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Born in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy is considered one of today’s most authentic exponents of Hungarian music and was awarded the Liszt Prize in 1982 and in 2017 the prestigious Béla Bartók-Ditta Pásztory Prize. In March 2021 he received the Érdemes Művész award for Artist of Merit, presented to artists of long service in Hungarian national culture, and in December 2021, the Prima Primissima Prize, reserved for artists, athletes, and representatives of scientific life, culture, and education for their performances and exemplary human qualities and values. In March 2024 he received the highest award in Hungary, the Kossuth Prize, which acknowledges outstanding achievements in the fields of culture and the arts.
From 1975 to 1992 he was founding member and leader of the acclaimed Takács Quartet. In 1996 he founded the Takács Piano Trio and in 1998 established the Mikrokosmos Quartet
In 2003 he turned to conducting and in 2007 was appointed Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. In September 2011, he became Music Director of the Manchester Camerata, one of the UK’s leading chamber orchestras, and is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra since September 2012. He was Professor of String Quartet at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva until August 2021 and was awarded honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London in June 2012. In 2013 he became a Swiss citizen.
Gábor Takács-Nagy has conducted the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Philharmonic of Bologna, , Japan Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, l’Orchestre Les Siècles, Royal Danish Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic , Japan Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, BBC Symphony Orchestra Wales, Orchestra della Scala Milan, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne amongst others. Since June 2024 he is Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota.
In June 2023 Deutsche Grammophon released the live recordings of the nine Beethoven symphonies with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.
In June 2016 he debuted with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as conductor and solo pianist. No less than two months later, his appointment as Chief Conductor was announced and he became the youngest conductor to hold the position in the orchestra’s history. The Rotterdam Philharmonic with Shani have an exclusive recording contract with Warner Classics.
Shani’s close relationship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra began well over 10 years ago. He debuted with the orchestra aged sixteen, and in 2007 performed Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto under the baton of Zubin Mehta aged eighteen. He then went on to play regularly with the orchestra as a double bassist. In 2013, after winning the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg, the orchestra invited him to step in to conduct their season-opening concerts. Since then, he has returned to the orchestra every year as both a conductor and pianist.
Recent and upcoming guest conductor highlights include engagements with Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhaus Orchester, Münchner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Philharmonia Orchestra. In March 2022 Lahav Shani conducted Munich’s Benefit concert in aid of Ukraine at the Isarphilharmonie with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the three orchestras of the city, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Münchner Philharmoniker. In the 2022/2023 season, he began his 3-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1989, Shani began his piano studies aged six with Hannah Shalgi, before continuing with Prof. Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. He went on to study conducting under Prof. Christian Ehwald and piano with Prof. Fabio Bidini at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler, Berlin and was mentored by Daniel Barenboim during his time there.
As a pianist, Shani has performed as a soloist with Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta and Gianandrea Noseda. He has play-directed piano concerti with many orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Staatskapelle Berlin and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Shani also has considerable experience performing chamber music and in recital and is a regular performer at the Verbier Festival, and has also appeared at the Aix-en-Provence Easter and Jerusalem Chamber Music Festivals, and in duo recitals with Martha Argerich.
Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda is one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, recognized equally for his artistry in both the concert hall and opera house, and for his extensive discography. Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra since 2017, his 2021/22 season saw him also step into the General Music Director role of Opernhaus Zürich, where a centrepiece of his tenure will be a new Ring Cycle directed by Andreas Homoki. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Nurturing the next generation of artists is important to Noseda, as evidenced by his ongoing work in masterclasses and tours with youth orchestras, including the European Union Youth Orchestra, and with his appointment as Music Director of the Tsinandali Festival in Georgia and its Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra.
Spanish conductor and violinist Roberto González-Monjas is rapidly making a mark on the international scene. His current titled positions are Chief Conductor of Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland, Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Sweden’s Dalasinfoniettan, a designate Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra (from 2022/23 season) and a Music Director of the Orquesta Iberacademy in Colombia. He also nurtures a strong relationship with Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León in his home town Valladolid, where he conducts several times a season. Acclaimed recent guest conducting and play-direct debuts include collaborations with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Camerata Salzburg, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Orchestre national d’Île-de-France among many others.
Michael Tilson Thomas is Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to conducting the world’s leading orchestras, MTT is also noted for his work as a composer and a producer of multimedia projects that are dedicated to music education and the reimagination of the concert experience. He has won eleven Grammys for his recordings, is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors, and is an Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France.
Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music.
From 1980 to 1998, Sir Simon was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Music Director in 1990. In 2002 he took up the position of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker where he remained until the end of the 2017-18 season. Sir Simon was appointed Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra in September 2017, a position he remained in until the 2023-24 season when he became the orchestra’s Conductor Emeritus. In 2023-24, Sir Simon took up the position of Chief Conductor with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich. He is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Founding Patron of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
Sir Simon has made over 70 recordings for EMI record label (now Warner Classics) and has received numerous prestigious international awards for his recordings on various labels. Releases on EMI include Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (which received a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance) Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Symphonic Dances, all recorded with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His most recent recordings include Berlioz’ Le damnation de Faust, Helen Grime’s Woven Space, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande , Turnage’s Remembering, and Beethoven’s Christ on the Mountain of Olives, which were all released by the London Symphony Orchestra’s own record label, LSO Live.
Sir Simon regularly tours within Europe, the United States and Asia, and has strong longstanding relationships with the world’s leading orchestras. He regularly conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Czech Philharmonic. Recent operatic highlights include Der Rosenkavalier with the Metropolitan Opera New York, Janáček’s Katya Kabanova with the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and Wozzeck with the London Symphony Orchestra at Festival d’Aix en Provence.
Music education is of supreme importance to Sir Simon, and his partnership with the Berliner Philiharmoniker broke new ground with the education programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning him the Comenius Prize, the Schiller Special Prize from the city of Mannheim, the Golden Camera and the Urania Medal. He and the Berliner Philharmoniker were also appointed International UNICEF Ambassadors in 2004 – the first time this honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble. In 2019, Sir Simon announced the creation of the LSO East London Academy, developed by the London Symphony Orchestra in partnership with 10 East London boroughs. This free program aims to identify and develop the potential of young East Londoners between the ages of 11 and 18 who show exceptional musical talent, irrespective of their background or financial circumstance. Sir Simon was awarded a knighthood by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 and received the Order of Merit in 2014. He received the Order of Merit in Berlin in 2018. In 2019, Sir Simon was given the Freedom of the City of London.
His inaugural season (23/24) as Chief Conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks will include tours in the US and Europe, concert performances of Idomeneo, as well as an important new commission by Thomas Adés. Appearances elsewhere include concerts with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Czech Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and at the Verbier Festival 2024.
November 2023
Fabio Luisi is Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Danish Radio National Symphony Orchestra (DR Symfoni Orkestret) and Emeritus Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI based in Torino.
In addition, starting from the 2022/2023 season he will be Principal Conductor of the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo.
He conducts the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, just to name a few.
A former Principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Luisi has been honored with the Gold Medal and Gold Ring dedicated to Bruckner. His past engagements include Music Director at the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Sächsische Staatsoper, Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Artistic Director of the Leipzig Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Principal Conductor of the Tonkünstler-Orchester in Vienna and Artistic Director of the Graz Symphony Orchestra.
Luisi received a Grammy Award for his conducting of the last two operas of The Ring of the Nibelung, and the DVD of the same cycle, recorded live at the Metropolitan and released by Deutsche Grammophon, was named Best Opera Recording in 2012. His extensive discography includes works by Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Salieri, and Vincenzo Bellini; symphonies by Arthur Honegger, Ottorino Respighi, and Franz Liszt; music by Franz Schmidt and Richard Strauss; and his award-winning interpretation of Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. In 2015, the Philharmonia Zürich launched its own Philharmonia Records record label with Luisi’s interpretations of Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, to which was recently added the rare performance of the original version of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony.
He was born in Genova in 1959 where he was awarded the Grifo d’Oro, for his contribution to the cultural heritage of the city. When not busy at the podium, he is a passionate perfume maker.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reveres him as an ‘icon of early music’, and the New York Times applauds him as a ‘light in a sea of mediocrity’. Reinhard Goebel specialises in the repertoire of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries; As an expounder of period performance practice for both early music ensembles and modern orchestras, and as an endless fount of knowledge about gems of the repertoire, he is a world-renowned specialist.
The multi-award-winning CD series, “Beethoven’s World”, was released by Sony Classical during the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons, starring Germany’s leading radio orchestras (WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra), ten soloists and seven world premieres. In keeping with Reinhard Goebel’s view, “If you want to appreciate Beethoven’s life achievements you first have to know his contemporaries”, the series is intended to inspire closer investigation into Beethoven’s milieu.
Following this immense success, the next series, “New Mozarts” with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, is due for release by Sony Classical in the 21/22 season, featuring arrangements and compositions by Mozart of which most have never yet been recorded. Furthermore, Reinhard Goebel and the Berlin Baroque Soloists will release two recordings on the Hänssler Classic label with symphonies by the Bach family and works for string orchestra by Mozart.
Musical encounters in 21/22 include the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, the Noord Nederlands Orkest, the Radio Orchestra of Cologne and four concerts with the Neues Bachsches Collegiom Musicum – the baroque orchestra of Gewandhaus Leipzig. A further highlight is a tour with the Berlin Baroque Soloists with performances in the Lucerne Festival, Grafenegg to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Brandenburg Concertos.
Reinhard Goebel was the founder of the legendary Musica Antiqua Köln, whom he directed for 33 years. As a conductor, his unique way of amalgamating passion for music with meticulous musicological knowledge, inspires, captivates and polarises today’s orchestral scene.
In April 2007 the IMA award was conferred on Reinhard Goebel in London.
He is awardee of the Buxtehude Prize of the city of Lübeck (1984), the North Rhine-Westphalian State Prize (1997), the Teleman-Prize of the city of Magdeburg (2002), the Bach-Medaille of the City of Leipzig (2017) and the Dancing Shepard Prize of the city of Würzburg (2020). In 2015 the BBC Music Magazine chose him to appear on their list of the 20 best violinists of all time.
Italian conductor Claudio Vandelli’s acclaimed career takes him to prominent halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie and the Royal Albert Hall, working with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln and the Hamburger Symphoniker. He is currently the first ever Chief Conductor of the Würth Philharmoniker, founded in 2017, and permanent guest conductor of the Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, with whom he recently celebrated his 10th year of residence. Vandelli is also devoted to bringing up the next generation of professional orchestral musicians, and the crown jewels of that work have been the creation of the Verbier Festival’s three international orchestras and, most recently, the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra resident at the Tsinandali Festival in Georgia, which launched in September 2019.
Kurt Masur is well known to orchestras and audiences alike as both a distinguished conductor and a humanist. In September 2002 he became music director of the Orchestre National de France in Paris, and, in September 2008, became that ensemble’s honorary music director for life. From September 2000 to 2007 he was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1991 to 2002 he was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and was subsequently named Music Director Emeritus — the first New York Philharmonic music director to receive that title, and only the second (after Leonard Bernstein, who had been named Laureate Conductor) to be so recognized. The New York Philharmonic established the Kurt Masur Fund for the Orchestra, which endows a conductor debut week at the Philharmonic in his honor in perpetuity. From 1970 until 1996 Mr. Masur served as Gewandhaus Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position of profound historic importance; upon his retirement in 1996 the Gewandhaus named him its first-ever conductor laureate. Mr. Masur is a guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras and holds the lifetime title of honorary guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2007 he celebrated his 80th birthday in a concert at the BBC Proms in London, where he conducted the joint forces of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France.
A professor at the Leipzig Academy of Music since 1975, Kurt Masur has received numerous honors, including the Cross of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany (1995); Gold Medal of Honor for Music from the National Arts Club (1996); the titles of Commander of the Legion of Honor from the French Government, and of New York City Cultural Ambassador from the City of New York (1997); and the Commander Cross of Merit of the Polish Republic (1999). In March 2002 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Johannes Rau, bestowed upon him the Cross with Star of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in September 2007 he received the Great Cross of the Legion of Honor with Star and Ribbon from the President of Germany, Horst Köhler.
In September 2008 Mr. Masur received the Furtwängler Prize in Bonn, Germany. He is also an honorary citizen of his hometown, Brieg. He has made more than 100 recordings with numerous orchestras, and in 2008 celebrated 60 years as a professional conductor.