Julian Arp studied at the Academy of Music ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin with Boris Pergamenschikow. He continued his studies with David Geringas and Eberhard Feltz. As a soloist and chamber musician Julian appears regularly at festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Beauvais, Montreux, SoNoRo Bucharest, Stellenbosch, Stift Festival, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival and IMS Prussia Cove. The Duo Arp/Frantz has released three CDs. In the words of Fono Forum: ‘They make music into pure celebration. It all sounds and sings.’ Contemporary composers, including Odeh-Tamimi, Koch, Nemtsov and Dinescu have written pieces for him. He is a co-founder of the festival Zeitkunst, which has been a guest at the Centre Pompidou, Radialsystem Berlin, Israel, England and Rio de Janeiro. Julian regularly gives master-classes in Germany and abroad, and teaches at the University for Arts in Graz, Austria.

The Italian cellist Claude Frochaux began playing the cello at the Suzuki Talent Center before moving onto the Conservatory of Turin. Studies followed in Frankfurt, Essen and Madrid. As a sought-after and passionate chamber musician, he is a guest at festivals including Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mozartfest Würzburg, Beethovenfest Bonn, Oxford, Enescu Bucharest and venues such as Wigmore Hall and Kings Place London, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Berlin and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. He also broadcasts repeatedly on the radio, notably with BR, WDR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk and Radio Clasica. In 2008 he founded the Monte Piano Trio, which has won numerous international prizes (Maria Canals Barcelona, Brahms Austria, Schumann Frankfurt and Folkwang Prize) and regularly gives concerts. He collaborates with groups inlcuding Ensemble Midwest Denmark, Amici Ensemble Frankfurt and Ensemble Ruhr. Claude is founder and artistic director of Kammermusikfest Sylt, which takes place every year on the German island of Sylt, and the music-project MUSICA+ in Frankfurt.

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One of the foremost violinists of her generation.
— The Strad

Priya Mitchell grew up in Oxford and studied with David Takeno at the Yehudi Menuhin School and with Zachar Bron in Germany. She was then chosen as the British representative of the European Concert Halls Organisation ‘Rising Stars‘ Series, which success led to highly acclaimed tours and performances in Europe and abroad.

She has worked with many eminent conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, Yuri Temirkanov, Richard Hickcox, Emmanuel Krivine, Heinrich Schiff and Yan Pascal Tortelier. As a recitalist and chamber musician she has performed extensively at international music festivals including Schleswig-Holstein, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Kuhmo, Lockenhaus, Risør, Heimbach, Ravinia, Lugano, Cheltenham, Bath, Stavanger and Trondheim.

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Directed by violinist Hugo Ticciati, the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra is an integral part of O/Modernt. Comprised of top players from all over Europe, the orchestra performs eclectic and adventurous programmes, with anything from arrangements of medieval motets to Bach, Webern and Metallica. The orchestra regularly collaborates with world-renowned soloists such as Evelyn Glennie, Steven Isserlis, Anne Sofie von Otter and Nils Landgren, as well as jazz artists, rappers, choreographers, rock-balancers and more!
Over the last decade, the orchestra has gained an international reputation, with critically-acclaimed performances at the Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wiener Musikverein and Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam. Recent and upcoming highlights include concerts in Kölner Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Berwaldhallen, Kings Place and Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall. The O/Modernt players enjoy a wide range of outreach and educational projects in Sweden, the UK and further afield in India.

Festival 2022

Violins
CLARA BJERHAG
LUCA BOGNÁR
LAIA BRAUN
GABRIEL CORNET
XENIA GEUGELIN
JULIJA IVANOVAITÉ
ISKANDAR KOMILOV
SOFIA KORTELAINEN
MIRIAM LILJIFORS
LAURA LUNANSKY
JOHANNES MARMÉN
VICKY SAYLES
LIANA SVENSSON
HUGO TICCIATI
OSCAR TREITLER

Violas
JENNY AUGUSTINSSON
BRYONY GIBSON-CORNISH
FLORIAN HUBER
PRZEMYSŁAW PUJANEK
FRAUKE STEICHERT
HUGO SVENSSON

Cellos
JULIAN ARP
HEDVIG BENGSTON
REBECKA ERICSSON
CLAUDE FROCHAUX
EDWARD KING
SINÉAD O’HALLORAN

Double Basses
JORDI CARRASCO HJELM
JAKUB BECERRA PIETRYKA
BENJAMIN ZIAI

Oboe
HANNES HEINEMANN
INKEN MENCK
SIOBHAN PARKER

Bassoon
JONATHAN BAUER
ANDERS ENGSTRÖM

Horn
ANNA FERRIOL DE CIURANA
BJÖRN OLSSON
EELIS MALMIVIRTAV

Theorb
KARL NYHLIN

Annette Walther studied in Düsseldorf, Essen and London with Ida Bieler, Vesselin Parschkevov and David Takeno. At the Guildhall School for Music and Drama in London she also took chamber music classes with Sir Colin Davis and the Takacs Quartet.

She is a founding member of the Signum Quartet, an international renowned string quartet.
Concert appearances have taken the Signum Quartet to international podia from Madrid and Barcelona to Basel and Paris. The quartet has performed at the Hamburg Laeiszhalle, the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, the Luxemburg Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Wigmore Hall London, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Boston Harvard Musical Association as well as at the Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau and Schwetzingen Music Festivals and at the BBC Proms.
Their recording ‘No.3’ (Bartók, Berg and Schnittke) was awarded the International Classical Music Awards 2014 ‘Best Chamber Music Recording’. Subsequent recordings include “soundescapes“ (Ravel, Debussy, Adès) and “Alla czeca“ (Suk, Schulhoff, Dvorák).
The most recent released Schubert Recording in march 2018 is receiving international critical acclaim( Diapason d’Or amongst others)
In addition to her career with the Signum Quartet, Annette regularly performs with artists such as Nils Mönkemeyer, William Youn, David Cohen, Liza Ferschtman and Priya Mitchell at festivals including the Musikfestspielen Mecklenburg –Vorpommern, Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, Musiktage Hitzacker and Kammermusikfest Sylt. Furthermore she played alongside Carolin Widmann, Alexej Girassimez and others in the Production’Figure Humaine‘ which the renowned german Choreographer Sasha Waltz created for the inauguration of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in Januar 2017.
She is a regular guest in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and ensemble musikfabrik, concertmaster of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, and the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore is she a member of the Geneva Camerata, O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Unterwegs.
At the beginning of 2016, Annette has been appointed as violin lecturer at the Louis Spohr Music Academy in Kassel and follows her passion of teaching with great enthusiasm.

Tomoko
Akasaka is a versatile violist, appreciated for her special energy and charismaas a soloist and chamber musician. She has won numerous international awards,including 1st prize at the 12th International Japan Classical Music Competition and 3rd prize at the 53rd ARD International Music Competition (2004).

She performs worldwide as a soloist with orchestras including Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra , Munich Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Orchestra de Chambre Genève and the Venezuela National Symphony Orchestra , under conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Johannes Kalitzke, Rüdiger Bohn, Michal Kaluza, Kazuki Yamada, Roman Kofman and Günther Herbig.

Akasaka's chamber music partners have included Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Daniel Hope, Vilde Frang, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Ottensamer, the Ebène, Jerusalem, Kuss Quartet, performing at international music festivals such as Verbier, Lucerne, Salzburg, Pablo Casals, Kissinger Summer, Mecklenburg, San Francisco Musical Days, Olivier Messiaen Festival, Zagreb Chamber Music Festival, Kronberg Cello Festival and the Schubertiade.

Receiving the highest accolades for recitals in Switzerland, France, Poland, Italy, Germany and Japan, she has performed in concert halls including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zurich, Mozarteum Salzburg, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore hall, Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie Berlin, Schloss Elmau, Suntory Hall Tokyo. A particular highlight was NHK TV airing a Tokyo concert series throughout Japan.

She was a visiting professorship at the Music Conservatory of Geneva and Neuchatel, and since 2019, Akasaka is professor of viola at the Musikhochschule in Münster.

After being a junior student with Grigorij Gruzman at the “Akademie für Tonkunst” Darmstadt he studied at the “Musikhochschule Karlsruhe” with André Boanain,at the “Musikhochschule Frankfurt” with Lev Natochenny and at the “Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique Paris” with George Pludermacher. 1st prize at the competition of the “Musikhochschule Karlsruhe” with piano solo in 1996, in 1997 1st prize as a Duo with violin, 3rd prize at the “Newport International Piano Competition” (Great Britain).

In 1998 1st prize at the “International Music Competition Torino” (Italy), 2nd prize at the “Kuhmo International Duo Competition” (Finnland). Radio- and TV productions; performed as a soloist for example with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the “Stuttgarter Kammerorchester”). Lecturer for piano at the “Musikhochschule Karlsruhe”.

The Chamber Orchestra of Lilla Akademien in Stockholm was founded in 2002. Since its establishment, the orchestra has given numerous concerts in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Italy, consolidating a broad repertoire ranging from the baroque of Bach and Handel to the modern-day music of Arvo Pärt and John Adams. The orchestra is made up of young musicians between the ages of 14 and 19, students of Lilla Akademien. The academy’s curriculum offers young people the opportunity to receive excellent musical training integrated within a regular school curriculum. Each young musician is trained in both the orchestral and solo repertoire and regularly attends chamber music courses. The orchestra’s activities involve intensive rehearsal work in sections with the teachers and the coordination of the Academy’s music director, violinist Nina Balabina. The orchestra is conducted by Maestro Mark Tatlow.

Danusha Waskiewicz learned her art from great musicians. She studied with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann and played under Claudio Abbado’s direction in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, in the Berliner Philharmoniker and as First Viola in the Mozart Orchestra in 2004. In 2010, she joined the Luzern Festival Orchestra.

Under Abbados’ direction, she also recorded W.A. Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Giuliano Carmignola and the Mozart Orchestra (via Deutsche Grammphon). In 2008, she published her performance of the Brandenburgischen Konzerte via Euro Arts. Her last recording as a soloist is the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Bela Bartók. Via Harmonia Mundi, she published several performances with violinist Isabelle Faust. Danusha Waskiewicz’ artistic career has been enriched by the numerous talented musicians she has collaborated with. Her latest duo project, Dragonfly, allows her to explore to a completely new world with Irish cellist Naomi Berrill. The sound of their string instruments is accompanied by their voices, redefining the meaning of concentration and of making music together.

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Sascha has quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after viola players in London. Since relocating to the UK in 2017 he has been in high demand as soloist, chamber musician and guest principal with symphony and chamber orchestras alike. He joined the Navarra String Quartet in 2018 and Britten Sinfonia in 2021 as associate leader of the viola section. Last season featured Sascha as soloist in the Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Printzregententheater in Munich and Konzerthaus Berlin along with partner Antoine Tamestit and the AKAMUS Berlin. He is a member of the Oculi Sextet and Sakuntala String Trio, both based in London. Sascha appears frequently as guest principal player of Aurora Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Academy of Ancient Music, English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Romanian Chamber Orchestra, a newly founded project very close to his heart in Romania. He enjoys both gut stringing his viola at different pitches as well as playing jazz in various ensembles. Newly Sascha has joined the professorial staff at Trinity University in London. Sascha joins the O’Modernt with great joy and commitment in both UK and international concerts.

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Finnish violinist Sini Simonen enjoys an active international career as a chamber musician and soloist. As the leader of Castalian String Quartet, she is an artist in residence at Wigmore Hall and Oxford University and appears at the world's leading concert halls.

Sini has won top prizes in several major international violin competitions including the Flesch, Lipizer and Cremona competitions.
She studied in Sibelius Academy, Musikhochschule Hannover and Musik-Akademie Basel with Rainer Schmidt and Lara Lev among others.
From 2013 to 2017, Sini was a violinist of Esbjerg Ensemble, one of Denmark's oldest chamber groups. The ensemble is comprised of a string quartet, wind quintet and percussion, and it is known for its innovative programmes combining contemporary and classical music. Working with composers continues to be a vital part of her musical life.
Her chamber music partners have included Ferenc Rados, Robert Levin, Midori and Steven Isserlis

Kasmir Uusitupa is one of the most versatile violinists from the new finnish generation. He has studied intensively orchestral and string quartet playing from an early age. He has diverse experience of performing different genres, also with different instruments. His interest in other styles has been there since the beginning, as playing folk music with his family was a major influence on his development as a musician. Uusitupa’s forte is in chamber music, especially in the role of a leader. Therefore he is regularly asked to perform in chamber music festivals as well as to substitute concertmaster positions in major Finnish orchestras. He has appeared often as a soloist ever since his school years. The quick cancellations during covid times showed that he is ready to jump in the role of a soloist even on extremely short notice. Uusitupa has also reinforced his musicianship by studying conducting. Kasmir Uusitupa plays an Italian Spiritus Sorsana violin (~1700), kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

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Daniel Eklund (1987) was born and raised in Lund, Sweden, where he started playing the viola at the age of 5. In 2015, he began his studies in the soloist class at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, with Professor Lars Anders Tomter and Tim Frederiksen.

Daniel Eklund plays a lot of chamber music, and is a member of the Nordic String Quartet. The quartet has performed at music festivals both within and outside the borders of Scandinavia. Their debut CD with music by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen won the 2019 Danish P2 Award in the category "Album of the Year with new classics". Danish, Nancy Dalberg's complete string quartets were also published in collaboration with Dacapo records in 2019. The English Music Web International has added the CD on their list of "Recordings of the year".
Since 2013, Daniel has a permanent position as principal violist in the chamber orchestra Musica Vitae, with whom he has been a soloist on several occasions.

Lotta Gullberg is a trained singing teacher in classical singing at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and has worked with teaching children and young people in choirsinging for 30 years, primarily as a music teacher atAdolf Fredrik's Music Classes.Since 2018, Lotta Gullberg works at Lilla Akademien Music School, where she teachesstudents of all ages in choir and leads the school's Chamber Choir. In addition to herwork at Lilla Akademien, Lotta leads workshops and courses with choirs around thecountry and has long been a regular singer in Eric Ericson's Chamber Choir.