Vilde Frang’s profound musicianship and exceptional lyricism has elevated her as one of the leading and most individual violinists of her generation.
In 2012 she was unanimously awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artists Award which led to her debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Festival.
In 2016 Vilde made her acclaimed debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle and returned during the 2017-18 season for subscription concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie and at Baden Baden Easter Festival with Ivan Fischer.
During the 2021-22 season, Vilde will be Artist in Residence with the Royal Stockholm Phiharmonic Orchestra, apprearing with the orchestra twice during the season and in recital with pianist, Denis Kozhukin. She will also be a Focus Artist with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. That season also sees engagements with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverien and on tour, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre and on tour in Korea, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and a return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony orchestras.
Highlights of recent seasons have included engagements with London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Orchestre de Paris, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Staatskspelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester and in North America with the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony and her debut at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.
Vilde has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mariss Jansons, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivan Fischer, Sakari Oramo, Jakub Hrůša, Vladimir Jurowski, Manfred Honeck, Mirga GražinytėTyla, Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev, David Zinman, Antonio Pappano, Lahav Shani, Paavo Järvi and Yuri Temirkanov.
Vilde regularly appears at the Lucerne Festival and BBC Proms in London and is a keen chamber musician, regularly appearing at festivals in Verbier, Lockenhaus, George Enescu Festival, Salzburg Festival and the Prague Spring Music Festival. As of 2020, Vilde is also a member of the Artistic Board of the Oslo Chamber Music Festival. She appears regularly in recital at the Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zurich and the Bozar in Brussels, as well in North America as part of the Vancouver Recital Series, Boston Celebrity Series and San Francisco Performances.
Vilde Frang is an exclusive Warner Classics artist and her recordings have received numerous awards, including the Edison Klassiek Award, “Diapason d’Or” by Diapason Magazine, Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Grand Prix du Disque and a Gramophone Award .
Born in Norway, Vilde was engaged by Mariss Jansons at the age of twelve to debut with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied at Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt in Oslo, with Kolja Blacher at Musikhochschule Hamburg and Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy. She has also worked with Mitsuko Uchida as a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship winner 2007, and was a scholarship-holder 2003-2009 in the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
Vilde performs on a 1734 Guarneri del Gesu, generously loaned to her by a European benefactor.
“I’m convinced he is the real deal.” (<em>Gramophone</em>)
Stephen Waarts’ innate and individual musical voice has established him as a firm favourite with audiences. With a voracious appetite for repertoire, he has already performed more than 30 standard violin concertos, as well as rarely performed works, and he is a passionate chamber musician.
Stephen has performed with orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir András Schiff, hr-Sinfonieorchester under Christoph Eschenbach, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under Elim Chan, Orchestre National de Belgique under both Marin Alsop and Constantinos Carydis, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Lawrence Foster and Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie at the Dresden Philharmonie.
In the 2021/22 season, he performs with the Münchner Symphoniker, Mozart-Gesellschaft Dortmund, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Orquestra Simfònica De Les Illes Balears, Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen, Camerata Schweiz, and at the Con Spirito Festival in Leipzig. As part of his association with the Kronberg Academy, he also appears at the Tonhalle Zürich with András Schiff. In recital, he performs at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, Vancouver Recital Society as well as a number of chamber recitals throughout Europe. In 2021, Stephen returned to the Aspen Festival for two performances under Nicholas McGegan featuring Mozart Concerto No.3 and Bach Brandenburg Concertos. He also performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, hr-Sinfonieorchester and Noord Netherlands Orkest. Stephen collaborated with Kirill Gerstein as part of Daniel Hope’s ‘At Home’ series for Arte and performed numerous recitals, including at Deutschlandfunk and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
In 2022, Waarts will release his first concerto recording for Alpha Classics: Mozart Violin Concerto No.1 with the Camerata Schweiz under Howard Griffiths. 2020 saw the release of Hindemith Kammermusik No.4, as part of Ondine Classic’s Kammermusik cycle with Christoph Eschenbach, the Kronberg Academy Soloists and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. He released his debut recital album for Rubicon Classics in November 2018, with pianist Gabriele Carcano, featuring works by Schumann and Bartók.
Stephen was awarded the International Classical Music Awards Orchestra Award by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2019. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. He also won the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s soloist award the same year and has performed at the festival every year since then. In 2015, he was awarded the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund scholarship following his appearance at the Krzyżowa-Music Festival. In the same year, his prize-winning success at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition – including securing the majority vote of the television audience – boosted international attention.
Stephen is currently a Fellow at the Kronberg Academy, having graduated in 2021 studying under Mihaela Martin. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, where he studied under Aaron Rosand. Prior to this he worked with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program and Li Lin at the San Francisco Conservatory. In 2013 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, aged just 17. He was also prize-winner at the 2013 Montreal International Competition and won first prize at the 2014 Menuhin Competition. Stephen is part of the Development Programme of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists.
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephenwaarts/">@stephenwaarts</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stephenwaartsviolin/">/stephenwaartsviolin</a>
<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-8472" src="http://ipoold.local/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/אסף-מעוז.jpg" alt="Asaf Maoz" width="750" height="440" />Born in Israel in 1979, Asaf Maoz is a graduate of the Talma Yellin School of the Arts, the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv, and the Rostock Hochschule für Musik, Germany, where he studied with such eminent teachers as Ahuva Driblat, Simon Yerushevich, Ora Shiran and Axel Wilczok.
He regularly appears in festivals, such as Apple hill “Playing for Peace”, Verbier in Switzerland, Jerusalem International Chamber Music, Festival de Bellerive in Switzerland and Music in the Desert Festival, Sde Boker, Israel. He was a member of the “Capital dance orchestra” that plays mainly swing music.
Asaf Maoz served in the IDF as a distinguished musician. He has won several competitions and scholarships from the America-Israel Foundation, Yehudi Menuhin’s “Live Music Now” and the Fundación Barenboim-Said.
During 2004-2013 he resided in Berlin where he was a member of the “Komische Oper Berlin” (Asisstant concertmaster), the “Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin” (concertmaster and principal 2nd violin), the “Tel Aviv Soloists ensemble” and the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster and principal 2nd violin). He has been a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Maestro Daniel Barenboim 2000-2012 (Principal 2nd violin). In 2006-2007 he has served as Principal 2nd violin in the German “Bielefelder Philharmoniker”.
Since October 2013 he is a member of the Israel Philharmonic orchestra. In his leisure time he enjoys playing tennis, chess, listen to music and walks along the beach.
Saida Bar-Lev grew up in Switzerland and began studying the violin at the age of 8 with Margarita Karafilova. At 14 she entered the Lausanne Conservatory, where she studied with Christine Sorensen. A year later she joined the violin class of prof. Tibor Varga, and performed with him in several chamber concerts at his summer festival in switzerland. In 1988, she won the First Prize at the Jeunesse Musicale Competition in Lausanne. she has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Switzerland, including the Swiss Italian Radio Orchestra and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.
In 1990, she settled in Israel where she studied with Haim Taub. She joined the First violins section of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1990-91 season. In Israel she has appeared as soloist with the Ramat Gan Chamber Orchestra and the Tel Aviv University Orchestra and has appeared in chamber concerts with members of the IPO in Israel and abroad. She has also appeared in many recitals in Switzerland and Germany with her father, pianist Assaf Bar-Lev.
Sharon Cohen, member of the First Violin section of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, has been a long time member of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, directed by Daniel Barenboim, where she leads the second violin section.
Her work with the WEDO has also included chamber music appearances at prestigious international festivals, including Salzburg, the BBC Proms and Rolandsek in Germany. She also represents the IPO in chamber concerts in Tel Aviv and around the world.
A founding member of A Far Cry, a leading chamber orchestra in the USA, she also spearheaded its education team. Her recordings include four albums with A Far Cry along with a solo appearance on its first album Debut, and many recordings with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra.
She completed her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory in Boston and her undergraduate studies at The Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance. This is her first appearance as soloist with the IPO.
Watch an interview with Sharon <a href="http://members.ipo.co.il/en/interviews/36"><strong>here</strong></a>
Polina Kozhevnikov joined the IPO in 2007, and within one year won a position in the first violin section. Polina was born in Moscow, began playing violin at the age of 6 and studied at the Gnessin School for Talented Children with Valentina Korolkova. When she was 15, her family immigrated to Salt Lake City, in the United States and later settled in Oklahoma. Although she is from a long line of physicists on both her father’s and her mother’s side, she is the first musician in the family.
Polina completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Indiana University with professors Nelli Shkolnikova and Miriam Fried. Her string quartet won the Kuttner Quartet competition in 2001. She continued her Master’s studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with William Preucil, the Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Polina participated in the Verbier Festival, Aspen Festival, the Boulder Music Festival, Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, and was concertmaster of the orchestras of the Spoleto Music Festival and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestral Institute in Attergau.
While being on tour in Israel Polina was fascinated by the country and decided to audition for the IPO. The audition firmly established Polina’s place among the orchestra’s young and ambitious next generation players.