Guest Concert in Vienna

Sir András Schiff was born in Budapest in 1953. He received his first piano lessons at the age of five by Elisabeth Vadász. He later continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Prof. Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados and with George Malcolm in London.

Piano recitals are an important part of his activity, especially the cyclical performances of the piano works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartók. Since 2004, Sir András Schiff has performed the complete cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas in

chronological order in more than 20 cities. Their live recordings from the Zurich Tonhalle on CD (ECM) received the highest awards.

In June 2014, he was appointed Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music. Since December 2014, Sir András Schiff has been an honorary citizen of the city of Vicenza. In June 2022, Sir András Schiff was awarded the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig as "one of the most important Bach interpreters of our time".

Matthias Wollong was born in Berlin in 1968 and began taking violin lessons at age five. After studying at the special school for music in Berlin, Werner Scholz accepted him into his master class in 1984.

From 1987 till 1989, Matthias Wollong studied with legendary violinist and teacher Tibor Varga in Switzerland. He concertized in Germany, France and Switzerland as concertmaster and soloist of the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra during this time. His studies ended after he won the violin competition named after his teacher.

He has been honored with numerous other awards, including first prize of the Joseph Joachim Competition in Austria.

Matthias Wollong has appeared as a soloist under such prominent conductors as Heinz Wallberg, Adam Fischer, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski and Sir Colin Davis, and orchestras such as the ORF Symphony Orchestra, the RSO Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Weimar, and Philharmonic orchestras in Suhl, Halle, Cottbus etc.

At the age of ten Sabine Kittel started her flute education at the music school in Erfurt. From 1985 until 1991 she studied at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden with Johannes Walter. From 1991 until 1994 she finished Masterclass studies with Paul Meißen at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Furthermore she complemented her education with Masterclasses with Aurèle Nicolet.

Sabine Kittel is a laureate of many competitions. In 1991 she won the first price of the Carl Maria von Weber Competition in Munich, in 1994 the second price at the International Music Competition in Budapest and in 1995 also the second price at the International ARD Competition in Munich as well as the Brüder-Busch Price.

Before Sabine Kittel came to the Staatskapelle Dresden she was solo flutist at the Dresdner Philharmonie from 1992 until 2000. Since August 2000 she holds the same position at the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. In 2008 she founded the Ensemble Bento and is performing as soloist and chamber musician in different settings in many European countries as well as in Japan.