Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble
"I am proud of Israel that we have this wonderful group"
Maxim Vengerov, violinist
"A dream team... A chamber orchestra second to none in Israel"
HaAretz, Israel

Founded in 2001 by conductor Barak Tal (the ensemble's current music director), the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble has already performed with internationally renowned artists, such as violinists Maxim Vengerov, Ida Haendel, Antje Weithaas and Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violist Tabea Zimmermann, countertenor Andreas Scholl, baritone singer Klaus Mertens, clarinetists Giora Feidman and Chen Halevi, pianists Itamar Golan, Ian Fountain and Boris Berman, bassoon player Sergio Azzolini, cello player Natalia Gutman and others. Its concerts have been received enthusiastically by both critics and audiences ("An international class level of playing worthy of Carnegie Hall" Ara Guzelimian, artistic adviser at Carnegie Hall; "the exquisite musicians were sweeping the public off their seats" Jungfrau Zeitung, Switzerland).
The Ensemble has performed in the world's major concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, New York, and Konzerthaus, Vienna, in major international festivals, such as Interlaken Classics, Switzerland, and the Arthur Rubinstein Festival, Israel, and in live radio and TV broadcasts in Europe and in Israel. The ensemble is recipient of an award for excellence from the Buchman-Heyman Foundation, and of grants by the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Rich Foundation.
The ensemble comprises 30 of Israel's finest young musicians (ages 20-35), among them players in leading Israeli chamber groups, young soloists and winners of competitions. It was formed out of the desire to create a young Israeli professional chamber orchestra of the highest standard. It is recognized today as a vibrant, fresh voice in Israeli classical music.

"An impressive group of young professionals with a lot of enthusiasm and idealism, together with the highest level of individual playing"
Tabea Zimmermann, violist
"The Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble is by far Israel's finest chamber orchestra"
The Jerusalem Post, Israel
"An orchestra with a sound like this can't be found anywhere else . . . this is an Israeli cultural dream, which proves that not only in Europe is there a musical tradition"
HaAretz, Israel

Conductor - Barak Tal
Violin - Hadas Fabrikant, Julia Klain, Tali Goldberg, Noam Shuss, Marie Matlova, Abner Landim, Simone Elenciuc, Ohad Cohen, Ralph Allen
Viola - Itamar Ringel, Nir Rom, Eytan Edry
Cello - Hilla Epstein, Yonah Etzion, Noah Ayali
Double bass - Orit Zelniker

Barak Tal
(Music Director and Conductor)
Barak Tal is a founder and Music Director of the Tel-Aviv Soloists Ensemble since 2001. Barak Tal has conducted orchestras in the world's major concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, New York, Konzerthaus, Vienna, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Great Hall, Moscow, and Tel-Aviv's Mann Auditorium. As guest conductor, Mr. Tal has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Kuban Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), Vaasa City Orchestra (Finland), Sinfonietta Cracovia (Poland), Neue Philharmonie Westfalen (Germany), and others.
Mr. Tal has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Young Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Haifa Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of Matan Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the Israel Northern Symphony, Haifa.
He is the recipient of major Israeli awards, such as the 2006 Oedoen Partos Award for outstanding performance of an Israeli composition, granted by the Israeli Ministry of Culture, and of the 2007 Rosenblum Award for outstanding artist, granted by the Tel-Aviv Municipality. He is also a recipient of scholarships and grants by the American-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Mr. Tal has studied in master courses in Europe with conductors Kurt Mazur, Neeme Jarvi, Jorma Panula, Vladimir Ponkin and Zsolt Nagy. He graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Buchman-Mehta School of Music, Tel-Aviv University, where he studied conducting with Prof. Mendi Rodan and Evgeny Zirlin.


Amit Peled
(Cello)
From the United States to Europe to the Middle East and Asia, Israeli cellist Amit Peled, a musician of profound artistry and charismatic stage presence, is acclaimed as one of the most exciting instrumentalists on the concert stage today. As a strong advocate of breaking boundaries between performers and the public, trying to promote and share classical music with wider audiences, Peled was recently praised by Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith: "Peled did a lot of joking in remarks to the audience. His amiable and inviting personality is exactly the type everyone says we'll need more of if classical music is to survive." During the 2012/13 season Mr. Peled had the honor of receiving the famous cello once owned by the legendary Pablo Casals. The instrument was personally handed to him by the maestro's widow, Mrs. Marta Casals Istomin. Some of the upcoming highlights with this cello include opening the Casals Festival in Spain and celebrating Casals's life in a recital at the prestigious Pablo Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. Moreover, Peled will record his fourth CD for Centaur Records using this famous instrument.
Mr. Peled has performed as a soloist with many orchestras and in the world's major concert halls such as: Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, New York; Salle Gaveau, Paris; Wigmore Hall, London; Konzerthaus, Berlin; and Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium. Following his enthusiastically received Alice Tully Hall concerto debut playing the Hindemith cello concerto, the New York Times stated: "Glowing tone, a seductive timbre and an emotionally pointed approach to phrasing that made you want to hear him again."
Recently Mr. Peled embarked on an extensive concerto tour in the US and Germany with the Nordwest Philharmonie, performing both Shostakovich Concerto No 1 and Victor Herbert's Cello concerto, visiting nineteen different cities. Moreover, Peled joined the legendary Krzysztof Penderecki for his Cello concerto in Chicago's Millennium Park; performed the Elgar and Shostakovich Concertos with Maestro Michael Stern and the IRIS Orchestra; Haydn's C Major Cello concerto with Nicola Luisotti and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and the Schumann Concerto with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. After an enthusiastic recital debut at the Kennedy Center, Mr. Peled followed an immediate reinvitation and returned to that prestigious stage during the 2012/13 season."
As a recording artist, Mr. Peled released his third Centaur Records CD "Reflections" in the summer of 2012 and his debut CD on the Naxos Label with his piano trio The Tempest Trio will be released this coming spring. Mr. Peled's previous two CDs, "The Jewish Soul" and "Celebration" (Centaur Records) were enthusiastically received and Fanfare Magazine described him as "a superb cellist, his tone, of pellucid purity, gleams with a glint of gold".
Mr. Peled is also a frequent guest artist, performing and giving master classes at prestigious summer music festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Schleswig Holstein and Euro Arts Festivals in Germany, Gotland Festival in Sweden, Prussia Cove Festival in England, The Violoncello Forum in Spain, and the Mizra International Academy and Festival in Israel.

Bruno Di Girolamo
(Clarinet, Italy)
Bruno Di Girolamo studied with Fernando Gambacurta near the Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome and orchestral technique with F. Ferrara in Venice. He has been Primo soloist clarinet in the Orchestra of Florentine Musical May, Orchestra Regional Tuscany - ORT; the prestigious orchestras of the RAI: Milan, Rome, Alessandro Scarlatti of Naples, as well as of the orchestra of the National Academy of St. Cecilia and St. Carlo in Naples. Besides he has been member of numerous formations chambers recently recording the Quintets for clarinet and arcs of Mozart, Weber and Brahms.
His meticulous research of the "Beautiful Sound", essential patrimony to communicate his Own Emotions, has brought him to overcome the Italian confinements to land to the most important builder of clarinets in the World: H. Wurlitzer (Germany). For these peculiarities he is the clarinetist preferred by the genial Franco Mannino with which he still collaborates for the execution of his works.
Scrupulous musician, endowed with a not common virtuosity technique, he specialized in the repertoire for clarinet from the classical period up to the historian '900 as soloist exhibiting himself and in chamber formations near important musical institutions in Italy and to the foreign countries: Germany, France, England, Belgium, Japan, and USA.
The repertoire for soloist performed with the orchestra, consists of authors like: W. A. Mozart, G. Rossini, L. Spohr, S. Mercadante, M. Puccini, A. Coopland, F. Mannino, G. Finzi and B. H. Crusell, of which the same Di Girolamo, after a deep musicological research, and thanks to the precious collaboration of the Germanic institute in Rome, it proposes the original version of the three concerts for clarinet and orchestra, for other very performed in Europe and almost ignored in Italy.


Victor Vysotsky
(Piano, Russia)
Victor Vysotsky graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1986, where he studied piano with E.V. Shishko and conducting with a famous composer S.M. Slonimsky. In the year 1994 he completed his post-graduate course at the Russian Institute of History of Arts.
In 1991 he started to work as a deputy chief editor at the music editorial department of the Leningrad Television. In the same year he made his debut as a composer. His opera "Lefortovo' switch" was staged in the Saint-Petersburg Music Theater for Children called Zazerkalye.
Since then Victor Vysotsky has been performing as a composer, a concert pianist and the author of TV projects.
One of the most outstanding composer's works of his is the original version of Mozart's opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), created for the Moscow theater Gelikon opera and staged in 2000.
As a pianist, Victor Vysotsky performed in the halls of Saint-Petersburg Philharmonia, Academic Chappelle, as well as in the Apollo's Hall of the Berliner Staatsoper. He gave concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy and Latvia. In 2005 he took part in the famous Bayreuth festival, where he gave a solo recital at the Wahnfried villa.
Victor Vysotsky is the author of many bright concert projects, praised in press and on TV: Menu per Rossini, Tchaikovsky's Mozart, Three Mozarts. He is also known as a participant of such festivals as Stars of the White Nights, Sound Ways, SacroArt (Germany).
In year 2008, Victor Vysotsky made his debut as an opera director. He staged Gretry's opera Richard, the Lion heart within the interiors of the Mikhailovsky castle. During the period of 2011-2013 he directed the staging of such operas as La vestale (Vestal Virgin) by Spontini, Rubinstein's Demon, Gounod's Faustus and Don Pasquale by Donizetti. In 2010-2013 Victor Vysotsky was an artistic director of such International festivals as Under the sign of eternity, Saint-Petersburg - Rome. The time of capitals, Saint-Petersburg - Berlin, The time of capitals, as well as the most popular Saint-Petersburg festival Opera to all.


Alexei Ludevig
(Viola, Russia)
Alexei Ludevig was born in St Petersburg, Russia, where he studied viola with Yuri Bashmet, Dmitry Shebalin (of the Borodin Quartet) and his father Alexei Ludevig Sr. In addition, he studied conducting with Maris Jansons.
He has performed in over a dozen countries on four different continents. As a soloist with orchestras including: the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Camerata St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra etc. As a soloist and chamber musician he has appeared with internationally renowned musicians including: Arnold Katz, Saulius Sondezkis, Michaela Martin, Arto Noras, Martti Rousi, Alexander Rudin, Mark Drobinsky and Sergei Stadler at prestigious festivals such as; Rancontres Musicales d'Evian, Schlezwig-Holstein, St. Petersburg White Nights Festival, Radio France Festival, Davos Music Festival, St. Petersburg Palaces International Chamber Music Festival, of which he also served as co-artistic director with Constantine Orbelian. He is Artistic Director of "New Silver Age Music Festival".
Alexei Ludevig's repertoire spans three centuries. He has made world premieres of several works of Russian composers (Slonimsky, Uspensky, Sapozhnikov etc), as well as pieces by modern American and French composers. Some of these works were written especially for him.
Alexei Ludevig plays Antonio Mariani's viola 1661.
Alexei Ludevig divides his time between work as a soloist and chamber musician performances mostly with the St. Petersburg Chamber Soloists (which he founded) and teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire and St. Petersburg Music College.


Dmitry Krasnik
(Bassoon, Russia)
Dmitry Krasnyk was born in 1960 in Leningrad. He studied the bassoon at the Special Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory (Prof. L.I. Pechersky). In 1983, he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory (Prof. K.B. Sokolov). In 1987, Dmitry was the prize winner at the All-Russian Wind Instruments Performers Competition.
Since 1995, he has been performing with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia and is currently a member of the Leningrad Brass Quintet. Dmitry combines his work as a bassoon solo in the orchestra with performances in various chamber programs. With the orchestra, he has toured in many countries.
Dmitry Krasnik currently combines his work in the orchestra with teaching in the College of Music at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Fazil Say
(Piano)
With his extraordinary pianistic talents, Fazil Say has been touching audiences and critics alike for more twenty-five years in a way that has become rare in the increasingly materialistic and elaborately organised classical music world. Concerts with this artist are something else. They are more direct, more open, more exciting; in short, they go straight to the heart. Which is exactly what the composer Aribert Reimann thought in 1987 when, during a visit to Ankara, he had the opportunity, more or less by chance, to appreciate the playing of the seventeen-year-old pianist. He immediately asked the American pianist David Levine, who was accompanying him on the trip, to come to the city's conservatory, using the now much-quoted words: 'You absolutely must hear him, this boy plays like a devil.'
Fazil Say had his first piano lessons from Mithat Fenmen, who had himself studied with Alfred Cortot in Paris. Perhaps sensing just how talented his pupil was, Fenmen asked the boy to improvise every day on themes to do with his daily life before he went on to the essential piano exercises and studies. This contact with free creative processes and forms was the source of the immense improvisatory talent and the aesthetic outlook that make Fazil Say the pianist and composer he is today. He has been commissioned to write music for the Salzburg Festival, the WDR, the Dortmund Konzerthaus and the Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festivals, among others. His output includes compositions for solo Keyboard and chamber music as well as solo concertos and large-scale orchestral works.
From 1987 onwards, Fazil Say fine-tuned his skills as a classical pianist with David Levine, first at the Musikhochschule Robert Schumann in Duesseldorf and later in Berlin; this formed the aesthetic basis for his Mozart and Schubert interpretations in particular. His outstanding technique very quickly enabled him to master the so-called warhorses of the repertoire with sovereign ease. And it is precisely this blend of refinement (in Bach, Haydn, and Mozart) and virtuoso brilliance in the works of Liszt, Mussorgsky and Beethoven that gained him victory at the Young Concert Artists international competition in New York in 1994. Since then he has played with all the famous American and European orchestras and numerous leading conductors and has built up a multifaceted repertoire ranging from Bach, through the Viennese Classics (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) and the Romantics, right up to contemporary music, including his own piano compositions.
Guest appearances have taken Fazil Say to countless countries on all five continents; the French newspaper Le Figaro called him 'a genius'. In addition, he also appears regularly in chamber music: for many years he formed a fantastic duo with the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and among his other notable partners are the Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta, the Borusan Quartet of Istanbul, and other Turkish instrumental soloists. From 2005 to 2010 he was an exclusive artist at the Dortmund Konzerthaus; during the 2010/11 season he was artist in residence at the Berlin Konzerthaus; and he was a focal point of the programme of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in the summer of 2011. There have been further residencies and Fazil Say festivals in Paris, Tokyo, Meran, Hamburg, and Istanbul. During the 2012/13 season Fazil Say was artist in residence at the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt/ Main and at the Rheingau Musik Festival 2013 where he was honoured with the Rheingau Musik Preis.
His recordings of works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin and Stravinsky have been highly praised by the critics and won several prizes, among them three ECHO Klassik. Since 2003 Fazil Say has been under exclusive contract to the Naive label. He lives in Istanbul and has a daughter.

Xavier De Maistre
(Harp)
Xavier de Maistre belongs to an elite category of soloists who are redefining what is possible with their instrument. Aside from new commissions from composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki and Kaija Saariaho, he performs works like Smetana's "Ma Vlast" with breathtaking precision, presenting masterful arrangements of works that are usually played by an entire orchestra. The interpretation of these works, that few harpists before him have even considered playing, has contributed to his reputation as one of the most creative and extraordinary musicians of his generation.
Xavier de Maistre has appeared with major orchestras under the direction of such eminent conductors as Bertrand de Billy, Daniele Gatti, Kristjan Jarvi, Philippe Jordan, Riccardo Muti, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Andre Previn, Simon Rattle, Heinrich Schiff and Gilbert Varga. He performs at many of Europe's leading festivals, including Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg, Rheingau, Vienna and Verbier, the Budapest Spring Festival and the Wurzburg Mozart Festival. He collaborates with such chamber music partners as Diana Damrau, Mojca Erdmann, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Baiba Skride, Arabella Steinbacher and Magali Mosnier.
Orchestral highlights of the 2013/14 season include an extensive tour with the Academy of St.Martin in the Fields, performances with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, tour concerts with Basel Chamber Orchestra and debuts with Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Malmo Symphony Orchestras. The season concludes with the world premiere of a new concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki, reuniting de Maistre with Orchestre de Paris. De Maistre will also give solo recitals as far afield as Shanghai, Macao and Montreal and appears in duo performances with Diana Damrau at Schubertiade, Grafenegg and Istanbul Festivals, at the Munich Opera Festival (Bayerische Staatsoper) and London's Wigmore Hall.
In 2008 Xavier de Maistre signed an exclusive contract with Sony Music. Releases so far have included music by Haydn, Rodrigo, Ginastera and Debussy - the latter for which he was awarded the ECHO Klassik Award 2009 as "Instrumentalist of the Year". In 2012 Notte Veneziana, a recording of baroque concertos with the Ensemble l'arte del mondo, was released. Highly acclaimed by the press, Notte Veneziana entered the top ten in the classical music charts. His latest releases include a DVD with Diana Damrau and a CD recording of Mozart piano concertos arranged for harp, with Mozarteum Salzburg and conductor Ivor Bolton.
Xavier de Maistre was born in Toulon and began to study harp at the age of nine. He finished his studies with Catherine Michel and Jacqueline Borot in Paris. In 1998 he was awarded the first prize at the prestigious International Harp Competition in Bloomington, Indiana. He immediately became the first French musician to join the ranks of the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - a position which he left in summer 2010. Since 2001 Xavier de Maistre has taught at the Hamburg Academy of Music. He also gives regular master classes at New York's Juilliard School of Music, Tokyo's Toho University and London's Trinity College of Music.
Xavier de Maistre plays a Lyon & Healy harp.

Pacific Trio
(Piano Trio)
"Top string quartets pop up everywhere, but first-rate piano trios are rare. A concert by the Pacific Trio was a special treat, as the trio demonstrated in convincing manner, why it should be considered one of the best."
So began the Los Angeles Times review of Pacific Trio's debut. Each member has enjoyed a celebrated career on the international music scene, rich in recital, ensemble, and concerto performances.
Founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by John Walz and Edith Orloff, this renowned ensemble has played more than 1,000 concerts in the United States, Canada, and Europe. In addition to touring, they serve as trio-in-residence at the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program in southern California.
In 1986, the trio made its New York debut at Lincoln Center, in a concert benefiting the New York Chapter of the Alzheimer's Foundation. "Pacific Trio's debut concert at Alice Tully Hall could easily have stood on its own merits, but the players had the generosity to turn the program into a benefit, donating all the proceeds to the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association. The members of the trio played with warmth, expertise, and unanimity . . .elegantly tapered, yet directly emotive playing." (The New York Times). Pacific Trio began recording in 1989, with a CD of Brahms and Shostakovich, followed by trios of Dvorzak and Smetana. Since then, they have completed many extensive European tours and have recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Czech National Orchestra in Prague. Their latest CD, "American Composers" - featuring music of Gershwin, Bernstein, Copland, and Muczynski - was released in fall of 2009 in conjunction with concerts in Germany, Poland, and France. Reviews in the German press rated their performances as "chamber music of the highest order."

EDITH ORLOFF
(Piano)
Known for her versatility as a performer, pianist Edith Orloff has earned acclaim in the United States and Europe. She has concertized with equal success as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra. Her solo German debut in 1998 was received as "elegant, a pleasure to hear", and her music-making has won praise at home and abroad for its interpretive vitality and perceptive musicianship.
She is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Pacific Trio. The ensemble, with violinist Roger Wilkie and cellist John Walz, makes annual tours of the U.S. and Europe. For many years the group has served as ensemble-in-residence of the Idyllwild Arts summer festival, where Ms. Orloff has taught piano and chamber music since 1976. In February of 2009, the Pacific Trio traveled to Europe to perform and record trios by American composers. The CD, "American Composers", featuring works of Gershwin, Bernstein, Copland and Muczynski, for the Marsyas label, was released in September of 2009 in conjunction with a European tour.
Ms. Orloff has appeared as guest artist with many notable ensembles, including the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, the Ensemble Con Brio of Bruchsal, Germany, and the Czech String Trio. In keeping with her interest in promoting new music, she has helped to launch several series devoted to the works of contemporary composers. She performs frequently on several prominent series in the Los Angeles area. Ms. Orloff also enjoys a long-standing musical collaboration with her husband, Houston Symphony principal clarinetist David Peck; their CD of modern works for clarinet and piano was released in 2004. She has also recorded for the Brio Classics, Resort Classics, and Yarlung labels.
Summer concert appearances have included La Jolla SummerFest, Grand Tetons Festival, Ventura Chamber Music Festival, and ongoing performances at Idyllwild Arts and Festival Mozaic (formerly San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival).
A master's degree graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, where she studied piano with Earle Voorhies and chamber music with Cesare Pascarella, she has also worked with Jerome Lowenthal, Reginald Stewart, Rosina Lhevinne, Daniel Pollack, and Roberto Eyzaguirre.

ROGER WILKIE
(Violin)
A Southern California native, violinist Roger Wilkie has enjoyed a rich and varied musical life. Born to a musical family, Mr. Wilkie's professional career began in 1983, with a six-year tenure in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, eventually serving as principal second violinist.
He has since returned to the ensemble appearing as guest concertmaster. This experience led to other opportunities as guest concertmaster with such groups as the Los Angeles Opera, including productions of Strauss operas Die Frau Ohne Schatten and Der Rosenkavalier, the Round Top Festival Orchestra of Texas, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Spain, under music director Helmut Rilling. Presently, Mr. Wilkie's orchestral life is centered around the Long Beach Symphony, where he has served as concertmaster since 1990.
He has had many opportunities to solo with the orchestra, performing the violin concertos of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Bruch, Prokofiev, and the Brahms Double Concerto with cellist John Walz.
Mr. Wilkie is in great demand as a chamber musician. He was a founding member of the Angeles String Quartet, performing and touring from 1988-1993. He was solo violinist with the Santa Barbara based Camerata Pacifica, on whose series he played hundreds of concerts as recitalist and chamber musician over a ten year period. He has appeared at many chamber music festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Festival.
Presently, Mr. Wilkie is a member of the Pacific Trio with cellist John Walz and pianist Edith Orloff. This renowned ensemble has concretized in Europe in 2002, and again in 2004. Highlights of theses tours included a performance and recording of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

JOHN WALZ
(Cello)
Hailed as one of the outstanding cellists of his generation, John Walz has excited audiences on four continents. Born in Southern California, John Walz began his studies with Eleonore Schoenfeld. In 1966, he heard the great French cellist, Pierre Fournier, play the Dvorzak Concerto with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, an event that he says, "changed my life". In 1973, he traveled to Switzerland to study with Fournier, becoming one of the French master's finest pupils.
He has made twenty-five tours of Europe, playing recitals and concertos in such important musical centers as London, Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne, Rome, Vienna, Hamburg, and Oslo. 1983 took him to Australia, where he played in Sydney Melbourne, and Adelaide. His solo engagements with more that 120 symphony orchestras throughout the world have included performances of 25 different concertos. In 1997, he performed the Dvorzak Concerto in Prague at the Rudolfinum, Dvorak's own hall. This performance was subsequently recorded and released on Carlton Classics, to great acclaim. Most recently he performed and recorded Bloch's Schelomo and the Shostakovich Concerto No 1 with JoAnn Falletta and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
Equally at home in chamber music and orchestral playing, he is currently the principal cellist with the Los Angeles Opera, having previously held that position with the Long Beach Symphony for twenty years. As a chamber music artist, he has played with such luminaries as Leonard Pennario, Mona Golabek, Nathan Milstein, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Pierre Fournier.
In 1979, John Walz was a founding member of the Pacific Trio. This renowned ensemble, which consists of violinist Roger Wilkie, and pianist and co-founder Edith Orloff, has played more than 900 concerts throughout North America and Europe. In addition, Mr. Walz is currently on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, CA. Future engagements include a debut with the Phillipine Philharmonic in Manila, and the release of a new cd by the Pacific Trio, featuring Beethoven's Triple Concerto and "Archduke" Trio.

Vasily Gerello
(baritone)
Vasily Gerello graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1991, where he studied with Serval. A year before, being a fourth year student, he was invited to join the cast of the Mariinsky Theater. Artistic director of the theater maestro Gergiev believed in him after the live audition and granted him solo parties in many operas of the theater. Vasily Gerello's debut in the Mariinsky Theater was the part of Valentine in Gounod's "Faustus", which was followed by many other baritone leading parts. This young singer was the first in Mariinsky Theater to sing "La Traviata" in the language of the original. Vasily Gerello is fluent in Italian, Spanish and English, which helps him to communicate easily and freely with his colleagues from other countries.
Being a student he made his foreign debut on the stage of the Netherlands' Opera. Under the direction of Alberto Zedda he sang Figaro in "The Barber of Seville", staged by the famous Dario Fo.
In the following years Vasily Gerello gained recognition from the public all over the world. He is a laureate of International opera singers' competition - BBC Cardiff singer of the world (1993), of Rimsky-Korsakov's International young opera singers' competition (1994), of "Zolotoy Sofit" theater award (1999). He is performing on the best opera stages of the world not only with the Mariinsky Theater, but very often he is invited by the greatest opera houses to take part in their own exclusive productions.
It's impossible to name a country where his voice has not been heard. He is highly appreciated by the Italian fans of belle canto, who affectionately call him Basilio Dzerello. And though Vasily Gerello believes himself to be a Slav, he is justifiably proud of his great-grand-father, who was born in Napoli, fought as a soldier during the First World War and fell in love with a Ukrainian girl.
During his career he took part in many high-profile festivals and performed together with such great conductors as Valery Gergiev, Ricardo Mutti, Myung-Whun Chung, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi and others. His repertoire includes more than thirty parts of the most famous operas, chamber music of Russian and foreign composers, Russian, Ukrainian, Gypsy and Neapolitan songs, as well as the best songs of Russian and foreign pop music and songs from Russian films.
A People's artist of Russia, an Honored artist of the Ukraine, Vasily Gerello actively supports charity projects - he is one of co-founders of the Scholarship for talented pupils of the Russian Museum Gymnasium.


Oleg Vainshtein
(Piano)
Oleg Vainshtein completed his graduate and post-graduate courses at the Leningrad Conservatory in 2005, where he studied with professor T.M. Zagorovskaya. He is a prize winner and a diploma winner of many International competitions, including International pianists competition in Gaillard (France, 2004, 1st prize) and Chopin European pianists competition (Germany, Darmstadt, 5th prize).
He performs abroad and in many cities of Russia. As a soloist he collaborated with the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Far Eastern symphony orchestra, the Warsaw Conservatory orchestra, the Saint-Petersburg State symphony orchestra "Classics", the Hermitage Music Academy, the Chamber orchestra "Divertisment" and the Algirdas Paulavichius Youth Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist he also participated in performances of the Mariinsky Theater conducted by maestro V.A. Gergiev.
In 2011, the pianist started to collaborate with a famous baritone, People's artist of Russia and a soloist of Mariinsky Theater Vasily Gerello. Their brilliant joint projects include a solo concert of Vasily Gerello in Irkutsk during the festival "Stars on Baikal" in September 2013.
Now he combines his concert activity of the soloist and guest pianist with his pedagogical activity in the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and in its musical college.

Prazak Quartet
The Prazak Quartet - one of today's leading international chamber music ensembles - was established in 1972 while its members were students at the Prague Conservatory. Since then, the quartet has gained attention for its place in the unique Czech quartet tradition, and its musical virtuosity.
The 1974 Czech Music Year saw the Prazak Quartet receive the first prize at the Prague Conservatory Chamber Music Competition. Within twelve months their international career had been launched with a performance at the 1975 Prague Spring Music Festival. In 1978 the quartet took the first prize at the Evian String Quartet Competition as well as a special prize awarded by Radio France for the best recording during the competition. Further prizes were awarded at various other Czech competitions.
For more than 30 years, the Prazak Quartet has been at home on music stages worldwide. They are regular guests in the major European musical capitals - Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, London, Berlin, Munich, etc. - and have been invited to participate at numerous international festivals, where they have collaborated with such artists as Menahem Pressler, Jon Nakamatsu, Cynthia Phelps, Roberto Diaz, Josef Suk, and Sharon Kam.
The quartet returns to the United States in fall 2012, with concerts in Miami, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Mill Valley, San Jose and Tucson. On previous visits to North America, they have performed in New York (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92nd St. Y), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, St. Louis, New Orleans, Berkeley, Cleveland, Tucson, Denver, Buffalo, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.
The Prazak Quartet records exclusively for Praga/Harmonia Mundi which, to date, has released over 30 award-winning CDs. In addition to numerous radio recordings in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, the Prazak Quartet has also made recordings for Supraphon, Panton, Orfeo, Ottavo, Bonton, and Nuova Era.
In 2010 Pavel Hula succeeded founding first violinist Vaclav Remes, who was unable to continue performing due to a medical condition in his left hand. Pavel Hula was the longtime first violinist with the Czech-based Kocian Quartet, and has been a close friend of the Prazak Quartet for many years.

L'arte del mondo
(Baroque ensemble, Germany)
The orchestra l'arte del mondo, which was founded by artistic director Werner Ehrhardt in 2004, stands in the tradition of historical performance practice. This is the origin of the orchestra which also presents outstanding performances on modern instruments and with repertoire up to 20th century composers.
The orchestra`s creation was soon followed by invitations to perform in renowned festivals and concert series - such as the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Bonn's Beethoven festival, Rheingau Musikfestival, Musikfestspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and the Cite de la musique in Paris - and to collaborate with the West German Broadcasting Company (WDR) and Deutschlandfunk.
This ensemble's interesting oeuvre has been documented under the various cd labels. The recording list includes a number of world premiers and rediscovered orchestral works, operas, and oratorios. The recording of Nicolas Mehul's comic opera L'Irato ou l'Emporte as well as the recording Liaisons with soprano Chen Reiss (2011) received the prestigious French award the Diapason.
From the season 2010/2011 on, l'arte del mondo's recordings are published at Sony/ Deutsche Harmonia mundi. Amor Oriental, the first record published under this label was published in April 2011. Premiere world recordings as Pasquale Anfossis La finta giardiniera with Nuria Rial and Krystian Adam, Funeral Cantata by Joseph Martin Kraus with RIAS Chamber Choir and Christoph Willibald Glucks La clemenza di Tito followed. The orchestra`s regular guest soloists include the sopranos Simone Kermes, Edita Gruberova, Chen Reiss, Laura
Aikind and Raffaella Milanesi, tenors Christoph Pregardien, Rainer Trost and Thomas Michael Allen, violinists Daniel Hope, Viktoria Mullova and Baiba Skride, trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich, harpist Xavier de Maistre and jazz-pianist Uri Caine.
Performances lead l'arte del mondo to venues like the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Herkulessaal in Munich, Tonhalle Duesseldorf, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Handel Festival in Halle, Musikfestspiele Potsdam-Sanssouci as well as to the Israel Festival, South America, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Russia and Japan.
Since summer 2010 l'arte del mondo is the permanent orchestra in residence of Bayer Arts and Culture in Leverkusen, the culture division of Bayer AG International. This residence includes various performances throughout the concert season.

Artistic Director - Werner Ehrhard
Violin - Werner Ehrhard, Andrea Keller-Montes, Petar Mancev, Danylo Gertsev, Valentina Resnynska, Marika Apro-Klos, Zsuzsanna Czentnar, Berit Bruentjen
Viola - Corina Golomoz, Priscila Rodriguez-Cabaleiro
Cello - Linda Mantcheva, Rosa Canellas
Double bass - Ioannis Babaloukas
Harpsichord - Luca Quintavalle


Werner Ehrhardt
(Artistic Director)
The violinist and conductor Werner Ehrhardt, a native of Cologne, is a constant presence on the international stage as a conductor. He studied period performance practice under Prof. Franz-Josef Maier (Cologne), Sigiswald Kuijken (Brussels), as well as conducting under Prof. Bloemeke in Detmold.
His perpetual inquisitiveness and his keen interest for the various approaches to music led him to further intensive studies under the teacher Kato Havas in Oxford and Prof. Renate Peter in Cologne.
From 1985 to 2005, he directed the world-renowned chamber orchestra Concerto Koeln, developing and shaping distinct style in rendering period performance practices.
In 2004, he founded the orchestra l'arte del mondo, while also working with traditional orchestras as a freelance conductor. Ever since then, he has guested with several international opera, symphony, and chamber orchestras such as the Staatsopernorchester Stuttgart, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Berner Sinfonieorchester, the Hamburger Sinfoniker, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, the Orchestre de Chambre de Geneve, and the Capriccio Basel.
He has worked with soloists like Edita Gruberova, Magdalena Kozena, Barbara Hendricks, Christine Schaefer, Eva Mei, Andreas Scholl, Laura Aikin, Rainer Trost, Raffaella Milanesi, Olli Mustonen, Christiane Oelze, Xavier de Maistre, Daniel Hope, Viktoria Mullova, Daniel Mueller-Schott, the RIAS Kammerchor, and the Bad Toelz Boys' Choir. Through his openness for innovations, his artistic curiosity, his infectious enthusiasm and his musical cosmopolitanism in working with orchestras, Werner Ehrhardt captivates his musicians, the audience, and the press. As a conductor, he represents a distinct, unmistakably historically schooled interpretation of orchestral and vocal works, with his interests reaching beyond the horizons of Western European music.
Accordingly, under his direction, more than 50 CDs have been recorded in the fields of opera, oratorio and concertante-symphonic music, many of which have been honoured with numerous international awards. Among the recordings, one can find re-discoveries of works by forgotten composers (e.g. Joseph Martin Kraus, Pasquale Anfossi, Josef Myslivechek, and Franz Xaver Sterkel), of which the audiences were made aware again with great enthusiasm.


Roberta Mameli
(Soprano, Italy)
Born in Rome, Roberta Mameli obtained a Singing Degree at the "Nicolini" Conservatoire in Piacenza and a Violin Degree at the Scuola Civica di Cremona. She attended master classes with Roberta Invernizzi, Bernadette Manca di Nissa, Ugo Benelli, Claudio Desderi and Enzo Dara. She made her debut at a very young age singing in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas under the baton of Edoardo Mueller and the direction of Graziella Sciutti at the Opera Theatre in Alessandria.
She is regularly invited to perform at prestigious theatres and music halls, working with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Fabio Bonizzoni, Filippo Maria Bressan, Daniele Callegari, Claudio Cavina, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Enrico Gatti, Paul Goodwin, Christopher Hogwood, Corrado Rovaris, Federico Maria Sardelli, Jordi Savall and Jeffrey Tate.
Much in demand for the baroque repertoire, Roberta Mameli has worked with many specialized ensembles, including: Accademia Bizantina, Contrasto Armonico, Ensemble Inegal, Il Complesso Barocco, L'Arte dell'Arco, La Risonanza, La Venexiana, Le Concert des Nations and Modo Antiquo, performing in some of the most important European festivals.
Highlights of her successful activity include: Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Il Ballo delle Ingrate in Cremona and Regensburg; Stradella's San Giovanni Battista (Herodiade) with Enrico Gatti at the festivals of Utrecht, Viterbo and La Chaise-Dieu; Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone) with Claudio Cavina in Hannover, Regensburg, Paris, Milan and Periguex; Fux's Orfeo ed Euridice (Proserpina) with Le Concert des Nations and Jordi Savall at the Styriarte Festival in Graz; Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Santander Festival; Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade (Aristea) with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone in Krakow.
Among her recent performances, it is worth mentioning: Hendel's Athalia (Josabeth) with Capella Cracoviensis and Paul Goodwin in Krakow; Vivaldi's Teuzzone (Cino) with Le Concert de Nations and Jordi Savall in Versailles (recorded for Naive); Il Novello Giasone (Isifile) by Cavalli/Stradella at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca; Mozart's Requiem with the Choir and Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Christopher Hogwood at the Anima Mundi Festival in Pisa; Cosi fan tutte (Dorabella) under Ryo Terakado in Tokyo; Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Minerva) in Amsterdam and Regensburg with La Venexiana and Claudio Cavina; Hendel's Deidamia (Nerea) at the Theater an der Wien and in Braunschweig, Hendel's Ariodante (Ginevra) in Turin and Bucharest, Hendel's Orlando (Angelica) in Versailles, all of them with Il Complesso Barocco and Alan Curtis; Scarlatti's La Giuditta (title role) with La Venexiana and Claudio Cavina in Krakow; Hendel's Agrippina (Poppea) and Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso (1714) (world premiere) at the Festival de Beaune with Modo Antiquo and Federico Maria Sardelli; Italian cantatas by Hendel at the Styriarte Graz with Contrasto Armonico and Marco Vitale; concerts with La Venexiana in Halle (Hendelfestspiele), Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow, Espinho, Korkyra and Bologna. In the season 2012/2013 she is successfully singing a whole run of performances of Agrippina (Poppea) at the Kiel Opera, under Ruben Dubrovsky. Future plans: Vivaldi's L'incoronazione di Dario with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Euridice) with Modo Antiquo and Federico Maria Sardelli at the Festival de Beaune; Messiah with Collegium 1704 in Prague; Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna) in Tokyo; Serse with Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi in Dortmund; Farnace (1738) at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Federico Maria Sardelli; concerts in Umbria and Apulia with Accademia Hermans and Fabio Ciofini.
She recorded for such labels as Naive, Glossa, Nibiru, Bongiovanni and RAI 3. Her recent discography includes: Vivaldi's Teuzzone, Orlando Furioso (1714) (world premiere) and Catone in Utica for Naive; Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria as well as Cavalli's Artemisa for Glossa; Zelenka's Il Diamante for Nibiru. Her solo album 'Round M: Monteverdi meets Jazz, recorded for Glossa, has been one of 2010's best-selling CDs.