Alexander Janiczek is highly sought after as a director, soloist, guest leader and chamber musician. He was born in Salzburg and studied with Helmuth Zehetmair at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Max Rostal, Nathan Milstein, Ruggiero Ricci and Dorothy Delay. He developed a close association with Sándor Végh and the Camerata Salzburg, whom he led and directed for many years. Alexander led the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and continues as director and soloist on the highly acclaimed series of Mozart Serenades for Linn Records. He is a guest director and records with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and has recently directed the COE in a new cd of Stavinsky for Linn. He also appears with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and explores 19th century performance practice with La Chambre Philharmonique under Emmanuel Krivine and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe. As chamber musician, he has appeared with Joshua Bell, Thomas Adés, Christian Zacharias, Mitsuko Uchida, Denes Varjon and Richard Goode. Llŷr Williams is now has a regular duo partner and together they will appear at London’s Wigmore Hall and has performed a complete Beethoven cycle in the UK and Germany. Much in demand at festivals across Europe, this year Alexander will appear at festivals such as the East Neuk Festival, Festival de Saintes, Herrrenchiemsee Festspiele and the Edinburgh International Festival and special chamber music festivals in Budapest and a Schubertiad in Perth. Alexander also works much with young musicians in masterclasses and recently with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in Saintes. Alexander Janiczek plays the ‘Baron Oppenheim’ Stradivarius from 1716, which is on loan to him from the National Bank of Austria.
Muriel Cantoreggi was born in France, and spent her childhood in Luxemburg. Her violin studies took her to Paris, in the class of Régis Pasquier, then to Utrecht, where she studied with Wiktor Liberman, and finally to Berlin, finalizing her studies at the Hans Eisler Hochschule with Christoph Poppen. In 1993 she was a prizewinner of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud international competition. Muriel was a concertmaster of the EUYO and performed under great conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Bernard Haitink. She then took up the concertmaster position in the Munich Chamber Orchestra, which she led from 1995 till 2007. Since 2009 Muriel has been professor at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. She is much broadcast and recorded, recently for ECM, with Barry Guy's FOLIO, and as soloist in Frank Martin's Maria Tryptichon and Polyptyque with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under Christoph Poppen. Her repertoire extends from baroque to contemporary and chamber music also has a leading role in her musical life.
Born into a musical family, Jerome Akoka studied violin in Paris, Budapest, Moscow and Siena, then began to play as soloist and chamber musician. He now performs with orchestras and in recitals in France, the USA, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain, Argentina and has recorded several critically acclaimed discs. After being a part of the Quatuor Simon, he joined the Orpheus Quartet for an international career until 2008. He has been the solo violin with the Deutsche Kammerakademie since 2004, and has also been the guest conductor of the orchestra. In the field of early music, he joined the Concert d'Astrée, after leading the l’ensemble Fragonard, which he founded. He performs with Emmanuel Krivine and La Chambre Philharmonique, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, and the l’ensemble Prometheus 21. He also performs and programmes at Musée de Port-Royal des Champs. He plays a violin made by Carlo Tononi in Venice in 1720 and a violin made in Cremona Amati brothers in 1630.
The German violist Johannes Erkes studied at the Munich Conservatory with Oscar Lysy and then with Kim Kashkashian. As soloist and chamber musician Erkes is equally in demand and gave appearances in all the great concert halls in Europe, South-America and Japan. He has played concertos with orchestras such as the Orfeo Orchestra Budapest, the Salzburger kammerphilharmonie, the Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, the Klassichen Philharmonie Bonn and the Staatsorchester Braunschweig. As a chamber music specialist, he has played at many festivals such as the Helsinki Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Bath International Festival, the Oleg Kagan Musikfest in Kreuth (Germany), the Pesaro Rossini Festival, the Salzburg Begegnungen and Besançon where he has played with some of the world leading chamber musicians. Johannes is a regular guest principal in the Camerata Academia Salzburg and is also a member of the Cristofori Piano Quartet Amsterdam . He has made many radio and cd recordings for the WDR, the BBC, RAI and the labels BIS and festivo records. In 1993 he founded the chamber music festival Festivo in Aschau im Chiemgau (Germany), which under his direction quickly gained an international reputation. In 2003 and 2005 he was artistic director of the Toujours Mozart festival in Salzburg and Vienna. In November 2004 he was awarded the Kulturpreis des Landkreises Rosenheim (Germany). Johannes Erkes plays a Viola of Giuseppe Guadagnini from the year 1798.
Scottish cellist Alasdair Tait studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, with Thomas Demenga. He has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls and is also much sought after as a chamber music coach and teacher. As well as a busy performing schedule, Alasdair is also Head of Chamber Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Chief Executive of Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT). His specialism in chamber music has brought him the appointments of Director of Chamber Music at the RNCM in Manchester, Artistic Director of the RNCM International Chamber Music Festival, Professor of Chamber Music at the International Chamber Music Institute of the Reina Sofia Conservatoire in Madrid and has been a regular professor on the Britten-Pears International Quartet Academy and Lake District Summer Music. He gives many masterclasses and is frequently invited as jury member on international competitions. Alasdair was also a member of the world famous Belcea String Quartet taking him across the world, the quartet residency at London’s Wigmore Hall, recording award winning cds and twice recipients of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Awards for Chamber Music Ensemble.