Artists & projects

Simon Höfele is one of the most exciting trumpeters of the up-and-coming generation. He was BBC Radio3 new generation artist, Rising Star of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) 2019-20, nominated by Philharmonie Cologne, Konzerthaus Dortmund and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and “Junger Wilder” at Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Founded in Barcelona, Kebyart is one of the most promising ensembles of the current music scene. These four talented musicians share an endless passion for chamber music and wish to bring fresh air in the way classical music is communicated. Their endeavour to transform their performances into a unique experience results in an explosive and vibrant staging, which has been praised by audiences and specialized critics. The distinctive signature of Kebyart is revealed in a creative and open approach to the repertoire, which goes in three directions: the original literature, the commitment with nowadays music and their own arrangements of wide variety styles.

Winner of the chamber music prize of the German Record Critics’ Award 2021, the Linos Piano Trio returns this year to Cologne to Linos Festival 2022 — “Time”. In three concerts, Linos Festival explores the sense of the past and present in music (Time Machine), music’s healing powers in times of crisis (End of Time), and musical nostalgia (Memories). Two family concerts welcome children to experience a journey into the timeline of chamber music from Hildegard to Messiaen.

The 2021/22 season of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester with its new principal conductor Michael Sanderling is focussed on the large, late Romantic repertoire, top-class soloists and (un)expected programmes.

The Molyvos International Music Festival (MIMF) is a unique project in the North Aegean region that brings together the greatest international young talents for a four-day celebration of world- class classical music. The motto of the 2019 edition was "Dia-logos".

Fabian Müller could establish himself as one of the most remarkable German pianists of his generation. He caused a great sensation at the International ARD music competition in Munich 2017, when he not only won 2nd prize in the overall ranking, but was awarded with not less than four additional prizes. He is releasing his third studio album, entitled "passionato", on the Berlin Classics label amid the coronavirus shutdown., a statement full of musical passion that casts a fresh look at standard classical works by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Rihm in the here and now.

With her flexible and expressive high soprano Eva Resch is one of the most exciting singers. The press raves: Resch, who knows how to switch expertly between dramatic expression and lyrical delicacy, sounds authentic in every single tone, in every urgently expressed emotion and expressiveness (Bremer Nachrichten); A new star in the lieder-singing firmament (Concerti).

As an international award-winning violinist, graduated conductor, chamber musician and former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, he persuades audiences today both as a soloist and on the conductor’s podium with his affinity for various genres and repertoires and is therefore considered one of the most versatile artists of his generation. In 2021 Fedor Rudin released his album "Heritage" with the pianist Boris Kusnezow on Orchid Classics. The program includes works written by composers of different generations in the middle of the last century - Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and his known grandfather Edison Denisov. The listener will find well-known, regularly performed works, among previously unperformed and even unpublished works.

What happens when a pianist specialising in contemporary classical music joins three avantgarde musicians and they compose in real time? When modern piano pieces are structurally thought ahead and hence played by a trio with vibraphone, drums and bass?

The three brothers Mark, Erik and Ken Schumann have been playing together since their earliest childhood – meanwhile violist Veit Hertenstein completes the quartet. Those who experience the quartet in performance often remark on the strong connection between its members. The four musicians enjoy the way they communicate without words: how a single look suffices to convey how a particular member wants to play a particular passage. Although the individual personalities clearly manifest themselves, a common space arises in every musical work in a process of spiritual metamorphosis.

Miroslav Srnka's international breakthrough came in 2016 when his opera "South Pole" was premiered at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under Kirill Petrenko, in a production by Hans Neuenfels that featured Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson in the title roles. Several of Srnka's works will be premiered in the season 2022/23: The Berliner Philharmoniker will perform the orchestral work "Superorganisms" for the first time conducted by Kirill Petrenko in February 2023, before it has its Asian premiere in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth in June 2023.

Intelligent clarity and an in-depth and always curious musicality characterize Markus Stenz' work. Worldwide much valued, he has held a number of high-profile positions with international orchestras and opera houses including Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2012-2019), Principal Guest of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2015-2019), Conductor-In-Residence of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (2016-2019). He was General Music Director of the City of Cologne and Gürzenich-Kapellmeister for 11 years.

At the age of 27 Ildikó Szabó is already a cello-institution in her home country Hungary. In 2014 she was awarded 2nd prize, the audience award and 7 special prizes at the International Pablo Casals Competition. She is currently studying at Kronberg Academy and lives in Berlin.

The Trio E.T.A. has chosen to associate itself with the writer, composer and critic E.T.A. Hoffmann. When Elene Meipariani (violin), Till Schuler (cello) and Till Hoffmann (piano) started playing together, they first chose romantic music, but they soon discovered their love for creative interconnections. Now their repertoire spans the wealth of chamber music from the classical to the contemporary periods. The ensemble’s debut CD, featuring trios by Joseph Haydn, Bedřich Smetana and Roman Pawollek, will be released in February 2023 on the Leipzig recording label GENUIN.

Melanie Diener, the internationally acclaimed soprano from Waiblingen, and the American baritone Thomas Hampson, one of the most legendary singers of our time, have joined with the city of Waiblingen in creating the International Opera Workshop and invite the best young talents to Waiblingen to take part.

Sarah Wegener approaches every role with captivating intensity. She has enthralled listeners with the warmth and richness of her voice in performances such as Strauss’ Orchestral songs under Mariss Jansons and Vladimir Jurowski in Munich, London, and Hamburg, Mahler’s 8th Symphony under Kirill Petrenko in Bregenz, Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg, and Kent Nagano in Montreal, as well as in her War and Peace programme shaped around works by Handel and Purcell, which she also presented at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Her “marvellously radiant voice, as powerful as it is rich in colour” (FAZ) distinguishes her as a lieder singer of the highest order, as illustrated on her highly praised CDs "Into the Deepest Sea" and "Zueignung". A recording of songs arranged by B.A. Zimmermann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra is due to be released at WERGO in October 2022.

Brimful of energy, Antje Weithaas’ brings her compelling musical intelligence and technical mastery to every detail of the music. Her charisma and stage presence are captivating, but never overshadow the works themselves.

The ensemble was founded by young musicians in Augsburg in 1990. It is characterised by the strong integration and artistic energy of each one of its members, as expressed in its expert playing without a conductor, and by its unusual concert programmes. In 2022 an album with the complete works for string orchestra by the Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim will be released on CAvi-music, followed by tours in July and October 2022 and an education programme.