Bettina Schimmer

From January 16 - 21, 2024, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchestra invites you to the third edition of its piano festival «Le Piano Symphonique» and comes up with a special sensation: Starting in 2024, the legendary pianist Martha Argerich will become «Pianiste Associée» of the Piano Festival. With this, Lucerne - which enjoys worldwide attention - should now finally advance to the «capital of the piano», as the NZZ apostrophized.

This year's edition of the Molyvos International Music Festival on the Greek island of Lesvos will take place from 9 to 19 August 2024 (main concerts on 16 - 19 August 2024) under the motto PHILIA - ΦΙΛΙΑ - FRIENDSHIP and marks the 10th edition of the festival.

Odessa was host of seven editions of the "Odessa Classics" music festival every June from 2015 to 2021. After a huge success from the very beginning "Odessa Classics" is established as a top level European Festival with international stars within the scene. But the war changed everything and from 2022 it became impossible to hold the festival in Ukraine. 2022-2023 "Odessa Classics" managed to continue in exile and find a new home in Europe with over 35 concerts in six countries. 2024 Odessa Classics will celebrate its 10th Jubilee.

In the 2024 season, one of the world's most popular operas will once again transform the St. Margarethen quarry into a meeting place for music lovers from all over the world: with "Aida", Giuseppe Verdi has created a grand opera about the immortality of love and, like almost no other opera, Verdi's masterpiece not only blends in perfectly with the rugged rocky landscape of the St. Margarethen quarry. Margarethen: from 10 July to 25 August 2024, the leading team led by Thaddeus Strassberger (production and stage design) under the direction of Daniel Serafin will transport the St. Margarethen quarry to the realm of the pharaohs.

It is a rare stroke of luck when siblings achieve a comparable professional mastery on their instruments and then also represent international top level in playing chamber music. One such stroke of luck is the Quatuor Tchalik, founded in 2013 with Gabriel (1st violin), Louise (2nd violin), Sarah (viola) and Marc Tchalik (violoncello). And there is even a family-option to play as a piano quintet with brother and pianist Dania which is regularly used. Since 2018 at the latest, as double-awarded prize winners at the Salzburg Mozart Competition, the four have been playing in the top league of the European string quartet scene. Growing up in a Russian-French household with Ukrainian roots, the siblings have been making music together from an early age.

The Sitkovetsky Trio has established itself as an exceptional piano trio of today. Their thoughtful and committed approach have brought the ensemble critical acclaim and invitations to renowned concert halls around the world including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Palais des Beaux Arts, Musée du Louvre, l’Auditori Barcelona, Wigmore Hall or Lincoln Center New York.

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.

Considered to be one of the most exceptionally gifted pianists of his generation in Poland, Szymon Nehring is the only Pole to have won the first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv (2017). During the 2024/25 season, a new minimalistic recording will be released, as well as the Frirst Volume of a Chopin Solo Works Cycle for the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, a project meant to last several seasons.

Doriana Tchakarova is an internationally successful pianist, winner of numerous competitions and her album recordings have been honoured with major awards. She is currently a lecturer in vocal accompaniment at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts and a sought-after accompanist at masterclasses and international commpetitions.

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.