Competition 2022

Haruna Shinoyama, Lia Tang, Celia Libertad Eliaz Mijares, Guilherme Moraes

The Quartet was recently accepted in the Masters in the Chamber Music course at the Mozarteum University. Starting in October 2022, they will study with Cibrán Sierra Vázquez, second violinist of the Cuarteto Quiroga.

In 2022 it played in the festival Zeist Music Days in the Netherlands, having masterclasses with Cuarteto Quiroga and the Quartetto di Cremona.

In 2021 it played at “Dissonanzen" at Mozarteum’s KlangReisen concert series presented by Lukas Hagen, at the 2021 Salzburger Festspiele directed by Oorkaan’s Caecilia Thunissen, at the “Erika-FrieserKammermusiktage, at the Mozarteum University, at the "Musiktage Hundsmarktmühle” chamber music festival in Fuschl Austria.

In 2020 it recorded for the “Online: concerts and talks” concert series, it played at the "Musical Chairs/Jeux de Chaises" Festival in Montreal Canada, at the „Musiktage Hundsmarktmühle” chamber music festival in Fuschl Austria.

In 2018 it played at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, at the "Future MAsters".

Johanna Schubert, Merle Geißler, Philipp Kirchner

The Amelio Trio comprising of Johanna Schubert (violin), Merle Geißler (cello) and Philipp Kirchner (piano) was formed in the summer of 2012. Their repertoire spans a broad range of works from the classical and romantic period, as well new music for which they share a common passion.

They were awarded 1st prize at the International Schumann Chamber Music Prize 2022, held in Frankfurt am Main in March. Their concert activities have taken them to the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Paderhalle Paderborn, the Mendelssohn-Haus Leipzig, the Musikfestival Rheinhessen and the Klangbrückenfestival in Hannover, amongst others.

The members have had the opportunity of solo performances with orchestras such as the hr-Sinfonieorchester or the Göttinger Sinfonieorchester. In addition, they have been generously supported by scholarships including the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

The three musicians are currently studying at the music conservatories in Hanover and Cologne and after many years of guidance by Angelika Merkle, are currently under the tutelage of Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet). They received further artistic impulses at master classes with Eberhard Feltz, Tim Vogler (Vogler Quartet), Elisabeth Kufferath (Tetzlaff Quartet), Wolfgang Redik (founding member of the Vienna Piano Trio), Volker Jacobsen (founding member of the Artemis Quartet) and Konstantin Heidrich (Fauré Quartet).

In addition to their chamber music activities, Johanna Schubert and Merle Geißler are enthusiastic orchestral players and participate in orchestras such as ensemble reflektor and the NDR Radiophilharmonie

Edoardo Grieco, Lorenzo Nguyen Ba, Francesco Massimino

Trio Chagall has recently gained the attention of the musical milieu as a winner of the Second overall Prize (First Prize not awarded) at the 20^th edition of the Premio “Trio di Trieste”, where it was also given the special prizes “Dario de Rosa” for best performance of a piece by Schumann, “Fernanda Selvaggio” for best Trio of the competition and “Young award” as most promising ensemble finalist. With an average age of 20 years, the Trio is the youngest chamber group ever awarded in the history of the competition. These are only the latest in a series of successes for Trio Chagall, which include the 1st overall prize of the chamber music category at the Amadeus Factory competition (2018) – the first talent designed for young artists of the Italian Conservatories – and the numerous accomplishments at the Concorso di Giussano in 2019, where the Trio was awarded the 1st overall prize, the special prize “Il Progresso”, the prize “Città di Giussano”, presented to the best contestants of all the categories.

In September 2020 the Trio was awarded the “Giovanna Maniezzo” prize by the Jury of the Accademia Musicale di Siena and in March 2022 the Trio was chosen as the “Ensemble of the year 2020/2021” by Dimore del Quartetto, one of the largest network of young international ensembles.

The Trio has also achieved the 1st prize at the XXIII International Music Competition of Cortemilia, the 1st prize at the European Music Competition of Moncalieri in 2016, the 3rd prize and the special prize “Città di Venaria” (presented to the best youths of the edition) at the Luigi Nono Competition of Venaria in 2016 and the 2^nd overall prize at the Gasparo da Salò Competition in 2019.

Defined as «a very young trio, but already very mature in the search of refined interpretative solutions»  (ARCHI magazine), Trio Chagall was founded in 2013 by Lorenzo Nguyen (piano), Edoardo Grieco (violin) and Francesco Massimino (cello) within the Conservatory of Music “G.Verdi” of Turin. The name of the Trio is intended as a tribute to the famous painter Marc Chagall, who has always been a deep source of inspiration and has always been admired for his ties to music and his strong expressive power through the use of colour.

The Trio is now continuing its studies under with Rainer Schmidt and Anton Kernjak at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel and is an aspirant group in ECMA - European Chamber Music Academy, where it receives advice from Hatto Beyerle and Patrick Jüdt.

In 2018 the Trio attended the summer masterclass with Trio di Parma within the Fondazione Santa Cecilia, obtaining the scholarship for best chamber music ensemble of the class. The ensemble also receives the precious advice of Antonio Valentino, Marco Zuccarini, Amiram Ganz and Christian Schuster (Altenberg Trio Wien) and Bruno Giuranna (Trio d'Archi Italiano). From 2020 Trio Chagall is supported by the De Sono Foundation.

Trio Chagall is involved in an intense concert activity all over Italy performing in prestigious venues (Vatican Museums in Rome, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Reitschule in Grafenegg, Italian Institute of culture in Paris, Milan Theatre dal Verme and Conservatory, Sala Sassu in Sassari) and as a guest of Unione Musicale, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Società del Quartetto, Camerata Ducale, Accademia Chigiana, ACM - Chamber Music of Trieste, Fondazione Perugia Musica Classica, Società Umanitaria, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino.

Trio Chagall has collaborated with Bruno Giuranna, Giampaolo Pretto and Luca Ranieri. Hailed with great appreciation from the public and critics, Trio Chagall’s members «strike with a neat playing style, linear and clean, totally free from any kind of exaggeration or artifice, managing with ease both purity of thought and action, not at all intimidated by the technical and expressive complexity».

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 has been 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, Beat Furrer, 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 also at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

From 1985-2000, 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, Bodman-Rae, Cerha, Danner, Dayer, Drushinin, Dubugnon, Dusapin, Furrer, Gaudibert, Gervasoni, Haller, Hefti, Henze, Holliger, Jost, Käser, Kelterborn, Kür, Lehmann, Ligeti, Moser, Pärt, Polglase, 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 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.

Born in Cagliari, Italy, he graduated from the Milan Conservatory under the guidance of Felice Cusano, and went on to specialise with Salvatore Accardo, Pavel Vernikov and Zina Gilels.

In 1986 he began a career both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, performing in prestigious concert halls such as the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo and the Lincoln Center in New York.

In 1992, he was invited by Philippe Herreweghe to become concertmaster of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, a position he still holds today, as well as collaborating as first violin with various orchestras: the WDR in Cologne, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and others.

He was first violin in the Turner String Quartet, with which he carried out an intense concert and recording activity until 2005.

Extremely passionate about music philology, he has always carried out a parallel activity between the modern violin and the ancient instrument, collaborating with great artists such as Frans Bruggen, Sigiswald Kujken, René Jacobs, Anner Bijlsma, Christophe Coin, Andreas Staier.

In 1996, driven by his passion for pedagogy, he created the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique (JOA) together with Philippe Herreweghe. From 2004 to 2010 he taught at the Academie de Musique Française in Kyoto. Since 2011, he has been professor of violin at the Conservatorio Superiore di Gent in Belgium and since 2017 at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.

Born in Milan (Italy), he graduated in piano with Leonardo Leonardi and in composition with Sandro Gorli and Umberto Rotondi at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Milan. He studied with the conductor Guido Guida of whom he was then assistant before being called to permanently conduct the ensemble Traiettorie Sonore in Como.

Later he conducted the instrumental group of the "Umberto Giordano" Festival in Baveno and all the musicians who now form the Achrome Ensemble. He is also a founding member of the Achrome Ensemble Association where he’s the president and the artistic director too. He has conducted Achrome Ensemble in Italy and abroad, recently recording 2 CDs published by Da Vinci Classics (Davide Anzaghi: Chamber Music Works and Music for Dummies with music by Paolo Coggiola, Alberto Cara and Federico Biscione): from 2017 he gives life to the season concert "... e adesso, musica!" at the prestigious Sala Piatti in Bergamo.

In the past he was invited to conduct the Musica XX ensemble, the choir of the Nuova Polifonica Ambrosiana and Le nuove voci by Divertimento Ensemble and he has always dedicated himself to the diffusion of contemporary music, playing with the Nuove Sincronie Ensemble (recording for Radio France, BBC, RAI, Ricordi and Stradivarius), with the Divertimento Ensemble, the Tactus Ensemble, the Cantelli orchestras, Milano Classica and laVerdi. He also has recorded for Agorà, Curci and Eucled.

Awarded in various competitions, he has played in Italy and abroad in prestigious venues, often in duo with the famous harmonica player Willi Burger.

On several occasions he was a member of the jury in the chamber music competition "Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award" in Lugano.

For a three-year period, he directed the Civic School of Music of Cassano d’Adda alongside his intense didactic activity.

He is currently the holder of Score Reading at the Claudio Abbado Civic School of Music in Milan; for the same institution he coordinates the Institute of Classical Music and he is assistant director.

Bruno Weinmeister is known as solo cellist of the opera houses in Dresden and Zurich. Since 2017, he has been cello professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

He studied cello with Heinrich Schiff in Basel and Salzburg, and with Wolfgang Boettcher in Berlin. His curiosity and fascination for music led to encounters with great musical personalities such as Heinz Holliger, Friedrich Cerha, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Friedrich Gulda.

After studying conducting with Eiji Oue in Hanover, he intensively worked with Claudio Abbado as his assistant in Lucerne and Berlin. A musical assistantship at the Bayreuth Festival leads to conducting engagements with the orchestras of Lausanne, Basel and St. Gallen, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Volksoper and the Tonkünstler Niederösterreich.

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

Bruno Weinmeister is requested as a chamber musician: Heinz Holliger, Benjamin Schmid, Emanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Renaud Capuçon, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexander Lonquich, Jörg Widmann, Jan Gottlieb Jiracek von Arnim are among his partners.

His solo activity includes performances 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 Mozarteum Orchestra and Bruckner Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Basel and Bern, conducted by Francesco Angelico, Susanna Mälkki, Michael Gielen, Heinz Holliger, Heinrich Schiff, Sebastian Weigle, Theodor Guschelbauer, Ari Rasilainen, Christian Zacharias, Hans Graf, Leopold Hager, Günther Neuhold, Heribert Beisel, Karl-Heinz Stephens, Yuri Simonov.