Competition 2024

Ezgi Su Apaydin, violin
Laura Muskare, violin
Patricia Gomez Carretero, viola
Frederick Winterson, cello

The Velvet Quartet was founded in 2020 by four young and committed musicians from Turkey, Latvia and Spain, currently based between Essen and Berlin in Germany.
Since then they have been mentored by world-class chamber music professors such as Harald Schoneweg, Alfred Brendel, Bruno Giuranna, Gregor Sigl, Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet),
Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet), Oliver Wille ( Kuss Quartet), Jonathan Brown (Cuarteto Casals), Barbara Maurer, Thomas Hoppe, Quatuor Ébène, Modigliani Quartet, among others.
The Velvet Quartet is currently enrolled in the Chamber Music Master’s program with Prof. Andreas Reiner at the Folkwang University of the Arts and plays on instruments made by Stefan-
Peter Greiner, which are a generous loan made available by the Folkwang University of the Arts Foundation.
Recently, they were awarded membership in the “Le Dimore del Quartetto” program following their successful participation in the “Jeunesses Musicales” International Chamber Music Campus
in Weikersheim, Germany in 2023. In 2023 they were also selected as one of the ensembles to participate in the Vibre! String Quartet Festival Residency in Bordeaux. In the season of 2022/23 Velvet Quartet was chosen as scholars of the W. Richard- Dr. Dörken foundation for young musicians, giving a series of concerts in the region of North- Rhine Westphalia in the frame of the „Best of NRW“ project.
In 2022 after a successful audition organised by WDR 3, they had the opportunity to give a live concert on the German Radio.
In 2021 they had the opportunity to perform at the 10th String Quartet Biennale of the Philharmonie de Paris, and received the 1st prize at the Köhler-Osbahr Chamber Music Competition, as well as the 3rd prize at the International Competition "Zukunfstklang Award".
In addition to actively engaging with the classical string quartet repertoire, the quartet has worked on many different musical concepts from the very beginning, such as performing living
composers, creating interdisciplinary projects and at the same time learning the classical and traditional string quartet discipline.

Antonino Fiumara, pf
Misia Iannoni Sebastianini, vl
Martina Santarone, vla
Vladimir Bogdanovic, vc

Winner of the 39th ‘Abbiati’ Prize, the 2020 ‘Farulli’ Prize, third prize at the International Chamber Music Competition of Pinerolo and at the International Chamber Music Competition ‘Trio di Trieste’, the Werther Quartet is today one of the emerging Italian chamber music ensembles on the rise in the national and international concert scene. In 2022, it was awarded the Diploma of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the class of Carlo Fabiano, receiving a ‘special mention for exceptional chamber music talents’, an accolade never before awarded in the more than 80-year-history of the Academy's courses.

The Werther Quartet already has numerous concerts to its credit and collaborations with important festivals and concert associations, including Fondazione Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bologna Festival, Fondazione Perugia Musica Classica, Festival dei Due Mondi di Spoleto, Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Moscow International House of Music, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Musikàmera, Teatro Ristori of Verona, Associazione ‘Angelo Mariani’ of Ravenna, Amici della Musica of Palermo, Accademia Filarmonica of Messina, Festival delle Nazioni, Fondazione Musicale ‘Santa Cecilia’ of Portogruaro, Società dei Concerti of Parma, Ente Concerti of Pesaro, Musikdorf Ernen Festival.

In 2021, a programme dedicated to them was broadcast in collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in which they performed live on RaiRadio3 and RaiReplay, performing the Mahler and Richard Strauss Quartets.

In 2022 they were guests at the Trame Sonore Festival in Mantua, during which they performed in a Masterclass-Concert with Maestro Alfred Brendel.

In 2024, they made their debut at the ‘Teatro Verdi’ in Trieste for the Società dei Concerti and at the Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio di Milano, for the Società dei Concerti di Milano.

Founded in Rome in 2016, it has been a member of the ‘Le Dimore del Quartetto’ circuit since 2018. it trained at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole and at the Conservatorio ‘A. Boito’ in Parma in the chamber music school of the Trio di Parma and Pierpaolo Maurizzi and deepened his study of the repertoire during important Festivals and Campuses, including the International Chamber Music Campus organised by Jeunesse Musicale Deutschland and the Sessions of the European Chamber Music Academy.

The advice of Rainer Schmidt (second violin of the Hagen Quartett, lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik Basel) and Patrick Jüdt (director of the Bern ECMA Session) is currently of great importance.

In 2021, their first CD ‘Fauré Piano Quartes’ was released on the Dutch label Brilliant Classics, dedicated to the complete string and piano quartets by Gabriel Fauré and supported by Musica con le Ali. The CD received immediate critical acclaim and was broadcast on the Radio della Svizzera italiana as part of the programme ‘La recensione’ and on RAI Radio3 in the programmes ‘Primo Movimento’ and ‘Radio3 Suite’.

At the end of 2024 they will be guests of the Piacenza Concert Society with an unpublished piece by Alessandro Solbiati dedicated to them, and in January 2025, they will make their debut at the Stadt Casino for the prestigious Kammermusik Basel.

Yona Sophia Jutzi, pf
Johannes Wendel, vl
Christoph Lamprecht, vc

The Davidoff Trio was founded in january 2021 at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz and is supported by regular chamber music lessons with Prof. Boris Kusnezow (HMT Leipzig), Prof. Thomas Demenga (Musikakademie Basel) and Prof. Andreas Lehmann (HfM Weimar). Coaching sessions with Emanuel Wehse (Morgenstern Trio) as well as the Ensemble Modern complement the chamber music training of the young musicians. In April 2021, the trio was chosen as one of the winning ensembles of the chamber music competition "Kammer? Musik!" by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and in Sept 2021 was selected for a concert and study residency in San Ginesio (Italy), also sponsored by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Mr. Eckart Sachse. In addition, the Davidoff Trio is a laureate of the “Orpheus Chamber Music Competition” 2021 (Fribourg, CH) as well as a finalist of the international chamber music competition "Premio Amici della Musica di Verona".
The young musicians gave their debut in march 2021 at the Landesmusikakademie Rheinland-Pfalz in Neuwied. In addition to further concerts in various cities in Germany, invitations to recitals in Italy and Switzerland have already followed, among others to the Festival Musikdorf Ernen, the Chamber Music Festival Adelboden and the Brixen Classics Festival. Concert recordings of the Davidoff Trio have already been broadcast internationally on the radio several times, most recently on SRF-Kultur. The trio participated in the 2023 edition of the International ARD competition in Munich and is currently enrolled in the Master Chamber Music program with Prof. Thomas Hoppe at Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen.

Sergio Costa, pf
Emanuele Brilli, vl
Matilde Michelozzi, vc

Since we were founded in Florence in 2019, we have immediately established ourselves on the international chamber music scene with numerous prizes, competitions and awards including the Farulli Prize as part of the Abbiati Prize 2024, the Alberto Burri Prize 2023, the Luigi Nono Prize 2023 (with a special prize for contemporary music) and the Filippo Nicosia Prize 2022.

We first perfected our skills at the Stauffer Center with the Cremona Quartet, and in 2020 we moved to Switzerland, where we are currently attending the Master Specialized in Chamber Music at the Hochschule Bern with Patrick Jüdt and at the Hochschule Luzern with Hiroko Sakagami and Isabelle van Keulen.

We are part of the network Le Dimore del Quartetto, from which we were also awarded Ensemble of the Year in 2022. Over the years we have also attended courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, the Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland and the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), where we had important encounters with masters such as Hatto Beyerle, Alfred Brendel, Clive Greensmith, members of the Cuarteto Casals and the Kuss Quartett.

We performed at numerous festivals including Bühnen Bern, Piano Trio Fest, KKL Luzern, Chamber Music Association Trieste, Lingotto Musica, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Società dei Concerti di Trieste.

In January 2024, we made our debut in China with a concert tour between Beijing and Chongqing. We were recently named the winner of the Jürg Müller Foundation's prize for the best chamber group at the Bern Hochschule, thanks to which we will hold a concert with Daniel Sepec and Patrick Jüdt.

Gianni Bergamo was born in Milan, Italy in 1941, attended primary school in Italy and Liceo in Switzerland. After a degree in Economy (1964) at the Catholic University of Milan, he dedicated himself to the study of music with Tissoni (harmony and composition), D. Maffeis (organ) and N. Sanzogno (orchestra conducting) at the Conservatory of Bergamo, Italy.
From 1964 to 1994 he was a businessman with his own import-export, real estate and finance companies, though at the same time he has remained close to music and to its world.
In 1990 he created the Cultural Association “Gli Amici Cantori”, first as a chorus alone, then later accompanied by an orchestra. He has given many concerts in Italy with them, preferring the symphonic-sacred repertoire (masses, oratories, passions, etc.). At present, he lives in Santiago del Chile.

Jürg Dähler, born in Zurich, international activity as violinist, violist, pedagogue, and chamber musician as well as organizer and curator of renowned festivals and concert series. Studies with Sándor Végh, Heribert Lauer and Pinchas Zukerman on the violin as well as with Christoph Schiller, Kim Kashkashian and Fjodor Druschinin on the viola. Formative longterm artist encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Heinz Holliger, Brenton Langbein and György Ligeti. After his debut in the Zurich Tonhalle with the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder's viola concerto dedicated to him, he was a guest with many renowned orchestras under conductors such as Giorgio Bernasconi, Douglas Boyd, Friedrich Cerha, Thierry Fischer, Beat Furrer, Reinhard Goebel, Heinz Holliger, Brenton Langbein, Petri Sakari, Stefan Sanderling, Heinrich Schiff, Jac van Steen, Marcello Viotti and Thomas Zehetmair. Concert tours as a soloist and chamber musician have regularly taken him to Australia, the US and all over Europe with performances at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Salzburg Festival and the Wiener Festwochen, the City of London Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Venice Biennale and at the Montreux Jazz Festival. From1985-2000 he was a member and Primarius of the legendary Kammermusiker Zurich. In 1993 he co-founded of the Collegium Novum Zurich. Since 1993 he holds the position as principal violist at the Musikkollegium Winterthur and is a member of the Winterthur String Quartet. In 1999 he co-founded the Swiss Chamber Concerts and runs since 2015 the Pentecost Festival at Schloss Brunegg as its artistic director.

He received much international acclaim for his world premiers and first performances of solo and chamber music works - many of which are written and dedicated for him - by composers such as Birtwistle, Blank, Braun, Bodman-Rae, Cerha, Danner, Dayer, Drushinin, Dubugnon, Dusapin, Furrer, Gaudibert, Gervasoni, Haller, Hefti, Henze, Holliger, Jost, Käser, Kelterborn, Kür, Lehmann, Ligeti, Moser, Pärt, Polglase, Racine, Schnyder, Wyttenbach, Vassena and Zimmerlin. He produced over 30 CDs for labels such as ECM, NEOS, Genuin, Accord, Claves, Grammont, Jecklin and Cantando. Currently he teaches at the Kalaidos University and gave master classes at many renowned teaching institutes such as Conservatorio di Musica “Arrigo Boito” di Parma, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music or the National Academy of Music in Melbourne. In 2007 he obtained the title “Executive Master in Arts Administration” from the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Zurich with summa cum laude. In 2008 he received the Zolliker Art Prize for his artistic work and his services to the Swiss cultural life, and in 2020 he was honoured with the Swiss Music Prize for his dedicated work for the Swiss Chamber Concerts. He plays a violin by Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona 1714, and a viola by Raffaele Fiorini, Bologna 1893.

www.juergdaehler.com

Italian native Roberto Plano performs regularly throughout North America and Europe – notably at Lincoln Center, Sala Verdi, Salle Cortot, Wigmore Hall and the Herkulessaal. He has appeared with orchestras all over the world, under the direction of renowned conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, James Conlon, Pinchas Zuckerman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He has been a featured recitalist at the internationally acclaimed Newport Festival, the Portland Piano Festival, Ravinia Festival and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival (USA), Chopin Festival (Poland), the Bologna Festival - Great Soloists (Italy), and many others. He played with String Quartets such as the Takacs, Cremona, St. Petersburg, Fine Arts, Jupiter, Muir, as well as soloists such as Ilya Grubert, Pavel Berman, Jiri Barta, Enrico Bronzi, and in duo with his wife Paola Del Negro.

Mr. Plano was the First Prize Winner at the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Prize Winner at the Honens, Dublin, Sendai, Geza Anda and Valencia Competitions and Finalist at the 2005 Van Cliburn and the Busoni Competitions, in addition to having won 15 First Prizes in National Competitions in Italy.  In January 2018 he won the American Prize in the solo professional division. Mr. Plano’s engaging personality has made him a favorite guest on radio programs such as NPR’s Performance Today.

He has recorded more than 20 commercial CDs for Briliant, Sipario, Azica, Arktos, DaVinci, Concerto, being awarded five stars by several music magazines.  and he recently released several World Première CDs with music by Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801). Mr. Plano gave the world premiere of two Luchesi piano concertos with the Busoni Chamber Orchestra in Trieste, Italy; the US premiere took place with the Toledo Symphony, Stefan Sanderling conducting. Mr. Plano’s debut recording with DECCA Classics was also recently released, featuring the “Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses” by Liszt, which have not been recorded by Decca since the 60’s. Recent events include soloist appearances with Kremerata Baltica at the Portogruaro International Festival in Italy, with the Royal Camerata at the Athenauem Theater in Bucarest (Romania) and with the Boston Civic Symphony at Regis College, and recitals and chamber music concerts at the Stellenbosh Symposium, Sudafrica, at the Yamaha Center, Taiwan, at Vivace Vilnius Festival in Lituania, Gijon International Piano Festival in Spain and at the Boston Athenauem in USA. He was also invited to give several concerts in Russia, including two concerts at the Kremlin State Palace in Moscow, and a 10-concert chamber music tour in China with The Juilliard School’s faculty Laurie Smukler and Darrett Adkins.

Mr. Plano studied at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, the Ecole Normale “Cortot” in Paris, where he earned the Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste, obtaining first prize with unanimous decision and congratulations of the Jury, and the Lake Como Academy. Mr. Plano has been described by The Chronicle as the “Pavarotti of the Piano” for his lyricism and defined by Chicago radio commentator Paul Harvey as the heir to Rubinstein and Horowitz. In Italy, he has appeared on the cover of the most important music magazine, Amadeus, and has been awarded several prizes, including the Lumen Claro, previously assigned to such noteworthy people as soprano Barbara Frittoli, stylist Ottavio Missoni, and economist Mario Monti. NY Times music critic Anthony Tommasini has written: “This Italian pianist showed artistic maturity beyond his years… there was a wonderful clarity and control of inner voices in his performances…”.

After joining in 2016 the Faculty of Boston University, in 2018 he has been appointed as Associate Professor of Piano at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. One of the most sought-after teachers in the world, Mr. Plano also regularly teaches during the summer at Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. Starting in 2023, he will be on the Faculty of Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) and Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK).

Felix Renggli, born in Basel, Switzerland, studied flute with G. Hildenbrand, A.Nicolet and P-L. Graf. After graduating from the Music Academy Basel, he played as a solo flutist in various orchestras

Felix Renggli frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician as well as teaching masterclasses throughout Europe, South America, the US, Japan, Korea and China and has appeared as a guest artist at numerous international music festivals. His regular collaboration with oboist, conductor and composer Heinz Holliger has profoundly impacted his work as a concert artist.

Renggli’s repertoire ranges from New Music (many premiere performances with the Swiss Chamber Soloists and the Ensemble Contrechamps), classical chamber music and solo repertoire, all the way to performances of Early Music on period instruments.

Since 1994 Felix Renggli is Professor for Flute and Chamber Music at the University of Music in Basel. He was a faculty member of the Music University of Freiburg, Germany from 2004 to 2014.  Since 2014 he is also professor at the “Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana” in Lugano.

For more than 20 years Felix Renggli acts as one of three Artistic Directors of the Swiss Chamber Concerts, Switzerland’s first nationwide concert series, which obtained the “Swiss Music Prize 2020”.

www.felixrenggli.com

Bruno Weinmeister is known as the principal cellist of the Dresden and Zurich opera houses.

Since 2017 he has been professor for violoncello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

He studied the cello with Heinrich Schiff in Basel and Salzburg and with Wolfgang Boettcher in Berlin. His curiosity and fascination for music brought him together with the great musicians Heinz Holliger, Friedrich Cerha, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Friedrich Gulda.

After studying conducting with Eiji Oue in Hanover, there is more intensive collaboration with Claudio Abbado as well as his assistant in Lucerne and Berlin. A musical assistant at the Bayreuth Festival, who conducts the orchestras of Lausanne, Basel and St. Gallen, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Volksoper and the Tonkünstler Niederösterreich.

As a guest solo cellist, he has played with the orchestras of the Bavarian State Opera, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Stuttgart Opera and the radio orchestras of Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Freiburg.

Bruno Weinmeister is a sought-after chamber musician: Heinz Holliger, Benjamin Schmid, Emanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Renaud Capuçon, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexander Lonquich, Jörg Widmann, Jan Gottlieb

He has played as soloists with the radio orchestras of Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the orchestras of Lyon, Turin, Bologna and Glasgow, the Mozarteumorchester and the Brucknerorchester, the symphony orchestras of Basel and Bern, with conductors such as Francesco Angelico, Michael Gielen, Heinz Holliger, Heinrich Schiff, Susanna Mälkki, Sebastian Weigle, Theodor Guschelbauer, Ari Rasilainen, Christian Zacharias, Hans Graf, Leopold Hager, Günther Neuhold, Heribert Beisel, Karl-Heinz Stephens, Yuri Simonov.