Thank you
Ivry & Menahem
In Memoriam
Tribute to our dear friends
Ivry Gitlis and Menahem Pressler were not only guest artists in Musica Mundi. From their first performances more than 20 years ago, they dedicated their wide knowledge and experience as performers and most of all, as human beings, to the young generation. Musica Mundi became a home for Ivry and Menahem and they became an integral part of the Musica Mundi family. They were, and still are, our mentors, philosophers, teachers but above all, our friends. Friends to all of us. Thank you Ivry and Menahem! We will carry on your messages to the generations to come… !!!
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today, Grammy award winner Maxim Vengerov also enjoys international acclaim as a conductor and is one of the most in-demand soloists. Born in 1974, he began his career as a solo violinist at the age of 5, won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15 respectively, studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron, made his first recording at the age of 10, and went on to record extensively for high-profile labels including Melodia, Teldec and EMI, earning among others, Grammy and Gramophone artist of the year awards. In 2007 followed in the footsteps of his mentors, the late Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniel Barenboim and turned his attention to conducting. In the last few seasons Maxim Vengerov has performed as soloist and/or conductor with all major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras and toured extensively around the world in Recital. As one of Maxim Vengerov’s greatest passions is the teaching and encouraging of young talent, he has held various teaching positions around the world, like the Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London - the UK’s leading conservatoire. Furthermore, in keeping with his belief that competitions are a platform to launch young artists’ international careers, Maxim Vengerov has served on numerous juries including the Donatella Flick conducting competition, the Menuhin Violin Competition and in May 2013 conducted the finals during the Montreal International Violin Competition. With the vision of democratising the access of music learning, he launched his own online platform in January 2021: www.maximvengerov.com and created an impact across 170 countries and over 190 million reach. In 1997 Maxim Vengerov became the first classical musician to be appointed International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF, which has enabled him to continue to inspire children worldwide through music. He is also a patron of the MIAGI project in South Africa, which connects children of different ethnic backgrounds through music and in 2018 became the Goodwill Ambassador of the Musica Mundi School - a unique institution, which supports young talents. Maxim Vengerov has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999. Maxim Vengerov plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727).
Vladimir Perlin (cello)
Vladimir Perlin, started his cello studies at the age of 7 in the music school of Minsk, Belarus. In 1960 he was accepted to the conservatory into the class of the exceptional cellist and musician- Alexander Stogorsky, with whom he finished his cello and chamber music studies. Since 1971 Mr. Perlin dedicates his time for teaching and developing young talents. He is touring regularly with his students and giving master classes in Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, England, Poland, the Vatican, Spain and the U.S.A. His students occupy places in some of the world’s major orchestras and music schools . Two full length documentary films were made about Vladimir Perlin and his class and were broadcasted in different countries. In order to award his life achievements in education, the French government granted him with the title of “Officier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques”.
Jacques Rouvier (piano)
Born in Marseille in a musicians family, Jacques Rouvier studied with Vlado Perlemuter, Pierre Sancan and Jean Hubeau at the Paris National Superior Conservatory of Music, where he obtained first prizes in Piano and Chamber Music. He also completed his education with harmony and orchestra conducting. He owes Pierre Barbizet and Jean Fassina a great pedagogic and human enrichment. Prize winner of several competitions including the Viotti, Maria Canals, European Union of Radios and Long-Thibaud, he created in 1970 the Rouvier-Kantorow-Muller piano trio with whom he performed during 35 years. He participated as a soloist or chamber musician in many festivals and academies (Prades,Spoleto, Aix- en- Provence, Kuhmo, Holland Music Sessions... ) and was invited to do master-classes all around the world. His recordings of complete works for piano by Maurice Ravel and sonatas for violin and piano by Ravel and Debussy were awarded „Grand Prix du Disque“. He also recorded the complete works by Claude Debussy (DENON) and more than 30 other CDs. Invited to participate in the juries of many prestigious international competitions (Tschaikowsky, Montreal, Marguerite-Long, Dublin, Leeds, Hamamatsu, Santander, Seoul, Geneve...) he has been teaching at CNSM de Paris since 1979 and also at UdK Berlin since 2006. He is now professor at Mozarteum-Salzburg and in the Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium.
Andreas Frölich (piano)
German pianist Andreas Frölich studied with Stefan Askenase , Vitaly Margulis in Freiburg and Pavel Gililov in Cologne . He was prizewinner of several international piano competitions , as in Senigallia , Finale Ligure, Milano ,Vienna....He concertises in the most famous venues in Europe, South America, Asia, South Africa and Australia like Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Solitär Salzburg, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie "Gasteig",Konzerthaus Berlin, Hamburg Musikhalle, Bielefeld Oetkerhalle, Stuttgart Liederhalle, Wiesbaden Kurhaus, Teatro municipal Rio de Janeiro, Teatro Alfa y Cultura artistica Sao Paolo, de Doelen Rotterdam , Vredenburg Utrecht, Salle Gaveau Paris,Caroussel de Louvre Paris, Mozarteum Salzburg and many others as well as in the most important music fertivals , such as Rheingau Musikfestival, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Salzburg, Emilia Romagna Festival, Schubertiade Roskilde and many other Festivals worldwide. As a soloist Andreas Frölich appeared with many famous orchestras , among them Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Wiener Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Münchener Kammerorchester, Colegium instrumentale Halle, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz ,Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Würtembergisches Kammerorchester , Suk Chamber orchestra Prag ,orquesta sinfonica de Monterrey /Mexico , Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic Moskau, Radio Symphonique Luxembourg and many others Andreas Frölich is pianist of the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin and he often performed with Ensemble Wien led by the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He is professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln -Aachen He is often inivited as jury member in many international piano competitions (Madrid, Beethoven competition Bonn, Valencia, Ferrol, Granada , Enschede/NL, Brussels , Japan piano open / Tokyo ,Campillos/ Spain, Larnaca/Cyprus, Gorizia/ Italy , Skrjabin, Grosseto, Hongkong /Guanghzhou, La Rioja/Spain, Russian Int.piano Competition)Andreas Frölich is an official Steinway Artist.
Esther Yoo (violin)
Musica Mundi Alumna
With “a prodigious clarity of diction” (Scherzo) and “a moving tendresse” (BBC Music Magazine), Esther Yoo has been described as “the model of a violin soloist in the modern age.” (The Strad). In 2010, she became the youngest prizewinner of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition and of the Queen Elisabeth Competition two years later. In 2014 she became a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and in 2018 was selected as one of Classic FM’s Top 30 Artists under 30. In 2020, she was named one of WQXR’s ‘20 For 20’ artists to watch. In the 2023/24 season, Esther debuts with New York Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquestra Sinfónica RTVE, as well as joining BBC Symphony Orchestra and Clemens Schuldt for the world premiere of Raymond Yiu’s Violin Concerto, touring with Philharmonia Orchestra and returning to iconic venues such as Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Esther has worked with a wide range of leading conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vasily Petrenko, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Dalia Stasevska, Myung-Whun Chung, Thierry Fischer, and Karina Canellakis. Previous seasons have seen Esther perform across the world, appearing with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, as well as at Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall and Seoul Arts Center and prominent festivals such as the BBC Proms and Aspen Music Festival. In 2018, Yoo was appointed as Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s inaugural Artist in Residence. As a chamber musician, Esther regularly appears both in recital and as a member of Z.E.N. Trio alongside former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Zhang Zuo and Narek Hakhnazaryan, with whom she has toured across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and released two albums on Deutsche Grammophon, Brahms & DvoÅ™ák: Piano Trios and Burning Through the Cold, featuring the piano trios of Shostakovich, Babadjanian, Rachmaninov and Khachaturian.
Sivan Magen (harp)
Praised by the press as “a magician” (New York’s WQXR) whose "brilliant sound and remarkable technical acumen shatter any stereotype of his instrument" (The NY Times), Sivan Magen is the only Israeli to have ever won the International Harp Contest in Israel. Sivan Magen is a winner of the Pro Musicis International Award and in 2012 was chosen by a committee headed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida as the winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He appeared as a soloist across the US, South America, Europe and Israel, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Sydney Opera House and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Sydney Symphony and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Aside from his activity as a soloist, Mr Magen is an avid chamber musician and has appeared at the Marlboro, Aspen, Rosendal, Kuhmo, Delft, and Jerusalem International Chamber Music festivals, with Musicians from Marlboro, and collaborated with artists such as Nobuko Imai, Shmuel Ashkenazi, Gary Hoffman, Emmanuel Pahud, Susanna Phillips, the Danel, Pacifica, Ariel, Calder and Dover quartets and members of the Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets. He is a founding member of trio Tre Voci with flutist Marina Piccinini and violist Kim Kashkashian, with whom he has toured extensively in Europe and the US, and has released to great critical acclaim a CD for ECM of music by Debussy, Gubaidulina and Takemitsu. This past season, which was their 10th anniversary season, included extended tours in the west coast of the US, as well as in Canada, Europe and Israel. Mr Magen is also gaining a reputation as a sought-after teacher, presenting masterclasses in schools such as The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute, The Peabody Institute, The New England Conservatory, the Paris Conservatory, London’s Royal Academy, Royal College, Guildhall School and Trinity College, as well as the summer Academy in Nice, the Kuhmo Festival Academy in Finland, and the Aspen Music Festival. Born in Jerusalem, he continued his studies with Germaine Lorenzini in France and then joined Isabelle Moretti’s harp class at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) from which he graduated with a “Premier Prix”. He has then completed a Master of Music degree as a student of Nancy Allen at the Juilliard School. Since fall 2017 he was Principal Harpist of the Finnish Radio Symphony and is actually harp professor in the Hans Eisler Institute in Berlin.
Emanuele Silvestri (cello)
German pianist Andreas Frölich studied with Stefan Askenase , Vitaly Margulis in Freiburg and Pavel Gililov in Cologne . He was prizewinner of several international piano competitions , as in Senigallia , Finale Ligure, Milano ,Vienna....He concertises in the most famous venues in Europe, South America, Asia, South Africa and Australia like Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Solitär Salzburg, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie "Gasteig",Konzerthaus Berlin, Hamburg Musikhalle, Bielefeld Oetkerhalle, Stuttgart Liederhalle, Wiesbaden Kurhaus, Teatro municipal Rio de Janeiro, Teatro Alfa y Cultura artistica Sao Paolo, de Doelen Rotterdam , Vredenburg Utrecht, Salle Gaveau Paris,Caroussel de Louvre Paris, Mozarteum Salzburg and many others as well as in the most important music fertivals , such as Rheingau Musikfestival, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Salzburg, Emilia Romagna Festival, Schubertiade Roskilde and many other Festivals worldwide. As a soloist Andreas Frölich appeared with many famous orchestras , among them Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Wiener Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Münchener Kammerorchester, Colegium instrumentale Halle, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz ,Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Würtembergisches Kammerorchester , Suk Chamber orchestra Prag ,orquesta sinfonica de Monterrey /Mexico , Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic Moskau, Radio Symphonique Luxembourg and many others Andreas Frölich is pianist of the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin and he often performed with Ensemble Wien led by the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He is professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln -Aachen He is often inivited as jury member in many international piano competitions (Madrid, Beethoven competition Bonn, Valencia, Ferrol, Granada , Enschede/NL, Brussels , Japan piano open / Tokyo ,Campillos/ Spain, Larnaca/Cyprus, Gorizia/ Italy , Skrjabin, Grosseto, Hongkong /Guanghzhou, La Rioja/Spain, Russian Int.piano Competition)Andreas Frölich is an official Steinway Artist.
Zvi Carmeli (viola)
Born 1965 in Jerusalem, Israel, Zvi Carmeli is internationally renowned as a violist and teacher. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Zvi served as Principal Violist of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and acted as guest Principal Violist of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra Roma, WDR Köln, Germany, Camerata Salzburg Austria, among others. As soloist he has appeared with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, the European Community Orchestra, the Gorzow and Lodz Philharmonics in Poland, Kuopio Symphony in Finland, Klaipeda chamber orchestra in Lithuania, Salzburg Chamber Soloists and more. He participated in Chamber Music festivals such as the Emila Romagna and Brescia festivals in Italy, Prussia Cove and Ulverston festivals in England, the Israel Festival and the Galil Elion Festival in Israel and more. He has collaborated with renowned artists such as Vadim Repin, Homero Francesch and the Fine Arts Quartet, and was the founding member of the SoLaRe String Trio, winner of the Netherlands Impresaariat National Competition, touring throughout Europe, USA and Israel, including recordings for national radio stations in Holland, Spain and USA.
Zvi has recorded Chamber Music CDs for leading labels such as Ottavo, Divox, Ars Nova, Edel Berlin
Classics and Kontrpunkt. Zvi Carmeli is a Senior Lecturer of Viola and Chamber Music at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he also is head of the Nazarian Program of Excellence in Chamber Music.
Artyom Dervoed (guitar)
Artyom Dervoed, famously dubbed the “Tsar of the Guitar” by Universe Guitare (France), has earned international acclaim with 16 first-place awards in major competitions and performances at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie. Known for mastering the standard repertoire, he expands it through collaborations with leading composers. His 2022/23 season included performances in Europe and Russia, alongside plans for two new albums: The Possessed and Piazzolla Gala. In 2019, he premiered a guitar transcription of Tan Dun’s Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, showcasing his innovative approach. As the first Russian to win the Michele Pittaluga and Princess Cristina Competitions, Dervoed has focused on recording projects, including the acclaimed albums Canticum (2019) and Paganini & Koshkin (2020), which earned ICMA nominations and widespread recognition. A celebrated educator, Dervoed teaches at the Gnesin Academy and the Musica Mundi School and has released a series of educational videos. He is the founder of the Moscow Guitar Chamber Music Festival and co-founder of the Guitar Virtuosi Moscow International Festival, featuring collaborations with stars like Pepe Romero and Boris Berezovsky. Born in Southern Russia, he studied with renowned teachers, including Oscar Ghiglia and Aniello Desiderio, and is praised for his expressive phrasing and technical mastery. The first Russian guitarist endorsed by Yamaha, he also uses D’Addario strings and Nevaton mics, cementing his status as a leading figure in classical guitar.
Michael Gurfinkel (clarinet)
Director of Arts Production Management, Michael Gurfinkel was born in 1960 in Russia. He has learned to play the clarinet by his father, a wonderful musician and teacher. In 1979-1984 Michael Gurfinkel studied in Gnesins Musical Institute in Moscow with Professor Fedotov. He performed with numerous renowned musicians, such as the Borodin Quartet, "The Moscow Virtuosi" under Vladimir Spivakov, and others. In 1990 Mr. Gurfinkel immigrated to Israel. From 1991, he became Principal clarinetist of the New Israeli Opera Orchestra. In 1995 Maestro Zubin Mehta invited Mr. Gurfinkel to tour in Japan with the Orchestra teatro del Maggio Musicale Florentino. Since then, Michael Gurfinkel has played under numerous conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Loren Maazel, Ricardo Muti, Kurt Mazur, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Oren, and others. As of 2022, Mr. Gurfinkel has taken the position of the Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
Aleksei Kiseliov (Cello)
Musica Mundi Alumni
Aleksei Kiseliov was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1985, he began his musical studies when he was only 5 years old at the Republican Music College with Vladimir Perlin. At the age of 12, Aleksei was a prize-winner at the Tchaikovsky International Youth Competition in St Petersburg. In 2003, he moved to London to study with Jerome Pernoo at the Royal College of Music. Aleksei was a prize-winner of several competitions and awards including Leverhulme Trust Award, Richard Carne Award, Lillian Sutton Award, Orpheus Sinfonia Trust Award, The Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Lambert Fellowship Award. In 2008 and 2009 Aleksei directed his own International Music Festival ‘Melodrama’ in London and Minsk. Since 2011, Aleksei combines his solo career with his orchestral role as a Principal Cellist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and a teaching post at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In January 2022 Aleksei became a solo cellist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm. Aleksei plays the 1740 Don Nicolo Amati cello, kindly lent by the Swedish Järnåker Foundation.