborations with esteemed composers such as Friedrich Cerha, Georg Friedrich Haas, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Peter Eötvös, Olga Neuwirth, Beat Furrer, Francois Sarhan, Gerhard E. Winkler, Simon Pironkoff, Katharina Klement, Georges Aperghis, Alberto Posadas, Miguel Farias, Chaya Czernowin, Peter Erskine, Mauro Hertig, Alexander Stankovski, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Leo Brouwer, Daniel Osorio, Pierluigi Billone, among other luminaries.

His musical journey has graced the most prestigious concert halls and venues across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Notable venues include the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener Musikverein, Mozarteum großer saal Salzburg, Porgy and Bess of Vienna, National concert hall of Taipei, Gasteig Concert hall in Munich, Music Academy Katowice, Bibliothèque Mériadeck France, Teatro del Lago Chile, Corpartes Chile . Alvaro has also been a prominent presence in renowned festivals such as Allegro Vivo Kammermusik Festival, Wien Modern, Salzurg biennale, Wiener Festwochen, Klangspuren Schwaz, Vienna-SaxFest, Cervatino weeks of music from Guanajuato-Mexico, Aspekte Festival Salzburg, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, International Festival at the UNAM in Mexico City, Ensems Festival, Bregenzer Festspiele, Transart.

Alvaro is actively engaged with prominent musical ensembles, including the ÖENM Österreich Ensemble für Neue Musik, Orchester Volkoper Wien, PHACE Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Kärntner Sinfonieorchester, the Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra, Avido Duo, Reider-Collao, and FIVE SAX. He proudly holds the distinction of being a Selmer Paris and D’Addario artist.

Alvaro Collao León’s musical journey transcends borders, captivating audiences worldwide with his artistry, and he continues to be a prominent figure in the contemporary music scene.

Sophie Dervaux is a renowned bassoonist and has been the principal bassoonist of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra since 2015. Previously, she served as solo-contrabassoonist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
She has gained recognition by winning over a dozen international awards, including the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2013 and the Beethoven Ring in Bonn in 2014. Her solo performances have been praised by critics and honored with prestigious distinctions, including the German Record Critics’ Award for her album “Impressions.”
Sophie Dervaux has had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with more than 50 different professional orchestras worldwide, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Lyon National Orchestra, and many others.
She has had the privilege of performing in world-renowned concert halls such as the Philharmonie in Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In addition to her career as a bassoonist, Sophie Dervaux has also distinguished herself as a conductor. She made her debut as a conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Armenia a few years ago, showcasing her talent for musical direction. Since then, she has conducted the Orchestre Victor Hugo de Besançon in France, the Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania, the Aichi Chamber Orchestra in Japan, and many others. Many more debuts are yet to come. Her conducting abilities have been praised for their musicality and sensitivity, adding an additional dimension to her artistic career.
In addition to her achievements as a soloist, orchestral musician, and conductor, Sophie Dervaux shares her passion and knowledge by teaching at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität in Vienna and giving masterclasses worldwide. She
considers music education to be an important mission and strives to pass on her expertise to future generations of musicians.
Sophie Dervaux began her musical training playing the guitar and clarinet before discovering her passion for the bassoon in 2003. After studying at the Conservatoire de Versailles, she continued her education at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Lyon and the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin. She was later accepted into the Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic (Karajan Academy). Her teachers include Carlo Colombo, Jean Pignoly, Volker Tessmann, and Daniele Damiano.
Sophie Dervaux is also an accomplished chamber musician and regularly collaborates with internationally renowned musicians. In 2020, she recorded Beethoven’s Trio for Piano, Bassoon, and Flute in collaboration with Daniel Barenboim and Emmanuel Pahud for Warner Classics.
Furthermore, since 2014, Sophie Dervaux has been playing a Püchner bassoon and actively promotes this instrument. Her passion and dedication to the bassoon are reflected in her expressive playing and her efforts to enhance the recognition and appreciation of this unique instrument.

Félix Dervaux began his musical journey studying horn and piano. After completing his high school diploma with a focus on natural sciences, Félix pursued further studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, specializing in horn under David Guerrier.

Through the Erasmus program, he had the opportunity to enhance his education at the Berlin University of the Arts, studying with Christian-Friedrich Dallmann. He then joined the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he trained with Fergus McWilliam and Klaus Wallendorf.

Within a few months, he became principal horn at the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon and shortly afterward at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) in Amsterdam, making him one of the youngest principal players in this prestigious ensemble.

A few years later, after being offered the position of principal horn at the Cleveland Orchestra, he ultimately decided to move to Vienna to pursue a freelance career as a guest principal horn, chamber musician, soloist, teacher, and composer.

Félix is a prizewinner of the International ARD Music Competition in Munich (Germany), the International “Città di Porcia” Competition (Italy), and the International Tchaikovsky Competition (which has included wind instruments since 2019). He is also a laureate of the former Juventus Festival.

Throughout his career, he has been grateful for the chance to contribute to the musical world through his recordings. His contributions as principal horn include recordings with the RCO and the Berlin Philharmonic, such as a CD featuring Olivier Knussen’s Horn Concerto with the RCO.

Since 2023, Félix has been teaching at the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna, and since 2024 at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Born in Russia, Evgenia Epshtein began her violin studies at the age of six and completed the High School for Gifted Musicians with Vladimir Milshtein. After immigrating to Israel in 1990, she studied with Arthur Zisserman, Yair Kless and Irena Svetlova at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music followed by Benzion Shamir at the Rotterdam Royal Academy, where she received her Master’s Degree.  During her studies at the Academy she won several prizes and competitions and took part in masterclasses of Isaak Stern, Henry Mayer and Zakhar Bron.
Evgenia Epshtein was a co-founder of the Aviv String Quartet which won several top prizes. The Aviv quartet was also proclaimed as the “Best young ensemble” by the Culture Ministries of Germany and Israel several times.
As a soloist she has performed with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, Split Symphony Orchestra, Bohemian Philharmonic, and others. She has given recitals in all major Israeli venues and radio broadcasts worldwide.
She has also performed at festivals including the Estonian Baltic Festival, Gotland Chamber Music Festival and Ursus Chamber Music festival.
Evgenia frequently gives masterclasses, including at the isa ‒ International Summer Academy, Prague Music Academy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and Latvian Academy of Music.
Currently Evgenia Epshtein is a docent of the Arts Academy of the University of Split and professor of violin and chamber music and Artistic Director of the summer school “Summer Con Spirito” in Trogir (Croatia).

The Tyrolean baritone Karlheinz Hanser received his foundational musical education as a choirboy with the Wiltener Sängerknaben and from his father, Karl Hanser, who worked as a flutist with the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra. After completing his secondary education, he began a teaching degree in music and physical education at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck. However, he soon turned to vocal studies within the Instrumental (Vocal) Pedagogy program at the Mozarteum University Salzburg under o.Univ.-Prof. Peter Ullrich. He completed his diploma studies in solo singing with KS Prof. Raimund Grumbach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, earning both an opera diploma and certification as a state-certified music teacher.

On the opera stage, the baritone performed in several acclaimed projects with the Munich Opera School (Dr. Peter Kertz) and at the Bavarian Theatre Academy. Among other roles, he sang Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Prinzregententheater in Munich under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. In the concert sector, he received significant artistic inspiration from Prof. Howard Arman. His concert work includes performances at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and the Berlin Festival of Early Music, further enriching his artistic repertoire.

Karlheinz Hanser gained his first teaching experience as a vocal coach for the Wiltener Sängerknaben (1986–1990) and at the Wattens Municipal Music School (1990–2000). From 1997 to 2007, he led a vocal class for artistic training at the Tyrolean State Conservatory in Innsbruck, where he also contributed intensively to the artistic and structural development of the institution as department head, head of the vocal section, artistic advisor, and administrator. During this time, he successfully completed an advanced training program for musicians in management at the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI). His teaching activities also included lectures for the Tyrolean Music School Association and the Austrian Association of Singing Teachers, rounding out his profile as an educator.

In 2005, Karlheinz Hanser was appointed to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he initially served as a guest professor for voice. In 2007, he was appointed full professor in the nominal subject of voice. Beyond his teaching role, he significantly shaped the artistic and structural realignment of the vocal programs within the framework of university reforms through his roles as Head of the Institute for Voice and Musical Theater (2007–2014), Chair of the Study Commission for Voice and Opera Directing (2007–2010), member of the same commission (since 2007), and principal member of the university senate (2009–2013). A particular focus of his work has been the targeted promotion of young Austrian singers in close cooperation with Musik der Jugend (jury work). In recent years, the baritone has established himself as a vocal pedagogue on an international level.

As of October 1, 2022, Karlheinz Hanser, with a joyfully beating heart, resumes the leadership of the Institute for Voice and Musical Theater at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. The journey continues to be exciting!

Flutist Wally Hase was born in Freiburg/Brsg. and was a student of Karl Friedrich Mess. In 1986 she began her studies with him at the State University for Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, later she continued her studies with Jean-Claude Gérard and Aurèle Nicolet.
As a member of the Ludwigsburg Festival Orchestra, Wally Hase participated in international concert tours. She was a fellow of the Richard Wagner Society Bayreuth in 1990 and, from 1990 to 1993, a member of the Karlsruhe Ensemble 13 and the Bach Collegium Stuttgart under the direction of Helmuth Rilling.
At the age of 22, Wally Hase became solo flutist with the Staatskapelle Weimar, a position she held until 2009. Since 2008 she has collaborated regularly with the Camerata Salzburg. She performs as solo flutist with various ensembles and orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Dresden, the radio symphony orcherstras of SWR Freiburg-Baden Baden, MDR Leipzig and WDR Köln, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. As well as being soloist, she frequently appears as a chamber musician.
Her all-around engagement is complemented by CD recordings, as well as television and radio productions. In 2006 she was honored with the German Record Critics’ Award and in 2007 with the Leopold.
In 2000 Wally Hase was appointed Professor of Flute at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar; between 2014 and 2018 she was also guest professor for flute at the University of Music Krakow. In addition, she gives master classes throughout Europe, Australia, South America, Japan, Korea and China.
In 2018 Wally Hase was appointed to the prestigious chair of Professor of Flute at the mdw ‒ University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Wally Hase is a Haynes Artist and plays on a silver flute by Wm. S. Haynes / Boston.

“One of the best and most fascinating piano recordings of the year“, wrote the German magazine Fono Forum about his recording of Sonatas and Rondos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, followed by an „Editor‘s Choice” by the renowned English Gramophone Magazine for the recording of works for piano and orchestra by Hummel.
Another recording which has brought him international attention was the recording of all Piano Concertos by Ferdinand Ries with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and other orchestras.
Born in Austria, Christopher Hinterhuber studied with Alex Papenberg, Rudolf Kehrer, Lazar Berman, Avo Kouyoumdjian and Heinz Medjimorec at the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna and the Accademia „Incontri col Maestro“ in Imola, Italy acquiring additional artistic input from such artists as Oleg
Maisenberg and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
He has won numerous top prizes and honors at the international piano competitions in Leipzig (Bach), Saarbrücken (Bach), Pretoria (Unisa), Zurich (Geza Anda) and Vienna (Beethoven) among others.
As “Rising Star” 2002/03, he performed with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in the international series at the Carnegie Hall, New York and in all important musical centers in Europe.
The last few years have seen him play in major festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein- Festival in Germany, Styriarte Graz, Carinthischer Sommer in Ossiach, Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Ruhr Piano Festival and the Prague Autumn; under such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Karabits, Jakub Hrusa, Bertrand de Billy, Sylvain Cambreling, Beat Furrer, Howard Griffiths, Yakov Kreizberg, Christian Arming, Adrian Leaper, Andrés Orozco Estrada, Dennis Russell Davies, Ari Rasilainen, Hubert Soudant, Alfred Eschwé and Bruno Weil; with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Klangforum in Vienna, the Vienna and
Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the MDR Orchestra Leipzig, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra among others.
A special project was the sound recording (Schubert, Rachmaninov, Schönberg) and filming (his hands) for the French-Austrian movie “La pianiste” based on a novel by Elfriede Jelinek and directed by Michael Haneke, which was awarded the Great Prize of the Jury in Cannes in 2001.
He frequently plays chamber music, for example as pianist of Vienna-based Altenberg Piano Trio, which has its own series in the Musikverein in Vienna.
He often gives masterclasses in Japan, Europe and South America and is professor for piano at the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna.

With her exceptional talent, musical integrity, and charisma, Nobuko Imai is considered to be one of the most outstanding violist of our time. She combines a distinguished international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She has dedicated a large part of her artistic activities to explore the diverse potential of the viola, such as annual “Viola Space” project, Hindemith Festivals, and Tokyo International Viola Competition. She is now teaching at Amsterdam Conservatory, Kronberg Academy, and Queen Sofia College of Music in Madrid.

Xenia Jankovic was born into a family of Serbian and Russian musicians. The cello soon became her instrument of choice and she made her debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of nine. A government scholarship allowed her to study at the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory with Stefan Kalianov and Mstislav Rostropovich. She then went on to study with Pierre Fournier and Guy Fallot in Geneva and with André Navarra in Detmold. Later on, intensive work with Sándor Végh and György Sebők led to a deepening of both her musical ideas and her artistic ideal. Xenia Jankovic rose to international fame by winning the first prize at the prestigious Gaspar Cassado Competition in Florence. Her concerts as a soloist with the London and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestras, the Madrid, Berlin and Copenhagen Radio Orchestras, her recitals in Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow, where she is regularly invited by numerous festivals including Lockenhaus and Ernen, have been enthusiastically acclaimed by the public and the critics alike. She plays chamber music with András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Isabelle Faust and Bruno Giuranna, among others. Since 2004, she has been teaching cello at the Detmold University of Music and is asked to give masterclasses worldwide.
Xenia Jankovic plays an exceptional 1733 cello by Gregorio Antoniazzi (workshop of Domenico Montagnana)

Dag Jensen was born in Horten, Norway and began bassoon lessons at the age of eleven with Robert Rönnes. He later studied with Torleiv Nedberg at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He won his first orchestral position with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of sixteen and was promoted to co-principal of the same orchestra soon after. He continued to study with Klaus Thunemann in Hanover.
He was principal bassoonist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988 and held the same position in the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1997. Dag Jensen won a first prize at the Norwegian Youth Music Competition and won the coveted ARD Music Competition in Munich twice, in 1984 and 1990.
His numerous solo appearances include performances with renowned orchestras such as, among many others, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Swedish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra Manchester, and with conductors like Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate, Christopher Hogwood, and Iona Brown.
Chamber music plays an important part in his musical life, and he is a member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and of the Ensemble Villa Musica. He is also a regular guest at several music festivals.
Dag Jensen was Professor at the Hanover Academy of Music and Theatre from 1997 to 2011, and since 2011 he has been Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. He is also Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo.

Patrick Jüdt is a professor of viola and chamber music at the Bern University of the Arts, teaches at numerous international master classes, and serves as one of the artistic directors of ECMA (the European Chamber Music Academy) together with Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl. In addition to chamber music, a further important emphasis of his concert activities is on contemporary music.
He is a member of Collegium Novum Zürich and forms the ensemble Le tre C’ together with Imke Frank and François Poly.

Dalibor Karvay began his musical life at the tender age of three, with both his father and later his mentor Prof. Boris Kuschnir equally quick to discover and nurture Karvay’s extraordinary affinity for playing the violin. His journeys as a musical wunderkind led him to perform as a soloist with famous orchestras as he rapidly raked in victories at prestigious international music competitions and even appeared before HRH The Prince of Wales and Pope St. John Paul II.
The 2004 documentary “Stradivari – Search for Perfection” follows Dalibor Karvay’s worldwide quest for the ideal violin and the perfect sound: an uncompromising pursuit that has lasted until this very day. Karvay is permanently driven to play his violin with utter precision and flawless purity. His tireless journey has led him to a dream career as a world-renowned, award-winning soloist. In 2020, he was appointed first concert master of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Dalibor Karvay has been teaching violin at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna since 2014.
Join one of the most ingenious, yet self-critical contemporary violinists’ unstoppable pursuit of consistent sonic purity and excellence.

Dalibor Karvay, born in Martin, Slovakia, started playing the violin at the age of three under the guidance of his father. His grasp of the instrument led him to make several recordings for the Slovak Radio in Bratislava during his studies at the Primary Art School in Vrútky. After graduating from the Žilina Conservatory, where he studied under prof. Bohumil Urban, he embarked on a course of study at the Vienna Conservatory in the class of the renowned professor Boris Kuschnir.

Some of Dalibor Karvay’s biggest competition successes include winning the Young Musicians meeting in Córdoba in 1996, receiving the Eurovision Grand Prix – Young Musician of the Year in 2002, the first prize at the Tibor Varga competition in 2003, the “New Talent” award at the International Tribute of Young Interpreters in 2005, as well as his victory at the David Oistrakh competition in Moscow in 2008. His prestigious concert for Prince Charles of Wales at the Windsor Castle in 2003 together with Mstislav Rostropovich is testament to his outstanding early musical achievement. Karvay graciously accepted repeated invitations to the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland and was granted the Young Creator Award in the music category by the Tatra Bank Foundation in Slovakia. In 2009, the Slovak Republic awarded Karvay the Prize of the Minister of Culture for his exceptional artistic performance and successful international representation of Slovak interpretive art.

As a soloist, Dalibor Karvay has worked with many renowned conductors including Leif Segerstam, Ion Marin, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Jaap van Zweden, Marek Janowski, Alexander Rahbari, Benjamin Wallfisch, Ondrej Lenárd etc. His cooperation with orchestras also makes for an impressive list: the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the National Theatre Orchestra Mannheim, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the Het Gelders Orkest, the Solistes Européens Luxembourg, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Slovak Radio, the State Chamber Orchestra of Žilina etc. As a chamber musician, Karvay has collaborated with excellent international musicians including Radek Baborák, Julian Rachlin, Wenzel Fuchs, Boris Kuschnir, Magda Amara, Stefan Stroissnig and Daniel Buranovsky among others.

Karvay’s long and devoted quest for his ideal violin was documented in the international film “Stradivari – Search for Perfection”, released in 2004. He now plays on a violin by the Viennese luthier Julia Maria Pasch.

Next to his active concert career, Karvay has been a violin professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna since 2014. Dalibor Karvay won his audition for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 2020 and was appointed first concert master. For the orchestra’s “living room concert” during the Covid-19 pandemic, Karvay also performed Camille Saint-Saëns’ Introduction et Rondo capriccioso as a soloist with his home orchestra, demonstrating both his skill as a concert master and his primary devotion to solo performance.

Born in Beirut (Lebanon) into a family of Armenian descent, Kouyoumdjian began his studies when he was 12 years old at the mdw ‒ University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he studied with Dieter Weber, Noel Flores, Alexander Jenner and Georg Ebert. He continued his postgraduate work with Djanko Iliev, Stanislav Neuhaus and Alisa Kezeradze.
Since winning first prize at the Sixth International Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1981, he has performed in famous concert halls in Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan. He has been a soloist with well-renowned orchestras around the world and taken part in many different festivals. He is a sought-after juror in major international competitions in addition to conducting master classes in many universities in Europe and Japan. His recordings express his artistry as a pianist and a chamber musician.
In 1997, he was appointed Professor of Piano and Chamber Music in the Keyboard Department of Piano at the mdw, which is where he began his pedagogical career as an assistant professor in 1987. He is the initiator and founder of the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition at the mdw and in 2002 he became the cofounder/director of the Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Institute of the university. Since the summer of 2004, he has been the Artistic Director of the Piano à Saint-Ursanne Festival in Switzerland.
In October 2010, he was appointed Dean of Instrumental Studies at the mdw. In October 2016, he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel in Belgum.

Andrea Lieberknecht was born in Augsburg, Germany. She studied music with Paul Meisen at the academy of music in Munich. In 1988, even before finishing her studies, she became the soloist flute player in the Munich Radio Orchestra. Three years later, she changed to the same position in The West German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, where she remained until 2002. As a soloist as well as a member of chamber music groups (ARCIS Quintet and with the pianist Jan Philip Schulze), she has won many national and international competitions including the Prague Spring International Flute Competition, the International Flute Competition Kobe, the German Music Competition, the ARD-Competition and international chamber music competitions in Colmar, Trapani and Belgrade.
Since then, recitals, solo concerts and chamber music concerts with well-known musicians have taken her around the world. She has played solo concerts and chamber music concerts at international festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Moreover, during the years 1993 to 1996, she was the solo flute player at The Richard-Wagner-Festival in Bayreuth. The clarinetist Sabine Meyer invited her for chamber music concerts at Luzern Festival, Schubertiade Festival Schwarzenberg, among others.
In Germany, she has given flute concerts with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Symphonists, and many others.
Numerous CD recordings with solo and chamber music, some of them prize-winning, document her versatile artistic activity.
She is also a passionate teacher: She taught at the Academy of Music in Cologne and was Professor of flute at the Academy of Music in Hannover until 2011. She is regularly asked to be a jury member at flute competitions and teaches masterclasses in Europe, Japan and Australia. Since 2011, she has been Professor of flute at the University for Music and Performing Arts Munich.

The Russian pianist Anna Malikova was born in Tashkent, Usbekistan, where she received her first piano education at Uspensky School in the class of Tamara Popovich. At the age of 14 she came to Moscow and was accepted into the class of Lev Naumov – first at Central Music School and later at Tchaikovsky Conservatory. After her studies she worked several years as assistant of Lev Naumov at the conservatory.
Being prizewinner at the international piano competitions in Oslo, Warsaw (Chopin) and Sydney, Anna Malikova started her concert career in the former Soviet Union, later also in the West. Eventually she was 1993 awarded 1st Prize at the Int’l ARD Competition in Munich and established as a consequence a worldwide concert career. Frequent tours took her through most countries in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan, Korea. Her activities include recitals, concerts with orchestras, masterclasses and invitations to sit on juries of international piano competitions.
Likewise, Anna Malikova is constantly expanding her CD repertoire. Many of Chopin’s most important works as well as recordings of works by Schubert, Liszt, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Soler are available on the Russian label Classical Records. Her integral recording of the five piano conceertos by Saint-Saëns with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Thomas Sanderling received unusual international acclaim and was 2006 awarded with the Classical Internet Award. Recent productions include the 2nd Piano Concerto by Brahms with Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Darlington, the 10 piano sonatas by Scriabin and as latest production the two piano quintets by Schumann and Schostakowitsch, in cooperation with Belenus Quartet from Switzerland.
Since October 2018 Anna Malikova holds a position as distinguished professor at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

Dorin Marc was double bass teacher at the Academy of Music in Nuremberg, from 1998 until his retirement in 2022.
He graduated from the University of Music in Bucharest in the double bass class of Prof. Ion Cheptea. Between the years 1981-1992 he was a member of the State Philharmonic “Transilvania” from Cluj-Napoca.
From 1992 to 2003 he was solo double bassist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Sergiu Celibidache and then conductor James Levine.
He is a laureate of many national and international competitions, including the ARD Munich, Geneva, Markneukirchen competition.
Together with other valuable Romanian instrumentalists, Dorin Marc was actively involved in the training of young musicians, members of the National Youth Orchestra.
He has an intense pedagogical activity holding master classes in many European centers and is present in most of the international specialized juries. His students occupy solo positions in the most famous European orchestras and are the winners of many prizes at the most prestigious international double bass competitions.

Johannes Meissl is a professor of chamber music and has been Vice Rector for International Affairs and Art at the mdw ‒ University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since October 2019.
Prior to his appointment as vice rector, he headed the Joseph Haydn Department of Chamber Music, Early Music and Contemporary Music beginning in 2010 and also served as president of the mdw Senate from 2015 until September 2019. Furthermore, Meissl is artistic director of isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw.
Johannes Meissl studied at mdw with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Gerhart Hetzel, and Hatto Beyerle. In 1982, he joined the Artis Quartet (in which he continues to play). The quartet soon became a frequent guest of the world’s most important concert halls and festivals, and the numerous awards won by their approximately 40 recordings (such as the Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Echo, etc.) as well as the successful “Artis Series” at the Musikverein in Vienna (running since 1988) bear witness to their international standing. Alongside his quartet work, Meissl also performs in solo recitals and as part of numerous international chamber music projects.
Meissl shares artistic direction of ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy) with Hatto Beyerle and gives master classes at numerous renowned schools and summer academies worldwide. He is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. And finally, recent years have seen Johannes Meissl achieve additional success as a conductor, regularly working together with orchestras in Japan, Romania, Lithuania, Austria, and Finland.

Peter Ovtcharov comes from a Russian family of artists. He studied in St. Petersburg under L. Rudova and later at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. His concert performances have taken him to some of the most renowned concert halls in Europe and Asia, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, Tokyo Opera City Hall, the Kirov Theater, the Great Hall of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and the Seoul Arts Center.

Throughout his artistic career, Peter Ovtcharov has received numerous awards, including the 2nd Prize at the International Vladimir Krainev Competition (Ukraine, 1992), the Silver Medal at the III International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (1997), the 1st Prize at the Austrian Music Competition “Gradus ad Parnassum” (2004), the 2nd Prize at the “Silvio Bengalli Piano Competition” (2004), and the 3rd Prize at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna (2005).

At the age of 26, he became a professor and “Artist in Residence” at the International Music Festival “Allegro Vivo” in Lower Austria, and in 2010, he became the youngest piano professor in South Korea. Peter Ovtcharov conducts numerous masterclasses in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Austria, Italy, and France. He was the founder and artistic director of the Schumann Academy Positano (2018–2021). Currently, Peter Ovtcharov is a professor at Yonsei University, one of Korea’s oldest and most prestigious universities. His performances have taken him to all the major concert halls in Korea and have been broadcast on channels such as KBS, SBS, MBC, YTN, EBS, and ARTE.

Since 2020, he has also been active as a composer of piano works (released as the album Piano Works), as well as cello, vocal, and orchestral compositions.

Praised by The Strad magazine and The New York Times, internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled is acclaimed as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. Having performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Konzerthaus Berlin, Peled has released over a dozen recordings on the Naxos, Centaur, Delos, and CTM Classics labels. He is on the faculty of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and has performed in and presented master classes around the world including at the Marlboro and Newport Music Festivals and the Heifetz International Music Summer Institute in the US, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove in England, and Keshet Eilon in Israel. Embracing the new era of the pandemic, Peled has established the Amit Peled Online Cello Academy reaching out to cellists all over the world. Moreover, his home studio in Baltimore has turned into a virtual art gallery promoting and supporting local artists while teaching and livestreaming to a worldwide audience.

For more information, visit www.amitpeled.com.

Violinist Minna Pensola is known as an intense performer, invigorating soloist and energetic orchestra leader. As an inspiring fellow musician and teacher she is a regular guest at many international chamber music festivals.
Pensola is a versatile player in the music field and has established regular club evenings combining a casual bar night and classical live music in her hometown Helsinki, as well as PuKamaChamber concert series, which she runs together with her spouse, violinist Antti Tikkanen.
Active and close relationship with Finnish composers have produced many works dedicated to her. The upcoming seasons will bring premieres of a chamber work by Lotta Wennäkoski and double concertos by Iiro Rantala and Jukka Tiensuu.
Minna Pensola is the co-artistic director of Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival from 2021. During the seasons 2019-2022 Minna is the artistic partner of the Joensuu City Orchestra and was a member of the curating group for the Helsinki Festival’s Wonderfeel-weekend in 2020 and 2021.
She was the artistic director of Sysmä Summer Sounds from 2006 to 2012.
Pensola is a member of the award winning string quartet Meta4, teaches chamber music at the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) and violin at the Sibelius Academy.
Her own studies started at the Helsinki Conservatory, continued at the Sibelius Academy and finally finished at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Zürich and the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA). Important guides on that journey include Leonid Mordkovich, Kaija Saarikettu, Ralf Gothoni, Ana Chumachenko, Josef Rissin, Hatto Beyerle, Johannes Meissl as well as countless inspiring colleagues along the way.
Minna Pensola’s instrument is a Carlo Bergonzi violin from 1732, owned by the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation.
Offstage the swinging up-tempo is maintained by two daughters, two cats and a hamster.

Gottfried Johannes Pokorny is a principal bassoonist of the Tonkustler Orchestra of Lower Austria and professor of wind chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Formerly, he was a member of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and taught at the Josef-Matthias-Hauer Conservatory of the city of Wiener Neustadt.
Gottfried Johannes Pokorny studied with Karl Öhlberg and Dietmar Zeman at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and attended masterclasses at the Mozarteum Salzburg held by Milan Turkovic as well as Daniele Damiano and Michael Werba. A founding member of the “Wiener Bläser Akademie”, the “Collegium Viennense” and the “Zemlinsky Quintett Wien”, he has performed at numerous festivals in Austria and abroad, including the Festival Allegro Vivo, the Beethoven Festival Bonn, the Haydn-Biennale Vlaanderen, the Fjord Cadenza Classical Music Festival Skodje, the Nynorske Festival, the Mozartwoche in Osaka and the Grafenegg Festival, playing together with artists such as Marialena Fernandes, Walter Delahunt, Rudolf Buchbinder and Heinz Holliger.
Gottfried Johannes Pokorny has been involved in numerous radio and CD recordings and gives bassoon and chamber music courses in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Ukraine, India and Japan. In concerts and on tours he has played with such conductors as wie Sándor Végh, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Georges Prêtre, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Sir Georg Solti, Sir Simon Rattle und Mariss Jansons. He has been a member of the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Lower Austria since 1987, holding the solo bassoon position since 1990.

A native of Upper Austria, saxophonist Michaela Reingruber discovered her passion for the saxophone at the age of 15. After completing her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with distinction in 2003/2004, she focused on classical saxophone and chamber music.

She was a member of the “Vienna Saxophone Quartet” and co-founder of the “Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra.” As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed internationally across Europe, Asia, and South America, collaborating with orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra.

An accomplished educator, Michaela Reingruber has served as a Senior Lecturer at the mdw and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, and regularly leads masterclasses. Since 2024, she has held the position of Professor of Saxophone at the Leonard Bernstein Institute at the mdw.

Felix Renggli was born in Basel, Switzerland and studied flute with Gerhard Hildenbrand, Aurèle Nicolet, and Peter-Lukas Graf. He completed his formal training at the City of Basel Music Academy with a soloist diploma and went on to hold the solo flute post in various orchestras including the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Symphony Orchestra of St. Gallen, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and Camerata Bern.
Renggli has won prizes at national and international competitions and gives master classes on a regular basis in Europe, South America, Japan, China, and Australia. His busy performing career has seen him play as a soloist and chamber musician all over Europe as well as in South America, the USA, Japan, and China, including appearances at international festivals in Paris, Bourges, Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Rio de Janeiro, Akiyoshidai, Tokyo, and elsewhere.
His regular collaboration with the oboist, conductor, and composer Heinz Holliger has provided him with pivotal impulses for his musical work.
In 1994, Renggli assumed responsibility for the flute class taught, up to then, by Peter-Lukas Graf at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel. He also held a professorship at Freiburg University of Music from 2004 to 2014, and he has been teaching at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano since the autumn of 2015.
Renggli’s musical activities range from the contemporary music realm (including numerous world premières with the Swiss Chamber Soloists and Ensemble Contrechamps) to classical chamber music and solo repertoire and the performance of early music on original instruments. His CD productions (with ensembles and artists including the Swiss Chamber Soloists, Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, the Arditti Quartet, Jan Schultsz, and Nova Stravaganza (Cologne) have appeared on the ECM, Artist Consort/GENUIN, Philips, Montaigne, Accord, Discover, and Stradivarius labels. And in 1999, he joined forces with cellist Daniel Haefliger and violist Jürg Dähler to found and share artistic direction of the first all-Swiss chamber music series “Swiss Chamber Concerts”.

www.felixrenggli.com

First violinist and founding member of the Artis Quartet of Vienna.
Having recorded more than 40 CDs he received international awards including Echo Klassik, Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’ Or, Prix Caecilia, Indie Award, Wiener Flötenuhr and Midem Classical Award. Lully Award for the best chamber music performance of the season in NYC.
Chamber music partner of artists like Mischa Maisky, Nabuko Imai, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, Christoph Eschenbach, Ralf Gothoni, Richard Stoltzman, Michel Lethiec, Sharon Kam, Frans Helmerson, Till Fellner, Stefan Vladar and Sol Gabetta.
1980-85 member of the Vienna String Soloists and guest performer with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors like K. Böhm, H. v.Karajan, C. Kleiber, C.Abbado, R.Muti, G.Solti, L.Maazel and D.Barenboim.

In 1996 he joined the faculty of the mdw in Vienna teaching chamber music and violin. 1993-98 guest professor for chamber music at the University of Music Graz. Frequent guest teacher at the Royal College of Music London, Eastman, Yale, Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Central Conservatory Beijing, SNU Seoul, Sibelius Academy, ISA, ECMA and MISQA Montreal. His students are members of many international orchestras and prizewinners at Competitions like Tchaikovsky, Fritz Kreisler and New York Concert Artist.

He studied at the University of Music in Vienna with H. Binder, J.Suk, H. Beyerle, privately with A. Staar and at the CCOM Cincinnati with W.Levin and the LaSalle Quartet. 2019 given the title Professor by the Austrian President.
Member of the Artistic Advisory Board of the Gottfried- von- Einem Foundation.

From the age of nine, she was accepted as a child prodigy in the “Stoliarsky School for gifted children”. During her early years in Odessa, she played for Isaac Stern and Ivry Gitlis and regularly performed as soloist with orchestra.
She pursued her studies at the Moscow State Conservatory, where she graduated under the guidance of Yuri Yankelevich and studied string quartet with Valentin Berlinsky (Borodin Quartet).
She won first prize at the Carl Flesch Competition in London, ARD Violin Competition Munich, Romano Romanini Brescia, and was prize winner at Paganini Competition and ARD Duo Competition.
As a soloist, Dora Schwarzberg has performed with many renowned orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic and under such conductors as Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Alexander Vedernikov, Adam Fischer,  in Concert Halls such as Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall NY, Musikverein Hall and Konzerthaus Vienna, Royal Albert Hall and Queen Elisabeth Hall London, Salle Pleyel Paris, Herculessaal Munich, Mann Auditorium Tel Aviv, Benyaney Hall Jerusalem, among others.
Her chamber music partners along her career have included, among others, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet, Valentin Berlinsky, Nobuko Imai, David Geringas, Alexander Rabinovich, Paul Badura-Skoda, etc., with whom she has performed in Festivals such as Salzburger Festpiele, Martha Argerich Festival Lugano, Aspen Music Festival and Pablo Casals Festival Puerto Rico.
She began teaching at the Mannes School of Music in New York and from 1989 at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she is currently Professor Emeritus. She is regularly invited as a juror at international competitions. Since 2018 she is Professor at the Buchmann Mehta School of Music.
Her students are prize winners of numerous international competitions, and most of them are concertmasters of some of the famous orchestras in the world.

Displaying a dazzling combination of technical brilliance and a uniquely profound musical personality, Hagai Shaham is internationally recognized as one of the astonishing violinists who have emerged from Israel. Hagai Shaham began studying the violin at age of six and was the last student of the late renowned Professor Ilona Fehér. He also studied with Elisha Kagan, Emanuel Borok, Arnold Steinhardt and the Guarneri Quartet.
First prize winner of ARD Munich Competition in 1990, Ilona Kornhouser competition, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority Young Artist competition, the Tel-Aviv Rubin Academy competition, Clairmont Awards, and an annual scholarship from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation.
As a soloist he has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, RPO, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, RTE Ireland, Belgian National, Taipei, Singapore and Shanghai Symphonies, SWF Symphony Orchestra, Czech Radio and philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. In 1985 he was invited to join Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman in a gala concert at Carnegie Hall, following which Zubin Mehta invited him to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto at Carnegie Hall.
In 2006 he performed once again this work under Mehta, at the Israel Philharmonic 70th anniversary’s celebrations with cellist Mischa Maisky.
Hagai Shaham is in great demand as a recitalist. He regularly tours throughout Europe, North and Central America and performs at international recital series and festivals.
Hagai Shaham recorded for Hyperion, Decca International, Chandos, Biddulph, Naxos, Champs Hill and AVIE. He records regularly for Nimbus, where his CDs received critical acclaim.
Hagai Shaham is a member of the Shaham-Erez- Wallfisch trio. The trio performs on major stages including London’s Wigmore and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. They recorded several albums for Nimbus Records, including the complete Beethoven trios.
Hagai Shaham is professor at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University and an Artist in Residence at Stony Brook University, New York.
Together with his colleague, violinist Ittai Shapira, he is co-founder of The Ilona Feher Foundation.

Armenian-born Marianna Shirinyan is one of the most creative and sought-after pianists in Europe today. Her vibrant and virtuos musicianship puts her in demand, both as soloist and as chamber musician. Shirinyan plays with great sensitivity, understanding, technical brilliance and beauty of tone, which allows her to offer a wide range of repertoire. Her love for the music and her joy in sharing it with a larger audience are apparent in her performances.
She has received the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s prestigious P2 award for her contribution to Danish music life and the critics prize of the association of Danish critics. She is a frequent guest at a string of international music festivals, among them the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Bodensee Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, MDR Summer Music Festival, Festspillene in Bergen.
Simultaneously she has won the reputation of being one of this generations leading pianists through solo appearances with orchestras as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, Munich Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice to name a few. She enjoyed collaborations with conductors such as Michael Balke, Lawrence Foster, Zoltan Kocsis, Antonello Manacorda, Jun Märkl, Eva Ollikainen, Daniel Raiskin, Lan Shui, Thomas Søndergård, Marc Soustrot, Krysztof Urbanski and Joshua Weilerstein.
Shirinyan is a professor of piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, a Steinway artist and artistic director of the Oremandsgaard Chamber Music Festival in Denmark. From the summer 2020 also co-artistic director of the Valdres Sommersymfoni in Norway.
Shirinyan has a bright discography. All the CD’s have been received enthusiastically by international reviewers and listeners alike. Her latest release Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra by Louis Glass, which she has recorded together with the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz under the baton of maestro Daniel Raiskin, has been awarded the P2 prize of the Danish radio in 2018.

Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen is one of the most distinguished instrumentalists in the Nordic countries and enjoys an international profile as a recitalist, concerto soloist, recording artist and pedagogue. He is a first prize winner of international cello competitions, including the Casals Competition. He is Visiting Professor of cello at the Royal College of Music in London and Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.
In a career spanning four decades, Torleif has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the Czech Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, The Hallé Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, City of Birmingham SO,Dresden philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic.

He has worked with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Kirill Petrenko, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Franz Welser-Möst, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Mario Venzago and Leif Segerstam. He continues to perform with all the major Nordic orchestras and enjoys a burgeoning relationship with orchestras and festivals in the Antipodes.
As a chamber musician, Torleif is familiar with the prestigious stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, Philharmonie in Berlin and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has appeared at the Prague Spring and the Verbier Festivals, and at the chamber music festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Bordeaux, Oslo, Bath, Stavanger, Kuhmo and beyond. His collaborators have included Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Maxim Rysanov, Leif Ove Andsnes, Marc-André Hamelin, Lars Anders Tomter, Henning Kraggerud,
Roland Pöntinen and Martin Fröst.

Torleif’s recordings have attracted numerous accolades. He was awarded the Edison Prize in 2018 for his recording of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Martin Fröst, Lucas Debargue and Janine Jansen on the Sony label. His recording of the Shostakovich Cello Concertos won a Cannes Classical Award and his account of the Bach Cello Suites was selected as a ‘Choice of the month’ by BBC Music Magazine. His discography also includes the concertos of Dvořák, Elgar, Saint-Saens, Lalo,Kabalevsky,Lutoslawski and a wealth of contemporary music. He plays the 1783 Guadagnini cello on loan from the Norwegian Dextra foundation, previously owned by M. Rostropovich.

Lars Anders Tomter is one of today’s most outstanding violists. The Giant of the Nordic Viola (The Strad) was born at Hamar, Norway. He began to play the violin at the age of eight and also took up the viola. Both instruments he studied with Professor Leif Jørgensen at the Oslo Music Conservatory and the Norwegian State Academy. He then continued his studies with Professor Max Rostal and with Sándor Vegh. He was awarded a special prize for his interpretation of Bartók’s Viola Concerto at the International Viola Competition in Budapest in 1984 and then went on to win the Maurice Vieux International Competition in Lille in 1986.
Tomter has commissioned and premiered several concertos. He played the world premiere of a new viola concerto, written by the renowned Estonian Composer Erkki- Sven Tüür. The Tüür Concerto “Illuminatio” is a joint European commission of the the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover and the Orchestre National de Lille with support of Norsk Kulturråd.
Lars Anders Tomter’s international solo career started in 1987/88 when he toured extensively in the United States and Germany with the prestigious Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under its director Iona Brown.Their recording of Mozarts Sinfonia Concertante was hailed as the best ever by the Grammophone, when they did a comparison of the recordings made. Since then his appearances as a viola soloist has been greeted with the highest public and critical acclaim throughout Europe and the United States, such as Vienna Musikverein, New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin and the Kölner Philharmonie.
Lars Anders Tomter has performed with orchestras such as BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, RSO Frankfurt, NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover, Gürzenich-Orchestra Cologne, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Dutch Radio Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and Danish National Radio Symphony. Conductors with whom he has
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worked together include among others Marc Albrecht, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sylvain Cambreling, Dennis Russell Davies, Olari Elts, Daniele Gatti, Manfred Honeck, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Juha Kangas, Krzysztof Penderecki, Okko Kamu, Arvid Jansons, Dmitri Kitaenko, Ken-Ishiro Kobayashi, Ervin Lukács, Nello Santi, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Ulf Schirmer, John Storgårds, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Muhai Tang and Hans Vonk. In addition, Lars Anders Tomter collaborates frequently with internationally renowned musicians in chamber music projects.
Lars Anders Tomter is a regular guest at important festivals such as BBC Proms, Mondseetage, Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Styriarte, Moritzburg, Verbier as well as at a number of festivals in Scandinavia. In addition, he is artistic director of the Norwegian Fjord Classics in Sandefjord. His large repertoire includes all major contemporary works, and he has recorded for Simax, Naxos, Virgin Classics, NMC, Somm and Chandos.
Lars Anders Tomter is a Professor at the State Academy in Oslo, he plays a Gasparo da Salo viola dated from 1590.

The Swedish violinist Ulf Wallin studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Sven Karpe and at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Wolfgang Schneiderhan.
Concert tours have taken him to Asia, Europe and the United States. He has worked with such eminent conductors as Jesús Lopéz Cobos, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Franz Welser-Möst. Always in great demand as a chamber player, Ulf Wallin has worked with artists like Bruno Canino, Barbara Hendricks, Heinz Holliger, Roland Pöntinen, and András Schiff.
Ulf Wallin has appeared at numerous major festivals including the Lucerne and Berlin music festivals, Marlboro Music Festival, among others. He has performed in the world’s leading venues, including the Berlin Philharmonie, La Scala di Milano, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.
Ulf Wallin’s dedication to contemporary music is highlighted by his close contacts with several distinguished composers such as Anders Eliasson, Alfred Schnittke and Rodion Shchedrin.
He has made numerous radio, and television appearances and more than 50 CD recordings (BIS, cop, EMI and BMG) have gained much acclaim and attention from the international media.
Ulf Wallin is professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and professor at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He has served on juries for major international competitions including the ARD Competition in Munich and the Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition in Vienna.
In 2013, he was awarded the Robert-Schumann-Prize of the city of Zwickau and was elected in 2014 into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Walter Werzowa is an internationally acclaimed composer, producer, musician, and sound innovator. He studied architecture, classical guitar, and sound engineering in Vienna, followed by postgraduate studies in film scoring at the University of Southern California, mentored by industry legends such as Jerry Goldsmith and David Raksin. As President and CCO, he founded several impactful ventures, including MusikVergnuegen and HealthTunes, a nonprofit initiative leveraging music for health enhancement.

His compositions transcend traditional boundaries, exemplified by projects like Beethoven X, an AI-driven symphony, and award-winning scores for Hollywood films such as “Minority Report” and “Eraser.” Walter Werzowa also serves as a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, and he is deeply involved in research on the health benefits of music.

Christian Wetzel is professor for oboe at the Cologne University of Music. Outside of teaching and performing internationally as soloist, he is a devoted chamber music player, performing at various renowned festivals around the world. As oboist and founding member of the internationally acclaimed Ma’alot Wind Quintet he has won First Prize at numerous international competitions, including the ARD Munich Competition. With a concert career spanning over 30 years, the Quintet has recorded a range of award-winning CDs.
In 1997, after nine years as solo oboist with the National Theatre Orchestra of Mannheim, he obtained his first professorship at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and has since been a dedicated and successful supporter of young international oboists. In 2008, he was appointed to the faculty of the Cologne University of Music.
Many of his students have gone on to prominent positions in renowned orchestras all over the world.
Christian Wetzel teaches at numerous international masterclasses worldwide and is a visiting lecturer at such renowned music schools as the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Julliard School in New York, the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He holds an oboe class at the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country, “Musikene”, in San Sebastian (Spain).
Numerous recordings and premieres as well as a close collaboration with acclaimed contemporary composers also show his dedication to “New Music”.