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Anastasia Churakova
Anastasia Churakova began her professional musical journey with piano lessons, earning her first degree as a pianist and piano teacher from the Moscow Schnittke College. Having written songs since childhood, she gained early stage experience as the lead singer in various rock and crossover bands. Driven by her passion for a singing career, she continued her education at the Moscow Choral Academy Popov, studying opera and operetta. However, before completing her final year, she seized the opportunity to move to Salzburg. In 2015, Ms. Churakova enrolled at the University Mozarteum, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Gesang (under Professors Raimondi and Díaz), a Master’s degree in Gesang (under Professors Díaz and Holzmair), and a Postgraduate degree in Opera (under Professor Röhrig).
Anastasia Churakova appeared as a guest artist at the Gut Immling Summer Festival during the seasons from 2016 to 2019, excelling in various roles, including Gianetta in “L’elisir d’amore,” Ännchen in “Der Freischütz,” and Zerlina in “Don Giovanni.”
Her interpretations of Baroque music have been highly acclaimed, with performances alongside the Ensemble Echo di Rheno in Salzburg and as a soloist with the Salzburger Dommusik in various masses and concerts.
In August 2021, she participated in a series of open-air concerts in Germany with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, conducted by Jonathan Heyward. That same year, she performed at the Bulgaria Concert Hall as part of the Master Class Mozarteum in Bulgaria, accompanied by the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Nayden Todorov.
At the Mozarteum, the soprano shone in the role of Gnese in “Il Campiello” in 2022 and Miss Jessel in “The Turn of the Screw” the following year.
In August 2023, she lit up the stage as Nedda in “I Pagliacci” at RathausOper Konstanz.
In 2024, Ms. Churakova performed at the Italian festival Valle d’Itria as Ancella in “Aladino e la lampada magica” by Nino Rota. Later that year, she sings at the Szent Gellért Festival in Hungary. She was previously invited to the festival in 2022, where she performed two recitals with Alessandro Misciasci on piano and Maestro Yoon Kuk Lee.
The soprano is the recipient of the IGNM Special Prize for Contemporary Music at the Mozart Competition 2023 and was a finalist in the 2022 Montecatini Competition. Furthermore, she was selected by Sebastian Schwarz and Rino Carrieri for a series of master classes at the Accademia Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti” in 2023 and 2024.
Anima Musicae Kamarazenekar
The Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra was established in 2010 by students of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Its debut was held on the 20th of June and it was an immediate sell-out success.
Since its establishment the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra has performed in some of the most prominent venues, such as the Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Marble Hall of the Hungarian Radio, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Kodály Center in Pécs and the Teatro Verdi in Sardinia, Italy. The orchestra has performed in numerous Hungarian towns, such as Békéscsaba, Kecskemét, Pannonhalma, Sümeg, Szeged, and Üllő, and is regularly invited to Győr, Pécs, the Brunswick Castle in Martonvásár and the Miszla Castle. Vas County`s Gyanógeregye hosts Anima Musicae`s summer masterclass each year. The concerts performed as part of the orchestra`s masterclass series are now considered an integral part of the region`s artistic scenery. The Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra has been a regular guest at the Budapest Spring Festival and the Ars Sacra Festival, and has participated at the Budapest Autumn Festival, the International Kodály Seminar, the Pécs Summer Academy and the “I grandi interpreti della Musica 2013” in Sassari, Italy. The orchestra has also built a notable international reputation through its performances in France, Italy, Austria and Germany.
In 2011 the ensemble won 1st prize in the category of “String Orchestra with outstanding success” at the 5th Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival, which was held in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna. In 2012 the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra became the first musical ensemble to be awarded the Junior Prima Prize by Hungary`s Prima Primissima Foundation. In 2014 the orchestra finished 3rd in the category of “Chamber Music” at the Torneo Internazionale di Musica, a competition in Paris which hosted more than three thousand musical ensembles. In 2015 the orchestra`s first album, featuring works by W. A. Mozart, was released by the Hungarian record label Hungaroton.
Based in the Óbudai Társaskör, the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra began its annual three-part concert series in 2011. The initiative was immediately met with the warm response of the younger generation. Obliging to numerous invitations, the ensemble had the privilege of performing at prestigious venues in Budapest, such as Nádor Hall, Festetics Palace, Hilton Budapest, Galeria Centralis, TETŐ Gallery and Stefánia Palace.
The orchestra has performed with such esteemed musicians as Kristóf Baráti, György Déri, Zoltán Fejérvári, Sir James Galway, Béla Horváth, Péter Kiss, Csaba Klenyán, János Lackfi, Csaba Onczay, Polina Pasztircsák, Ferenc Rados, Ditta Rohmann, Imre Rohmann, János Rolla, Gyula Stuller, Izabella Simon, Dénes Várjon, István Várdai, Tamás Vásáry and Andrea Vigh. The Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra proudly takes it upon itself to promote and debut young musical talents with Dávid Bali, Máté Hamar, Tamás Pálfalvi, Anasztázia Razvaljajeva, Bálint Tóth, Zsuzsanna Tóth, and the Góbé Band listed among its protégés.
The ensemble cultivates a strong professional relationship with Soma Dinyés, who serves as an essential guide to the orchestra with his expertise in the Baroque performance style, and Anima Musicae has the privilege of frequently accompanying renowned violin soloist Kristóf Baráti in debuting pieces that have been dedicated to him by composer Barnabás Dukay.
The Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra considers it its artistic duty to promote and perform contemporary Hungarian compositions, and many of these modern pieces have made their way into the ensemble`s core repertoire. The orchestra has so far performed the works of Máté Gergely Balogh, József Bujtás, Marcell Dargay, Barnabás Dukay, Georgiou Notis, Bálint Karosi, Viktor Molnár, Endre Olsvay, Ivana Stefanovic, Zsigmond Szathmáry, Péter Tornyai, Máté Vizeli, Ákos Zarándy and Péter Zombola.
In the fall of 2013 the orchestra launched a workshop that focuses on contemporary music, and composer Péter Tornyai was asked to preside over this initiative. The aim of this workshop is to promote contemporary music by making music more accessible and comprehensible to audiences through the means of illustrative discussions, thus prompting further engagement and popularizing the genre.
Kristóf Baráti
Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti is recognised increasingly across the globe as a musician of extraordinary quality with a vast expressive range and impeccable technique. Applauded repeatedly for the poetry and eloquence that he brings to his playing, he has been described as “a true tonal aesthete of the highest order”.
In recent seasons, Baráti has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2019 he was the featured soloist in the opening concert of the the Verbier Festival. Baráti has played with orchestras such as Zurich Tonhalle, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Israel Philharmonic, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Camerata Salzburg, Russian National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Sao Paolo Symphony and Hague Philharmonic orchestras. He performs regularly with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra around the world including the US and China. Many of his appearances have been recorded by medici.tv, including concerts performed in Verbier and the integral of Bartók’s works for solo violin and orchestra performed at a single concert with the Pannon Philharmonic.
A regular recital and chamber music player, Baráti has performed with partners such as Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet, Enrico Pace, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Zoltán Kocsis and Kim Kashkashian amongst others. He performs every year at the White Nights Festival and in 2019 made his debut at the Seattle Chamber Music and Aspen Festivals. In 2016 he made a sensational debut at the Verbier Festival when he performed the complete solo Sonatas and Partitas of Bach and has since been back every year.
Baráti has an extensive discography which includes the five Mozart concerti, the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with Klára Würtz, and Ysaÿe solo sonatas for Brilliant Classics, and Bach Sonatas and Partitas on the Berlin Classics and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Of his disc of encores ‘The Soul of Lady Harmsworth’ recorded in 2016, Gramophone magazine said “for those who like to hear the violin played at its sweet and acrobatic best, then Baráti is out of the top drawer.” His latest CD released in 2023 by Hungaroton features Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins performed with his wife, Karolina Kondorosi.
In recent years Baráti has been more and more active also as a conductor. In this capacity he appears frequently with different Hungarian and foreign orchestras. One of the most exciting projects of his 23/24 season will be his concert with Concerto Budapest featuring Mikhail Pletnov as soloist.
Having spent much of his childhood in Venezuela where he played as soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, Baráti returned to Budapest to study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and was later mentored by Eduard Wulfson, himself a student of Milstein and Menuhin. Still resident in Budapest, Baráti performs regularly across Hungary and together with István Várdai, he is Artistic Director of the Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival and Head of the Violin Department of the Franz Liszt Music Academy. Baráti plays the 1703 “Lady Harmsworth” Stradivarius, by kind arrangement with the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.
Eun Che Kim
Eun Che Kim (* 1997) started playing the violin at the age of ten. She received her first lessons from Ms. Sung Ah Lee in her hometown Ilsan before moving to the Yewon Middle School of Art in Seoul for further training with professors Jieun Kim and Yu Jin Choi. From 2013, Eun Che studied with Prof. Sungwon Yun at the “Seoul Arts High School”. After finishing school, Eun Che was taught at the “Seoul National University” for a year before she passed the entrance exam for a bachelor’s degree in violin at the Hanns Eisler Berlin University of Music in summer 2017. Since October of the same year till 2023 winter, Eun Che has been studying there in the class of Prof. Kolja Blacher. She is currently studying Masters with Prof. Ulf Wallin in the same university.
In the course of her musical career to date, Eun Che has won numerous competitions with an international reputation. In 2014 she became the second prizewinner for not awarding the first prize in the “Ewha & Kyung Hyang Concours”, won the first prize in 2015 at the “Segye Daily News Concour” ,2nd prize in 2016 at the 23rd KBS Han Jun Music Competition, and she was awarded the second prize at the eighth Novosibirsk International Violin Competition as well awarded a special prize. In summer 2017, she won third prize at the 24th Johannes Brahms International Competition and in April 2022 she was awarded with a third prize at the Carl Nielsen Competition. In 2023 she received the 1st prize at the ArsClassica International Competition for Violin and Piano as well as the 14th Carl Flesch International Violin Competition with three special prizes.
The successful participation in the competition involves numerous appearances with orchestra. Eun Che has already played with the “Seongnam Symphony Orchestra”, the “Venusto Symphony Orchestra”, the “KBS Symphony Orchestra”, the City of Lviv Symphony Orchestra, “Gangneung Symphony Orchestra”, “Baden-Baden Philharmonie”, “Odense Symphony Orchestra”, “Copenhagen Philharmonic”, and “Savaria Symphony Orchestra”.
Gianni Maraldi
He began studying ancient music many years ago, playing with prestigious ensembles such as “Il Giardino Armonico”, “Accademia Bizantina”, “Europa Galante”, “Musica Antiqua Toulon”, “Ensemble Vanitas”, “I Barocchisti”, “Ensemble Matheus.” He has collaborated as a soloist with various chamber orchestras.
In recent years he has devoted himself almost exclusively to Italian music of the 1500s/1600s, founding the “Duo Denum” in collaboration with the lutenist Elio Donatelli and occasionally with the cellist Maria Cecilia Amadori.
Görög Sisters
The two members of the Görög Sisters, Noémi Görög and Enikő Görög, were born in Subotica, Serbia, where they completed the Music School before starting their studies in Belgrade at the University of Arts, Faculty of Music in the class of Professor Ninoslav Živković.
Both artists received their DLA degrees at the Belgrade University of Arts, Faculty of Music. Noémi Görög currently teaches at the Hungarian Language Teacher Training Faculty in Subotica, while Enikő is a teacher at Bartók Béla Faculty of Arts at the University of Szeged.
They have been performing as a piano duo since 2004, playing primarily in this formation.
Their repertoire includes the most significant pieces of the four-hand and two-piano literature from Bach to Mozart, from Brahms over Bartók to Lutosławski. Their focus on contemporary composers is a special treat for their audience, some pieces have been composed specifically for the duo.
The Görög Sisters have released two CDs so far. Their first album came out in 2015 with the title Let’s Play, containing four-hand and two-piano pieces by Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Bartók and Lutosławski. The CD was accompanied by three short videos, presenting three movements of Béla Bartók’s Microcosmos in a completely new light. The videos were produced by the Subotica based Electe Group for music fans and the wider public.
The second album was recorded in Bayreuth and was released in 2018 under the title Let’s Dance. It features the two-piano version of Ravel’s La Valse, as well as pieces by Tchaikovsky, Barber, Brahms, Aleksandar Vujić and Milica Ilić.
The piano duo has held successful concerts throughout Serbia and Hungary, and has toured in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia.
The Görög Sisters started giving concerts for children in 2015, at Studio 6 of Bartók Radio, the Hungarian classical music station, in Budapest. The Sisters believe deeply in the need for fostering children’s musical education and instilling musical artistic values into children starting from a young age. At their concerts, the Görög Sisters provide their young audience with a musical basis that may eventually help them become regular concertgoers.
In 2017, the Belgrade -based composer Milica Ilić also dedicated a work of hers to the Görög Sisters. ‘Higher’, her musical play is centered around the legend of Daedalus and Icarus. The piece is composed for two pianos, baritone vocals, a smaller narrative choir and an actor. This musical play was first performed at the Dorćol Platz alternative theater in Belgrade on September 15, 2017, featuring the Görög Sisters.
In 2021, Hungarian composer Balázs Kecskés D., winner of the Junior Prima Prize, dedicated them his Partita for two pianos.
The Görög Sisters have played with numerous orchestras, including the Odeon Youth Symphony (Munich, conductor: Julio Doggenweiler Fernández), Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra (Budapest, conductor: Ádám Medveczky), Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra (Budapest, conductor: Gábor Werner), Szeged Symphony Orchestra (Szeged, conductor: János Kovács and Sándor Gyüdi), Orquestra Classica do Centro (Coimbra, conductor: Luís Carvalho), Symphony Orchestra of Miskolc (Miskolc, conductor: István Dénes, Máté Sipos Szabó).
Itai Navon
Itai Navon preforms frequently as a soloist and a chamber musician in many concert halls across Europe, including Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Berlin’s Konzerthaus and Pierre Boulez Saal, Ehrbar Saal in Vienna, Beethovenhaus in Bonn, and deSingel Art Centre in Antwerp.
Itai has participated in renowned music festivals, such as “Chamber Music Connects the World”, “Kronberg Festival”, “Klavierfestival Ruhr”, “Kultursommer Nordhessen” and “Musikfestspiele Saar” in Germany, “Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad” and “Menuhin Festival” in Switzerland, “Bath Music Festival” in the UK, and “Aspen Music Festival” in the USA.
At the invitation of pianist Sir András Schiff, Itai Navon appeared in the 2018-19 season of the “Building Bridges” concert series, which included solo recitals throughout Europe. In 2021 he took part in a series of filmed masterclasses with Daniel Barenboim on Beethoven solo piano and cello sonatas.
He has collaborated with conductors such as Yeruham Scharovsky, Avi Ostrowsky, Bar Avni, and Giuseppe Mentuccia, and with orchestras such as the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Camerata, and Raanana Symphonette Orchestra. In 2022 he performed Stravinsky’s “Les Noces” with the Boulez Ensemble, conducted by Matthias Pintscher. Passionate about chamber music, Navon has performed with notable musicians such as Antje Weithaas, Miklós Perényi, Gary Hoffman, Lorenza Borrani, Nimrod Guez, and Richard Lester.
Born in Jerusalem in 1996, Itai Navon began his piano studies with Esther Narkiss at the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and continued with Emanuel Krasovsky in the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv. Itai is a graduate of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, where he studied from 2018-2022 with Sir András Schiff. Currently, Itai is studying at the Kronberg Academy in the “Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Pianists”.
He has received valuable advice from renowned pianists such as Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Robert Levin, Kirill Gerstein, Enrico Pace, Dénes Várjon, and more.
Itai is supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and Szloma-Albam-Stiftung.
LiLa
Cellist LiLa began her musical journey at the age of seven under the guidance of Professor Min Cao in Shanghai. In 2016, she transitioned to the Juilliard School Precollege division where she studied with Professors Richard Aaron and Sieun Lin. Since 2018, LiLa has continued her studies at Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson. She plays a 1690’s Giovanni Grancino Cello on loan through the Beare’s International Violin Society and has received numerous accolades, including first prizes in prestigious competitions such as the Osaka International Music Competition, ‘Antonio Janigro’ International Cello Competition, and the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians. Among others, LiLa attended the Verbier Festival Academy in 2019 and has collaborated with esteemed orchestras such as Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, Prague Royal Philharmonic, and Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra under conductors including Christoph Eschenbach and Valery Gergiev. As a chamber musician, she has shared the stage with artists including Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff, and Gidon Kremer.
Michal Stahel
Michal Stahel was born into a musical family in Bratislava. He started playing the cello at the age of six. After graduating from Bratislava Conservatory, he continued to study the cello at the Royal College in London, music universities in Vienna, Mannheim and Conservatoire Supérieur CNR in Paris. He won the first prize at competition of Slovak conservatories in 1997, a year later becoming a finalist of international competition Eurovision Grand Prix in Vienna, and winning international competition Talent of the Year in Prague in 1999. In 2000 he became a finalist of the TIJI Unesco competition in Lisbon and received the prize of music critics at the Central European Music Festival of Concert Art in Žilina. Later, he was several times awarded scholarships of Solti Foundation, scholarship of French Government and Academia Montis Regalis. His solo career includes performances with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Košice Philharmonic Orchestra, Žilina Chamber Orchestra and Bohdan Warchal Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Andrew Parrott, Dennis Russel Davies, James Judd, Jiří Bělohlávek, Oliver Dohnányi and Mario Košík. Since 2006 he has been regularly performing with Slovak ensembles of ancient music Solamente Naturali and Musica Aeterna, which completely changed his artistic and musical direction towards the so-called “historically informed performance”. In recent years Stahel has been mostly involved in performing music of the 17th and 18th century. His knowledge in this field has been positively influenced by several master classes, workshops and regular lessons with the famous baroque violinist and former leader of Musica Antiqua, Reinhard Goebel, gambist Lorenz Duftschmidt, 18th century clarinet player Lorenzo Coppola, members of the Freiburger Barockorchester ensemble and baroque cello player and musicologist Marc Vanscheeuwijck. Stahel closely cooperates with personalities of ancient music, such as Steven Stubbs, Skip Sempé, Simon Standage, Amandine Bayer, Ricardo Minasi, Enrico Onofri, Martin Haselböck, Marek Štryncl, Miloš Valent and Peter Zajíček.
He regularly performs with ensembles Freiburger Barockorchester, Wiener Akademie, Ensemble 1756, L’Eclisse, Das Neue Orchester, Capriccio Stravagante, Haydn Sinfonietta Wien, Academia Montis Regalis, Collegium Marianum Prague, Solamente Naturali and Musica Aeterna. Stahel plays a restored valuable baroque violoncello made by Anthony Posch in Vienna in 1720, which has been kindly lent to him by Esterházy Foundation Eisenstadt.
Dóra Pétery
Dóra Pétery was born in Budapest. She studied musicology and organ playing (István Ruppert, János Pálúr) at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, obtained a master degree in organ playing with a qualification „excellent”. 2001−2003 she studied at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy with Miklós Spányi as the first student in the history of the Academy having clavichord as main subject. During her Finland years she was teaching keyboard instruments at the Oulu Conservatory in Finland and Oulu Polytechnik. 2006-2008 was a student in Hans-Ola Ericsson’s concert organist class at the Musikhögskolan i Pitea in Sweden.
She has been guest of several different festivals (O. Messiaen Festival Stockholm, Radovljica Festival Slovenia, Nordic Historic Keyboard Festival Kuopio, Haydn Festival Budapest, Cage Festival Halberstadt, Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival Amsterdam, Bach – Maraton Budapest Gothenburg Organ Academy, Transparent Sound Festival Budapest).
She has been artistic director of Budapest Clavichord Days Minifestival. In 2014 she was one of the jurors of the First International Clavichord Competition, Kuopio. In the same year she got 1. award of the John Cage Organ Foundation of Halberstadt for performance of contemporary organ music.
She plays regularly recitals as a soloist and in different chamber music groups on the organ, clavichord and harpsichord. She has been soloist of several orchestras, among them the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest Strings. Her repertoire extends from the renaissance to the contemporary and experimental music, with special focus on instrumental theatre. She has played first performances of several works working together with different composers.
She is a member of the CentriFUGA contemporary music group, and that of the Cantilene Ensemble specialized in Baroque music. As a continuo player she is active in several orhestras and chamber music groups. She is one of the artists to have been involved in a Reformation 500 CD recording project on historical organs of Lutheran churches in Hungary. Her doctoral thesis (2019) is about instrumental theatrical aspects of Kagel’s organ works.
She is assistant lecturer of the Church Music Department of the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. She is the organist of the Csillaghegy Lutheran Church of Budapest.
Mónika Tóth
Born in 1974 in Heves. Between 1981-1988 she was a student of the local State Music School, where she studied with Tivadarné Szabó.
She graduated with honours as a violin teacher and chamber musician from the Szeged Conservatory of the Liszt Academy of Music in 1997. Márta S.Dobos, Péter Masopust, Lajos Huszár and László Meszlényi were her mentors.
In 1999, she was awarded scholarships from the Soros Foundation and the Marco Fodella Foundation and studied early music specialisation at the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan under Enrico Gatti.
She received her Master’s degree in Baroque Violin “cum laude” in 2007 at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Palermo, as a student of Enrico Onofri. (Il Giardino Armonico)
Parallel to her studies, she attended master classes with Simon Standage, Lucy van Dael, Jaap Schrőder and Malcom Bilson.
In 2000 she was awarded second prize at the “Premio Bonporti Rovereto” international chamber music competition (Estro Cromatico) and in 2001 she was third prize winner at the “I.Telemann Wettbewerb” in Magdeburg (Eclisse).
Between 2000 and 2006 she was a member and second concertmaster of the Orfeo Orchestra under the baton of György Vashegyi. In 2005, she was concertmaster at the opening of the MÜPA Festival Theatre, where she performed Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo, directed by Csaba Káel.
She performs regularly with renowned European baroque orchestras and chamber music ensembles such as I Barocchisti, Ensemble Zefiro, Imaginarium Ensemble, Stella Matutina, Ensemble Castor, Accademia Bizantina, Il Giardino Armonico, Dolce e Tempesta, Europa Galante, Capella Leopoldina Graz, Barucco Wien, Neue Hofkapelle Graz, Accentus Austria, L’Eclisse, Musica Perduta.
As a chamber music artist and concertmaster she has participated in festivals such as Regensburg, Trigonale,Berlin,Stockholm,Barcelona, Leipzig, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Mantova, Milan, Crete, Mexico City, Jerusalem and Festival Academy Budapest.
He has recorded 50 CDs with Decca, EMI, Sony, Archiv, Naiv, Arts, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Chandos, Hungaroton, Symphonia,Taktus, Amadeus, RTSI, Brilliant Classics, Erato, Querstand, Panclassics, Passacalia, Arcana, Preiser Records and Virgin.
She has collaborated with vocal soloists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Julia Lezhneva, Max Cencic, Silvia Frigaro, Gemma Bertagnoli, Roberta Mameli, Franco Fagioli; conductors and instrumental soloists such as Gustav Leonhardt, Diego Fasolis, Anderas Staier, Alfredo Bernardini, Malcolm Bilson, Enrico Onofri, Giovanni Antonini, Bahrt Kujiken, Gabriele Cassone, Elisa Citterio.
Between 2005 and 2010, she was a teacher of baroque violin at summer schools of early music in Tokaj, Bélapátfalva and Agárd in Hungary, and in 2011 she founded the Miszla Academy of Early Baroque Music (Tolna County). Since then, she has been organizing international master classes twice a year at Nemeskéry Castle.
Since 2012, she has been mentor of the youth baroque orchestra “I Talenti Vulcanici”, founded by the “Capella della Pietá de’ Turchini” Early Music Centre in Naples.
Since the 2018/19 academic year, she has been teaching baroque violin at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. In October 2019 she received the Wagner Betty Award in Heves.
Klára Würtz
Klára Würtz is a pianist of Hungarian origin from the Netherlands.
She joined the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir at the age of six. She started to learn piano at the music school in cooperation with the choir as a pupil of Irén Magyarné Szalai. Soon she became a permanent accompanist of the children’s choir, and from the age of ten she also played solo pieces.
In 1979, at the age of fourteen, she was admitted to the class of exceptional talents at the Academy of Music, where she was a pupil of Miklós Miklós Máthéné Klára Kéri and Zsuzsa Esztó. From 1982 she studied piano at the Academy with Pál Kadosa, Zoltán Kocsis, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. She has successfully participated in several international piano competitions. She participated in the master class of András Schiff in Prussia Cove, England. She graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in 1989. She then moved to the Netherlands.
Her performance at the 1988 Dublin Piano Competition led to a North American concert tour with Columbia Artist Management in 1991, which took her to 38 countries in the United States. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003 and at the Salzburg Festival in 2006.
Currently, in addition to performing, she is an associate professor at the Utrecht Conservatory of Music.
Her solo recordings and sonata recordings with Christopher Friend have received worldwide acclaim.
Soma Balázs-Piri
Soma Balázs-Piri, 20, first sat down at the piano eleven years ago and since then has won first prizes in sixteen international and national piano competitions.
In 2018, he was the winner of the Hungarian classical music television competition called „Virtuózok.”
Soma is Hungary’s Classical Music Ambassador and was awarded the Junior Príma Prize in 2021.
He first played as a soloist with the Szeged Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine and since then he had the opportunity to work with orchestras in Hungary and abroad on numerous occasions, conducted by Maestro Placido Domingo, Ádám Medveczky, Gábor Hollerung, Eugene Kohn, Howard Shelley, András Keller and the music director of the St. Gellért Festival, Yoon Kuk Lee, just to mention some of them.
He is a regular performer at major concert venues in Hungary, including the Palace of Arts, the Vigadó and the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy. He is playing at the Szent Gellért Festival for the third time.
In the recent years, Soma has performed abroad as well, for example in New York and in London as a soloist with the world-famous London Mozart Players at the O2 Arena with Hauser. He played in Doha, Strasbourg andin Dubai on the main stage of the EXPO. He visited Washington and Düsselford, moreover he was a guest at Anrea Bocelli’s villa in Forte dei Marmi.
In 2020, he recorded Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra conducted by Placido Domingo.
In 2023, he was the subject of a major Forbes interview.
He is currently a second year student at the Mozarteum University of Music in Salzburg, where his teacher is the renowned Canadian pianist Connie Shih. His teachers agree that his greatest strength is his exceptional musicality, combined with a humble and natural personality.
Yoon-Hee Kim
The Austrian-Korean violinist Yoonhee Kim began playing the violin at the age of three. One year later, she was admitted to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna as the youngest student ever (4 years) and studied since then with Prof. Eugenia and Juri Polatschek, Prof. Gerhard Schulz and Prof. Elisabeth Kropfitsch.
In her early career Yoon-Hee Kim was often referred to as a child prodigy. CNN introduced her as a violinist of Genius, and the French broadcast TF1 TV starred her in their special program “Les 30 Histoires les plus Mysterieuses” (“One of the most mysterious 30 stories”) as “L’Enfant Prodigie”.
Yoon-Hee Kim was born in Jeju, for which she is also an Honorary Ambassador. Furthermore, in 2011 she received the “Young Artist of the Year 2011” prize from the Korean Ministry of Culture as the youngest recipient ever.
In recent times, she performed in several concerts. In 2014 she performed with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the Berliner Philharmonie and in 2015 she gave three concerts with Walter Weller and the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Busan, and Jeju. She also appeared in the Korean TV Show “Yoongun – The Concert” and on radio, as well on the Austrian radio ORF.
Yoon-Hee Kim performed with several important world-famous orchestras in their regular concerts as youngest soloist, among them Norway’s Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Spanish Radio Television Orchestra (RTVE) under Maestro Walter Weller, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Symphonic, Prague Philharmonia, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Bayer Philharmonic, Praha Radio Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Antalya State Symphony Orchestra, Ukraine National Symphony orchestra, Janacek Philharmonic, Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie, Korea-Austria Philharmonic.
In Korea, she performed with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Euroasian Philharmonic, and Busan Philharmonic Orchestra among others.
She played with world-famous conductors like Walter Weller, Alexander Rahbari, Roman Kopfmann, Claus Peter Flor, Cristian Mandeal, Berry Wordsworth, Philippe Auguin, Petr Altrichter, Leos Svarovsky, Erwin Aadland, Othmar Maga, Damian Iorio, Keiko Mitsuhashi and others.
She gave concerts in worldwide famous concert halls, as the Musikverein (Goldener Saal), Wiener Konzerthaus, Walt Disney Hall in LA, where she appeared with sixteen-time Grammy-nominated R&B artist Brian McKnight, Cadogan Hall in London, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Auditorium Rainier III Hall in Monte Carlo, Smetana Hall and in the Rudolfinum in Prague, the International Palace of Arts in Budapest, Atheneum in Bucarest, RTVE Teatro Hall in Madrid, etc.
She is the winner of the Fidelio competition in Austria and received a special prize and scholarship from the Hebert von Karajan Foundation and from Robert and Lina Thyli-Duerr Foundation of Switzerland.
She has won several international competitions including Andrea Postacchini international competition in Fermo, Prima la Musica competition in Austria, Concorsi International Di Musica in Stresa, and Rovere d’Oro competition in Bartolomeo al Mare.
She was invited by the English Royal family to perform on their “Children in Crisis” charity concert at the Royal Theatre in London and by the United Nations to perform at the UN Days and for a children charity concert, to the 35th Belgrade Music Festival (BEMUS), to the “Rising Star” Concerts in Cologne, to a recital at the Wiltz Festival in Luxembourg, New Year’s Concert in Trondheim (Norway), to the Samobor Festival in Zagreb, to the Orchestra Festival at the Seoul Arts Center and the KBS New Year’s Concert in Korea.
She played several famous instruments, among them the Stradivarius violins “Red Diamond” (1732) and “Leonardo Da Vinci” (1725). Currently she plays a Lorenzo Storioni Violin (Cremona 1780), loaned by a private collector.