Tag Archives: masterclass

PIANO – Prof. Jacob Leuschner (Hochschule für Musik Detmold)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teacher:

© Sudi, Detmold

Jacob Leuschner, 
born in Freiburg in 1974, studied in Freiburg and Lübeck. His most important teachers were Helmut Barth, Michel Béroff, Konrad Elser and Leonard Hokanson.

Since 1989, he has performed as a soloist and sought-after chamber musician in many European countries, Japan, South Korea, China and the USA, and has been invited to numerous international festivals. He has been a regular participant in the funding project Bundesauswahl Konzerte Junger Künstler (Federal Selection Concerts Young Artists) held by Deutscher Musikrat.

The awards he has won at major piano competitions testify to his artistic stature: Viotti (Vercelli), Beethoven (Vienna), Schubert (Dortmund), Mozart (Salzburg), Leeds, Rina Sala Gallo (Monza), Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, Deutscher Hochschulwettbewerb – to name just the most important ones.

He is also the recipient of the Possehl Music Prize, the Kai-Uwe von Hassel Prize and the
Wiesbaden Mozart Prize.


Jacob Leuschner taught at the University of Music Lübeck, and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar. From 2008 to 2014, he held a professorship at the University of Music in Cologne, and then followed a call to join the University of Music in Detmold. He regularly gives masterclasses in many European countries, Japan, China and Korea.

His repertoire ranges from the Virginalists to the present; one focus is the masters of Viennese classical music. He has performed the complete cycles of Mozart’s, Beethoven’s and Schubert’s piano sonatas at several occasions.
He also works as a juror at international piano competitions and as a publisher, and has dealt intensively with historical keyboard instruments. He is the founder and artistic director of the Brahms Piano Competition in
Detmold.

His discography includes not only numerous chamber music pieces, such as the complete works for cello and piano by Reger with Guido Schiefen (Oehms Classics), but also the late Beethoven sonatas and Liszt transcriptions. In addition to two solo CDs, he released a complete recording of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin in 2017 with violinist Keiko Urushihara (Nippon Acoustic Records), which was met with enthusiasm by the Japanese trade press and awarded the "Excellence Award" by the Japanese State Office for Culture.

In 2019, his recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations was published by the label „Perfect noise“.

Today, Jacob Leuschner is one of the most distinguished and versatile German pianists of his generation.

PIANO – Prof. Patrick O’Byrne (University of the Arts Bremen)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teacher: 

© Artem Yasynskyy

Pianist Patrick O’Byrne was appointed in 1985 to a professorship at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart, assuming later the senior chair at the Hochschule für Künste, Bremen.

His concert performances worldwide have included appearances with renowned orchestras and illustrious conductors, among others the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Bochumer Sinfoniker, the New York Virtuosi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Sir Charles Groves, Franz-Paul Decker and Albert Rosen. Born in Dublin and raised in New Zealand, the pianist has received international awards for his interpretations of French, Spanish and contemporary music. His repertoire encompasses all styles.
 

파 트 릭 오 번 – Patrick O ’B yrne

Biography
더블린 태생 뉴질랜드 오클랜드 대학졸업
퀸 엘리자베스 2세 예술 장학금, 영국 런던과 파리, 국립 프라이부르크 대학졸업
(독일 DAAD 장학금)
Rosa Sabater, Alicia de Larrocha, Kendall Taylor, Vlado Perlemuter사사

1978년 뉴질랜드 음악대상, 동경 국제 콩쿨, 스페인 Jaén 콩쿨,
영국 Dudley 콩쿨, 마요르카 콩쿨 입상,1983년 José Iturbi 국제 콩쿨 대상.
스페인 음악대상, 국제비평가상

New York Virtuosi, Bochumer Sinfoniker, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, RTE Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra 등 유명오케스트라와 협연 및 TV 및 라디오 녹음 출연.

독일 국립 슈투트가르트 음대 교수 및 부학장 역임.
브레맨 국립음대 교수 및 학장 역임

그의 피아노 테크닉과 해석은 많은 국제 콩쿨 및 유명 마스터클래스에서 탁월한 교수
법과 해석으로 정평이 나 있으며, 훌륭한 제자들을 키워내고 있다.

 

VIOLIN – Prof. Marianne Boettcher (Berlin University of the Arts)/Kensei Yamaguchi

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teacher: 

Marianne Boettcher, violinist from the famous Berlin musician family, studied in Berlin under Professor Willy Kirch and Professor Michael Schwalbé, rounding off her studies in Geneva under Professor Henryk Szeryng. She teaches at the University of the Arts Berlin. She has gotten great recognition for playing classic and romantic music and has also become known as an interpreter of new music. She has given the first performances of many works written for her by contemporary composers.

She has won many prizes and has made a number of recordings for radio, television and the records industry in Germany and abroad. Extended concert tours have taken her repeatedly to the USA, Japan, Russia and almost every other country in Europe (for example in Rheinsberg, Prague, Vienna and Tallinn). She has also been a frequent guest performer at the Berlin Festival, the International Heinrich Schütz Festival in Sweden, the German Bach Festival in Berlin and the Vienna Festival.

The german president Johannes Rau awarded her 2003 the The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Kensei Yamaguchi started playing piano at age five. At twelve, he won the All Japan Student Music Competition, which allowed him to join the Toho-Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, the most prestigious music school in Japan, under the direction of Professor Hiroko Edo. Upon graduation he received a German National Scholarship to further pursue his studies at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, under Professors Erich Andreas and Pascal Devoyon.

Mr.Yamaguchi has participated in numerous international piano competitions. He is the winner of Third Prize in Porto International Piano Competition, Portugal (1998), First Prize at Senigallia International Piano Competition, Italy (1999), and of the prestigious First Prize at Monte Carlo Piano Masters, Monaco (2000).

His numerous concert activities include solo performances with Das Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Italy, Monte Carlo Orchestre Philharmonique, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In addition he has appeared in solo recitals and chamber music concerts in most European countries, Japan, and the USA.

VOICE – Dr. Emilio Pons

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

 

The career of tenor Emilio Pons has taken him across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Since his professional debut in 2006 at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he has performed internationally at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Theater Sankt Gallen, Switzerland; the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark; the Vlaamse Opera, Ghent & Antwerp, Belgium; the Sankt Margarethen Opera Festival, and the Wiener Kammeroper in Austria; and the Prinzregenten Theater, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, the Magravial Opera House in Bayreuth, Theater Freiburg and Theater Heidelberg, in Germany; Vilnius City Opera, in Lithuania; Opéra de Metz, in France; Opera Siam in Bangkok, Thailand; as well as Compañía Nacional de Ópera de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, and the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, in Chile and Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 
His operatic repertoire encompasses more than thirty roles, including: staples of the light lyric Fach such as Tamino (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte), Ferrando (Mozart, Così fan Tutte), Don Ottavio (Mozart, Don Giovanni), Il Conte d’Almaviva (Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Nemorino (Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore), Narraboth (Strauss, Salome), Le Chevalier de la Force (Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmélites), Trouffaldino (Prokofiev, L’amour des trois oranges) and Lensky (Tchaikovsky, Yevgenij Onegin); a myriad of leading roles in lesser known works, including the title role in Porsile’s Spartaco, Mad Woman (Britten, Curlew River), Hypollit (Henze, Phaedra), Egeo and Sole (Cavalli, Il Giasone, commercially released on DVD), Richmond (Battistelli, Richard III), Serge/Adolphe (Martinů, Die Drei Wünsche), Le Commissaire (Martinů, Juliette), Fernando (in the German première of Granados’ Goyescas); and various supporting roles such as Arbace (Mozart, Idomeneo), Arturo (Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor), Jaquino (Beethoven, Fidelio), Pong (Puccini, Turandot), Laërtes (Thomas, Mignon), Beppe/Arlecchin (Leoncavallo, Pagliacci) and Malcolm (Verdi,  Macbeth) amongst others.
 
He has sung under the baton of acclaimed conductors such as Mikhail Jurowsky, Daniele Callegari, Jiří Bělohlávek, Ingo Metzmacher, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Frédéric Chaslin, Zoltan Pesko, Niksa Bareza, Federico Maria Sardelli, Rodolfo Fischer and Cornelius Meister amongst others; has worked with renowned stage directors such as Robert Carsen, Christof Loy, Guy Joosten, Richard Jones, Pier Francesco Maestrini, Jean-Louis Benôit, Mariame Clément and Benedikt von Peter, and has shared the stage with prominent singers such as Diana Damrau, Jennifer Larmore, Sophie Koch, KS Francisco Araiza, and Franco Vasallo, amongst others.
 
On the concert and recital stage, he has performed recitals in Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, Russia, Japan, Azerbaijan (with the London Philharmonic Orchestra) and Israel (with the Jerusalem Camerata and the Be’er Sheva Sinfonietta).
 
Dr. Pons is co-founder and artistic director of the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy.
 
Emilio Pons holds a graduate degree in Piano from the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico and a Juris Doctor Degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana, in addition to Master and Doctor of Music Degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he was a student of Carlos Montané and Andreas Poulimenos. In Europe, he continued to study privately under the tutelage of KS Francisco Araiza and Lyubov Stuchevskaya, and currently, of Neumar de Kanel-Starling.

Dr. Pons has been a recipient of numerous scholarships and grants, including Mexico’s prestigious FONCA (National Endowment for the Arts), SIVAM (International Society of Mexican Artistic Values) scholarships (2000-2002), the Olympia Barbera and Culver Miller scholarships at the Indiana University School of Music (2002-2004), and INBA (National Fine Arts Institute of Mexico, as of 2003). He is a prize-winner of the Irma Cooper (2005), Palm Beach Opera (2005) and Pavel Lisitsian (2006) competitions and the RBT-Preis München award at the Hans Gabor “Belvedere” (2007) competition in Vienna.

A skilled polyglot, Dr. Pons speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Russian — all fluently.

Dr. Pons is a dual citizen of Mexico and Germany. He is a member of the European Cultural Parliament.

VIOLA – Prof. Piotr Szumieł (Rostock University of Music and Drama)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teacher: 

Piotr Szumieł, born in Warsaw in 1977, belongs to the group of the most versatile violists of his generation. At a young age he was the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes at international competitions, including winning the Jan Rakowski Viola Competition in Poznan in 1998, the special prize at the 36th International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen in 2001, a 2nd prize at the 9th International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2002 in Pörtschach (Austria) and 3rd prize at the Vienna International Viola Competition in 2004.

Between 2002 and 2008 he was a member and principal violist of the Dresden Philharmonic and the Dresden Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and is a sought-after juror and teacher on master classes. Piotr Szumiel has been doing very intensive educational work for many years – he is a lecturer for viola and chamber music at the College of Music „Carl Maria von Weber” (since 2005), between 2013-2018 he was a lecturer at the “Karol Szymanowski” Academy of Music in Katowice and from October 2019 at the University of Music and Drama in Rostock, where he has been a professor since April 2020.

Piotr Szumieł has played in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Wiener Musikverein, Megaron in Athens, the Cologne Philharmonie, Citè de la musique Paris, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Konserthuset Stockholm, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Warsaw Philharmonic and much more…

As a chamber musician, he has worked together with the following artists: Alena Baeva, Martin Fröst, Gabriela Montero, István Várdai, Garrick Ohlsson, Vadym Kholodenko, Valentin Erben, Nils Mönkemeyer, Kevin Kenner, Igor Levit, Per Arne Glorvigen, Jörg Widmann, Charles Richard-Hamelin, Polina Leschenko, Ewa Kupiec.

As a soloist, Piotr Szumieł works with conductors such as José Maria Florêncio, Vladimir Kiradjiew, Anu Tali, Gérard Korsten, Hugh Wolf, Teowyn Evans, Ernst Kovacic, Petri Sakri, Baldur Bronnimann and has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Dresden, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the National Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice.

Piotr Szumieł studied at the „Fryderyk Chopin” Music Academy in his hometown in the viola class of Prof. Stefan Kamasa, where he graduated with distinction in 2001. Later, he continued his viola studies with Prof. Wolfgang Klos and chamber music with Prof. Johannes Meissl at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he also graduated with distinction in 2010.

In addition to his solo and didactic activities, he devotes himself intensively to the “Apollon Musagète Quartet”, founded in 2006. In the two years of its existence, this ensemble has not only gained outstanding recognition from critics, but also from the juries of major music competitions. After winning international music competitions in Vienna and Florence, the quartet quickly established itself as a fixture on the European music scene after receiving the 1st prize and almost all special prizes at the 57th ARD International Music Competition.

Piotr Szumieł is the recipient of the “Young Poland” scholarship program of the Minister for Culture and National Heritage and the “Burletti Buitoni Trust Award” (2014) for outstanding artistic achievements with the “Apollon Musagete Quartet”.

The artist conducted workshops and master classes in Austria, Germany, Hong Kong and Poland. He took part in the work of the jury at international viola and chamber music competitions in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Katowice and Meissen.

PIANO – Triantafyllos Liotis (Detmold University of Music)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |
Triantafyllos Liotis

Teacher: 

The celebrated Greek pianist Triantafyllos Liotis began his piano studies with a scholarship at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki and continued them in Germany with Alfredo Perl (Bachelor and Master Soloist) and Manuel Lange (Master Lieder accompaniment) and Kalle Randalu (Solistenexamen). He completed his studies with first class honors and distinction. Furthermore he gained valuable insights from Sir András Schiff, Cristoph Eschenbach, Paul Badura – Skoda, Bernard Ringeissen, Ludger Rémy and Thomas Quasthoff. He currently has a piano class at the College of Music in Detmold.

Fil Liotis has already given numerous concerts in various European countries and in Japan and alongside his solo appearances is much in demand as a chamber musician and Lieder pianist. Invitations to international festivals and concerts have led to appearances in important European concert halls with Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Baden Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Athens State Symphony Orchestra and other leading orchestras under acclaimed conductors such as Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy. His performances are regularly broadcast on international radio and television.

Fil Liotis is a prizewinner in several national and international piano solo and chamber music competitions including the 39th International Grand Prix Maria Callas, the 61st International Competition Maria Canals Barcelona, the Grand Prize Virtuoso Vienna International Competition and the Dr. Hermann-Büttner Competition in Karlsruhe. Performing with an ensemble of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra in 2015, he won an ECHO Klassik award for the CD recording of G. Mahler’s Lied von der Erde for the label MDG. In 2016 Fil Liotis was honored with the Albéniz Medal at Spain’s Isaac Albéniz Festival. His latest CD recording „The Young Beethoven“ (Label MDG) was nominated for an OPUS Klassik Award in 4 different categories.

PIANO – Tomoko Ogasawara (University of Music Freiburg)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

After studying at the State University of the Arts in Tokyo where she was born, the pianist Tomoko Ogasawara continued her studies in Germany at the University of the Arts in Berlin and the University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau, where she received the solo diploma with honors and went on to win 1st Prize in the German Hochschulwettbewerb.

Among her teachers were Georg Sava, Tibor Hazay and Georgy Sebok who influenced her artistic development and led her to early success, for example as finalist in the international competitions “Maria Canals” / Barcelona and “ Clara Haskil” / Montreux.

Since then concert engagements have taken Tomoko Ogasawara to the concert halls of the international music world (such as Berlin, Montreux, London, Paris, Tokyo, Jerusalem, Bangkok, Shanghai). She has played concerts together with Albrecht Mayer, Jörg Widmann and Tabea Zimmermann and regularly plays with the principals and leading musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra and the SWR Orchestra also in the context of chamber music formations, such as the piano trio “Franconia”, the ensemble “Abraxas” and at international festivals such as “Affinis” in Japan.

As soloist Tomoko Ogasawara has played, among others, with the Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Bamberg. She is featured in numerous radio broadcasts as well as CD recordings. In the season 2006/2007 Ogasawara performed the complete cycle of piano sonatas by W. A. Mozart.

Currently Tomoko Ogasawara passes on her musical experience through the teaching position she holds at the University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau as well as regular master classes in Tokyo and Yokohama. Students of hers have won prizes in both national and international competitions.

PIANO – Prof. Hardy Rittner (University of Music Freiburg)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teacher: 

Hardy Rittner is a pioneer in the field of historically informed performance of nineteenth century keyboard music. At the same time he is a member of a new generation of pianists who are at home both on period instruments and on the modern concert grand piano, interpreting a repertoire extending to contemporary music.

Hardy focuses on researching Chopin and making his insights tangible in concert performances. Hardy’s book “Die vergessene Cantilene. Frédéric Chopin’s misunderstood virtuosity” (dissertation for Dr. phil., publication in September 2022) brings new insights into the performance of Chopin’s music. Its key finding is that Chopin pursued a ‘vocal ideal’ influenced by bel canto (amongst others) even in his virtuoso passages. The book propagates a fundamentally different Chopin playing and leads to the conclusion that previous reference interpretations do not correspond to Chopin’s intentions. Hardy’s expertise shaped the new Chopin editions by Bärenreiter, where Hardy introduces notes on performance practice and fingerings based on historical models.

Hardy has performed in most European countries at such distinguished venues as Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, Rudolf-Oetker-Halle Bielefeld, and Tonhalle Düsseldorf. Concert engagements have also led Hardy to the United States, Canada, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

For the Detmold label MDG, the two-time Echo Klassik laureate has recorded the first complete rendition – on period instruments – of Johannes Brahms’s solo piano music; his discography includes a live recording of Brahms’s first piano concerto with the historically informed l’arte del mondo orchestra (conductor: Werner Ehrhardt), Chopin’s complete études, and Arnold Schönberg’s piano oeuvre.

Hardy received fellowships from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and Herbert-von-Karajan-Centrum Vienna. From 2009−2012, he was supported by Bayer Kultur as a stART-Künstler.

After studying piano and fortepiano with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Siegbert Rampe at Mozarteum Salzburg, Hardy continued his education at Universität der Künste Berlin, where he studied piano with Klaus Hellwig (“Konzertexamen”) and music theory (“Diplom”) with Hartmut Fladt. Christian Zacharias, Krystian Zimerman, Ivo Pogorelich, Maria J. Pires, and Sylvain Cambreling were also among those who contributed to his education as a performing artist.

Hardy is a professor for piano and artistic research at Musikhochschule Freiburg and gives masterclasses in Germany and abroad.

VOICE — Wolfgang Klose (University of Music Rostock)

Falko Hönisch Falko Hönisch |

Teachers: 

© Anne-Marie von Sarosdy

Stylistic variety, authentic sound and the synthesis of word and music are the most basic elements of singing for the tenor Wolfgang Klose. He received significant impetuses from Thomas Heyer, Mario Hoff and Konrad Jarnot as well as on master classes with Francisco Araiza, Julie Kaufmann and Kurt Widmer.

He performed e.g. Tamino (Magic Flute), Symon (Bettelstudent) and Pylades (Iphigenie on Tauris) on the opera stage. Besides from off stage productions he performed at Händelfestspiele Halle, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Bühnen der Stadt Köln.

His favorite work is dedicated to the oratorio stage: he is performing all main repertoire from Renaissance to contemporary music, mostly known for his interpretations of the cantatas and oratorios of the baroque and classical epoch. Being guest of numerous festivals and stages all over Europe and the USA he performs with symphonic orchestras and HIP ensembles.

In 2013 the he received a 1st price from Verband Deutscher Konzertchöre. Recordings of broadcasting services and CD labels are available such as WDR, rbb, SWR, Carus Verlag, Virgin Classics (former Label: EMI France) and cpo.

Having graduated at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and University of Music Mainz he has been teaching on university level for many years. Nowadays he teaches singing at Hochschule of Music und Theater Rostock and Folkwang University of Arts Essen.