Forever and ever

Kosuke Yoshikawa was born in Tokyo in 1984 into a musical family and received his first violin lessons at the age of three. He later continued his education at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo with Toshiya Eto. From 2003 to 2010 he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Josef Hell and passed with distinction. Later, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Ana Chumachenco and also graduated with honors in 2013 with a master’s degree. His further extensive training was provided by private lessons with Rainer Honeck, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Bavarian State Opera from 2010 to 2011, and in 2011 he obtained a permanent position in the first violins in the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Since 2017, he has been first violinist in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He plays as a substitute with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. His solo successes include prizes at the Stefanie Hohl Competition in Vienna and the International Violin Competition in Sion-Vallais. As a soloist, Kosuke Yoshikawa has performed with members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He has a great passion for chamber music and plays with several ensembles as well as with various violin duos, a piano trio and string quartets.

Richard Polle was born into a family of musicians. At the age of six, he began his first violin lessons with his mother. At 12, Richard started his studies as a junior student at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Jost Witter and continued his education two years later at the Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere Weimar. He completed his bachelor’s degree with honors under Josef Rissin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and earned his master’s degree with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.

He won numerous national and international competitions, including first prizes and special prizes in solo and duo categories at the “Jugend musiziert” national competition, the international violin competition “Postacchini” in Fermo (Italy), the “Villa de Llanes” competition in Llanes (Spain), as well as awards at the international violin competition “Kocian” in Ústí nad Orlicí (Czech Republic), the international Lake Constance Violin Competition, and the competition of the Kulturfonds Baden e.V.

He has performed with the Kammerorchester der Rheinischen Philharmonie Koblenz, the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Suhl, the Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, the Philharmonie der Stadt Kirow (Russia), the Junge Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, and the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim. He has also participated in several masterclasses, including those with Thomas Christian, Olga Parkhomenko, Roman Nodel, Ana Chumachenko, Boris Garlitsky, and Jörg Widmann.

Richard Polle has been a scholarship recipient from the Thüringen Ministry of Culture, the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt, the Friends of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Musikinstrumentenfonds of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and received the Gerd Bucerius Scholarship from the ZEIT Foundation in the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

From 2014 to 2016, he was a scholarship holder at the Orchestral Academy of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, and since 2016, he has been a permanent member of the first violins.

Lydia Rinecker has been the principal violist of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2016. From 2014 to 2015, she held the same position with the Staatskapelle Weimar. Born in Meiningen in 1989, she attended the Music High School Schloss Belvedere in Weimar and then studied at the music universities in Weimar and Berlin, specializing in viola under Erich Krüger and Ditte Leser.

She is a prizewinner of various national and international competitions. Among her accolades, she received multiple 1st prizes at the national “Jugend musiziert” competition, the 1st prize at the 17th International Johannes Brahms Competition, a 3rd prize at the Walter Witte Viola Competition in 2011, and a special prize for “outstanding talent” at the 62nd International Music Competition of the ARD, awarded by the Henning Tögel Talent Promotion Foundation. In 2011, she was a scholarship recipient of the “Hans and Eugenia Jütting” Foundation in Stendal.

During her studies, she gained orchestral experience as a substitute in the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and the Staatskapelle Weimar. As a soloist, Lydia Rinecker has performed with orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Schwerin, the Orchestra of the Theater Vorpommern, the Central German Chamber Philharmonic, the Czech orchestra “Virtuosi Brunensis,” and the Young Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

She plays a viola made around 1860 by the violin maker Karl Brandl from Pest.

Senja Rummukainen (1994) was awarded the 1st prize in the Finnish National Cello Competition 2014 in Turku and 2015 she was a finalist in the international Guilhermina Suggia Prize competition. In 2019 she was a finalist in the prestigious Tchaikovsky competition. Senja is a known guest at various music festivals such as the Naantali Music Festival, Turku Music Festival, Kauniainen Music Festival, Oulu Music Festival Grieg in Bergen Festival and RUSK Chamber Music Festival. She was the Young Artist of the Year at the Korsholm Music Festival in 2015 and since 2016 she has been part of the ”Young Chamber Musicians”-program at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.

Rummukainen has played as a soloist with orchestras such as the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Vaasa City Orchestra, Joensuu Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. She has made recordings for YLE.

Rummukainen is an active chamber musician and her chamber music partners have included Pekka Kuusisto, Jaakko Kuusisto, Elina Vähälä, Cecilia Zilliacus, Niek de Groot, Lise Berthaud, Jennifer Frautchi and Oliver Triendl, to name a few. In 2017 she became the 2nd principal cellist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also been guest principal cellist in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Senja is one of the artistic directors of the Chamber Summer Festival in Helsinki.

Senja Rummukainen is currently finishing her master studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Professor Jens-Peter Maintz. Her previous teachers have been Taru Aarnio, Marko Ylönen, Young-Chang Cho and Truls Mørk. Senja has participated masterclasses with professors such as David Geringas, Reinhard Latzko and Wolfgang Boettcher.

She has been supported by The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Wihuri Foundation, Kordelin Foundation, Paulo Foundation, Lehtinen Foundation, Pro Musica Foundation and the Wegelius Foundation. Currently she plays a cello by Stefano Scarampella (1897), generously loaned to her by Jorma Panula.