CELLO

Finnish cellist Liina Leijala is currently the Executive Director of Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah and Cello Professor at the Wiener Musikakademie in Vienna . She is also the Artistic Director of "Leijala & Ruscior Chamber Music Nights" concert series in the Bank Austria Salon at Altes Rathaus in Vienna. Leijala is a prize winner in several international competitions and she is currently performing as a soloist and chamber musician all over the world with worlds leading musicians.

Liina Leijala graduated with highest honors from Sibelius Academy, Finland. In addition, she has studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and in Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. She was the solo cellist at Orchestra Academy Ossiach (with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra).

She has worked with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, The Barbirolli Quartet, Salzburg Chamber Soloists among many other groups and she has performed in festivals such as Verbier, Salzburger Festspiele, etc.

Liina Leijala gave a solo debut recital in the prestigious Wiener Musikverein 2013.

Liina Leijala plays a Vincenzo Postiglione 1896 cello for which she presents the most cordial thanks to the Finnish Culture Foundation.

VIOLA

Julio Lopez is a German-Honduran violist born in 1980.

Since 2007, he is a member of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
He received his first musical education at the Escuela de música Victoriano Lopez.
After completing his studies in Honduras, he was granted a full Scholarship at the University of Southern Mississippi, USA, where he studied viola with Prof. Michael Kimber.

In 2003, Julio Lopez continued his studies at the University of Music in Freiburg, Germany with Prof. Wolfram Christ. He graduated in 2007 with highest honors. In 2006, he won the first prize at the International Viola Competition of Villa Llanes in Asturias, Spain.
Julio Lopez attended master classes and received further influence from Hartmut Rohde, Hariolf Schlichtig, Walter Küssner, Roberto Diaz, Michael Kugel and Csaba Erdelyi. s a scholar of Villa Musica and the Gustav Mahler Academy, he performed with artists such as erhard Schulz, Klaus Stoll, Nicolas Chumachenco, Eszter Haffner, Patrick Demenga and WenSinn ang.
Julio Lopez has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout America with different orchestras and music festivals, such as the Festival de Música Inmufest in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, he St. Augustine Music Festival in Florida, USA and the Filarfest in Quito, Ecuador.
In addition to viola performance, he is a dedicated teacher and is regularly invited to teach at nternational master courses, music institutions and music festivals, such as the Instituto Nacional de
Música in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Escuela Nacional de Música in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the Fundacion Orquesta Sinfonica Juvenil del Ecuador and the International Master Course La
Vilavella in Castellón, Spain.
Julio Lopez is a member of the Tertis-Viola-Ensemble, and their debut-CD was released with
Oehms Classics in 2011.
In 2014, he was Guest-principal viola of the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra/ Arctic Philharmonic in
Norway.
Since 2015, Julio Lopez has been invited to be the viola teacher of the Orquesta Juvenil de Centro
America (OJCA), an invitation in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut of Germany.

CELLO

Viktor Miloserdov graduated at the conservatory in St. Petersburg, studying cello under Prof. E. Fischman. Afterwards he enrolled as a postgraduate for cello at the State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under A. Fedortschenko. Furthermore he studied privately under Prof. Valentin Feigin and Prof. Armen Georgian.
On the recommendation of Prof. Valentin Feigin, Viktor Miloserdov worked as a solo cellist at the Moscow Philharmonic Concert Association “moskonzert”. He played concerts with piano accompaniment and symphonic orchestras and was recorded and broadcasted by several TV and radio stations. In Moscow, Viktor Miloserdov succeeded in getting taught by cello pundit Prof. Lev Evgrafov. Lev Evgrafov is a Russian chello virtuoso and among others he is famous for playing Rondo-Caprichioso from K. Sen-Sans and other virtuosic violin pieces on the cello.

Furthermore he has published four CDs and is about to oublish 20 other CDs and DVDs with the Moscow broadcasting station. His student Alexandr Rubin already impressed 1978 at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow with his sensational performance of fantasies on themes from the opera “The Golden Cockerel” from N. A. Rimski-Korsakov. In the course of his study under Evgrafov, Viktor Miloserdov could master in performing Evgrafov’s extraordinary technique, playing virtuosic violin pieces like Capricio from Paganini on his cello. Till this day a close artistic contact and valued friendship links Viktor Miloserdov and Lec Evgrafov.
Since 1988 Viktor Miloserdov is living and working in Vienna. In Germany and Austria he can look back on various positive press commentaries, labeling him as “sensational cellist” and highlighting his concerts as “outstanding”.

In the 1990s sonatas of Brahms, Schubert and E. Zimbalist’s famous fantasies on themes from the opera “The Golden Cockerel” were recorded by the Austrian radio station Ö1.
On his website www.viktormiloserdov.com video recordings are published, showing his concert at the State Academic Capella Hall in St. Petersburg, at which he played No. 1, No. 2, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 17 of Brahams’ 21 Hungarian Dances and the mentioned fantasies on themes from the opera “The Golden Cockerel”.
Viktor Miloserdov represents Lev Evgrafov’s tradition of playing cello. His audience and the newspaper “Baikalskie Westi” already compared his style of performing to Paganini’s. Since September 2014 Viktor Miloserdov is professor at the Wiener Musikakademie.

VIOLIN

Acclaimed as one of the most versatile and popular Swiss violinists of his generation, also supported by the “Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation”, Manrico Padovani is described by “The Strad” Magazine as “Violin Hero”. After his debut at the „Lucerne Festival” and at the „Stadtcasino” Basel, he performed all over Europe, in America and in Asia in concert Halls such as “Wiener Musikverein”, “Alte Oper Frankfurt”, “Ohji Hall” Tokio, “Kultur- e Kongresszentrum” Lucerne, “Philharmonie” in Cologne, “Smetana Hall” Prague etc. with orchestras like the „Stuttgarter Philharmoniker“, the “Prague Philharmonic Orchestra”, the „Russian Philharmonic Orchestra Moscow”, the „Sinfonia Varsovia”, the „Südwestdeutsche Philarmonie“, the „Akademische Staatskapelle St. Petersburg“, the „Radio Sinfonie Orchester Basel“, the „Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana“, the „Stadtorchester Winterthur” the „Regina Symphony Orchestra“, the “North-Czech Philharmonic”, the „Güri Philharmonic Orchestra Seoul” etc. under the batons of conductors like
B. Perrenoud, R. Barshai, M. Viotti, A. Boreiko, H. Griffiths, M. Andreae, J. Lü,  C. Olivieri-Munroe and P. Altrichter.

“Forceful lyricist”, „Enchanting, bewitching violin”, „A rising star”, „Devil’s fiddler”, “Wizard of the violin” are only a few of the words used by the critics to describe the emotions stirred up by Manrico Padovani during his performances distinguished by a breathtaking skill united to rhythmic tension and an exceptional mastery of the instrument.

Born in Zürich to parents of Italian origin he studied in the Masterclasses of Aida Stucki-Piraccini in Winterthur, great violinist and great teacher who decisively influenced him, and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam. R. Ricci, F. Gulli, V. Pikaizen, B. Belkin, D. Zsygmondy and K.H. Stockhausen also influenced his playing. Manrico Padovani won a wide range of prizes a.o. at the „Vienna International Music Competition”, at „Ruggiero Ricci’s International Master Competition” in Berlin, at the „Accademia Chigiana” in Siena, the „Swiss Youth Music Festival Prize“, three times the „Kiefer-Hablitzel Prize“ of the Swiss Musicians‘ Association, as well as awards from the “Julius Bär” and the “Schuler” Foundations. The important „Jubilee prize” of the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was also among his awards. Manrico Padovani is the first swiss violinist who performed live in concert the complete cycle of the 24 caprices op. 1 for violin solo by N. Paganini.

In spring 2011 he was with Anne-Sophie Mutter and her group “Mutter’s Virtuosi” on Europa-Tour, playing as soloist and chamber music with his famous mentor.

Moreover he was also awarded in 2011 with the “Artist Prize” from the “Aargauer Kuratorium” (Switzerland). Beside the already published recordings on CD and DVD (a.o. violin concertos by Brahms, Beethoven, Prokofjew nr. 1, Paganini nr. 1), new releases on DVD and CD will include live performances in Vienna (Solo Recital), Prague (New Years concert with Prague Philharmonic) and in Seoul (with Seoul Güri Philharmonic Orchetra). Manrico Padovani was also invited for a recording of the soundtrack for Eric Bernasconi’s feature film, Sinestesia, which was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2010.

Highlight of the past season was a.o. the concert for the Pope Benedict XVI at the Sala Nervi in Vaticano together with the outstanding Russian-Greek violinist Natasha Korsakova. This event took place in connection with the Foundation “Sorella Natura” (Italy), where he is acting as Testimonial. In this saison he will perform and having collaborations and crossover-projects with Spanish popstars.

He will also give first performances of works by Thomas Fortmann, specially written for him.

Manrico Padovani plays on the Stradivarius “Nachez” made in 1716, on loan from a famous private collection.