O/Modərnt

© Gerhard Kassner

Actor

Vienna’s Burgtheater, Hamburg’s Schauspielhaus, Munich’s Residenztheater – Dietrich Mattausch was at home on all the major German-language stages. And of course on your television screen: “Der Fahnder”, “Traumschiff”, “Tatort”, many whodunits, but also many serious roles, such as in the movie “Die Wannseekonferenz”. Mattausch is one of Germany’s most well-known actors – on television and on the stage, which means the world to him. Yet he only arrived in his dream career after several detours, suffering through an apprenticeship as a forwarding merchant, taking acting classes on the side, playing provincial theatres for a relatively long time and only having his breakthrough in his mid-thirties. But then it was a real breakthrough! Being tall, he is considered the ideal casting for bankers, doctors, directors or high-ranking civil servants. He often plays these types as ice-cold and calculating, or cynically intellectual. In his private life, he is quite different: amusing, curious, open-minded, a highly ponderous activist. Apart from the theatre, music is his love. Good for Young Euro Classic: he has accompanied the festival from the very beginning, proving himself an active and true friend for twenty years. 

© Marco Borggreve

The musical world of the Swedish violinist Hugo Ticciati is characterized by infinite curiosity. The 39-year-old, brother of the new chief conductor of Berlin’s DSO, Robin Ticciati, includes literature, philosophy, spirituality and meditation in his programmes, just like dance and kinetic painting. He performs the classical violin concertos, but also delves into contemporary music with verve. Ticciati has works by Takemitsu, Shchedrin, Glass and Lera Auerbach in his repertoire and has also given works by Albert Schnelzer, Sergey Yevtushenko, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Judith Weir their world premieres recently. He is a passionate chamber musician, working with the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, pianists Angela Hewitt and Olli Mustonen and the trombonist Nils Landgren, for example. In addition, Hugo Ticciati is the artistic director of the O/Modərnt Kammarorkester, which is in residence at Stockholm’s concert hall Musikaliska. This year, he was appointed music director of the Perugia Chamber Orchestra.

www.hugoticciati.com 

The Finnish guitarist Markus “Marzi” Nyman is the perfect example of a musician who loves breaking musical boundaries. Having started as a pianist, he came into contact with jazz as a teenager. In 1998 he began to study at the jazz department of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki; early in the new century, he joined the two bands Lenni-Kalle Taipale Trio and Nylon Beat. In 2003 Marzi Nyman undertook his first tour for the Finnish Jazz Federation together with the Anna-Mari Kähärä Orchestra – a band whose member he has remained to this day. In addition, he has performed with Finland’s leading jazz musicians. The results of his intense creative work are more than 40 albums in which he can be heard with bands such as Nylon Beat, Hemma Beast, UMO Jazz Orchestra, Husband, Iiro Rantala New Trio and GG Caravan, but also with his own Marzi Nyman Trio. In his homeland, the Finnish musician has also won renown via television and film: he composed the soundtrack for the film Keisarikunta and appears regularly on TV as a host of various shows.

Originally from Oxford, Priya Mitchell studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London and then with Zakhar Bron in Lübeck. Selected to represent her country for the “Rising Stars” series, the young violinist has performed at Carnegie Hal in New York, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. Later, she appeared with the leading British orchestras, such as the Royal Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, but also with ensembles in Poland, Russia, Belgium and with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised her as “a wonderful violinist, highly emotional and intellectually curious in equal measure”. Priya Mitchell also appears regularly at renowned festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Lockenhaus, Lugano, Ravinia and at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. This summer, she performs Astor Piazzolla’s violin concerto Four Seasons at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.

www.priyamitchell.com 

Born into a family of musicians (her mother a violinist in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, her father an opera singer), the British violinist Hannah Dawson was educated at the Royal College of Music. For 17 years, she has been a member of the Sacconi Quartet, which recently not only recorded contemporary string quartets by Jonathan Dove and Graham Fitkin, but also presents its own festival in Folkestone in Kent. In addition, Hannah Dawson is a member of other ensembles, such as the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, 12 Ensemble, the Donald Grand Quartet and her own piano trio, Trio Elegiaco.

© Kaupo Kikkas

The Irish cellist Brian O’Kane follows two professional paths: on the one hand, he is a sought-after soloist on his instrument, on the other he is a champion of chamber music. Thus he is a founding member of the Navarra String Quartet, which performs this season at New York’s Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall in London and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Educated at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music in London, O’Kane has also performed with the violinist Pekka Kuusisto, the singer Ian Bostridge and the trumpet player Alison Balsom, to name a few. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy and others. The cellist works regularly with contemporary composers such as Lera Auerbach, Giya Kancheli and Jörg Widmann. The award-winning CD recording of the string quartets of Peteris Vasks was produced in close cooperation with the Latvian composer himself. O’Kane currently plays a Ruggeri cello built in Cremona in 1698.

www.briancellokane.com 

The Belgian-Israeli violist Nathan Braude has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert venues including the Wigmore Hall in London, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Nathan Braude has also appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana and Australian Chamber Orchestra. In September 2016 Nathan became the new principal violist at the Gürzenich Orchester in Cologne. Festival appearances include Progretto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Ravinia Festival in Chicago and Festival de Radio France in Montpellier. Since 2010 Nathan regularly performs in duo recitals together with his wife Polina Leschenko. Nathan Braude plays a viola by Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza (Milano, 1772). 

© Marco Borggreve

A native of New Zealand, Bryony Gibson-Cornish studied at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Juilliard School in New York. She is a member of the Marmen Quartet, but also appears regularly as a guest player with orchestras such as the Manchester Camerata, the London Mozart Players and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In her native New Zealand, the violist also performs regularly as a soloist and docent at the International Akaroa Music Festival.

The 18-year-old Swedish pianist Daniel Xia is currently still a student at the Musikskolan Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. At the same time, he is already in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain. The pianist has also been invited to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Lang Lang Shenzhen Futian International Piano Festival and the Trasimeno Music Festival in Italy. He won prizes at the 2^nd Futian National Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Shenzhen in 2017, at the Stockholm International Music Competition in 2016 and at the Nordic Steinway Festival in Copenhagen in 2012.