Künstler

Frederic Jost

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Frederic Jost, a member of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden International Opera Studio since the 2019/2020 season, is presenting himself in operas by Mozart up to Mussorgsky. In 2019, the bass returned to Oper Frankfurt, where he made his company debut in 2018 singing Ordulfo in Frankfurt’s first staging of Trojahn‘s Enrico, to sing First Handwerksbursche in Christof Loy’s acclaimed production of Berg’s Wozzeck.

Frederic Jost, born in Munich in 1993, gained his first artistic experiences with Tölzer Knabenchor. As soloist of Tölzer Knabenchor, he sung under the baton of conductors including Claudio Abbade, Ivor Bolton, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Kent Nagano and Sir Simon Rattle. In 2003, he made his debut at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin singing Yniold in Debussy‘s Pelleas et Mellisande, in 2004 he performed Bernstein‘s Chichester Psalms at Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Herkulessaal der Münchner Residenz. Besides, he was soloist in Bach‘s b minor Mass at Thomaskirche Leipzig and in a CD recording of di Lasso’s Bußpsalmen. He performed Knabe in Mozart‘s Die Zauberflöte at the main opera companies in Europe and the United States of America, Hirte in Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Puccini’s Tosca at Bayerischen Staatsoper.

After studying musicology, Frederic Jost started vocal studies with Michelle Breedt at Musikhochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich from 2014 to 2019. Master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender and Michelle Breedt refined his education. Frederic Jost is holding a scholarship of the Foundation Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now München e.V. and the Richard Wagner Society and the 2020 Lied-Academy of the International Musikfestival Heidelberger Frühling at Berlin.

Since 2014, the young bass is a regular in new productions at Bayerische Staatsoper: Assan in Menotti’s The Consul (2017, accompanied by Münchener Kammerorchester); Coryphée in a Gluck’s Alceste (2019); `Achills tiefer Schatten´ in Hauke Berheide’s world premiere Mauerschau (2016); main bass part in Magal’s Jephta’s Daughter (2015); Zweiter Hauptmann in Zimmermann‘s Die Soldaten under the baton of Kirill Petrenko (2014). In February 2020, he will go on a tour of Hong Kong, singing Truffaldin in Strauss‘ Ariadne auf Naxos.

In 2016, he made his debut at Davos Festival, singing the main part Richard Boll in Joseph Weigl’s Die Schweizer Familie, and in 2018 at the Bregenz Festival.

Frederic Jost performed his first lied recital, accompanied by Donald Sulzen, at the festival Fränkische Musiktage in Alzenau in 2015. In 2014, he sang Pilatus in Bach‘s St. John’s Passion under the baton of Hans-Jörg Albrecht. Since, he performed Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven‘s Symphony N° 9, Handel’s The Messiah, Haydn’s Salve Regina, Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solemnis, Schumann’s Faust-Szenen.

Frederic Jost worked with producers including Brigitte Fassbaender and Andreas Kriegenburg and performed under the baton of conductors including Hans-Jörg Albrecht, Marcus Bosch, Oksana Lyniv, Kirill Petrenko.

Geng Lee

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Geng Lee, a young Lyric – Baritone from China, is currently studying at Conservatory for Music and Theater in Hamburg (HfMT Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg). His earliest contact with music was in the choir of his primary school. At the age of 16 he began to study in the class of Prof. Yuemei Li where he received an early professional training in Bel Canto. At the age of 19 he was admitted to the HfMT Hamburg with the first place and started to study with Prof. Jörn Dopfer. In his 5. semester he continued to study with Met-Soprano Prof. Carolyn Grace James. To growing up and developed a love for singing.

During his studies he participated as a solist in the “Christmas Oratorio”, and in the operas “Die lustige Witwe”, “Die Zauberflöte”, “Eugen Onegin”, ” Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor”. He raised the highest expectations of the vast majority of his audience and the music critics. He won the “Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-Preis für Gesang” which as a history of the competition of the only young singer in Bachelor 1st semester, and the best young singer of 25th “FLAME” competition in Paris. The most recent award was the first prize in the Mahler Art Song Competition (Gustav Mahler Duo Liedwettbewerb) together with pianist Daan Boertien, and the award of the Gustav-Mahler-Association for the best Mahler song (Sonderpreis der Gustav-Mahler-Vereinigung Hamburg für das beste

Mahler-Lied). After the Yehudi Menuhin Live Now Music Benefit Concert baritone singer Christian Gerhaher described Geng’s singing ” As a classical singer, who will have a good career in the future.”

In 2015 Geng received an invitation from conductor Manfred Fabricius to participate in a charity event for refugee children given by the German Paediatricians for which he recorded the “Messe” from Franz Schubert.

Fanny Soyer

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Die Sopranistin Fanny Soyer, geboren 1994 in Paris, begann im Alter von vier Jahren Klavier zu spielen. 2009 nahm sie erstmals Gesangsstunden bei Patrick Marco im Rahmen der Kinder- und Jugendförderung „Maitrise de Paris“ am Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) de Paris, wo sie anschließend bei Melanie Jackson im Département Supérieur pour Jeune Chanteurs de Paris Gesang studierte.

Seit September 2016 studiert sie in der Klasse von Prof. Christine Schäfer an der Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler und arbeitet dort u.a. mit Julia Varady, Wolfram Rieger, Eric Schneider, Thomas Quasthoff zusammen. Im Juni 2018 übernahm sie in der Hochschulproduktion „Dido und Aeneas” von Henry Purcell die Partie der Dido. 2019 schloss sie ihr Bachelorstudium erfolgreich ab. Das erste Semester ihres Masterstudiums verbringt sie an der e Royal Danish Academy of Music in Kopenhagen in der Klasse von Helene Gjerris.

Jongsoo Yang

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Jongsoo Yang, a young bass, studied from 2016 to 2019 Konzertexamen with Prof. Reginaldo Pinheiro and at the same time sang as a member of the Freiburg Opera Studio. From 2017 to 2019 he was a member of the ensemble at the Theater Freiburg and sang the roles of Masetto in “Don Giovanni” and Colline in “La Bohème” among others. Jongsoo completed his bachelor and LOK (Lied Oratorio Konzert) master studies with Prof. Peter Maus at the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK, 2011-2016). While studying at UdK he made his opera debut singing Pantalon from “Commedia dell’arte” and Simone from “La finta semplice” by Mozart. Moreover, he worked intensively with Prof. Peter Maus on concert repertoire singing various cantatas and oratorios in numerous churches in Berlin such as Haydn’s Creation with Junge Ensemble under the direction of Frank Markowitsch as part of a communication project of IASS Potsdam on nature and culture. He performed the Concert for the Nations in 2015 broadcast live on the internet. Additionally, he had extensive Lied lessons in Berlin: German songs with Prof. Eric Schneider and Liana Vlad, Russian songs with Prof. Sayali Dadas and contemporary Lied repertoire with Prof. Axel Bauni. He was a semifinalist at the International Music Competition in Montreal and during his studies he was a scholarship holder of the Oscar und Vera Ritter Stiftung and Paul Hindemith Gesellschaft.

Kunal Lahiry

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The young American Kunal Lahiry is becoming one of the most promising and sought after pianists of his generation. Following his orchestral debut at the age of 17 with the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra as the first prize winner of the Kiwanis Society scholarship, Lahiry has won top prizes at international competitions including the Atlanta Music Club, New Orleans Piano Institute, Brevard Music Center Piano Competition, Concours “Les Saisons de la Voix”, Toulouse International French Song Competition, and the XXVI Concours de Flame in Paris. He is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Artist, Center for Musical Excellence (CME) Young Artist, ENOA Artist, Leeds Lieder Young Artist, and Samling Young Artist. Recently, he was selected for Renée Fleming’s inaugural SongStudio program for collaborative pianists and singers at Carnegie Hall, was awarded the 2019 Sam Hutchings Pianist Prize at the Oxenfoord International Summer School directed by Malcolm Martineau, and has been invited to the 2020 Heidelberg Lied Akademie under the direction of Thomas Hampson, with performances at the Boulez Saal and Heidelberg Frühling Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Graham Johnson, Sir Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau, Murray Perahia, André Laplante, Hartmut Höll, Helmut Deutsch, Susan Manoff, Brian Zeger, and Anne le Bozec.

Kunal Lahiry’s special affinity towards art song has led to concerts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Académie Musicale de Villecroze, Carnegie Hall Weill Music Room, Wigmore Hall, La Monnaie, Sage Gateshead, Britten Studio, Auditorium Saint-Pierre-Des-Cuisine, Teatr Wielki, Salon Razumovsky, l’Église Américaine de Paris, Musée des Archives Nationales, Musée d’Orsay, Royaumont Abbey, Opéra de Rouen, Petit Palais, Leipziger Oper, Mendelssohn Remise, and in the Lunchkonzert series of the Berliner Philharmonie. He was featured in Clemens Goldberg’s lecture-performance series ‘Slow Listening’, on the radio program ‘Kulturradio RBB’ in Berlin, on the live radio broadcast “Génération France Musique”, and has appeared several times in concert for the Daniel Barenboim Excellence Foundation. In 2018, Lahiry was selected for the first academy of melody and lieder at the Royaumont Abbey and Musée D’Orsay, a year-long residency culminating in a live album recording with B Records. His former teachers include Walter Hautzig, Alan Chow, Kyoko Hashimoto, and Fabio Bidini. Lahiry recently finished his Master’s in song interpretation under the tutelege of Wolfram Rieger at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin

Lars Conrad

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Lars Conrad was born in 1996 in Hamm, Germany. He began his vocal training with Tjark Baumann at the local music school. When he was still in school, he began studying voice at the HfM Detmold with Markus Köhler and Lied with Manuel Lange. After his graduation in 2014, he switched to the HMT Leipzig to study his Bachelor with Berthold Schmid, which he concluded with great success in summer 2018. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Rudolf Piernay.

He attended Masterclasses with Roman Trekel, Christine Schäfer, Edith Wiens and Peter Schreier. He also worked privately with Michael Volle. Operatic Roles include Willi Graf in Davies “Kommilitonen”, Nepomuk in “La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein” by Offenbach, Journalist in „Lulu“ and Cesare in Händels „Giulio Cesare in Egitto“. He performed in the HMT Leipzig as well as in theatres Görlitz, Nordhausen, Dessau and Leipzig. He is a memeber of the festivals “Winter in Schwetzingen” opera studio, where he will perform under the direction of Christina Pluhar in “Die getreue Alceste” by Schürmann. He worked with directors Lotte de Beer, Matthias Oldag and Steffen Piontek. Conductors include Matthias Foremny, Ulrich Kern, Ulf Schirmer and Peter Schreier.

He worked intensively on his Lieder repertoire with Manuel Lange, Alexander Schmalcz, Ian Burnside and Eric Schneider, with whom he did several recitals. He was a member of the Schubert-Institut Baden bei Wien 2019 and will participate in the Lied Academy Heidelberger Frühling in 2020. Lars performed in the Thomaskirche Leipzig, the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig and in festivals such as the Bachfest Leipzig and the Schumannfestwoche. Additionally he gives concerts all over Germany. His oratorio repertoire reaches from Baroque to late Romantic music.

He was awarded 3rd Prize at the Helmut-Deutsch-Liedwettbewerb Vienna.

Jerica Steklasa

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Young Slovenian soprano Jerica Steklasa started her music education at the age of six with violin and piano. At the age of 13 she began to take singing lessons in Ljubljana and in 2011 she joined Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (professor Claudia Visca), later also in Master Lied&Oratorio (Charles Spencer).

The concerts and opera performances led her around the world stages in Austria (Wiener Musikverein, Konzerthaus), Germany (Alte Oper Frankfurt), the Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, Australia, USA. She sang at the world-renowned New Year’s ball HOFBURG Silvesterball in Vienna and won many national and international awards. Most recently she won the KALEIDOSCOPE Competition in Los Angeles, so she will perform there again in June 2020.

Following her invitation to Australia, Ms Steklasa made her opera debut in Sydney as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in 2013, followed by her debuts (in Austria, Germany, Italy) as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Marie in Carneval in Rom, Ännchen in Der Freischütz, Silvia in L’isola disabitata, Lisette in La Rondine, Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

She took courses, among others, with Roberta Alexander, Jack LiVigni, Nelly Miricioiu, Steven Maughan, David Gowland. As a Scholarship Holder of 1st International Opera Workshop Waiblingen in September 2019, she worked with Melanie Diener and Thomas Hampson (final concert with Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Maestro Dan Ettinger).

Cosima Soulez Larivière

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Franco-Dutch violinist Cosima Soulez Larivière was born in Paris.

She started to play the violin when she was three years old and was later taught by Igor Volochine. In 2005, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Cobham, UK, where she became a pupil of Nathasha Boyarsky.

Concerts have brought her all over Europe and to Japan and Singapore with performances in o.a. het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London and the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.

At the 2018 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Hannover, Cosima received the 3rd prize as well as the prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work (Rebecca Saunders – Hauch). In 2017, she was awarded the 1st prize, as well as numerous concert engagements, at the inaugural Bartok World Competition in Budapest. In 2015, she won the 1st prize at the Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria. In the same year, she obtained the 3rd prize (no first prize was awarded) and the Bach prize at the Postacchini Competition in Fermo, Italy.

Cosima has participated in master-classes with Salvatore Accardo, Ana Chumachenko and Mihaela Martin, amongst others.

She became a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Centre, USA, in 2016. In 2018, she took part in ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’, Kronberg Academy. Furthermore, she was invited to the Verbier Festival Academy, 2018, and received the APCAV Award. This past summer, she was selected as a fellow, to attend Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, USA.

She is a recipient of the ESU Music Scholarship, UK (2015), the Live Music Now Hannover e.V. Scholarship, Germany (2015-), the Deutschland Stipendium (2016) and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (2017-). Since 2018 she is a fellow of the Young Artists Foundation GmbH in Germany.

Currently, she is studying at the Musik Hochschule in Hanover, Germany, with Prof. Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

Cosima plays on a G. Grancino 1675 kindly on loan to her by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

 

Markus Becker

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For many years, among international concert pianists Markus Becker has convinced audiences and critics alike as a highly formative interpreter of piano literature from Bach to Rihm, a program director rich in ideas and an established artist. Being a virtuoso jazz improviser, he is also an exception among classical pianists. Becker’s regularly performs at venues such as the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Kissinger Sommer. Becker has played with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, RSB Berlin, the radio symphony orchestras of the NDR, WDR and SWR in Germany, and the BBC Welsh Orchestra under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Howard Griffiths, Michael Sanderling, and Thierry Fisher.

The chamber music partners of Markus Becker include Albrecht Mayer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Adrian Brendel, Igor Levit, Sharon Kam and Alban Gerhardt. Markus Becker studied under the tutelage of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and for many years benefited from the important suggestions and observations of Alfred Brendel. Since 1993, he has been a professor at the Hanover Academy for Music, Theater and Media.

Beckers CD recordings are the three-time recipients of the ECHO-Klassik award as well as the German Critics’ Choice Award. Today, in addition to recordings for EMI, Decca, Thorofon and cpo Becker records mostly in the studios of the British label hyperion.

Becker’s recording of Max Reger’s complete piano works on 12 CDs (Thorofon) is already considered legendary. FonoForum’s assessment of this major encyclopedic achievement: “One of those rare and truly major achievements of piano artistry in the past 50 years.”

Quatuor Bergen

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Mathilde Klein, Violine
Sakkan Sarasap, Violine
Mirabelle Le Thomas, Viola
Magdalena Probe, Violoncello

Das Quatuor Bergen begann seine musikalische Reise 2015 mit einem Studium am Pariser Konservatorium (CNSMDP) in der Klasse von Emanuelle Betrand. Von den unzähligen Möglichkeiten, dem außergewöhnlichen Timbre des Streichquartetts und dem vielschichtigen Repertoire für diese Besetzung begeistert, entschlossen sich die vier Musiker eine intensive und vielversprechende Zusammenarbeit zu beginnen.

Neben der Arbeit an klassischem Repertoire, arbeitet das Quatuor Bergen stets daran, seinen musikalischen Horizont zu erweitern, mit anderen Kunstformen den Schulterschluss zu suchen und seine Kunst auf neuen Wegen weiterzutragen. So wirkte das Quartett 2018 in dem Projekt „Boxe Boxe“ des Choreografen Mourad Merzouki gemeinsam mit 80 Tanzstudierenden der MPAA Paris mit und entwickelt gemeinsam mit einer Grundschule in Lyon das Opernprojekt „Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Haydn“ für Kinder.

Das Quatuor Bergen schärft seit Beginn seiner Zusammenarbeit sein künstlerisches Profil durch die Teilnahme an diversen Meisterkursen unter anderem bei Luc-Marie Aguera, Yovan Markovitch,Quatuor Modigliani, Alfred Brendel oder Roland Pidoux und die mehrfache Teilnahme an der European Chamber Music Academy, in Rahmen derer das Quartett Unterricht bei Johannes Meissl und Hatto Beyerle erhielt. Außerdem ist das Quatuor Bergen Preisträger des “Tremplin Jeunes Quatuors” Wettbewerbs der neuen Pariser Philharmonie.

Derzeit studiert das Quatuor Bergen sowohl am CCR in Paris bei Luc-Marie Aguera als auch am Konservatorium von Lyon in der Klasse des Quatuor Debussy.