Étiquette : violoncelle

http://www.bledarzajmi.com/

Bledar Zajmi was born in Tirana, Albania in 1973. He took his first cello lessons at the age of six and already showed an amazing amount of talent. At his 12 years of age, he won the 2nd prize in the Cello national competition and started to perform at concerts in Albania and abroad. After graduating the music high school in Tirana with Gjovalin Lazri he studied at the Academy of Music in Prague (1992–1997 with Rudolf Lojda) and graduates with honors. In 1997, he participated in the master class of Josef Chuchro in Semmering, Austria. Already during his university studies, he began to concentrate on his solo career and chamber music. He performed solo concerts in Japan, Italy, Germany and Czech Republic. In 1999, he won the 2nd prize and the jury’s Special Prize for the best interpretation of the contest piece played in the International chamber music competition “Palma d’Oro” (Duo cello and piano) in Finale Ligure, Italy. In 2004, he won silver and 3rd prizes in the International chamber music competition “Rovere d’Oro” (Duo cello and piano) in San Bartolomeo al Mare, Italy. His rich discography includes CDs with various chamber music ensembles. He regularly records for Czech Radio and Czech Television and continues to perform concerts in many countries in Europe, Japan, China and Brazil. Since 2000, he has been the concertmaster and cello soloist of Prague National Theatre Orchestra. He plays a cello by the Czech violin-maker Jan Slípka “Clarus” (1996).

Concert Beethoven Prague 2020

https://www.hilakarni.com/

Hila Karni was born in Tel Aviv. She took up the cello at the age of 9 and four years later started touring Europe, Canada and the United States.

​

Her teachers were Zvi Harel, Uzi Wiesel, David Geringas and the legendary Bernard Greenhouse, who has described Hila as “one of the most musically sensitive and technically exciting cellists of the younger generation.” Her chamber music training was with Haim Taub, Ilan Gronich and the Alban Berg Quartet.

​

Together with violinist Daniel Bard and pianist Ohad Ben-Ari, she founded the successful Trio Mondrian in 2006. The trio won 1st Prize, the “Young Award” and a special prize for its interpretation of a Brahms trio at the International Chamber Music Competition in Trieste in 2007. At the Bologna Festival in 2008, it received the Audience Prize. In 2009, it was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship (London). The Italian composer Marcello Abbado dedicated a piece titled “Trio Mondrian” to the ensemble.

​

As a guest at numerous festivals, among them Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Stresa, Kfar Blum and Ravinia and through appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens, the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, the Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Cologne Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York, she has gained international acclaim. Among her many musical partners are Boris Pergamentschikow, Guy Braunstein, Ralf Gothoni, Bernard Greenhouse, Maxim Vengerov, Nigel Kennedy and the Scharoun Ensemble. She also regularly collaborates with Israeli singer Achinoam Nini, known internationally as “Noa.”

Hila’s recordings of the “Romantic Serenades” and the Cello Concerto op. 33 by Robert Volkmann with the Hamburg Camerata, whose principal cellist she is, and of Max Richter’s “War Anthem” with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg received enthusiastic reviews.

Albanian composer Dhora Leka wrote the solo piece “Improvisus” for her.

From 2013 to 2015, Hila taught chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.

At the urging of her then ten-year-old daughter, Lir Vaginsky, who expressed the wish to make music with her mother, she established the successful chamber music series “Prelude Concerts” in Berlin in 2015. As a result, not only her daughters, Lir (violin) and Dorel (flute), but also many other young talents are given the opportunity to appear with professional musicians.