Performers

Margareta Bengtson grew up in a family of musicians south of Stockholm. She started singing and playing the piano when she was very young. Later on she started playing the harp, witch became her main instrument at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

In 1984 she became a member of the vocal ensemble The Real Group. The Real Group have been touring around the world as a fulltime job since 1989 with great success. They have released many cd.s in different countries, they have got many awards for their work, and have been collaborating with such different artists as for example Barbara Hendricks, Sir George Martin, swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson and choire Prof. Eric Ericson.

Margareta has also worked as a freelance harpist and singer, often together with her brother, Jan Bengtson , who is alt. Principal flutist at the Royal Philharmonic orhestra in Stockholm. She has made many guest appearances on CDs with other artists. For several years she has enjoyed a close collaboration with the swedish composer and jazzpianist Nils Lindberg. 2008 he made a cd called ”As we are” featuring Margareta with music written only by him.

Andreas Borregaard is recognized as one of the world’s most exciting young accordionists. Through an extensive career as soloist and chamber musician he communicates the accordion’s fascinating qualities and palette of expressions to a wide audience.

He collaborates with composers from all over Europe and is actively influencing the development of this young instrument’s use and repertoire. And through a parallel fascination with early music, he explores how the accordion can add new colours to the keyboard repertoire of the 17th and 18th century.

Barbara Buntrock was born in Wuppertal/Germany in 1982 and won second prize at the 2012 Tokyo International Viola Competition. She has also been awarded prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Concours de Genève, the Markneukirchen Music Competition and the German Music Competition. She studied with Barbara Westphal, Heidi Castleman, Lars Anders Tomter and Tabea Zimmermann and is a former recipient of scholarships from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Barbara spent two years as principal viola player with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra before relinquishing this post in favour of her work as a soloist and as a chamber recitalist. Since October 2015 she has been teaching at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. Barbara Buntrock plays on a viola made by Antonio Mariani in Pesaro around 1650.

Munich-based Ye-Eun Choi was born in Seoul. She made her orchestral debut at age 10 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2004, she moved to Munich to study with Ana Chumachenco at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

She was discovered and mentored by Anne-Sophie Mutter at age 16 and she has toured the world with orchestras such as the NY Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Alan Gilbert and Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms Choi has made several recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and plays a violin from J.B. Guadagnini, Parma c. 1765.

Acclaimed theatre-artist Denise Clarke was appointed a Member to the Order of Canada in recognition of her outstanding contribution to dance. A permanent member of Canada’s One Yellow Rabbit dance company since 1983, she has created or co-created several shows including The Erotic Irony of Old Glory, Touch, CD Dance, Breeder, So Low, Permission, Featherland, Sign Language, Heavens to Murgatroid, A Fabulous Disaster, Smash Cut Freeze, and wag.

In 1997, Denise created and became Director of the Summer Lab Intensive, an organisation that welcomes a broad range of established and emerging artists from all over the world. She continues to teach, provide master classes, and lecture across Canada and abroad. She was recognised for her pedagogy with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Calgary.

Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg is widely known as an accompanist to the mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and other prominent singers. As a soloist, he is noted for unearthing and performing neglected repertory. Forsberg attended the Royal Academy of Music in Gothenburg, intending to become a church organist, but switched to piano and graduated in that field in 1978. He moved abroad for further study, working with Herman D. Koppel in Copenhagen and Peter Feuchtwanger in London.

Bengt Forsberg made his name as a soloist, sometimes in music that was both difficult and unfamiliar: he performed Nikolai Medtner's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 50, with the Stockholm Philharmonic in 1999, and his solo repertory includes works of such composers as Charles Alkan and Kaikhosru Sorabji as well as standard French works. Forsberg has recorded several works by Saint-Saëns for the Hyperion label, and he has also issued recordings of music by Charles Koechlin, Léon Boëllmann, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, among others. He is perhaps best known, however, not for virtuoso solo work but for his performances and recordings as an accompanist, where he plays a background, although certainly critical, role.

Foremost among his collaborations has been that with von Otter; their recording association began in 1989 with an album of songs by Jan Sibelius and has continued prolifically under the aegis of Sweden's BIS label, touching not only on Scandinavian repertory but on such novelties as songs by French composer Cécile Chaminade. Among their most acclaimed recordings was a recital of songs composed in the Terezin concentration camp during World War II. In 2018, von Otter and Forsberg released the multinational recital A Simple Song on BIS. Forsberg has also joined instrumentalists in duets and trios, recording music by the little-known Swedish composer Amanda Maier with violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and viola-and-piano music by York Bowen with British violist James Boyd.

Pianist Peter Friis Johansson is known for his fiery performances, nuanced approach, and his insightful programming. He has earned international acclaim through his performances with leading ensembles and his prize-winning successes at numerous international piano competitions. Recent and forthcoming highlights include an international tour and recording of Franz Schubert’s eleven completed piano sonatas; the 2017 premiere of Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström’s new piano concerto with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; the 2018 premiere of Andrea Tarrodis’ piano concerto Stellar Clouds with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; his US soloist debut; and his sci-fi/music hybrid The Final Frontier.

In addition to his soloist career, Peter is a passionate chamber musician and regularly performs with cellists Andreas Brantelid and Jakob Koranyi, and his duo partner Emil Jonason. Peter studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Anders Kilström and Mats Widlund. He continued his musical education under his mentor Konstantin Bogino.

In 2016, he founded the Ytterjärna Piano Academy, which, in 2017 in collaboration with Koranyi, became the Järna Festival Academy. In addition to his performances and projects, Peter teaches at the Academy of Music in Västerås, and gives masterclasses at conservatoires in Sweden and abroad.

Winner of several international competitions, Yuval Gotlibovich stands out as one of the most requested violists of his generation. He has won the First Prize in the VIII International Lionel Tertis Competition, in the Aviv competition in 2004 in Israel and in the National Chamber Music Contest Fischoff, in Indiana (USA). His concert activity takes place in Europe, the United States of America, Canada and Israel. He has collaborated with some of the worlds finest orchestras and most respected musicians.

Gotlibovich teaches at the Reina Sofia School of Music in Madrid, at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, in Lugano and he is currently Professor of Viola at the Superior Conservatory of Liceu in Barcelona. His debut recording for NAXOS featuring the viola music of Ramon Paus, has received worldwide recognition and was ranked 6th in worldwide sales chart of NAXOS for December 2016.

Since her debut at the Stockholm Concert Hall, Karin Haglund has become one of Sweden’s most versatile and celebrated pianists. She has toured extensively through Europe and North and South America, including a term as Canada’s Banff Center of the Arts Artist-in-Residence in 2006.

Since 2008, Karin has collaborated with Stockholm’s Royal Opera, producing and giving performances created for children and adolescents; and has worked as a piano teacher Ågesta Folkhøjskola. She is in high demand as an accompanist, frequently performing with the Swedish vocal elite.

Karin studied at Edsbergs Musikinstitut with Staffan Scheja and Roland Pöntinen, earning a diploma in chamber music and subsequent Bachelor’s degree. She also studied at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.

Tim Horton studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Charles Hopkins, Ryszard Bakst and Heather Slade-Lipkin. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995. In the same year he replaced Alfred Brendel at short notice in two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, London. Since then he has played with the among others, the Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 Tim was chosen as the scholar of the Klavier Festival Ruhr at the recommendation of Alfred Brendel. Tim has a duo partnership with cellist Adrian Brendel with whom he has given tours of Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK, including concerts at the Wigmore Hall, London. With Robin Ireland he released a CD of Shostakovich and Prokofiev viola music in 2010 and a CD of the Brahms Viola Sonatas with Henninge Landaas was released this year as the first instalment of an ongoing project to record the complete Brahms string and piano music for the Lawo label.

Emil Jonason (b.1983), a long time connoisseur of the stranger side of music, has been described in the international press as ‘lifting the bar for what to expect from the clarinet’, ‘having the aura of a Rock Star’ and being ‘a magician who uses his instrument as a silver bullet exceeding classical norms’. He has appeared as a soloist with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Weimar Staatskapelle, Symfoniorkest Vlaanderen, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and many more.

He was nominated Rising Star by the European Concert Hall Organization in 2009, and was invited to Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Hamburg Laieszhalle, Barcelona L’Auditori, Cité de la Musique in Paris and several other prestigious scenes throughout Europe. In 2012 he became known to the world when he performed again as a soloist at the Nobel Prize Ceremony with the RSPO, and in 2013 he made his US debut when invited by Marin Alsop to play at the legendary Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Later the same year he premiered Christian Lindberg’s clarinet concerto ‘The Erratic Dreams of Mr Grönstedt’ with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and a new era of clarinet music was born.

In 2016 his first solo album at BIS Records was released, on which he performs “The Erratic Dreams of Mr Grönstedt” and Osvaldo Golijov’s “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind”. Together with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra with conductor Christian Lindberg, and the Vamlingbo String Quartet. Emil recently toured Sweden with the clarinet concerto: At The Hills of Hampstead Heath, written by Swedish composer Emmy Lindström.

Anders Jonhäll (born 1966) holds the position as principal flutist in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He completed studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm - where he, among other things, did a project on the application of 18th century practice on modern instrumentation and then continued his studies focusing on modern music at the Academy of Music in Gothenburg.

1994-1998 Anders was a member of the Quartet 'Pärlor för Svin'. Since the start in 1996 he is a member and one of the driving forces in Gageego! Gothenburg's ensemble for contemporary music. He frequently performs chamber music and collaborates regularly with percussionist Daniel Norberg and with guitarist Mats Bergström.

Anders Jonhäll teaches flute at the University of Music in Gothenburg. Among his recordings are critically acclaimed Flauto con Forza with music by Per Mårtensson, André Chini and Arne Mellnäs (Phono Suecia) and two flute concerts by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (Chandos).

TV host, actress, musical artist and singer; Ayla Kabaca has more than one string to her bow. She is widely recognized for her work as host on SVT and UR. As an actress, Ayla has made a number of roles in everything from drama to farce, for instance at Södra Teatern in Stockholm and Folkteatern in Gothenburg.

As a musical artist, she has played parts in several productions, such as Mozart’s wife in the musical “Mozart”, and in recent years she has been hosting “Barnens Allsång på Skansen”. Ayla often collaborates with the Swedish symphony orchestras and is frequently engaged as singer and presenter at several of Sweden’s largest concert halls. She enjoys a long-term collaboration with concert pianist Markus Kvint.

Suyoen Kim was born in Münster, Germany, in 1987 and studied with with Houssam Mayas, Helge Slaatto and Ana Chumachenco. Ms Kim has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, among others the 4th prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition and 1st prize at the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Hannover.

As a soloist, Suyoen Kim has performed with internationally acclaimed conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur and Myung-Whun Chung together with orchestras like Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Hermitage Theatre Orchestra St. Petersburg, Copenhagen Philharmonie, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonie de Strasbourg and Seoul Symphony Orchestra. Suyoen Kim is a recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon and has recently joined the world renowned Artemis Quartet.

Suyoen plays the Stradivarius ``Lord Newlands`` from 1702, which is kindly sponsored by the Nippon Music Foundation.

Swedish cellist Jakob Koranyi has firmly established himself on the classical music scene as one of Europe’s most interesting young soloists. Acclaimed for his commanding virtuosity, delicate sound and passion for diverse and innovative programmes, he has toured Europe extensively, performing in recital as well as a soloist in Vienna, Cologne, Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Stockholm and Luxembourg to name a few.

The forthcoming season sees Koranyi perform the premiere of Julia Wolfe’s new concerto at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Symphony of Norrlands Operan and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Shostakovich 1 with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. He returns to the Gavle Symphony Orchestra with Walton’s Cello Concerto and Wermland Opera with Schnelzer’s ‘Crazy Diamond’. In addition, Koranyi continues his residency with the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center with a US tour and features in festivals worldwide, including the Holstebro International Music Festival in Denmark and the Illumina Festival in Brazil.

Markus Kvint graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in the spring of 2017, where he studied with Friedrich Gürtler, Jens Elvekjær and Niklas Sivelöv. Before that, he had studied at the Hochschule für Musik - Franz Liszt in Weimar, and at KMH in Stockholm with prof. Anders Kilström. He regularly gives solo recitals and has appeared as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic in a series of family concerts about Beethoven.

Markus has toured the USA, Canada and Sweden as accompanist to the 2015 Jenny Lind scholar, soprano Sara Swietlicki. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed at festivals in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Austria. He has participated in a number of opera projects and is part of the production group for Opera Warberg.

During his studies Markus has received several scholarships, including from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and Anders Sandrew's Foundation. On two occasions he has received the Sixten Gemzéus large scholarship for his studies at DKDM. With financial support from the Ideella Stiftelsen, he develops his solo programs with Konstantin Bogino in Bergamo, Italy.

With the motivation ``A brave and modern artist who with her passionate expression takes the audience on an exciting chamber musical journey``, Ylva Larsdotter won second prize in the Ljunggrenska competition 2015.

Ylva Larsdotter grew up in Sandviken and started her studies with Ulf Wallin at Edsberg/Kungl at the age of 16. The Academy of Music and after four years, she continued her studies with Helge Slaatto at the music college in Münster.

Already at the age of 7, she had her first solo performance with the Sandviken Symphony Orchestra and has since been a soloist with a number of Swedish orchestras, including the Dalasinfoniettan, the Sandviken Symphony Orchestra and S: T Tomas Orkesterförening. She has appeared with, among others, Pekka Kuusisto, The Danish String Quartet, Philippe Graffin, ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen and Bengt Forsberg. She has visited European festivals such as Katrina Internationational Chamber Music Festival, International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog, Fête Musicale de la Forêt and Copenhagen Late Summerfestial.

Since 2018, Ylva has a permanent position as 2nd concert master in Västerås Sinfonietta.

Asuka Nakamura started to play the piano at the age of three in Nagoya, Japan. When six years old, she made her debut playing chamber music with members of Nagoya´s Philharmonic orchestra and already at the age of nine she made her debut as a soloist playing Mozart´s piano concert nr 23.

Asuka has won both the first and second prices at the prestigious piano conquest JP Fresh in Tokyo which also meant a concert at Stockholm Concert Hall in 1997. She has performed in Manchester, Oxford and Budapest. Further, she has had a solo evening with the Beethoven Society in London and been a soloist with the Krakow Symphony Orchestra in Poland.

In 2013, Swedish Radio P2 made the documentary Mozart has never been in Japan, a portrait of Asuka, her trip from Japan and her life as a pianist in Sweden today.

Zvi Plesser studied with Zvi Harel in Israel and David Soyer in the USA, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with Zara Nelsova. He has won numerous awards including First Prize at the Washington International Competition and was an AICF scholarship recipient. He made his American debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 17 and has performed with many leading orchestras both in Israel and abroad, including the Israel Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

In 2002 Zvi performed the world premiere of Bardanashvilli’s Dialogues for Cello and Orchestra with the Israel Symphony Orchestra. Zvi Plesser is currently on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He is frequently invited to give master classes and to coach in music centers in Europe and the USA.

Kati Raitinen began playing the cello at the age of nine (under the guidance of Csaba Szilvay in Helsinki). A year later, she pursued her studies at the youth department at the Sibelius Academy, where, in 1988, she was admitted to the soloist class and studied four years under Prof. Martti Rousi. 1992-1995, she studied under Prof. Frans Helmerson at the Edsberg Institute of Music in Stockholm, and she finished off her studies with soloist diplomas in both Stockholm and Helsinki.

In 1995, Kati Raitinen was appointed alternating solo cellist of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera in Stockholm and during the 1998/1999 season, she was engaged as 1st solo cellist at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. After having been employed as solo cellist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, she held the same position in the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, whereafter she returned to her former position with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera in Stockholm.

As a soloist, Kati Raitinen has appeared with a number of orchestras in Sweden and Finland, and she is also a keen chamber musician, e.g. in the Avanti! Ensemble and often performs in duos and piano trios. She is also a founding member of the highly acclaimed string trio ZPR.

Mattias was born in 1971 in Oskarshamn, Sweden and lives in Stockholm. Have the latest 15-20 years performed at stages around Sweden and elsewhere, focusing on jazz and improvised music. Released two album of his own with his former quartet Ståhls blå (``Ståhls blå`` 2001 and ``Schlachtplatte`` 2004), which achieved great attention from reviewers all over the world. He also composed all the music for this group.

As a sideman he contributes in a lot of exciting groups, from working bands as Martin Küchens Angles and norwegian-swedish I.P.A. with Magnus Broo/Atle Nymo/Håkon Mjåset Johansen/Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, to projects with legends Georg Riedel, Per Texas Johansson and swedish indie wonder Emil Svanängen aka Loney Dear. Also: Cecilia Persson Quintet, Daniel Buner Formos Formo Tre&Metall and different projects with Trondheim Jazzorkester. Other groups where he contributed during the years are Eirik Hegdals Team Hegdal, Joakim Milders Takeaway, Lennart Åberg:s big and small orchestras, Nils Berg 5 (Jazz in Sweden Award 2007), Alberto Pinton Quintet, Yttling Jazz (with Bjorn Yttling from ``Peter, Bjorn and John``), Fredrik Nordström Quintet (Jazz in Sweden Award 2002), Klaus Holm Kollektif. He was the vibist of the swingtronica-duo Koop between 2001-2008, touring all over the world. He recieved the Swedish Radio Award 2002 as newcomer of the year for his album ``Ståhls blå``.

Rebecka Törnqvist was probably the most important artist in raising the interest in young female jazz vocalists in Sweden in the '90s, though her solo albums weren't pure jazz, but rather pop with heavy jazz influences. Apart from getting a number of followers in this style, she also revitalized the interest for the whole genre. This was not only her work, but artists like Per ``Texas`` Johansson have her to thank for increasing the commercial potential for Swedish jazz. Törnqvist's debut album, A Night Like This, was released the same year as Bo Kaspers Orkester released their successful jazzy debut. The albums were similar in some aspects, but where Bo Kaspers Orkester took a witty, ironic stand in jazz music and stretched out towards R&B, Törnqvist lacked the irony and her approach was serious, mature, and smooth.

In 1993, Törnqvist made her debut with the album A Night Like This. Backing her was a big part of the Swedish jazz elite, including names like Esbjörn Svensson, Anders Widmark, and Per ``Texas`` Johansson, and the combination of jazz and pop proved very successful, not least commercially. Törnqvist's next album, Good Thing, was definitely pop, but also showed influences from slick soul and blues. In 1996, she released her first pure jazz album, Stockholm Kaza Session, together with saxophonist Per Texas Johansson and two years later, Tremble My Heart, which was a return to the mix of pop and jazz. The next year she was one of the members in the supergroup Gloria, formed by Lars Halapi, where Törnqvist sang together with singer/songwriter Sara Isaksson. The group released a self-titled album in 1999. In 2001, Törnqvist released a new solo album, this time produced by Halapi, who had also produced Gloria. Vad Jag Vill was her first album in Swedish and was also a step further away from the laid-back jazz-pop that had made her well-known.

Dutch pianist Michel Xie graduated from the Conservatory of Amsterdam with a Bachelor and Master degree having studied with Frank van de Laar and Frank Peters. Currently he is based in London where he pursues a second Master degree in collaborative piano at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek.
A prize winner of several competitions, Michel enjoys an active life as a soloist and chamber musician, with a special interest in playing with strings and lied vocalists. He also participates in projects involving music education for young children in The Netherlands.

Cecilia Zilliacus is one of Sweden’s most accomplished violinists, working across the Nordic countries and Europe. Her versatile repertoire of solo and chamber music works has led her to cooperate with a vast number of composers and orchestras. Her interest in newly written pieces and contemporary music has generated several compositions written specifically for her. During the last few years, Cecilia Zilliacus has premiered violin concertos by Anders Nilsson, Fredrik Hedelin and Mika Pelo together with the Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Norrbotten NEO and others.

Zilliacus career took off in 1997, when she won both the Royal Swedish Academy of Music’s prestigious competition, the Soloist Prize, and the Nordic Soloist Biennial in Trondheim, Norway. She was also named Artist in Residence at Swedish national radio for the year 1997/1998. In the 2001/2002 season, she was Sweden’s representative in the international Rising Star project, a cooperative venture between some of the world’s leading concert houses.

Zilliacus has recorded a number of albums, several of which have won Swedish Grammies. Cecilia´s recording of Carl Nielsen's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, as well as his solo works and sonatas (2015), has won great appraisal internationally. Also her cd with music by JS Bach, Svante Henryson and Sven-David Sandström (BIS Records 2016) was very warmly welcomed by international media and audience.

She is also a driving force in the prize-winning Swedish string trio ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen. Through the trio, Zilliacus plays an important part in bringing Nordic and European composers and musicians to Sweden as guests in the trio’s chamber music series at the Stockholm Concert House.

Zilliacus’ violin is a N. Gagliano provided by the Järnåker Foundation.