409. Wartburg Concert “Radio Wartburg”

Born into a family of musicians, Elizaveta was surrounded by people who were devoted to music from an early age. She began violin lessons at the age of five and switched to the viola nine years later. After graduating from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2009, where she studied with Roman Balashov and Yuri Bashmet (viola) and Alexander Rudin (chamber music), she continued her training in Germany. She studied with Wilfried Strehle at the Berlin University of the Arts and graduated in 2016 with a master’s degree as an instrumental soloist with distinction.
Elizaveta discovered her passion for orchestral playing during her studies. As a young violist, she was accepted into the Verbier Festival Orchestra in 2007 and later played in the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Zermatt Music Academy and the Russian-German Music Academy. She took up her first permanent orchestral position with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in 2014, before moving to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and finally to the Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB).

Elizaveta regularly appears as a guest musician with renowned ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and others. She has also been a member of the Estonian Festival Orchestra since 2019. In addition to her orchestral performances, Elizaveta is an enthusiastic chamber musician and passionate teacher. She also teaches at the Orchestra Academy of the Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB).

Ringela Riemke, who has been the deputy principal cellist of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1990, studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig under Wolfgang Weber. She was a member of the KNM Berlin (Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin) from 1991 to 2017, performing numerous concerts both nationally and internationally (including at the Cité de la Musique, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Gewandhaus, Carnegie Hall, and the Papal Palace in Avignon). Her last concert tour took her to Asia, to the Taipei Concert Hall.

Two of the CDs with chamber music works by Beat Furrer, which she recorded with KNM Berlin, were awarded the German Record Critics’ Award.

Ringela Riemke is a mentor at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Alice Lackner’s voice has been described by the press as “beguilingly secure, with astral heights and penetrating power” (Oper!) and as “utterly enchanting” (Tagesspiegel). She regularly appears with orchestras such as the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Essener Philharmoniker, Russian State Orchestra Kaliningrad, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, lautten compagney Berlin, Ensemble 1700 and Concerto Theresia, under the direction of renowned conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski, Wolfgang Katschner, Dorothee Oberlinger, Tomáš Netopil, Andrea Marchiol and Andreas Reize.
Highlights of recent seasons have included the soprano solo in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at the Konzerthaus Berlin, “Martha” in the world premiere of Gordon Kampe’s “Dogville” at the Aalto Theater Essen, “Ruggiero” in Handel’s “Alcina” in a production by lautten compagney Berlin, and “Negiorea” in Andrea Bernasconi’s “L’Huomo” at the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth and at the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival. Other engagements have taken her to the Berlin Philharmony, the Berlin Music Festival, the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Days of Early Music in Herne and the Mosel Music Festival.
Alice Lackner’s core concert repertoire includes the alto roles in cantatas and oratorios by J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn. However, the mezzo-soprano’s repertoire also includes less frequently performed works such as the masses for the dead by Duruflé or Suppè, the “Membra Jesu Nostri” (Buxtehude) and “Der Sieg des Glaubens” (Ries). Recently, she has also appeared in concert as a soprano, for example in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, in Mozart’s “Great Mass in C minor”, in Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solenelle” and in Stravinsky’s “Les Noces”.
A major focus of her work is lieder singing. In 2021, Alice Lackner released her debut CD “Ernsthaft?!” with the GENUIN label, together with her lied accompanist Imke Lichtwark. In addition to songs by Schönberg and Zemlinsky, this CD also includes first recordings of songs by the composer Sven Daigger. In October 2023, Alice Lackner recorded a first edition of all songs by George Antheil for Deutschlandfunk together with pianist Philip Mayers. Further recordings for cpo, BR-Klassik and ARTE Concert testify to her artistic work.
Alice Lackner was born in Munich, studied singing with Prof. Kunz-Eisenlohr at the HfMT Cologne/Aachen and is currently receiving further training from Sami Kustaloglu in Berlin. She holds a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation and has won prizes from “cantatebach!”, the Rheinsberg Castle Chamber Opera, and the “Podium junger Gesangssolisten”. With a degree in sociology, she works as a researcher at ZOiS Berlin. From 2025 onwards, she will take over the artistic direction of the “Güldener Herbst” festival in Thuringia.

The Australian pianist Philip Mayers is not only in demand as a song accompanist, chamber music partner, soloist, specialist for new music and répétiteur but also as a conductor, composer and brilliant presenter, arranger and performer of cabaret and light music.

In Berlin, he regularly performs with the RIAS Chamber Choir or the Rundfunkchor Berlin, with whom he has also recorded several CDs. He has guest conducted the Berlin Chamber Opera at renowned festivals (including Schwetzingen) and his opera “Trieste” was premiered by the Berlin Chamber Opera under his direction at the piano. He also took over the direction of the Rheinsberg Castle Opera Festival several times.

With the English cabaret singer Mary Carewe, he performed with her programme “Serious Cabaret” not only throughout Great Britain, but also at the Theâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as at the Alicante Festival for Contemporary Music and the Riga Festival Winter Music. In the trio “Panama Hat Trick”, with Mary and Anna Carewe, he plays music from the classical and cabaret worlds of the 20th century, where Philip moderates from the piano through the programme with incomparable wit and charm.

Philip Mayers studied at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane with Max Golding and with Philip Moll in Berlin and Zelma Bodzin in New York. He has also taken masterclasses with Dalton Baldwin and Geoffrey Parsons.