Hans Jürg Bättig, who lives in Zofingen, studied organ with Heinz Balli and piano with Michael Studer at the Berne Conservatory. After earning both teaching diplomas, he continued his organ training at the Stuttgart State Academy of Music and Performing Arts with Prof. Bernhard Haas in the soloist class. In addition to his instrumental training, Hans Jürg Bättig studied orchestral conducting at the Musikhochschule Luzern.
Hans Jürg Bättig worked from 2007 to 2014 as organist and choir director at the former monastery church of St. Urban. Since 2015 he has been the principal organist of the Zofingen City Church. In addition to his rich musical activities, he works as a lawyer.

Discography

The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie (German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra) shapes the musical life of an entire region – most sustainably within the catchment area of the orchestra locations Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern, but also in the border district of France as well as in Mainz, Karlsruhe and Mannheim. The Orchestra has toured Switzerland, Poland, China and Japan in recent years and is a regular guest in South Korea.

The Finn Pietari Inkinen was appointed Principal Conductor in 2017. When he began his tenure, he brought the music of Jean Sibelius and his compatriots to the fore. Pietari Inkinen is a trained violinist and in very close contact with top artists of the international violin scene. The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie has invited Pinchas Zukerman, Vadim Gluzman and the young exceptional violinist Daniel Lozakovich to participate in the 18/19 season.

Stylistic diversity is the hallmark of the programs. At the heart is the late romantic standard repertoire – with key works of Gustav Mahler, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitrij Shostakovich highlighted in this current season of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Modern classics like the works of Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern and Krzysztof Penderecki are as much a part of the performance as are the compositions by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein or Cole Porter from an area bordering jazz. Musical creations by less known composers such as the Symphonie brève by the Franco-German romantic composer Louis Théodore Gouvy, Erwin Schulhoff’s Suite in the New Style written in Saarbrücken in 1918 or Music for Orchestra composed by Rudi Stephan, who died in 1915 during World War I are also featured in the programs. The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie opens up new worlds of sound as an interpreter of contemporary orchestral music – with works by the Swiss David Philip Hefti, the Finn Kimmo Hakola or the Austrian Johannes Maria Staud in this current season – and as the host of the “Saarbrücker Komponistenwerkstatt””. With moderated concerts and the format “DRP-PUR” (i.e. without a conductor and guest soloist) the orchestra breaks new ground in the experience of music. The educational music program “Klassik macht Schule” designed for the younger generations is an integral part of the orchestra work.

Live in the concert hall, through the cultural programs of the Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) and the Südwestrundfunk (SWR), on SR/SWR television, on ARTE or on CD, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie as a Radio Orchestra of the highest artistic quality makes the enormous repertoire spectrum available to the friends of classical music. The Orchestra in accessible for its audience in the digital world via live streaming and Mediathek (German media library app), via Youtube and Facebook.

The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie was created in 2007 following the merger of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken (SR) and the SWR Rundfunkorchester. The Orchestra was able to make its name under the principal conductors Karel Mark Chichon (2011 to 2017) and Christoph Poppen (2007 to 2011). The late Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who passed away in 2017, was closely connected with the orchestra as the Principal Guest Conductor. In 2015, at the age of 92, he was appointed Conductor Emeritus.

www.drp-orchester.de

Discography

Kevin John Edusei is praised repeatedly for the drama and tension that he brings to his music-making, for his clear sense of architecture and attention to detail. A suave and elegant figure on the podium, he divides his time equally between the concert hall and opera house with a particular interest in German music from the early romantic period and early 20th century. He is Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of Edusei’s symphonic engagements include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberg Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and in the United States the Colorado Symphony. In 2017 he made his debut at the BBC Proms with the Chineke! Orchestra and in the same year conducted John Adams Nixon in China at the Zaterdag Matinee at the Concertgebouw. Highlight’s for the season 2020/21 will include his debuts at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Edusei was appointed Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra in 2014. He has been applauded for introducing an eclectic range of repertoire into the MSO concert programmes and cultivating a loyal, trusting audience. In recognition of these achievements the orchestra was awarded the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal Government in 2018. In 2019 Edusei led the MSO on their first tour of China and Korea.

Edusei concluded his tenure as Chief Conductor of Bern Opera House in 2019, where he led many new productions including Britten Peter Grimes, Strauss Salome, Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle, Wagner Tannhäuser, Janáček Kátya Kábanová, a cycle of the Mozart Da Ponte operas – described in the press as “rousing and brilliant” – and Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos which led the Neue Zürcher Zeitung to describe him as “the discovery of the production”. Elsewhere, Edusei has conducted at the Semperoper Dresden (Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Hindemith Cardillac), and in 2018 he made his debut at the Hamburg State Opera. He conducted Mozart Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni at the Volksoper Wien and Komische Oper Berlin. In 2019/20 he made his debut at the Hannover State Opera in a new production of Puccini Tosca and at English National Opera in a new production of Mozart The Marriage of Figaro.

Edusei has a varied discography, which includes recordings with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and Tonkünstler Orchestra, and he is currently mid-way through a cycle of the complete Schubert symphonies with the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Born in 1976 in Germany Edusei studied orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory The Hague and the University of the Arts Berlin with Jac van Steen and Ed Spanjaard. In 2004 he was awarded the fellowship for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival by David Zinman, in 2007 he was a prize-winner at the Lucerne Festival conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös, and in 2008 he won the International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition.

Discography

The pianist Camillo Radicke received his musical education in his hometown Dresden with Regina Metzner, Amadeus Webersinke and Arkadi Zenziper.

Since winning the international piano competitions in Palma de Mallorca (Fr.Chopin) in 1990, Athens (Maria Callas) in 1992 and Vercelli (G.B.Viotti) in 1992, he has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous European countries, the Middle East, Cuba, South America, Japan, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

He has appeared at numerous international festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Edinburgh Festival, Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, Rheingau Festival, Munich Opera Festival, Dresden Music Festival, MDR – Musiksommer and Schubertiade Schwarzenberg.

In concerts with orchestras such as the Dresden Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the RAI Symphony Orchestra Turin he has performed under conductors such as Marek Janowski, Gerd Albrecht, Michel Plasson, Juri Temirkanow, Tamas Vasary, Bernhard Klee, Ludwig Güttler, Jörg Peter Weigle and Peter Schreier.

Camillo Radicke performed among others in the Milan Scala, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, the City Opera Hall Tokyo, the Grand Teatro Liceu Barcelona, the Paris Opera (Palais Garnier), the Brussels Opera La Monnaie, the Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, the Zurich Opera, the Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile and in the Semperoper Dresden as well as in concert halls like the Berlin Philharmonie, The Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Herkulessaal Munich, the Wigmore Hall London, the Musikverein Vienna, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Cité de la Musique Paris, the Sala Prestes Sao Paulo, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Leipziger Gewandhauss and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

As a lied pianist he was and is a partner of singers such as Peter Schreier, Olaf Bär, Juliane Banse, Ruth Ziesak, Stella Doufexis, Werner Güra, Konrad Jarnot, Anke Vondung, Piotr Beczala, Marlis Petersen and René Pape.

Discography

Sonja Leutwyler: mezzo soprano

Sonja Leutwyler was born in Zurich. She studied viola and singing at the Zurich College of the Arts and the Munich College of Music and Drama with Maria de Francesca-Cavazza, Christian Gerhaher and Helmut Deutsch. While still studying, she sang roles including Sesto, Larina and Dorabella at such venues as the Prinzregententheater of Munich.

She was engaged as a soloist for four years at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where she sang major roles for her voice type. Further engagements have taken her to the Margravial Opera House of Bayreuth, the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, the TeatroComunale di Bologna and the Zurich Opera House. She recently sang a lead role in the opera Kein Licht (no light) by Philippe Manoury staged by l’Opéra-Comique in Paris and has made guest appearances at the National Theatre of Zagreb and the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg.

As a concert soloist, Sonja Leutwyler performs with renowned orchestras including the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra under Ulf Schirmer, the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the SWR Symphony Orchestra under Helmuth Rilling. She is a popular guest at major festivals including the Richard Strauss Festival of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Festival of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, the Beethoven Festival of Bonn, the Stuttgart Music Festival and the St Martin-in-the-Fields concert series in London. She also regularly appears at the Zurich Tonhalle and the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Being a versatile singer, Sonja Leutwyler is much sought after for her performances of contemporary works. At the Prinzregententheater in Munich, she portrayed a lead role in Elliott Carter’s opera What Next?with the Munich Radio Orchestra. She appeared as the soloist in the opening concert of the “Wien Modern” series with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and she performed works by Luigi Nono on a tour of Italy under the baton of Roberto Abbado. She recently enjoyed great success in performances of Berio’s Folk Songs in numerous Swiss concert halls.

Highlights of the last three years include Mendelssohn’s Walpurgis Night at the Rheingau Music Festival with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestraunder Andrés Orozco-Estrada, concerts and CD recordings with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Konzerthaus, a solo recital of arias by Haydn and Vivaldi with Camerata Zurich at the Zurich Tonhalle, CPE Bach’s Magnificat with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Diego Fasolis and a song recital at Tonhalle Maag in Zurich.

www.sonjaleutwyler.com

Astrid Leutwyler: violin

Astrid Leutwyler is an artist of our times: an inspirational, charismatic violinist, competent orchestral player and chamber musician. Her musical interests are very wide-ranging.
From 2007 till 2011, she was deputy leader and a section leader of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and, on several occasions in 2011, she led the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. From 2009 till 2014, Astrid Leutwyler played first violin in Orchestra Mozart Bologna under the baton of Claudio Abbado. For the 2014/15 season, she was appointed deputy section leader in Düsseldorf and played in the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Further invitations have led her to the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
Nowadays, Astrid Leutwyler regularly plays in the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra of Munich.
She won the coveted Küsnacht Arts Prize in 2009 and was a prizewinner in the ORPHEUS Swiss Chamber Music Competition and the Schwerin International Competition of Ostracised Music.
As a chamber musician she has performed in Switzerland and abroad at such venues as the Zurich Tonhalle, the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre (KKL), the MarianischerSaal in Lucerne, Kultur Casino Bern and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Astrid Leutwyler has appeared as a guest at major festivals including the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Settimana Musicale in Siena, Bolzano Festival Bozen, the Max Reger Festival in Weiden and the Aigues-VivesenMusiques festival in southern France.
Astrid Leutwyler has made live concert recordings for German and Swiss radio stations. She also appeared as a violinist in Amos Gitaï’s film Lullaby to my Father.
Born in Zurich in 1984, she completed her Master of Arts in Performance and Music Pedagogy and her advanced studies in Stuttgart, Zurich and London with Hanna Weinmeister, Judith Ingolfsson, Andreas Janke and David Takeno. She has received valuable inspiration from Rachel Podger and Giuliano Carmignola. She has also studied with the Belcea Quartet and the Vogler Quartet.
Astrid Leutwyler is enthusiastically involved in the promotion of the arts and founded the Orchestra of Europe in 2011. She has successfully directed her own series of concerts, titled Klassikfestival Küsnacht, since 2017.

www.astridleutwyler.com

Discography

Ausdruckskraft und Technik: Die Verbindung dieser beiden musikalischen Qualitäten zeichnet die Kompositionen Franz Liszts aus – und ist auch für die ungarisch-schweizerische Pianistin Andrea Kauten von ganz besonderer Bedeutung. Die Klaviermusik des ungarischen Virtuosen hat ihr Spiel nachhaltig geprägt.
Andrea Kauten begann ihr Klavierspiel mit sieben Jahren bei dem Basler Pianisten Albert Engel. Bereits als 13-Jährige stand sie im Finale des Jecklin Musiktreffens in Zürich. Ein Jahr später wurde sie mit dem ersten Preis des Schweizerischen Jugendmusikwettbewerbs ausgezeichnet. In der Folge studierte Kauten an der Musik Akademie Basel und schließlich – eine der wichtigsten Stationen in ihrem Leben – an der international renommierten Franz-Liszt-Musikakademie Budapest, wo sie mit Kornél Zempléni und Edith Hambalkó arbeitete. An dem Budapester Ausbildungsort vieler weltbekannter Künstler wie András Schiff, Jenö Jandó oder Ferenc Fricsay verfeinerte sie ihre hochromantische und doch kontrollierte Spielweise.
Mit Leidenschaft, Musikalität und hohem technischen Anspruch entlockt Kauten einem Konzertflügel verhaltene, poetische, aber auch sehr ausdrucksstarke Klänge. Immer wieder überrascht sie so ihre Zuhörer: „Flushed and at times over-assertive, Kauten leaves you in no doubt of her commitment and intensity“, so Bruce Morrison in Gramophone.

1993 erschien Andrea Kautens erste CD mit Werken von Franz Liszt, Carl Goldmark und Sergei Rachmaninow. Seither konzertierte sie in diversen Ländern, wie den USA, Kanada, Dänemark, Frankreich und Deutschland. Bei Sony Classical veröffentlichte die Pianistin 2006 Robert Schumanns C-Dur-Fantasie op. 17, Kreisleriana op. 16 und die Romanzen op. 28, Nr. 2 und 3. Im Liszt-Jahr 2011 erweiterte sie ihre umfangreichen Einspielungen für Sony Classical mit Liszts beiden großen Klaviersonaten: der h-Moll-Sonate von 1835, der Dante-Sonate von 1849 sowie zwei weiteren Werken der Années de Pèlerinage.

Neben ihrer Konzerttätigkeit ist Andrea Kauten künstlerische Leiterin der Kammermusikreihe der Anneliese-Benner-Krafft-Stiftung in Schopfheim-Fahrnau (Südschwarzwald).

Diskographie

Born in Zurich in 1949, Daniel Fueter studied the piano at the Zurich College of Music. He has written around a hundred works of incidental music to plays in the German-speaking world; in addition, he has notably written songs, chansons, choral works, pieces for music theatre and occasionally piano and chamber music. He teaches song interpretation at the Zurich College of the Arts and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. He continues to give lectures on chansons at the Karlsruhe College of Music in his retirement. He held various administrative positions, including those of president of the Swiss Composers’ Association, president of the Swiss arts promotion organisation Suisseculture and rector of the Zurich College of Music and Drama. He has received national and international accolades. He has two daughters, the actress Mona Petri and the singer Rea Claudia Kost, and has two granddaughters and a grandson. He is married to the pianist Eriko Kagawa.

Discographie

Rea Claudia Kost was born in Zurich in 1979. She studied singing with Maarten Koningsberger and Margreet Honig at the Amsterdam Conservatory, from which she graduated with distinction. She subsequently attended De Nieuwe Opera Academie and master classes in Amsterdam and The Hague in addition to training as a yoga teacher at the Yoga and Vedanta Foundation in Utrecht. She won a study scholarship from the Swiss arts promotion scheme Migros-Kulturprozent in 2006. She has appeared as a guest at various operatic societies and festivals in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, including Opera Trionfo, De Nationale Reisopera, the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam, the Zurich Festival and the Davos Festival for young artists.
She has played various staple roles for mezzo-soprano, including Purcell’s Dido, Gluck’s Orfeo and Mozart’s Cherubino, as well as roles in contemporary operas, including Wife in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek and Sugar in Daniel Fueter’s Forelle Stanley. Since 2010, she has performed various programmes of chansons and projects combining music and literature at small venues in and around Zurich. She appeared as a guest singer at the Zurich Schauspielhaus in productions of Le bourgeois gentilhomme in 2013 and Die Zehn Gebote (the ten commandments) in 2015/16. She lives in Zurich with her two children and husband, the baritone Niklaus Kost, and works as a freelance singer and teacher of singing and yoga.

Discography