ARTISTS
EUNGKWANG LEE
Baritone
After completing his vocal music course at Seoul National University, Li Yingguang won the East Asia Competition and the Korean Music Competition, recognizing his musical talent. In 2005, he was admitted to Hans Eller College in Berlin, Germany. Li has won many international vocal awards in Europe, such as: International Vocal Competition Alexander Girardi International Singing in 2006 (Germany), Ricardo Sardonai International Vocal Competition (Italy), Ernst Havliger International Vocal Competition (Switzerland), Fergio Tagliavini ISC, Hilde Sadik ISC (Austria) Spiros Agui. Ris ISC, Alfredo Giacomotti ISC (Italy), Maria Carlas Grand Prix ISC (Greece), Francisco Binyas ISC (Spain), Queen Elizabeth ISC of Belgium, Lila Gensler ISC of Turkey, Netherlands IVC, Seoul International Singing Competition. He began his opera career in 2008. He was born in the Korean National Opera House and successfully played Marcelo in Puccini's Opera "Bohemians" and achieved great success. He was admitted to the Basel Opera House in Switzerland and became the first solo singer in the history of the Opera House in Asia. In 2010, the unit was selected as the "best singer of the year" award.
UWAGA!
Quartet
Ein virtuoser klassischer Violinist mit Vorliebe für osteuropäische Musik, ein Jazzgeiger mit Punkrock-Erfahrung, ein meisterhaft improvisierender Akkordeonist mit Balkan-Sound im Blut und ein Bassist, der sich in Symphonieorchestern ebenso zu Hause fühlt, wie in Jazzcombos oder Funkbands zwischen Klassik, Jazz, Balkan- und Popmusik. Der vielschichtige Sound des Ensembles ist orchestral und perkussiv zugleich. Auf der Suche nach erweiterten Audrucksmöglichkeiten entstehen schließlich Begegnungen, die diese musikalischen Gegenpole weiter ausreizen sollen. Auf der einen Seite spielt Uwaga! 2013 erstmals eigene Arrangements und Kompositionen mit dem Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen. Die extrem fruchtbare und erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit wird ausgebaut und weitergeführt, gleichzeitig beginnt das Quartett, mit großen Symphonieorchestern in ganz Deutschland zu konzertieren. Die Spielfreude steckt auch die Orchester sofort an, ein ganz individueller orchestraler Crossover-Sound entsteht und wird schließlich 2016 gemeinsam mit den Dortmunder Philharmonikern auf CD (Swan Fake, ARS Produktion) gebannt. www.uwagaquartett.de
IRINA PAPENBROCK
Soprano
After completing her piano studies in Moscow, the German-Russian soprano Irina Papenbrock began her vocal training at the Music Academy "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin in the class of Julia Varady. Masterclasses with Uta Priew, Waltraud Meier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Thomas Quasthoff complemented her education. Her great debut was in the title role of Rossini's CENERENTOLA with the Munich Chamber Opera at the Cuvillies Theater. This was followed by numerous guest appearances in Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart and Zurich; and the role of Carmenin Bizet’s famous opera CARMEN which she performed with great success with the Kazan State Theater in Holland and Belgium. This was followed by sopran parts such as Semfirain Rachmaninov's ALEKO and Iolantain Tchajkowski's IOLANTA at the Berlin Philharmonic. Irina Papenbrock works with renowned conductors such as Jonas Alber, Nabil Sheata, Daniel Barenboim, Tadeusz Kozlowski and Michail Jurowski and is highly esteemed for her musical personality. Her voice unfolds with a voluminous lyrical-dramatic sound with a stable depth and middle position and a radiantly illuminating height and thrills critics such as Joachim Kaiser. With her expressive concert version of Isolde from Wagner's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE under Michail Jurowski, she conquered the Italian audience at the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi in Palermo, as well as in Warsaw, where she performed at a special invitation of the Wagner Society.
FLEX ENSEMBLE
Piano quartet
Kana Sugimura - violin, Anna Szulc-Kapala - viola, Martha Bijlsma – cello and Johannes Nies - piano
Known for their musically refined and highly energetic performances, the Flex Ensemble has been thrilling audiences with programs ranging from classical and romantic piano quartet repertoire to modern presentations featuring work by today’s preeminent composers like Márton Illés and Gérard Pesson. They regularly collaborate with prominent artists such as Wolfgang Güttler, Oliver Wille or Albrecht Mayer. The group founded the annual Chamber Music Fest Rheinhessen in 2014 as well as the imPULS concert series in Hannover in 2016, and they continue to serve as artistic directors for both. The ensemble was awarded 1st prize and the special prize for interpretation at the International Schumann Chamber Music Award in Frankfurt in 2013. They were also winners of the Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award 2015 in Lugano and the recipient of awards at the Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Lodz and the Premio Trio di Trieste. The Flex Ensemble has appeared at venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Beijing Performing Arts Center and Festivals such as the the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker and the Heidelberger Frühling. Their performances have been broadcast live on German Radio (SWR and NDR Kultur) and Dutch Radio (Radio 4). In 2014 their Debut CD 'The Arrival of Night' was released from GENUIN Classics. Their second CD “Au Suivant” will be released in 2019. www.flexensemble.com
THE ARIE
Duo
The Arie Duo celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018 and accordingly, is one of the leading duos os this generation. Anita Vizkoczi-Farkas and Juan Carlos Arancibia Navarro met durin their studies at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Detmold Music College). Since 2008, they have performed over 300 times in Europe and South America, have won mutiple prizes, and recorded several discs, which speak for their quality. Thy have focused on the repertoire for flute and guitar since the beginning of their collaboration and have recorded some of the "classic" tunes for flute and guitar, which have been highly praised by audiences. The press recommended their first CD Café as a "album you must hear!". The Duo has also won prizes in France, Italy and Germany. Radio and TV programs have frequently reported the succes oh both the music and the duo. Additionally, important composers have dedicated outstanding works to this duo. Together with th Carmen arragement, these pieces form the core repertoir of their latest CD, presentingnot only grat virtuosity but also much sensitivity.
RAMBALDI
Duo
In 2010 Francesca founded a chamber music festival in her hometown and in 2015 she received the award "Premio Montevenere" for her engagement. She participated in the "international song duo masterclass Udo Reinmann" in Brussels with the French singer Marion Gomar and in 2014 together they won the 2nd prize at the "Clara Schumann Competition" of the Soroptimist Club in Leipzig. Francesca was a member of Live Music Now Leipzig, an association that organizes concerts in hospitals, retirement homes, prisons throughout Germany. With LMN she also participated in the music festival organized by the academy of "Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker". In Bologna she is an active member of Concordanze, an ensemble with the same purpose of spreading music where it normally can not arrive, like prisons and rehabilitation centers.Recently she organized musical partnership projects with Spinnerei Leipzig, UNESCO Bologna City of Music, Goethe Institut Bologna, Concordanze and Live Music Now.
Felix Thiemann took part in the youth contest "Jugendmusiziert". He won firstprizes in the years 2003 and 2006. He also won first prize at the chamber music competiton of the music publisher Peters in Leipzig. In 2004 he won a loan of an historic instrument from the German Music Foundation (a violoncello by François Gand à Paris1826). In 2006 Felix Thiemann was among the finalist of the "International Cello Competition Antonio Janigro". In 2010-2011he played as substitute for the Gewandhaus orchester in Leipzig. Since 2010 he has been a scholarship holder of the "Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now"association. In 2011 he was selected by the University of Music and Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig for the scholarship of the Ad Infinitum Foundation. He finished his cello studies in 2012 with a diploma with Prof. Peter Bruns inLeipzig. From 2012 to 2014, he continues his master studies with Prof. Peter Hörr. In 2017 he finished the chamber music studies with the Kogan Trio in the class of the Artemis quartett at the University of the Arts in Berlin with top marks. With his trio,he won the "Alice Samter Prize" at the Alice Samter Foundation's chamber music contest and regularly performs in Germany and abroad. From 2014 to 2017 he was Akademist of the Konzerthaus orchester and the Rundfunk- Sinfonie orchester Berlin. Since 2015 he's teaching at the state music schools in Berlin Reinickendorf and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Felix Thiemann plays on a cello by Daniel Josua König from 2013.
MIROSLAV NISIC
Accordionist
Milanovic taught at the music grammar school “Stanislav Binicki”, where Miroslav Nisic acquired his A levels, with the major accordion. During his artistic education, Miroslav Nisic successfully took part in various competitions in Serbia, Italy, the Ukraine and Bulgaria. His best awards were acquired in the following competitions: Citta di Castelfidardo (IT), days of the accordion (RS), Star Ways (RS), Davorin Jenko (RS), Acco Holiday (UK), federal competition (RS) and many more. Beside classical music, Miroslav Nisic is also active in the domain of folk and entertainment music. When he won the first prize in Serbia's renowned accordion competition „Prva Harmonika – Sokobanja“, his concert career began to grow, after which he recorded his first CD. Between 2011 and 2018 he studied at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany in the class of famous accordionist Mie Miki. He earns additional musical impulses in well-known accordionists' master classes, such as Pavel Fenyuk, Vladimir Murza, Nikolai Davidov, Janne Rättyä, Matti Rantanen, Geir Draugsvoll, Juan José Mosalini, Veli Kujala and Lars Holm. This expanded Nisic's repertoire to works from baroque to modern age. Since 2013 he plays as a solid member of the successful crossover-ensemble Uwaga!. The stylistic range of the quartet enables him to fully exploit his specialization: classical music and Serbian folklore, but he also expands his experience in Jazz. Miroslav Nisic is a scholarship holder of the Alfred& Cläre Pott-foundation (2011/2012), the Lions-Club Essen Werethina (2013/2014), the Inge and Karl-Werner Lentzsch-foundation (2016/2017) and also the Yehudi Menuhin-Live Now-foundation (2017/2018). With his ensemble he delights his audience at well-known festivals in Germany, France, Russia, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Portugal,… in renowned concert halls such as Schleswig Holstein music festival, Jazz en Baie (FR), Philharmonie Essen, concert hall Dortmund, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Alte Oper Frankfurt, sound festival Runkelstein (IT), franconian summer, Mozart Festival Chemnitz and many others, as well as concerts with famous orchestras as the WDR Funkhausorchester, Düsseldorf Symphony and the Dortmund Philharmonic.
JUAN CARLOS
Guitarist
Juan Carlos Arancibia Navarro is one of the most active guitarists of his generation. Even while he was still a student of Oscar Zamora at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Lima he won several prizes and played at the biggest halls in Lima. In 2006 Carlos Navarro moved to Germany in order to study with Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff of the Amadeus Guitar Duo at the Detmold Academy of Music. He completed his first degree there in 2009 and three years later passed his concert examination with distinction. That same year WDR Westdeutscher Rundfunk broadcast a portrait of him. In 2015 he completed a master’s degree in chamber music with Joaquín Clerch at the Robert Schumann Academy in Düsseldorf, gaining the highest mark. Also in Europa Carlos Navarro has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions in Germany, Italy, France and Poland. As a soloist Carlos Navarro has appeared throughout Europe, South- and North america an many music festivals and performs regularly with the flutist Anita Farkas as Arie Duo. Carlos Navarro's debut CD was recorded with the Gran Guitarra Quartet and it was widely praised by the specialist press. His Solo Album "Danzas" was described as "a luxury for the guitar world". Aside from his performances, Navarro teaches at the Technische Universität Dortmund, leading the guitar ensemble and regularly giving additional masterclasses. Since 2017, he represents the Friends of Guitar Music Association in Dortmund, and organizes the Dortmund Guitar Festival in cooperation with the mayor’s office of Dortmund.