Chamber concert Theater im Delphi

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 is an internationally acclaimed opera, concert and Lied singer.

She holds a close artistic relationship with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and its chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski, as well as with the lautten compagney Berlin under baton of Wolfgang Katschner. She has also worked with orchestras such as the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Essener Philharmoniker, the Russian National Orchestra of Kaliningrad, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder), the Sinfonieorchester Aachen, as well as baroque ensembles such as Ensemble 1700 (under Dorothee Oberlinger), L‘Orfeo, La Banda, Concerto Theresia, le buisson prospérant or Stiftsmusik Stuttgart.

She has been invited to festivals and concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Aalto-Theater Essen, Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, Musikfest Berlin, George-Enescu-Festival Bukarest, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Mosel Musikfestival, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Nikolaisaal Potsdam or Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Various recordings have been published for Deutschlandfunk, BR-Klassik, ARTE Concert, cpo, Sony and her Debut-CD “Ernsthaft?!” (GENUIN 2021).

As an opera singer, Alice Lackner made her debut in 2023 at the Aalto-Theater Essen, the Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth and Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci. Previously, she sang at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik as “Olga” in Mattheson’s “Boris Goudenow”. This production was released in 2022 by the label cpo. In productions of the lautten compagney Berlin, she performed “Ruggiero” in Handel’s “Alcina” or “Volpino” in Haydn’s “Lo Speziale”. As a laureate of the Rheinsberg Kammeroper Festival 2019, she was invited to sing “Nancy” in Flotow’s “Martha”. While still in her studies, she performed various soloist parts at the Theater Aachen, in operas such as Rusalka (Antonín Dvořák), Les Brigands (Jacques Offenbach) or Jenufa (Leoš Janáček).

In September 2024, she will give her debut as a concert singer in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Previous highlights include Bach’s Mass in b minor and Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 4 with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, under baton of Vladimir Jurowski, or Mozarts Mass in c minor in the Berliner Philharmonie.

Her core repertoire on the concert stage includes alto parts in works by Bach, Händel, Mozart, and Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Recent performances have also included lesser known concert repertoire such as Requiems by Duruflé or Suppè, the “Membra Jesu Nostri” by Buxtehude or “Der Sieg des Glaubens” by Ries. Furthermore, she recently also performed soprano parts in works such as Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater”, Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solenelle” or Stravinsky’s “Les Noces”.

With respect to the art song, Alice Lackner works on a regular basis with the pianist Imke Lichtwark in Berlin. Their debut CD with songs by Zemlinsky, Schönberg and Daigger was released in 2021 with the label GENUIN, co-produced by Deutschlandfunk. In October 2023, Alice recorded – together with pianist Philip Mayers – the complete art songs by George Antheil for Deutschlandfunk; many of these songs were world premieres. As a chamber music partner, she will again perform together with musicians of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in December 2024.

Alice Lackner is very passionate about contemporary music. In September 2024, she will perform  Ruth Zechlin’s “Frühe Kafka-Texte” in Berlin together with Zafraan Ensemble.

In 2023, she sang the role of “Martha” in the world premiere of Gordon Kampe’s opera “Dogville” at Aalto-Theater Essen. Furthermore,  she worked with composers such as Bernd Franke, Sven Daigger, Ruth Alon, Johannes X. Schachtner, Oscar Jockel, or Sabine Wüsthoff. She also sings in small ensembles such as the SWR Vokalensemble, and founded in 2019 the Berlin-based trio meZZZovoce, with which she has sung a great variety of world premieres.

Born in Munich, Alice Lackner studied with Prof. Kunz-Eisenlohr 2010-2015 at the HfMT Köln/Aachen and worked with teachers such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Gerd Uecker, Robert Holl, Ulrich Eisenlohr and Sami Kustaloglu. She received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and won prizes at the “Podium junger Gesangssolisten” competition (Essen 2015 and Erfurt 2021), the “cantatebach!” competition in Greifswald (2017) as well as the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg (2019).

Alice Lackner is the designated artistic director of the festival “Gueldener Herbst” in Thuringia, starting 2025.

Furthermore, she holds a Master’s degree in sociology and works as a research assistant at the Berlin-based ZOiS (Centre for East European and International Studies).

Alice Lackner speaks German, English, Italian, French and Russian, and is currently studying Arabic.

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.