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5th edition
2015
Conductor, founder and artistic director of the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot. He was born in Warsaw, where he studied at the Higher State School of Music in the class of Bogusław Madey (diploma with honours). Thanks to a scholarship, he was able to study at the Hochschule für Musik Köln in Cologne and participate in masterclasses in Vienna.
He began his career as a conductor in 1971 at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw with the ballet Giselle by Adam. At the same time, from 1974 to 1978, he was the conductor and artistic director of the Grand Theatre in Poznań. From 1978 to 1980, he was the first conductor of the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn. In 1982, he established the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot and has been performing with it ever since in the greatest concert halls all over the world. In 1993–2006, Wojciech Rajski was the artistic director of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (now Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw), with which he actively performed and registered many recordings for the Polish Radio.
In 1993, he launched his pedagogical career at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, where he received the title of professor. In 1998–2014, he was a conducting professor at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main; in 2008–2020, he ran a conducting class at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk.
In addition to his regular co-operation with Polish orchestras, Wojciech Rajski has performed as a guest conductor with numerous orchestras in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Mexico, England, Sweden, Greece, Spain and Germany, e.g. the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the NDR Radiophilharmonie (Hannover) or the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Munich). He has led many world-renowned soloists, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Henryk Szeryng, Sabine Meyer, Ivo Pogorelić, Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, Piotr Beczała or Krystian Zimerman, with whom he has toured Germany twice.
Mr Rajski has participated in such international festivals as the Prague Spring, the Flanders Festival, the Gran Canaria Festival, the Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival as well as in festivals in Evian, Montpellier, La Chaise-Dieu and Copenhagen. Originator and artistic director of the Sopot Classic International Music Festival.
Wojciech Rajski’s recording output includes over 80 albums released by such labels as Sony Classical, DUX, EMI, Universal Music, Le Chant du Monde, Claves, Thorofon, Tacet, Midas, Bis, Wifon, Koch and many others. He records for radio and television both in Poland and abroad. He has received many distinctions and decorations, e.g. the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2002), the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture ‘Gloria Artis’ (2005) or the Pomeranian Artistic Award (2008); in 2022, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture ‘Gloria Artis.’
comes from Seville, Spain. He studied conducting and piano in Seville, Paris, and at the Higher Musical School in Frankfurt, from which he graduated with distinction. He assisted Lothar Zagroski in Berlin State Opera, Yakov Kreizberg in Comical Opera in Berlin, Markus Stenz in Cologne Opera, and Paolo Carignani in Frankfurt Opera.
In 2007-2017, Rodrigo Tomillo was employed as a conductor at Pfalztheater, Kaiserslautern. In the 2016/2017 season, he was appointed the first conductor and the deputy General Music Director there. In Pfalztheater, he directed more than 50 works from the musical theatre repertoire, including Verdi’s Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera, Puccini’s La Bohème, Janačka’s The Cunning Little Vixen and ballets: Swan Lake, Snow White and Romeo and Juliet. His German premiere of El Gato Montés by Manuel Penelli was nominated to the 2018 International Opera Awards as the discovery of the year.
Rodrigo Tomillo performed as a guest conductor at Staatstheater, Mainz (La Traviata), Theater in Münster (Tosca), Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck (Hansel and Gretel) and Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater (Otello). In addition, he directed the following orchestras as a guest conductor: Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquestra Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Osnabrücker Symphoniker, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, and Hofer Symphoniker. Rodrigo Tomillo accompanied international soloists, such as pianists Elisabeth Leonskaja and Alexander Krichel, trumpeter Mathias Höfs and cellist, Peter Bruns. He regularly performs at international festivals, including Saar Music Festival, Sopot Classic, Music Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, and Boluda Fest, Gran Canaria.
Since the concert season 2017/2018, Rodrigo Tomillo has been the first conductor and Deputy Director General of the Musical Theatre in Hagen, where he conducted Tosca, Aida and Simona Boccanegra, Dvořák’s Marmaid and Dido and Aeneas, Cindirella and Handel’s Water Music. In the 2019/2020 season, he will direct at the Theatre in Hagen, including Verdi’s Trubadurem; moreover, he will perform the new staging of Lortzing’s Zar und Zimmermann.
In the 2018/2019 season, Rodrigo Tomillo was a resident conductor at the Theatre in Chemnitz, where he conducted Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. During the 2019/2010 season, he will continue to work with the Theatre in Chemnitz, conducting Magic Flute and Swan Lake.
The graduate of two faculties of the Lodz Music Academy: instrumental (piano) and vocal and acting under J. Pietraszkiewicz. She continued vocal studies under André Orlowitz in Copenhagen, which led to many successes in various international vocal competitions. Between years 1992-1994 she was awarded the 1st prize in the Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw, the Brahms Competition in Hamburg, and the ARD Music Competition in Munich.
Urszula Kryger’s repertory extends from baroque oratories through German and Italian opera to romantic and modern songs. She has performed concerts and song recitals in the biggest music venues of Europe such as Munich, Paris, Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Berlin (Schauspielhaus), Milano (La Scala), Stuttgart, Madrid. She has co-operated with famous conductors: Jerzy Semkow, Jan Krenz, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Sir Colin Davis.
She performs regularly at well known music festivals such as the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the Berliner Festwochen, the Kissinger Sommer, the Warsaw Autumn.
Urszula Kryger is particularly keen on chamber music and has been accompanied by such great musicians as Hartmut Höll, Charles Spencer, Melvyn Tan, Pascal Rogé, the clarinetist Paul Meyer as well as string quartets: the Tokyo String Quartet, the Petersen Quartet and the Sine Nomine Quartet.
Her international opera debut took place in 1996 in the SemperOper in Dresden as Angelina in Rossini`s “Cinderella”.
She has recorded for radio stations in Poland, France, Germany and Switzerland. Her CD recordings include Poulenc`s “Polish Songs” with P. Rogé (Decca 1999), Chopin Songs with Ch. Spencer (Hyperion 1999), Russian Duets with J. Rappé and T. Herbut (Dux 2001), Moniuszko Songs (Dux 2002), Szymanowski Songs (Dux 2002).
In 2003 a recording of Beethoven’s arias was released (BNL) followed in 2004 by a complete recording of Szymanowski’s songs for Channel Classics. The latter won the Fryderyk Prize for the Most Outstanding Polish Music Recording in the same year. In January 2006 Urszula Kryger received The Szymanowski Foundation Prize for her masterly interpretations of Szymanowki’s songs.
Soprano Laquita Mitchell consistently earns acclaim at eminent international opera companies, leading performances with Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, and Opéra Comique in Paris, among many others.
Her compelling début was Bess in Porgy and Bess with the San Francisco Opera. She has since reprised the role with The Atlanta Opera, The Tanglewood Festival, Madison Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra. Additionally, PBS invited Ms. Mitchell to perform excerpts from Porgy and Bess for the Television Critics Association Press Tour in preparation for the broadcast and DVD release of SFO’s Porgy and Bess. This season, Laquita joins Beth Morrison Projects for a production and recording of David Lang’s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field in the role of Virginia Creeper; sings a special Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Concert with Philadelphia Orchestra, and sings Bess for Santa Barbara Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Sheboygan Symphony.
In her role début as Violetta in La traviata with New York City Opera, she was labeled “extraordinary,” thanks to her “wide expressive range and big-hearted sound that contains just a hint of sexy smokiness. Her “Sempre libera” was enlivened by a rhythmic clarity that made it seem almost danceable.” Other notable appearances include Leonora in Il trovatore in South Carolina as well as with Nashville Opera; the role of Sharon in Terrance McNally’s Master Class at the Kennedy Center; Musetta in La bohème in a return to the Los Angeles Opera; Mimì in La bohème with Cincinnati Opera, and at the Utah Symphony and Opera; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Florentine Opera, Portland Opera, and Opera New Jersey; Clara in Porgy and Bess with Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Opéra Comique in Paris and on tour in Caen and Granada, Spain; and Micaëla in Carmen with New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, and most recently, Cincinnati Opera, where the Cincinnati Enquirer hailed “Mitchell shone in the role of Micaëla, the peasant girl who loves Don José. She was a natural actress, and sang with expressive beauty whenever she was onstage.”
Also an active concert artist, Ms. Mitchell recently performed Over the Rainbow – an evening honoring Harold Arlen at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Additional performances include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Louisville Orchestra, a début with the New World Symphony in Alberto Ginastera’s Cantata para la América Mágica, the world première of composer Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964 with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, her Boston Symphony Orchestra début as the soprano soloist in Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise under the direction of Kurt Masur, and the soprano solo in Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the Washington Chorus at Kennedy Center. She has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the New York Symphonic Ensemble at Alice Tully Hall, and with Branford Marsalis and the Garden State Philharmonic.
Ms. Mitchell is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, where she performed a variety of roles including stand-out performances in contemporary operas such as Orquidea in Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes (world première), Myhrrine in Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata (world première), Barena in David Alden’s production of Jenůfa, and The Water in Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince (world première) directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Patrick Summers.
Ms. Mitchell was previously a member of the San Francisco Opera’s world-renowned Merola Program. She then joined Wolf Trap Opera in performances as Alice Ford in Antonio Salieri’s Falstaff, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and presented a recital with renowned pianist Steven Blier.
A native of New York City, Ms. Mitchell was a 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Prize Winner, and was awarded a Sara Tucker Award. She was also the First Prize Winner of the Wiener Kammer Oper’s Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, making her the first American to win this competition in over twenty years. Additionally, Ms. Mitchell was the First Prize Winner of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, as well as the winner of the Audience Choice award. Ms. Mitchell holds a Master of Music degree and the Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music, and completed undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College.
“Kenneth Overton is lauded for blending his opulent baritone with magnetic and varied portrayals that seemingly “emanate from deep within body and soul.”
Heralded by the BBC for his “exceptional voice,” Kenneth made his New York City Opera mainstage debut in 2012 as Doctor Grenvil in Verdi’s La Traviata. That season, Kenneth also made an acclaimed debut in the world premiere of David Ott’s The Widow’s Lantern at Pensacola Opera, whereby he was immediately re-engaged to star as Joe in Showboat. 2012–13 included debuts with New Jersey Symphony (Bruckner Te Deum) and Tacoma Symphony Orchestra (Verdi concert).
In collaboration with pianist Kevin Miller, Kenneth released his first solo CD in the fall of 2013. Been In De Storm So Long: Songs My Fathers Taught Me, is his homage to the spiritual tradition that has been formative in his artistic life. In step with this legacy, Kenneth is also co-founder and artistic director of Opera Noire of New York, a performing arts organization created to empower African-American artists to reach their full creative potential in a creative supportive environment.
Career highlights include Kenneth’s San Francisco Opera debut as Lawyer Frazier in Porgy and Bess and Germont (La Traviata) with Sacramento Opera and Boheme Opera (NJ). As a leading baritone, Kenneth has sung with Opera Memphis, Nashville Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Boheme Opera of NJ, Houston Ebony Opera Guild, Opera Delaware, Sacramento Opera and Opera Carolina. His roles with these companies include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Schaunard (La bohème), Ping (Turandot) as well as Angelotti (Tosca), Bello and Sid (La Fancuilla del West).
Kenneth’s interpretation of the title role in Porgy and Bess has been acclaimed as “breathtaking.”. In 2014, he debuted with Opéra de Montréal, Palacio Bellas Artes and the Royal Danish Opera as Porgy. He made his international debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin in the critically-acclaimed production from South Africa’s Cape Town Opera. Kenneth portrayed Porgy with Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Opera Memphis, Opera Carolina, Lexington Opera Society, and in concert with The WDR Orchestra of Cologne at the Klangvokal Music Festival in Dortmund, The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, The Richmond Symphony, The Paducha Symphony and on tour throughout the British Isles.
Kenneth is widely recognized for his concert work, having performed with Phoenix Symphony, Norwalk Symphony, Montclair State University, New Jersey’s Cathedral Basilica, Duluth Superior Symphony, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Yonkers Philharmonic, Oratorio Society of New Jersey, Summit Chorale Festival (NJ), New York City Opera’s Schomberg Series, Sarasota Symphony, San Antonio Symphony and Richmond Symphony. His concert and oratorio repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughn Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Schubert’s Mass in A-flat, Haydn’s Creation and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. Kenneth is also regularly featured with the American Spiritual Ensemble as a soloist for annual performances in the USA and international tours of Spain, Ecuador and France.
Kenneth has a passion for both musical theater and new works, and he made his Broadway debut in Baz Luhrman’s La Bohème. He was featured in City Center Encores’ production and recording of Romberg’s The New Moon, and sang the role of Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars with Skylark Opera. His Carnegie Hall debut was as the baritone soloist in Come Follow Me by Jackson Berkey with the Westfield Symphony Orchestra (Mid-America Productions). Kenneth has also excelled in diverse contemporary works including performances of Corps of Discovery by Michael Ching at Opera Festival of New Jersey; Six Characters in Search of An Author by Hugo Weisgall; and The Gilded Cage by Kioulaphides with Nexus Arts (NY).
Kenneth is a winner of the Liederkranz Competition, Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, Rosa Ponselle Competition (Meriden, CT) and a national winner of the Leontyne Price Vocal Competition.
Adam Makowicz was born in 1940 in the Czech Republic, in a Polish family living in those days in Cieszyn Silesia. In 1946, he returned to Poland together with his parents. His mother, a pianist and singer, was the first person to give him piano lessons. Young Adam turned out to be a really talented person and therefore he studied at a special school for musically inclined children. and then he
transferred to the piano class of an outstanding teacher, professor Karol Szafranek in Rybnik. Although his parents dreamt their son would become a classical pianist one day, 15-year-old Adam started to be fascinated by jazz. In Poland, in the late 1950s, jazz was an undesirable or even „forbidden fruit” of the West. This music, as Makowicz once said, „the world of freedom and improvisation”, fascinated him to such an extent that as a teenager he dropped out of school, abandoning its classical requirements and rules.
While searching for the beginning of his artistic path and a language of musical utterances, Adam, being unable to count on his parents’ support, chose extremely modest standard of living, feeling uncertain whether he would be able to survive another day. At that time Helicon Jazz Cafe in Kraków became his oasis. A few years later, in 1962, Adam together with Tomasz Stańko, a great trumpeter, formed „Jazz Darings” band considered as the first European jazz combo. At that time he cooperated with Janusz Muniak, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Urszula Dudziak, Wojtek Młynarski. He had honoured with his music the legendary Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warszawa for many years. In the mid-1970s, Adam Makowicz started giving more solo concerts, gaining fame and recognition among music lovers from Poland and other countries across the world.
In 1977, on the recommendation of Benny Goodman and Willis Conover, a jazz promotor (listening to his radio programme „Music USA-Jazz Hour” young Makowicz studied jazz), the legendary producer John Hammond invited him to a 10-week tour of the USA. At that time Adam recorded his solo album for the CBS Columbia entitled „Adam”. In 1978, Makowicz went to the USA again, this time it was a 6-month contract. At that time New York, Manhattan became a second home for him.
Legendary temples of music opened out before Adam – Carnegie Hall in New York (during a concert dedicated to Erroll Garner, who had died six months before Adam gave his first solo performance there) and Cookery Club in Greenwich Village. He was invited to take part in Jazz Festival in Newport in Rhode Island.
After the proclamation of martial law in Poland in 1981 Adam, together with other Polish artists living in the USA, participated in a TV programme „Żeby Polska była Polską” [Let Poland be Poland], organised on the initiative of President Ronald Reagan, broadcast all across the world, which definitely deprived him of a chance to come to Poland for the next several years. It was not until 1989 when he could finally visit Poland. Since that time, he has visited our country on regular basis. While performing in the USA, Adam has shared the stage with the greatest and the most outstanding musicians, including among others Benny Goodman, Herbie Hancock, Earl Hines, Freddie Hubbard,Sarah Vaughan,Teddy Wilson, George Shearing, George Mraz, Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden. He has been a soloist of world-famous orchestras and chamber bands such as National Symphony of Washington, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Chester String Quartet, Amici String Quartet, as well as almost all major Polish bands such as the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Sinfonii Varsovia, Ameadeus Sinfonietta, Sopot National Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilanów Quartet and many others.
His performance in duet with Leszek Możdżer in Carnegie Hall, which took place in September 2004, was highly appreciated by critics. The concert – „a duel” between a veteran master and a jazz rising star was recorded on CDs and DVDs. EMI Music record company awarded the album a Platinum Record Award. Apart from jazz pieces, the musician’s repertoire includes classical music, especially Chopin who he „soaked up” in his youth and who he can feel „in a jazz manner” like nobody else. An unmistakable expression of the influence of Chopin’s genius was the fact that Adam gave concerts playing together with Krzysztof Jabłoński or Stanisław Drzewecki within the program „Swinging Chopin” [transcriptions and jazz improvisations on the Chopin’s music]. In the USA Adam recorded an album dedicated to Chopin’s music in a jazz version, the only American album of this type entirely dedicated to this genius composer. Adam’s wide repertoire includes the works of G. Gershwin, I. Berlin, J. Kern, C. Porter and many other American composers. He recorded several dozens albums and performed in the most important concert halls in the world, cooperating with the greatest contemporary musicians. He is an author of repertoire for chamber ensembles, over 100 short pieces of jazz music as well as music to use in short films.
He received numerous awards, including the Commander’s Cross. In 2008, on the special occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Polish American community, Adam Makowicz was admitted as a member of the group of the most meritorious Poles in the history of the United States. In October 2009, Adam received the Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis – a decoration in Arts awarded to the persons and organizations for distinguished contributions to, or protection of the Polish culture and the people’s heritage across the world. In 2012, Adam received an annual award from Society of Friends of Silesia in Warsaw for persons who have contributed significantly to the Development of Silesia. For several years Adam’s annual autumn recital has had a charitable cause supporting the Rehabilitation, Education and Care Center in Ustroń-Nierodzim.
In autumn 2011, PWM Edition Publishing House published a book by Mark Strasz titled „Grać pierwszy fortepian. Rozmowy z Adamem Makowiczem”, in which Adam tells the readers in a very vivid and honest manner about his difficult beginnings, love for jazz and career overseas and which became very popular among readers. The second edition of the book was published in May 2015.
During the concert which took place in New York on 11 February 2015, he began a close cooperation with Krzysztof Medyna, a saxophone player from New York of the Polish descent, with whom he created a remarkable duo.
He is the only one non-Spanish guitarist of Flamenco music writing for the prestigious Ballet National de España. In almost 15 years of collaboration with the great bailaor Antonio Canales, he wrote music for the ballet of “Torero” (1992), “Narcissus” (1995), “Gypsy” (1996), “Minotaur” (2002), “Bailaora” (2004) and “Bohemia” (2006).
His works are represented throughout the world in the most prestigious scenarios, such as: the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Theatre des Champs Elisee in Paris, the Theatre de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Lope de Vega in Seville, Bunka Kaikan of Tokyo, the Colon in Buenos Aires, the Philharmonic in Cologne, the Grand Theater of Shanghai and the Theatre of the Acropolis of Athens.
He took part in important events as a soloist and in various formations, like the “Foro Popular” in Barcelona, the “Bienal de Flamenco” of Seville and the “Festival di Sanremo” in Italy, appearing in several TV shows for RAI (Italy), RTSI (Switzerland), TVE (Spain), VPRO (Netherlands).
He also wrote music for cinema and theater (winning the Rimini Film Festival) and composed works for classical broader, including: “Concert for guitar orchestra”, the “Levantine Suite” for guitar and orchestra, and 3 CDs under his own name: “Sombra”, “Bohemia” and “Otro Sitio”.
He wrote music for the show “Rosso” of Rafael Amargo and Lola Greco.
He published a collection of studies and exercises for classical guitar and flamenco and other compositions for the editions “Sinfonica” and “Berben.”
He currently has the musical direction of the show “Cupaima. Omenaje a Chavela Vargas” of Ballet Flamenco by Cecilia Gomez.
Since his second prize in the international ARD competition in Munich in 1986 Reinhold Friedrich has been present on all important stages of the national and international music scene. His spectrum goes from the latest solo compositions to ancient music and its historical original instruments, such as the baroque trumpet and the keyed trumpet. He has played with Capriccio Basel, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées or the Vienna Academy on historical original instruments as well as performing the works (world premieres) of contemporary composers like Wolfgang Rihm, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Rebecca Saunders, Hans Werner Henze, Nicolaus A. Huber, and Adriana Hölszky. Soloparts as there are Nobody knows de trouble I see by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (awarded Echo Classic) are for him extremely important parts of his wide-ranging repertoire.
As a solo player, he gave concerts with ensembles such as Berliner Barock-Solisten, Wiener Kammerorchester and Basler Kammerorchester.
Furthermore with Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de la Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks. These performances were conducted by, among others, Claudio Abbado (†), Philippe Herreweghe, Semyon Bychkov, Dennis Russell Davies, Peter Eötvös, Michael Gielen, Martin Haselböck, Christopher Hogwood, Reinhard Goebel, Eliahu Inbal, Krystjan and Neeme Järvi, Sir Neville Marriner, and Ingo Metzmacher. Since its founding in 2003, Reinhold Friedrich is a permanent principal trumpet of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado and artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra Brass Ensemble. His recent partners in the field of chamber music are Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion), Eriko Takezwa (piano), András Schiff (piano), and Sebastian Küchler-Blessing (organ), as well as Martin Lücker (organ).
In the season 2014/15 Reinhold Friedrich will perform in China, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Spain and Thailand with ensembles like Berliner Barock Solisten, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Sinfonie Orchester, Orchestra Symphonique de Québec and Welsh National Orchestra.
Numerous recordings give evidence of his comprehensive work. The latest recording with the Göttinger Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christoph-Mathias Mueller called “Russian Trumpet Concertos” has been awarded an ECHO Classic.
Reinhold Friedrich is professor in Karlsruhe, honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, guest professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus and at the Elisabethen Music School in Hiroshima. Master classes were held by Reinhold Friedrich all over the word.
Eriko Takezawa, born in Hiroshima (Japan) started her piano classes at age 5. In 1984 she went to Germany where she studied in the University of Music Karlsruhe in Naoyuki Tanedy and Wolfgang Manz class. In 1995 she passed with honours the exam in master class. She was improving her skills under the guidance of J. Uhde, E. Picht-Axenfeld, D. Kraus and S. Dorensky.
Prizes at the international competitions, such as: First Price at International Piano Competition in Ostuni (Italy) in 1994 and five prices for piano duet with Christoph Sischka in Japan, Italy and Czech Republic resulted in lively concert activity in Germany, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Egypt etc. with invitations from music festivals in Tajpej (Taiwan), Jerusalem, Xabía (Spain), Schwetzinger Festspiele, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival in 2009 and Lucerne Festival in 2009, 2012 and 2014.
Eriko Takezawa is an enthousiastic chamber musician touring with such wide known soloists as flautists Sergio Azzolini, Angela Firkins and Renate Greiss-Armin, oboists Ingo Goritzki and Thomas Indermühle, or trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich. She also performed with Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Ferrara, Perugia and Wilhelmshaven.
She is also a soloist and her performances of piano concerts of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Saint-Säens, Janaček, Shostakovich and Takemitsu are acclaimed for their lightness, technical virtuosity, colourfulness and thrilling musicality.
Eriko’s achievments include eight recorded albums, among others: piano duet, piano band, wind duet and wind quintet, all awarded by professional magazines.
Eriko Takezawa is currently accompanist in the University of Music Karlsruhe and in City of Basel Music Academy. Until 2003 she was teacher in Higher School of Music MUSIKENE in San Sebastian, from 2011 to 2013 in Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, and from 2014 in Aarhus (Denmark) in Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium. Since many years she is one of the most sough-after accompanists at international competitions: in Monachium, Paris, Bonn, Porcia, Prague, etc.
Recently, she did a lot of concerts and she ran master classes in close cooperation with Reinhold Friedrich in Interlaken (Switzerland), Spain, Italy, USA, Brasil and Japan.
In February 2013, she performed with great success Shostakovich’s piano concert no 1 with Aarhus Symfoniorkester conducted by Joshua Weilerstein in Denmark, and in October 2014 with Gävle Symphonie Orchestra conducted by Ivan Meylemans in Sweden. Also her performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in November 2014 with Royal Brass Orchestra Denmark and Niels-Ole Bo as a conductor, was acclaimed.
In 2014 she played in Bazylea, Brema, Berlin (Konzerthaus) and Stuttgart with newly created quartet „Quatuor L’Eventail”, an extraordinary fusion of musicians: Claudio Bohorquez – cello, Sascha Armbruster – saxophone, Reinhold Friedrich – trumpet and the piano.
Born in 1968. Compere, vocalist and actor. Graduate of The Voice and Acting Studium at The Danuta Baduszkowa Music Theatre in Gdynia and Dirk Snellings baroque vocal class at Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, Belgium. In 1992– 994 actor in the Gombrowicz Municipal Theatre in Gdynia, e. g. as Tadeus in “Pan Tadeusz” directed by A. Hanuszkiewicz. Since 1994 leader and singer in Ancient Music Group „Ad te, Domine”. In 2011–2012 head of the office of Gdynia Film Festival, since 2012 artistic director of Gdynia Classica Nova Festival.
