Erich Höbarth

violin and string quartet

Erich Höbarth was born in Vienna in 1956. He studied with Franz Samohyl and Sandor Vegh. Member of the Végh-Quartet; assistent at his master classes.He was 1st concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony from 1980 - 87; concertmaster and soloist with the "Concertus Musicus" under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. 1979 - 2004 member of the "Vienna String Sextet", since 1987 he has been a member of the "Quatour Mosaiques". Erich Höbarth appears frequently as a soloist with the Camerata Academica of Salzburg, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Chapelle Royal of Paris, the Baltic Philharmonia, RSO Vienna, the Vienna Symphony and many others. He performs chamber music with Andras Schiff, Sabine Mayer, Elisabeth Leonskaja und Miklos Perenyi among others.He was a guest professor at the Graz University of Music and taught chamber music at the Vienna University of Music He has been professor at the summer academy Prag - Wien - Budapest and the European Chamber Music Academy for string quartet. Artistic director of the CAMERATA BERN.

Pianist: Nadja Höbarth

Thomas Riebl

viola

Born in Vienna in 1956, Thomas Riebl studied with S.Führlinger, Peter Schidlof and Sandor Végh. He has won prizes at international competitions such as Munich and Budapest, and in 1982 won first prize at the International Naumburg Competition in New York where he also received the Ernst-Wallfisch-Memorial-Award. He has appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebow Amsterdam and Wiener Musikverein, with leading orchestras including the Chicago and Vienna Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Helsinki Radio Orchestra, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Horst Stein, Edo de Waart, Andrew Davies and Sylvain Cambreling. His chamber music partners include have been Jessey Norman, Andràs Schiff, Oleg Maisenberg, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Gidon Kremer and Sabine Meyer and the Juilliard String Quartet. He was a member of the Vienna String Sextet (1979 - 2004). Thomas Riebl is professor at the University Mozarteum Salzburg since 1983 and has given numerous master classes worlwide. He has recorded for EMI, RCA, pan classics and Hyperion Records. He is artistic director of the Internationale Sommerakademie Bad Leonfelden, Austria.

Troels Svane

cello

Foto: Rigmor Mydtskov

Troels Svane studied with David Geringas at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, Germany. He graduated from the soloist class with distinction and the highest grade in all subjects. Furthermore he was taught by Anner Bylsma, Frans Helmerson, Ralph Kirshbaum, György Ligeti, Yo-Yo Ma, Siegfried Palm, Boris Pergamenschikow, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Paul Tortelier and the Amadeus Quartet.

After high school he was appointed co-principal cellist of the Copenhagen Philharmonic at the age of 18. He won prizes at national and international competitions and received numerous scholarships. As a soloist he has performed with most Danish orchestras and with orchestras in England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Switzerland.

As a recitalist and member of the Copenhagen Trio and the Menuhin Festival Piano Quartet, Troels Svane played concerts all over Europe, Australia, Asia, South America and the United States. He performed with Yuri Bashmet, Thomas Brandis, Zakhar Bron, Ulf Hoelscher, Karl Leister and the Zehetmair Quartet.

He has recorded more than 40 CD’s including the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Reger.

Troels Svane was the assistant to David Geringas for 11 years before he was appointed professor for violoncello at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in 2004. Furthermore he has a celloclass at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ Berlin. He has given masterclasses in Australia, Asia, Ukraine, South America and in numerous European countries and was a jury member at international competitions. His students were prize winners at competitions like the Rostropovich Competition in Paris and the ARD Competition in Munich.

Pianist: Srebra Gelleva

Stephan Picard

Violin

Stephan Picard was born in 1960. He studied with Saschko Gawriloff. In 1984 he won the International Maria Canals Violin Competition of Barcelona and the German National Music Competition and has developed since then an intensive international career. He appears regularly as a soloist with main symphony and chamber orchestras, and participates at prestigious international festivals. He is a member of the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin. Since 1995 Stephan Picard is professor and head of the string department at the highly acclaimed Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin.

Pianist: Setsko Hori-Brückl

Xenia Jankovic

Cello

Xenia Jankovic was born in 1958 into a Serbian-Russian family of musicians.

Fascinated by the cello, she started to play at the age of six and gave her debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic when she was only nine. Two years later she received a state scholarship to the special school of the Moscow Conservatory and was a pupil of Stefan Kalianov and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Further studies were with Pierre Fournier in Switzerland and André Navarra in Germany. In 1981, Xenia Jankovic gained international acclaim and recognition as the first prize winner of the prestigious "Gaspar Cassado” Competition in Florence. Close work with Sandor Vegh and György Sebök was a source of profound musical and personal inspiration.

Xenia Jankovic’s solo performances with big orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Budapest Philharmonic, the Radio Orchestras of Berlin, Copen-hagen and Madrid as well as her recitals in Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow have been described as deeply moving and unforgettable.

As an activ chamber musician she plays with Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann; she is regularly invited to worldwide international festivals.

Xenia Jankovic is one of the most interesting cellists of our time.

She was Professor for cello at the "Musikhochschule” in Würzburg from 1990-2004; since then she has been professor at MHS Detmold.

Pianist: Nenad Lecic