VOICE

Ksenija Kovacic was born in Varazdin, Croatia.
After having finished her diploma at the Music Academy in Zagreb, she started her Master studies at the Music University in Graz (Singing, Lied, Oratorium and Opera) and completed them. Appearances followed at Graz Opera, Opera house of music and theatre (MUMUTH), Theatre im Palais Graz, Musikverein für Steiermark and as well at the Music Biennale Zagreb.
On stage she sang for instance Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Badi` at (L´ Upupa), Prinzess Schlafittchen (Das Traumfresserchen), Marie (Die verkaufte Braut), erste Dienerin and Solo voice (Frau ohne Schatten).
She also took part in the world premiere of Mauro Montalbetti`s opera "Lies and sorrow" with the leading part of Donna 1 at the event of "Steirischer Herbst".
Recitals with classic and modern music she sang in Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Slowakia and Austria. She was price winner of the contest " Best of South East".

TRAVERSO (BAROQUE FLUTE), FLUTE

Hernando Leal is a versatile and innovative musician whose repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the modern music. His musical activities have taken him to many countries in Europa, Asia, North and South America. He appeared in several musical projects with renowned Ensembles and Orchestras as Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, South West German Philharmonie, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra of Budweis, Ensemble Modern, Kölner Akademie, Stagione Frankfurt, Karlsruhe Baroque Orchester, Cappella Academica Frankfurt, Ecuador Philharmonic, Bach-Collegium Frankfurt and La Chapelle Ancienne of Zürich. Hernando Leal performed at important festivals as the Contemporary Music Festival of Darmstadt, Weilburg Music Festival, Wiesbaden Bach Festival, Frankfurter Forum für Alte Musik, Magdeburger Telemann Festtage, Frankfurt Bach Concerts and Salzburg Music Festival. He has been guest performer at the National Flute Association of USA and Flute Festivals of Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Ecuador und Peru. Hernando appeared also in projects at major music centers as the Royce Hall of Los Angeles, Auditorio Nacional and Teatro Real of Madrid, Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, Festpielhaus Bregenz, Mozart Hall and Opera of Frankfurt, KKL and Opera of Lucerne, Casino of Bern, Tonhalle Zürich, Palau de la Música of Valencia, Teatro Rex of Buenos Aires, Luis Angel Arango Hall and Teatro Colón of Bogotá, Palacio de Bellas Artes of México, Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, and Hiroshima City Hall in Japan among many others. He was involved in different CD-productions for exemple with music from ancient scriptures of St.Egidien in Nuremberg and also in a CD-production with the german Ensemble "La Stagione Frankfurt" with music by C.P.E.Bach. He performed as a soloist flute concertos by Carl Nielsen, Anton Stamitz und Franz Doppler. Recently he performed concertos by C.P.E Bach, Franz Benda, A.Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Johann J.Quantz and G.Ph.Telemann. Another focus of his work is the Interpretation of contemporary music by composers such as: Salvatore Sciarrino, Heinz Holliger, Toshio Hosokawa, Klaus Huber, Robert Dick, Jürg Wyttenbach, Rudolf Kelterborn, Toru Takemitsu, Kazuo Fukushima, Isang Yun, und Blas Emilio Atehortua u.a. He has been prize winner at diferents music contest for traditional music, received the special prize at the Mazda Young Musician Competition, was semifinalist at the Polish International Flute Competition in Krakow and also received the Carolina Oramas and Frankfurt Bach Foundation Scholarships. Hernando Leal finished musical studies in Germany and Switzerland receiving degrees in Music Pedagogy, Orchestral and Soloist Performance, Conducting, Contemporary Music and Master of Music in historical informed performance practice (M.Mus.). His mentors have included Sir James Galway, Peter-Lukas Graf, Anna K.Graf, Karl Kaiser and Michael Schneider. He atended also Masterclasses at important music academies with Auréle Nicolet, William Bennett, Emmanuel Pahud, Patrick Gallois, Barthold Kuijken, Janos Balint, Jeanne Baxtresser, Philippe Bernold, Robert Dick and Maxence Larrieu. He gives masterclasses at diferents music institutions as the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Sevilla in Spain, Conservatorio Nacional in Colombia, Universidad Central and Universidad Corpas of Bogotá, Universidad Bellas Artes of Cartagena, Universidad Nacional Autónoma y Conservatorio Nacional de Música in México, Spanish Flute Association and at the Flute Festivals of Lima and Quito, among others. He is founder of the Internacional Flute Academy of Colombia.

PIANO

Christiana Lin (Chinese: 林秋孜)  is a Chinese Austrian concert pianist who has performed in Europe and China.

Christiana Lin was born in Taipei. Chinese-Austrian pianist and harpsichordist. Steinway Artist. From 1978 to 1992, she studied in Vienna, Innsbruck and Munich and was conferred the Diplom Ausgezeichnet in piano performing from Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien where she studied piano under Prof. Noel Flores, and composition with Prof. Erich Urbanner. She was also conferred the Diplom Ausgezeichnet in piano performing and Diplom in music education with additional Schwerpunkt in Cembalo (harpsichord) from Tiroler Landeskonservatorium Innsbruck where she studied piano under Prof. Claude-France Journès, a renowned French-German pianist, and harpsichord under Prof. Michael Jaud, an Austrian harpsichordist and organist. For several times at the Mozarteum International Summer Academy in Salzburg, she studied piano with the legendary American pianist, Prof. Leon Fleisher. She also has been to the Moscow Conservatory several times studying with Prof. Monov and Prof. Natalie Trull.

Christiana Lin is piano and harpsichord professor at the colleges and graduate schools of Soochow University and National Taiwan University of Arts in Taipei.

 

Career

Christiana Lin was the first musician ever playing both harpsichord and piano in one recital.

In the past many years, she has been invited to perform around Europe and Asia, such as Vienna, Innsbruck, Munich, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Her elegance, cultivation and natural musicality appeal to many audiences. In 1989, she was invited by Vienna Arts Festival to give a piano recital at Wiener Urania concert hall. She also gave many piano and harpsichord recitals at Innsbruck Konservatorium Saal. In 1991, she worked with the renowned conductor Edgar Seipenbush and Innsbruck Symphoniker, performing R. Schumann’s Piano Concerto in a minor Op. 54. Illustrious conductors she has collaborated with in concerts include Edgar Seipenbush, Mark Graveson, Henry Mazer, Jaime Laredo, Nien-Fu David Liao, Wen-Hsien Chang, and Cheng-Tu Su. Orchestras and musical groups she performed with include Innsbruck Symphoniker, Innsbruck Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Sinfonietta & Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipei Chamber Orchestra, Pace Symphony Orchestra, Hua-Gang Symphony Orchestra, and Da-Guan Symphony Orchestra.

In 1995, Dr. Merton Miller, who won the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, visited Taiwan. Christiana Lin was the only musician invited to play in his welcoming party. Among all concerts, she was also invited to appear in 1997 Taipei International Music Festival to perform with internationally-renowned artists such as conductor Jaime Laredo, cellist Yo-yo Ma and violinist Cho-Liang Lin. In 2008, she was invited by Taiwan National Palace Museum to perform in the documentary titled Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum. In the 2009 An Evening of Symphony concert, she performed L.v. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the renowned conductor Nien-Fu Liao and the Da-Guan Symphony Orchestra. She also composed the Cadenza herself, which was its international debut. In 2012, she was invited by Steinway & Sons Piano Center to hold “Beethoven Summer Festival – Christiana Lin Piano Master Class.”

In 2011, she held a concert titled From Vienna to Beijing - the Conversation between Piano and Guqin in the Multi-Function Hall of Peking University Centennial Memorial Hall, which was a concert blending Oriental and western artistries.

Christiana initiated an International Concert Tour starting in 2013:  Echo Aus Wien, piano duo at Klimt Villa in Vienna in late August; Wonderful Melody, cembalo and piano recital at Tianjin Concert Hall in Tianjin, China in October; Accolades To Classics, piano recital at the Central Music Conservatory Concert Hall in Beijing, China in November; Wonderful Melody, this time a piano recital at Bach Hall in Taipei, Taiwan in February 2014; Beauty of Classics From Vienna, piano recital at Minnan Grand Theater in Xiamen, China in April; and finally, The Charming Classics, piano recital at Shanghai Concert Hall in Shanghai, China in early July 2014.  Altogether more than 4,000 people attended her performances of that concert tour.
Education and Playing style

“Music is a language that can only rise from harmonized spirituality, passing from one generation to the next, and the most beautiful among all languages created by the humankind. ─ Christiana Lin”

In addition to performing, Christiana Lin has devoted years to music education. She is an avid speaker and frequently invited to give speeches and teach master classes. In 1994, she founded Cantabile Piano Music Group in the spirit of “I play, we play”. As the Artistic Director, she has held three Christiana Lin’s Piano Education Seminar and Master Class(es) and 17 Cantabile Piano Master Class Concert(s) in order to create a stage for aspiring young artists to present their talent. Among all the master class concerts, the eleventh was 2008 Cantabile Piano German Master Class in that she took the role of artistic director. She invited Chancellor of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, pianist and Prof. Dr. Siegfried Mauser, French-German pianist, Prof. Claude-France Journès, and vocalist, Prof. Ingrid Kremling to teach master classes in Taipei.
Writings

In 2001, specifically for writing the book “J.S. Bach Sechs Partiten BWV 825–830 Analysis und Interpretation”, Christiana Lin went to do research at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, Germany. This is the first book on the subject written in Chinese. She has devoted years to Bach studies and earned her authoritative status in interpreting Bach.

In 2003, she compiled her past speeches and her unique personal teaching experiences, and had them published in three books: “The Glory of Baroque Keyboard Music”, “Enlightenment in Your Capacity for Understanding Music”, and “Understanding the Humanism in Music”.

COMPOSITION

Barbara Mayer (born in Schwabmünchen, Southern Germany) received her first piano lessons at the age of 5, already showing a great talent for improvising and composing at such an early age. At age 14, she made her piano debut in the “Concert for Young Talents of the Region of Augsburg”, where she performed Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Piano Concerto n. 1 in G minor.
She pursued her musical studies in composition, piano, and piano pedagogy, at the Universities of Music Mozarteum Salzburg and Anton-Bruckner-Universität Linz with Prof. Adriana Hölszky, Prof. Cordelia Höfer-Teutsch and Prof. Dr. Margit Haider-Dechant.

In 2008/09 Barbara Mayer was awarded a scholarship by the OEAD (Austrian Academic Exchange Service), which allowed her to further her education in composition studies at the Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal.

A year later, in 2010, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Augsburg commissioned her with the composition of an orchestral work inspired by themes of Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”. Her project culminated in March 2011 with the premiere of her concerto “Tristanesk” for piano, percussion and orchestra, performed by Barbara Mayer herself and the Philarmonic Orchestra of Augsburg.

After successfully completing both her Bachelor and Master studies with the highest honours, she is currently working on her PhD in Musicology at Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

She has continued to follow her artistic impulses in a wide array of Masterclasses and composition seminars, such as Vienna Master Classes, Masterclasses “Jeunesses Musicales” Weikersheim in Germany, Sommercampus Hochschule für Musik Rostock, Allegro Vivo International Chamber Music Festival Horn in Lower Austria, and Festival-Estival Annecy in France, taught by highly acclaimed composers and pianists of the likes of Anatol Ugorsky, Alexander Jenner, Filippo Faes, Konstantin Bogino, Marialena Fernandes, Roger Muraro, Masaaki Hirasawa, Klaus Huber, Ruth Zechlin, Theo Brandmüller, among others.

Throughout her career, a great number of prestigious institutions have recognized Barbara Mayer’s talent with their scholarships, namely the International Richard Wagner Foundation for the Bayreuth Festival, the OEAD, the Mozarteum University and the Federal Ministry of Science and Research.
 
Her accomplishments in piano and composition competitions include but are not limited to:
1st Prize for Piano in the “International Music Competition Paul Harris”, Verbania (Italy);
1st Prize (“Most distinguished”) in the International Composition Competition and 1st Prize in the International Piano Competition of the “Ibla Grand Prize World Music Competition”, Ragusa/New York (Italy/USA) ;
Special Distinction for her piano composition of Franz Liszt’s “Paraphrase de Rigoletto“ with improvisation sections (selected for its potential performance in Carnegie Hall during the winners` concert tour);
String Quartet Award for her “3 Miniatures for String Quartet“ in the Mozarteum Composition Competition, including the performance of her piece by the prestigious Austrian Ensemble for Contemporary Music (OENM).

Barbara Mayer is also the first female winner of the Young Artists’ Award for Composition of the City of Augsburg in their 50 years of history. The jury remarked:
“Barbara Mayer shows an astounding professionalism in her compositions, and proves to have the necessary confidence to sucessfully navigate the current state of affairs in composition. She effortlessly combines structural clarity with a wide range of subtle tonalities, creating  great atmospheric density as well as intense, sensuous sound experiences. In her work she succeds in reconciling elements percieved as irreconciliable, and bridges the gaps between styles and genres, bursting with ideas and expressivity. Her eagerness to experiment shows her outstanding talent to integrate non-musical methods and elements. We foresee a sensational artistic career ahead of her.”

Barbara Mayer’s compositional Œuvre consists of solo works for various instruments, chamber music (with and without vocals), electronic pieces and compositions for orchestra.

Her compositions have already been performed both by herself on piano and by prominent orchestras and ensembles on festivals like “Young Generation Festival of ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany; the 50th Electronic Studio Festival of Mozarteum University; the Event and Concert Series “Retrospektiv und aktuell“ H2 Centre for Contemporary Art Augsburg, Festival-Estival Annecy in France, among many others.

Concerts, commissioned works, composition performances and musicological activities in Austria and abroad in France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil etc. endorse her musical career.