Chamber Music Evening N° 3

Federico Kasik

Federico Kasík began his musical career at the age of 7. After being taught by Tibor Varga in Sion (Switzerland) from 1992, he took lessons with Igor Pylatyuk and Bogodar Kotorovych at the National Academy of Music in Lviv and Kiev from 1994. Due to this long-standing connection, Federico Kasík is a direct successor to the artistic and didactic lineage of Avram Jampolski and Yuri Yankelevich, two of the most successful teachers of the Russian violin school.

In 2008, he moved to the masterclass of the leading Czech violinist Ivan Zenaty at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden. He received further musical impulses in various masterclasses with Ivry Gitlis, Kevork Mardirossian, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Pavel Vernikov, Igor Oistrakh, Robert Canetti, Yfrah Neaman, Jiří Tomášek and Michael Frischenschlager, among others. Federico Kasík won the International Lissenko Competition in 2002 and the Carl Flesch Violin Competition in 2003.

Since 1998, he has performed as a soloist in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Russia and the Ukraine, as well as in Asia, particularly China and Japan.

In 2011, at the age of 26, Federico Kasík won the position of 1st Deputy Concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Dresden.

He is a passionate chamber musician who has performed with musicians such as Igor Levit, Denis Matsuev, Tatyana Mazurenko, Yuryi Bashmet and Oleg Krissa, as well as with the orchestra.

Lukas Stepp

Lukas Stepp has been concertmaster of the 2nd violins of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the beginning of 2019.

He received the most important impulses for his violin playing from Stephan Picard and Feng Ning at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and from Ida Kavafian at the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 2016 to 2018.

Lukas Stepp is a multiple first prize winner and special prize winner of the national competition ‘Jugend musiziert’. He has won further prizes as a soloist at international competitions such as the Johannes Brahms Competition (2010), the ‘Julio Cardona’ competition in Portugal (2011) and the ‘Schoenfeld International String Competition’ (Harbin/China 2014).

Lukas Stepp has performed as a soloist with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra, the Young Ensemble Berlin, the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Orchestra, the Hildesheim State Theatre, the Baden Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hamburg Camerata, among others.

Lukas Stepp was first violinist of the ‘Stepp Quartet’, which performed at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival between 2001 and 2012. He regularly performs with chamber music partners such as Tobias Feldmann, Kit Armstrong, Hyeyoon Park and Luke Hsu.

Ami Yumoto

Ami Yumoto completed her bachelor's degree at Tokyo University of the Arts with Prof Kazuki Sawa, Gerard Poulet and Oleh Krysa. In 2011, she transferred to the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. There she initially studied with Prof Saschko Gawriloff. Under Prof Mark Gothoni, she successfully completed her master's degree in the instrumental soloist programme and her concert exam.

In 2011, she won 1st prize at the Queen Sophie Charlotte International Violin Competition. In 2015, she was a semi-finalist at the 54th International Paganini Competition and was awarded 3rd prize at the Ibolyka Gyarfas Foundation Violin Competition.

At the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden, she was honoured with the Carl Flesch Academy Sponsors' Association Prize and the Brahms Prize.

She has performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Salzburg Soloists, among others.

She has been a member of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden since 2017 and 2nd concertmaster of the 1st violins since 2021.

Uta Wylezol

Uta Wylezol was born in Sondershausen and received her first violin lessons at the age of three. From 1998 to 2007, she attended the Schloss Belvedere special grammar school for music in Weimar, where she switched to the viola in 2003 and was accepted into the class of professors Erich W. Krüger and Ditte P. Leser. In 2007, she won first prize in the ‘Jugend musiziert’ competition. After graduating from high school, she continued her viola studies at the Franz Liszt School of Music in Weimar.

She gained orchestral experience in the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, the Stuttgart Festival Ensemble, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Weimar, where she initially played as a substitute and later on a temporary contract.

Uta Wylezol has been a permanent member of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2011.

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.

Teresa Beldi

Teresa Beldi, born in Hamburg in 1993, studied with Prof. Hillel Zori in Tel Aviv, with Frans Helmerson at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin and with Claudius Popp at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. She also received important musical inputs from David Geringas, Arto Noras and Jens Peter Maintz.

Teresa’s concert engagements as a soloist and chamber musician have taken her outside Germany to France, Holland, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel and Italy.

Teresa has performed as a soloist with the Banatul Timisoara Symphony Orchestra, the Oltenia Craiova Symphony Orchestra (Romania), the Philharmonic Orchestra oft he Plovdid State Opera (Bulgaria) and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, among others, in venues such as the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Halle aux Grains Toulouse and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. In addition to Haydn’s cello concerti (D major), Shostakovich No. 1 and Lalo, she performed Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv in 2016 and Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and Ion Martin in 2019.

As a chamber musician, Teresa performed several times in the Pierre Boulez Hall, in various groups and as part oft he Boulez Ensemble, at the Whitsun Festival Schloss Ettersburg, at the Usedom Music Festival and at the Mozart Festival Würzburg (in collaboration with the Minguet Quartet).

Simon Kalbhenn

Simon Kalbhenn was born in 1969 and received his first cello lessons at the age of seven. His teachers included Alexander Molzahn, Maria Kliegel and Martin Ostertag.

After graduating in 1995, he continued his training with Martin Ostertag with postgraduate artistic studies. He has been principal cellist of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden since 1996. As co-founder of the Robert-Sterl-Trio Dresden, he devotes himself intensively to chamber music in various formations.

Simon Kalbhenn can also be heard time and again as a soloist, performing concertos by Joseph Haydn, Antonín Dvořák, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edward Elgar and the double concerto for violin and cello by Johannes Brahms, among others. He performed Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major at the Semperoper with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

In addition to his orchestral and chamber music activities, Simon Kalbhenn has held a teaching position at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden since 2003.

Robert Oberaigner

Clarinettist Robert Oberaigner was born in Hall in Tyrol, Austria, and studied at the Tyrolean State Conservatory and the Vienna University of Music. He completed his studies with Sabine Meyer at the Musikhochschule Lübeck.

In addition to winning several 1st prizes in competitions for young musicians, he is also a prizewinner of the ‘Musica Juventutis’ foundation of the Vienna Konzerthausgesellschaft. At the age of 17, he was already playing as a substitute in concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. At the age of 19, he made his debut as a soloist at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Solo and chamber music appearances have taken him to the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Cologne Philharmonic with musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos, Nils Mönkemeyer, Christian Gerhaher, Sol Gabetta and others. He has also performed at festivals such as the BBC Proms, the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festival and ‘Mostly Mozart’ New York.

Robert Oberaigner devotes himself intensively to playing historical clarinet instruments, which he plays himself as a member of ensembles such as ‘Concerto Köln’ or the Dresden Festival Orchestra and teaches in masterclasses worldwide.

He is in demand as a guest with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich and the Super World Orchestra in Japan and has performed in concerts with the Camerata Salzburg for many years.

From 2002 to 2013, he was principal clarinettist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, with whom he performed works by R. Strauss and W. A. Mozart as a soloist.

Since February 2014, he has been principal clarinet of the Staatskapelle Dresden.

In 2016, he released his debut CD with works for clarinet and piano by the composer Max Reger for MDG. A recording of the clarinet sonatas and trio by Johannes Brahms with Norbert Anger, cello, and his long-time piano partner Michael Schöch was also released in 2018.

Most recently, Robert Oberaigner recorded the first complete recording of the clarinet works of M. Weinberg (NAXOS) under the musical direction of Mikhail Jurowski.