Robert Lehrbaumer (artistic director)
Master Class Piano & Organ & Soloist & Orchestra

Internationally known pianist, organist and conductor. Teaching activity at many universities, colleges and conservatories in Europe, USA, Mexico and Asia. Currently head of the "keyboard department" at the private conservatory "Friedrich Gulda School of Music Vienna" and lectures at the "Jam Music Lab University Vienna", artistic director of festivals, concert series, master classes and orchestras in Austria and abroad, founder and director of the "A·M·A" (Altenburg Music Academy), jury member and jury president at international music competitions, popular YouTube channel: "Robert Lehrbaumer - About music".

Born in Vienna, Robert Lehrbaumer started his career at the age of 9 when he made his appearance as a pianist in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Since then, concert tours have brought him to almost all European countries and capitals, to North, Central and South America, to the Near East, South-East Asia, Korea, and Japan, in famous locations from Viennas Musikverein und Konzerthaus to New York's Carnegie-Hall and Tokyo's Suntory Hall and Casals Hall.

Robert Lehrbaumer began to study piano at the age of six. From 8 to 13 he was a member of the Mozart Boys Choir. Two years later, he entered the Vienna University of Music and Dramatic Art to study piano, organ, and conducting. Prizes in numerous competitions, especially Geneva 1985, and scholarships by Bösendorfer and the Alban Berg Stiftung distinguished the young interpreter.

When he was 11, he had his first appearance as a soloist with orchestras and has since performed concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphonic Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra/Linz the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and with many foreign orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Yehudi Menuhin, Sandor Végh, André Previn, Leopold Hager....

He cultivates musical partnerships with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Anton Dermota, Walter Berry, Angelika Kirchschlager, Bo Skovhus, Friedrich Gulda, Rudolf Schock, Philippe Entremont and others. Robert Lehrbaumer pursued his careers as an organist and as a pianist simultaneously. His special piano-organ-recitals, also with orchestras, are very popular events for which he gets rave reviews.

Robert Lehrbaumer has participated in numerous festivals such as the Vienna Festival, Salzburg Festival, Brucknerfest/Linz, Carinthian Summer/Ossiach, Bregenz Spring, Luzern Music Festival, the Nuremberg Organ-Week, Slovakia Spring-Festival, Schubert-Festival/Washington D.C., Festival Cervantino/ Mexico. At the age of 25, he played a solo-recital in the cycle "Master-Soloists" in the Vienna Konzerthaus, together with Abbado, Sinopoli, Previn, Caballe, Brendel.

In addition, Robert Lehrbaumer has made recordings for radio and TV stations, LP and CD; he has starred in films and videos. President of the international piano competition "Zagreb 2006". When conducting Robert Lehrbaumer is known also performing both as conductor and pianist in works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin.

Awarded the title "Professor", Grand decoration of Honor of Burgenland and Lower Austria. Most recently highest cultural award of the provincial capital of St. Pölten: "Johann Prandtauer-Award".

www.lehrbaumer.com

Irina Gavrilovici - Master Class Vocal

is an icon of vocal training. Her singing studio in Vienna has produced world-class singers such as Elina Garanca, Lilli Paasikivi, Topi Lehtipuu, Martin Achrainer, Johanna Russanen and Mirko Roschkowski, some of whom she is still coaching today.

She is frequently called upon by opera houses as a special coach, for example for longer periods for the vocal soloists of the Latvian and Finnish National Operas.

Irina Gavrilovici was born in Romania. She studied piano and singing in Bucharest. Her singing teacher, Ludmila Boicescu Grosowscaja, introduced her to the specific Italian school of singing.

She was a lecturer at the University of Music in Bucharest before emigrating to Austria in 1986.

She also is working as a lecturer, e.g. at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Helsinki, where she gave illustrative lessons to a large audience of experts, including Birgit Nilsson.

Irina Gavrilovici has given master classes in Rome, Sofia, Saarbrücken, Kangasniemi and Turku (Finland), Riga and Vienspils (Latvia), Irkutsk (Russia) and also in  the Academia Sighisoara (Romania) and acts as a jury member at international singing competitions.

Teaching languages: German, English, French, Italian, Russian and Romanian.

Claudia Visca - Master Class Vocal

Born in New York, soprano Claudia Visca graduated from the acclaimed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Anna Moffos teacher, Eufemia Giannini and Wagnerian soprano, Margret Harshaw.  A Fulbright Scholarship took her to the Hochschule fur Musik Wien where she finished her education under the guidance of Ks. Hilde Rossel-Majdan and Anton Dermota.   Claudia Visca has worked with renowned conductors, stage directors, and artists, including Eugene Ormandy, Gustav Kuhn, Istvan Kertesz, Miguel Gomez-Matinez, Sandor Vegh, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Pina Bausch, Christine Mielitz, Marcel Prawy, Bruno Canino, Rudolf Serkin, members of the Guarneri Quartet, Edith Mathis, Agnes Baltsa and Placido Domingo. A highlight of Claudia Viscas career was to sing Maria in West Side Story conducted by the composer, Leonard Bernstein. During her long stage career, Claudia Visca guested in more than 25 opera houses in Europe, among them those in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Geneva, Vienna, and Zürich. In over 2,000 performances, she appeared in more than 75 roles in operas, operettas, and musicals as well as in concerts From 1998 to 2003, Claudia Visca was voice professor at the Hochschule fur Musik Cologne.  In 2003, she became a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.  Claudia Visca has given international masterclasses in vocal technique and interpretation in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland and the United States. Her students are winners of international competitions and are engaged in major opera houses and concert halls as soloists all over the world, including: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Bologna, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Glyndebourne, Hamburg, Lissabon, London (Convent Garden), Madrid, Milan (La Scala), Moscow, Munich, New York (The Metropolitan), Paris, Peking, St. Petersberg, Prague (National Theater), Rome, Seoul, Tokyo, Vienna, Warsaw and Zagreb.

Min Kwon - Soloist & Orchestra & Master Class Piano

A Steinway Artist, pianist Min Kwon is in demand around the world as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Her professional engagements have taken her to over 60 countries on 7 continents and to all 50 states in the US, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the United Nations in New York, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and to major venues in Seoul, London, Vienna, Freiburg, Interlaken, Prague, Sydney, and to the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Cape & Islands, Caramoor (US), Colmar (France), Salzburg and AMA (Altenburg), and Kuhmo (Finland).

Highlights of her recent seasons include chamber music performances with ten principals of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a tour and recording of Schubert Four Hand recital with Viennese pianist Robert Lehrbaumer, and world premiere of three newly commissioned works for her in New York, Florida, and Serbia. 

Since her North American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1987 in Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 Ms. Kwon has appeared worldwide in over 20 concerti performing as soloist under James Conlon, Alan Gilbert, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski among others and, as a chamber musician, performed with the principal players of New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic and many other distinguished artists.  With her sister, violinist Yoon Kwon, she has given over 200 joint recitals throughout the United States under the auspices of CAMI, and has recorded for BMG/RCA Red Seal.  Her solo album of Schubert and Liszt (MSR Classics) earned a Grammy Award for Best Producer of the Year (David Frost) in 2009. 

A dedicated teacher, Min Kwon has given master classes at major institutions and festivals around the world, among them the Royal College of Music in London, Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories in China, National University of Singapore, Academy of Fine Arts in Hong Kong, The Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, New York University, University of Chicago, Vladmir Feltsman's Summerfest, AMEROPA Int’l Festival in Prague, Kuhmo Int’l Festival in Finland, and Vianden Music Festival in Luxembourg.  Dr. Kwon is currently Chair of Keyboard Programs and Professor of Piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in New Jersey where she works with a highly selected group of doctoral candidates.  Her students have won numerous national and international prizes.  She is also Founder and Director of CME, The Center for Musical Excellence in New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to mentor and help careers of gifted young international pianist.  With Robert Lehrbaumer, she also serves as Co-Director of Vienna ConcertoFest in Austria.

Margit Fussi - Master Class Lied Accompaniment

She performs as a piano soloist, as an accompanist for singers and instrumentalists (Hans Hotter, Kim Borg, Iliana Cotrubas, Robert Holl, Elly Ameling, Kurt Equiluz, Graziella Sciutti et al.), as well as an organist and a harpsichordist. She has been the accompanist for master classes in Vienna, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Aldeborough, Matsue, Osaka, Nagoya, Cleveland. She has been a teacher for Lied-accompanist in Tokyo, Matsue, Hamamatsu as well as in Seoul and at the Vienna Master Classes. Margit Fussi can be credited with many CD and radio recordings.

Marcin Koziel - Lied Accompaniment

Marcin Koziel lives and works in Vienna, where he has been leading a vocal coaching class at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2010. He began his career in Poland, accompanying numerous Polish entertainment and opera singers. Today, his accompaniment skills are in demand across many European cities. In addition to courses in Salzburg, Krakow, Warsaw, and London, he has accompanied competitions such as the Maria Callas Competition in Athens, the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, the Belvedere Competition in Vienna, and the Stanislaw Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw. Marcin Koziel collaborates with renowned vocal pedagogues, including Helena Lazarska, Francisco Araiza, Gerhard Kahry, Rudolf Piernay, Margreet Honig, Grace Bumbry, and Claudia Visca. He also conducts his own courses for singers and pianists at music academies in Reykjavik, Poznan, Bydgoszcz, Nicosia, Gdansk, Ljubljana, Martina Franca, and Zurich.

As a accompanist and music director, he has participated in various productions, such as The Prince of Homburg by H.W. Henze (Theater an der Wien, 2009), Elektra (Teatr Wielki, Warsaw 2010/2012/2013), Parsifal (Poznan 2013), Ariadne auf Naxos, Tristan und Isolde (Warsaw 2015/16), Hamlet (Vienna 2016), Die Walküre (Poznan 2018), Rusalka, Halka, Fidelio, Porgy and Bess, Candide (Theater an der Wien 2019/20/23), and Boris Godunov (Vienna State Opera 2022). In the 2014/15 season, Marcin Koziel was the head coach of the Young Ensemble at the Kammeroper Theater an der Wien and continues to serve as a vocal coach and accompanist for the portrait concerts.

Judith Velisek - Piano & Master Class Organ & Hobby Class Piano & Hobby Class Organ

Born in Carinthia, Austria; received her first piano lessons at the "Kärntner Landeskonservatorium" followed by studies with Prof. Charles Rainer in Montreal and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (piano and organ) with Prof. Walter Fleischmann and Prof. Dr. Rudolf Scholz. Besides her university studies Judith Velisek has attended various masterclasses.

Since 1991 she has been teaching at Austrian music schools and has been a tutor to many award-winning students. Besides her intensive teaching activities, Judith Velisek regularly performs both as an organist and as a pianist, focusing on chamber music and piano accompaniment, at various music festivals.

Nejc Kuhar - Master Class Guitar

teaches as Associate Professor for guitar and contemporary music at University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and Guitar Professor at Joseph Haydn Private University in Eisenstadt. Besides his activities as guitarist, composer and teacher, he is also an active lecturer, giving lectures about composing for guitar on various European and USA Universities, such as The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Vienna and Frankfurt Universities, etc...

The international prizes, glowing reviews (Washington Post, Classical Guitar Magazine, Los Angeles Daily News etc.) and the very response of the audience at home and abroad all point to an artist in the round, successfully negotiating the joined path of composition and interpretation.

Nejc Kuhar finished his Masters degree in guitar at Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts with prof. Alvaro Pierri and his Masters degree in composition with Dr. Reiner Bishof and prof. Christian Minkowitsch at Konservatorium Wien, Privatuniversität, both with honours. In 2023 he finished with Music Research PhD at Surrey university with prof. Steve Goss.

As a guitarist as well as a composer, he won numerous prizes (1st prizes in Germany, China, Italy, Turkey, USA, etc.), he was also scholarship holder of Slovenian Culture Ministry and of Gallus Foundation.

His music has been performed by himself and/or other musicians in various venues, including Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Washington National Gallery of Art, Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Slovene Philharmonic Hall, etc. His commissions include those by the Washington National Gallery of Art, Frankfurt Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, LiGITa, Hong Kong and Sarajevo Guitar Festivals, Signum Saxophone Quartet, guitarist Mak Grgic, organist Stephen Ackert, Four Aces Guitar Quartet and others.

Kuhar’s works have also been published by the renowned publishing houses, such as Les Production d'Oz/Doberman-yppan (Canada), Trekel (Germany) and Berben (Italy), some of which are recorded on his debut CD from ZKP Label, entitled "String modulations", featuring guitar virtuoso Mak Grgic.

Nan-Cheng Chen - Master Class Violoncello

Cellist Nan-Cheng Chen’s performance was recently described as “personable and smile-inducing” and “fine playing” by Washington Post and praised for his “Beautiful Tone” by New York Concert Reviews; nan-cheng is passionate about sharing music with music lovers. 

As an active chamber musician, Nan-Cheng currently serves as the executive director of the New Asia Chamber Music Society (NACMS), which he co-founded in 2009; he is also the principal cellist of the Solisti Ensemble and was a member of award-winning trios Sonic Escape and Neptune Trio. As an active soloist, Nan-Cheng has collaborated in cello concertos with renowned orchestras such as Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Vienna International Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Metro-West Symphony, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Quincy Symphony, and Symphony Pro Musica, which received a review that states: “It was the kind of performance one might hear live only once a decade,” from Worcester Telegram and Gazette. 

A Native of Taiwan, Nan-Cheng has earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School and is currently a doctoral candidate at CUNY Graduate Center. Nan-Cheng has taught at CUNY Queens College and currently holds adjunct professorships at Feitian College in Middletown and Mahanaim School in Long Island. Nan-Cheng is a CME Artist under the Center for Musical Excellence roster.