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A “wanderer between worlds” (Lucerne Festival), “immensely talented” and “quietly powerful pianist” (New York Times), Swiss-born American Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. Comfortable with and seeking out an enormous range of repertoire, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. Recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the Naumburg and Geneva competitions as well as the 2016 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, he has in recent years appeared with the Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, while performing recitals and chamber music at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ravinia, Tokyo’s Musashino Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bravo! Vail, Music@Menlo, the Gilmore festival, the Lucerne festival, and the Munich Gasteig. His 2014 New York solo recital was hailed as “tightly conceived and passionately performed…a study in intensity” by The New York Times.
As a soloist he has also appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Québec, Boston Pops, Nashville Symphony, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Staatskapelle Halle, and L’orchestre de chambre de Genève. Chamber partners include musicians such as James Ehnes, Frank Huang, Ilya Gringolts, Nicolas Altstaedt, David Shifrin, David Finckel, Stefan Jackiw, Jörg Widmann, Gary Hoffman, Carter Brey, David Requiro, Paul Huang, Anthony Marwood, Paul Neubauer, Paul Watkins, Philip Setzer, Emmanuel Pahud, Karen Gomyo, David Jolley, and Ida Kavafian. He has appeared in concert with the Emerson, Pacifica, Orion, St. Lawrence, Ebène, Danish, Miró, Daedalus, Escher, and Borromeo Quartets. Mr. Vonsattel is Principal Pianist of Camerata Pacifica, a member of the Swiss Chamber Soloists, and plays alongside Ida Kavafian and David Jolley in Trio Valtorna. Deeply committed to the performance of contemporary works, he has premiered numerous works both in the United States and Europe and worked closely with notable composers such as Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, and George Benjamin. His recording for the Honens/Naxos label of music by Debussy, Honegger, Holliger, and Ravel was named one of Time Out New York’s 2011 classical albums of the year, while a 2014 release on GENUIN/Artist Consort received a 5/5 from FonoForum and international critical praise. His latest solo release (2015) for Honens of Scarlatti, Webern, Messiaen, Debussy, and George Benjamin’s Shadowlines received rave reviews in Gramophone, The New York Times, and the American Record Guide. Upcoming recordings include Richard Strauss’ Panathenäenzug and Kurt Leimer’s Concerto for Left Hand with the Bern Symphony Orchestra and Mario Venzago, for the Schweizer Fonogramm label.
Recent projects include Berg’s Kammerkonzert with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, a tour with Jörg Widmann and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Mozart concerti with the Vancouver Symphony and Florida Orchestra, performances at Seoul’s LG Arts Centre and at the Beijing Modern Music Festival, collaborations with Kent Nagano with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Munich Philharmonic (Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety) as well as numerous appearances internationally and throughout the United States with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Vonsattel received his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Columbia University and his master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He is Professor of Piano at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and on the faculty of Bard Conservatory. Gilles Vonsattel is a Steinway Artist.
Kirill Zvegintsov was invited to take part in the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Davos Festival, Festival Piano à Saint-Ursanne, Murten Classics, Musikfestival Bern, SeetalClassics, Musiksommer am Zürichsee; he performed in such famous concert halls as salle Cortot/Paris, Naxoshalle in Frankfurt am Main, Mannheim National Theater and Casino Berne among others. Kirill Zvegintsov is a multiple prize-winner of important piano competitions – including those in Orléans, Toronto, Calgary and the Bach Competition Würzburg.
As a soloist he performed with such orchestras as Basel Sinfonietta, Berner Symphonieorchester, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Orchester des theaters für Niedersachsen. Kirill Zvegintsov plays regularly with the Ensemble Phoenix Basel, he also has collaborated with such artists as Lisa Rieder, Leonhard Dering, Robert Koller, Giuliano Sommerhalder, Heinz Holliger und Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
The repertoire of the Ukrainian pianist and conductor, who has lived in Switzerland (Basel) since 2005, ranges from contemporary music to the baroque. Kirill Zvegintsov likes to perform unconventional programmes and little-known works. Despite his pronounced interest in contemporary music, Zvegintsov has his roots in classical music: his repertoire includes such works as Bach’s “Well-tempered clavier”, Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l`Enfant-Jésus” and Beethoven’s “Diabelli-Variations”.
He has made several audio recordings, among them a live-performance CD of 24 Preludes and Fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich produced under the Müller und Schade label. Another album, “Eaux-Fortes”, featuring compositions by Couperin, Debussy, George Hugon and Jacques Lenot under the FY-Solstice label (2019), received enthusiastic critical acclaim. His newest CD with solo works by Holliger, Beethoven and Wyttenbach is soon to appear under Prospero label.
Kirill Zvegintsov is co-founder of the concert series Konzerte am Ausserberg in Riehen BS
Founded in 1942 by Victor Desarzens, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL) has become one of the most sought-after chamber orchestras in Europe. After six years under the artistic direction of American conductor Joshua Weilerstein, the OCL is now led by the celebrated French violinist Renaud Capuçon. Comprising some forty musicians, the Orchestra’s vast repertoire ranges from early Baroque to contemporary works.
The OCL was soon invited to perform abroad, in the most renowned concert halls and festivals. It took part in the second Aix-en-Provence Festival and several editions of the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. His tours of Germany and the United States have been resounding successes, as have his concerts at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the BBC Proms in London, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the 2023-2024 season, the OCL will perform in Madrid, Barcelona and, for the first time, at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Throughout its existence, the OCL has performed with leading soloists. These include Clara Haskil, Alfred Cortot, Walter Gieseking, Edwin Fischer, Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu, Martha Argerich, Nikolai Lugansky, Daniel Barenboim and Frank Peter Zimmermann. The OCL has also always attracted the most interesting conductors of their time, including Paul Hindemith, Günter Wand, Christoph Eschenbach, Ton Koopman, Jeffrey Tate, Bertrand de Billy, Simone Young and Daniel Harding.
The OCL boasts an extensive discography: from the complete operas of Haydn in the 1970s-1980s conducted by Antal Dorati to the Beethoven and Mozart concertos with Christian Zacharias, not to mention recordings dedicated to Schoenberg and Webern (with Heinz Holliger) and Spohr and Weber (with Paul Meyer).
The Iranian conductor Hossein Pishkar won the prestigious Deutscher Dirigentenpreis in an international competition staged in cooperation with Cologne’s leading musical institutions and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in 2017. In the same year he also won the Ernst-von-Schuch-Preis, presented annually in collaboration with the Dirigentenforum.
Hossein Pishkar conducts, as guest conductor, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovenska filharmonija, Staatsorchester Stuttgart and WDR-Sinfonieorchester. At the Royal Danish Opera he conducted the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet (director: Barrie Kosky), Verdi’s Aida (director: Annabel Arden), Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito (director: Jetske Mijnssen) and Shostakovich’s The Nose (director: Àlex Ollé), at the Staatsoper Stuttgart Die Zauberflöte (director: Barrie Kosky) and at the Ravenna Festival Rigoletto (director: Cristina Mazzavillani Muti).
Before moving to Düsseldorf to study conducting with Rüdiger Bohn at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Hossein Pishkar studied composition and piano in Teheran, where he was born in 1988. In Iran he has conducted the Teheran Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Teheran Music School. He began playing traditional Persian music as a young child and has won many prizes as a player of the tar, the fretted stringed instrument of Persian culture.
Johan Reuter studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Academy of the Royal Theatre in his hometown of Copenhagen. He frequented masterclasses of Ernst Haefliger, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson and Richard Trimborn. Since 1996 he has been a soloist of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where he sings a large repertoire.
In the 2022-23 season Reuter took on the role of Orest from Elektra at the Royal Theatre Copenhagen, Barak from Die Frau ohne Schatten at San Francisco Opera and Friedrich von Telramund from Lohengrin at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, among others.
He starred in the new production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as Hans Sachs at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Johan was part of the exciting line-up to celebrate the Centennial of San Francisco Opera, making his first appearance on the West Coast with Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Highlights from the past seasons include Dead Man Walking, Un ballo in maschera, Cavalleria rusticana/I pagliacci, Scarpia in Tosca [all marking his debut in the roles] in Copenhagen, Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten in London, New York, Berlin, Zürich and Amsterdam, the title role of Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Braunfels’ Jeanne d’Arc at the Salzburger Festspiele, Vec Makropulos at the Met and the Salzburger Festspiele, Wotan in Das Rheingold in Munich and Budapest.
He created the role of Theseus in the world première of Harrison Birthwistle’s The Minotaur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where he has also appeared in Elektra, Salome, Wozzeck and The Tsar’s Bride. Der fliegende Holländer in Madrid, Berlin and Copenhagen, Le nozze di Figaro at Theater an der Wien and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Macbeth in Lisbon, From the House of the Dead in Paris and Madrid and Così fan tutte in Hamburg. Recent concert appearances include Haydn’s Schöpfung and Die Jahreszeiten, Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Rückert-lieder and Das klagende Lied, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Brahm’s Vier ernste Gesänge, Ein deutsches Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette, Peer Gynt and Michelangelo sonnets by Chostakovich.
He has given song recitals in Copenhagen, Hannover, Frankfurt, Bergen and Madrid. Johan Reuter recorded Tristan und Isolde under Janowski, Kunzen’s Holger Danske, Nielsen’s Maskarade under Ulf Schirmer (Gramophone Award), Schubert’s Winterreise in Danish as well as solo albums with arias by the young Giuseppe Verdi and songs by Richard Strauss, Carl Nielsen and Hakon Børresen.
