Tag Archives: meisterkurs

VIOLA – Prof. Piotr Szumieł (Rostock University of Music and Drama)

Teacher: 

Piotr Szumieł, born in Warsaw in 1977, belongs to the group of the most versatile violists of his generation. At a young age he was the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes at international competitions, including winning the Jan Rakowski Viola Competition in Poznan in 1998, the special prize at the 36th International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen in 2001, a 2nd prize at the 9th International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2002 in Pörtschach (Austria) and 3rd prize at the Vienna International Viola Competition in 2004.

Between 2002 and 2008 he was a member and principal violist of the Dresden Philharmonic and the Dresden Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and is a sought-after juror and teacher on master classes. Piotr Szumiel has been doing very intensive educational work for many years – he is a lecturer for viola and chamber music at the College of Music „Carl Maria von Weber” (since 2005), between 2013-2018 he was a lecturer at the “Karol Szymanowski” Academy of Music in Katowice and from October 2019 at the University of Music and Drama in Rostock, where he has been a professor since April 2020.

Piotr Szumieł has played in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Wiener Musikverein, Megaron in Athens, the Cologne Philharmonie, Citè de la musique Paris, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Konserthuset Stockholm, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Warsaw Philharmonic and much more…

As a chamber musician, he has worked together with the following artists: Alena Baeva, Martin Fröst, Gabriela Montero, István Várdai, Garrick Ohlsson, Vadym Kholodenko, Valentin Erben, Nils Mönkemeyer, Kevin Kenner, Igor Levit, Per Arne Glorvigen, Jörg Widmann, Charles Richard-Hamelin, Polina Leschenko, Ewa Kupiec.

As a soloist, Piotr Szumieł works with conductors such as José Maria Florêncio, Vladimir Kiradjiew, Anu Tali, Gérard Korsten, Hugh Wolf, Teowyn Evans, Ernst Kovacic, Petri Sakri, Baldur Bronnimann and has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Dresden, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the National Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice.

Piotr Szumieł studied at the „Fryderyk Chopin” Music Academy in his hometown in the viola class of Prof. Stefan Kamasa, where he graduated with distinction in 2001. Later, he continued his viola studies with Prof. Wolfgang Klos and chamber music with Prof. Johannes Meissl at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he also graduated with distinction in 2010.

In addition to his solo and didactic activities, he devotes himself intensively to the “Apollon Musagète Quartet”, founded in 2006. In the two years of its existence, this ensemble has not only gained outstanding recognition from critics, but also from the juries of major music competitions. After winning international music competitions in Vienna and Florence, the quartet quickly established itself as a fixture on the European music scene after receiving the 1st prize and almost all special prizes at the 57th ARD International Music Competition.

Piotr Szumieł is the recipient of the “Young Poland” scholarship program of the Minister for Culture and National Heritage and the “Burletti Buitoni Trust Award” (2014) for outstanding artistic achievements with the “Apollon Musagete Quartet”.

The artist conducted workshops and master classes in Austria, Germany, Hong Kong and Poland. He took part in the work of the jury at international viola and chamber music competitions in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Katowice and Meissen.

Dates: 
Arrival: Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022, until 12 pm
Closing concert: Friday, May 6, 2022, 7 pm
Departure: Saturday, May 7, 2022, until 12 pm

Contents: preparation for exams, concerts and competitions

Repertoire: Works from all periods: from Baroque over Classic and Romantic to Modern Music

Accommodation:

Students are hosted on a shared room basis in a beautiful villa on the bank of the Rhine river.

Meals:

A kitchen is available for cooking; groceries can be bought in a nearby supermarket. Group shopping is advised. A different team can do the cooking daily, which can be organize in situ.

Rooms:

Committed to the spirit of romanticism, all masterclasses offered by the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy unite everything under one roof: living, learning, eating and sleeping. That is why participants will be hosted on a shared room basis.

For further impression, please visit our venue site.

This masterclass is already fully booked. Further applications are not possible. 

PIANO – Triantafyllos Liotis (Detmold University of Music)

Triantafyllos Liotis

Teacher: 

The celebrated Greek pianist Triantafyllos Liotis began his piano studies with a scholarship at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki and continued them in Germany with Alfredo Perl (Bachelor and Master Soloist) and Manuel Lange (Master Lieder accompaniment) and Kalle Randalu (Solistenexamen). He completed his studies with first class honors and distinction. Furthermore he gained valuable insights from Sir András Schiff, Cristoph Eschenbach, Paul Badura – Skoda, Bernard Ringeissen, Ludger Rémy and Thomas Quasthoff. He currently has a piano class at the College of Music in Detmold.

Fil Liotis has already given numerous concerts in various European countries and in Japan and alongside his solo appearances is much in demand as a chamber musician and Lieder pianist. Invitations to international festivals and concerts have led to appearances in important European concert halls with Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Baden Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Athens State Symphony Orchestra and other leading orchestras under acclaimed conductors such as Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy. His performances are regularly broadcast on international radio and television.

Fil Liotis is a prizewinner in several national and international piano solo and chamber music competitions including the 39th International Grand Prix Maria Callas, the 61st International Competition Maria Canals Barcelona, the Grand Prize Virtuoso Vienna International Competition and the Dr. Hermann-Büttner Competition in Karlsruhe. Performing with an ensemble of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra in 2015, he won an ECHO Klassik award for the CD recording of G. Mahler’s Lied von der Erde for the label MDG. In 2016 Fil Liotis was honored with the Albéniz Medal at Spain’s Isaac Albéniz Festival. His latest CD recording „The Young Beethoven“ (Label MDG) was nominated for an OPUS Klassik Award in 4 different categories.

Dates: 

Arrival: Tuesday, July 19, 2022, until 12 pm
Closing concert: Sunday, July 24, 2022 at 6 pm
Departure: Monday, July 25, 2022, until 12 pm

Course Description:

preparation for exams, concerts and competitions

Repertoire:

Piano music from the baroque to the classical and romantic periods and contemporary music: Solo, duo and for four hands; Chamber music and Art Song repertoire

Accommodation:

Students are hosted on a shared room basis in a beautiful villa on the bank of the Rhine river.

Meals:

A kitchen is available for cooking; groceries can be bought in a nearby supermarket. Group shopping is advised. A different team can do the cooking daily, which can be organize in situ.

Rooms:

Committed to the spirit of romanticism, all masterclasses offered by the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy unite everything under one roof: living, learning, eating and sleeping. That is why participants will be hosted on a shared room basis.

Audition information and registration:

In order to be accepted, you must meet one of the following criteria:

(a) be recommended by Mr. Liotis, or
(b) submit an unedited video audition (YouTube link) for review.

In addition, you must complete and submit our application form and pay a €40,- application fee.

Registration Deadline: June 19, 2022

Tuition:

Course fee (incl. accommodation): €500,-

 

PIANO – Tomoko Ogasawara (University of Music Freiburg)

After studying at the State University of the Arts in Tokyo where she was born, the pianist Tomoko Ogasawara continued her studies in Germany at the University of the Arts in Berlin and the University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau, where she received the solo diploma with honors and went on to win 1st Prize in the German Hochschulwettbewerb.

Among her teachers were Georg Sava, Tibor Hazay and Georgy Sebok who influenced her artistic development and led her to early success, for example as finalist in the international competitions “Maria Canals” / Barcelona and “ Clara Haskil” / Montreux.

Since then concert engagements have taken Tomoko Ogasawara to the concert halls of the international music world (such as Berlin, Montreux, London, Paris, Tokyo, Jerusalem, Bangkok, Shanghai). She has played concerts together with Albrecht Mayer, Jörg Widmann and Tabea Zimmermann and regularly plays with the principals and leading musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra and the SWR Orchestra also in the context of chamber music formations, such as the piano trio “Franconia”, the ensemble “Abraxas” and at international festivals such as “Affinis” in Japan.

As soloist Tomoko Ogasawara has played, among others, with the Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Bamberg. She is featured in numerous radio broadcasts as well as CD recordings. In the season 2006/2007 Ogasawara performed the complete cycle of piano sonatas by W. A. Mozart.

Currently Tomoko Ogasawara passes on her musical experience through the teaching position she holds at the University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau as well as regular master classes in Tokyo and Yokohama. Students of hers have won prizes in both national and international competitions.

Dates:

Arrival: Sunday, Juli 31st, 2023 from until 2 pm
Closing Concert: Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 6 pm
Departure: Sunday, August 6, 2023 until 12 pm

Piano-works from all periods: from Baroque over Classic and Romantic to Modern Music; preparation for exams, concerts and competitions

Repertoire:

Piano solo or for four hands          

Accommodation:

Students are hosted on a shared room basis in a beautiful villa on the bank of the Rhine river.

Meals:

A kitchen is available for cooking; groceries can be bought in a nearby supermarket. Group shopping is advised. A different team can do the cooking daily, which can be organize in situ.

Rooms:

Committed to the spirit of romanticism, all masterclasses offered by the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy unite everything under one roof: living, learning, eating and sleeping. That is why participants will be hosted on a shared room basis.

For further impression, please visit our venue site.

Audition information and registration:

In order to be accepted, you must meet one of the following criteria:

(a) be recommended by Ms Ogasawara, or
(b) submit an unedited video audition (YouTube link) for review.

In addition, you must complete and submit our application form and pay a €40,- application fee.

Registration Deadline: Jun 31st, 2023

Tuition:

Course fee (incl. accommodation): €590,-

VOICE — Wolfgang Klose (University of Music Rostock)

Teachers: 

© Anne-Marie von Sarosdy

Stylistic versatility, authentic sound, and the synthesis of word and music form the fundamental pillars of singing for the tenor Wolfgang Klose. He received decisive artistic impulses from Thomas Heyer, Mario Hoff, and Konrad Jarnot, as well as in masterclasses with Francisco Araiza, Julie Kaufmann, and Kurt Widmer.

On the opera stage he has appeared in several lyric roles, including Tamino (The Magic Flute), Symon (The Beggar Student), and Pylades (Iphigenia in Tauris). In addition to independent productions, engagements have taken him, among others, to the Handel Festival in Halle, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the stages of the City of Cologne.

His particular passion, however, is concert singing. His broad repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to contemporary modern works, with a focus on the cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque and Classical periods. As a guest at numerous festivals and concert venues in Germany and abroad (Gewandhaus Leipzig, Cologne Philharmonie, Essen Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Beethovenhalle Bonn, Wrocław Philharmonic, and many others), he performs equally with symphony orchestras and period-instrument ensembles, collaborating with renowned conductors.

In 2013, the Association of German Concert Choirs awarded him first prize at the Podium of Young Vocal Soloists. Radio and CD recordings document his artistic work, including releases with WDR, rbb, SWR, as well as Carus Verlag, Virgin Classics (formerly EMI France), and cpo.

A graduate of the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, he has been teaching successfully in courses since 2008 and at university level since 2010. After teaching assignments at various universities, he has led a voice class at the hmt Rostock since 2015. His students have achieved success in competitions and already appear as soloists on concert and opera stages.

In addition, he serves as a competition juror.

© Susanne Diesner

Christian von Gehren completed his studies in conducting and piano with distinction at the music universities in Karlsruhe and Copenhagen. His work as a conductor has taken him to major European orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, and the Munich Radio Orchestra, as well as to opera houses in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Copenhagen, Wiesbaden, and Leipzig.

He has also conducted at festivals in Bregenz, Birmingham, and Bergen. In 2016 he made his conducting debut in Shanghai with Orff’s Carmina Burana. From 2017 to 2020, Christian von Gehren was chief conductor of the Jönköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, with which he performed a wide symphonic repertoire from Mozart and Beethoven to Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, and Gustav Mahler. In the operatic field, he most recently conducted Bernstein’s On the Town and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia there.

He also has a strong interest in the oratorio repertoire: most recently he conducted Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Jönköping and the St John Passion in Essen. Work with young orchestral musicians is equally important to him: from 2009 to 2015 he was Musical Director of the Orff Academy of the Munich Radio Orchestra, an international orchestral academy that accompanied a production each summer at the Carl Orff Festival in Andechs. As chief conductor in Jönköping, he supported collaborations with the music universities in Gothenburg and Malmö in the fields of orchestral work and contemporary music. He is also active as a song accompanist and regularly gives masterclasses in the fields of Lied, opera, and oratorio, for example at the music universities in Oslo and Odense.

As a pianist, he has accompanied masterclasses by Christa Ludwig, Renata Scotto, and Ulf Bästlein.

From 2000 to 2003 he directed France’s largest state opera studio, the Centre National d’Insertion Professionnelle d’Artistes Lyriques. Since 2016, Christian von Gehren has taught orchestral conducting at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf. Since 2022 he has also been affiliated with the HfMDK Frankfurt through teaching in the field of music theatre. In 2025, the Robert Schumann Hochschule appointed him professor.

Dates: 

Arrival: Monday, July 27, 2026, until 12 pm
Closing concert: Friday, July 31st, 2026, 6:30 pm
Departure: Saturday, August 1st, 2026, until 12 pm

Course Description:

The voice is the instrument most closely connected to the human body and therefore capable of transporting emotions unfiltered and most directly to the audience. Etymologically, there is a direct translation to  personare (latin for through sounding); in Hebrew there is even the same word for soul and throat.

For five days we will be working on throat skills which will help to make these connections hearable. Additionally to working on stylistic differences of the epochs, diction and interpretation impulses the fun of making music is of great importance as well!

Our master class is intended for all who are searching for new impulses in singing and interpreting – e.g. as a preparation for attending universities or for a check-up for (midterm) exams – we will work individually in three units each day and actually strengthen the instrument “voice”.

The interpretation of the repertoire will increase in authenticity by working out and improving individual qualities.

The masterclass will be accompanied by Prof. Christian von Gehren.

Repertoire:

Concert and opera arias, as well as art songs from the baroque era to contemporary music

Accommodation:

Students are hosted on a shared room basis in a beautiful villa on the bank of the Rhine river.

Meals:

A kitchen is available for cooking; groceries can be bought in a nearby supermarket. Group shopping is advised. A different team can do the cooking daily, which can be organize in situ.

Rooms:

Committed to the spirit of romanticism, all masterclasses offered by the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy unite everything under one roof: living, learning, eating and sleeping. That is why participants will be hosted on a shared room basis.

For further impression, please visit our venue site.

Audition information and registration:

In order to be accepted, you must meet one of the following criteria:

(a) be recommended by Mr. Klose, or
(b) submit an unedited video audition (YouTube link) for review.

In addition, you must complete and submit our application form and pay a €40,- application fee.

Registration Deadline: June 27, 2026

Tuition:

Course fee (incl. accommodation): €590,-