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Christian Altenburger (Austria)
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At 19, he made his debut as a soloist at the Vienna Musikverein. This was soon followed by engagements with top international orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworchester Amsterdam, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, Dennis Russel Davies, Christoph von Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Václáv Neumann, Sir Roger Norrington, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Franz Welser- Möst and others.
In addition to his appearances as a soloist, chamber music has become an important aspect of his artistic work. His chamber music partners include: Bruno Canino, Patrick Demenga, Heinz Holliger, Nobuko Imai, Kim Kashkashian, Reinhard Latzko, Michele Lethiec, Melvyn Tan, Lars Anders Tomter and Lars Vogt.
Since 2003, Christian Altenburger has been Artistic Director of the Schwäbische Frühling Music Festival whose architecturally attractive concert venues in southern Germany offer an ideal ambiance for chamber music as well as Symphony Orchestra concerts.
In 2006 Altenburger became Artistic Director of the Loisiarte Festival in Langenlois, Austria. The festival takes place in the extraordinary surroundings of the Loisium designed by architect Steven Holl.
Altenburger’s strong advocacy for the performance of contemporary music has resulted in premiers and recordings of composers such as Theodor Berger, Bert Breit, Gottfried von Einem, Wilhelm Killmayer, Thomas Larcher, Witold Lutoslawski, Werner Pirchner and Kurt Schwertsik.
For many years, Christian Altenburger held a professorship at the Hannover University of Music. In 2001, he was appointed a professorship at the Vienna University of Music.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CHRISTIAN ALTENBURGER
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| Photo: Benjamin Ealovega. |
James Ehnes has an extensive discography of over 25 recordings featuring music ranging from J.S. Bach to John Adams. Recent projects include a disc featuring concertos by Britten and Shostakovich, three CDs of the music of Béla Bartók as well as a recording of Tchaikovsky’s complete works for violin and his ballet The Sleeping Beauty. Upcoming releases include a double CD of violin works by Prokofiev and a recording of Katchatchurian’s Violin Concerto paired with Shostakovich’s String Quartets Nos. 7&8. His recordings have been honored with many international awards and prizes, including a Grammy, a Gramophone, and 7 Juno Awards.
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Ida Kavafian enjoys an international reputation as one of the most versatile musicians performing today. With a repertoire as diverse as her talents, Ms. Kavafian has electrified recital stages throughout North America, Asia and Europe. She has also appeared as soloist with major orchestras around the globe. For twenty-eight years, Ms. Kavafian has been the artistic director of the highly successful festival, Music from Angel Fire, in New Mexico. She also founded the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado and, as its music director for 10 years, built it into one of the country’s leading festivals.
Recent seasons saw the release of two world premiere recordings representing the wide range of Ida Kavafian – Fire and Blood by Michael Daugherty with the Detroit Symphony, Neeme Jarvi conducting, and two string quartets by the Bluegrass virtuoso, Mark O’Connor, alongside the composer.
Ms. Kavafian’s commitment to contemporary music has led to many world premieres by composers such as Toru Takemitsu, who wrote a concerto for her, and to tours and recordings with jazz greats Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, in addition to Mr. O’Connor. She gave the world premiere of Daugherty’s concerto, Fire and Blood, with the Detroit Symphony under Neeme Järvi, and went on to perform it in Carnegie Hall with the American Composers’ Orchestra and with the National Symphony of Mexico, among others. She also performed the work at the Interlochen Arts Academy (and with them on tour), a place where she spent much of her musical youth, and from which she received the coveted Alumni Award as well as the Ovation Award. Just this season, she appeared as soloist with them again in Washington, DC and at Lincoln Center in New York, this time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Academy.
Since her founding membership in the innovative group TASHI, Ida Kavafian’s chamber music appearances have included many renowned festivals and series throughout the world. She continues her association with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with a number of appearances. She has toured and recorded as violist with the Guarneri String Quartet and has appeared with the Orion, Shanghai and American Quartets. During her six-year tenure as the violinist of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, the group was named "Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America and received a Grammy nomination. After leaving the trio, she formed the ensemble Opus One with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, violist Steven Tenenbom and cellist Peter Wiley, a group that has co-commissioned and premiered new works by Roberto Sierra, George Tsontakis, Marc Neikrug, Lowell Liebermann and Stephen Hartke. Recently, she co-founded Trio Valtorna with pianist Gilles Vonsattel and hornist David Jolley. She also continues to appear frequently with her sister, violinist Ani Kavafian in recital and concerto appearances. Their television credits include features on CBS Sunday Morning and NBC’s Today Show. Ms. Kavafian has also had a solo feature on CBS Sunday Morning.
Born in Istanbul, of Armenian descent, Ms. Kavafian immigrated to the United States with her family when she was three. She began her studies at age six with Ara Zerounian, continued with Mischa Mischakoff, and ultimately earned her master’s degree, with honors, from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Oscar Shumsky. She is on the faculties of the Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School and the Bard College Conservatory. She has served on numerous competition juries and boards, including Chamber Music America.
Ida Kavafian made her New York debut with pianist Peter Serkin, as a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and also received the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her violin is a J.B. Guadagnini, made in Milan in 1751, and her viola was made in 1987 by Peter and Wendela Moes.
Ms. Kavafian has found equal success outside of music in the breeding, training and showing of prize winning Vizsla dogs. Residents of Connecticut and Philadelphia, she and her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom are the proud breeders and owners of the 2003 Number One Vizsla in the US, and the 2007 National Champion.
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| Photo: Simon Wall/Intermusica. |
Born in Chengdu, China, Ning Feng studied at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London. In 2006 Ning Feng won first prize in the International Paganini Competition, following in the footsteps of violinists such as Kavakos, Kremer and Accardo. He was First Prize winner of the 2005 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, New Zealand, and has won prizes at the Hanover International, Queen Elisabeth and Yehudi Menuhin International violin competitions.
Having performed regularly in China at the highest level, Ning Feng is now developing a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment. Highlights of Ning Feng’s 2011/12 season include concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic/Delfs, Galicia Symphony/Harth-Bedoya, Calgary Philharmonic/Minczuk and Orchestre National de Lyon/Foster. He made a last-minute and highly-acclaimed contribution to the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival in January 2012; later this year he returns to the Kissinger Sommer festival, Bad Kissingen, for chamber concerts and makes his debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in two recitals.
Looking ahead to future seasons, Ning Feng is welcomed back by the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia orchestras, makes his debut with orchestras in Bilbao, Strasbourg, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana and Moscow, at the Prague Spring and Tivoli festivals, and returns to Colmar and Gstaad festivals. Regarded increasingly as an artist of exceptional quality, he is being paired with conductors of great esteem such as Vladimir Jurowski, Jaap van Zweden, Sir Mark Elder and, most notably, toured China in 2010 with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iván Fischer.
Ning Feng records for Channel Classics in the Netherlands. His most recent recording, Solo, featuring works by Paganini, Kreisler, Berio, Schnittke and others, received a first-class review by Audiophile Audition: "You will be blown away by the artistry of this album, and blown away in great sound to boot. This is a stunning recording of solo violin works by a variety of composers […] and there are really few violinists who are able to pull it off. Ning Feng is one of those who can, not only for his sterling playing but also because of the rabid intelligence behind the selection of pieces here. None of these works is anything less than enthralling, and a few approach the incandescent. Milstein’s arrangement of the Paganiniana has never been bettered […] this is an unqualified recommendation of a wonderful album that demonstrates the highest artistic and programming skills possible.”
Ning Feng is based in Berlin and plays a Stefan-Peter Greiner violin (Bonn 2007).
Ning Feng is represented by Intermusica.
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Dene Olding is recognised as one of Australia's most outstanding violinists. He is currently Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and first violinist for the Goldner String Quartet and the Australia Ensemble (resident at the University of New South Wales).
As a soloist he has worked with all of the Australian Symphony and Chamber Orchestras in a range of repertoire. He has performed over forty concertos and worked with some of the world's leading conductors including Edo de Waart, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Stuart Challender, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jorge Mester, Gunther Herbig, Werner Andreas Albert, David Porcelijn and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He gave the Australian premiere performance of Lutoslawski's Chain 2 with the composer conducting, Elliott Carter’s Violin Concerto and the Violin Concerto of Philip Glass. In addition, he has performed world premieres of violin concertos by Ross Edwards and Bozidar Kos and the Double Concerto for violin and viola by Richard Mills, written for himself and his wife, Irina Morozova.
Dene has also held the position of Leader and Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and is often sought after to lead/direct concerts with many other orchestras. He has also been the Artistic Director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Festival Chamber Music Concert Program. He has appeared regularly at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music for the last seventeen years and at many festivals in Australasia and Europe. In 2010 he will appear at the Edinburgh Festival as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Dene attended the Juilliard School In New York from the age of fourteen as a scholarship student of Ivan Galamian and Margaret Pardee. He graduated in 1978 with the Master of Music Degree and was awarded the Morris Loeb Prize. Other studies included master classes with Nathan Milstein and further lessons with Herman Krebbers and Gyorgy Pauk. In 1985, he was awarded the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to further his musical studies and during that year, became a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Violin Competition.
Solo recordings include a sonata disc of Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart for ABC Classics with his father, Max Olding, the CD premiere of concertos by Frank Martin and Milhaud and concertos by Samuel Barber and Ross Edwards (Maninyas) - winner of the 1994 A.R.I.A. award for "Best Classical Recording" and the prestigious Cannes award. He has also recorded the Hindemith violin concerti with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Werner Andreas Albert for CPO. His numerous chamber music CD’s have also received acclaim. Most recently, the recording of chamber music of Edward Elgar with the Goldner Quartet and pianist Piers Lane for the Hyperion label was selected as Gramophone magazine’s "Record of the Month” and spent time on the "Classical top 10” in the UK. His recording of the complete Beethoven string quartets with the Goldner quartet for ABC Classics was chosen Classical album of the year by Limelight magazine and a recording of rare Rachmaninov violin works with pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy also received praise from The Strad magazine.
In 2011, he gave the premiere performance of the Carl Vine violin concerto with the Australian Youth Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
As a member of the Goldner String Quartet and the Australia Ensemble, he regularly tours to Europe, Asia and New Zealand. He has been awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia and has received numerous awards and accolades for his performances in all spheres of music-making. Currently, he is also Artistic Adviser and frequent jury member for the Michael Hill International Violin Competition held in New Zealand bi-annually. He also directs the annual Music in the Hunter Festival, a chamber music event that takes place in the Hunter Valley wine-making country near Sydney. He manages to combine a passion for Aikido and sailing with his busy musical career and spending time with his wife, Irina and son, Nikolai.
Dene Olding plays a fine Joseph Guarnerius made in Cremona in 1720.
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Helene Pohl (New Zealand)
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Helene Pohl is the first violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet, a full-time post that keeps her well out of other mischief, though she has performed solo recitals and concertos around New Zealand since moving here in 1994, and she is the devoted teacher of a small number of students at the New Zealand School of Music.
Born in Ithaca, New York to German parents, she spent her childhood on both sides of the Atlantic. She began violin at age 4 with the Suzuki method. A musical omnivore, she began piano study at 9 and as a teenager added viola, clarinet and baritone saxophone (the latter in order to join the jazz band). At 17 she began tertiary study at the Musikhochschule Cologne, where her teacher was Franzjosef Maier, founder of the Collegium Aureum, and her chamber music coaches were the members of the Amadeus Quartet. She continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music where she received a Bachelor's Degree and the coveted Performer's Certificate. Her violin and chamber music teachers were the members of the Cleveland Quartet; she also studied voice with Renee Fleming. She received her Master's Degree at Indiana University where she studied violin with Josef Gingold (student of Eugene Ysaye), viola with Kim Kashkashian, and chamber music with Fritz Magg, Abraham Skernick and Gyorgy Sebok.
With groups formed during her studies she spent many summers at the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival where she received coaching from members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard and Tokyo Quartets. Other violin teachers whose lessons she found inspirational along the way were James Buswell, Robert Mann and Joyce Robbins.
As first violinist of the San Francisco based Fidelio String Quartet (1988-1993), Helene Pohl performed in the USA, Germany, England, Italy and South America. The Fidelio Quartet was prizewinner in the 1991 London International String Quartet Competition and quartet in residence at both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals.
Helene Pohl joined the New Zealand String Quartet as first violinist in February 1994. The NZSQ, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012, enjoys an extremely busy international career, with several yearly tours to North America and Europe and frequent visits to Australia and Asia as well as about 40 concerts each year in New Zealand alone. They also have an extensive discography on Atoll, Naxos and Rattle among others, with music by Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel, Berg, Wolf, Szekely, Tan Dun, Takemitsu, Chinary Ung, Zhou Long, the entire quartets of Bartok and Mendelssohn and many New Zealand compositions. Their CD "Notes from a Journey" won the Classical section of the Tui Music Awards in 2011.
In 2001 she became Artistic Director, with fellow quartet member Gillian Ansell, of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music, held biennially in Nelson, which features NZ artists along with international visitors and has become an important part of the Australasian music scene.
In her spare time she is often seen on the tennis court, or practicing Tai Chi, or playing with her son Peter.
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| Photo: J Henry Fair |
Dmitry Sitkovetsky is an artist whose creativity defies categorising. He has built up an active and successful career as a violinist, conductor, arranger, chamber musician & festival director. Sitkovetsky has performed as a soloist with a number of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin, New York and LA Philharmonic Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Concertgebouw Orchestra, all of the major London orchestras, NHK, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. He has performed at a number of high-profile festivals including Salzburg, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Verbier, Istanbul, Mostly Mozart and Festival del Sole (Napa Valley). In 2003, he was appointed Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, a position he currently holds with great success.
In the 12/13 season, Sitkovetsky’s guest engagements represent his extremely diverse range of activities including concerto performances with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and Russian Philharmonic; conducting the Zagreb Radio Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra and return visits to China with the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras; play/direct engagements with the NDR Hannover Orchestra, Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra Moscow, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. In addition, he will conduct the Lucerne Hochschule and adjudicate on the jury of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Chamber music performances are also wide-ranging with performances last summer including appearances at the Verbier Music Festival, Walled City Music Festival, Gran Canaria Festival, Amiata Piano Festival (Tuscany) and a recital at the Bellver Castle in Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Later in the season, he performs a recital at the Rome Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti series (with Roger Vignoles), chamber music in India (Pune and Mumbai), as well as a collection of projects at King’s Place in London – lectures on the art of transcription, a recital of the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with Mikhail Rudy and a string trio performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and 15 Sinfonias.
Recent engagement highlights included concerto performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Jansons/Britten), Seattle Symphony (Inkinen/Britten), Orchestra of the Opera North (Farnes/Barber) and conducting the Russian State Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Vaasa City Orchestra as part of the Korsholm Music Festival 30th anniversary. Play/directing engagements included the Minnesota Orchestra, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, and the San Antonio Symphony.
Sitkovetsky has built a flourishing career as a conductor. From 1996–2001, he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra and then appointed Conductor Laureate, and from 2002–2005 held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian State Orchestra. From 2006–2009, he was the Artist-in-Residence at the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon (Spain) a position that involved conducting, solo playing, touring, chamber music and masterclasses. Sitkovetsky is the founding director of the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra (NES CO) established in 1990 which is comprised of distinguished string players from Eastern & Western Europe. Since his successful transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio and string orchestra, he has transcribed more than 40 works mostly for string orchestra by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Dohnanyi, Bartók, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Schnittke. He has been a member of ASCAP since 1985 and his transcriptions are published by Doblinger, Sikorski and Schirmer.
Sitkovetsky was the Artistic Director of a number of festivals including the Korsholm Music Festival in Finland (1983-1993 and 2002), Seattle International Music Festival (1992-1997), The Silk Route of Music Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan (1999) and has worked with a diverse range of artists such as Argerich, Ashkenazy, Bashmet, Davidovich, Harrell, Kissin, Maisky, Ohlsson, Penderecki, Repin, Schnittke and Shchedrin. In May 2007, Sitkovetsky was the Artist-in-Residence at the Bodensee Festival in Germany where he performed a wide variety of activities: soloist, conductor, chamber musician, recitalist, masterclasses and conducted the NES Chamber Orchestra in residence.
He has an active and varied recording career with an extensive discography which includes all the major violin concerti, numerous chamber music works as well as orchestral recordings that he’s conducted. In 2010, Hänssler Classic released a boxed set of the complete Mozart Violin Sonatas with Antonio Pappano and Konstantin Lifschitz. On the Concertgebouw Live label, there was a release of Dutilleux’s L'Arbre des Songes with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mariss Jansons. Recently, Nimbus Alliance released a newly recorded version of the Bach’s Goldberg Variations and 15 Sinfonias for string trio to critical acclaim.
Sitkovetsky shows a keen interest in performing contemporary repertoire - he premiered the violin concerti written for him by John Casken (1995) and Krzystof Meyer (2000) and often performs works by Dutilleux, Penderecki, Schnittke, Pärt and Shchedrin, who has written several works for Sitkovetsky both as violinist and conductor. In 2005, he performed two major works by John Corigliano - his Second Symphony and the Red Violin Suite in a play/conduct concert. Sitkovetsky’s latest premiere was The Gifts of the Magi written by Jakov Jakoulov after O’Henry’s famous story and narrated by Peter Coyote with the Greensboro Symphony. He also played a unique solo recital of contemporary music at the Verbier Festival in 2009 with a programme by Schedrin, Vasks, Auerbach and Ali-Zadeh. In September 2012 he will conduct the premiere of Jakov Jakoulov’s Concerto for clarinet & harp in Greensboro, NC as part of the UNCG New Music Festival & GSO Chamber Music series "Sitkovetsky & friends”.
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he grew up in Moscow studying at the Moscow Conservatory and after his emigration in 1977, at the Juilliard School in New York. Since 1987 he has resided in London with his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Julia. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: dimasitko.
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Dr Lloyd Williams, chair of the panel of judges, is a trustee of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Lloyd played double bass with the Auckland Philharmonia for fifteen years before being appointed General Manager of the orchestra in 1995. Since leaving the orchestra in 2001 he has directed the Masters in Arts Management degree programme at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in Auckland. Lloyd is a trustee and chair of the College of Governors of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Chamber Music New Zealand.
Lloyd holds a Bachelor of Music (Hons) from Canterbury University and a PhD in Music from Auckland University. He currently plays double bass with Dunedin's professional orchestra, the Southern Sinfonia.
Previous International Juries
As with the Preliminary Panel, previous International Jury are rotated from the "Jury Pool" to ensure, over the years, that a breadth of musical traditions and nationalities are represented.
| 2011 Competition Michael Dauth, Germany/Australia Boris Garlitsky, Russia/UK Mark Kaplan, USA Vesa-Matti Leppänen, Finland/NZ Cho-Liang Lin, Taiwan/USA Tasmin Little, UK Lara St John, Canada | 2009 Competition Shmuel Ashkenasi, Israel Pamela Frank, USA Philippe Graffin, France Dong-Suk Kang, Korea Oleh Krysa, Ukriane/USA Wilma Smith, NZ/Australia Radoslaw Szulc, Poland/German |
| 2007 Competition Pierre Amoyal, France/Switzerland Justine Cormack, New Zealand Pamela Frank, USA Mark, Kaplan, USA Hu Kun, China/UK Boris Kuschnir, Russia/Austria Dene Olding, Australia | 2005 Competition Pierre Amoyal, France/Switzerland Justine Cormack, New Zealand Dong-Suk Kang, Korea Mark Kaplan, USA Paul Kantor, USA Dene Olding, Australia Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Poland/German |
| 2003 Competition Pierre Amoyal, France/Switzerland Justine Cormack, New Zealand Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Peru/USA Chad Smith, USA Simon Morris, United Kingdom Takako Nishizaki, Japan/Hong Kong Dene Olding, Australia | 2001 Competition Pierre Amoyal, France/Switzerland Justine Cormack, New Zealand Michael Dauth, Germany/Australia Rosemary Gent, United Kingdom Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Peru/USA Paul Kantor, USA Takako Nishizaki, Japan/Hong Kong |
