Bassoon
Marc Engelhardt works at the academy from 13/09 - 22/09/2024
He studied in Cologne and in Hanover with K. Thunemann. In 1986 he became 1st solo bassoonist of the RSO Saarbrücken and has also played in this position with the BR, NDR, WDR, SWR and HR, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Hamburg State Opera. He has close chamber music ties with the Stuttgart Academy, trumpeter Matthias Höfs, saxophonist Daniel Schnyder and Fagottissimo Stuttgart. Masterclasses and work as a juror at international competitions have taken him to France, Russia and Poland, Canada, Japan, China and Korea as well as Switzerland and the USA. His students hold leading positions in many European, Asian and South American orchestras.
Violin
Eberhard Feltz works at the academy from 14/09/ - 22/09/2024
He studied in Berlin with Werner Scholz and in St. Petersburg with Michael Waiman. Since 1963 he teaches chamber music at the University of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin. Additionally, he has an excellent reputation as a teacher for masterclasses in Europe and in the USA. He was longtime mentor of string quartets like Vogler, Kuss, Faust, Atrium, Calder, Ebène and soloists like the cellist Nicolas Altstaedt.
Cello
Konstantin Heidrich works at the academy from 04/09/ - 22/09/2024. In 2024 he is artistic director of the academy.
He is the cellist of the Faure Quartet and studied with M. Ostertag and F. Helmerson. As a soloist he played with renown orchestras. The Fauré Quartet, one of the leading chambermusic ensembles since 20 years with concerts all over the world, is one of his main musical activities. He is professor at the University of Arts in Berlin and since 2017 artistic director of the festival “crescendo”.
piano
Thomas Hoppe works at the academy from 4/09/–13/09/2024
Thomas Hoppe studied with Lee Luvisi in the USA and completed his training at the Juilliard School in New York. As the pianist of the ATOS Trio, he has won prizes and awards such as the German Music Competition 2004, Melbourne 2007, BBC New Generation Artists 2009 and the Borletti-Buitoni Ensemble Award 2012. He has taught masterclasses in piano accompaniment and chamber music in Europe, Australia, China, South America and the USA. As a piano partner, he supervises competitions such as the Concours Reine Elisabeth (Brussels), Joseph Joachim (Hanover) and the Violin Competition (Indianapolis) and Singapore.
Clarinet
Norbert Kaiser works at the academy from 04/09/ - 13/09/2024
Norbert studied at the University of Music in Detmold with Jost Michaels and Hans Klaus. He was a clarinetist in the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt and hereafter employed as solo clarinet for twelve years in the Staatsoper Stuttgart. There he worked with many of the renowned conductors. He studied conducting at the University of Music in Weimar and he has worked as assistant conductor at the Staatsoper Stuttgart and at the opera in Ulm and he was chief conductor of the youth orchestra in Thüringen. Since 2000 he is professor for clarinet and chamber music at the University of music in Stuttgart and guest-professor in Shenyang. He regularly teaches numerous masterclasses such as the “Oberstdorfer Musiksommer”. He works as a juror at international competitions such as the Marktneukirchen competition or at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb. Many of his students are in famous orchestras or are teachers or professors at Universities around the world.
Valentin Keogh works at the academy from September 10th to 17th 2024
Alexander Keogh is a Flute player, orchestra musician, music pedagogue and teacher of the F.M. Alexander Technique. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and studied at the Royal College of Music London and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Aurèle Nicolet. After many years of orchestral work, he completed a three-year training course as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Since 1994 he has successfully taught the Alexander Technique at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, in private practice and at music seminars in Germany and abroad. Since 2008 he has been professor for Life-Skills at Kronberg Academy.
Violin
Elisabeth Kufferath works at the academy from 04/09/ - 13/09/2024
She has been a member of the Tetzlaff Quartet ever since it’s been established and has performed on international stages such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London and the Carnegie Hall in New York. Elisabeth Kufferath has been a guest as a violinist and violist at the Berliner Festwochen, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Helsinki Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Norwegian Rosendal Festival. She played the world premiere of the viola version of Peter Eötvös' "Adventures of the Dominant Seventh Chord" and the German premiere of "A Call" and works intensively with composers such as Jörg Widmann, Zeynep Gedizlioglu, Helen Grime, Libby Larsen, Georges Lentz, Manfred Trojahn and Jeffrey Mumford.
Violin
Johannes Meissl works at the Academy from 13/09 - 17/09/2024.
Meissl studied at mdw with W. Schneiderhan, G. Hetzel, and Hatto Beyerle, and with the LaSalle Quartet in the US. With the Artis Quartet he has been enjoying a longstanding international career, performing at prestigious series and festivals worldwide. Multiple awards for over 40 recordings and the “Artis Series” at the Musikverein in Vienna bear witness to the rank of the ensemble. He also performs in solo recitals and in mixed chamber projects, and he has achieved success as a conductor. Meissl headed mdw’s J. Haydn Department for Chamber Music for many years, and he is artistic director of isa – International Summer Academy of mdw as well as artistic director of ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy).
Piano
Angelika Merkle works at the academy from 14/09 - 22/09/2024.
She studied with Klaus Schilde, Leonard Hokanson (Indiana University) and lied interpretation with Helmut Deutsch and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She has won many first prizes in international and national competitions and is a much demanded chamber music pianist and teacher. Her CD recordings have received top honours from both Fanfare and Fono Forum. Angelika Merkle has been Professor of Piano Chamber Music at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts since 2003. She is also the artistic director of numerous projects such as the renowned chamber music series "Festeburgkonzerte", the International Schumann Chamber Music Prize and the music education format "COMM!T". Her students have won prizes in international and national competitions.
Violin
Frederik Oland works at the academy from 17/09 - 22/09/2024.
He studied violin under Professor Serguei Azizian at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and under Professor Ulf Wallin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. At the age of 23, he won the position of leader of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. He left the Copenhagen Phil in 2017 to focus on the Danish String Quartet. Frederik is one-quarter of the Danish String Quartet, with whom he has received many awards and accolades, most recently as Musical America Ensemble of the Year in 2020. The quartet tours all over the world, and in 2020 they completed a concert cycle of all Beethoven’s string quartets at the Lincoln Center in New York. Their CD series ‘Prism’ was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2019. The Danish String Quartet are the organisers of both the DSQ Festival and the ‘Series of Four’ concert series.
Violin
Erik Schumann works at the Academy from 4/09 - 13/09/2024.
Erik Schumann was born in Cologne to German/Romanian-Japanese parents. Since 2008 he has been the primarius of the Schumann Quartet, winner of the Schubert Competition Graz 2012, the 1er Grand Prix in the competition "Quatuors a Bordeaux" 2013, winner of the Jürgen Ponto Prize 2014 and from 2016-2019 quartet in residence of the Lincoln Center New York. Regular appearances as a soloist with renowned orchestras in Europe, Asia and the USA are also part of his career. He studied with Zakhar Bron and completed his music education with masterclasses with Pinchas Zuckermann and Shlomo Mintz.
The International Summer Academy for Chamber Music in Lower Saxony sets an antipole in the diverse, rather fast-moving masterclass landscape. The focus is on a well-founded and detailed examination of chamber music works. At Frenswegen Monastery, students and teachers can take the time to develop a work intensively and in detail and then to present it.
The modernised monastery offers an optimal infrastructure under one roof: sufficient rooms for lessons, rehearsals and practice, a modern cafeteria with full catering and modernised rooms in a historical ambience. A unique feature of the academy is the international team of lecturers, who cover the fields of strings, wind instruments and piano chamber music and can therefore provide optimum input for every chamber music ensemble - from piano trio to string quartet to mixed ensembles. Each ensemble receives daily lessons from several teachers. Situated in an idyllic rural setting, without the distractions of everyday life, Frenswegen Monastery offers ideal conditions for intensive dialogue, inspiration, exchange with students from all over the world and the experience of a lively musical community.
The academy is particularly suitable for preparing for competitions, offers the best conditions for working on new repertoire and is ideal for growing together as an ensemble or forming a new ensemble. For students from abroad, it offers an excellent insight into music study opportunities in Germany. Applications for the academy are possible starting from an ensemble size of 3 musicians or more (then also for half of the academy period) or as an individual participant for the entire academy period.
Application to the International Summer Academy for Chamber Music is open to ensembles of 3 members or more. Ensembles can apply for the entire academy period as well as for one half of the academy (4 - 13 September or 13 - 22 September 2024). It is also possible to apply as an individual participant for the entire academy period.
Each ensemble, each participant can specify a desired repertoire (2-3 pieces should be worked on in the academy). The repertoire to be worked on will be determined in consultation with the artistic advisory board 8 weeks before the start of the academy. It is assumed that the pieces will be prepared in such a way that they can be worked on directly as chamber music. There will be 1-3 lessons per day. The schedule will be agreed daily with the teachers so that lessons can be flexibly adapted to the individual needs.
The academy organises numerous concerts in which participants can present themselves: Workshop concerts, welcome concert in the monastery's own chapel, sponsor concert in Oldenburg theatre, various concerts within the academy festival at the end of the academy.