Greta Benini, originally from Ravenna, Italy, is musical director of the Master Opera Programme at Musik- und Kunstuniversität MUK, Vienna

As pianist, she graduated with distinction from the Ravenna Conservatory. She continued her studies in Piano and Chamber Music at the Accademia Internazionale in Florence and the Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola. She also obtained an EU-sponsored Diploma in Piano-Didactics, studying with Piernarciso Masi, Alexander Lonquich, Konstantin Bogino, Boris Petrushanski, Franco Scala, and Riccardo Risaliti.

Since 1999, Greta Benini has been based in Vienna, where she specialized as a solo pianist at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. Additionally, she pursued studies in Lied and Oratorium Accompaniment at the Vienna Conservatory. Significant milestones in her career as a collaborative pianist include extensive, long-term collaborations with Paul Hamburger (Lied and Oratorium) and the renowned Italian coach Ubaldo Gardini (Covent Garden, London).

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Jörg studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache, Constantin Bugeanu and Jorma Panula. Further important impulses he received through the conducting school of Viennese legend Hans Swarowsky. He also studied Viola with Berta Volmer and Reiner Schmidt.

Besides the symphonic standard repertoire, his passion and dedication belongs to the symphonic œuvre from Haydn to the 20th century and the operas of Mozart and the forgotten and forbidden symphonists, like Egon Wellesz.

As a sought-after conducting teacher he has recently published his fundamental study "The Observation of Form" read on...

American pianist Jeffrey Cohen has drawn international attention for the brilliance and artistry of his interpretations. Mr. Cohen was praised by The New York Times for the “lucidity and poetry” of his playing.

In addition to his concert activities, Mr. Cohen’s teaching gifts have established him as a leading piano pedagogue of his generation. For over thirty years, Mr. Cohen has been a piano professor and member of the artist faculty at the Manhattan School of Music where he serves as Coordinator of Master Classes and Departmental Competitions. Read on...

Since 2002 Eszter Haffner has been Professor of Violin at the KUG University of Music Graz, Austria and since 2010 also at the Royal Academy of Music Copenhagen, Denmark. As a guest professor she taught regularly at Royal College London, Lisz Academy Budapest, Aurora Stockholm, Sibelius Academy Helsinki, etc. Eszter Haffner was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1969. She studied for 13 years in the Gifted Musician Class at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc Music Academy with Andras Kiss, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtag. After the completion of her studies in Hungary, she came to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria to study with Gerhard Schulz ( Alban Berg Quartet ) and Josef Sivo. She received her Diploma with unanimous distinction and prize from the Department of Culture Vienna.

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Alexis Hauser is the last pupil of legend Hans Swarowsky who is still teaching at an international major music university (McGill, Montreal, Canada).

Winner of the prestigious Koussevitzky Conducting Prize of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Scholarship for Tanglewood 1974, Alexis Hauser was born in Vienna, Austria, and graduated with distinction from Hans Swarowsky's master class 1970 (Vienna Musik-Universität) as well as from master courses with George Hurst (Canford 196768, England), Franco Ferrara (Accademia Chigiana Siena 1969) and Herbert von Karajan (Salzburg Sommerakademie 1970).

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The British pianist Martin Hughes made his first appearance at London’s Wigmore Hall at the age of twelve. At sixteen he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Yvonne Lefébure. At eighteen he made his debut at the Salle Gaveau, Paris and on BBC radio. He went on to study at the Moscow Conservatory with Lev Oborin, and worked also in Aldeburgh with Benjamin Britten and in Positano with Wilhelm Kempff. There followed tours to the USA, the USSR, Europe and Israel, together with invitations to many of Europe’s broadcasting networks, and appearances with major orchestras.

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Roberta Invernizzi was born in Milan and was first a pianist and double bass player before studying singing under the tutelage of Margaret Heyward.

She went on to specialize in baroque and classical repertoire and is now one of the most sought after soloists in the field of baroque and classical music and is teaching Baroque and Renaissance singing at the B. Maderna Conservatory in Cesena (Italy) and at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien.

She has sung in many of the most important theatres in Europe and the United States, working with conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, Ivor Bolton, Ton Koopman, Gustav Leonhardt, Franz Brüggen, Jordi Savall, Alan Curtis, Giovanni Antonini, Fabio Biondi, Antonio Florio, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Ottavio Dantone and collaborating regularly with ensembles like: Concentus Musicus Wien, Orchestra Mozart, Accademia Bizantina, Il Giardino Armonico, Cappella de la Pieta dei Turchini, Concerto Italiano, Europa Galante, Ensemble Matheus, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Barocchisti etc..

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Vladimir Kharin began his musical education at the age of 6 years at the central music special school of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory for especially gifted children. He gave his first piano recital at the age of eleven and made his orchestra debut at the age of 13. He then studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Jevgeni Malinin and Lev Naumov (both students of Heinrich Neuhaus), which he graduated with distinction.

Further study and “Konzertexamen” (also with distinction) with Michael Roll and Boris Bloch at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen in Germany, as well as master classes with Vitaly Margulis, Oleg Maisenberg and Dmitri Bashkirov.

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Born in 1962, Kirschnereit has been performing on the stages of Germany and other European countries as well as the Americas and East Asia for more than three decades. He works in close collaboration with the Camerata Salzburg, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Münchener Kammerorchester and the New City Philharmonic Orchestra Tokyo, and the number of orchestras is continually growing. In the future, he will debut with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. Among his chamber music partners are the violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Lena Neudauer, the horn player Felix Klieser, the clarinetist Sharon Kam, the Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott as well as the Minguet Quartet and the Amaryllis Quartet.

For many years now, he has been sharing his experience and convictions as a professor at HTM, the Rostock University of Music and Drama, with the next generation of musicians.

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Reinhard Latzko is one of the most multifaceted cellists of his generation. In addition to his extensive performing career, he has especially made a name for himself as a successful cello teacher and music communicator. Born in Freising, near Munich, he studied with Jan Polasek, Martin Ostertag and Heinrich Schiff. From 1987 - 2003 Reinhard Latzko was solo cellist of the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Gielen.

Teaching has been one of the special focal points in his artistic career, read on...

Svetlana Makarova is Professor for violin at Haute Ecole de la Musique in Lausanne. She started to play violin at the age of 5 in the class of Ludmila Egorova. At the age of 10 she won the first prize at Moscow International Youth Tchaikovsky Competition.

Hereafter she won different prizes at numerous state and international competitions. In 2008 Svetlana finished her postgraduated studies at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with professor M. Glezarova. Read on ...

The Russian pianist Anna Malikova was born in Tashkent, Usbekistan, where she received her first piano education at Uspensky School in the class of Tamara Popovich. At the age of 14 she came to Moscow and was accepted into the class of Lev Naumov - first at Central Music School and later at Tchaikovsky Conservatory. After her studies she worked several years as assistant of Lev Naumov at the conservatory.

Since October 2018 Anna Malikova holds a position as distinguished professor at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

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Since his sensational success at the Vienna Beethoven Piano Competition in 1985, Hamburg-born pianist Stephan Möller has made a reputation worldwide as a pioneering Beethoven interpreter. His repertoire includes all five piano concertos and 32 piano sonatas by this composer, which he has also performed in complete cycles. His concert activities have taken him to many countries in Europe, North and South America, Japan, Korea and China.

Stephan Möller completed his training as a pianist and conductor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. From 1983-89 he was artistic assistant to Herbert von Karajans at the Salzburg Festival. Since 1990 Stephan Möller has taught as professor for piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

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Without doubt, Miklós Perényi can be considered being one of the greatest living artists on his instrument.

He studied with Pablo Casals, Miklós Zsamboki, Enrico Mainardi and Ede Banda. In 1963 Miklós Perényi won the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in Budapest.

Since 1974 he has been teaching at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy, since 1980 as a professor. He was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1980 and the Bartòk-Pasztory Prize in 1987 for his musical achievements. His career as a soloist continues to bring him to all the great music centres of the world and to numerous international music festivals. Read on ...

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Ewa Pobłocka is a prize-winner of the 10^th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1980), where she also won the prize for the best performance of mazurkas. She won First Prize in the International Viotti Music Competition in Vercelli (1977) and the gold medal in the International Festival of Young Laureates in Bordeaux (1979).

Ewa Pobłocka has performed throughout Europe and the Americas, as well as in China, Indonesia, the RSA, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Australia, in such venues as the Herkules-Saal in Munich, Musikhalle in Hamburg, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Kyoi Hall in Tokyo, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Lincoln Center in New York, Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto and Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio De Janeiro, among many others. She has played as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerischers Rundfunkorchester, Sinfonia Varsovia and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

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Violinist Lucie Robert, a native of Montreal, has received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics alike for the expressive lyricism and tonal beauty of her playing.  Lauded in the The New York Times for her “melting tone” and “wonderfully supple approach to phrasing,”

Highly sought after as a violin pedagogue, Ms. Robert has been a violin professor at the Manhattan School of Music since 1988, where she carries on the great violin tradition of her teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Gingold. In 2023 was the recipient of the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service, the highest award bestowed by the school.  She is also a member of the violin faculty at the Mannes College of Music. Read on ...

Uta Schwabe was born in Leipzig, Germany. She began her singing studies there at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy“ in the class of Gerda Schriever, finishing with a Masters Diploma in 1997 under the tutelage of Adelheid Vogel.

Uta Schwabe was appointed Professor of Singing at the Music and Art University of the City of Vienna in 2006. Her students have consistently been winners or finalists in prominent singing competitions and have gone on to engagements as soloists in such Opera houses as the Frankfurt Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Komische Oper and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Dresden State Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, and the Finnish National Opera, read on ...

Henja Semmler received her education from Rainer Kussmaul, Gerhard Schulz and Thomas Brandis, among others.

With the Oberon Trio founded by her in 2006 and with partners such as Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Jens-Peter Maintz, Jörg Widmann, Ian Bostridge and Christoph Prégardien, she has performed at Musikfest Berlin, Rheingau Musikfestival, Heidelberger Frühling, Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Beethoven-Woche Bonn, Herbstgold-Festival Eisenstadt and Lucerne Festival read on ...

Prof. Anton Sorokow, first concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and full professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, was born in Moscow in 1978 into a family of musicians. He received his violin lessons at the age of four with his mother. From the age of ten studied at the Moscow Central Music School with Yevgenia Chugaeva. He moved to Vienna in 1991 and became an Austrian citizen in 1996. He continued his studies in 1991 at the University of Music and Performing with Prof. Dora Schwarzberg, he graduated with distinction in March 2004. In 1996 he was selected as scholar at the Isaac Stern Workshop in Verbier (Switzerland).

After having been professor for violin and MuK Vienna from 2008-2011 he has been appointed in 2011 as professor for violin at mdw Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Vienna. Read on ...

Snežana Stamenković was born in Belgrade and completed her vocal studies at the University of Arts Belgrade with KS Prof. Biserka Cvejić. After her studies she received the Danica Mastilović award and the Bahrija Nuri-Hadžić (Alban Berg’s very first Lulù) award as the most talented singing graduate and began her vocal pedagogic career as an assistant to her teacher at the University of the Arts in Belgrade.

Her students are prizewinners at ‘Montreal Music Competition’ (2018), ‘Queen Sonja International Voice Competition’ (2017), ‘Maria Callas’ Voice Competition (2017), ‘Concours International de Chant Marmande’, International Singing Competition ‘Feruccio Tagliavini’, International Voice Competition ‘Hariclea Darclee’, ‘Concorso Internationale per Canti Lirici Alcamo’, “Grandi Voci” Salzburg Opera Singing Competition and won engagements at Metropolitan Opera (Lindemann Young Singers Programm), La Scala di Milano (Academia della Scala di Milano), Opera Zurich, Opera Köln, Opera Graz, Nationaltheater Mannheim and Opera Strassbourg. Read on ...

Executive Director and Founder of the International School of the Voice, Soprano, former President of the Executive Board of Directors of Joy In Singing, the Art Song Institute, and a Voice Faculty member of The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Elizabeth De Trejo is trailblazing a new path in the sphere of classical voice, and through the International School of the Voice, is revolutionizing the way the art form is taught.

Ms. De Trejo made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Berg’s Lulu; and her career has given her the opportunity to perform the roles of Norma, Violetta, Lucia di Lammermoor, Donna Anna, Gilda, Marguerite, Fiordiligi, Die Königin die Nacht, Adina, Poppea, Juliette, Musetta, Giulietta, and Cleopatra, and the role of Rosina in Anton Coppola’s epic opera, Sacco and Vanzetti; for which an aria was composed for her. Read on...

István Várdai is highly regarded for his joyous energy, rhythmic vigour and elegant grace in his soulful renditions of solo, chamber music and orchestral repertoire for cello.

He is Professor at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where he succeeded the late Heinrich Schiff in the role, and where he himself studied in 2005. István Várdai plays on ‘Ex du Pré-Harrell’ Stradivari made in 1673, previously played by Jacqueline du Pré.

Following success on the competitions circuit, including first prizes at the 2014 ARD International Music Competition and at the 2008 Geneva International Music Competition, István Várdai served on the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019.

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Born in Odessa, Pavel Vernikov studied with David Oistrach and Semjon Snitkowsky. For more than 20 years he has been performing as a soloist and as a chamber musician – i.e. with the Tchaikovsky Trio – on Europe’s and America’s most notable stages, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau, La Scala di Milano and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Read on ...

Claudia Visca graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Vienna, specializing in the vocal works of Mozart.Over the past 26 years she has guested in more than 25 opera houses of Europe (including those in the cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Geneva, Munich, Salzburg, Zurich) and has sung 2000 performances in over 75 operatic, operetta and musical roles. Read on ...

Born into a family of musicians in Kiev, Wladislav Winokurow received his first musical education from his father at the age of five. Intensive musical training with Alexander Panov, Avanes Buludian and Isaak Kuschnir followed his attendance of the Special Musical College for Gifted Children. He debuted as a soloist at the age of ten with the Kiev Chamber Orchestra. He continued his studies in Vienna with Eugenia Polatschek and later at the Vienna University of Music and Dramatic Arts under Gernot Winischhofer and Boris Kuschnir read on...