Vesselina Kasarova
Mezzo-soprano, pianist
Vesselina Kasarova was born in Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) and began playing the piano at the age of four. After gaining her concert diploma, she studied singing with Ressa Koleva at the Sofia Music Academy and appeared in major roles at the National Opera there while still a student.
After completing her studies in 1989, a two-year contract took her to the Zurich Opera House, where she quickly became an audience favourite and was hailed as a great discovery by international critics. In the same year, she also won first prize at the German singing competition ‘Neue Stimmen’ in Gütersloh.
In 1991, the year of Mozart, Vesselina Kasarova made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with two matinées at the Mozarteum (Betulia liberata KV 118) and as Annio in the revival of La clemenza di Tito conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Other roles at the Salzburg Festival included Tancredi, Ombra felice, Zerlina, Farnace, Sesto and Marguerite (La damnation de Faust). In the autumn of the same year, Vesselina Kasarova made her highly acclaimed debut at the Vienna State Opera as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) under Donald Runnicles.
Wen-Sinn Yang
violoncellist
The Taiwanese cellist was born in Bern in 1965 and studied with Claude Starck in Zurich and Wolfgang Boettcher in Berlin. He was the first principal cellist in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for 16 years. He often plays with the Orchestra as a soloist.
After having won the first prize at the Geneva International Competition in 1991, he has been invited regularly to important concert halls in Europe and Asia as well as to international festivals. The distinguished conductor Lorin Maazel wrote about Wen-Sinn Yang: «He plays technically at the highest level with a lovely, full sound and impeccable intonation. He phrases sensitively and has the fullest grasp of the philosophical dimensions of the music he plays.» Yang‘s broad repertoire is well documented on more than 30 CDs. A DVD with J. S. Bachs 6 Solo Suites was published in 2006 in collaboration with the Bavarian TV. Since 2005 he teaches at the University for Music in Munich.
Giuliano Carmignola
violinist
Born in Zurich, Jürg Dähler studied violin with Sándor Végh and Heribert Lauer and viola wit
Gramophone magazine called Giuliano Carmignola a ‘prince among baroque violinists’. His interpretations are characterised by great passion and an introspective approach full of imagination and freedom.
Born in Treviso, Giuliano Carmignola studied violin with his father and later with Luigi Ferro, Nathan Milstein and Franco Gulli at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
He began his career as a soloist under the direction of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Eliahu Inbal, Peter Maag and Giuseppe Sinopoli and subsequently worked with many renowned conductors and instrumental ensembles both on period instruments and with modern orchestras in Europe and around the world.
Since then he has performed regularly with Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Daniele Gatti, Andrea Marcon, Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, Ivor Bolton, Roger Norrington, Richard Egarr, Giovanni Antonini, Ottavio Dantone, Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman and the great European baroque and classical orchestras.
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h Christoph Schiller and Fjodor Drushinin. Further studies followed with Pinchas Zukerman and Kim Kashkashian. After his debut at the Zurich Tonhalle with the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s viola concerto dedicated to him, he was a guest with many renowned orchestras. Concert tours as a soloist and chamber musician have taken him to Australia, the USA and throughout Europe. Since 1993 he has been 1st solo violist in the Musikkollegium Winterthur orchestra and is a member of the Winterthur String Quartet. Since 1999 he has been a co-founder of the Swiss Chamber Concerts and has directed the Whitsun Festival at Brunegg Castle in the same capacity since 2015. In 2008, he was awarded the Zolliker Culture Prize for his artistic work and his services to Switzerland as a cultural centre. In 2020, he received the Swiss Music Prize for his long-standing commitment to the Swiss Chamber Concerts. He plays a violin by Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona 1714, and a viola by Raffaele Fiorini, Bologna 1893.
Werner Bärtschi
pianist and composer
has never given up to look after the specific character and aesthetic value of each single piece of music. Therefore his interpretations are regarded as particularly spontaneous and intense. He has played on all continents and at festivals such as Gstaad, Lucerne, Zurich, La Roque d‘Anthéron, Antalya and Salzburg. Broadcast-, tv- and filmappearances as well as numerous CDs give evidence of his succesful activity as a pianist. The focus of his teaching is to develop from the individual personality of each student the aesthetical goals and the ways to achieve them. His approach to music as a composer is helpful. Thus he is able to appreciate the rich complexity of the past‘s masterpieces. Bärtschi‘s talent for communication allows him to transmit his insights effectively.