WHO WE ARE
Biliana Tzinlikova (piano)
The pianist Biliana Tzinlikova is at home on the solo stage and both as a chamber musician and song accompanist. Her curiosity and spirit of discovery enable her to look back on a multi-faceted discography, which largely includes world premiere recordings from the piano literature.
Biliana Tzinlikova developed the broad spectrum of her pianistic abilities during her studies, influenced by diverse piano traditions: the Russian Piano School – studies with Marina Kapatzinskaja at the State Academy of Music in Sofia – as well as the Leygraf Piano School – master’s concert studies with Christoph Lieske at the Mozarteum University. Biliana Tzinlikova also gained important impulses from master classes with Elisso Virsaladze, Arndzej Jaszinsky, Pavel Gililov, Menahem Pressler, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alexander Lonquich and Klaus-Christian Schuster. Especially notable was her intensive work with Ruggiero Ricci (1998-2003) and Ferenc Rados (2002-2005).
More recently, her artistic work as a concert pianist has focused on the rediscovery and performance of forgotten piano music. This passion is showcased in her CD recordings. In 2014, she released a world premiere of Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Piano Sonata on a 3 CD set (Grand Piano, Naxos International), which promptly made a name for her in the professional world. The recordings received enthusiastic reviews from internationally recognized music organizations and academics alike. She continued recording, releasing a CD with virtuosic variations from Stephen Heller in 2016, piano music of the French composer Louise Farrenc in 2018, and a CD with works from Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric and Louis Durey in 2020. (All three published by Paladino Music)
Since 2017 Tzinlikova has also been working together with actresses and actors to organize cross-genre concert programs that focus on female composers’ works in music history.
As a sought after chamber music partner, she collaborates often, locally and abroad, with internationally renowned artists such as Christian Gerhaher, Adrian Eröd, Thomas Selditz, Klara Flieder, Thomas Riebl, Colin Jacobsen, Ulf Schneider, Ann Harvey-Nagl, Vesna Stankovic, Stephan Picard, Patrick Demenga, Gustav Rivinius, Dany Bonvin, Esther Hoppe, Christophe Pantillon, Marta Sudraba, Andreas Schablas, Christoph Zimper, and members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a soloist, she has performed at the Mozart Week Festival in Salzburg, and with Stefan Sanderling with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has given concerts in almost every country in Europe, as well as the USA. In 2004, she had her debut in the Viennese Concert house.
Biliana Tzinlikova teaches at the Mozarteum University. Since her habilitation in 2019 she has led a class for piano and chamber music there, and is the initiator and artistic director of the festival „Kammermusiktage Erika Frieser“, which is dedicated to works by female composers.
Klara Flieder (violin)
Klara Flieder was born into a Viennese family of musicians. She began her violin studies with Margarethe Biedermann at the Vienna Conservatory and continued with Christian Ferras in Paris and Arthur Grumiaux in Brussels. Master classes with Henryk Szeryng, Nathan Milstein and Augustin Dumay rounded off her education.
Concert activities as a soloist and chamber musician have taken her to the world's most renowned concert halls (including the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, South Bank Center) and to numerous international festivals throughout Europe, the USA, South America and China (including Kuhmo Festival Finland, Carinthian Summer, Midsummer Music Festival Sweden, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Narnia Festival Italy).
She is a long-standing member of the Flieder Trio, the Leschetizky Trio Vienna and the Hyperion Ensemble and also looks back on many years of intensive collaboration in the violin-violoncello duo with Christophe Pantillon and in the violin-piano duo with Patrick Leung.
In 2014 Klara Flieder gave performances of the complete sonatas for piano and violin by W. A. Mozart with Patrick Leung in Shanghai. She has also participated in a number of CD recordings (EMI, Dabringhaus & Grimm, Extraplatte and Preiser Records) in all of the above-mentioned ensemble formations and works with artists such as Pierre Amoyal, Roberto Benzi, Ernst Kovacic, Vladimir Mendelssohn and Ludwig Streicher.
Since 2005 Klara Flieder has held a professorship for violin at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. She has held teaching positions and guest professorships at the Universities of Music in Vienna and Graz, and also gives master classes in Austria, Sweden, Spain, Italy, the USA and China.
Christophe Pantillon (cello)
The cellist Christophe Pantillon was born in Neuchâtel; he comes from a family of musicians of Swiss and American origin.
He received his first cello lessons in his hometown with J.-P. Guy and with Elena Botez in Bern. He then continued his cello studies with Heinrich Schiff at the Music Academy in Basel. Further studies with Valentin Erben ( Alban Berg Quartet ) at the Academy of Music in Vienna and with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester as well as master classes, among others with Mischa Maisky in Siena, complete his education.
He has lived in Vienna since 1992, where he co-founded the aron quartet in 1998. He is also a member of various chamber music ensembles and performs regularly as a duo with his wife, the violinist Klara Flieder.
Christophe Pantillon has recorded numerous chamber music CDs (cpo, Cascavelle, Preiser Records, Nimbus Records), many of which have won international awards. His CD "Paroles de violoncelle", released in 2013, with French works for violoncello solo, enjoys the highest national and international recognition.
Performances as a soloist or as a member of various chamber music ensembles have taken Christophe Pantillon to Vienna ( Musikverein, Konzerthaus), Salzburg ( Mozarteum ), London ( Wigmore Hall ), Washington ( Library of Congress ), Paris ( Opéra Bastille ), Tokyo ( Casals Hall, Oji Hall ), Moscow ( Tchaikovsky Conservatory ), Buenos Aires ( Teatro Colon ), Madrid ( Teatro Real ), Zurich ( Tonhalle ), Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Saint Petersburg, Helsinki. ... and to internationally renowned festivals.
Christophe Pantillon teaches at the Musikschule Wien and is a sought-after teacher at national and international master classes (Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale School of Music)USA, Académie Internationale d'été de Nice, Sommerakademie Lilienfeld, austrian arts session (Ossiach), Sommerakademie Schässburg (Romania), Sounding Jerusalem, etc.).
SEASON 2025/26
Michael Martin Kofler (flute)
Michael Martin Kofler was born in Villach in 1966 and completed his flute studies with distinction at the Vienna Conservatory with Werner Tripp and Wolfgang Schulz, as well as with Peter-Lukas Graf at the Music Academy in Basel.
In 1987, Sergiu Celibidache appointed him principal flutist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
The winner of several international competitions (ARD, Brussels, Prague, Bari, etc.), he has also been awarded the Culture Promotion Prize of the Munich Concert Society and the Province of Carinthia, as well as the Award of Recognition from the Austrian Ministry of Science and the Culture Prize of his hometown Villach.
Since 1983, Michael Martin Kofler has given solo concerts, recitals, and chamber music evenings worldwide and has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in DVD, CD, radio, and television recordings. He regularly performs as a soloist with over 100 renowned orchestras, including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart, and Pforzheim Chamber Orchestras, the Budapest Strings, the Zagreb Soloists, and the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras of Munich, Prague, Moscow, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Warsaw, Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Istanbul, Antalya, Calgary, Toronto, and many more.
Among the conductors with whom the flutist has worked as a soloist are Lorin Maazel, James Levine, Tugan Sokhiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Fabio Luisi, Herbert Blomstedt, Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman, Dimitrij Kitajenko, Jonathan Nott, and Hans Graf.
His chamber music partners have included and continue to include pianists Paul Badura-Skoda, Irwin Gage, Stefan Vladar, Stephan Kiefer, Sarah O'Brian, Xavier de Maistre, Regine Kofler, Martin Spangenberg, Benjamin Schmid, Clemens and Veronika Hagen, as well as the Mandelring and Mozart Quartets of Salzburg.
Since 2016, Michael M. Kofler has also been increasingly invited to conduct various orchestras, such as the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sinfonietta Cracovia, and the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea).
Since 1989, Michael Martin Kofler has been a highly successful professor of a concert performance class at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and has been invited to serve as a jury member at major competitions (ARD, Kobe, Prague, Cremona, Guangzhou) and as a lecturer at master classes in Europe, Asia, and America.
Leonhard Baumgartner (Violin)
Leonhard Baumgartner, born in Vienna in 2007, is a prize winner at renowned competitions, including first prize at the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition, first prize and special prize at the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition, first prize, Grand Prix, and audience prize at the Osaka International Music Competition, the Discovery Award at the International Classical Music Awards, and the Carl Flesch Prize in Baden-Baden. In August 2024, Leonhard won the EBU's Eurovision Young Musicians Competition and made his debut with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the baton of Eivind Aadland. At the age of 15, he made his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Konzerthaus. He recently had the privilege of recording the world premiere of W. A. Mozart's newly discovered Serenade, K.648, for Deutsche Grammophon and Stage+.
His violin studies took him to the universities of music in Vienna, Munich, and Graz, where Leonhard studied with Dora Schwarzberg. He also studied with Ingolf Turban and previously with Regina Brandstätter.
He has performed as a soloist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, NFM Wroclaw, Berlin Baroque Soloists, and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, among others. Leo is a scholarship holder at the Liechtenstein Academy of Music, which supports him through intensive study weeks and concert engagements, including with Anna Handler and the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra and a tour as a soloist with the Esperanza Ensemble. He was also a guest at the “Chamber Music Connects the World” festival in Kronberg, where he performed with Gidon Kremer, Lawrence Power, and Gary Hoffman. Masterclasses and supplementary studies with Ana Chumachenco, Vilde Frang, David Frühwirth, Leonidas Kavakos, Mihaela Martin, Paul Roczek, and Pavel Vernikov.
Leonhard's studies are supported by the Nina Gscheider & Florian Schwarz Scholarship and the Stretton Society's Mentorship Program xMP.
Leonhard plays a violin by Antonio Stradivari, “ex Petherick” (Cremona, 1683). The loan was made possible by a member of the Stretton Society.
Liam Ryan-Dugelay (Piano)
Liam Ryan-Dugelay is a French-Canadian pianist and currently a student of Prof. Avo Kouyoumdjian at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Previously, he was artist in residence in Louis Lortie's class at the renowned Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, as well as a student of Aleksandar Madzar at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels. In January 2025, he made his acclaimed debut with the Chamber Harmony of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden at the Semperoper.
Liam is a passionate chamber musician and a sought-after partner for numerous top-class artists. He is also in demand on international stages with his own ensemble, the Trio Souvenirs. As a committed interpreter of contemporary music, he has worked closely with renowned composers such as Philippe Hersant, Michael Jarrell, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, and most recently György Kurtág, thanks to his collaboration with soprano Maria Hussmann, to whom the work is dedicated.
In addition to his work with Maria Hussmann, Liam accompanies young singers, particularly under the guidance of Stéphane Degout, Sophie Koch, Simon Lepper, and Sophie Raynaud.
His concert activities have taken him to major festivals and performances such as the Stavelot Festival, MUCH Waterloo Festival, and Musicorum in Belgium; the Académie Ravel, Nancyphonies, and Royaumont Foundation in France; Villa Falkenhorst (Vorarlberg); Kunsthalle Hamburg; Busto Arsizio in cooperation with the Lacmus Festival; and Accademia Perosi—an engagement that was highlighted by the national magazine La Stampa.
Liam is a three-time scholarship recipient of the Fondation Safran and has been supported by Live Music Now (Yehudi Menuhin Foundation), the De Clippele host family, and a merit scholarship from the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw).
Fedor Rudin (Violin)
Fedor Rudin is a musician of impressive versatility and artistic depth who has quickly established himself as one of the most fascinating violinists of his generation. He is equally at home in the great Romantic repertoire, early music, and avant-garde works, and is highly praised for his technical brilliance, stylistic sensitivity, and expansive musical vision.
A prize winner at the prestigious Premio Paganini International Competition and the George Enescu Competition, Rudin has performed as a soloist with numerous major orchestras, including the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra (Rio de Janeiro), the Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Cape Town Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Cannes, the Orchestre de Bretagne, and many other orchestras in Europe and beyond.
He has collaborated with an equally impressive list of conductors, including Vladimir Jurowski, Tomas Netopil, Andris Poga, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Anja Bihlmaier, Petr Popelka, Kirill Karabits, Lorenzo Viotti, Dmitry Matvienko, Anna Rakitina, Emil Tabakov, and Johannes Wildner.
In addition to all the standard works by composers such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Korngold, his repertoire also includes both violin concertos by Shostakovich and Szymanowski, as well as 20th-century works and contemporary compositions, including music by his grandfather, the important avant-garde composer Edison Denisov. As an active chamber musician, Rudin performs with renowned artists, including pianists such as Boris Kuznetsov, Julien Libeer, Florian Noack, and Alexandre Tharaud; cellists such as Julia Hagen, Senja Rummukainen, and István Várdai; and ensembles such as the Pavel Haas Quartet and the Signum Saxophone Quartet.
Since 2022, he has been artistic director of the Rencontres Musicales de Chaon chamber music festival in France. He is also co-founder of the Fratres Trio, an ensemble that explores the intersections between classical music and jazz. Their programs include works by Gershwin, Ravel, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Duke Ellington, among others.
Born in Moscow and raised in Paris, Rudin studied with Zakhar Bron in Cologne, Pierre Amoyal in Salzburg, and Boris Kuschnir in Graz. Parallel to his career as a violinist, Rudin is also a successful conductor and currently professor of orchestral education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he previously completed his own conducting studies. His profound understanding of both traditions shapes both his stage work and his teaching.
Fedor Rudin plays the 1712 “ex-Viotti” Antonio Stradivari violin, generously loaned by CANIMEX INC. (Drummondville, Québec, Canada), as well as a modern copy of a Storioni violin by Sylvain Tournaire from 2023 (Paris). He is a Larsen Strings Artist.
Thomas Selditz (Viola)
Thomas Selditz has made an international name for himself as a chamber musician. After his studies, he played as 1st solo violist under Daniel Barenboim in the Staatskapelle Berlin. Before being appointed professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2010, he held professorships at the conservatories in Hanover and Hamburg.
He belonged to the renowned Gaede Trio for over 20 years and was a member of the Hugo Wolf Quartet from 2013-2016. He has performed in halls such as New York's Carnegie Hall, Vienna's Konzerthaus, London's Wigmore Hall and the Cité de la musique Paris.
As a chamber musician, he has been a guest at many renowned international festivals and has recorded over 20 CDs for labels such as Sony, Largo Records, Tacet, MDG, Audite and Phoenix. His recording of Henri Vieuxtemps' works for viola and piano was awarded the Diapason d'Or and the German Record Critics' Prize in France in 2003. Most recently, the solo recording with the BBC Concert Orchestra London (Sinfonia Concertante by Walter Braunfels) was also awarded the German Record Critics' Prize in 2019.
Reinhard Latzko (Cello)
Reinhard Latzko is one of the most versatile cellists of his generation. In addition to his extensive concert activities, he has made a name for himself above all as a successful teacher and music educator. Born in Freising near Munich, he studied with Jan Polasek, Martin Ostertag, and Heinrich Schiff. From 1987 to 2003, Reinhard Latzko was principal cellist in the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra under Michael Gielen.
Since 1990, when he was a lecturer with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, teaching has been one of the special focuses of his artistic life. From 1988 to 2005, he succeeded Boris Pergamenschikow as head of a training and concert class at the Music Academy of the City of Basel.
Reinhard Latzko has been a university professor of violoncello at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna since 2003. Many of his students are prize winners at international competitions and hold leading positions in the most important orchestras. Master classes worldwide attest to his international standing as one of the most sought-after teachers. In addition, Reinhard Latzko has been teaching chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz as a senior lecturer since fall 2016.
Reinhard Latzko, himself a prize winner at national and international competitions, performs both as a chamber musician and as a soloist. His chamber music partners include Markus Schirmer, Christian Tetzlaff, Ernst Kovacic, Christian Altenburger, and Christopher Hinterhuber. He has performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Vienna Musikverein, the Shanghai Concert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, etc., and has received invitations to the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, the Shanghai Cello Festival, and Supercello Beijing. Latzko has performed as a soloist with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the Camerata Salzburg, among others. His intensive engagement with contemporary music has resulted in world premieres of works by Wolfgang Rihm, Ernst Krenek, and Michael Gielen, among others.
Reinhard Latzko is the artistic director of the “con anima” Music Days in Ernstbrunn.
For several years now, Reinhard Latzko has also been very successful in a new form of orchestral conducting, including with the Ensemble Resonanz in Hamburg and the Het Balletorkest in Amsterdam.
Maria Hegele (mezzo-soprano)
German mezzo-soprano Maria Hegele was a member of the Volksoper Wien opera studio from 2022 to 2024, where she sang roles such as Hänsel, Sandmännchen/Hänsel und Gretel, Second Lady/Die Zauberflöte, Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, and Dorabella/Cosi fan tutte. Prior to that, she graduated from the International Opera Studio at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Dinah Harris and Veronica Veysey Campbell, and completed her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Mozarteum University with Barbara Bonney.
Since 2022, she has made several house and role debuts: at the Bregenz Festival as The Black Leader and Dollmaker in the world premiere of Éna Brennan's Hold Your Breath, at the Gluck Festival in Nuremberg as Annio in Gluck's La Clemenza di Tito, and at the Berlin State Opera as Frasquita/Carmen, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, Giovanna/Rigoletto, Slave Girl/Salome, conducted by François-Xavier Roth, and 2nd Maid of Dirce/Médée.
Maria regularly returns to the Volksoper, for example as Prince Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus, 2nd Lady/Die Zauberflöte, Lea/Nureyev's Dog, and Mercédès/Carmen, and in the summer she will make her role debut as Annio in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito with the Staatskapelle Halle at the Goethe Theater in Bad Lauchstädt. In addition, she will perform Haydn's Theresienmesse at the Styriarte Festival, Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Zurich Singakademie, Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, and give recitals in Germany and Austria.
Her awards include first prize at the August Everding Competition in 2022, first prize at the Hidalgo Song Prize in 2022, second prize and the ECMS Prize at the International Haydn Competition in 2025. She is also a prize winner at the 2025 International Veronica Dunne Singing Competition in Dublin and a finalist at the 2023 Cesti Competition in Innsbruck.
Florian Mühlberger (clarinet)
Florian Mühlberger was born in St. Johann in Tirol in 1982.
He received his first clarinet lessons at the Kössen Music School in Tirol. After graduating from the Innsbruck Music High School, he studied at the Tyrolean State Conservatory with Maximilian Bauer. He completed his master's degree in concert performance at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Alois Brandhofer (graduating with honors in 2009) and a postgraduate course at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz with Gerald Pachinger. He has taken courses with Sabine Meyer, Reiner Wehle, Wenzel Fuchs, and Alexander Neubauer.
From 2006 to 2010, he taught clarinet at the Telfs Music School in Tyrol. In 2010, he became principal clarinetist with the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra Innsbruck.
Since February 2011, principal clarinetist in the orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper.
Performances with the DSO Berlin, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Tyrolean Festival Erl, and the Tyrolean Ensemble for New Music, among others.
Solo performances with the Innstrumenti Chamber Orchestra, the Schwaz Municipal Orchestra, and the Vienna Tonkunstvereinigung. Chamber music in various ensembles.
Clarinet chamber music with the ensemble “working clarinets.”
Esther Hoppe (Violine)
Swiss violinist Esther Hoppe pursues a multifaceted international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher.
After studying in Basel, Philadelphia, and London, she won first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 2002. As a violinist with the Tecchler Trio (2003-2011), she won numerous other prizes, including first prize at the International ARD Competition in Munich.
In addition to performances as a soloist (including with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Les Siècles, Basel Chamber Orchestra, and Munich Chamber Orchestra), she is also very active as a chamber musician. Her partners include Clemens and Veronika Hagen, Sharon Kam, Lars Anders Tomter, Francesco Piemontesi, Heinz Holliger, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Pascal Moraguès.
She currently forms a trio with Ronald Brautigam and Christian Poltéra. This trio plays in the major concert halls of Europe, often in a constellation with fortepiano/gut strings.
Esther Hoppe regularly performs at prestigious festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Musiktage Mondsee, Styriarte Graz, Delft Chamber Music Festival, and Mozart Week in Salzburg.
Since 2013, she has been professor of violin at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where she leads a successful violin class.
Following highly acclaimed CD recordings of works by Mozart, Stravinsky, and Poulenc with pianist Alasdair Beatson for Claves Records, a complete recording of the sonatas was released in 2022.
Following highly acclaimed CD recordings of works by Mozart, Stravinsky, and Poulenc with pianist Alasdair Beatson for Claves Records, a complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin was released in 2022, also on Claves Records, which was met with enthusiastic international acclaim.
Further CD recordings have been released by Virgin Classics, Neos, Concentus Records, and Ars Musici.
From the 2025/26 season, she will serve as artistic director of the Camerata Zurich.
She plays the “De Ahna” Stradivari violin from 1722.