Julia Mauritz

After intensely engaging in Mozart‘s string quartet œvre, the Armida Quartet is completing the recording of all string quartets by W.A. Mozart in 2022. The CD box set will be released in autumn 2022 on the CAvi-music label and is the crowning conclusion to a productive cooperation with the G.Henle Verlag and the quartet-owned concert series Mozart Exploded. In May 2022 the Armida Quartet has been appointed the first ambassador of the "Orchestras of Change" initiative (Orchester des Wandels e.V.).

The extant music for violin by Franz Schubert fits comfortably on two discs, and Ariadne Daskalakis released the first disc of her survey in 2019, to critical acclaim. The disc included works for violin and piano as well as three pieces with orchestral accompaniment, in performances described in The Strad as having ‘a litheness and shimmering delight that capture the music’s innate charm and dance-like vivacity with a beguiling sureness of touch.’

The search for new concert forms and the dramaturgically meaningful fusion of old and new music are central to Titus Engel's career. Besides symphonic repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, he has a deep passion for baroque music performances on historical as well as modern instruments.

"Holger Falk is anyway one of the intellectually and vocally most flexible singers on German stages" the Magazine Opernwelt wrote. Colourfulness, flexiblity and authenticity in his expression are the artistical sources of his international carreer as an operasinger as well as an interpreter of art song.

Martin Helmchen has established himself as one of today’s most in-demand and sought-after pianists, characterised by the originality and intensity of his interpretations, alongside his excellent tonal sensitivity and technical abilities. Martin Helmchen is an exclusive artist with Alpha Classics. Martin Helmchen is an exclusive artist with Alpha Classics. His most recent release was the highly acclaimed album "Novelletten und Gesänge der Frühe" with piano works by Robert Schumann in March 2022.

HIDALGO is Munich's most innovative start-up for classical music. Since 2016 the multi-skilled team passionately ties seemingly contradicting worlds together, creating intense, intoxicating experiences. They produce unique concert events and the yearly HIDALGO Festival for young classical music, which first took place in 2018. It features young, successful artists from all over Europe. It is named after the Lied "Der Hidalgo" by Robert Schumann. According to the magazine "Crescendo," the Festival for young classical musicis one of the "most exciting young and innovative classical music festivals with a focus on Lied in the world." The patron is star baritone Christian Gerhaher.

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.

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.

In 2019 Theo Plath was appointed principal bassoon player of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and won 3rd Prize at the ARD Competition in Munich. In 2019 he recorded a solo CD with the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, due for release on the Genuin classics label in 2020. In May 2021 his second album with works for bassoon and piano will be released on the label CAvi with works by Saint-Saëns, Boulanger, Debussy und Franck.

In November 2021 Fedor Rudin releases his new album 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.

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.

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.