Flags, posters and banners greet visitors and young musicians alike!

The citizens of Kronberg are experiencing once more a marvellous musical festivity celebrating this time the gathering of some 160 young violin players from more than 40 countries, from 5 continents. The second Violin Masterclasses and concerts will be held between June 19 and 25 here, making Kronberg  for about a week the heart of the violin world. And, indeed, the team of  Kronberg Academy and our supporters have done a great job in collaboration with the city officials to grace this wonderful place with banners, posters and flags so that every visitor and musician can get a notion of how omnipresent this event really is.

Yesterday, throngs of youngsters arrived by train or airplane in Frankfurt from where they moved to our city. Suddenly, new dynamics unfolded, with many youngsters carrying luggage and instrument cases, asking pedestrians for direction to the academy offices where registration would take place. In some instances one could identify the musical school for which these students are matriculated. In my case, on my way uphill to our offices, while still busy making photos of this scene, a young violinist and her mother crossed my way: and quickly I found out, that it was a young player from New York who studies at the Juilliard school. An institution, which is in some ways comparable to Kronberg Academy, although Juilliard is much bigger with regard to the number of students ( in the realm of educating highly talented young string players).

Now, today, on this partly rainy Sunday, all the young musicians are going through 10 minute-auditions with four teachers/tutors. At the end of the day it will be decided who then will be accepted by the teachers to join in a masterclass with one of the maestros for which they had applied beforehand. So, after each student has finished his or her audition a time of waiting and hoping will follow until this very evening. Then, during the Welcome Dinner, all the young violinists will hear about whether they have been accepted as active participants in the masterclasses of their choice.

We keep our fingers crossed for all of them. And for those students who couldn´t make it to the active masterclass participation, we invite them enjoy their status as passive participants where they will learn by way of listening and communicating with other musicians and the teachers. While some students are still busy preparing themselves for the audition challenge, wrestling with tension and a bit of nervousness, meantime, all our visitors and the citizens can feel the spirit of this event while strolling the streets and places, finding posters and banners on many corners. The young violinists and the many vistors will change the face and dynamics of this city for a long wonderful week. May the masterclasses and the concerts provide for unique moments and encounters.

Michael Heinz

The Augsburg-born cellist Julius Berger has been a permanent feature of the music scene for more than 25 years. That is not just because he is a wonderful musical interpreter, dubbed the “prophet of the cello” by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung following his second recording of Bach’s cello suites. He is also in worldwide demand as a soloist and chamber musician, has released a large number of CDs and trains leading musicians of the next generation. He initially taught at Würzburg and Saarbrücken but has now been teaching at the Augsburg University of Music since 2000, as well as giving international masterclasses – for example, at the international Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg since 1992. He is Artistic Director of the Eckelshauser Musiktage and the Asiago Festival in Italy, is in charge of the international Leopold Mozart Competition in Augsburg and is a jury member at various international competitions. His research interests focus on cello works by Boccherini, some of which are still unknown. However, Julius Berger is also well known for his great commitment to contemporary music by John Cage, Toshio Hosokawa and Sofia Gubaidulina, some of whose works – along with those of other contemporary composers – he has premièred and recorded. Julius Berger plays one of the oldest celli in the world, the 1566 King Charles IX made by Andrea Amati.

You can hear Julius Berger on Friday, 2 October at 7pm and on Saturday, 3 October at 8.30pm at Johanniskirche Kronberg.

He will held his workshop Friday, 2 October, from 9.30  to 11am at Streitkirche Kronberg.

Pieter Wispelwey is one of a leading group of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, he studied with Anner Bylsma and then with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in Great Britain. In 1992 he became the first cellist ever to receive the Netherlands Music Prize and in 1997 was awarded the Belgian Press Prize as Musician of the Year.

The versatile musician, who focuses on both historical performance practice and the interpretation of recent cello works, now makes regular concert appearances in the world’s top concert halls and cities, performing with renowned orchestras and the most famous international conductors. Apart from his masterly technical skills, it is his intense, deeply personal interpretative style which makes a moving impression on his audiences.

In 2005 Wispelwey began an unusual association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, performing all the British cello concertos and the two Haydn cello concertos. In 2009 und 2010 Wispelwey will be giving chamber music concerts in a trio with Viktoria Mullova and Kristian Bezuidenhout. His numerous CDs have received outstanding worldwide critical acclaim; six CDs have been awarded international prizes. His recording of Bach’s six solo suites won three prizes, the Diapason d’or, the Choc de la Musique and the Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Pieter Wispelwey plays a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.

You can hear Pieter Wispelwey Friday, 2 October, 11.30 at St. Peter und Paul Kirche Kronberg.

He will held his workshop Thursday, 1 October, from 4 to 6 pm at Zehntscheune Kronberg.

Jaques Morelenbaum

Jaques Morelenbaum, whose father was a violinist and conductor at the opera house in Rio de Janeiro and whose mother taught the piano, spent a lot of time as a child at his father’s place of work. He began to play the cello at the age of 12 and later studied music in Brazil and at the New England Conservatory of Music. Since his childhood Jaques Morelenbaum has seen the contrast between the classical music loved by his parents and the sounds of South American popular music as an area of conflicting tensions from which he has derived his inspiration. He started his career as a member of an experimental rock band, into which he also introduced the cello.

Over many years, he was closely associated with one of Brazil’s most famous musicians, Antonio Carlos Jobim, allegedly the founder of the bossa nova style. Morelenbaum took up Jobim’s musical legacy when the latter died, developed it further and founded the Jobim-Morelenbaum Quartet with his wife Paula Morelenbaum and Paulo and Daniel Jobim. Jaques Morelenbaum has worked with numerous artists from Brazil and all over the world, including the rock musician Sting and the Japanese electro-pop musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Jaques Morelenbaum has also composed film scores, including the music for the films “Central do Brasil” (together with Antonio Pinto) and “O Quatrilho”, which were both nominated for Oscars.

His concert – Samba, Bossa Nova and Jazz:  Monday, 28 September, 20.00, Stadthalle Kronberg
His workshop: Wednesday, 30 September, 16.00-18.00, Mousonturm Frankfurt

Giovanni Sollima

The Sicilian cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima comes from a reputable family of musicians. He had his first lessons in composition from his father, a pianist and composer who taught at the Palermo Conservatory. Giovanni Sollima studied the cello in Palermo and Salzburg and composition in Stuttgart, where his teacher, Milko Kelemen, said of him, “Talent like that is only found once in a hundred years.” Following a successful international career as a soloist, Giovanni Sollima increasingly gave public performances of his own works. His compositions are a fascinating blend of elements from classical, rock, jazz and ethnic music, presented in an original, inimitable style. It is impossible to miss the musical influence of his native Sicily, whose culture has left a deep mark on him. Giovanni Sollima’s stage appearances with disco lighting, the use of electronic effects as the cello is played and the stirring, often strange music have a strong suggestive impact on the audience. One of the composer’s constant sources of inspiration is nature with its primeval forces. Its inexhaustible energy and fundamental vitality, the often unpredictable interaction of its elements … all that and a lot more is reflected in Giovanni Sollima’s sound creations. His compositions are now performed by well-known orchestras on all five continents and played by leading interpreters such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Viktoria Mullova and David Geringas. Sollima has also spent many years in creative association with the US composer Philip Glass, who is known for his minimalistic style.

Ernst Reijseger – in his own words

Ernst Reijseger

I am a non-repertoire cellist. From when I was very young, I intuitively played in a way that I later found out is called improvisation. In my early years at college I met older students who were studying jazz and new music. I listened to the non-classical repertoire, including free improvisation, jazz and ethnic music. Although I was always interested in traditional cello techniques and was familiar with the cello repertoire, I developed my own personal way of playing. I invented my own pizzicato techniques, based on the finger picking style used by (bass) guitar players, and rhythmic structures that were inspired by drummers and pianists. Nowadays I play with musicians from all sorts of different backgrounds and make sure that I still get full-time enjoyment out of playing the cello. For the past ten years my music has been distributed by the wonderful label Winter&Winter.

I play solo concerts, give workshops for cellists, am involved in film music for Werner Herzog with the Sardinian choir Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei and the Senegalese singer Mola Sylla and also work on music set to works by the South African poet Ingrid Jonker. In addition, I compose for and play with the Italian viola da gamba quartet, Il Suonar Parlante, as well as playing with the inimitable pianist Georg Gräwe and the drummer Gerry Hemingway. I play my own music in a trio with the classical cellist Larissa Groeneveld and pianist Frank van de Laar.

Thomas Demenga

Born in Berne in 1954, the cellist Thomas Demenga studied with Leonard Rose and Mstislav Rostropovich, among others. His chamber music skills were furthered at the Juilliard School in New York, where his tutors were Claus Adam, Felix Galimir and Robert Mann.

As a soloist, composer and teacher, he is one of the outstanding cellists and musical personae of our times and has performed at all the major festivals and musical venues in the world, playing with numerous famous soloists, conductors and orchestras. Thomas Demenga’s art is typically concerned with an in-depth exploration of works from different stylistic eras and with their different interpretations. His particular interests are new music and improvisation.

His work “Solo per due” resulted in Thomas Demenga being the first Swiss national to be awarded first prize at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1991. This was followed by numerous international awards for his compositions. In 2000 he was composer in residence at the Davos Festival “Young artists in concert” and subsequently spent several years as the Festival’s artistic director. The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne engaged him as composer in residence for the 2007/08 season. An extensive series of CD recordings constitutes an impressive document of his artistic pursuits. For almost 30 years Thomas Demenga has been in charge of a training and soloist class at the Basel University of Music.

Slideshow of Tutors giving lessons at our ninth Cello Festival (28 September to 4 October 2009).

Gary Hoffman

Gary Hoffman is one of today’s outstanding cellists, combining instrumental mastery, great beauty of sound and a poetic sensibility in his distinctive and memorable performances. He was born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1956 and studied with Karl Fruh and Janos Starker. At 15 he made his London recital debut in Wigmore Hall, and his New York debut occurred in 1979. At the age of 22 he became the youngest faculty appointee in the history of the Indiana University School of Music, where he remained for eight years. He achieved international renown following his achievement as the first American to win the Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris in 1986.

Gary Hoffman has performed as a soloist with most of the world’s leading orchestras, collaborating with celebrated conductors like James Levine, Mstislav Rostropovich, André Previn and others. He is a much sought-after performer at the most renowned music festivals in different countries. As a teacher who is frequently invited to hold master classes, Gary Hoffman has coached cellists at numerous institutions and festivals, such as the Casals Festival in Prades (Spain) and the Eastman School of Music (USA). His cello is the 1662 Nicolo Amati formerly owned by Leonard Rose.

David Geringas

David Geringas is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. The cellist and conductor works with an unusually broad repertoire from early baroque to contemporary music. The native Lithuanian was the first to perform many compositions by Russian and Lithuanian avantgarde composers in the West. He has received the highest accolades from his native country for his international commitment to Lithuanian music and composers. German President Horst Köhler awarded him the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in October 2006 in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a musician and as an ambassador for Germany’s culture on the international music scene.

Geringas’ teacher and mentor was Mstislav Rostopovich. In 1970 he won first prize and the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition. He has played all over the world with the most important orchestras and the greatest conductors of our time. His extensive discography includes many award-winning recordings. Important contemporary composers have dedicated new compositions to Geringas. In July 2006, Anatolijus Senderovas’ composition “David’s Song for Cello and String Quartet” was premièred in Kronberg – to mark Geringas’ 60th birthday.

As a conductor, David Geringas makes regular appearances all over the world. Since 2005 he has been the Chief Guest Conductor of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Japan. In 2007 David Geringas made his debut with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in Hamburg in 1966, Christian Tetzlaff studied at the Lübeck Conservatory with Uwe-Martin Haiberg and in Cincinnati with Walter Levin. He is internationally recognized as one of the most important violinists of his generation, renowned for his musical integrity, technical assurance and intelligent, compelling interpretations. Equally at home in the classical/romantic repertoire as in con-temporary music, Christian Tetzlaff is highly regarded for his interpretations of the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky as well as Berg, Ligeti and Shostakovich. 2005 Musical America named him “Instrumentalist of the Year”.

He is a regular soloist in major series with the most important US orchestras as well as major European orchestras. He can also be seen at festivals such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh and Lucerne Festival and all US summer festivals. He plays recitals with Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexander Lonquich and Lars Vogt and performs frequently with his string quartet. Christian Tetzlaff has received several awards for his recordings: the Diapason d’Or twice, the Edison prize, the Midem Classical Award as well as the ECHO Klassik prize and several nominations for the Grammy Awards. A new recording of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas was released in March 2007 and a Virgin recording of the violin concertos of Brahms and Joseph Joachim followed in January 2008. He is Professor to Kronberg Academy Masters.

Professor of Violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Mauricio Fuks began his violin studies in his native Uruguay with Ylia Fidlon. After graduating from the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied with Joseph Fuchs and Ivan Galamian, he furthered his studies at the University of Southern California with Jascha Heifetz. In 1964 he won 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artist Competition.

Following a distinguished international career as concertmaster, chamber musician and soloist, he now devotes himself entirely to pedagogy. Mauricio Fuks has been a visiting professor at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, the University of Limerick in Ireland, and the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses at the Reina Sofia School in Madrid, the Scuola di Musica in Fiesole, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, as well as the Shanghai and Beijing National Conservatories.

He is a regular participant in summer festivals such as the Salzburg International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum, the Britten-Pears for Avanced Studies in Aldeburgh, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Orford Summer Festival in Quebec and the Ferme de Villefavard in France. Mauricio Fuks has served as jury member in numerous international competitions. He was featured in The Strad Magazine of March 1993 and was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in 1999. Professor Fuks is regarded as one of today’s finest violin pedagogues.