MEET THE MUSICIANS

AKADEMIE FÜR ALTE MUSIK BERLIN (AKAMUS)

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022. Founded in Berlin in 1982, the ensemble is now one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras playing historically informed music. For four decades, the orchestra has demonstrated its versatility with exciting concert projects and musical voyages of discovery, for example making a significant contribution to the rediscovery of the music of C.P.E. Bach and Telemann.

Whether in New York or Tokyo, London or Buenos Aires, Akamus is a regular and much sought-after guest on the most important European and international concert stages. In its anniversary year, the orchestra performed at venues including the Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikverein and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. As artist in residence (2022), Akamus also performed regularly at Wigmore Hall and at the Augsburg German Mozart Festival. Akamus is a central pillar in the cultural life of its home city of Berlin, with a concert series at the Konzerthaus Berlin for over 35 years.

Akamus works regularly with internationally renowned soloists such as Isabelle Faust, Antoine Tamestit, Kit Armstrong and Bejun Mehta. The ensemble’s recordings, which now number around 100, have won all the major recording awards, including the Grammy Award, Diapason d’Or, Gramophone Award, Choc de l’année and the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics.

Duo Pleyel takes its name from Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya and Richard Egarr’s pet piano – a beautiful instrument made in 1848 by Chopin’s preferred maker, Pleyel. The Duo has been working for the past five years to bring the rich and exciting repertoire for piano ‘for four hands’ to a wider public.

They record for LINN Records, and their releases of Schubert and Dussek have received excellent reviews. Their latest release entitled ‘Mozart’s Real Musical Father ’, was BBC Music Magazine ’s Instrumental recording of the month in January 2023. It explores the close relationship, both musical and personal, between J.C. Bach and Mozart.

May 2023 saw the start of a threeyear recording project of the complete Beethoven Symphonies in extraordinary four-hand arrangements by his undervalued student Carl Czerny. Other plans include programmes and recording of music by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Stravinsky, as well as a Christmas album.

Born in Moscow, Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya studied piano and early keyboards in Moscow, Amsterdam and Munich.

Born in Lincoln, Richard Egarr studied piano and early keyboards in Manchester, Cambridge, London and Amsterdam.

Michael Collins

Michael Collins is one of the most distinguished musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor.

In January 2021 Michael gave the debut performance of Wigmore Soloists, a new ensemble taking the name of one of the world’s most iconic concert halls (the first time an ensemble has been granted this honour). The group gives regular concerts at Wigmore Hall and in other major venues around the world.

Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years. He received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of his pivotal role in premièring repertoire by some of today’s most highly regarded composers. In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly with the Borodin, Heath and Belcea quartets, András Schiff, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis.

His ensemble (London Winds) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018, and the group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms. He is one of the world’s most recorded clarinettists, having made no fewer than 20 discs for Chandos alone. Collins was awarded an MBE for his services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2015.

Minetti Quartet

The Austrian Minetti Quartet has been based in Vienna since it was founded in 2003, when the quartet met at the Vienna University of Music. The name ‘Minetti’ refers to a play by the writer Thomas Bernhard, who lived in the Salzkammergut where two of the quartet grew up. Since being nominated as ‘Rising Stars’ by the European Concert Hall Organisation in 2008/09, the Minetti Quartet has performed repeatedly in the most renowned concert halls in Europe. It has enjoyed an international reputation, with tours in Europe, Asia, North and South America. The quartet has had its own concert cycle in the MuTh, Vienna’s newest concert hall, since 2017/18.

The Minetti Quartet has won numerous international chamber music competitions (Schubert Competition, Haydn Competition) and has also received the Austrian ‘Great Gradus ad Parnassum Prize’, a start-up grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry and the Karajan grant. As a participant of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), it also received significant support from Ferenc Rados, Alfred Brendel and members of the Artemis, Amadeus and Hagen quartets.

Since 2009, it has released four highly acclaimed CD recordings (string quartets by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Schubert, and clarinet quintets with Matthias Schorn). The quartet is very active teaching abroad – in Finland, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, and the US – as well as at Austrian universities such as the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Photographs: opposite: Akamus ©Uwe Arens; this page, clockwise from top left: Michael Collins ©Ben Ealovega; Duo Pleyel ©Marco Borggreve; Ian Page ©Ben Ealovega; Minetti Quartet ©Irene Zandel.

The Mozartists

Under the direction of conductor Ian Page, The Mozartists (formerly Classical Opera) have established themselves among the most exciting period-instrument ensembles in Europe, attracting recognition for their fresh, dramatic and stylish performances, their imaginative and innovative programming, and their ability to discover and nurture outstanding young artists.

On stage and in concert, they have performed many of Mozart’s operas, and given the UK premières of operas by Gluck and Telemann (among others). They appear regularly at the most prestigious venues in London , and presented Mozart’s La finta semplice and Il re pastore at the Royal Opera House. They have also performed at many of the leading festivals in the UK and in Europe.

In 2015, the company launched MOZART 250, a ground-breaking 27-year project following the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life, works and influences. Each year MOZART 250 explores the music being composed and performed by Mozart and his contemporaries exactly 250 years previously, and this major initiative has already incorporated music by over 40 composers.

The Mozartists’ extensive discography has attracted widespread acclaim. In 2012 they embarked on a major new recording cycle of the complete Mozart operas, and the first seven releases in the series have all received outstanding reviews.

Ian Page is the founder, conductor and artistic director of The Mozartists, and has established an outstanding reputation as one of the world’s leading interpreters of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries.

With The Mozartists, he has conducted most of Mozart’s operas, including the world premières of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate, re di Ponto and a new completion of Zaide . He has also conducted the UK premières of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito and Telemann’s Orpheus among others, and the first new staging for 250 years of J.C. Bach’s Adriano in Siria .

He made his Royal Opera House début conducting his own new performing edition of Thomas Arne’s Artaxerxes Other engagements have included English Touring Opera’s 25th anniversary production of Le nozze di Figaro , the opening two concerts at the 2016 Eisenstadt Haydn Festival, and Handel’s Ariodante – with Ann Hallenberg in the title role – at the 2019 Drottningholm Festival in Sweden.

Peter Donohoe

Peter Donohoe was born in Manchester in 1953. He studied at Chetham’s, Leeds University, the Royal Northern College of Music and then in Paris with Olivier Messiaen. He is acclaimed for his musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique, as one of the foremost pianists of our time.

Donohoe has performed with all the major London orchestras, as well as orchestras from across the world: the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Vienna Symphony and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras. He also played with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Sir Simon Rattle’s opening concerts as Music Director. He made his 22nd appearance at the BBC Proms in 2012 and has appeared at many other festivals including six consecutive visits to the Edinburgh Festival. He is also in demand as a jury member for international competitions.

Donohoe’s most recent discs are two volumes of Mozart Piano Sonatas with SOMM Records. Disc 1 was BBC Music Magazine ’s ‘Recording of the Month’ in April 2019; and disc 2 has received high praise from Gramophone Magazine , Classical Ear and Musical Opinion .

Donohoe is an honorary doctor of music at seven UK universities, and was awarded a CBE for services to classical music in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.

Quatuor Van Kuijk

‘Style, energy and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchman made the music smile.’ The Guardian

The Van Kuijk Quartet has won numerous accolades, including First, Best Beethoven, and Best Haydn Prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition. They were BBC New Generation Artists from 2015–17, and ECHO Rising Stars (2017/18).

Following such early success, the ensemble has quickly established a presence at major international venues, such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and at festivals, including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Heidelberg, and Aix-en-Provence.

Upcoming tours will see the Quartet make highly anticipated debuts at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre and Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Its debut recording, Mozart , was released to outstanding critical acclaim, winning both Choc de Classica and Diapason Découverte awards. Following celebrated discs of Debussy and Ravel, and Schubert, they return to their exploration of Mozart with two further releases this season.

VIENNA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (WIENER KAMMERORCHESTER)

Founded in 1946, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra is one of the world’s leading large chamber ensembles.

Grounded in the works of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, the orchestra has been shaped by decades of intense collaboration with master musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin. From 2023/24 Jan Willem de Vriend will become the orchestra’s Principal Conductor.

The orchestra has a rich history. Just some of the milestones include: Benjamin Britten appearing as a conductor in 1946; Daniel Barenboim making his debut at the age of nine in 1952; and Alfred Brendel performing with the orchestra in 1964.

The orchestra performs numerous international concerts each year. With the end of pandemic-related restrictions in Europe, it has resumed its busy touring schedule, with visits to Japan, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Germany, Romania and Belgium.

Its own concerts are presented in cycles at the Wiener Konzerthaus, and the orchestra is also a long-standing partner of the Theater an der Wien and the Wiener Kammeroper – performing as a guest ensemble for stage productions at both houses since 2012/13.

Wolfgang Redik

Born in Graz, the violinist Wolfgang Redik studied in his home town and later completed his studies at the Vienna Music Academy. Redik has devoted much of the past 25 years to chamber music (string quartets 1987–1992, founding member of the Vienna Piano Trio 1988–2012), but these days he spends more and more of his time as a leader, soloist and conductor, frequently leading the Camerata Salzburg, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony, among others. Kent Nagano personally invited him to lead and conduct the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on a regular basis.

Solo appearances have included performances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Belgique, the English Chamber Orchestra, the AustroHungarian Haydn Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. He has given concerts in Tokyo, Shanghai, Milan, Toronto, Chicago and Geneva, and performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Vienna Musikverein, London´s Wigmore Hall and Zurich´s Tonhalle. He has a discography of over 80 recordings, many of them highly acclaimed (Echo Klassik Prize in 2010).

After teaching for almost two decades at the music academies in Graz, Essen and Leipzig, he was appointed as a professor at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg in 2007. Since 2019, he has been professor and head of chamber music at the Hochschule ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin.

VIENNA CHAMBER CHOIR (WIENER KAMMERCHOR)

Since its founding in 1947, the Vienna Chamber Choir (Wiener Kammerchor) has developed into a trend-setting international ensemble for the modern interpretation of choral music. It occupies a place on the Austrian cultural scene and at a range of important European festivals that would otherwise be difficult to fill.

Known for their amicable style of working together, the members of the choir are always ready to accept new challenges in their effort to provide high-quality performances noted for musical precision and perfection. The choir is also frequently invited to take part in renowned festivals and choral competitions. It has produced a large number of CD recordings, several for the famous choral music publishers Helbling and Carus.

The Vienna Chamber Choir is a regular partner of the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Wien Modern, Neue Oper Wien, Bruckner Festival in Linz, Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Liszt Festival in Raiding and Styriarte in Graz. The Choir has worked with Ádám Fischer (Haydn Philharmonic, Danish National Chamber Orchestra); Rubén Dubrovsky (Bach Consort Vienna), Michaela Gaigg (L’Orfeo Barockorchester), Martin Haselböck (Wiener Akademie), Stefan Vladar (Vienna Chamber Orchestra) and Cornelius Meister (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra).

Born in Vienna, Michael Grohotolsky began his musical career as an alto soloist with the Vienna Boys’ Choir. Since 2006, he has been a lecturer in conducting and the direction of vocal and instrumental ensembles at the University for Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna.

He was awarded the Erwin Ortner Fund’s Promotional Prize for Young Choral Directors in 2003. Currently artistic director of the Vienna Chamber Choir he was previously director of the Chorus Viennensis, the male choir composed of former members of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. He is also choirmaster of the Neue Oper Wien (since 2001) and artistic director of the Vienna Youth Choir (since 2009), as well as the choir of the Choral School at the Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts.

In addition to his activities as conductor and choirmaster, he is also in demand as a guest lecturer, workshop leader and member of the jury at a variety of choral competitions in Austria and abroad.