Animal parade with Barbara Schöneberger

German-born conductor Johannes Zurl did his studies with Karl-Heinz Steffens, Martin Brauß, Steven Sloane and Kurt Masur. In 2016 he got his master degree of conducting at the UDK Berlin. He was a member of Karajan Academy with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and is a prize winner of ARD Int. Music Competition in Munich. He was invited to masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, David Zinman and Jorma Panula and spent a summer as conducting fellow at Aspen Music Festival 2010 where he was immediately reinvited. As répétiteur/assistant he served to Hans Graf, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Christian Thielemann. In 2014 Lorin Maazel invited him as conducting fellow to Castleton Festival and Colorado Symphony invited him for concerts. On invitation of music director Jeffrey Tate he is regularly conducting Symphoniker Hamburg since seven seasons; in 2015 together with world famous soprano Juliane Banse. During the season 2012/13 he gave his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and recorded works by Hindemith for the label cpo with them. This Hindemith – CD was highley acclaimed by the „Guardian“. Johannes continued his cpo recording cooperation with Symphoniker Hamburg and works by romantic composer Friedrich Gernsheim. In 2015 he debuted  at Theater Hagen with Beethovens Fidelio. In the upcoming season highlights will be a return to Symphoniker Hamburg as well as his debut with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and a recording for Sony Classical.

He so far conducted orchestras like Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Staatskapelle Halle, Staatsorchester Frankfurt/Oder, Magdeburger Philharmonie, Bochumer Symphoniker, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Cincinnati Symphony and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Johannes performed at many festivals including the Beethovenfestival Bonn, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Heidelberger Frühling, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival. He recently shared stage with Ruth Ziesak, Mojca Erdmann, Tabea Zimmermann, Nils Mönkemeyer, Johannes Moser and Pierre-Laurent Aimard and also premiered Jörg Widmanns Quintett for piano and woodwinds. During the last seasons six discs have been released.

Extensive concert tours have then taken the pianists through all of Europe, the Far East and America. They have performed among others at the Guggenheim Museum New York, Wigmore Hall London, Semperoper Dresden, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna as well as in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Taipei or Salzburg.

There is always a special bond between twins – and Ferhan & Ferzan Oender bring this bond on stage. They are two individual artists but together they established a new musical identity, establishing themselves as one of the most promising Piano-Duos of the younger generation in the world’s concert circuit by means of their electrifying playing. What seems to be a cliché at first is not a cliché anymore if you see Ferhan & Ferzan Oender playing piano as they complete each other while playing.

Born in Tokat (Turkey) they moved to Ankara at the age of seven, following their brother who was already studying at the Conservatory. Only at the age of ten, Ferhan & Ferzan Oender began playing the piano. Four years later, they would win the „Jury Special Award” at the International Duo Competition in Terni (Italy). After a series of further prizes, Ferhan & Ferzan Oender won the First Prize at the International Piano Duo Competition in Hamburg.

Ferhan & Ferzan Oender’s talent combined with their ambition followed a decision, which proved to be the right one for the career:  after winning a competition which led to a concert in Vienna, the twins decided to move to Austria in 1985. They studied at the Academy of Music in Vienna with Noel Flores and Paul Badura-Skoda. Shortly before their final exams they met Alfons Kontarsky who became their mentor and a close friend until his death.

Ferhan & Ferzan Oender’s Turkish roots are influencing them regarding their rhythm, they are saying themselves, as they have been used to the irregular rhythms of traditional songs from their earliest childhood. The fact that they continue the tradition of Turkish piano-duos they call a coincidence. The pianist who were important for them and influenced them artistically are, among others, Vladimir Horowitz, Grigori Sokolov, Glenn Gould, Friedrich Gulda as well as Katia and Marielle Labèque.

Ferhan & Ferzan Oender have been invited to perform at various music festivals: Rheingau Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Wiener Festwochen, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Istanbul Festival, Sommets Musicaux Gstaad, Festspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.

In 2003, they performed with Sir Peter Ustinov at the Voestival in Linz. Similar musical-literary projects led to collaboration with Cornelia Froboess, Armin Müller-Stahl, Friedrich von Thun, Günther Jauch und Roger Willemsen.

Ferhan & Ferzan perform regularly with major orchestras like Staatskapelle Dresden, Mozarteum Orchestra, Stuttgarter Philharmonic and have collaborated with conductors as John Axelrod, Hans Graf, Howard Griffiths, Max Pommer, Hubert Soudant, Stefan Vladar or Hugo Wolff.

After releasing several CDs at minor labels they had their break through with their CD “Vivaldi Reflections” which had been released at EMI in 2001. This release also won the coveted ECHO KLASSIK Prize of the German Phono Academy. Their next CD was a “1001 nights” (EMI, 2003) with adaptations of Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Balakirev and Mozart.

In 2011 a live recording of their concert of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” for choir, soloists, two pianos and percussion at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival had been published with Sony.

Ferhan & Ferzan Oender are living in Vienna. Since 2003 they have been appointed “Goodwill Ambassadors” of UNICEF.

Raphaela Gromes received her first cello lessons at the age of four. Being only seven years old, she already accompanied her parents – both being cellists – on stage. Her solo debut with Friedrich Gulda’s cello concerto in autumn 2005 was highly acclaimed both by the audience and the media. In consequence numerous concerts with the great cello repertory followed.

Various composers have already dedicated cello concertos to her: the world premiere of Dominik Giesriegel’s cello concerto in 2012 was followed by that of Valentin Bachmann’s cello concerto performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra Budweis conducted by David Svec. The third world premiere, the double concerto “Chroma” that Mario Bürki had written for Raphaela Gromes and Cécile Grüebler in 2014, brought her into contact with the Swiss military orchestra. Further on she collaborated with Kent Nagano and the Czech Philharmonic as well as with Christoph Altstaedt and the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn.

Raphaela Gromes was invited to the Jungfrau Music Festival Interlaken, the Vorsprung Festival of the “Audi Summer Concerts” in Ingolstadt, the Munich Opera Festival, the Marvão International Music Festival, the Mondsee Musiktage Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival.

In addition to her career as soloist she is also devoted to chamber music. Her chamber music partners are amongst others Christian Altenburger, Isabelle von Keulen, Alexander Lubimov, Patrick Demenga and Mischa Maisky. Together with her duo-partner, the pianist Julian Riem, she regularly gives concerts throughout Germany and abroad.

Her first recordings that were taken with her longtime piano partner Julian Riem, were released by Farao Music in 2014. Since 2016 she is one of SONY Classical exclusive artists. In September 2017 her first SONY-CD with the works of the late Romantic composers Giuseppe Martucci, Leone Sinigaglia, Ferrucio B. Busoni and Mario Castelnuovo, that she recorded with her partner Julian Riem, will be released.

Raphaela Gromes has already won numerous prizes: in 2011 she was awarded the Musikförderpreis des Konzertverein Ingolstadt (young musicians’ scholarship), in 2012 she was first in the Competition Richard Strauss. In 2012 she was granted a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German National Merit Foundation) and has been supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now since then. Furthermore she received the scholarship of the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation Stendal. Raphaela Gromes and her duo cello partner, Cécile Grüebler, received the Förderpreis der Theodor-Rogler-Stiftung Bad Reichenhall (young musicians’ scholarship) in 2014. In 2016 she was first in the cello solo competition of the German Music Council and became one of this year’s young talented musicians who receive special promotion (“Bundesauswahl Junger Solisten”). She was first prize winner of the Kulturkreis-Gasteig competition in 2012 and 2016 and also of the international Concorso Fiorindo Turin in 2013.

Raphaela Gromes is a graduate of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich where she studied with Wen-Sinn Yang. She started her studies with Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2015/16. She took master classes with well-known cellists like David Geringas, Yo-Yo Ma, Natalia Gutman, László Fenyö, Daniel Müller-Schott, Kristin von der Goltz, Wolfgang Boettcher, Anner Bylsma, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmid and Peter Bruns, who accepted her as junior student from 2006 until 2010 at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig.

Raphaela Gromes’ cello is a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume instrument of 1855 that is provided by a private benefactor.