Romina Lischka was born in 1982 in Vienna, Austria. Her interest in early music brought her to the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzeland, where she studied viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo. She received her soloist’s diploma with distinction in 2006. Romina then continued her studies with Philippe Pierlot at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, completing her Master’s degree with distinction in 2008.
Since 2008, she has developed her activities as a concert artist, playing with ensembles such as Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), Gli Angeli Genève and others, performing in Europe, Japan and United States.
She has recorded for the labels Ricercar, Flora, Coro, Christophorus, Musica Ficta and Fuga libera.
During the 2012-13 season, she was chosen as a Rising Star by BOZAR and Concertgebouw Amsterdam in the early music category. Her first solo CD, Pièces de viole de Sieur de Machy, received a Diapason 5.
In 2011 Romina set up the Hathor Consort. Her ensemble’s first CD, a recording of John Dowland’s Lachrimae, was well received by the press (IRR outstanding, 10 Klara nominations, 4 Diapasons).
Sofie Vanden Eynde was born in 1978 in Belgium. She studied lute and theorbo with Philippe Malfeyt at Ghent Conservatory and with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
In 2006 her home town awarded her a prize in recognition of her artistic achievements. With the ensemble Le Jardin Secret she was awarded both first prize and the audience prize at the 2007 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition.
She performs with the Hathor Consort, Encantar, Bel Ayre, l’Achéron, and as a duo with Romina Lischka and Thomas Hobbs. Together with the soprano Rebecca Ockenden, Sofie explores and performs the rich repertoire of the lute-song. Itheir first CD (Mistress Elizabeth Davenant, her Songes) was released in 2011. In 2012, she set up Imago Mundi, a non-profit organisation which aims to foster encounters between different branches of the arts and kinds of music: eastern and western, old and new. The first fruits of the project, DIVINE MADNESS, appeared on CD a year later. Sofie has recorded for RAMEE, CORO, Phaedra, CYPRES, Aeolus, Fuga Libera, Paraty, Ricercar and K617.
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Born in Armenia on Labour Day and living in France since the age of 20, Varduhi Yeritsyan holds an uncommon place in the current pianistic landscape. Through her twin cultures inherited by great masters such as Brigitte Engerer, Vladimir Krainev, Msitslav Rostropovich, Denis Pascal and Claire Désert, she is both a specialist in the Russian repertoire and a regular interpreter of the French repertoire. After graduating from Yerevan’s Tchaikovsky Specialised Music School for gifted children, she studied at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP), where she obtained the highest prizes for piano and chamber music. She then completed a postgraduate cycle in both areas, studying with, respectively, Brigitte Engerer – her true mentor ever since her arrival in France – and cellist Marc Coppey.
In 2007, Varduhi Yeritsyan won the Paris Conservatoiry’s Avant-Scènes annual student contest. She has also won accolades from the Natixis-Banque populaire, Tarrazi, Nadia et Lili Boulanger, Meyer and Or du Rhin Foundations, and was named “Classical Music Revelation” by ADAMI, a French performers’-rights collective.
Since completing her studies with a performance of Aram Khachaturian’s Concerto at the Cité de la musique, she has been invited to multiple festivals (Folle Journée de Nantes, Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins de Toulouse, Festival Berlioz de La Côte Saint André, Pianofolies de Touquet, Piano en Valois, Festival de Saint Lizier, Piano(s) à Lille, Les solistes aux Serres d’Auteuil, Festival international de violoncelle de Beauvais, Festival de Sully sur Loire, Festival Messiaen de la Meije) and has played on many French and international stages, including Paris’s Louvre Auditorium, the Cité de la musique and the Salle Pleyel, the Arsenal in Metz, Toulouse’s Halle aux Grains, Porto’s Casa da Musica, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Hague Theatre, the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Estonia theatre in Tallin…
Renowned for her interpretation of Alexander Scriabin, whose cycle of ten sonatas for piano she regularly plays as a cycle, she is also a passionate chamber musician, sharing the stage with Brigitte Engerer, the Danel, Psophos, Zemlinsky and Ardeo string quartets, violinists Renaud Capuçon, Fanny Clamagirand, Hae Sun Kang, Geneviève Laurenceau and Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, cellist Marc Coppey, bassoonist Pascal Gallois, pianist François-Frédéric Guy, jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan and dudukplayer Araik Bartikian. She also particularly enjoys performing as soloist, and in recent years has played with conductors including Alain Altinoglu, Alexander Anissimov, Fabien Gabel, Claire Gibault, Christoph Koenig, Bruno Mantovani, Tugan Sokhiev and Zahia Ziouani, leading orchestras such as the Bretagne, Île-de-France and BBC London orchestras, that of Porto’s Casa da Musica, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Strasbourg Philharmonic and the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra…
In 2010, she received funding from the prestigious Jean-Luc Lagardère foundation for her recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s music, released by Maestria Records in 2012. Varduhi Yeritsyan has been a guest on many shows on Radio France’s “France Musique” channel, including Gaëlle le Gallic’s “Dans la cour des grands”, Arièle Butaux’s “Un mardi ideal” and Jean-Pierre Derrien’s “Le matin des musiciens”. She is an assistance professor of Denis Pascal’s piano class at the Paris Conservatory.
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Stefanie Troffaes – Flute
Stefanie Troffaes was born in Bruges, Belgium, in 1980, where she attended flute lessons with Patrick Beuckels and recorder lessons with Tomma Wessel. Stefanie continued her studies at the Brussels Royal Conservatory with Marc Hantaï, Barthold Kuijken and Frank Theuns for the flute and with Bart Coen for the recorder. Besides her Master’s degree which she concluded with magnum cum laude, she also received the prestigious Köberle Prize there. She has followed master classes with Daniël Brüggen, Karl Keiser and Wilbert Hazelzet.
In 2002, Stefanie was finalist at the International Soloist Competition Musica Antiqua Brugge, and in 2015, she was nominated for the Klara Audience Prize Jonge Belofte 2014 for her promising career.
She has performed freelance with numerous internationally renowned ensembles, including Les Talens Lyriques, B’Rock, Le Concert d’Astrée, Collegium Vocale, Les Muffatti, Insula Orchestra and Bach Concentus.
Stefanie has assisted in recordings for the labels Alpha, Musica Ficta, Naïve, Archiv Productions, Aparté, Challenge, Opus Arte, Palazzetto Bru Zane and Virgin.
Julien Wolfs – Harpsichord
Julien Wolfs was born in Jodoigne, Belgium, in 1983, where he received his first harpsichord lessons from his mother Marie-Anne Dachy. He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and obtained his Master’s degree under Menno Van Delft. At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon, he continued his studies with Françoise Lengellé and Dirk Börner, where he earned a Master’s degree in chamber music. At the IMEP in Namur, he also gained a Master’s degree in pedagogy.
In 2007, Julien Wolfs was first laureate at the international contest for harpsichord at Musica Antiqua Brugge. Besides a shared second prize, he also scooped the Audience Award and the Editions Minkoff Prize.
Julien is founding member of the ensemble Les Timbres. In 2009, the ensemble won first prize at the contest Musica Antiqua Brugge, along with the special prize for the best performance of a contemporary creation. Their first CD Les Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts of Jean-Philippe Rameau was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2014.
Julien was a guest at prestigious festivals in Europa and Japan, both as a soloist and in chamber music. He can be heard in the following ensembles and alongside the following artists: Les Timbres, Ricercar Consort Philippe Pierlot, Lingua Franca, Benoît Laurent and For two to play. He has taken part in several recordings for the labels Ricercar, Ligia Digital, Flora and Mirare.
Translation: Kristien Temperville
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The Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra) is a Venezuelan orchestra.
The economist José Antionio Abreu established the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar on 12 February 1975. Gustavo Dudamel has been the orchestra’s artistic director since 1999. The orchestra has worked with many famous conductors including Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.
Rameau in Caracas
The Soloists of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela invited Bruno Procopio to conduct a programme dedicated entirely to Jean-Philippe Rameau. Discovering French Baroque music was an astonishing adventure for the Venezuelan musicians, and it marks their first foray into 18th century French classical music. This recording is also a foretaste of the celebration to come in 2014: the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.
Above all, I wanted to spark the curiosity of the orchestra’s musicians for a kind of music which they never would have discovered on their own. I also wanted to work with an orchestra that had no experience of French Baroque music, in order to build a musical identity from scratch. This allowed me to search for my own vision of this music. To my delight, I found fertile ground.
During the break at one of the rehearsals, a musician came up to me and whispered: “Maestro, this is the best music I’ve ever played!” I could not have received a better reward. B.P
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The Tana String Quartet was formed in 2010 to promote contemporary repertoire and enhance the relationship between composer and performer; they place no boundaries when selecting style or genre and often present classical repertoire alongside contemporary works.
The quartet is recipient of an array of international awards from the Pro Quartet – CEMC foundation in Paris, the Verbier Festival Academy, the Union of Belgian Composers (Fuga Prize) and received the Octave for best exponents of contemporary music. In 2013, they were honoured at the HSBC European Music Academy Awards and premiered a cycle, Oracion, a major cross-over project featuring both world and contemporary music, produced by the Abbaye de Royaumont in collaboration with the Aix-en-Provence festival.
The Tana String Quartet has been invited to appear at prestigious festivals and concert series worldwide including La Philharmonie of Paris, d’Aix-en-Provence, Berlioz, MUSICA à Strasbourg, La Folle Journée, Saint-Denis, Albi, IRCAM/Manifeste, Musiques du GMEM, Controtempo, Verbier, Ars Musica, Klara, Darmstadt, Faithful in Berlin, Vale of Glamorgan, Girona, San Sebastian, Mostra Sonora/Valencia, Auditorium du Louvre, Cent-Quatre/Radio-France, Villa Medici in Rome, Pharos Foundation in Cyprus, Wigmore Hall, Conway Hall, BOZAR, Auditorium de Dijon, Abbaye de Royaumont…
They will soon present new major works especially written for them to include Aracne, by Spanish composer Hector Parra, to be premiered in Paris (Louvre), and repeated at the Girona Festival, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Wigmore Hall in London and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the third quartet by French Rising Star composer, Yann Robin, at the Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall in London and Concertgebouw in Bruges.
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On 25 March 2009 the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra made its Parisian début at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, just weeks after its first performance in Washington DC. It was an entirely new orchestra created two years previously under the impetus of internationally-renowned conductor Lorin Maazel. An international recruitment drive was put in place to build the orchestra from scratch. From Europe to Cairo, more than 2,000 candidates applied, of whom a hundred and one were retained to form the new orchestra. Its mission is to be a cultural ambassador, bringing Orient and Occident closer together, with a repertoire stretching from Beethoven to Ravel, composers whose works they performed during their inaugural concert in Paris. The orchestra is also a bridge between Occidental and Arab musicians, and their repertoire includes multiple premieres of contemporary works.
The orchestra is a long-term project well-tuned to Qatar’s cultural development, and works towards the education of the young through music, poetry, literature and the arts. Thus Haydn, Weber and Tchaikovsky echo through the Kingdom of Qatar, played and conducted by the finest international soloists and conductors, while the members of the orchestra also perform in chamber ensembles. Most concerts take place at the Doha Opera House, whose auditorium recalls that of Milan’s La Scala.
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The continuity and diversity of his personal history are reflected in Patrick Bismuth’s art of the violin : Improvisation, folk traditions, gypsy music are as much a part of his world and artistic life as Western classical music, and particularly the Baroque violin. This rich tapestry of interests and experiences lends his playing of Classic, Romantic and Contemporary repertoire an unusual and arresting flair ; musical critics the world over laud his intensity, virtuosity and grip ping stage presence as he turns each concert into a musical voyage of cathartic expression.
Patrick Bismuth was teacher of Baroque Violin at the National Superior Conservatory of Music from 1993 to 1998. His pedagogical skills are very much in demand, and he currently teaches his instrument at the Conservatories of Paris and Versailles, he conducts his ensemble La Tempestaand often plays with organist Louis Thiry, and singers James Bowman and Gerard Lesne. He is also one of the founders of the AtlantisString Quartet on historical instruments, and composes for violin and other ensembles (“Unnuami”, 2001, Takannaaluk, a vocal and scenic piece in progress, after an genuine libretto written in Inuit language)
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A First Prize winner of the International Music Tournament (Italy, 2004), and Grand Prize winner at the Maria Canals International Music Competition (Barcelona, 2006), and the Concours International Olivier Messiaen (Paris, 2007), Marie Vermeulin is undoubtedly a major discovery of recent years. In recent years her playing has been noticed for its technical temerity, finesse, and exceptional maturity.
Despite her youth, Ms. Vermeulin boldly engages with demanding works such as Stravinsky’s Trois mouvements de Petrouchka, Schubert’sWanderer-Fantaisie, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. She also plays major contemporary works (Boulez, Murail, Messiaen…), revealing an appetite to play and immerse herself in the widest possible repertoire.
Ms. Vermeulin’s phrasing, her colorful and poetic touch, and her taste for theatrical expression all contribute to an artistic temperament that is distinguishable from the very first notes. Her concerts are greeted by unanimous praise, and listeners are delighted to discover a complete artist with a tonal palette of remarkable richness.
Before her thirtieth birthday, the pianist has already worked with the greatest conductors, (Pierre Boulez, Paul Goodwin…) and has performed in many of the finest festivals and venues in France (Cité de la Musique, Opéra Bastille…) and abroad (Spain, Italy, Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, Belgium, Algeria, Moldova, Montenegro, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines…)
After her musical studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon and the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale of Imola, Ms. Vermeulin developed a special affinity with French music, including the work of Olivier Messiaen. Her interest in Messiaen has been encouraged by the great Messiaen interpreter Roger Muraro with whom she has performed Visions de l’Amen for two pianos.
Coinciding with Olivier Messiaen’s centennial in 2008, Ms. Vermeulin became known for her performances of a large number of works by the composer. Since then she continues to perform Messiaen’s work regularly throughout the world, sometimes coupling her recitals with master-classes and conferences. A regular guest at the Messiaen Festival in Meije, she chose to record this album at the Church of La Grave, known for its exceptional acoustics which were an inspiration for the composer.
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Born in Poland, Magdalena Baczewska has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a pianist, harpsichordist, educator, recording artist, producer, and an administrator. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, China National Symphony, among others. She has also appeared in concert with violinist Joshua Bell. Baczewska has toured Europe performing Bach’s Goldberg Variationson the piano and the harpsichord. She recorded the Variations together with R. Strauss’ Sonata op. 5, as a part of her critically acclaimed album, “A Tribute to Glenn Gould.” As artistic director of BlueSleep Music, Baczewska produced music for MetroNaps EnergyPod®, popularized by Google. In collaboration with BlueSleep®, a medical team specialized in research and treatment of sleep disorders, Baczewska recorded best-selling albums Music for Dreams (over 20,000 copies sold). Performances have taken her to Carnegie Hall (NYC), Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco), National Center for Performing Arts (Beijing), Salle Cortot (Paris), Moores Opera House (Houston, TX), Merkin Hall (NYC), Steinway Hall (NYC), among others. As an avid educator, Baczewska has given piano master classes in the Central Conservatory (Beijing, China), Grassland International Music Festival (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia); International Keyboard Institute and Festival (NYC); New York Piano Festival (NYC). She is professor at Accademia Europea Villa Bossi in Varese, Italy. Baczewska is a laureate of international piano competitions (Chopin Competition at the Kosciuszko Foundation, Dorothy McKenzie Recognition Award, Prix du piano Ecoles d’Art Américaines Fontainebleau, Grand prix European American Music Alliance Paris, as well as the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Polish Minister of Culture. Baczewska holds degrees from Mannes College The New School for Music (BM, MM), and Manhattan School of Music (DMA). She is currently Director of the Music Performance Program and Lecturer in Music at Columbia University in the City of New York.
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