Tutors of the MasterClasses 2018
Following prestigious competition successes, our professors have established themselves amongst the foremost soloists of their generation, performing in some of the most renowned concert halls in the world and producing widely acclaimed CDs.
Above all they are passionate teachers and fine musicians.
JENS PETER MAINTZ
University of Arts Berlin (UdK)
When Jens Peter Maintz won the first prize in the international ARD competition in 2004, no cellist had received this award for seventeen years.
The following year, Maintz became the solo cellist with the German Symphony Orchestra, Berlin. In 2004, he was made Professor of Cello at the University of the Arts in Berlin, succeeding Wolfgang Boettcher. Since 2017 he also teaches at the prestigious Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Maintz has given concerts all over Europe, as well as in Japan, South America and the USA. He has recorded CDs for Sony Classical (Klassik Echo) and recently made his much-acclaimed recordings of all of Haydn's concerts for Berlin Classics.
Piano accompanist: Keiko Tamura
Website: www.jpmaintz.com
Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt
The Liszt School of Music Weimar
Awards in the International Rostropowitch Competition in Paris and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, for example, paved the way for solo concerts with the leading orchestras in Europe and the USA.
Schmidt can also be heard as a chamber musician with Lang Lang, among others. His CDs have been released by Capriccio and Sony Classical. Recently, he recorded Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante.
Schmidt teaches as a professor at the The Liszt School of Music Weimar, the University of the Arts Berlin and at the Kronberg Academy.
Piano accompanist: Yukie Takai
Website: www.wolfgangemanuelschmidt.com
Wen-Sinn Yang
University of Music Munich
Winning first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1991 led to solo performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Tokyo under conductors such as Lorin Maazel.
In over 20 CDs he has devoted himself not only to the well-known cello concertos but also to less frequently played, highly virtuoso cello music by Davidoff, Piatti and Klengel.
Born in Bern Taiwanese parentage, he was for years the solo cellist in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and since 2004 has been teaching as professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.
Piano accompanist: Chifuyu Yada
Website: www.wensinnyang.de
Marie-Elisabeth Hecker
University of Music Carl Maria von Weber Dresden
"Hecker plays like an angel ... the beauty of her sound is enhanced by an exquisitely elegant line and sweeping lyricism. There is absolutely no artifice to mislead the audience; her performance comprises musicality and pure talent." (by Javier Pérez Senz, El Pais, 06/2008)
Cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker made her international breakthrough with her sensational success at the 8th Rostropovich Competition in Paris in 2005, where she became the first contestant in the event's history to win the first prize as well as two special prizes. Since then Hecker has become one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of her generation, recognised for her deep expression and natural affinity for the cello, with Die Zeit describing her playing as "heartbreakingly sad and instinctively beautiful".
Piano accompanist: Anna Naretto
Website: www.marieelisabethhecker.com
Claudio Bohórquez
University of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin
Ever since the jury at the Kronberg Academy's International Pablo Casals Competition presented him with no less than three awards in 2000, Claudio Bohórquez has been a familiar figure among cello lovers.
In addition to the concert experience he has gained with leading orchestras from Germany, Japan and the USA, he also imparts to young cellists that great passion and intensity with which he pursues his installation, improvisation and meditation projects.
For the winter semester 2011, he was appointed to a professorship in the succession of Jean-Guihen Queyras at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart, which he held until 2016. Since the winter semester 2016, he teaches as a professor at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
His latest CD recording of the sonatas by Johannes Brahms with his duo partner Péter Nagy appeared in 2018 at Berlin Classics.
Piano accompanist: Kiyoko Wakamatsu
Website: www.claudiobohorquez.com
Danjulo Ishizaka
University of Arts Berlin (UdK)
German-Japanese cellist Danjulo Ishizaka, first prize winner of the renowned ARD international music competition in Munich and the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin studied with Boris Pergamenschikow. Since then he has performed around the world with leading orchestras and conductors.
He was awarded the Echo Klassik award for his debut CD, the Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, one of Japan’s major music prizes and the Gramophone Award for the Chambermusic recording of the year.
Danjulo Ishizaka performs on the Stradivarius cello ‘Feuermann’ (1730) on loan to him from the Nippon Music Foundation, previously played by the legendary cellist Emanuel Feuermann.
He is Professor for violoncello at the Music Academy Basel and at the University of Arts Berlin.
Piano accompanist: Naoko Sonoda
Website: www.danjulo-ishizaka.com
Sebastian Klinger
University of Music Hamburg
Born in Munich and raised in Spain, the cellist plays in addition to solo concertos with renowned orchestras in chamber music ensembles with leading instrumentalists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Jörg Widmann and Christian Gerhaher.
His discography, for which he has already been awarded a "Diapason d'Or" (Bach Cello Suites), includes solo works, chamber music and orchestra repertoire with the labels OehmsClassics, Sony BMG and Deutsche Grammophon. Since 2015 Sebastian Klinger teaches as a professor for violoncello at the University of Music Hamburg.
Piano accompanist: Violetta Khachikyan
Website: www.sebastian-klinger.com