Mikayel Balyan was born in 1981 in Jerewan/Armenia. He attended secondary schools with a focus on music in his hometown as well as in Moscow and went on to study piano with Rudolf Buchbinder at the Musik-Akademie Basel where he graduated with honors in 2004. Between 2005 and 2009 he continued his studies in the field of historical keyboard instruments at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen with Carsten Lohff as well as clavichord and music theory at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Menno van Delft and Volkhardt Preuß.

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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...

Ioana Cristina Goicea is one of the outstanding violinists of her generation. She won First Prize at the 2017 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, with critics praising her passionate performance and describing her as “a new star in the musical firmament.” 

In October 2020, at the age of 27 she has been appointed violin professor at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. 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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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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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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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.

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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 ...

Rudolf Piernay studied voice, piano and conducting in Berlin, London and New York. His concert schedule has brought him as far as Israel, South America and New Zealand. He has been professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London since 1974, at the Mannheim Music Academy since 1989. Numerous winners of international prizes are graduates of his classes, and many of his former students are pursuing successful international opera and concert careers.

He has been offering masterclasses around the world since 1978 as well as courses at the studios of, a. o., the Metropolitan Opera in New York, 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 ...

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...

Mexican Italian Wagnerian Tenor Mauricio Trejo O’Reilly was born in Mexico City. A Sony Classical Recording Artist, Mauricio recently performed the roles of Parsifal, Siegmund at Lincoln Center in New York with the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the Wagner Society of New York. Mauricio has performed in opera theaters in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East.

Mr. Trejo obtained his Masters Degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music where he was awarded the Panasonic Scholar of the Year, that granted him his debut in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City; and soon after his Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Maestro Eve Queler, and the Opera Orchestra of New York in Adriana Lecouvreur and La Donna del Lago. Read on...

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 ...

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. 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 ...

Gertrud Weinmeister is professor for viola at Music and Art Private University Vienna and at Bern University of the Arts.

She comes from a Salzburg family of musicians and studied at University Mozarteum Salzburg, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and at the Northern Illinois University in the USA.

Under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, she was solo viola of the Concentus Musicus Wien for many years. She was also a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Klangforum Wien. 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...