7^th Edition 2022

Felix Klieser is an exceptional artist in several aspects. At the age of 5, he took his first horn lessons, at the age of 13 he enrolled as a junior student at the University of Music and Theater in Hannover. In 2014 Felix Klieser was awarded the ECHO Classic prize in the category best young artist and published an autobiographical book about his fascinating life story. In 2016 he received the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Highlights of the 2021/2022 season are the beginning of Felix Klieser’s two-year residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and his US debut as part of an extensive tour with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and tenor Ian Bostridge in spring 2022. Among others Felix Klieser will be performing with the London Mozart Players at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and with the Festival Strings Lucerne in the Munich Prinzregententheater. Other highlights of the season are appearances at music festivals such as the Gezeitenkonzert, the Staufener Musikwoche and the Moselmusik festival. Felix Klieser will present his current album Beyond Words with transcriptions of baroque vocal works in several concerts with the CHAARTS Chamber Artists before his new recording with the Zemlinsky Quartet will be released on the Berlin Classics label in early 2022. In December he will be the soloist at this year’s Audi Christmas Concert in Ingolstadt.

In exciting chamber music projects, the young horn player will appear in various line-ups at the Brahmstage Baden-Baden, the Beethovenhaus Bonn, the Schubertiade Hohenems, the Dubrovnik Music Festival and the Heidelberger Frühling. His chamber music partners include the Danish String Quartet, Sebastian Manz, Andrej Bielow, Martina Filjak, Boris Kusnezow, Tanja Tetzlaff, Dag Jensen, Dominik Wagner and Klieser’s long-time piano partner Christof Keymer.

As a member of the project ensemble “The Impossible Orchestra” of the conductor Alondra de la Parra, Felix Klieser will play in the first edition of the Pax Festival in Mexico in the summer of 2022. The cast of the virtual orchestra created during the corona pandemic includes Rolando Villazón, Alisa Weilerstein, Edicson Ruiz, Albrecht Mayer and Maxim Vengerov. In Mexico, the musicians of the “Impossible Orchestra” can be seen live together for the first time after their digital success. The contemporary composer Rolf Martinsson is dedicating a horn concerto to Felix Klieser, which will be premiered and recorded with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern in spring 2022.

In March 2019 Felix Klieser’s recording of the complete Mozart horn concertos with the Camerata Salzburg (with the label Berlin Classics) was released, represented in the Top 10 of the German classical music charts for 3 months. His debut album Reveries with works for horn and piano, which was released in 2013 and was awarded the ECHO-Klassik, was followed in 2015 by Horn Concertos, Klieser’s first orchestral CD with works by Mozart and the brothers’ Joseph and Michael Haydn, which he performed together with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn under the musical direction of Ruben Gazarian. In September 2017 he published his third CD Horn Trio, recorded with the violinist Andrej Bielow and the pianist Herbert Schuch at the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) in Munich, on which the horn player not only devotes himself to the profound trio for horn, violin and piano by Johannes Brahms but also to lesser-known works for this exciting line-up. 

Widely considered by critics, media and the public as one of the most predominant and active artists in Albanian territories, Merita Rexha Tërshana continues a career long full of national accomplishments with extensive involvement in the continuity classical music appreciation among the Albanian public. Winner of an impressive number of national awards in particular Performer of the Year at the Contemporary Albanian Music Festival (1996) awarded by a french composer G.Boeuf led jury, Performer of the Year at the Kult Award (2010, 2016) after being nominated for 6 consecutive years.

Born in Tirana, she starts her journey at the young age of 6 at “Kongresi Përmetit” school, switching to “Jordan Misja” artistic lyceum under the guidance of Nadjezhda Porodini proceeding secondary school. Graduating from the University of Arts in Tirana as part of Prof. Margarita Kristidhi’s class, she undertakes numerous post-graduate courses in Germany from acclaimed professors like Paul Badura-Skoda and Till Engel. Tërshana has been working at the University of Arts in Tirana since 1994, firstly as a concertmaster and then being promoted to a pedagogue in 2002.

As a soloist she has played along numerous orchestras including that of the Albanian Radio Television (RTSH), University of Arts, Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Philarmonia Orchestra of Tirana and Philharmonia Orchestra of Kosovo under the direction of well known albanian and foreign conductors such as B.Llapaj, A. Zielinski, A. Lepuri, J. Barbullushi, L. Quadrini, N. Marin and D. Savic among others. Additionally Merita Tërshana has been invited as a soloist to prestigious and renowned chamber music festivals in Albania and Europe, namely Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany), Bregenz Festpiel (Austria), Grosseto Musica Festival (Italy) etcetera.

With a diverse repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music, Tërshana has been continuously invited to a variety of the most prestigious festivals of the region such as Remusika Festival (Kosovo), KamerFest (Kosovo) Ohrid Summer Fest (Macedonia), Pianodrom (Albania), International Festival of Chamber Music (Albania) etcetera. In the previous year, she joined the well-known Different Trains Festival and Balkan Contemporary Music Festival for the first time. Her performances have reached stages in Europe including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Macedonia, and spreading to Japan.

Merita Rexha Tërshana has been the first performer of a great number of piano pieces from Albanian composers, namely Xenaki’s work at the Autumn Festival in Tirana (1998), where Xenaki himself was part of the audience. A number of noteworthy artists who Tërshana has played chamber music alongside to are Klaidi Sahatçi, Rudens Turku, Ermir Abeshi, Andrej Bielow, Areta Zhulla, Kristi Gjezi,Tomas Leleu, Premusl Vojta, Loïc Schneider, Roberto Trainini, etc. In 2009 she recorded a CD with Schumman’s works and 2 cd with works from albanian composers. She is currently a Professor of Piano at the University of Arts in Tirana, vice Dean of Faculty of Music and Chair Piano Department.

Widely considered by critics, media and the public as one of the most predominant and active artists in Albanian territories, Merita Rexha Tërshana continues a career long full of national accomplishments with extensive involvement in the continuity classical music appreciation among the Albanian public. Winner of an impressive number of national awards in particular Performer of the Year at the Contemporary Albanian Music Festival (1996) awarded by a french composer G.Boeuf led jury, Performer of the Year at the Kult Award (2010, 2016) after being nominated for 6 consecutive years.

Born in Tirana, she starts her journey at the young age of 6 at “Kongresi Përmetit” school, switching to “Jordan Misja” artistic lyceum under the guidance of Nadjezhda Porodini proceeding secondary school. Graduating from the University of Arts in Tirana as part of Prof. Margarita Kristidhi’s class, she undertakes numerous post-graduate courses in Germany from acclaimed professors like Paul Badura-Skoda and Till Engel. Tërshana has been working at the University of Arts in Tirana since 1994, firstly as a concertmaster and then being promoted to a pedagogue in 2002.

As a soloist she has played along numerous orchestras including that of the Albanian Radio Television (RTSH), University of Arts, Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Philarmonia Orchestra of Tirana and Philharmonia Orchestra of Kosovo under the direction of well known albanian and foreign conductors such as B.Llapaj, A. Zielinski, A. Lepuri, J. Barbullushi, L. Quadrini, N. Marin and D. Savic among others. Additionally Merita Tërshana has been invited as a soloist to prestigious and renowned chamber music festivals in Albania and Europe, namely Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany), Bregenz Festpiel (Austria), Grosseto Musica Festival (Italy) etcetera.

With a diverse repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music, Tërshana has been continuously invited to a variety of the most prestigious festivals of the region such as Remusika Festival (Kosovo), KamerFest (Kosovo) Ohrid Summer Fest (Macedonia), Pianodrom (Albania), International Festival of Chamber Music (Albania) etcetera. In the previous year, she joined the well-known Different Trains Festival and Balkan Contemporary Music Festival for the first time. Her performances have reached stages in Europe including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Macedonia, and spreading to Japan.

Merita Rexha Tërshana has been the first performer of a great number of piano pieces from Albanian composers, namely Xenaki’s work at the Autumn Festival in Tirana (1998), where Xenaki himself was part of the audience. A number of noteworthy artists who Tërshana has played chamber music alongside to are Klaidi Sahatçi, Rudens Turku, Ermir Abeshi, Andrej Bielow, Areta Zhulla, Kristi Gjezi,Tomas Leleu, Premusl Vojta, Loïc Schneider, Roberto Trainini, etc. In 2009 she recorded a CD with Schumman’s works and 2 cd with works from albanian composers. She is currently a Professor of Piano at the University of Arts in Tirana, vice Dean of Faculty of Music and Chair Piano Department.

The trombonist, accordionist and composer Alois Eberl was born in Kitzbühel, Austria, in 1986, where he grew up surrounded by Austrian folk music and classical music. He started playing music together with his father and in the local marching band. At the age of 14, he continued his previous classical training in trombone and accordion at the Tyrolean Music Conservatory and there he discovered his passion for jazz and improvised music. In 2009 Alois completed his studies in Jazz Trombone and classical accordion at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz. Further in 2012 he completed his second bachelor´s degree and in 2016 his master´s degree in classical trombone at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Among his instructors and mentors were Christian Radovan, Alfred Melichar, Dany Bonvin, Christoph Cech, Dejan Pecenko, Dave Taylor (Workshop) and Elliot Mason (New York City visit). With Sinfonia de Carnaval, Alois Eberl presents together with Anna Lang a further highlight to their extensive and diversified programme. They were nominated for the BAWAG P.S.K. Next Generation Award 2015 and were chosen as one of the five best bands in the Jazz Category for the “New Austrian Sound of Music Programm 2018/19” by the Austrian Federal Ministry and Sinfonia De Carnaval are one of the seven selected austrian Bands for “FOCUS ACTS 2019” – The international springboard and top funding of the Federal Chancellery. Sinfonia De Carnaval are guests in Switzerland, England, Iran, Kasachstan, Tajikistan, Croatia, France, Israel, Palestine and Germany. Alois Eberl performed in international venues like Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Konzerthaus Wien, Domplatz Salzburg, Music Theatre Linz, Brucknerhaus, Porgy&Bess Wien, B-Flat Berlin, ACF Teheran, ACF London, Saalfelden Jazzfestival, Burghausen Jazzfestival, Jazzcafé London, Cathedral of Reims, Jazzit Salzburg, Berlin Philharmonic, Cologne Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic. Besides Sinfonia de Carnaval he also did musical collaborations together with Ray Anderson, James Morrison, Bob Mintzer, Michel Camilo, Wycliffe Gordon, Chuck Findley, Manu Delago, Dave Taylor, Gary Smulyan, Dave Liebman, Thomas Gansch, Martin Grubinger, just to name a few.

Born in Salzburg, Anna Lang grew up in a family of artists in Upper Austria on Lake Traunsee. At the age of 15 she began her musical studies and is a graduate of the University Mozarteum in Salzburg (Piano Pedagogy), the Music University of Vienna (Master of Arts in Cello) and the Anton Bruckner Private University (Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Jazz and Improvisation). Among her instructors were Prof. Tobias Kühne (Cello) and Andy Schreiber (Improvisation).

Anna Lang is a free-lance musician, performing with the cello and piano, composer and is a instrumental educator in Vienna and Upper Austria.

She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, radio productions on Ö1/”On Stage” or WDR, engagements as a composer and musical interpreter in productions at the new Linz Music Theatre. Additionally, Anna Lang has performed in concert evenings at internationally renowned stages.

Anna Lang’s compositions may be heard on “The Dancing Gams” and “Mondgeister” with Pianofortebrass, on “La Folía – Lärmende Lustbarkeit” with the WoodAirQuartet and on “Figuras de baíle” with Sinfonia De Cranaval. Furthermore, the Pianofortebrass Chamberjazzquartet and the WoodAirQuartet  has been selected as an ensemble of the Jeunesse Österreich.

With Sinfonia De Carnaval, Anna Lang presents together with Alois Eberl a further highlight to their extensive and diversified programme. They were nominated for the BAWAG P.S.K. Next Generation Award 2015 and were chosen as one of the five best bands in the Jazz Category for the “New Austrian Sound of Music Programm 2018/19” by the Austrian Federal Ministry and Sinfonia De Carnaval are one of the seven selected austrian Bands for “FOCUS ACTS 2019” – The international springboard and top funding of the Federal Chancellery. Sinfonia De Carnaval are guests in Switzerland, England, Iran, Kasachstan, Tajikistan, Croatia, France, Israel, Palestine and Germany.

Ana Kacinari was born in Tirana. At the age of 5, she started the first lessons in piano. She attended the Artistic Lyceum “Jordan Misja” with high results in the class of Prof. Vladimir Kapo and then was graduated with a “Gold Medal” at the Academy of Arts under the direction of Prof. Anita Tartari.
She achieved maximum results during the Post Master studies as “High Perfection in Pianoforte” at the Arts Academy (Rome) with Maestro Fausto Di Cesare. She started her teaching activity as soon as she graduated as a piano teacher and Concert Maester at the Artistic Lyceum, Crystal University and for several years at the University of Arts. Ana participated in many competitions and was awarded with prizes, being represented in activities in and out the country such as: Kosovo, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc. Was invited to hold recital concerts in Tirana by the “Frederic Chopin” Association, Rome by the Arts Academy, Vatican City where she performed live for Radio Vaticana, Tirana by Pianodrom, Barcelona by the Spanish Consulate, etc. She regularly attended Master Classes by world-famous pianists such as: B. Canino, O. Yablonskaya, R. Capello, M. Campanella, etc. She attended several solo concerts with the RTSH Orchestra, with the Youth Orchestra in Germany, with the Synthesis Chambre Orchestra, with the Orchestra of the “Jordan Misja” Artistic Lyceum, with the Juvenilia Orchestra Spain, etc. Recently she completed her PhD studies at the Academy of Albanological Studies.

He took his first lessons in horn with the Prof. Avni Dajko at the Artistic High School of Music “Jordan Misja” in Tirana and then with Prof. Andrea Canaj at the University of Arts in Tirana where he finished studies with maximum assessments. During studies, he took lessons with other well-known pedagogues such as: Mike Svoboda – Austria, Markus Burghaier – Germany, Uwe Diekersen – Germany, Vangelis Scuras – Greece, Guido Corti – Italy, Robin O’Brain – U.K, etc.

He is quite active as an artist interpreter lik soloist,  part of serveral ensembles and orchestras, holding lessons for the young generation, and also as playing and collaborating with Albanian and foreing artists in: Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Greece etc. His goal as an artist is to enrich the Albanian and international music repertoire by inspiring composers.Composersers who dedicated pieces for him are Enis Mullaj – “Under dhe Monlight”, Alan Holley – “The Gliebe Glows”, Alan Holley – Red Harmony, Alan Holley – “Jungle Song”, Andrian Petrout – Vue de Laigle etc.  Also his aim is to create the necessary infrastructure for the young artists and helping them on creating new bridges of collaboration with foregin artists and unffy the method of studying and interpretation.

Ilir Kodhima is also a organizer of the “International Albanian Brass Festival” www.iabf.al since 2016, bringing in Albania many famous artsits from all over the world like: Alan Holley – Australia, Paul Goodchild – Austria , Arkady Shilkloper – Russia. Dr.Brent Shires – USA, Dr.Greg Jones – USA, Gergely Sugar – Austria, Luca Benucci – Italy, Marco Pierobon – Italy, Kostas Siskos – Greece etc.  He is a member of many ensembles like: Albanian Brass Quintet, Albanian National Brass, “Cesk Zadeja” Wood Wind Quitet etc. His repertorë in orchestra is so rich since he played thousnds of concert, performing Opera, Symhonies, Requem, Concerts etc. From 2008-2009 he was part of the National Radio Television Orchestra as third horn, from 2009 – 2021 as the Principal horn at the National Opera and Ballet in Tirana. From 2021 he is a horn pedagogue at the University of Arts in Tirana (Albania) and in Prishtina (Kosovo). He is coo-founder of the online artistic portal www.artkulture.al .

He was born in Corfu. He studied in Athens, first at the Raymondi Conservatory and then at the Orfeio of Athens, where he received his diploma in 1994, with Spiros Kessaris and Vangelis Skouras as professors. In 2000, he was admitted to the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz for postgraduate studies with Hector McDonald, where, apart from modern French horn, he studied the Vienna and the natural horn. As a soloist, he has collaborated in Greece with the Chamber Orchestra of the Greek National Opera, the Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestra of Patras, the Camerata – Friends of Music Orchestra and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra in works by Haydn, Mozart, Hübler, Antoniou and C. Hatzis, and in Austria with the Orchestra of the Graz University in the Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11 by R. Strauss. He has collaborated in Greece with the Greek National Opera, Camerata, the Athens Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of Patras, in Austria with Vienna Symphony, Concentus Musicus and Wiener Konzertverein, in Constantinople with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Borusan, in the Czech Republic with the Orchestra of the Prague State Opera, under the direction of internationally-renowned masters such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kent Nagano, Ádám Fischer, etc.

Maria Fotia was born in Athens and at the age of 7 had her first piano lessons. She went on to continue studying the piano and in 2001 she gave the Diploma exams at Diethnes Odeion of Athens under Eirini Karatza. A few years before concluding her studies in the piano, in 1997, she began playing the French horn, as a tribute to her great grandfather, who was also a horn player. She concluded her studies in 2005 with Kostas Siskos at Diethnes Odeion of Athens and of course went on to attend masterclasses like those of Hector McDonald, Hermann Baumann, etc. Throughout the years Mrs.Fotia has joined, choirs, marching bands, played in all Greek Orchestras (Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, National Opera Orchestra, Athens Municipality Orchestra, Athens Phirharmonic, Academica, etc) with both the modern and the natural horn (Armonia Atenea), played as a soloist (Friedrich Witt concerto per due corni principali in F with Kostas Siskos and the Athens State Orchestra) but has never forgotten that her roots have always been in the piano. That is why in every possible opportunity she gets, she plays the piano, preferably with friends, or people close to her and music.

Albanian Brass Quintet & Percussion This ensemble has been created since 2007 by 6 friends. The constituent artists of this ensemble are well-known names in the field of music and very important for the institutions where they work, such as: the National Opera and Ballet Theater and the Symphony Orchestra of the Albanian Radio Television. This ensemble has been part of numerous ceremonies and concerts at home and abroad. Artists being very compact with each other, have become the inspiration for different composers who have written or brought back numerous works in a very special approach. Their success also consists thanks to a very diverse and attractive repertoire, which aims to bring the public closer to art but also to promote Albanian music.

New (2019), but an excellent brass band from Macedonia. Composed by great musicians who with their many years of experience from almost all spheres of music will try to bring good sound, fresh program, and great concert performances. They mostly play adapted (arranged) music for brass quintet with added percussion instruments. The tendency is to “avoid” a stereotypical program for such a composition and to bring popular music (including film music and popular classics) closer to the audience.

They always try to have open-air concerts in parks, squares and other places where you can not often hear a concert. This is how the story of Brastest Skopje started … the first concert happened at the beginning of the summer at the Skopje Summer 2019 festival – Concert on Jadran Square. The story continues to end the summer with a concert at the Festival Sounds of the Old Bazaar with a concert in the Skopje Bazaar. But, in 2020, a series of concerts will follow on several closed concert stages throughout Macedonia (Skopje, Kocani, Kavadarci, Negotino, Delcevo …)

Popular classics, film music compilations, evergreen, and light jazz melodies, and popular themes from several genres would be singled out as a priority program.

In the first 3 years, over 20 concerts have been officially realized in Macedonia and abroad

Born in Prishtina – Kosova. Since 2002 Principal Trombone at the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra, Wind Orchestra of the Kosovo Security Forces – KSF and first trombone in the BIG BAND Radio Television of Kosova. Professor of Trombone and Chamber Music at the University of Prishtina – Faculty of Arts. He has performed as a soloist, member of chamber ensembles and symphonic orchestras in Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Germany, Italy, England, USA. Founder of Brass ensembles in Kosovo, Trombone Quartet and Trombone Ensemble, Prishtina Brass Quintet, Kosova Brass Orchestra and the International Kosova Brass Festival.