Chamber Music Evening N° 5

Susanne Branny

Susanne Branny was born in Dresden and received her musical education at music school and later at the Special School of Music in Dresden. This is also where she studied violin at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music.

In 1990, she was appointed concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. In the same year, she began her engagement in the 1st violins of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. As a chamber music partner, she plays regularly with the Cappella Musica Dresden and frequently with the Dresdner Barocksolisten.

Susanne Branny is one of the founding members of the Dresdner Kapellsolisten. She has been their concertmaster since 2000 and as such has participated in relevant CD recordings of the chamber orchestra. She also appears frequently as a soloist at concerts in Germany and abroad (Semperoper Dresden, Philharmonie Köln, Musikhalle Hamburg, Rheingau Music Festival, Philharmonie Essen, Festspielhaus Bregenz, Munich, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Sapporo).

Mechthild von Ryssel

Mechthild von Ryssel, born into a musical family in Dahme, received her first violin lessons at the age of five in Görlitz with Helmut Frenzel and later with Maria Frenzel. From the 7th grade onwards, she was taught by Uta Maria Frenzel at the Special School for Music in Dresden. She studied music from 1980 to 1986 at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden under Professor Reinhard Ulbricht.

Her first orchestral engagement took her to the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra Chemnitz in 1986 as principal 1st violin. Mechthild von Ryssel has played in the 2nd violin section of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 1994.

Mechthild von Ryssel has also been a member of the Dresdner Kapellsolisten since 2006, with whom she has given numerous performances in Germany and abroad.

Stephan Pätzold

Stephan Pätzold was born in Dresden in 1962 and grew up in the village of Reichstädt in the eastern Ore Mountains. He received his first musical impressions in his parents' cantor's household. In addition to singing, he began to focus on the violin from the age of seven, which led to him studying the viola at the Dresden University of Music with his future colleague Winfried Berger after completing his training at the Dippoldiswalde Music School in 1978.

He gained his first experience in a professional orchestra as a substitute with the Staatskapelle before becoming a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. After five years, he finally joined the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1989.

Over the years, Stephan Pätzold developed an increasing fondness for 18th century music outside of the orchestra, which he was able to pursue in the Dresden Baroque Orchestra and later also with the Dresdner Kapellsolisten.

His musical activities are rounded off by solo and chamber music performances in various formations as well as his teaching activities at the Dresden Academy of Music. In 1999 he auditioned for his current position as deputy principal violist.

Michael Horwath

Michael Horwath, born in 1974, initially received violin lessons in his hometown of Berlin before studying viola with Felix Schwartz at the Hanns Eisler School of Music there. In 1998, he continued his studies with Erich Krüger in Weimar, where he also completed a postgraduate programme. Michael Horwath has been a member of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden since August 2000 and has held the position of principal viola since 2004.

Michael Horwath has taken part in numerous international masterclasses with Kim Kashkashian, Jürgen Kussmaul, Thomas Riebl and Norbert Brainin.

He is particularly dedicated to chamber music and is a regular guest at international chamber music festivals such as the Festival Concerts aux Iles du Bic in Canada. He is a member of the Dresden String Quintet and the ensemble frauenkirche.

He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at the Semperoper in Dresden, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Schwetzingen Festival and the Cologne Philharmonie.