Mirijam Contzen is highly regarded by the international music world as a soloist, chamber musician, festival director, and professor of violin. In her playing, grandeur and the highest technical mastery combine to create fascinatingly refined interpretations of works. Her unmistakable sound and unique musical expressiveness testify to a deep interpretative individuality.
Since the beginning of her concert activities, Mirijam Contzen has advocated for the performance of unknown repertoire. In January 2020, she released an album with Sony Classical featuring the two violin concertos by Franz Clement with the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reinhard Goebel. The 2nd violin concerto was a world premiere recording. This album received the German Record Critics' Award (Best List 02/2020) as well as the OPUS Klassik award for "Concert Recording of the Year."
In the 21/22 season, as part of the "New Mozarts" series for Sony Classical, the recording of the once-attributed W.A. Mozart Violin Concerto in E-flat major KV 365 was released for the first time since 1965, with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg conducted by Reinhard Goebel. For her debut CD, which won the Echo Prize in 2001, she selected very rarely performed works by Hubay, Ferrara, and Geszler.
Mirijam Contzen has appeared as a guest with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Israel Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
She has performed under the baton of Iván Fischer, Gianandrea Noseda, Reinhard Goebel, Vladimir Fedosejev, Leif Segerstam, Lothar Zagrosek, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christopher Hogwood, Eliahu Inbal, Tomas Netopil, Michael Sanderling, Mario Venzago, David Stern, and Gabriel Feltz.
Her passion for chamber music has also led to collaborations with highly renowned musicians such as Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Mischa Maisky, Clemens Hagen, Herbert Schuch, Bernd Glemser, Tobias Bredohl, and Giovanni Guzzo.
In 2016, Mirijam Contzen was appointed as a professor of violin at the University of the Arts Berlin. A major concern for her is also the promotion of exceptional young violin talents, the commitment to the training of music educators, and interest in educational processes in society.
Frank-Immo Zichner is a pianist with an extraordinarily wide repertoire. His artistic interest is not only directed towards the main works of solo and chamber music literature. Many of his CD and concert programs include works often unjustly forgotten by composers. For some of his numerous CD recordings, Frank-Immo Zichner has been awarded the German Record Critics' Prize, the Supersonic Award, and the Diapason Découverte. Zichner has released albums with Naxos, RCA, Capriccio, cpo, Kairos, Melodia Russian Disc, EDA, and self-published under Edition Refugium.
Concerts have taken him as a pianist and chamber musician to over 40 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Japan, and to festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Berlin Festival Weeks, the Berlin Biennale, the Bad Kissinger Music Summer, the Moscow Autumn, the Sligo Festival/Ireland, and the Westfalen Classics Festival. As a soloist, he has performed with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO), the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester Berlin (RSB), the Staatskapelle Schwerin, under the direction of Marek Janowski, Michail Jurowski, Michael Sanderling, among others.
Frank-Immo Zichner is a founding member of the Aperto Piano Quartet. A half dozen commissioned works have been initiated by this ensemble.
His education was received in the master class of Prof. Dieter Zechlin (HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin). His mentors were Menahem Pressler, Jakob Lateiner, and György Kurtag.
In 2004, Frank-Immo Zichner was a Visiting Professor at the University of Music in Bloomington (USA) representing Menahem Pressler.
Since 2011, Frank-Immo Zichner has been teaching at the University of the Arts in Berlin and founded the Chamber Music Center at this institution. Zichner has given master classes at home and abroad and has been a jury member in international competitions.
Since 2019, Frank-Immo Zichner has been a guest professor for chamber music at the Chopin Music University in Warsaw.
Admission: 2:30 PM