MASTERCLASSLAR

Daniele Bogni
Cello Workshop
Week of April 24th 2013
Daniele Bogni has achieved the diploma of Cello at the Conservatory “G. Verdi” of Milan in the class of the m° Antonio Pocaterra (principal cello of the “Alla Scala” Theater); has subsequently continued his studies with Paul Szabo (student of the huge Pablo Casals and cellist of the quartet Vegh) achieving the superior diploma near the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland. He has followed besides courses with Philippe Müller, Susan Moses and with the very famous violinist Ruggiero Ricci; he has also frequented the biennial course at the International Superior School of chamber Music of the Trio of Trieste (D. De Rosa, R. Zanettovich and A. Baldovino). Has deepened the historical performance of the cello studying at first with the m° Paolo Beschi and subsequently graduating with the maximum one of the votes at the conservatory of Novara studying with m° Gaetano Nasillo. He has held numerous concerts as soloist, with piano and with orchestra over that in various chamber ensembles, exhibiting in important concert halls in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Poland, Georgia, Bahrain, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Sudafrica. Mr Bogni is principal cello in the orchestra “Camerata Ducale” and often works with soloist as Ruggiero Ricci, Misha Maisky, Jan Wang, Schlomo Mintz, Salvatore Accardo, Uto Ughi, Augustin Dumay, Vladimir Spivakov, Igor Oistrakh, Isabelle Faust, Giuliano Carmignola, Maxim Rysanov, Louis Lortie, Alexander Lonquich, Andrea Lucchesini, Maxence Larrieux, Richard Galliano, Renato Bruson, Luciana Serra, Enzo Dara, Katia Ricciarelli, Daniela Dessì. He has effected broadcast and television recordings for the RAI, RAI SAT, the Swiss Radiotelevisione and the Mexican Radio. After having been teacher of Cello near the musical institutes of Gallarate, Pavia and Cremona, is now Cello Professor the Conservatory G. Verdi in Como He held in 2012 at the Conservatorio Superior de Malaga, a master of Italian music for cello of 19 century.

Gianni Lenoci
Improvisation Workshop
Week of  May 6th 2013
Education: Piano Diploma Conservatorio S. Cecilia Roma Electronic Music Diploma & Piano Master Conservatorio N. Piccinni_BariJazz&Improvisation studies with Mal Waldron e Paul Bley Performances: Italy, France, UK, Romania, Hungart, Albania, Argentina, USA, Turkey, Canada, Spain , Austria, Poland, Serbia. Main Collaboratios& Recording sessions: Massimo Urbani, Steve Lacy, Joelle Leandre, Steve Grossman, Harold Land, Bob Mover, Enrico Rava, Glenn Ferris, Eugenio Colombo, Paul Lovens, Dave Gross, Don Moye, Han Bennink, Antonello Salis, Jean-Jacques Avenel, John Betsch, Bill Elgart, Markus Stockhausen, Steve Potts, Carlos Zingaro, John Tchicai, Kent Carter, William Parker, David Murray, John Tchicai, Roscoe Mitchell. Teaching Experience: Teacher of jazz composition/ improvisation&performance at Conservatorio N. Rota in Monopoli. Head pf New Music Dpt at Conservatorio N. Rota in Monopoli. ERASMUS Teacher at :Bucharest University, Corfu University , Royal Northern College of Manchester, Conservatorio Superior de Malaga, Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar, Conservatorio Superior de Madrid, Conservatorio Superior di Salamanaca. Associated Artist at ACA (Atlantic Center for the Arts) di New Smyrna Beach_FL (USA).

Amanda Smallbone
Voice Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Smallbone studied as a singer at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London where her teachers included Laura Sarti and David Pollard. She has since enjoyed a varied career as a singer, performer, singing teacher and lecturer in voice in both the UK and South-East Asia. In 2010 she was appointed programme director of the BA Vocal studies programme at the University of Winchester, UK. Amanda’s research and performance interests currently focus on the following areas: Vocal improvisation and devising, theories of voice, vocal repertoire of 17th & 18th century, approaches to training singing teachers, ‘integrated’ approaches to vocal pedagogy, vocal anatomy & physiology for the performer, experimental approaches to vocal performance.

Antonio D’Antò
Composition Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Antonio D’Antò, composer, was born in Capri. He got his degrees in piano and composition at the Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music of Frosinone and and the degree in Conducting at the Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia in Rome. Among his teachers Roman Vlad, Teresa Procaccini, Franco Donatoni, Daniele Paris, Franco Ferrara, Bruno Aprea. He is composer and conductor, and his specialization is modern and contemporary music. He has written more than 100 pieces, musical stories for children, film music, concerts for small and large orchestra, sacred music, pieces for voice and piano, and other.His compositions have been performed in important musical events in the chief Italian towns and abroad. Since 2007 he has been the Director of the Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music of Frosinone.

Carlo Negroti
Piano Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Many important critics have expressed anywhere, in Italy and other countries, alive appreciations on him.
It assiduously collaborates with the Rai-tv in various television and broadcast programs and in the different nets. Carlo Negroni was invited in quality of soloist in numerous festivals and international seasons as: “New Musica”, “Nuova Consonanza”, ” Rome Europa Festival”, ” Festival Concerts in the Park”, “Accademia di Santa Cecilia”, “Radio Orchestra of Zagabria”, ” Italian Festival” of Broadway, “Chamber Music Society” of Chicago, “Carnegie Hall” of NewYork, “Ravello Festival”, “Mittelfest”, “Academy of France.” Touching in his tour, further in Italy, France, Austria, Colombia, Venezuela, Egypt, the Kenya, the Usa. He has engraved besides for the Rai, Edipan, Radio Bucarest, Radio Zagabria Radio Vaticana, Radiotre, Rai-Trade, RCA, EMI, and he has collaborated in the recording of movie sound track of Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Ritz Ortolani, Luis Bacalof and others. In several tour in the United States it holds seminars in the greatest universities.’ From 1999 it is one of the principal craftsmen of the success of the transmission “Inventions To Two Voices” (RAI-radio 3), musical happening and of improvisations on themes drawn by extemporaneous listening .On January 27 2001 world day of the celebrations for the centennial of Joseph Verdi,live Radio Europe connected with all the countries of the Community’ European, it performs improvisations on themes verdiani. May 6 th 2001, always on the seam of the impromptu music between jazz and other languages, it holds a concert to the Quirinale, “Millenium Bach.”The concert has been transmitted in direct broadcast on Rai Radio 3. In June 2002 it composes the original sound track of the movie “Americans in Rome ” produced by the faculty “Science of the Communication” of the University Sapienza of Rome. It wins the selection of the “composers for Radio 3”. The compositions of Charles Negroni are edite from RAI-TRADE. From 2004 it is also titular of the courses of modern piano degree in the Frosinone Conservatory of music. In January 2006 is published “Millenium Bach” of Negroni produced from Rai-Trade . In July 2007 it is guest to Umbria Jazz where his MILLENIUM BACH performs also recording the disk Charles NEGRONI LIVE AT Umbria Jazz. During the summer 2007 inside the Festivals: LIRI Jazz Festival and PALIANO From Classical To Jazz is principal guest . In the summer 2007 is commissioned him by the festival “music in the Park” to Rome the composition “theme with variations”. In march 2009 he performed in Milan his composition “ Jazz Piano Concept” for piano and orchestra.

Idée Fixe Ensemble 
Piano & Sax Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
The ensemble’s main artistic goal is the dissemination of contemporary music creation. It focuses on music written in the 20th & 21st century, seeking answers to questions concerning  the names and the identity of this repertoire, the subtle silences, the unexpected influences, the deviations, the deletions and the ramifications of material which is still open and evolving.

Philippe Spiesser
Percussion Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Born in 1971 in Strasbourg, Philippe Spiesser studied at the Strasbourg Conservatoire, graduating with a State Diploma and Certificate of Aptitude as a teacher of percussion. He teaches at various musical centres in France and in Spain. He has been invited to appear in festivals throughout the world, including Journées de la Percussion in Paris, Asbury Park in New Jersey, Ars Musica in Brussels, Ritmo Vital in Madrid, and in Beijing, Shanghai, Daquing and elsewhere.

Costantino Catena
Piano Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Costantino Catena took up the study of the piano at the age of four. After graduating from the Conservatory of his city with full marks cum laude under the guidance of Luigi D’Ascoli, he continued and completed his piano studies with Konstantin Bogino, Bruno Mezzena and Boris Bechterev. Encounters with Aldo Ciccolini and Joaquin Achucarro have also been important landmarks in his musical education.

Paolo Scarnecchia
Music History Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Born in Rome. Degree at University of Bologna. Professor of History of Music at Conservatory of Music “Nino Rota” in Monopoli. Journalist, radio producer and festival artistic director. Teaching experiences as Lecturer at Universities “L’Orientale” and “Suor Orsola Benincasa” in Naples, and University “La Sapienza” in Rome, and as Visiting Professor abroad. Professional and artistical experiences in Portugal, Brazil, and Mediterranean countries, especially Near East. Main field of research on connections and interchanges between History of Music, Ethnomusicology and Popular Music.

Vittoria Licari  
Voice Workshop 
Week of May 6th 2013
Graduaded in piano, harpsichor and singing, she studied musicology at the School of Paleography and Musical Philology of Cremona. She is going to earn her master’s degree in History and Critism of Cultures and Musical Goods at the DAMS of Turin. She got specialisation in chamber vocal music at the Conservatory of Milan under the guidance of tenor Petre Munteanu. She obtained the diploma of “Ecole Internationale Serge Wilfart” for the teaching of the method “Pneumaphonie-Analyzer,costruire,harmonizer par la voix” and she is deepening vocal didactics with Yva Barthelemy. Vittoria has been teaching Singing, Acting and Body Knowledge Technique at the Music Conservatory of Brescia.

Francesco Marco Algeri
Voice Workshop
Week of May 6th 2013
Francesco Marco Algeri was born in Bergamo(Italy) and still lives there. He obtained his Diploma in State Conservatory of Music of “Giuseppe Verdi “ Milano and he completed his Diploma in Hungary with lessons on Kodaly method , Choir directions with Sebastian Korn and studies on Functional Voice Training from Gisela Rohmert . Then ,he taught Piano in Secondary Musical School and dedicated himself into promotion and diffusion of musical culture creating associations, music school, lessons and activity of updating and formation for music teachers and educators.Winner of the ministerial examination , from 1998 He obtains the Chair of Accompanist and répetiteur of the Vocal Class of the Conservatory “Luca Marenzio” of Brescia. After having collaborated with the Royaumont Foundation , he has been holding lessons on analysis and study of the Italian operatic repertoire in Paris since 2010 and directed master-classes in Italy and foreign countries. For years, he has been working as a substitute for staging productions in the most important Italian theaters collaborating with conductors such as Carlo Felice Cillario, Maurizio Arena, Donato Renzetti, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Thomas Briccetti, Fabrizio Maria Carminati, NiksaBareza… and directors such as Ermanno Olmi, Roberto de Simone, Lamberto Puggelli, Antonello Madau Diaz, Sonja Frisell, Enzo Dara. His compositions are edited by Sinfonica. From February 2013 he assumes the Artistic Direction of the” Fraternity Circle Theatre” of Casnigo.

Angelo Ragno 
Flute Workshop
Week of May 20th 2013
At a very young age Angelo Ragno graduated from the “N. Piccinni” Conservatoire in Bari. Later on he studied with Peter Lukas Graf and has specialized with Aurel Nicolet and J. Galway. He has performed in duos with P. L. Graf and with Michael Debost. A winner in national competitions ( Mondovì, 1st flute in Revenue Guard Corps Band), since 1985 he has been the 1st flute in the Petruzzelli Theatre Orchestra with which he went on tours (former USSR, Brazil, Egypt, France, Spain, Australia), has made recordings (Fonit Cetra, Sony Classical) and live radio/video recordings for RAI (Italian Broadcasting Corporation). Since 1983 he has been full time Prof. of flute at “Nino Rota” Conservatoire in Monopoli (Bari).

Erman Türkili
Violin Workshop
Week of May 20th 2013
Dr. Erman Turkili was born in 1984 in Adana, Turkey. At the age of 11, he started his violin lessons with Dania Kainova and chamber music lessons with Slava Kainov at the Conservatory of Cukurova University. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Turkey, he was awarded a Graduate Assistantship toward his studies at Pittsburg State University. Upon finishing his Master’s degree, he was invited as a Doctoral Assistant to Prof. Eliot Chapo studio, former concertmaster of New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony etc. He has performed both in Turkey in the U.S. as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. He has taught students from early ages both in US and Turkey. His teaching method starts teaching violin to kids that are in the ages of 3 and 7. Dr. Turkili has won first prizes many national and international competitions. Currently, he is residing in Istanbul and giving concerts in Turkey, Europe and US both as a recitalist and as a chamber musician with his ensembles. Dr. Turkili is an eager academic and continues his researches and regularly gives Master Classes and conferences throughout Turkey and Europe.

Marco Socias
Guitar Masterclass
Week of 20th May 2013
Born in Málaga (Spain), Marco Socías studied with C. Gallardo, A. Company, José Tomás, H. Käppel, J.M. Moreno and D. Russell. He has obtained prizes in several international competitions and has played already in almost forty countries. He has performed in renowned halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philharmonie Berlin, under conductors as Sir Neville Marriner and Josep Pons, and has played as a soloist with orchestras such as Radio Sinfonie- Orchester Berlin and Rotterdam Philharmonic, just to mention a few. He has recorded eight CDs up to now, for the labels –among others- Ópera Tres, EMI and Harmonia Mundi. Both audients and critics emphasize in Marco Socías’ playing his great capacity of communication with the public, his technical skills and a highly refined artistic sensitivity.

Enno Voorhorst 
Guitar Masterclass 
26-28 May 2014
Enno Voorhorst was born into a family of musicians in The Hague, Holland in 1962. He studied the guitar with Hein Sanderink, Hubert Käppel and David Russell. In 1987 he won the first prize at the 7th International Guitar Competition in Hof (Germany). In 1992 he won the Dutch Guitar Prize and, in the same year, first prize at the Seto-Ohashi Competition in Japan. His solo concerts have taken him all over the world from Japan to El Salvador.

Diego Leveric
Lute & Theorbo Masterclass
20 January 2014
In 2011 he won third prize (first prize not awarded) in the first edition of the lute competition Maurizio Pratola, in L’Aquila, Italy. The following year, in the second edition of the same competition presided over by M° Paul O’Dette, performing on renaissance lute and theorbo he won first prize in the solo category and first prize in the overall category of “chamber music” with the duo Sursum Corda (with Teodoro Bau, viola da gamba). He is one of the winners at the international competition „Concursos Internacionais de Jovens Interpretes de Musica Antiga“ in Lisbon, Portugal. Thanks to the prizes he could perform his music in important baroque music festivals in Italy such as “Grandezze e Meraviglie” in Modena, “ Società Umanitaria” in Milan and “La Musica in Abruzzo” in L’Aquila. Thanks to the ADRIS group, he was able to perform at the opening ceremony in of a important art exhibition in Rovinj, Croazia.

Zapico Brothers
Lute & Theorbo Masterclass
7 November 2014
Their hectic international schedule has taken the ensemble to major European festivals such as the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele in Germany, the Van Vlaanderen in Bruges (Belgium) and the Summer Festivities of Early Music in Prague. Moreover, Forma Antiqva has performed in various halls and auditoriums in Bolivia, Brazil, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Greece, China, Japan, Serbia and France.

Alberto Belli
Bassoon Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
He gave many concerts as a soloist and as a bassoon-piano duo. In 1981 he was placed second at the international competition “Premio Ancona” (first prize not assigned). In the same year he played in the first performance of “Klinamen I” for Bassoon and String Orchestra by Andrea Talmelli at the theatre “La Fenice” in Venice. He has worked with various well-known chamber music groups, e.g. “Gruppo Musica Insieme” of Cremona, “Ensemble Garbarino”, “Divertimento Ensemble”, “Carme”, and “Handel Ensemble”, with which he has toured extensively in Italy and most European countries. With Gruppo Musica Insieme of Cremona, he has done many recordings for the Radio-Television of Lugano, Switzerland.  mSince 1983 he has been teaching Bassoon at Italian Conservatories, and since 2008 at the Conservatory “Luca Marenzio” in Brescia.

Lauma Skride Pianist
Photo and copyright: Marco Borggreve

Lauma Skride
Piano Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
As chamber musician Lauma Skride appeared at prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival as well as at Gewandhaus Leipzig, performing all Piano Quartets by Johannes Brahms. Lauma Skride recorded Fanny Hensel’s piano cycle Das Jahr for Sony in 2007 and received an ECHO Classic Award as Best Young Artist for this recording. Together with Baiba in 2011 she recorded the transcription of Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances for violin and piano by Joseph Joachim for ORFEO. Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1982, Lauma Skride is the youngest of three daughters in a musical family. She began playing the piano at the age of five and was later a pupil of Anita Paze at the Emil Darzin School of Music in Riga. She then studied under Volker Banfield at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. Lauma Skride has participated in numerous international competitions since the age of eleven, among them the Maria Canals Competition in Spain and the Cleveland International Piano Competition in the USA, and has won several prizes.

Costantino Catena
Piano Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Active in the field of chamber music, Costantino Catena has collaborated with leading artists such as Alessandro Carbonare, Michele Lomuto, Franco Maggio Ormezowski, Gabriele Geminiani, Sashko Gawriloff, Sabrina-Vivian Hopker, Claudio Casadei, Massimo Quarta, Lynne Dawson, Maja Bogdanovich, Claudio Brizi, Quartetto Savinio. He has recorded for Phoenix Classics, Nuova Era International labels, and for Camerata Tokyo has recorded Franz Liszt’s complete works for violin and piano, as well a double CD featuring all of his piano works dedicated to Venezia and Napoli, a blu-ray dedicated to Debussy and Schumann and other solo CDs. His recordings have often been broadcast in Italy and abroad (RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, NHK Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, RSI Radio della Svizzera Italiana, MR Magyar Rádió) and have received excellent reviews from leading magazines: “In Nuits d’été à Pausilippe and Soirées Musicales de Rossini Costantino Catena strikes the perfect balance of sentiment and relaxed charm in readings that could scarcely be more idiomatic. In Carnaval de Venise Catena revels in the droll humor and far-fetched technical demands of Liszt’s setting, creating a listening experience that’s great fun. In Venezia e Napoli, the supplement to Book 2 of the Années de pèlerinage, Catena exhibits his natural, unaffected feeling toward the music’s popular source materials. The extended trio of the famous Tarantella is almost ethereal in its beauty. This triptych, recorded so frequently over the past couple of years, is here as deliciously atmospheric and echt-Italian as one could wish.” (Patrick Rucker, Fanfare Magazine)

Rodolfo Rubino
Piano Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
He won the first prize in several piano competitions (Trofeo Ernesto Coop – Messina, Pietro Napoli – Livorno, Ama Calabria – Lamezia Terme, Premio Europa – San Marco di Castellabate, Premio Sergei Rachmaninoff – Morcone, Coppa Pianisti d’Italia – Osimo, Ennio Porrino – Cagliari, FIDAPA – Catanzaro, etc.). He has given recitals in the major Italian cities. He has also played in Portugal, Austria, France and Russian. He has often interpreted all the Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Studies in a single recitals. He forms with the pianist Tatiana Malguina a piano duo very appreciated. He recorded Chopin and Liszt’ music for the Rai Radiotelevisione italiana. He also recorded Cilèa’s music for the CD Musicisti Calabresi, a cooperation between the Cosenza Conservatory and the newspaper “Il Quotidiano della Calabria”. He taught Piano and Chamber Music at conservatories of Ponta Delgada (Azores – Portugal), Figueira da Foz, Coimbra and Aveiro (Portugal). Many his students won the first prizes in national and international piano competition. He is regularly invited to be part of the jury of many national and international competitions.
Now he is Professor of Piano at Cosenza Conservatory “Stanislao Giacomantonio” (Italy).

Massimo Leonardi
Piano Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
He has performed several live concerts both in Italy and abroad as a pianist, and many other as a orchestral conductor, with Vilnius Orchestra, Orchestra del Carlo Felice of Genoa, Divertimento Ensemble, Offerta Musicale ensemble, München Orchester, Maribor International Orchestra, Orchestra e Coro Urbanus of Malta, Chor und Orchester der Dommusik St.Martin, etc.His musical compositions have been performed in Italy, Germany, Lithuenia, Turkey, Indonesia, Brasil, Canada, Japan.He published several books about the study of Composition, Musical Theory and Analysis. He worked as a teacher at the Conservatory of Matera, Cagliari, Cosenza, Catania, Kore University of Enna. Since 2006 he has been working at the Conservatory “V. Bellini” of Palermo by teaching Theory and Ear training.

Ketty Teriaca 
Piano Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Ketty Teriaca was born in Catania, Italy and obtained her diploma in piano at the Conservatory “F. Cilea” in Reggio Calabria in 1990. Later she continued her studies earning a degree in Musical Literature at D.A.M.S. in Bologna. Afterwards she attended many piano master-classes under the guidance of renown pianists Vincenzo Balzani, Bruno Canino, Evenlinde Trenkner, Eliodoro Sollima and Pier Narciso Masi.  She also won several international piano competitions. Since 2000 she has performed both in Italy and abroad with her ensemble Velke Trio. She is the pianist of Ensemble Darshan, a quartet which composes and performs live soundtracks for silent movies. Much of her musical research is focused on the study of chamber music repertoire, mainly for piano, violin and cello. Since 2003 Ketty Teriaca is the artistic director of the international festival “Classica & Dintorni” in Catania. She also teaches piano at the Conservatory “V. Bellini” in Palermo (Italy).

Roberta Ropa 
Piano/Vocal Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Since 1994 she has been working as Vocal Coach in various Conservatoires in Italy, collaborating with famous singers such as tenor Giuliano Ciannella, bass Roberto Scandiuzzi, and mezzo Adriana Cicogna. She has been the official piano accompanist at international competitions such as Alcamo International Singing Contest, where many famous singers were members of the jury. She gave courses on the “”Recitativo in Italian language for non-Italian singers” through an Erasmus project in various universities in Europe and supervised Italian pronunciation in some opera productions. Ropa has recorded for radio and television in Italy and abroad. At the moment, she teaches Piano Accompaniment and is Vocal Coach at the Conservatory of Parma “Arrigo Boito”. She also teaches Piano in Ferrara’s Conservatory of Music and in the School of Music of Faenza. She plays regularly in Europe and Asia (Torino Settembre Musica, Munich Staatsoper Spielzeit, Roma, Lausanne, Zurich, Tokyo, Singapore) with artists such as singers Nucci, Taddei, Raimondi, Litting, Ballo, Marrocu, Brioli, Caruso, Pini, violinists Vadim Brodsky, Misha Keylin, and Maurizio Sciarretta, saxophonist Jean-Ives Fourmeau, flutists Andras Adorjan, Maxence Larrieu, Janos Balint, clarinettist Anton Dressler, and cellist Marianne Chen.

Marien van Nieukerken
Piano/Vocal Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Marien van Nieukerken is familiar with both the classical and the contemporary repertoire of Lieder. Several composers have dedicated Lieder to him, including Joep Straesser, Adriaan de Wit, Walter Hekster, Gustavo Trujillo and Christina Viola Oorebeek.He also regularly gives courses as a guest lecturer on Lied interpretation and Lied accompaniment. He was a regular guest at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and in recent years he has taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, the State University Montclair (US), the Academia dell’Arte in Osimo (Italy) and the Faculty of Music of the University in Jyväskyla (Finland).Marien van Nieukerken is artistic director and founder of the International Student LiedDuo Competition that was held in 2009 in Enschede (The Netherlands) to great acclaim. The latest edition of this biennial contest for music students was in April 2015.Van Nieukerken is a vocal coach at the ArtEZ Conservatory, where he is also director of the Lied class and professor of piano and song accompaniment. He has also worked as repetiteur and coach for singers at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Massimo Cottica  
Piano/Vocal/Chamber Music Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
At the conclusion of the summer class “Music and Cinema” 1992 in Siena he won the “Diploma di Merito” for the best soundtrack. On that occasion, the President of the jury was Ennio Morricone.
He presently writes music for theatre plays, especially for the “Compagnia Teatrale Corona” (Puppen in der Gullen, Il libro di Mago Calvino, Tempus Fugit, Quadri di un’esposizione, Dee) and “Teatro Litta”, Milano. He made live recordings for Radio 3 and SDR 1 (Süd-Deutsche-Rundfunk). Since 1996 he has been professor of chamber music and vocal chamber music at the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Nicolini” in Piacenza, organizing concerts, master classes, conferences and inviting artists and teachers such as Alan Branch, Françoise Ogeas, Peter Nelson, Konrad Richter and Burkhard Schaeffer. His activity as perfomer and teacher goes through Europe, China and United States. Since 2007 he collaborates with the “Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi” in Milano, playing his own compositions (Il Libro di Mago Calvino) and orchestrations (Pictures at an Exhibition, Wolfi, Ludwig).

Bettina Block 
Vocal Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Since 2010 she has been a member of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Austria), under the direction of Gustav Kuhn. There she sang roles like Rossweisse (Die Walküre), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), and Lehrbube (Meistersinger von Nürnberg). In Italy, she sang in the operas: “Il viaggio a Reims” (Maddalena), “Il barbiere di Siviglia” (Berta), “Cenerentola” (Angelina), “Elektra” (Dienerin) and “Rigoletto” (Maddalena) and in the musicals “Jackie O.” and “Sweeney Todd” at the opera theatres in Bologna, Modena and Piacenza. An important part of her professional activity is dedicated to German Lied and chamber music repertoire.  As opera choir member, she had the opportunity to work with conductors like Riccardo Muti, Donato Renzetti, Riccardo Frizza and Christopher Franklin. In 2010 she received the scholarship offered by the Richard-Wagner-Verbandes Nürnberg (Richard-Wagner-Foundation Norimberg).
In 2011, she founded the “Café Bauer Trio” (voice, violin and piano), a trio that performs in Italy interpreting works from the German “golden age” (1920).  Ms. Block also teaches singing and German at the Conservatorio “G. Nicolini” and at the Goethe-Zentrum in Piacenza. 

Angela Ahıskal
Vocal Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
She has appeared as soloist with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Ankara) and The Istanbul European Choir (Istanbul, Thessaloniki). Upcoming engagements include solo performances with the Mersin Academic Chamber Orchestra, Eskişehir City Symphony Orchestra and The Istanbul European Choir. Special performances as soloist in Can Atilla’s “57th Regiment Gallipoli Symphony” in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaigns with the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra are forthcoming and her debut solo album “Whimsy” recorded with pianist Tayfun İlhan will be released later this year. Ahıskal completed her vocal studies in the performance programs at the New York State University at Buffalo, The Hartt School of Music (Connecticut) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Music (Istanbul) and is currently on the Opera Department Voice Faculty of the Ankara University State Conservatoire.

Jolande Geven
Jazz Vocal Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Since 1983 Jolande has performed with various bands and big bands, including Dr. Jazz & Co, Rosie Dawn Jazz Quintet, Hein de Jong Quintet and the vocal groupe Tamam. With composer Martin Fondse she was part of the duo and later quintet Jerusalem Artichoke from 1995 through 1997, where she performed musical settings of Dutch poems.
Jolande frequently works as a vocal coach for theater productions. Her approach to singing has been broadened by her collaborations with actors, singers and dancers.Jolande provides training for professional singing teachers and is regularly hired as communication trainer for training workshops where music is the method of communication.Besides teaching (future) professionals, Jolande has since 1987 worked for music academy De Lindenberg in Nijmegen, where she provides, among other things, singing lessons, interpretation lessons, vocal coaching and group lessons for young students. Over the course of years she has developed a range of new courses and teaching methods. At De Lindenberg she also led an acclaimed close-harmony choir. Finally, as a senior instructor, she has provided training for teachers at De Lindenberg.

Alberto Martini
Violin Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Alberto Martini’s discography includes over 50 recordings as a conductor for the Chandos, Emi, Naxos, Dynamic, Verany and Tactus labels, and he has sold more than 400,000 discs worldwide. As a conductor and soloist he has recorded Vivaldi’s complete works, and F.M. Veracini’s complete overtures and concertos (a world premiere). His world première recording of A. Bonporti’s complete works won the Goldberg Five Star Award, the Choc de la Musique award from the French magazine Le Monde de la Musique, and a number of five star awards from the Italian magazine MUSICA. As concertmaster of I VIRTUOSI ITALIANI, he has performed with artists of internal acclaim, among whom we remember Mariella Devia,Barbara Hendricks, Giuliano Carmignola, Fabio Biondi, Maxence Larrieu, Enzo Dara, Claudio Desderi, Katia Ricciarelli, Cecilia Gasdia,Vincenzo La Scola, Misha Maisky, Andres Mustonen, Ilya Grubert, Lazar Berman, Pavel Vernikov, Bruno Giuranna, Lev Markiz, Patrick Gallois,Natalia Gutman and Julian Rachlin, Ilya Gringolts, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and many others. He is presently professor of violin at the Luca Marenzio Conservatory of Music in Brescia, and also teaches in the master’s programme at the F.A.Bonporti Conservatory of Music in Trento. From 2007 to 2010 he has been Artistic Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica of Friuli Venezia Giulia. He regularly teaches master classes at home and abroad, and for anumber of years has been collaborating with TCU University of Fort Worth Dallas, home of the prestigious Van Cliburn music competition.

Orhan Ahıskal
Violin Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
Ahıskal has performed extensively as a soloist in the England, U.S.A., Azerbaijan, and Turkey with the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Antalya, Bursa, Eskisehir State Symphony, Anadolu Symphony Orchestras, Sheffield Festival Orchestra, the Hartt Symphony, Mersin Academic Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Academic Baskent, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Baku Philharmonic State Chamber Orchestra. He collaborated with many conductors including Fahrettin Kerimov, Antonio Pirolli, Gürer Aykal, İbrahim Yazıcı, Yalchin Adigezalov, and Naci Özgüç performing concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Korngold, Lou Harrison, Mozart, Paul Patterson, Piazzolla, Schnittke, Shostakovich, and Vivaldi. As a chamber musician he has performed in over 250 violin and chamber music recitals in Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States, and collaborated with with important musicians such as State Artists pianist İdil Biret and violist Ruşen Güneş, pianists Özgür Aydın, Emre Elivar, Muhiddin Dürrüoğlu, Toros Can, Gökhan Aybulus, German cellist Johannes Moser among others. Ahıskal premiered two violin concertos composed and dedicated to him.

Ruşen Güneş
Viola/Chamber Music Masterclass
Week of 4th of May 2015
After working for five years as principal viola with the Presidential State Orchestra. In Turkey, he moved to England and became principal viola with English Chamber Orch. and became the 1st viola with the London Philharmonic (10 years) and later with the BBCSO (12 years). He has been a member of the London String Quartet for 15 years.He has premiered many works by Turkish composers including viola concertos by A. Saygun , N.K. Akses , Y. Tura and Cengiz Tanc. His recordings include the Saygun viola Concerto with London Philharmonic and Gurer Aykal and Mozart’s Concertant for violin and viola alongside violinist Suna Kan. Together with the Borusan F O he has recoreded Hindemith’s Trauer Music and Telaman’s viola Concerto. He has also recorded countless viola solos in the orchestral repertoire and on the chamber music front, with pianist Idil Biret and London String Quartet, the C Franck quintet and Mahler Piano Quartet, with Guitarist John Williams and LSQ, Bocherini Quintets and with Suna Kan Mozart violin and viola duets. His teaching activities include a year at Royal Northern College, Machester and two years at Trinity College of Music in London. He has taught many music courses in both Turkey and in Europe.