Artists - Puskas International

Markus Schirmer

peter-admin — Sun, 11 May 2025 12:24:50 +0000

Energy, expression and emotion characterise Austrian top pianist Markus Schirmer’s music-making

No matter where he tours he receives audience acclaim for his charismatic musicianship and his ability to tell vivid stories with the instrument. One of his reviews sums him up precisely: “A pied piper on the piano…music that comes straight from the heart, the brain and the fingertips.”

After intense studies with Rudolf Kehrer, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling or Paul Badura-Skoda
the Graz born artist went on to win numerous prizes and honours and to take a number of major concert halls and festivals by storm: the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Herkulessaal and Philharmonie am Gasteig/Munich, Suntory Hall/Tokyo, Wigmore Hall/London, Gewandhaus/Leipzig, Philharmonie and Konzerthaus/Berlin, Rudolfinum/Prague, Palais des Beaux Arts/Brussels, Finlandia Hall/Helsinki, Teatro Teresa Carreño/Caracas, Palau de la Musica/Valencia, Victoria Hall/Geneva, Festspielhaus/Baden- Baden, Teatro Olimpico/Vicenza, Megaron/Athens, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival international de piano “La Roque d ́Antheron“, Ruhr Piano Festival, “Stars of White Nights Festival” St.Petersburg, Festival pianistico internazionale “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli” Brescia, Vilnius Festival, Kissinger Sommer,
styriarte, Bregenz Festival, Schubertiade, ISCM Music Festival and many more.

He has worked with renowned orchestras: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra St.Petersburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony Orchestra,
English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonia Varsovia,
the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Sofia, Borusan Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev,
Adam Fischer, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Lord Yehudi Menuhin,
Jukka Pekka Saraste, Marie Jacquot, Sir Charles Mackerras, Michael Gielen, John Axelrod, Fabio Luisi, Philippe Entremont, James Judd, Paul Goodwin, Michael Gielen and Philippe Jordan among others.

He adores Schubert above all, but is also enthusiastic about more obscure works such as Britten’s ironic piano concerto, the transcendental solo piano oeuvre of Szymanowski or “Castelli Romani”, an epic piano concerto by Joseph Marx.

Chamber music plays an important role in his work and his partners have included Renaud Capuçon, Julian Rachlin, Vadim Repin, Benjamin Schmid, Sharon Kam, Nils Mönkemeyer, Christian Poltéra, Konstantin Krimmel, Angela Hewitt, Mnozil Brass, the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, the Hagen Quartet, the Jerusalem Quartet and many more.

His love affair with the unusual, his daring and his eagerness to explore new territories ensure the development of sensational events outside the traditional classical repertoire:

– SCURDIA is an improvisation project which brings together extraordinary musicians from all over the world on one stage, thus allowing new artistic and creative energies to be set free by bridging various cultures.

– Markus Schirmer has great pleasure in working with actors, combining literature and music, and has developed unusual programs which are celebrated by audience and critics alike.
In collaboration with the American singer and actress Helen Schneider f.e. he presented his own adaptation of Kurt Weill’s ”The Seven Deadly Sins” for voice and piano.

For his exceptional artistic diversity Markus Schirmer was awarded the “Music Manual Award“ and is a recipient of some of Austria’s most prestigious awards, the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize and the “Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst”.

He received the German Record Critics’ Award for his debut CD of Schubert Sonatas. Further recordings including works by Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, Mussorgsky and his strongly acclaimed outing “The Mozart Sessions” together with the uplifting US chamber orchestra A FAR CRY have won numerous international prizes.

2025 Nimbus Records UK will release the complete sonatas for viola & piano by Julius Roengten (together with Herbert Kefer from Artis Quartet Vienna)

In the upcoming season he will be performing at many festivals and concert series in Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, the US, Japan, South Corea, China, Sweden, Brazil, Kosovo and Austria.

In addition to his work as a very successful Professor of Piano at the Music University in his hometown Graz – many of his students are acclaimed prizewinners – Markus Schirmer regularly gives international masterclasses for piano and is a sought after adjudicator at several prestigious piano competitions.

Furthermore, Markus Schirmer is artistic director of the international music festival ARSONORE, which every September invites world class musicians to perform in the Hall of Planets at Eggenberg Castle (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage) in Graz/Austr

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Jonathan Powell

peter-admin — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 21:33:52 +0000

‘Powell has the energy of a nuclear reactor.’

‘His piano playing is characterised by enormous sonority and precisely differentiated dynamics; even in the loudest passages’

‘No wonder that this technically almost unbeatable artist immediately enchants the listener here.’

Jonathan Powell’s recent activities include the world première recording of rediscovered Jewish Czech composer Hans Winterberg’s 1st Piano Concerto, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Johannes Kalitzke, which appeared on the Capriccio label in 2022; they performed this work also at the Berlin Funkhaus in concert in December 2023. Other Winterberg projects include the world première of his 4th Concerto with the Beethoven-Philharmonie under Thomas Rösner in February 2024 (with the Liszt-Schubert Wanderer Fantaisie in the same programme), a series of recitals dedicated to Winterberg in Germany and Austria, and the editing (for Boosey and Hawkes) and subsequent recording of his complete piano works in Berlin. In 2024 Powell will also perform Paderewski’s Fantaisie Polonaise with the Mainz Symphony and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra (in Poznań) under Anna Duczmal-Mroz. His recording of Scharwenka’s 1st Piano Concerto, with the Poznań Philharmonic under Łukasz Borowicz, is due to appear on the CPO label. His ongoing collaboration with the NEO Quartet (Gdańsk) include concerts in Paris, London, Oxford and Gdańsk, featuring music by Xenakis, Jakub Rataj, and the world première of a quintet by Martyn Harry.

Previous projects include tours of Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus and Albeniz’ Iberia. In 2015 he gave numerous performances of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata and Reger’s Bach Variations. Following years saw a tour of the complete piano works of Xenakis and, in 2017, Liszt’s Sonata, and Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke. In 2018 he gave six performances of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues. Solo recitals taken him to the Festival Radio France Montpellier, the sold-out Kammersaal of the Elbphilharmonie, the Raritäten der Klaviermusik am Schloss vor Husum, Vredenburg Muziekcentrum in Utrecht, across the US, Musica Sacra in Maastricht, Klaver Fest in Tallinn, and the Fundación BBVA series in Bilbao. In 2016 he played Bent Sørensen’s 2nd Piano Concerto in the Contempuls Festival with the Prague Philharmonia under Marian Lejava. In recent years, he has broadcast for Radio France, Radio Netherlands, Radio Deutschland Kultur, the BBC and Czech Radio. His recording of Sorabji’s Sequentia cyclia over seven discs, on Piano Classics was received rapturously by critics and was awarded the German Critics’ Disc Prize (Preis der Deutschen Schallplatenkritiken); he was invited by pianist Igor Levit to perform the work at the 2022 Heidelberger Frühling.

He has lectured on a wide variety of subjects and given masterclasses at Oxford University, The Royal Academy of Music (London), Tallinn Academy of Music, The Vītols Academy in Riga, the Musikhochschule Darmstadt, JAMU in Brno, HAMU in Prague, Bristol University, Szymanowski Academy in Katowice etc.
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Cyprien Katsaris

peter-admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 19:14:33 +0000
Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born on 5 May 1951 in Marseilles. After early musical training in Cameroon, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie, winning premiers prix for piano in 1969 and for chamber music (in the class of Jean Hubeau) in 1970. The same year he won the Prix Albert Roussel, and in 1974 he won first prize in the Cziffra Competition.

His international career was launched with performances conducted by Bernstein and Dorati, and he has performed with leading orchestras throughout the world.
Katsaris has recorded extensively for Teldec, Sony Classical, EMI, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, PIANO 21. He was the first pianist to record the complete Beethoven symphonies transcribed by Liszt (reissued by Warner Classics in 2006).
As well as performing a wealth of standard repertory, Cyprien Katsaris has recorded (as world premières) long-lost works, such as the Liszt/Tchaikovsky Concerto in the Hungrian style (with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra), Beethoven’s own piano arrangement of his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus, and Gustav Mahler’s original piano version of Das Lied von der Erde (with Mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender and Tenor Thomas Moser).
In addition to his activities as a soloist, he founded the “Katsaris Piano Quintet”, and their performances have received an enthusiastic response from both the press and audiences around the world.
In March 2006 Cyprien Katsaris became the first pianist to give masterclasses in Franz Liszt’s house in Weimar since Liszt, who taught there for the very last time in 1886, the year of his death. He has also conducted masterclasses around the world, including at the University of Toronto, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Arts Academy in Mexico, The Academy of Performing Arts in Hong-Kong, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In addition he was appointed Artistic Director of the Echternach International Festival (Luxembourg) from 1977 to 2007.
Oscar-winner director François Reichenbach and Claude Chabrol have made films of Cyprien Katsaris in live concert performances. In 1992, Japanese NHK TV produced with Cyprien Katsaris a thirteen-program series on Frédéric Chopin, which included masterclasses and performances by Katsaris. In October 1999, New York concertgoers offered him a standing ovation in Carnegie Hall for his recital dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, performed on the day of the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death. This concert was recorded (audio and video) and has been issued on the PIANO 21 label.
On 27 January 2006, the day of the 250th Anniversary of Mozart’s birth, he was the soloist at the inaugural concert of the Mozart Orchestra Mannheim founded and conducted by Thomas Fey. In August 2008, he was invited to give two concerts on the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games at the National Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to the world premiere of a concerto for ten pianos and orchestra – China Jubilee – by the composer Cui Shiguang, he improvised on Chinese and ancient Greek melodies, in tribute to the universality of the Olympic Games.
Cyprien Katsaris has been a member of the jury for international piano competitions around the world, including the International Chopin Piano Compeition, the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, the Vendôme Prize, the Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition, the International Beethoven Piano Competition, the International Piano Competition “Giorgos Thymis”, and the International Scriabin Piano Competition.
Cyprien Katsaris’s work has been honoured with many awards, including UNESCO Artist for Peace (1997), Commandeur de l’Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (2009) and Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France 2000). He also received the Médaille Vermeil de la Ville de Paris (2001) and the Nemitsas Prize (Cyprus, 2011). He is a member of ADAP, the Association of Artists for Peace.
Puskas International represents Cyprien Katsaris in the United Kingdom.

CYPRIEN KATSARIS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

CYPRIEN KATSARIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL
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SOÓS-HAAG

peter-admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 19:31:40 +0000
Artistic curiosity and high musical standards characterize the Hungarian-Swiss piano duo Adrienne Soós and Ivo Haag, who are regarded as one of the best chamber music ensembles in Switzerland and beyond. They have recently completed their recording of the complete Brahms symphonies in the composer’s own version for piano duo. “… one of the best piano duos of the world», «in addition there is a dreamlike interplay. There are not just two soloists playing, this is a real duo that lives and breathes together. » writes the press. They also defend unknown and rarely played repertoire with great enthusiasm and energy, such as the Concerto for Two Pianos and Strings by Edward Staempfli, a forgotten Swiss composer, whom they brought to light again. Another example for their repertoire research is the Grande Sonate symphonique in B Minor by Ignaz Moscheles. The aim of all these projects is always to explore the rich repertoire for piano four hands and for two pianos an to make it accessible to a large audience. With large scale projects such as the performance of the complete four hand compositions by Franz Schubert or the complete works for piano duet and two pianos by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel in Boswil (CH) as well as with their well-conceived and intelligent programs, they have gained an excellent reputation and international recognition.

These projects bring them together with artists such as the piano duos Labèque, Tal & Groethuysen, GrauSchumacher and others. They received recital invitations from the Lucerne Festival, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the SWR International Pianists Series Mainz, the Schumann-Haus Zwickau, the Haydn-Tage Eisenstadt, the Schubertiade Feldkirch, the Carinthian Summer, the Musiktage Mondsee (Artistic director: András Schiff), the Theater Casino Zug, the Sommets Musicaux in Gstaad, the Société de Musique in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Kammermusik Bern Series, the Ittinger Sonntagskonzerte, the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich and many others.

Die Filarmonica Toscanini Parma (Italy), the Symphonie Orchestra Biel Solothurn, the Berne Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur, das St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, the Zuger Sinfonietta, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Bern, the Camerata Zürich and many others invite them as soloists, where they collaborate with conductors such as Mario Venzago, Zsolt Nagy, Thomas Rösner and others. They played the Austrian premiere of the Double Concerto by Jean Françaix and the Swiss premiere of the Double Concerto by Péter Eötvös. They have an ongoing collaboration with the Zurich Singakademie and his conductor Florian Helgath and have also collaborated with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir Vienna and Erwin Ortner. In the field of contemporary music, they have collaborated with composers Péter Eötvös, Rudolf Kelterborn, Krzysztof Meyer, Dieter Ammann and others.

In recent years, the piano has recorded works by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann Bartók for Telos Music, and their rich discography includes also important works by Honegger, Messiaen, Moscheles, Dussek, Hans Huber, Frank Martin. Their concerts are regularly broadcasted by radio. The Soós Haag Piano Do has been awarded by the Zuger Werkjahr and they recently have been nominated official Bösendorfer Artists. Adrienne Soós and Ivo Haag both studied at the Budapest Liszt University with Péter Solymos, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. Formative was also their encounter with András Schiff.

www.klavierduo.ch
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ANNA DUCZMAL-MRÓZ

peter-admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 14:02:46 +0000

TAKI-ALSOP FELLOW 2022

Polish Conductor Anna Duczmal-Mroz is the current Taki-Alsop Fellow, previous fellows including among others Karina Canellakis and Mei-Ann Chen. In summer 2022, Anna Duczmal-Mroz conducted her US debuts with the National Orchestra Institute the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming projects include debuts with Staatsorchester Mainz, Staatskapelle Weimar and with the Orchestre National de Bretagne, alongside her regular concerts with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio.

Anna Duczmal-Mróz has been principal conductor of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of the Polish Radio since 2009. This extraordinary ensemble was originally founded by her mother, ground-breaking conductor Agnieszka Duczmal, in 1968.

Anna has performed in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, France, Spain, Mexico, Japan, and South America and has collaborated with numerous orchestras in Poland including the National Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the NOSPR. She has performed at important festivals in Poland, Germany, France, Spain, Mexico, and South America, and worked with soloists such as Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Avi Avital, Daniel Hope, Ingolf Wunder, and Kirill Troussov.

Anna premiered as a music director of Mendelssohn’s ballet “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk and M.Małecki’s “Argue in Recco” in Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Anna Duczmal-Mróz has produced many critically acclaimed and award winning recordings for the DUX label with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra PR and is a champion of Polish repertoire which she regularly programs in concerts in Poland and abroad.

Anna has been a jurist in international conducting competitions including the Antal Dorati Conducting Competition and has served as conductor of the Toruń Symphony Orchestra during piano masterclasses held the Paderewski Piano Academy in Poland which featured world-renown pianists.

Anna served as assistant conductor to Maestro Antoni Wit at the Warsaw National Philharmonic in 2006-07 and assisted Maestro Eiji Oue at the NDR Radiophilharmonie in 2004-05. She made her conducting debut in Poland in 2003 with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of the Polish Radio.

Anna started her music education as a violinist. During violin studies with Prof. Krzysztof Węgrzyn at the Hohchshule fur Musik und Theater in Hanover, Germany, her conducting talent was discovered by Maestro Eiji Oue, who mentored her from 2001-2005. In 2000 Anna founded and conducted the Benjamin Britten Kammerorchester, a student orchestra in Hanover, Germany. She graduated with honors, conducting her diploma concert with the NDR-Radiophilharmonie in Hanover. Anna is a multiple scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.

annaduczmalmroz.com
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Rémy Ballot

peter-admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 08:32:33 +0000

Chief Conductor Klangkollektiv Wien
Conductor in residence Richard Strauss Tage Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Founder Rémy Ballot Ensemble
“Something mystical… almost beyond words.” – Wiener Zeitung 
“Both deeply rooted in tradition and radically innovative.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Unrivaled as a Bruckner conductor.” – DiapasonRémy Ballot has left a profound mark on the music world with his visionary Bruckner interpretations. His live recordings from the St. Florian Brucknertage have become new reference points—hailed with the highest accolades and officially recognized in 2024 as part of the Bruckner anniversary exhibition at the Austrian National Library. A monumental conclusion to this era.
His spectacular last-minute substitution for Dan Ettinger with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in spring 2024—including the opening of the Bergamo-Brescia Festival with Bruckner’s 4th Symphony—proved his extraordinary artistic authority. International orchestras have taken notice of Ballot’s exceptional work: in 2025, he will debut with the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Bratislava Philharmonic, and the Olomouc Philharmonic, while long-term collaborations continue to expand.
His spectacular last-minute substitution for Dan Ettinger with the Stuttgart Philharmonic in spring 2024—including the opening of the Bergamo-Brescia Festival with Bruckner’s 4th Symphony—proved his extraordinary artistic authority. International orchestras have taken notice of Ballot’s exceptional work: in 2025, he will debut with the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Bratislava Philharmonic, and the Olomouc Philharmonic, while long-term collaborations continue to expand.
“Richard Strauss with breathtaking intensity and intricate detail.” – Simply Classic
As Conductor in Residence at the 2024 Richard Strauss Days, Ballot opens a new chapter, working closely with the Richard Strauss Institute to explore the composer’s oeuvre. The first CD in the new Strauss Days Edition, set for release in March 2025, has already received outstanding pre-release reviews.
“Astonishing plasticity – Ballot reinvents Mozart and Haydn.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung
With Klangkollektiv Wien, the ensemble he founded, Ballot sets new standards in interpreting the First Viennese School. An internationally acclaimed CD series continues in 2025 with a Schubert cycle. Following celebrated debuts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Munich’s Prinzregententheater, next season brings an invitation to the Vienna Musikverein.
Ballot is also a highly sought-after orchestral educator. His Oxford debut in 2024 with the prestigious university orchestra was met with great enthusiasm and marked the beginning of a long-term residency, including conducting engagements, chamber music projects, and lectures. He co-founded the FYMO (Filasteen Young Musicians Orchestra) of the Barenboim-Said Foundation and toured Palestine with the ensemble.
Alongside his conducting career, Ballot continues his work as a violinist. His recording of Bruckner’s String Quartet and String Quintet was hailed as a benchmark performance, earning the Supersonic Award and an ICMA nomination. In 2025, he will release recordings of the Trout Quintet and Hummel’s Piano Quintet, performed with members of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Rémy Ballot was the last student of Sergiu Celibidache. Following Celibidache’s passing, he founded his own orchestra in Paris, leading it for five years. He studied violin under Gérard Poulet at the Paris Conservatoire, received artistic guidance from Ivry Gitlis, and performed regularly with the first violins of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Vienna Philharmonic for over a decade from 2005 onward.

www.remyballot.com
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Johannes Kalitzke

peter-admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 07:30:05 +0000
Johannes Kalitzke, born in 1959 in Cologne, studied church music there from 1974 until 1976. After passing his school-leaving examinations, he studied piano with Aloys Kontarsky, conducting with Wolfgang von der Nahmer and composition with York Höller at the Cologne Music Academy. A stipend of the Study Foundation of the German People made it possible for him to study at IRCAM in Paris, where he was a pupil of Vinko Globokar, and simultaneously in Cologne with Hans Ulrich Humpert (electronic music).

His first engagement as a conductor was in 1984, at the Gelsenkirchen Music Theatre in the Revier, where he was principal conductor from 1988 to 1990. In 1991 he became artistic director and conductor of the Ensemble MusikFabrik, of which he was a co-founder.

Since then he has been a regular guest conductor with ensembles (Klangforum Wien, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Modern) and with numerous symphony orchestras (including the NDR Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BR Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic). There have also been opera productions (including the State Opera Unter den Linden Berlin, the Stuttgart Opera, the Vienna Festival, the Munich Biennial and the Salzburg Festival).

He has toured Russia, Japan and the USA. Numerous CD recordings complete his activities as an interpreter of classical and contemporary music.

As a composer he has received several commissions for the Donaueschinger Musiktage and Ultraschall Berlin, among others. Orchestral pieces were written for the Festival Eclat in Stuttgart, the RSO Vienna and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. His first musical theatre piece, “Bericht vom Tod des Musikers Jack Tiergarten” was premiered at the 1996 Munich Biennale, his second opera “Molière oder die Henker des Komödianten”, a commissioned work for the State of Schleswig-Holstein, as well as his third opera, “Inferno” after Peter Weiss, were premiered at the Bremen Opera. An opera based on the novel “The Obsessed” by W. Gombrowicz was commissioned by Theater an der Wien for 2010. The Augsburg Philharmonic commissioned a silent film orchestra music for the film “Die Weber” (1927) in 2011, followed by the opera “Pym” after E.A.Poe for the Theater Heidelberg. Currently, he continues to focus on orchestral music for Expressionist silent film, among others as commission for the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik and the Carinthian Summer 2019.

His teaching activities include ensemble seminars at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at the Hannover Academy, the directorship of the ensemble forum at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, the directorship of the conducting forum for ensemble music of the German Music Council as well as conducting courses at the Salzburg Summer Academy. Since 2015 he is professor for conducting at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg and taught as a guest at the Reina Sophia Music School Madrid and the Zurich Conservatory of Music.

Johannes Kalitzke has received numerous awards including the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize of the City of Cologne and a stipend for the Villa Massimo in Rome (2003). He has been a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts since 2009 and since 2015 he is a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, München.
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Martyn Harry

peter-admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 18:34:08 +0000
Professor Martyn Harry is a contemporary classical composer, and music lecturer at Oxford University. He is Annie Barnes Fellow in Music at St Anne’s College Oxford and Lecturer in Music at St Hilda’s College, where he also serves as artistic director of the Jacqueline Du Pre Music Building.
Martyn studied composition with Alexander Goehr at King´s College, Cambridge and music theatre composition with Mauricio Kagel at Musikhochschule Köln on a DAAD Scholarship. His works have been performed by, among others, the London Sinfonietta, Northern Sinfonia, Broomhill Opera, Eos, the Allegri Quartet, Piano Circus, the Reg Vardy Band, the New Music Players and the BBC Singers. They have also been broadcast many times on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, NDR 3 and WDR 3.
Martyn Harry’s most frequently-performed works include his early Heimat for double mixed chorus which was premiered by the BBC Singers under Stephen Jackson and later broadcast on BBC Radio 3´s “Music in Our Time”; Still Life for ensemble, which has been broadcast by Eos under Charles Hazlewood on Classic FM, BBC Radio 3, NDR 3 and WDR 3; Regenstimmen for solo harp, premiered in the Purcell Room as part of the PLG Young Artists Series and performed since throughout Europe; Fantasy Unbuttoned, which since its official world première from the London Sinfonietta under Markus Stenz at the State of the Nation has been broadcast numerous times on BBC Radio 3’s “Here and Now” programme; Digging Deeper, performed countless times and all over the world by Piano Circus; The Enigma Of Arrival, a powerful orchestral piece commissioned by Northern Sinfonia and premiered in the Sinfonia’s “Late Mix” series; Thugs Mansion for string quartet and muted brass band; George Meets Arnie For Tennis, which was recorded by The New Music Players for release on CD and received its English premiere at The Sage Gateshead; and Empress Quartet, which was premiered and toured throughout the Northern Arts throughout Great Britain by the Allegri Quartet.
He has also worked extensively in film and multi-media settings. His ‘instrumental theatre’ works include The End of the Line for three singers and four instrumentalists, which was premiered at the Huddersfield Festival; Keep The Plates Spinning for two percussionists, actors, ghetto blasters and applauding audience, performed by Three Strange Angels at BMIC Cutting Edge; Signal Failure for actors, ensemble and computer graphics, which has been performed many times in England, Holland and Germany, and revised at The Sage Gateshead in 2003; and the now infamous Restraint for Handcuffed Pianist and pre-recorded tape, which has been broadcast twice on BBC Radio 3’s “Here and Now” programme, and performed throughout Britain.
Martyn is particularly known for his vocal music, most notably his two song cycles, The Spell and Chamber Intimacy, both of which have were premiered in Northern Sinfonia concerts at The Sage Gateshead. His ensemble operas Scratch Card Number Opera and Icarus Drowning [Flight] join a long line of ‘avant-garde’ operas for performance to children, as well as a number of other instrumental pieces. A longstanding collaboration with the children’s theatre company Theatre Hullabaloo culminated in two national tours of his children’s opera My Mother Told Me Not To Stare in schools and theatres across the UK in 2010 and 2012.

MARTYN HARRYOFFICIAL WEBSITE
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FIDELIO TRIO

peter-admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 08:45:13 +0000

FIDELIO TRIO
Darragh Morgan – violin
Tim Gill – cello – cello
Mary Dullea – piano
The …virtuosic Fidelio Trio… (Sunday Times) are Darragh Morgan, violin, Tim Gill, cello and Mary Dullea, piano. Shortlisted for the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, The Fidelio Trio broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Lyric FM, WQXR, and have been featured on a Sky Arts documentary.

Since their debut at London’s Southbank Centre, they have regularly appeared at the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, at festivals including Spitalfields, Cheltenham, St. Magnus and Huddersfield. In Ireland they regularly perform at National Concert Hall, Dublin, Kilkenny Festival and Belfast Festival as well as Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Hong Kong Chamber Music Society, Singapore, Bangkok, Porto, Paris, Venice, Florence, Johannesburg, Harare, New York City, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Boston. Their 2023/24 season includes performances at Dark Music Days Iceland, an extensive USA tour including National Sawdust New York and Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, Les Jardins Musicaux Neuchâtel and Hay Festival.

Their extensive discography includes a Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice and Critics’ Choice 2022 of Chamber Music by E J Moeran, a composer with whom they are closely associated and the release of premiere recordings on Mode Records of music by Gerald Barry. Forthcoming in 2024 is a portrait CD of Xiaogang Ye. Other significant releases include 2 French albums of Ravel and Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Chausson and Satie; Philip Glass Head On & Pendulum on Orange Mountain; Korngold and Schoenberg (Verklärte Nacht arr. Steuermann) for Naxos; the complete Michael Nyman Piano Trios for MN Records; multiple releases on NMC, Delphian Records including portrait CDs for composers such as Luke Bedford, Piers Hellawell and Michael Zev Gordon. Their previous release of French Piano Trios for Resonus was also a Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice.

The Fidelio Trio have given masterclasses at Peabody Conservatory, Curtis Institute, NYU, Central Conservatory Beijing, and Stellenbosch Conservatorium South Africa. They have been artists-in-residence at St. Patrick’s College Dublin City University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the State University of New York, SUNY and Tufts University, Boston. Composers that the Trio have premiered music by include Anna Clyne, Toshio Hosokawa, Charles Wuorinen, Johannes Maria Staud, Michael Nyman, Gerald Barry, Donnacha Dennehy, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Joe Cutler, Ann Cleare, Judith Weir, David Fennessy, Kevin Volans. Gavin Higgins, Linda Buckley, Tom Coult, John Harbison, Sam Perkin, Sebastian Adams, Claudia Molitor, Shirley Thompson, Richard Baker, Robert Saxton, Simon Bainbridge and Alexander Goehr.

www.fideliotrio.com
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Rémy Ballot Ensemble

peter-admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 08:35:04 +0000

“Each member of the quartet is a highly cultivated musical personality who knows how to listen to his or her fellow players and is equally capable of taking the lead, accompanying and fitting into a tutti sound. This ensemble does not offer a mannered unified sound […]. The playing of this quartet is orientated towards the respective circumstances of the tonal movement, which is presented with great empathy.”

Florian Schuck in his review for the-new-listener.com about the Ballot Quartet at the Bruckner Festival St Florian 2023 at Tillysburg Castle.

French conductor and violinist Rémy Ballot has formed an ensemble with musicians he works regularly with as conductor. An acclaimed debut concert at the 2020 St. Florian Bruckner Festival resulted in a CD of Anton Bruckner’s string quintet and quartet, released on the Gramola label along side his award winning cycle of Brucker symphonies.

This project became the precedent to form a regular ensemble in various formations, the Rémy Ballot Ensemble. In May 2025, Gramola reseases a 2nd CD with piano quintets by Schubert & Hummel.
The post Rémy Ballot Ensemble first appeared on Puskas International.

NEO QUARTET

peter-admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 08:30:03 +0000
They are passionate about art and contemporary music. They love to create, play concerts, think outside the box, challenge existing dogmas. They enormously value the possibilities of collaboration with various artists and ensuing mutual inspiration. They are fascinated by making bonds with audience, jumping to other dimensions and catching new perspectives of looking into the world.

Outstanding energy, full commitment, freedom of expression and creation of new developmental paths – these are the main features of NeoQuartet.

NeoQuartet is one of the most interesting, engaging and action-oriented ensembles of contemporary music in Europe. It is a Prize-Winner of prestigious Pomeranian Artistic Award. The ensemble was also nominated to numerous other prizes (Sztorm Roku, Fryderyki). Quartet has recorded 12 CDs released by Polish, German, Greek,, and American labels.

Since 2017, NeoQuartet expanded its instrumental spectrum with electric midi string violins, viola and cello plus synthesizers and loopers beginning with this purchase new, unique musical phenomenon throughout the world. In 2022 first CD with NeoQuartet’s own compositions was released. String Theory album will chart new musical territories of string quartet development in 21st century.

NeoQuartet plays concerts in Poland and abroad. From 2012 to 2021 the ensemble performed over 500 concerts almost in every corner of the world (21 countries) including prestigious concert halls of Carnegie Hall in New York and Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

NeoQuartet consists of: Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka (1st Violin), Paweł Kapica (2nd Violin), Michał Markiewicz (Viola), and Krzysztof Pawłowski (Cello). The ensemble is the organizer of their own festival called NeoArte Synthesizer of Arts Festival held unceasingly in Gdansk, Poland from 2012.

www.neoquartet.pl
The post NEO QUARTET first appeared on Puskas International.

Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu

peter-admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 17:38:17 +0000
The Concert de l’Hostel Dieu consists of a solo vocal ensemble and an orchestra playing on period instruments, who give about sixty concerts annually, which are mainly devoted to the baroque vocal repertoire. They are frequently invited to perform at international festivals and venues. The performances of the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu are always marked by a modern and dynamic approach to the baroque repertoire. Many of them involve different artistic disciplines. Innovative forms are developed and interfaces are created between oral traditions and ‘classical’ repertoire. In short, their artistic choices are bold and original. As well as creating and performing, the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu also supports young artists at the beginning of their careers and endeavors both to appeal to younger audiences, and to perform in outlying areas, where access to cultural events are often limited.

“For us, baroque art is above all the art of movement. Whether it be choreographic, architectural or pictorial, it is from this movement that intention and emotion are born. In music, this interdependence of dance, musical gesture and vocal art nourish an unlimited sound universe, colourful and infinitely varied, of which the limits are being constantly stretched by musical explorers.

Claiming this legacy, we have been tirelessly exploring European libraries for the past 25 seasons, discovering unpublished manuscripts and alternative versions of musical works. With a modern and dynamic approach to this cosmopolitan repertoire that bears witness to a time when Europe was not skeptical of its common cultural destiny, we invite a wide audience to share the moments of grace that concerts represent.

Our exploration of the baroque centuries goes hand in hand with our eagerness to reassess the concert format and to combine different cultures and musical styles. It takes us further to follow Marco Polo’s steps to Persia, experience the intercultural richness of the court of Emperor Kangxi, and even to explore other art disciplines such as theatre, digital arts or slam poetry.”

Franck-Emmanuel Comte
Artistic Director

www.concert-hosteldieu.com
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