Guest soloists
Since winning the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2016 at the age of 20, Veriko Tchumburidze has earned a reputation as a captivating soloist, chamber musician and exceptional artist. “She is a breath of future,” said Andrzej Wituski, the director of the competition, ”She brings us closer to the world of her own imagination.” Andante, Turkey's leading classical music magazine, named her the country's best up-and-coming musician.
Since 2010, she has studied as a scholarship holder of the Young Musicians on World Stages (YMWS) project with Dora Schwarzberg in Vienna and Prof. Ana Chumachenko in Munich and participated in the master classes of Albert Markov, Shlomo Mintz and Igor Ozim, in the Seiji Ozawa Academy Masterclass and, also in Switzerland, in the Verbier Festival Academy. Highlights of the 2023/24 season include her debut with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra alongside Lionel Bringuier, the Orchestra of Padua and Veneto with Wolfram Christ and her first collaboration with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra and Julia Jones.
Tchumburidze has performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the NMF Wroclaw, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia, the Borusan Philarmonic Orchestra (opening of the Istanbul Music Festival), the Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Musikkollegium Winterthur as well as the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Her festival appearances include the Beethoven Eastern Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, the Olympus Musical Festival, the Rosendal Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where she has performed with Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicholas Angelich, Lisa Batiashvili, Gérard Caussé, Sol Gabetta, Quatuor Ebene, Clemens Hagen, Maxim Vengerov and Tabea Zimmermann, among others. She plays on a violin by G.B. Guadagnini from 1756 on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Dates:
Festkonzert im Schloss Schleißheim am 08.08. Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten
Bayerische Nationalmuseum Open-Air am 09.08. Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten
Diana Adamyan is quickly gaining an international reputation as one of the outstanding violinists of her generation. After winning First Prize at the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition, the world's most prestigious prize for young violinists, she was awarded First Prize at the Khachaturian Violin Competition in 2020. Diana Adamyan performs all over the world, from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London to the Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland and the Matsumoto International Music Festival in Japan. Her recent engagements include performances with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Bruckner Orchester Linz at the Prinzregententheater Munich, the Göttinger Symphonieorchester, the Staatsorchester Darmstadt and recitals in Tokyo and France. In summer 2022, she made her debut at the Aspen Festival with Dvořák under Lionel Bringuier and with the Boston Pops Orchestra with Mendelssohn at Boston Symphony Hall. In 2023/24, she will return to the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and perform with various orchestras, including the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, the Altenburg Gera Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Pasadena Symphony. She has also given recitals in the USA in Malibu, Richmond and at the Celebrity Series of Boston. Diana Adamyan graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in 2023 with the world-renowned teacher Ana Chumachenco, whose outstanding students include Lisa Batiashvili, Julia Fischer and Veronika Eberle. Before that, she was a student of Petros Haykazyan at the Tchaikovsky School of Music in Yerevan and at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory under the direction of Eduard Tadevosyan. Ms. Adamyan is a scholarship holder of the German Foundation for Musical Life and is under the patronage of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the organization “YerazArt” in Boston. She played on a violin built by Urs Mächler for the Menuhin Competition and now plays on an instrument by Nicolò Gagliano from 1760, which was generously made available to her by the Henri Moerel Foundation.
Date:
Meisterkonzert im Max-Joseph-Saal am 23.03. Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten
Simon Zhu is already an outstanding violin virtuoso with a versatile repertoire. He studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is currently studying with Prof Ana Chumachenco in Munich as well as with Ning Feng, and masterclasses with professors such as Wolfgang Marschner, Rainer Kussmaul, Boris Kuschnir, Petru Munteanu, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Igor Ozim, Ingolf Turban and Paul Roczek rounded off his musical education.
At the age of 15, he won 1st prize at the 13th International Georg Philipp Telemann Competition in Poznan for the best interpretation of a Fantasia for violin solo by Georg Philipp Telemann. In May 2021 he won 2nd prize at the Menuhin Competition in Richmond, Virginia, as well as the Mozart Prize and the European Community EMCY Award for his outstanding performance at the Menuhin Competition, and in October 2023 he won 1st prize at the International Violin Competition ‘Premio Paganini’ 2023 in Genoa, Italy, and the special prize for the best Paganini concerto, as well as a number of important concert engagements.
Simon Zhu made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie and has since performed there several times as a soloist with orchestra. He was a guest at the International Young Masters Violin Festival on Lake Constance and is a scholarship holder of the Menuhin Festival & Academy. He has given concerts in Germany, England, France, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Korea and China and has performed with renowned orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Antonio Pappano, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields England, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists.
In October 2024, Simon Zhu performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Antonio Pappano at the Guildhall in London, performing on the Il Cannone, which Paganini played during his lifetime. The King, His Majesty Charles III, attended the concert and received him after the concert.
In the coming season, Simon Zhu will give concerts in famous theatres such as La Scala in Milan, Dubai Opera, the Oman Opera House, the British Guildhall, the Madrid Prado Museum and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Simon is a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and takes part in the Academy's intensive weeks and activities there. Since 2023, Simon has been playing an important violin by Zosimo Bergonzi, Cremona circa 1760, which is on generous loan from the Stretton Society.
Dates:
Meisterkonzert im Max-Joseph-Saal am 09.02. Mozart: Violinkonzert A-Dur
Festkonzert im Schloss Schleißheim am 17.08. Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten
Festkonzert im Schloss Schleißheim am 31.08. Vivaldi: Die vier Jahreszeiten
Sergio Azzolini studied from 1978 to 1985 at the Monteverdi Conservatory in his hometown from Romano Santi and then at the Hanoveran University of Music from Klaus Thunemann. During this time he was already solo bassoonist in the European Community Youth Orchestra.
In addition to his work as soloist at the modern bassoon, Azzolini has intensively worked with the baroque bassoon in the recent years. Today he is considered as THE soloist on this instrument. For example, Azzolini plays under the direction of Christophe Coin in the Ensemble Baroque Limoges, with La Stravaganza Köln, the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, L'aura soave Cremona, Parnassi musici, the Collegium 1704 and with the Holland Baroque Society. Since 2013, a special focus of his work has been the collaboration with his own baroque orchestra L'Onda Armonica. Azzolini was member of the “Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble”, the “Ma'alot Quintet” (see awards) and from 2002 to 2007 artistic director of the Potsdam Chamber Academy.
After a professorship at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, Azzolini has been professor of bassoon and chamber music at the Basel University of Music since 1998. He also gives many master classes, including: at the Weimar University of Music, at the Vienna Conservatory and as part of the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition
Azzolini won several prestigious competitions:
• Carl Maria von Weber Competition
• “Prague Spring” competition
• ARD Music Competition – Azzolini won twice in this internationally renowned competition: 1st prize in the wind quintet category in 1989 and 2nd prize (if the first prize was not awarded) in the bassoon category in 1990.
For his performances please click at the date: Meisterkonzert im Max-Joseph-Saal am 19.04.2025
Meisterkonzert im Herkulessaal am 20.04.2025
Gabriele Cassone began his trumpet studies with various teachers, including Gino Comisso.After studying trumpet from Maestro Mario Catena at the “J. Tomadini" in Udine and studying composition from Maestro Luciano Chailly, he won at the age of 17 the competition for first trumpet in the Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra in Milan, a position he held for 13 years. He later also held this position with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milan and with the RAI Orchestra in the same city.
Cassone later devoted himself to a solo career in numerous areas of classical music: he is the dedicatee of multible works of contemporary music, such as Luciano Berio's sequencea; Ivan Fedele and Salvatore Sciarrino also wrote for him.
Cassone is also a great interpreter of Baroque music: he was soloist with Ton Koopman's Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (recording of Cantata BWV 51 by Johann Sebastian Bach), John Eliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists (Second Brandenburg Concerto by J. S. Bach) and is a regular guest of the Concerto Italiano by Rinaldo Alessandrini. As a soloist he has appeared in the most important theaters in the world: La Scala in Milan, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
As a teacher, he holds numerous master classes around the world and specialization courses (Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Lausanne Conservatory, etc). He currently teaches the trumpet course at the Conservatorio Guido Cantelli in Novara. He also teaches at the “Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana” in Lugano.
Until today he is one of the most famous trumpeters in the world and has performed in the most famous theaters in New York, Paris, London, Vienna, Sydney, Amsterdam, Salzburg and several times in Milan's Scala.
For his performances please click at the date: Sommerkonzert im Brunnenhof am 05.07.2025
Festkonzert Trompeten-Gala auf Schloss Schleißheim am 06.07.2025
Guitarist Leonard Becker is the winner of the Andres Segovia Competition 2021 in La Herradura (Spain). He released his debut CD with NAXOS in July 2021, on which he presents chamber music with guitar by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
In March 2019, Leonard won 1st prize at the international chamber music competition ‘Gerhard Vogt’ for string quartet and guitar in Schweinfurt together with a string quartet he put together at the Munich University of Music. In November 2020, he was awarded 2nd prize at the international Hannabach Solo Guitar Competition in Augsburg.
The musician has already performed several times with orchestra. In summer 2019, Leonard performed Joaquin Rodrigo's ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ together with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Leonard Becker completed his Master's degree with distinction in September 2024 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in the class of Prof. Franz Halasz.
With his music, Leonard wants to establish the concert guitar more in the classical music world and show people the unexpected capabilities of this instrument. He is particularly keen to combine the guitar with a wide variety of other instruments. He is a big fan of the music of Steely Dan, Benjamin Britten and Franz Schubert.
Dates:
Festkonzert im Schloss Schleißheim am 08.08.
Bayerische Nationalmuseum Open-Air am 09.08.
