INFORMATION BOOKLET

FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

FOR

BASSO CONTINUO AND PARTIMENTO

REALIZATION

Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice January 12-14, 2019

Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice

Harpsichord and Historical Performance Practice Department

Organisation:Prof. Marek PilchArtistic directors:Prof. Marek Toporowski, Prof. Marcin Świątkiewicz, Prof. Marek Pilch.Competition office:Katarzyna Drogosz, Dominika MaszczyńskaCooperating institutions:Academy of Music in Łódź, Harpsichord and Early Music Department, baroque flute class of Prof. Magdalena PilchAcademy of Music, University in Ljubjana (delegating Prof. Dalibor Miklavčič as a jury member)Vocal Institute of the Academy of Music in KatowiceHenryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian PhilharmonicNOSPR

Chamber music partners:

In the first round:

Students in the baroque violin class of Prof. Martyna Pastuszka:Izabela Kozak, Marta Korbel, Antonina Cierpioł & Aleksandra Radwańska,and Martyna Pastuszka & Adam Pastuszka.Students in the baroque flute class of Prof. Magdalena Pilch:Aleksandra Gajkowska (AM Łódź), Radosław Orawski (AM Łódź) & Marta Gawlas (AM Katowice)

In the second round:

Instrumental ensemble:Antonina Cierpioł, Marta Korbel (violin), Szymon Stochniol (viola), Monika Hartmann (violoncello), Marta Gawlas & Aleksandra Gajkowska (baroque flute)

Vocalist:Katarzyna Bełkius (soprano), Olena Zaiets (soprano), Barbara Grzybek (alto), Artur Plinta (alto) & Adrian Janus (bass).

organisers

FIRST ROUND Saturday, January 12, 2019

11:00 - 13:00 and 17:00 - 19:30

Sunday, January 13, 201911:00 - 13:00 and 16:00-17:30

ca. 18:30 results of the first round

SECOND ROUND (FINAL) Monday, January 14, 2019

15:00-17:30 ca. 18:30 final results

The competition will take place at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice,

at the Bolesław Szabelski recital hall.

The competition is open to the public and entrance is free.

competition schedule

SATURDAY (12.01)

11:00 Masako Awaji (1) 11:30 Tomasz Bonikowski (2)12:00 Nathan Mondry (3) 12:30 Rebeka Balaska (4)

13:00 interval

17:00 Agata Meissner (5) 17:30 Maurycy Raczyński (6)18:00 Chen NengYi (7) 18:30 Alexandra Tambovtseva (8) 19:00 Artur Wrona (9)

SUNDAY (13.01)

11:00 Dorota Stawarska (10) 11:30 Iason Marmaras (11)12:00 Sofija Grgur (12) 12:30 Niels Pfeffer (13)

13:00 interval

16:00 Filip Presseisen (14) 16:30 Johannes Rake (15) 17:30 Paweł Pawłowicz (16)

first round schedule

The competitors will perform basso continuo realization on a harpsichord and improvise compositions based on a given scheme (partimento). They will collaborate with instrumentalist and vocalists - the students and teachers of the Academies in Katowice and in Łódź.

PRESELECTION

François Couperin – two contrasting movements of one of the Concerts Royaux (with any appropriate instrumentation). The applicant should realise the basso continuo part on a harpsichord.

FIRST ROUND• Johann Mattheson – one of the four Probstücke

The selection has been announced at the end of September, 2018.

• A seventeenth-century sonata for violin and basso continuo (Dario Castello, Giovanni Battista Fontana, Marco Uccellini, Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli or contemporaries).The participant should choose one of the five selected sonatas, the selection has been announced at the end of September, 2018.

• Two movements of a French flute sonata or suite (Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Pierre Danican Philidor, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair or contemporaries).The selection has been announced at the end of September, 2018. The day before the first round the participants will draw lots as to which movements will be performed.

• Two movements (one slow and one fast) of an eighteenth-century sonata in Italian style of moderate difficulty (Georg Friedrich Haendel etc., G. PH. Telemann, Gasparo Visconti Cremonese, Antonio Vivald or contemporaries)The participants will be given the music on the day of the performance.

SECOND ROUND (FINAL)

• A Neapolitan Partimento.The participants will be given the music the day before the final round after the results of the first round.

• A recitative and aria by Georg Friedrich Handel to be performed with a soloist and a string ensemble.The participant should choose one of the five. The selection has been announced at the end of September 2018.

• A performance of a basso continuo part in selected movements from the Suite in B minor BWV 1067 by Johann Sebastian Bach: Ouverture (obligatory) and two dances selected by the participant.

competition requirements

JAN TOMASZ ADAMUSA conductor, organist, harpsichordist and culture creator specialising in period performance of classical music ranging from Renaissance polyphony to Romantic symphony and opera. He studied in Krakow and Amsterdam and taught at the Academy of Music in Wrocław for a number of years. He has prepared many Polish premieres of great i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e p e r t o i r e f o r p e r i o d

instruments, which include Bach’s St Matthew Passion; Handel’s Messiah, Theodora, Hercules, Amadigi, Sosarme, Tamerlano and Rodelinda; Beethoven’s Missa solemnis; Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, to name just a few. He has performed at a number of prestigious festivals and venues, most recently at Wratislavia Cantans, the Festival of Polish Music, the concert hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWD Festspiele Schwetzingen, Bachfest Leipzig and Händel Festspiele Halle. In particular, he is esteemed for his performances of vocal and instrumental pieces. In 2008 he was appointed General and Artistic Manager of Capella Cracoviensis, an institution of culture which is a chamber choir and period instrument orchestra based in Krakow. In the recent years Capella Cracoviensis has become an exemplary model of successful management as the orchestra belongs to the most important ensembles in Europe specialising in historical performance practice, while the reputation of the choir, because of the exceptional colour and vividness of sound, has been growing among the best record labels. As a culture creator, Jan Tomasz Adamus stood behind the launch of Theatrum Musicum, a joint project developed by music institutions of Krakow which is turning into one of the biggest classical music scenes in Europe. Since 2000 he has been Artistic Director of the Bach Festival Swidnica, one of the largest and most recognisable festivals organised outside major centres of musical life and, at the same time, a remarkably organic and culture-forming event. His numerous recordings include solo organ repertoire, Polish old music, Romanticism on period instruments (Chopin, Schubert) and contemporary music (Arvo Pärt). Recently, together with Capella Cracoviensis, he has carried out a number of extremely innovative stage projects including operas, crossover projects and social performances (Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Händel’s Amadigi di Gaula, Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, Monteverdi in a milk bar, Mendelssohn performed by a choir in the woods and Mozart’s Requiem as karaoke). He is involved in the work of Opera Europa, an international organisation for opera houses and festivals from across the world.

jury

MARTIN GESTER is a French conductor, organist and harpsichordist. His earliest musical experience was of choral singing. He went on to learn the harpsichord and the organ, and completed courses of study in both literature and music at Strasbourg University and at the Conservatory of the same city. He now divides his time between musicological research, performance on harpsichord and organ, conducting vocal and instrumental

ensembles, and teaching. His special interest is the repertory of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1990, Martin Gester founded Le Parlement de Musique in order to put his research into practice, and this flexible vocal and instrumental ensemble soon achieved an international reputation. I Martin Gester has recently begun a long-term collaboration with two vocal ensembles, Les Pages et les Chantres de la Chapelle Royale de Versailles and the Maitrise de Bretagne, with whom Le Parlement de Musique gives concert tours performing French ‘grands motets’ and other Baroque choral works (Charpentier, Brossard, Gilles, Lalande, G.F. Handel,J.S. Bach) in France and abroad; many of these productions are recorded for the Opus 111 label and for European radio and television stations. Martin Gester has appeared as soloist and conductor throughout Europe, as well as on the American and Asian continents. As a soloist or with Le Parlement de Musique, he has made some thirty five recordings, mainly for the labels Opus 111, Accord, Assai and Tempéraments-Radio France. These are often recreations of little-known repertory or innovative readings of well-known works, and most of them have won awards in the musical press. Martin Gester teaches the Baroque repertory to singers and instrumentalists at the Strasbourg Conservatory, and is regularly invited to give masterclasses in France and abroad. In his approach to interpretation, he particularly emphasises the links between music and other disciplines, such as rhetoric, movement, dance, theatre, declamation and oral tradition. In 2001, Martin Gester was appointed Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture.

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MARCIN ŚWIĄTKIEWICZ performs on different types of harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos and organs, and dedicates much time and attention to improvisation. As a soloist, conductor and ensemble member he regularly collaborates with such leading ensembles as Brecon Baroque, Arte dei Suonatori,{oh!} Historical Orchestra, Capella Cracoviensis and Aukso. He has recorded for such labels as BIS, Channel Classics, CPO, Accent, Alpha, Decca, Linn Records, and DUX, as well as for radio and

television broadcasters throughout Europe. 2015 saw the release of his and Arte dei Suonatori album featuring harpsichord concertos by Johann Gottfried Müthel (awarded a Diapason d'Or), and 2017 – the multi-award-winning solo harpsichord CD Cromatica. JS Bach Concertos 1-3 were recently released by Channel Classics. His recording of Biber’s Rosary Sonatas with Rachel Podger, David Miller and Jonathan Manson won the Gramophone Award. The artist is a winner of the “Polityka” weekly’s Passport Award for 2015. He teaches harpsichord and partimento-based improvisation at the Academy of Music in Katowice.

DALIBOR MIKLAVČIČ was born in Ljubljana/Slovenia and studied Organ, and Composition in Vienna (University of Music) before specializing in Early Music in Milan with Lorenzo Ghielmi. Already young he won several prizes at European organ competitions (a. o. EMCY 1989 and 1992) and vividly performs in most European states (Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Czech republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway,

Great Britain, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Latvia, Spain, Slovenia) and in Asia. His organ CDs were acclaimed in the international press (e.g. »Orgel International«, Germany). He also spends much of his time on interpretations and research on two most exciting instruments: Pedal Pianoforte and Pedal Harpsichord. He received most positive concert reviews in Europe and currently works on a reconstruction of a romantic pianoforte with its pedalboard.Dalibor Miklavčič’s pedagogic charisma and knowledge were noticed in several countries and are sought after; he served as visiting professor for Organ and for Improvisation at the Music University in Graz/Austria 2006-2009, is since 2007 lecturing at the Music Academy of the Ljubljana University and since 2000 at the St. Stanislaus College in Ljubljana, for some years prof. for Organ at the State Conservatoire simultaneously. He gives invited masterclasses for leading Music Academies in Europe (London-Royal College, Lübeck-

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Musikhochschule, Budapest-Franz Liszt Music Academy, Vienna Conservatoire, Göteborg Music Academy etc) or teaches at summer masterclasses in 15 European countries (among others as successor of Harald Vogel, for Thuringische Orgelakademie, Germany). Jury member of international organ competitions, among them the »Bach-Wettstreit an der Bachorgel«, Arnstadt. He performs also as duo-partner with baroque violinists (S. Standage, E. Onofri…) and soloist on keyboards with “Haydn Sinfonietta Wien” on original instruments. He also recorded with the mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink and bass-baritone Marcos Fink.Dalibor Miklavčič served as President of the Slovenian Organ Society 2000-2005. Since 1995 he has designed some 25 new organs of Slovene Organbuliders (among which copies of Z. Hildebrandt 2007 and Cavaillé-Coll 2008 gained international renown) and made organ music popular in his country with well over 100 broadcasts on the national Radio Slovenia.

Marek Toporowski was born in Warsaw in 1964. He performs as a harpsichordist, organist, fortepianist and conductor. He teaches harpsichord at the Academies of Music in Cracow and Katowice, as well as harpsichord and organ at the Warsaw Chopin Conservatory of Music. He studied with Leszek Kędracki, Aline Zylberajch and Bob van Asperen (harpsichord), Martin Gester (basso continuo and chamber music) and Józef Serafin and Daniel Roth (organ). He won first prize in the 1st Wanda Landowska National Harpsichord Competition, and was also a

finalist of the 1st Wanda Landowska International Competition in 1994. In 1991, he formed his own chamber ensemble Concerto Polacco—one of the pioneering ensembles of baroque music in Poland. The group very soon became the leading orchestra which was joined by the chamber choir Sine Nomine specializing in performing baroque cantatas and oratorios. With those two ensembles, Marek Toporowski made numerous recordings of early Polish music, including such works as the opera Agatka by Johann David Holland, the oratorio Christiani poenitentes ad sepulchrum Domini by Jan Tomasz Żebrowski, and sacred music by Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, Amando Ivančič Józef Zeidler, and Marcin Józef Żebrowski.As harpsichordist, he made the first-ever recording of Charles Noblet’s Livre de clavecin. As an organist, he records extensively on historical organs. His participation in the documentary project Orgeln in der Niederlausitz, or the first recording on the Silbermann organ in Oederan are well worth mentioning. His latest recording—Bach’s organ trio sonatas BWV 525-530 on the historical Joachim Wagner Organ in Siedlce (a version with added continuo instruments) received the prestigious prize of the Polish recording industry—Fryderyk (the fifth time in his career). Marek Toporowski is the chamber partner of many renowned soloists. He’s also very active in the field of preservation of national heritage. In 2012, he founded Fortepianarium—a unique collection where his own instruments are exhibited and used for concert and teaching purposes.

jury

1. MASAKO AWAJI is a native of Japan. She studied harpsichord with Chiyoko Arita at the Toho Gakuen College of Music and later with Yoshio Watanabe. In 2017, she g r a d u a t e d f r o m t h e R o y a l Conservatory The Hague in the Netherlands where she studied the harpsichord with Jacques Ogg, Kris Verhe l s t , ba s so con t inuo and improvisation with Patrick Ayrton, the fortepiano with Bart van Oort and the clavichord with Menno van Delft. She also received harpsichord lessons

from Pieter-Jan Belder, Siebe Henstra, Arthur Hass, Kenneth Weiss, Christophe Rousset and Skip Sempé. In 2016, she had her debut, solo harpsichord concert at the Utrecht Fringe Festival where she performed improvised fugues. In March 2017, she took part in the Gianni Gambi International Harpsichord Competition in Italy and received the third place. In September 2018, she participated in the first International Baroque Music Competition for Harpsichord in Rouen and she was the only Asian finalist. In her debut concert in Japan in April 2017, she again improvised fugues. As a continuo player, she is a member of the Apollon’s Cabinet. They had their debut at the Utrecht Fringe Festival in 2015. She organized La petite Aurola, which was performed at the same festival in 2016. She joined the project, L’Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, a production by Michael Chance, in January 2017, playing continuo and conducting.

2. TOMASZ BONIKOWSKI, was born in Opole (Poland), where he graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Music School in the organ class of Mrs. Elżbieta Kaszycka-Kowalczyk. He obtained Master of Arts with honours at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in organ playing (with Prof. Julian Gembalski), harpsichord playing (with Prof. Marek Toporowski) and composition (with Prof. Aleksander Lasoń). Currently he studies philosophy at the University of Silesia. He is a laureate of multiple competitions in many fields including: The Second International Organ Competition “In the Circle of European Baroque Organ” in Katowice, International Organ Competition “Organists of Young Europe” in Bardo Śląskie, The Third Franciszek Wesołowski National Harmony Competition in Łódź, The First National Organ and Composition Competition in Bielsko-Biała (organ category), The Third Cracow Young

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Organists Competition in Kraków, The Second National Fryderyk Chopin Life and Work Competition in Opole, the National Music School Organ Class Audition in Gdańsk in 2010. He participated in a number of masterclasses. He also performed at many music festivals, such as: Claromontani Organ Evenings, Toszek Organ and Chamber Music Festival, Autumnal Organ Sundays in Katowice, Chinese Lanterns Festival in Warsaw Łazienki and XVI Moritz Brosig Organ and Chamber Music Festival “Music Beyond Borders” in Paczków.

3. NATHAN MONDRY divides his musical activities between playing organ, harpsichord, and piano, as well as composition. A winner of the 2015 Mary McLaughlin Prize in Early Music at McGill University, he received his Bachelors’ degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan, his Masters’ degree in harpsichord performance at McGill, and an Artist diploma in organ performance from the same school. He is currently working towards a Masters’ in historical improvisation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In 2017, Nathan was a finalist in the 6th International Organ Competition Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, playing at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam and the Sint-Bavo Kerk in Haarlem, and he won the 2018 Bach- Abel Wettbewerb with viola da gambist Arnie Tanimoto. He has performed in many concerts as a soloist, including as the harpsichordist for CPE Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D minor Wq 23 with the McGill Baroque Orchestra in 2016, although Nathan also delves into

chamber music as a member of ensembles Les Barocudas and Double Basiliensis.

4. REBEKA BALASKA was born in Cegléd, Hungary in 1996, and started to learn the piano at the age of seven at the local music school, subsequently winning a number of awards in regional music competitions. In 2011 she applied to the Tibor Pikéthy Secondary School of Music (Vác), and two years later began to learn the harpsichord, as a secondary instrument. In 2015 she was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest for Bachelor studies in harpsichord, in the class of Borbála Dobozy and Ágnes Ratkó. In addition to playing in many chamber music projects she learned improvisation, clavichord and organ with Miklós Spányi. During her years at the university she took part in many masterclasses, including those given by Bernhard Klapprott, Johann Sonnleitner, Therese de Goede, Cristiano Holtz and Lajos Rovátkay. In 2018 she successfully completed her Bachelors’ studies with honours and was accepted at the same university, for Masters’ studies.

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5. AGATA MEISSNER is a graduate of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg in the harpsichord class of Florian Birsak (2016) as well as the College of Interdepartmental Individual Studies in the Humanities at the University of Warsaw, which she completed with a specialisation in musicology. She took lessons also with Vittorio Ghielmi, Marcello Gatti and Lilianna Stawarz. Since 2016 she has

been studying Historical Performance Practice in the class of Prof. Reinhard Goebel at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Ms. Meissner performed numerous major baroque vocal and instrumental works: St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion and Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the oratorio I Pellegrini al Sepolcro di nostro Signore by Johann Adolf Hasse (live broadcast in Polish Radio 2 in 2018), L’Incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi, La Corona by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell. She worked under the direction of Gernot Sahler, Joseph Wallnig, Alfredo Bernardini, Vittorio Ghielmi and Agata Sapiecha. Ms. Meissner gave concerts in Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland, Great Britain and Italy, as a soloist and chamber musician. She performed at various festivals: Innsbrucker Festwoche der Alte Musik, Thüringer Bachwochen in Weimar, unMittelBarock in Magdeburg and Bach Festival in Świdnica. Since 2015 she has cooperated regularly with early music courses, in which she provides accompaniment and basso continuo: Early Music Forum at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, International Summer Academy of Early Music and Innsbruck Barock.

6. MAURYCY RACZYŃSKI graduated in 2015 from the Karol Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, in the harpsichord class of Prof. M. Toporowski. In 2017 he was awarded prix de perfect ionemment in the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Versailles after his studies with Blandine Rannou. In 2014 he participated in an Erasmus scholarship programme, which allowed him to study with Jean-Marc Aymes at the Conservatoire Nationale Supèrieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon. In 2015 he was awarded the 3rd Prize in the XV International Competition of Harpsichord and Basso Continuo in Pesaro (IT) and in 2018 obtained the special prize of Christa Bach-Marshall Foundation in the XXI International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition

in Leipzig. He participated in numerous workshops

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and masterclasses with: A. Zylberajch, N. Parle, P. Matejova, T. de Goede, N. Klapprott, M. Szelest, L. Stawarz, E. Stefańska, B. Rannou, P. Hantaï, J. Vinikour. He is a member of Overtone Trio, with which he had an opportunity to perform at the following festivals: Vantaa BRQ Festival (fringe) Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival (fringe) and in the seat of Polish National Radio Symphonic Orchestra in Katowice and National Forum of Music in Wrocław. In the artistic season 2017-18 he was a harpsichordist in the early music ensemble of the Philharmonic of Lublin, Konfraternia Caper Lubliniensis. He has cooperated with Meakultura Foundation as the editor of several issues of the online music magazine meakutura.pl

7. NengYi Chen – a pianist, harpsichordist and organist. Currently undertaking doctoral studies at the Music Academy in Cracow with Prof. Marek Toporowski and Masters’ studies with Prof. Andrzej Białko.

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8. ALEXANDRA TAMBOVTSEVAStudy in Moscow Conservatory (Jury Martynov and Alexandra Koreneva – piano, harpsichord and fortepiano; Olga Filippova – basso continuo). Participant of Austria Barock Akademie in Gmunden (Austria) in years 2016-2018 (Jeremy Joseph – basso continuo and Aline Zylberajch-Gester – harpsichord) and also winner of Akademie’s scholarship in 2017 and audience choice award in 2018.

9. ARTUR WRONA was born in 1991. He graduated from the organ class of the Frederic Chopin School of Music in Cracow and from the Intercollegiate Institute of Church Music in Cracow. Currently he studies at the Academy of Music in Cracow at two faculties: studying harpsichord playing (with Prof. Marek Toporowski and Aleksander Mocek) and the theory of music. He took lessons in organ playing from Zbigniew Indyk, Zygmunt Kokoszka, Mieczysław Tuleja, Krzysztof Pawlisz, Cyprian Jagiełło and Witold Zalewski. From 2008 he regularly participated in courses in the interpretation of early music conducted by Jean-Pierre Menuge, both in Poland and in France.

10. DOROTA STAWARSKA is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the piano class of Edward Wolanin (2011) and the harpsichord class of Władysław Kłosiewicz (2016).She is a laureate of many awards in Poland and abroad e.g. Special Prize at Halina Czerny- Stefańska Piano Competition in Płock (Poland) and the second prize at Olimpo Musicale International Competition in Kaunas (Lithuania).She was a scholar of the National Fund For Children and the Centre for the Thought of John Paul II. In 2014 she received the Minister of Culture Award for outstanding artistic achievements.She took part in many international masterclasses with Prof. B. Kawalla, Prof. E. Wolanin, Prof. P. Gililov and Prof. V. Nosina. She has played with orchestra under the baton of Łukasz Borowicz, performing as a soloist at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Warsaw Music Society, Fryderyk

Chopin Society concert hall. As a harpsichordist she took part in many academic sessions dedicated to early music and in the harpsichord masterclasses of Prof. Małgorzata Skotnicka (the Academy of Music in Gdańsk), Prof. Jörg Halubek (Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart), Marek Toporowski (Academy of Music in Katowice), Jeremy Joseph (Wien), Georg Hoos (Wien), Prof. Gordon Murray (Universität fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Wien), Reinchardt von Nagel (Paris) and Andreas Staier in Leipzig.In 2013 as a finalist of the Intercollegiate Harpsichord Competition she was awarded a solo recital as the Special Prize of the Academy of Music in Łódź.In 2015 with her Ensemble Okulnikus she received the second prize at the Early Music Ensembles Competition in Poznań.

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11. IASON MARMARAS is a keyboardist, singer, and conductor.He is a founding member of Chorda Elegans, winner of the Berliner Bach-Wettbewerb, as well as a member of the Scroll Ensemble as a keyboardist and singer. He is also a regular guest with Cappella Pratensis (Stratton Bull) as a singer of renaissance polyphony, and La Risonanza (Fabio Bonizzoni) as a singer, player, and assistant conductor and choir master. With these and other ensembles he has sung in Europe and North America, notably the role of Sorceress in Dido & Aeneas with La Risonanza (also a live recording on Challenge Classics).Fascinated by the intimacy of solo song, he performs solo Lieder-Abende on the fortepiano, as well as renaissance songs with the lutenist Paul Beier.

An avid educator, he is the founder of the Schola Cantorum Sancti Pauli, a school for renaissance polyphony at the Athens Conservatoire, and is also a teacher of harpsichord, basso continuo, early music theory and a repetiteur at the Centre for Early Music of the same institution. He is a regular accompanist at summer academies (Music Village in Greece, SienAgosto in Italy).As the director of the Cappella Sancti Pauli, the Schola’s renaissance choir, he directs monthly Renaissance Choral Evensong services at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens, as well as concerts of choral music in Greece and abroad.Always passionate in the pursuit of knowledge, he currently is studying the historical theory of music (with Johannes Menke and Florian Vogt) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. His previous studies include a Masters’ of harpsichord (with Fabio Bonizzoni and Ton Koopman) and a Bachelors’ in early music singing (with Jill Feldman, Michael Chance, and Peter Kooij) at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, as well as private instruction on the fortepiano with Bart van Oort.

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12. SOFIJA GRGUR Die in Sarajevo geborene Serbin Sofija Grgur begann ihre musikalische Ausbildung mit Klavier- und Orgelunterricht an der Belgrader Musikakademie. Nach ihrem erfolgreichen Abschluss dort setze sie als Stipendiatin des serbischen Bildungsministeriums die Chance, ihre Ausbildung an der Hochschule für Musik Würzburg fort. Sie studierte Orgel (Abschlüsse Konzert-Diplom und

Kirchenmusik) bei Prof. Dr. Christoph Bossert, Improvisation bei Prof.Egidius Doll und Dozent Reiner Gaar sowie Dirigieren bei Prof. Jörg Straube. Das parallel wachsende Interesse an Historischer Aufführungspraxis, Basso-Continuo-Praxis, Ensemble-Leitung und an der gesamten Literatur für Cembalo/Hammerklavier führte zu einem abgeschlossenen Grund- und Masterstudium Historische Tasteninstrumente bei Dozentin Lucy Hallman Russell. Durch Teilnahme an zahlreichen Meisterkursen, Sommer-Schulen und Orgelreisen / Exkursionen bekam sie künstlerische Impulse von zahlreichen bedeutenden Persönlichkeiten (Lorenzo Ghielmi, James David Christie, Richard Egarr, Christopher Sternbridge, usw.) im Bereich Orgel, Cembalo, Kammermusik und Improvisation. Zurzeit studiert sie Historische Improvisation an der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis bei Dirk Börner und Markus Schwenkreis. Sofija Grgur war Stipendiatin des Fonds für junge Talente der Republik Serbien 2009 - 11, der Leni-Geissler-Stiftung, der Musikalischen Akademie Würzburg, des STIBET Stipendien-Programms des DAAD und der Soroptimist Stiftung. Im Jahr 2005 gewann sie im ABA Wettbewerb (Gmunden, Österreich) den Sonderpreis für ihre Interpretation der Stücke von J. S. Bach, die Einladung für ein Konzert an der Bruckner-Orgel in der österreichischen Stiftsbasilika St.Florian. Sie war die Finalistin der Jurow International Competition for Harpsichord, Oberlin, USA , im März 2016 und des Concorso Internazionale Francesco Maria Ruspoli in Vignanello , September 2016. Im Oktober 2014 gründete sie zusammen mit dem Violinisten Filip Rekiec das Ensemble Interrogatio, dessen Schwerpunkt Barockmusik auf historischen Instrumenten bildet. Zu den aktuellsten Erfolgen von Interrogatio gehört ein 2.Preis (ex aequo) beim XVI. Biagio-Marini-Wettbewerb 2015 im Rahmen der 37. Sommerakademie in Neuburg an der Donau und ein 2. Preis beim Gebrüder-Graun- Wettbewerb in Bad Liebenwerda 2016. Seit Jahren ist Sofija Grgur konzertant tätig als Solistin sowie in Ensembles, bis hin zu Opern-Produktionen.Neben kirchenmusikalischer und Unterrichtstätigkeit verfolgt sie immer wieder leidenschaftlich Projekte im interkulturellen Bereich. Ihre besondere persönliche Vorliebe gilt der Musik auf historischen Instrumenten und daneben der Improvisation, von klassisch bis Jazz; beides pflegt und zeigt sie seit Jahren intensiv.

competitors

13. NIELS PFEFFER At the age of five Niels Pfeffer began to play the classical guitar. Parallel to his lessons at the music school in Tübingen, he was taught by Prof. Johannes Monno, whose fine and profound artistry influenced him significantly. Prof. Carsten Lorenz, with whom he took additional harpsichord lessons, also taught him continuo playing and introduced him to the art of historical performances. In 2017 he finished his harpsichord studies at the Stuttgart University of Music under Prof. Jörg Halubek and his guitar studies with Prof. Johannes Monno. Currently he is studying for a Masters’ with Prof. Robert Hill in Freiburg (harpsichord) as well as with Prof. Zoran Dukić in The Hague (guitar). With the guitar, Niels Pfeffer won numerous prizes at renowned international competitions. Of particular note is his first prize at Anna-Amalia competition in Weimar

in 2013 and the second prize at the international guitar competition in Nürtingen 2014. Besides that, he won no less than five prizes at the Andres-Segovia competition in Velbert (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015). Recently he received a third prize in Kutná Hora (Czech republic), a fourth prize in Bratislava (Slovakia) and was finalist at Forum Gitarre Wien (Austria), where he also received a special prize for the best baroque interpretation. Besides his guitar activities, Niels Pfeffer is passionate about playing the continuo on the theorbo and especially on the harpsichord. With both instruments he has taken part in various orchestra performances – including Bach’s St. John Passion, various cantatas, Händel’s Rodrigo and Antonio de Literes’ opera, Los Elementos. This opera also led him to the Kassel state theatre, where he was engaged as a musical assistant for the stage rehearsals. In August 2017 he played continuo in Reinhold Keiser’s baroque opera, Octavia at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. As member of the ensembles La Serenité and Le Tic-Toc-Choc he has been regularly successful in early music competitions – recently in 2017 at the Competition for Early Music of the Saarländischer Rundfunk. This prize is connected with intensive coaching by one of the leading conductors of early music, Konrad Junghänel. In the winter term 2017/18 he has taught as a harpsichord accompanist at the University of Music Stuttgart. Since summer term 2018 he has taught continuo and theorbo for guitarists at the same University. Furthermore, Niels Pfeffer is currently working as a co-editor on the continuo realisation of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, which will be published by Bärenreiter. Recordings for the Estonian public television and radio station led Niels Pfeffer multiple times to Tallinn in the last year. During his studies in Stuttgart he received a scholarship of Live Music Now. Furthermore, he was granted in 2014 the well- known Deutschlandstipendium scholarship and in 2017 and 2018 the Excellence Scholarship of the Royal Conservatory Den Haag.

competitors

14. FILIP PRESSEISEN - was born in 1985 in Szczecin. In 2010 he graduated from the organ class of Prof. Andrzej Chorosiński at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. In 2013, as a part of BAYHOST scholarship, he graduated with honours from the organ class of Prof. Christoph Bossert at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg. He took part in an

Erasmus Exchange Programme during which he studied under the supervision of Prof. Franz Danksagmuller in the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck. He participated in masterclasses by Wolfgang Zerer, Michael Radulescu, Peter van Dijk, Harald Vogel, Martin Sander, Rudolf Mayer, László Fassang oraz Andrés Cea Galán. Besides that, Filip also took a part in the organ improvisation classes conducted by Prof. Wolfgang Seifen and Prof. Dirk Börner. After graduating from the University in Warsaw he started his organ apprenticeship in the workshop of Kristian Wegscheider in Dresden (Wegscheider Orgelbau Dresden/Germany), and in the workshop of Torkildsen Brothers in Norway (Torkildsen Orgelbyggeri Åsen). Filip is a member of Baltisches Orgel Centrum, Archidiocesian Church Music Commission in Cracow, Polish Bach Society and International Bach-Societät group. He performs in Poland and abroad (Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Lithuania). Additionally, he improvises organ music to silent movies and he co-operates with the band, Flores Rosarum. In 2015 he won the first place in the International Improvisation Competition "Internationaler Kinoorgel-Wettbewerb im Babylon" in Berlin. In 2016 he received a special award Antalffy-Preis in the International Organ Competition ION in Nuremberg for the best interpretation on historical organs.

competitors

16. PAWEŁ PAWŁOWICZ, graduated from the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, specialising in organ playing in Profs Radosław Marzec and Piotr Grajter's class and in harpsichord playing with Prof. Urszula Bartkiewicz. He is a graduate of the Institute of Music at the Kaziemierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, specialising in choral conducting with Profs. Mariusz Kończal and Bernard Mendlik. Since 2012 he has worked as a lecturer at the Department of Early Music at his home university. Together with Prof. Kończal, he also co-leads the Męski Zespół Chorałowy, performing

repertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to the present, with a particular emphasis on Gregorian chant. He has taken part in numerous masterclasses in his fields of specialization and cooperated with world-class experts in the field of early music from the Department of Early Music at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz and the annual Summer Methodical Courses of Early Music in Warsaw. He also collaborates with the Jasna Góra Monastery. Since 2013 he has been the organist and conductor in the Parish of St. Antoni in Bydgoszcz.

15. JOHANNES RAKE was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1991. He began playing the modern piano at the age of six and began the modern trumpet at the age of 10. When Johannes was 16, he also took organ lessons, and at 19 he discovered the harpsichord. He studied harpsichord with Prof. Carsten Lohff and Michael Fuerst at Hochschule für Künste, Bremen, from 2012-16. From 2016-18 was a Masters’ student in Prof. Eva Maria Pollerus' harpsichord class at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt upon Main. His second subject was organ, which he studied with Dietrich von Knebel. In Frankfurt, he also was in touch with Jesper Christensen, Kristin von der Goltz, Petra

Müllejans and other Early Music specialists. Johannes has taken part in masterclasses with Raphael Alpermann, Bernhard Klapprott, Christine Schornsheim, Andreas Staier and others, and has performed with musicians like Reinhard Goebel, Klaus Mertens and Andreas Scholl. He has played in venues such as De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Laeiszhalle Hamburg and Alte Oper Frankfurt.From September 2018 on, Johannes will be a Masters’ student with Prof. Jörg-Andreas Bötticher at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with the main subjects Basso continuo and conducting. Johannes is also a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (2018-19).

competitors