Artists & projects

Simon Höfele has established himself within a short space of time internationally as one of the most successful trumpet players of the young generation. He was BBC Radio3 new generation artist, Rising Star of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) 2019-20, OPUS Award Winner 2020 and is host of the WDR3 podcast KLASSIK CRUSH.

Marie Jacquot has played her way into the forefront of exciting young conductors through numerous outstanding debuts with top-class orchestras, her consistent musical work and her interest in exploring a wide-ranging repertoire. Starting with the 2024/25 season, she is Chief Conductor of the Royal Danish Theatre Copenhagen, since the 2023/24 season, she has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker and from 2026/27, she will as well be chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

Founded in Barcelona, Kebyart is one of the most promising ensembles of the current music scene. These four talented musicians share an endless passion for chamber music and wish to bring fresh air in the way classical music is communicated. Their endeavour to transform their performances into a unique experience results in an explosive and vibrant staging, which has been praised by audiences and specialized critics. The distinctive signature of Kebyart is revealed in a creative and open approach to the repertoire, which goes in three directions: the original literature, the commitment with nowadays music and their own arrangements of wide variety styles. In the season 24/25 they celebrate their 10th anniversary and will release a new album.

For the first time, the exceptional pianist Sunwook Kim will conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the piano and, together with the musicians, present all of Beethoven's piano concertos on an impressive tour of Europe and South Korea in spring 2025. Highlights include concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie, Esterházy Palace and London's Barbican Centre.

Benedict Klöckner is one of the outstanding artists of his generation, performs worldwide as a soloist with renowned orchestras and regularly works with the great composers of our time. His upcoming album is dedicated to Antonín Dvořák: Besides a live recording of the Cello Concerto, he presents chamber music works and arrangements together with pianist Danae Dörken. The album will be released in September 2024 at Berlin Classics. Since 2014, Benedict Kloeckner has been also the founder and artistic director of the "International Music Festival Koblenz" IMUKO.

The Kuss Quartet has been standing on the international stage for many years and has remained true to its trademark by developing conceptual programmes, always searching with curiosity for the confirmation of the eternal "Muss es sein" of string quartet playing.

From 13 - 18 January 2025, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester invites to the fourth edition of its piano festival «Le Piano Symphonique». Piano music enthusiasts from all over the world can once again look forward to great artists from the international piano elite at «Le Piano Symphonique» 2025 in Lucerne.

This year's anniversary edition of the Molyvos International Music Festival on the Greek island of Lesvos will take place from 12 - 19 August 2025 under the motto CHAOS - ΧΆΟΣ and marks the 11th anniversary of the festival.

Ιn 2026 the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund will celebrate its seventieth anniversary and is among the cultural institutions in Dortmund with the greatest tradition. As a member of the “Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg” the past decades have made the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund through its promotion of young artists and its successful concerts into the most important organisation of its type in the German speaking world.

Fabian Müller could establish himself as one of the most remarkable German pianists of his generation. He caused a great sensation at the International ARD music competition in Munich 2017, when he not only won 2nd prize in the overall ranking, but was awarded with not less than four additional prizes. He is releasing his third studio album, entitled "passionato", on the Berlin Classics label amid the coronavirus shutdown., a statement full of musical passion that casts a fresh look at standard classical works by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Rihm in the here and now.

For the first time, a work by Richard Wagner can be experienced at the Opera in the Quarry in summer 2025: The Flying Dutchman. From 9 July to 23 August, the impressive St. Margarethen quarry, one of the most spectacular and beautiful open-air stages in Europe, will be transformed into a dramatic coastal landscape - the setting for an eerily romantic seafaring drama full of longing, storms and redemption. Director Philipp M. Krenn, set designer Momme Hinrichs and conductor Patrick Lange stage this monumental work with an international ensemble as a captivating synthesis of the arts. Great voices, moving music and visual power make for an open-air opera experience - for Wagner connoisseurs as well as anyone who wants to be inspired by musical theatre for the first time.

Vanessa Porter is one of the most versatile percussionists internationally and is in demand for various projects, concert formats and programmes. As a soloist she combines current works with improvisation, electronics and the performing arts and collaborates with renowned composers such as Georges Aperghis, Zeynep Gedizlioglu, Jennifer Walshe or Ben-Amots Ofer. Using voice, body percussion, bells or vibraphone: In her latest programme folie à deux she creates hypnotic soundscapes between soft beauty and eruptive power.

It is a rare stroke of luck when siblings achieve a comparable professional mastery on their instruments and then also represent international top level in playing chamber music. One such stroke of luck is the Quatuor Tchalik, founded in 2013 with Gabriel (1st violin), Louise (2nd violin), Sarah (viola) and Marc Tchalik (violoncello). And there is even a family-option to play as a piano quintet with brother and pianist Dania which is regularly used. Since 2018 at the latest, as double-awarded prize winners at the Salzburg Mozart Competition, the four have been playing in the top league of the European string quartet scene. Growing up in a Russian-French household with Ukrainian roots, the siblings have been making music together from an early age.

Miroslav Srnka's international breakthrough came in 2016 when his opera "South Pole" was premiered at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under Kirill Petrenko, in a production by Hans Neuenfels that featured Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson in the title roles. Several of Srnka's works will be premiered in the season 2022/23: The Berliner Philharmoniker will perform the orchestral work "Superorganisms" for the first time conducted by Kirill Petrenko in February 2023, before it has its Asian premiere in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth in June 2023.

Intelligent clarity and an in-depth and always curious musicality characterize Markus Stenz' work. Worldwide much valued, he has held a number of high-profile positions with international orchestras and opera houses including Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2012-2019), Principal Guest of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2015-2019), Conductor-In-Residence of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (2016-2019). He was General Music Director of the City of Cologne and Gürzenich-Kapellmeister for 11 years.

Sarah Maria Sun is known as one of the foremost and most extraordinary performers in the contemporary music scene. Her repertoire currently spans around 2000 compositions from the 16th to the 21st century, including 400 world premieres.

Ildikó Szabó is already a cello-institution in her home country Hungary. From October 2023, Ildikó is an associate professor for chamber music at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, and a lecturer for cello at the Julius-Stern-Institute - UdK Berlin. She has been actively involved in educational and outreach projects such as TONALi's school concerts and the Konzerthaus Dortmund's Community Music. Ildikó is a Larsen Strings artist.

Considered to be one of the most exceptionally gifted pianists of his generation in Poland, Szymon Nehring is the only Pole to have won the first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv (2017). During the 2024/25 season, a new minimalistic recording will be released, as well as the Frirst Volume of a Chopin Solo Works Cycle for the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, a project meant to last several seasons.

Doriana Tchakarova is an internationally successful pianist, winner of numerous competitions and her album recordings have been honoured with major awards. She is currently a lecturer in vocal accompaniment at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts and a sought-after accompanist at masterclasses and international commpetitions.

French harpist Anaëlle Tourret is one of the leading soloists of her instrument. In March 2018, at the age of 25, she was appointed Principal Harpist of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg. In October 2021 she released her debut album with works for harp solo of the 20th century (Caplet, Britten, Holliger, Hindemith) on the record label Es Dur. A new album with chambermusic and orchestral music will release in February 2025.

Melanie Diener, the internationally acclaimed soprano from Waiblingen, and the American baritone Thomas Hampson, one of the most legendary singers of our time, have joined with the city of Waiblingen in creating the International Opera Workshop and invite the best young talents to Waiblingen to take part.

Sarah Wegener approaches every role with captivating intensity. She has enthralled listeners with the warmth and richness of her voice in performances such as Strauss’ Orchestral songs under Mariss Jansons and Vladimir Jurowski in Munich, London, and Hamburg, Mahler’s 8th Symphony under Kirill Petrenko in Bregenz, Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg, and Kent Nagano in Montreal, as well as in her War and Peace programme shaped around works by Handel and Purcell, which she also presented at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Her “marvellously radiant voice, as powerful as it is rich in colour” (FAZ) distinguishes her as a lieder singer of the highest order, as illustrated on her highly praised CDs "Into the Deepest Sea" and "Zueignung". A recording of songs arranged by B.A. Zimmermann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra is due to be released at WERGO in October 2022.

Brimful of energy, Antje Weithaas’ brings her compelling musical intelligence and technical mastery to every detail of the music. Her charisma and stage presence are captivating, but never overshadow the works themselves.

The young German soprano Eva Zalenga is a two-time winner of the German Music Competition 2023 and the SWR Young Opera Stars 2023 and was honoured with the Emmerich Smola Award and the Orchestra Prize of the German Radio Philharmonic. As the winner of the Vienna International Music Competition 2023, she performed at the Musikverein in Vienna. Other celebrated highlights were her debut in Denmark at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen as Sophie (Werther) and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Adele (Die Fledermaus). She will receive the Zonta Culture Award in 2025.

„Nur immer mit der Möglichkeit, es sei“ // "Seulement toujours avec la possibilité que ce soit" // "Just always with the possibility of it being"