RSB on Tour: The riders of rhythm

Describing Markus Poschner as a conductor who transcends boundaries is beside the point, as he would never accept the concept of boundaries in music-making, thinking or educating. Endowed with the freedom of a brilliant jazz pianist – which he has been since his youth – Poschner passionately loves getting to the bottom of things. Having been born into a dynasty of church musicians in Munich, he was influenced early on by assisting Sir Colin Davis and Sir Roger Norrington.

In 2018 his recording of the complete Brahms symphonies for SONY CLASSICAL with the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, whose chief conductor he has been since 2015, features a completely new reading of these works and promptly won the prestigious “International Classical Music Award”. His recording of Offenbach’s Maitre Péronilla with the Orchestre National de France was celebrated by the press and won the German Record Critics’ Award in 2020.

Ever since he won the „German Conductors Award“, Markus Poschner has made guest appearances with all the internationally renowned orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Radio Symphony Orchestras in Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Cologne, the Orchestre National de France, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked at opera houses such as the Berlin State Opera, the Komische Oper in Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Stuttgart State Opera, the opera houses in Cologne and Frankfurt. For many years he has enjoyed a close artistic collaboration with the Zurich Opera House, and he works regularly with directors such as Nicolas Stemann, Tobias Kratzer, Christof Loy, Robert Carsen, Hans Neuenfels, Peter Konwitschny, Andreas Homoki and Sebastian Baumgarten.

In 2017 Markus Poschner also took on the position of chief conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and at the Linz Opera. Under his leadership, the BOL quickly caused a stir by exploring its very own variant of the music of its namesake. An unmistakably Upper-Austrian musical dialect makes Bruckner’s oeuvre shine in a new and unheard-of light and has audience and press on the edges of their seats. In 2020 the Bruckner Orchestra Linz was named “Best Orchestra of the Year” at the Austrian Musical Theatre Awards.

For the production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Markus Poschner also won the award for “Best Opera Conductor” in 202

Percussionist Alexej Gerassimez, born in Essen, Germany, is as multi-faceted as the instruments he works with. His repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary and jazz to minimal music whilst also performing his own works.

As a soloist, Alexej Gerassimez is a guest with internationally renowned orchestras (including NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Münchner Philharmoniker and Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the baton of conductors such as Tan Dun, Kristjan Järvi, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Alexander Liebreich and Jonathan Stockhammer.

Alexej is also a soloist and an enthusiastic chamber musician. His partners include pianists Arthur and Lucas Jussen and jazz pianist Omer Klein. With the SIGNUM saxophone quartet, Alexej Gerassimez will embark on a “journey through the universe” in the newly conceived programme “Starry Night” and an album will be released in spring 2021 by Berlin Classics.

His repertoire is constantly expanding with new commissioned works. Several world premieres are scheduled for the coming seasons: a new double concerto for viola and percussion by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, a new percussion concerto by New Zealand composer John Psathas commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. As well as a concert by Japanese composer Malika Kishino at the Philharmonie Essen. The world premiere of John Psathas’ concerto “Leviathan” will take place in October 2021 at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Markus Poschner, followed by a concert at the Elbphilharmonie. Three concerts with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alpesh Chauhan are scheduled for November 2021.

Alexei Gerassimez was part of the “Junge Wilde” programme at Konzerthaus Dortmund as  and is participating in the three-year sponsorship program of the “stARTacademy von Bayer Kultur”.

Since November 2017 Alexej Gerassimez is professor for percussion at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.