
Sheila Arnold
Sheila Arnold's artistic self-conception as a musician stems from her constant curiosity about the possibilities of her instrument and the authenticity of musical language.
This can be heard, for example, on her penultimate CD "Ecoutez!", featuring Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano by J. Cage, as well as works by Debussy and Takemitsu, or on her recording dedicated to Franz Schubert. In January of this year, her latest CD was released, featuring works for fortepiano and romantic guitar by L. v. Beethoven, L. Boccherini, F. Carulli, J. N. Hummel, and G. Rossini, in collaboration with guitarist Alexander-Sergei Ramirez.
Her decades-long engagement with fortepianos from different eras is in a symbiotic relationship with her experience on the modern concert grand piano. Thanks to outstanding success in international competitions such as the Mozart Competition in Salzburg or the Concours Clara Haskil, as well as numerous scholarships (including the German National Academic Foundation and the German Music Council) and awards (such as the Mozart Prize of the Mozart Society Wiesbaden in 1995), she was able to establish an international career as a pianist.
This career has led her to perform with orchestras (Beethovenhalle Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne) and conductors (Marc Soustrot, Michael Hofstetter, Jesús López-Cobos) in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Palau de la Música Valencia, and many more.
Her stylistic diversity is reflected in her radio and CD recordings. Her recordings with CAvi-Records have received the highest recognition from the international music press. For instance, her CD featuring works by Brahms (Handel Variations) and Schumann (Kinderszenen) was awarded the French Choc prize, while her latest CD "Ecoutez!" was included in the longlist for the German Record Critics' Award, as was her most recent CD featuring works for fortepiano and romantic guitar with Alexander-Sergei Ramirez.
Additionally, she is a co-editor of the new edition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano pieces, published by Wiener Urtext in 2020. She has been invited multiple times to give lectures on performance practice, including for EPTA Germany and at the 200 Years of the Hammerklavier Sonata symposium in Siegburg/Bonn.
Sheila Arnold is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, serves as a juror, and regularly offers international masterclasses. Her students are prizewinners of national and international piano competitions.

Markus Bellheim
Markus Bellheim performs as a pianist on international stages and at renowned festivals. His recordings have received various awards, including the German Record Critics' Award.
His career was significantly shaped by winning the International Messiaen Competition in Paris in 2000 and by his artistic collaboration with Yvonne Loriod. His concert repertoire includes the complete piano works of Olivier Messiaen, as well as those of Johann Sebastian Bach, who represents another focal point of his artistic work.
Markus Bellheim regularly conducts masterclasses both in Germany and abroad. Since the winter semester of 2011, he has been a professor of piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Additionally, he works as a freelance contributor and author for the Munich-based G. Henle Verlag.
For more details, see: http://www.markus-bellheim.com/
![[Translate to English:] Thomas Carroll [Translate to English:] Thomas Carroll](/fileadmin/_processed_/1/f/csm_thomas-carroll_085645e4c8.jpg)
Thomas Carroll
Described by The Strad as a player of ‘authority and passion, with an unerring sense of direction, full of colour and underpinned by a clear musical intelligence’,
Welsh cellist Thomas Carroll launched his career when he won both Young Concert Artists Trust, London and Young Concert Artists, New York, following on from many prizes at numerous international competitions. He has since gone on to give critically acclaimed debut recitals at Wigmore Hall (London), Alice Tully Hall (NY), Konzerthaus (Vienna) and in Boston, California, Florida and Washington DC, as well performing in many major venues and festivals across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America.
As a concerto soloist Thomas has appeared with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, Royal and London Philharmonic Orchestras, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Heinrich Schiff), English Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra.
Much in demand as a chamber musician, Thomas has worked with the Belcea Quartet, Chilingirian Quartet, Endellion Quartet, Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Tasmin Little, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Nicola Benedetti, Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, YoYo Ma, Boris Pergamenschikow, Sir Antonio Pappano, Eugene Istomin, Ton Koopman, Emmanuel Pahud, Gervase de Peyer, Michael Collins, Emma Johnson, Sergei Leiferkus, Roderick Williams, Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Felicity Lott and Sir Willard White, among others. He is also a member of Trio Apaches, Salieca Trio, the London Conchord Ensemble and has a regular Duo with pianists Graham Caskie, Llyr Williams and Anthony Hewitt.
He has recorded over thirty CD's for labels including Champs Hill Records, Orchid Classics, Decca, Naxos, Signum Classics and Paladino Music. He recently released of the world premiere recording of Ittai Shapira’s double concerto for violin and cello, together with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, as well as continuing his recording series with the London Conchord Ensemble. His recording for Orchid Classics of works by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert has received widespread critical acclaim – the Sunday Times described it as “enrapturing, sumptuous, sweeping, intense, intelligent and invigorating” and the Guardian wrote that his versions of the pieces were “intensely musical accounts, with no details overlooked and no challenges ducked… not a note out of place.” The CD was awarded Disk of the Year on the International Record Review site, MusicWeb International.
Alongside his career as a cellist, Thomas also enjoys an active life as conductor. Since conducting his debut performance in the Berlin Philharmonie in 2006, he has gone on to work with orchestras in the UK and abroad. He recently gave his conducting debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Philharmonia, The Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, as well as a return visit to the Brighton Philharmonic.
Since April 2012, Thomas has been Artistic Director of the Orpheus Sinfonia, during which time they have performed a complete Beethoven and Brahms cycle, recorded the orchestra’s first CD, now available on Signum Classics and worked regularly with soloists such as Dame Felicity Lott, Tasmin Little, Jack Liebeck, Roderick Williams and Tamsin Waley-Cohen.
Thomas is also a regular guest on many radio programs, performing and speaking live on the BBC, on which he has appeared many times a year since 2000, as well as stations internationally.
From 2004 until recently, he was Professor of Cello at the Royal College of Music in London as well as principle cello teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School. In 2018, he was appointed Professor of Cello at the Hochschule of music in Cologne. Thomas was a pupil at the Menuhin School, where he studied with Melissa Phelps, before studying with Heinrich Schiff and Clemens Hagen in Austria, as well as working regularly with Steven Isserlis.

Ariadne Daskalakis
Ariadne Daskalakis is an exceptional violinist with a passionate interest in the historical development of musical language.
Born in Boston (USA) to Greek immigrants, she studied violin at the Juilliard School with Szymon Goldberg and in Berlin with Ilan Gronich and Thomas Brandis. She supplemented her training with studies at Harvard University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993, and passed her concert exam at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, both with distinction. The violinist has won prizes at several competitions, including the ARD Munich International Music Competition in 1998 and the St. Louis Symphony Young Artists String Competition in 2000. The 1st prize at the Berlin Gyarfas Competition in 1992 enabled her to borrow a violin by Antonio Stradivarius until the end of her studies. She has also been awarded prizes by the Harvard Music Association, the New England Conservatory and the Dortmund Mozart Society. In 2000 she was appointed professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Consistently praised for her passionate mediation, flawless technique and clear, full sound. Ariadne Daskalakis has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Ensemble Oriol Berlin, the Athens National State Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Radio Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. Some performances are without a conductor, others have been led by such esteemed colleagues as Dimitris Agrafiotis, Sergio Azzolini, Dennis Russell Davis, Michael Sanderling, Jörg-Peter Weigle and Sebastian Gottschick, her husband. She has performed in halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie Chamber Music Hall, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Dortmund Konzerthaus, Prague's Rudolfinum, the Paris Théâtre du Champs-Elysées and Jordan Hall Boston. She has made guest appearances at the Bachtage Ansbach, the Berliner Festwochen and at the "Debut im DeutschlandRadio". Ariadne Daskalakis' repertoire spans epochs from the early Baroque to the modern, with a focus on J. S. Bach, Viennese Classicism and the Second Viennese School. Her stylistic versatility was reflected in her collaboration with the Manon Quartett Berlin and in recitals with piano or harpsichord. She has worked with composers such as Caspar Johannes Walther, Christoph Coburger, Johannes Harneit, Georg Kröll, Augusta Read Thomas and John Zorn. A close collaboration and numerous own rehearsals connected her with the Ensemble Oriol Berlin. As a baroque violinist she played with the Ensemble Selva della Musica and was co-founder of the Ensemble Vintage Cologne in 2008.
With pianist Roglit Ishay, she recorded the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Joseph Joachim Raff and Gabriel Fauré (on Tudor and Carpe Diem). For Naxos she recorded works by Lutoslawski, Szymanowski and Janacek for violin and piano, together with Miri Yampolsky, her partner in the ARD competition. Her recording of Tartini violin concertos with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Müller-Brühl was awarded "CD of the Month" by Naxos as well as "Concerto Selection" by "The Strad" magazine.

Thomas Heyer
Tenor Thomas Heyer hails from Waldniel am Niederrhein. Initially, he studied music education and German literature in Cologne before pursuing studies in singing and vocal pedagogy.
His singing career has taken him across Europe, North America, and Africa. Thomas Heyer has participated in various radio and television productions (WDR, BR, 3-Sat, HR, Arte, BfBS, etc.), resulting in several CDs. In the concert realm, his repertoire includes major oratorio roles within his vocal range, performed in nearly all major European concert halls. From Bach's Evangelists to the entire classical and romantic sacred repertoire, including Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde," his Eighth Symphony, and Verdi's Requiem. On the opera stage, he has portrayed Mozart tenor roles and performed in Belcanto operas. Currently, he sings tenor roles in the dramatic repertoire. Lieder recitals are another focal point of his artistic endeavors.
Thomas Heyer has been passionately teaching for over 25 years. In addition to his professorship in singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt am Main, he serves as a guest lecturer at various European universities and leads masterclasses in Germany, Italy, Slovenia, France, Poland, New Zealand, America, and Canada. His students are engaged in various international opera houses (Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, La Scala in Milan, among others), winners of international competitions, and educators and professors at universities and conservatories.

Manuel Lange
The Berlin pianist Manuel Lange completed his studies with Oleg Maisenberg in Stuttgart, as well as with Hans Leygraf in Salzburg and Berlin.
He also regularly attended song masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Aribert Reimann, and Wolfram Rieger and won prizes for best piano accompaniment at the Paula-Lindberg-Salomon Competition "Das Lied" in Berlin and at the 1st International Hilde-Zadek Singing Competition in Passau during this time.
For many years, he has been one of the most renowned song accompanists in Germany, performing with artists such as Anne Schwanewilms, Mojca Erdmann, Doris Soffel, Gerhild Romberger, Hermine May, Sibylla Rubens, Lothar Odinius, Jussi Myllys, Mario Zeffiri, and Sebastian Noack. His concerts have taken place in venues like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein, the Semperoper in Dresden, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra Comique in Paris, all three opera houses in Berlin, the Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, the Cologne and Essen Philharmonies, the Frankfurt Opera, the Megaron in Athens, and the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki. He has also performed at festivals such as the Baden-Baden Summer Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, the Wiesbaden May Festival, and the Heidelberger Frühling. Song recordings with Capriccio, Oehms Classics, and Avi document his artistic work.
After six years as a professor of vocal repertoire at the University of the Arts Berlin, Manuel Lange received an appointment as Professor of Lied Interpretation at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold for the winter semester of 2011/12. Graduates from his song class have won numerous prizes at song competitions, including the 1st prize at the International Lied Art Competition Stuttgart of the Hugo-Wolf Academy in 2020, the 1st prize at the International Brahms Competition in Pörtschach in 2021, and in the same year, the 1st prize at the International Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition in Karlsbad.
Manuel Lange lives with his family in Berlin and is the twin brother of composer Marius Felix Lange.

Jacob Leuschner
Jacob Leuschner, born in 1974 in Freiburg, studied in Freiburg and Lübeck. His most influential teachers were Helmut Barth, Michel Béroff, Konrad Elser, and Leonard Hokanson.
Since 1989, he has performed as a soloist and a sought-after chamber musician in many European countries, Japan, South Korea, China, and the USA, and has been a guest at numerous international festivals. He was a multiple-time participant in the German Music Council’s Bundesauswahl Konzerte Junger Künstler (Federal Selection of Young Artists’ Concerts) program.
Awards from prestigious piano competitions attest to his artistic stature, including distinctions at the Viotti Competition (Vercelli), Beethoven Competition (Vienna), Schubert Competition (Dortmund), Mozart Competition (Salzburg), Leeds International Piano Competition, Rina Sala Gallo Competition (Monza), as well as the German Music Competition and the German University Competition, among others.
He has also been awarded the Possehl Music Prize, the Kai-Uwe von Hassel Prize, and the Wiesbaden Mozart Prize.
Jacob Leuschner has taught at the Lübeck Academy of Music and was a guest professor at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar. From 2008 to 2014, he held a professorship at the Cologne University of Music before accepting a position at the Detmold University of Music. He regularly gives masterclasses in many European countries, Japan, China, and Korea.
His repertoire spans from the virginalists to contemporary works, with a particular focus on the masters of the Viennese Classical period. He has repeatedly performed complete cycles of Mozart’s, Beethoven’s, and Schubert’s piano sonatas in concert series.
Additionally, he serves as a jury member at international piano competitions, works as an editor, and has engaged extensively with historical keyboard instruments. He is the founder and artistic director of the Brahms Piano Competition in Detmold.
His discography includes numerous chamber music recordings, such as the complete works for cello and piano by Max Reger (Oehms Classics), as well as late Beethoven sonatas and Liszt transcriptions. In 2017, alongside two solo CDs, he released a complete recording of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin with violinist Keiko Urushihara (Nippon Acoustic Records), which received enthusiastic acclaim from the Japanese music press.
Today, Jacob Leuschner is regarded as one of the most distinguished and versatile German pianists of his generation.

Brigitte Lindner
Brigitte Lindner, a native of Munich, began her career as a soloist while still a student at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts, collaborating with the world-renowned record label EMI-Electrola.
Even today, her early recordings remain in demand, including Hänsel und Gretel under the baton of Heinz Wallberg and Die Zauberflöte conducted by Bernard Haitink. Her vocal development was shaped by Hanna Scholl-Völker, Helen Donath, and Nicolai Gedda.
Her first permanent engagement took her to the State Theater in Braunschweig, where she performed roles such as Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Maria (West Side Story), and Valencienne (The Merry Widow). Under the direction of Giuseppe Sinopoli, she sang the Shepherd Boy in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival, staged by Wagner’s grandson, Wolfgang Wagner. She also made multiple appearances at the Ludwigsburg Festival under Wolfgang Gönnenwein.
Her career as an opera singer led her to stages both in Germany and internationally, and she contributed to numerous CD productions with EMI-Electrola, the label Dabringhaus und Grimm, and CPO.
Brigitte Lindner performed in gala concerts alongside René Kollo and Francisco Araiza, appearing at venues such as the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Cologne Philharmonie, and the Bad Ems Festival. She recorded extensively for radio stations including WDR, BR, NDR, and Deutschlandradio/DLF. Television broadcasters ARD and ZDF also recognized her talent for the visual medium. Additionally, she hosted the radio program Klassik, Pop, etc. on DLF for several years.
She collaborated with distinguished conductors, including Karlheinz Bloemeke, Willi Boskovsky, Klaus Donath, Peter Falk, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Bernard Haitink, Michail Jurowsky, Toshiyuki Kamioka, Bernhard Klee, Willi Mattes, Enrique Ricci, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Stefan Soltesz, and Heinz Wallberg, among others.
Alongside her artistic career, Brigitte Lindner has always been dedicated to teaching. From 2002 to 2009, she taught voice at the Cologne University of Music, with classes in Aachen and Wuppertal. In 2009, she was appointed Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Since the summer semester of 2019, she has served as Dean of the Vocal Department, overseeing music theater, Lied/concert performance, and vocal pedagogy.
She regularly shares her knowledge in masterclasses and serves as a jury member in international competitions as well as the Jugend musiziert competition.
In addition to her work in performance and education, she has explored the connection between music and movement, specializing in EDU-Kinesiology and Music Kinesiology. She offers courses and lectures on the interplay between kinesiology, singing, and music.
Since September 2014, Brigitte Lindner has been the President of the "BDG-Stiftung Gesang," the foundation of the German Association of Voice Teachers (BDG).

Ulrike-Anima Mathé
Ulrike-Anima Mathé, born in Germany, has become a well-known name on international concert stages through decades of worldwide performance as a highly regarded soloist and enthusiastic chamber musician.
Reviews praise her interpretations for their intense expressiveness, captivating charm, musical poetry, effortless technical mastery, and intelligent phrasing. Her repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary music.
As a soloist, she has worked globally with renowned orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Belgian National Orchestra, and many European radio orchestras. She has performed at the Berlin and Lucerne Festival Weeks, the festivals in Schwetzingen, Ludwigsburg, and Lockenhaus, and is a regular guest at significant international chamber music festivals.
In addition to numerous live radio recordings, her artistic personality is documented in highly regarded CD recordings of works by Max Reger, Hartmann, Korngold, and others.
In the 1980s, she was awarded several 1st prizes at renowned competitions, such as the "European Violin Competition" in Vienna, the "German Music Competition" in Bonn, and the "Young Concert Artists Auditions" in New York. She also won the coveted Audience Prize as a prizewinner at the "Concours Reine Elisabeth" in Brussels.
Ulrike-Anima Mathé studied violin with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York and with Tibor Varga in Detmold. She also owes significant musical inspiration and support to Sándor Végh and Rudolf Serkin. Invitations to the Marlboro School of Music (USA) and the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, as well as studies in Historical Performance Practice in Basel, are further important stages in her artistic career.
Since 1999, she has been teaching with great enthusiasm as a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. Additionally, she led the instrumental ensemble of the Baroque Academy there for many years.

Sarah O'Brien
Sarah O’Brien is a extraordinarily versatile harpist who proves that the harp is no longer to be confined to a narrow Romantic frame but has a voice of its own, from baroque to contemporary literature.
Sarah O’Brien has been principal harpist with the royal Concertgebouw orchestra Amsterdam and the Munich philharmonic for over 20 years.
In 2014 she decided to concentrate her work on her teaching and devoting more time to her students, she is professor of harp at the University of arts Zurich and the University of Music, Basel. Her students are prizewinners of int. competitions and winners to orchestra positions.
Before her positions in Switzerland, Sarah O’Brien was professor at the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Music Hogeschool in Rotterdam, next to her work in the orchestra.
She has taught as guestprofessor at numerous universities.
Is a member of Jurys for Int. Competitions and orchestra auditions.
Sarah O’Brien studied at the conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Catherine Eisenhoffer and concluded her studies with a premier prix de virtuosité
Further studies with the great professor and harpist Pierre Jamet, who himself had worked with Debussy and Susann McDonald, USA.
Prizewinner of the Concours d’execution musicale (CIEM) Geneva .
Winner of the study grant of the Ernst Goehner Stiftung Zurich.
Harpist of the Sabeth Trio Basel. Winner of the swiss chamber music competition Migros. composers, such as Kaija Saariaho, Nicolaus A.Huber, Rudolf Kelterborn and Walter Feldmann have dedicated works to the Trio. Concerts at Festivals in Germany and concert series in Switzerland as well as Rome, Paris, Copenhagen.
Her position as principal harpist to two of the worlds most reknown orchestras, has led her on tours through Europe, Asia as well as USA. Concerts in all big halls worldwide. To work with such conductors as Zubin Metha, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Christian Thielemann, James Levine, Lorin Mazel and many many others, is and has been very enriching.
She performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bernard Haitink and Hans Vonk, witht eh Munich Philhamronic under Hartmut Haenchen, the orchestra de la Suisse romande under Fabio Luisi, the Radio Sinfonie orchestra Basel and National Polish Radio Orchestra, the Zurich and Basel chamber orchestras and many more.
Sarah O’Brien is working or has worked regularly with such composers as: Luciano Berio, Heinz Holliger, Mauricio Kagel, Wolfgang Rhim, Hans Zender and Klaus Huber.
Numerous CDs and radio recordings as soloist and chamber musician as well as orchestra recordings. Guest speaker at radio productions or live-emissions.
She is equally a lecturer for new publications in harp literature for the HP editions London and the Henle Verlag Munich.
www.sarahobrien.net

Malte Refardt
Malte Refardt is among the internationally renowned bassoonists of his generation. He received his training from Dag Jensen and Georg Klütsch.
Even during his studies, he served as principal bassoonist of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, performing under conductors such as Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado. After holding positions in Munich, including as principal bassoonist at the Bavarian State Opera under Zubin Mehta, he was principal bassoonist of the NDR Radiophilharmonie from 2002 to 2018 before transitioning to a professorship at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.
In addition to performing with all major German orchestras and the contemporary music-focused Ensemble Modern, he has been invited since 2003 by Seiji Ozawa to serve as principal bassoonist for the Saito Kinen Orchestra and the Mito Chamber Orchestra. He also appears with renowned chamber ensembles such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Beyond his solo performances with orchestras including the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Radiophilharmonie, he has a deep passion for chamber music. He collaborates with esteemed musicians such as Ana Chumachenco, Wen-Sinn Yang, Oliver Schnyder, Rudens Turku, and Jacques Zoon, and performs in ensembles like Oktoplus, Trio Roseau, and the Ma’alot Quintet. His versatility is documented through numerous radio and CD recordings.
Malte Refardt has frequently served as a jury member for competitions such as the German Music Competition and the Muri Competition. He is also part of the selection committee for the prestigious Kyoto Prize, Japan’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Since 2009, he has held the artistic directorship of the Domleschger Sommerkonzerte in Switzerland.

Gerhild Romberger
Gerhild Romberger's broad repertoire includes all the major alto and mezzo roles in oratorio and concert singing from the Baroque to the literature of the 20th century. Her artistic focus is on concert singing.
Her work focuses on recitals, contemporary music and the works of Gustav Mahler. She now also holds a professorship for singing at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, where she also lives. Gerhild Romberger will open the 2021/22 season with a recital with Tabea Zimmermann at the Berlin Philharmonie.
Other highlights include concert performances as Erda in Wagner's Rheingold in Amsterdam and Cologne under Kent Nagano, concerts with Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Paris and, of course, the music of Gustav Mahler will once again play a central role. Gerhild Romberger will appear in Tampere and Dresden with Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, can be heard in Prague with Kindertotenlieder and will perform Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Important stations for Gerhild Romberger in recent years have been concerts with Manfred Honeck, who invited her to perform Mahler's symphonies, Beethoven's Missa solemnis and Walter Braunfels' Great Mass, among others; her work with the Berlin Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt and with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly. She has also appeared with the Vienna and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras under Daniel Harding, at La Scala in Milan under Franz Welser-Möst and Riccardo Chailly, with the Vienna Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons and Bernard Haitink.
The alto has appeared on numerous CD recordings, including Mahler's 3rd Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink, which won the BBC Music Magazine Award as “Recording of the year” in 2018. Her first solo CD with songs by Gustav Mahler and Alfredo Perl at the piano was released by MDG in 2016.

Aleksey Semenenko
Since winning the Young Concert Artists Auditions 2012 in New York, Aleksey Semenenko has been one of the international elite of violinists.
His busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician regularly takes him to performances in Europe, the USA and Asia. Important awards in his career include 2nd prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2015 in Brussels and 1st prize at the International Boris Goldstein Violin Competition in Bern. He was also honored as “Artist of the Month” by Musical America Worldwide magazine. Aleksey Semenenko has worked with major orchestras such as the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed at renowned festivals, including the Usedom Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.
In 2017, Aleksey Semenenko was included in BBC Radio 3's prestigious “New Generation Artists” project, which led to numerous engagements with BBC orchestras and festival appearances in the UK. Recent highlights include the CD recording of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester.
In addition to his artistic career, he is co-founder and organizer of the Odesa Violin Competition, which he launched together with violinist Andrii Murza to promote young talent and strengthen the musical culture of his home city of Odesa.
After Aleksey Semenenko completed his concert exam studies with Zakhar Bron in Cologne, he also completed his chamber music studies with Prof. Harald Schoneweg, also at the Cologne University of Music.
Aleksey Semenenko was appointed Professor of Violin at the Folkwang University of the Arts Essen in October 2021

Thomas Seyboldt
Thomas Seyboldt, song pianist, solo coach, musicologist, author, and editor, has been teaching at music conservatories since 1990, initially in Karlsruhe and from 2010 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.
He leads a song class at the University of Music Lübeck and conducts interpretation courses in Europe and Asia. Since 2004, he has been a guest professor for song interpretation at the University of Music in Xi'an, China. "Franz Schubert: Lieder (live)," the latest CD release of the song duo Hans Christoph Begemann (baritone) and Thomas Seyboldt, was named CD of the Month by "Opernwelt" in January 2018 and is on the Longlist 1/2018 for the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik" (German Record Critics' Award). Opernwelt editor-in-chief Albrecht Thiemann finds it "a revelation," stating that the "magnificent Schubert recitals" represent "five hours of song art that meets the highest standards, even overshadowing some of what is currently considered the last word in Schubert interpretation." The recordings were produced live by SWR and released by the award-winning Berlin independent label "bastille musique." They include the complete Hölty songs and Schiller ballads, selected Goethe settings, a reissue of the coveted but previously sold-out "Winterreise," and introductory lectures by Walther Dürr.
As a song pianist, Seyboldt performed the entire song works of Schubert from 1993-2001. His extensive repertoire also includes all significant song composers. As the artistic director of "schubertiade.de • Forum for Song Art," he emphasizes program design that makes connections audible and is often literary-oriented. Extensive season programs such as "Robert Schumann – The Song Year 1840" or theme festivals like the "Heinrich Heine Days" are part of this concept, as are integral performances of the songs of Johannes Brahms and, as a world premiere, Schubert's vocal ensembles. In the project LIEDERWENDE of "schubertiade.de," he gives space to the current song compositions of living composers and has hosted Wolfgang Rihm, Wilhelm Killmayer, and Moritz Eggert so far. He explores new horizons with the broad theme "Songs Without Borders," opening diverse connections to different cultural spaces – in the 2013/14 season: Italy with a focus on Michelangelo, Petrarch, and Goethe.
Thomas Seyboldt partnered with Christiane Hampe, Ulrike Sonntag, Heidrun Kordes, Birgid Steinberger, Sarah Wegener, Thomas Quasthoff, Scot Weir, Lothar Odinius, Tilman Lichdi, Richard Salter, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, and the violinist Ulf Hoelscher and Isabel Charisius, violist in the Alban Berg Quartet. He has had a more than 25-year intensive collaboration with baritone Hans Christoph Begemann as a song duo.
In the spring of 2016, the high-quality SWR studio recording of the duo "Wolfgang Rihm: Goethe-Lieder" was released by "bastille musique." The CD includes first recordings of Rihm's complete Goethe and Schiller settings from 2004 to 2014 and was awarded the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik" (German Record Critics' Award) (Bestenliste 3/2016). Concert tours have taken Seyboldt to several countries in Europe and South America. CD productions, including a "Winterreise," television recordings, and numerous radio recordings for various European broadcasters document his work. The premiere CD of the men's quartet "Schubert hoch vier," founded and led by him, was released in 2006 by Carus and received the international record award "Pizzicato Supersonic Award."

Ulrike Sonntag
Ulrike Sonntag first studied school music and German studies in Stuttgart before pursuing vocal studies in Romania and at the UdK Berlin with Prof. Hartmann-Dressler.
She participated in intensive courses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Aribert Reimann, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and was a prizewinner in several competitions. While still a student, she made her debut at the Hamburg State Opera as Oriane in Amadis by Johann Christian Bach and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Permanent opera engagements took her from Heidelberg and Mannheim to the Stuttgart State Theater in 1988. From 1991 to 1994, she was a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, performing roles such as Susanna, Zdenka, Musetta, Marzelline, Sophie, Micaela, Pamina, and Donna Elvira. Guest engagements connected her with opera houses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Karlsruhe, Magdeburg, Monte Carlo, Cairo, Trieste, Cagliari, and Tel Aviv.
Under Wolfgang Gönnenwein, she performed Ännchen at the Ludwigsburg Festival in a production by Loriot and Pamina in a production by Manthey. She also sang Micaela at the St. Margarethen Opera Festival.
Beyond opera, Ulrike Sonntag has pursued an extensive international concert career, documented by numerous radio, television, CD, and DVD recordings. Her repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary music.
She has been a guest at festivals in Salzburg, Vienna, Frankfurt, Berlin, Montreux, and Schwetzingen and has performed with major orchestras and conductors across Europe, Russia, the USA, China, South America, and Japan.
Art song (Lied) is also a significant part of her career. She has given recitals at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonie, NDR Hannover, the Ludwigsburg Festival, the Rheingau Festival, and alongside Hermann Prey in Bad Urach. Other performances took place at the Heidelberg Castle Concerts, Weilburg Castle Concerts, Bodensee Festival at Achberg Castle, Munich Biennale, Traunstein Music Days, Babenhausen Castle, Schubertiade at Ettlingen Castle, Ulm Summer Music Days, and in cities such as Weimar, Lisbon, Lausanne, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Montevideo, Asunción, and Córdoba. In 2008, she toured Vladivostok, giving two song recitals and a masterclass on Die Zauberflöte.
She performed Hindemith’s Das Marienleben at the Hindemith Days in Berlin, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Salzburg, Bern, Milan, Madrid, and at the Bodensee Festival. Her Lied recordings include Schubert’s, Schumann’s, and Wolf’s Mignon-Lieder, as well as songs and chamber music by Darius Milhaud. The CD Herbsttag features musical settings of Rilke’s poetry.
Ulrike Sonntag has also gained international recognition as a pedagogue. Since April 2005, she has been a professor of voice at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. Many of her students have won prizes and secured engagements in opera houses and festivals across Europe, including in Koblenz, Regensburg, Innsbruck, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Antwerp, Stuttgart, Perm (Russia), Bayreuth Festival, Braunschweig, Halle, Detmold, Darmstadt, Bielefeld, Bremerhaven, Flensburg, Zurich, Salzburg, Vienna, Strasbourg, Stralsund, Saarbrücken, Görlitz, Bari, Munich State Opera, and Semperoper Dresden, among many others.
She has led numerous international masterclasses, including at the Oberstdorf Music Summer, the Stuttgart Music Festival of the Bach Academy under Helmuth Rilling and Hans-Christoph Rademann, and four times at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. She has also taught at music academies in Bucharest, Riga, Budapest, Henfenfeld Opera Academy, La Palma, and since 2014, annually at the Palazzo Ricci Academy in Montepulciano, Italy. In 2017, she taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal. In 2018, she conducted masterclasses at the State Conservatory in Yerevan (Armenia), in Porto (Portugal), The Hague, and Venice. In 2019, she held two masterclasses in New Delhi and Pune, India. In 2019 and 2020, she was part of the faculty at the Margreet Honig Summer Academy at Schloss Weinberg, Austria. In 2021, she was a guest instructor at the Talent Summer Courses in Brescia, Italy, and at the Music Academy in Łódź, Poland. In 2022, she taught at Haus Marteau in Upper Franconia, and in 2023, at the Music Academy in Gdańsk.

Matthias Wierig
Matthias Wierig studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Pi-hsien Chen and soon discovered his passion for art song (Kunstlied).
He continued his studies in Jürgen Glauß’s Liedgestaltung class and in the master class of the renowned American song accompanist Irwin Gage in Zurich. He also received instruction in masterclasses with Graham Johnson.
Numerous performances have taken him to prestigious festivals and concert halls, including the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, Bad Kissinger Sommer, Styriarte Graz, the Festliche Tage Alter Musik Knechtsteden, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Freunde des Liedes in Zurich, and the chamber music series of the Komische Oper Berlin.
In 2002, he was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, where he leads a Liedgestaltung class—just as he does at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. His students regularly achieve success in national and international competitions.
Since 2023, Matthias Wierig has served as the program director for the Master’s degree in Liedgestaltung for pianists at the HfM Saar.
He has been an assistant in numerous masterclasses with Rudolph Piernay, Anna Reynolds, Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Marilyn Horne and works closely with Barbara Schlick, Brigitte Lindner, Ruth Ziesak, Markus Schäfer, Thilo Dahlmann, and Eva Vogel.
Matthias Wierig has also served as a juror for the national Jugend Musiziert competition multiple times and, in addition to his university teaching, offers masterclasses on Lied interpretation throughout Europe.
![[Translate to English:] Pieter Wispelwey](/fileadmin/_processed_/3/9/csm_Pieter-Wispelwey_2b3be16342.jpg)
Pieter Wispelwey
Pieter Wispelwey is equally at ease on the modern or period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike in repertoire
ranging from JS Bach to Schnittke, Elliott Carter and works composed for him.
Highlights of the 16-17 season include a play-direct project with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a performance of the complete Bach suites at Auditorium de Lyon and the City Recital Hall in Sydney, performances of Tavener’s Svyati with the Flanders Radio Choir and two recitals at King’s Place in London as part of their ‘Cello Unwrapped’ season. Pieter will also give series of extraordinary recitals at the Melbourne Recital Centre as part their Great Performer Series, where he will perform the complete Bach Suites, Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, and the two cello sonatas by Brahms over the course of three consecutive evenings.
Pieter Wispelwey enjoys chamber music collaborations and regular duo partners include pianists Cédric Tiberghien and Alasdair Beatson and he appears as a guest artist with a number of string quartets including the Australian String Quartet.
Wispelwey’s career spans five continents and he has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, Sydney Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Danish National Radio Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg. Conductor collaborations include Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeffrey Tate, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Vassily Sinaisky, Vladimir Jurowski, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman and Sir Roger Norrington.
With regular recital appearances in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Châtelet, Louvre), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Brussels (Bozar), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Milan (Societta del Quartetto), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Sydney (The Utzon Room), Los Angeles (Walt Disney Hall) and New York (Lincoln Center), Wispelwey has established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit
In 2012 Wispelwey celebrated his 50th birthday by embarking on a project showcasing the Bach Cello Suites. He recorded the complete Suites for the third time, released on the label ‘Evil Penguin Classics’. The box set also includes a DVD featuring illustrated debates on the interpretation of the Bach Suites with eminent Bach scholars Laurence Dreyfus and John Butt. A major strand of his recital performances is his performances of the complete suites during the course of one evening, an accomplishment that has attracted major critical acclaim throughout Europe and the US. “On paper it is a feat requiring brilliance, stamina and perhaps a bit of hubris. In practice Mr. Wispelwey proved himself impressively up to the challenge, offering performances as eloquent as they were provocative” ( New York Times).
Pieter Wispelwey’s impressive discography of over 20 albums, available on Channel Classic, Onyx and Evil Penguin Classics, has attracted major international awards. His most recent concerto release features the C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, whilst he is also midway through an imaginative project to record the complete duo repertoire of Schubert and Brahms. Other recent releases include Lalo’s Cello Concerto, Saint-Saen’s Concerto no.2 and the Britten Cello Symphony with Seikyo Kim and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Walton’s Cello Concerto (Sydney Symphony/Jeffrey Tate), Prokofiev’s Symphonie Concertante (Rotterdam Philharmonic/Vassily Sinaisky.
Born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Wispelwey’ studied with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam and later with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in the UK.
Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.