El Cimarrón Ensemble
Born from the tradition of touring theatre companies, the El Cimarrón Ensemble prides itself on its minimalistic approach to contemporary musical theatre productions. The ensemble, founded in 1999, made a name for itself with its interpretation of Hans Werner Henze's El Cimarrón, which it brought to audiences at the Salzburg Festival, the NDR Radio, the Cité Universitaire de Paris, the Teatr Scena STU in Krakow and California State University, as well as to cities throughout Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Poland, and the U.S.A.
The El Cimarrón Ensemble, made up of Christina Schorn (guitar), Ivan Mancinelli (percussion), and Michael Kerstan (stage director) and their friends Robert Koller (baritone), Ran Seo-Katanic (soprano), David Gruber (flute), and Khac-Uyen Nguyen (violin), puts on performances that are the product of close collaborations with distinguished composers. Agustín Castilla Ávila, Stefan Hakenberg, Sabine E. Panzer, Stefano Taglietti, Vito Palumbo, Mario Pagotto, Luca Lombardi and Balz Trümpy have all written chamber operas for the ensemble. In upcoming seasons, the Salzburg-based ensemble will premiere works by Giorgio Battistelli, Gabriele Proy and Jack Fortner.
The El Cimarrón Ensemble has released two CDs, El Cimarrón on WERGO in 2007 and Memoirs of Elagabalus/The Egg Musher on VDMRecords - RAITrade in 2008. Both were praised by critics for highlighting the ensemble's technical and musical prowess.
www.elcimarronensemble.com
Robert Koller
The baritone Robert Koller studied with Lásló Polgár at the Musikhochschule Zürich/Winterthur. In 2001 and 2002 he won the academic prize for solo voice awarded by the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund and the Ernst Göhner Association. In 2003, he won the ORPHEUS-Konzerte sponsorship award.
Some of the many opera and concert parts he has sung include Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew's Passion (Tonhalle Zürich), the title role in Carmen Maria Cârnecis' Giacometti-Oper (Kunsthaus Zürich, Ensemble Phoenix under Jürg Henneberger) and the King in the opera Siroe, re di persia (Musikhalle Hamburg and Zellerbach Hall Berkeley, Venica Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon). He performed in Beat Furrer's Invocation at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with Christoph Marthaler and has sung works by Charpentier at the Styriarte in Graz and on a tour of France with the Capella Reial de Catalunya under the direction of Jordi Savall. In Lyon, Annecy, Grenoble and Chambéry, he played Death in Voktor Ullmann's opera Kaiser von Atlantis. He sang the bass solo in Hans Ulrich Leihmann's Nachts ist der Himmelnäher als am Tag at the Lucerne Festival. He was invited to perform the title roles in the operas Heliogabalus and Egg Musher at the Audi Forum Sommerkonzerten in 2007. That same year, he sang in Regamey's Visions du Prophète Daniel at the Kiev Philharmonic with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. In 2008, he was the baritone soloist in several opera productions at the International Orpheus Festival in Fresno, California and the Krakow Festival and sang solo recitals at ART BASEL and at the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich.
Christina Schorn
Christina Schorn was born in Hallein, Austria, and received her first guitar lessons at the age of eight from Renate Sölva. She continued her studies with Eliot Fisk and Joaquin Clerch at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. She won first prize in the Austrian national competition Jugend musiziert in both 1991 and 1993. In 1995, she received a scholarship from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to continue her studies with Robert Brightmore. Together with her Portuguese guitar-duo partner M.P. Marques, she won first prize at the Pippa Portallion Chamber Music Competition. In 1996, she traveled to Montevideo to further her studies under the tutelage of Abel Carlevaro.
From a young age, Christina Schorn took part in master classes with renowned musicians such as Alvaro Pierri (Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg), Leo Brouwer, Hopkinson Sith, Oscar Ghiglia (Accademia Musicale Chigiana/Siena), Rey Guerra and Konrad Ragossnig.
Christina Schorn has performed in Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, England, Italy, Mexico, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the Czech Republic. In addition to her solo performances, she is also an active chamber musician.
Ivan Mancinelli
The percussionist Ivan Mancinelli studied with Beniamino Forestiere at the Conservatorio N. Piccinni in Bari and received his diploma with honors in 1996. At the Mozarteum in Salzburg he continued his studied with Peter Sadlo, receiving his diploma with honors in 2003.
An active chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist, Ivan Mancinelli has performed all over the world, including in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, United States, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China, Thailand and the United States.
He has performed numerous world premieres by Stefano Taglietti, Stefan Hakenberg, Agustín Castilla-Ávila, S.E. Panzerand Balz Trümpy, in venues such as the Teatro civico in Sassari, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Romanischer Sommer in Cologne and at the Slovakian Festival for New Music Banska Bystrica.
Since 2003, Ivan Mancinelli has been a frequent guest percussionist with the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin. In 2006, his solo CD featuring Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, transcribed for Marimba, was released by Bongiovanni Records Bologna. Critics have called this CD as a reference recording for all percussionists interested in Bach.
Michael Kerstan
Michae Kerstan, stage director and dramaturge, received his Ph.D. in empirical cultural studies after studying in Saarbrücken and Tübingen. As assistant to Hans Werner Henze, he worked on various music pedagogy projects in Italy, Austria, France and the United States. As artistic director he gave shape to the Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg (Austria), the Kultur Region Stuttgart, and the Junge Kultur in Hallein/Salzburg.
His theater and opera productions have taken him to the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Hebbel Theater Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Münchener Biennale für Neues Musiktheater, the Tübinger Kammeroper, Steirischer Herbst in Graz, Theater Konstanz and the CrossSound Festival in Juneau, Alaska, among other places.
Michael Kerstan debuted as a film director and scriptwriter in the one-hour feature film Paul's Party. He publishes regularly on contemporary music and cultural pedagogy, and has also published four plays and one opera libretto. He has recently published an illustrated volume on Hans Werner Henze and a monograph on the operetta in Nuremberg, Souris Arche. Kerstan lives in Nuremberg and Marino, near Rome.
David Grüber
Flautist David Grüber, born in 1985, received his musical education at the Musikum in Salzburg. During this time, he received multiple prizes from the music competition for youth "Prima la musica". With fifteen, he gave his solo debut with the Halleiner Chamber Orchestra.
David Gruber has studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg since 2004 under the Danish flautist Janne Thomsen and the world renowned Irena Grafenauer. In 2007, David won the I. E. Boleszny Music Scholarship from the city of Salzburg.
In addition to his solo performances, David is also an active chamber musician. He collaborates regularly with the Johann Strauss Orchestra Salzburg and a number of ensembles at the Mozarteum. David joined the El Cimarrón Ensemble in 2008.
Khac-Uyen Nguyen
The conductor Khac-Uyen Nguyen was born in Hanoi in 1971 and began his musical studies on the violin with his father at the age of 5. He later studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo and completed his post-graduate studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music.
As a violinist, Khac-Uyen has performed recitals in the UK, Norway, Germany and Vietnam. He is a former member of the Kristiansand Kammerorkester, the Oslo Kammerorchester, the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra Bonn and the Malmo Opera.
In 2002, Khac-Uyen Nguyen earned a Henry Wood Scholarship to study conducting with Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music. Khac-Uyen is the founder of the Ensemble Musicus Chamber Orchestra (EMCO), which was awarded the Concordia Prize for its London debut in September 2005. Khac-Uyen is currently a guest conductor for the Suffolk Sinfonia, the I Maestrio and the Southend Symphony Orchestra. Besides working as a performing artist, Khac-Uyen is also an active educator. He teaches violin and chamber music at the Centre for Young Musicians (Morley College) and the Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College.
The El Cimarrón Ensemble, made up of Christina Schorn (guitar), Ivan Mancinelli (percussion), and Michael Kerstan (stage director) and their friends Robert Koller (baritone), Ran Seo-Katanic (soprano), David Gruber (flute), and Khac-Uyen Nguyen (violin), puts on performances that are the product of close collaborations with distinguished composers. Agustín Castilla Ávila, Stefan Hakenberg, Sabine E. Panzer, Stefano Taglietti, Vito Palumbo, Mario Pagotto, Luca Lombardi and Balz Trümpy have all written chamber operas for the ensemble. In upcoming seasons, the Salzburg-based ensemble will premiere works by Giorgio Battistelli, Gabriele Proy and Jack Fortner.
The El Cimarrón Ensemble has released two CDs, El Cimarrón on WERGO in 2007 and Memoirs of Elagabalus/The Egg Musher on VDMRecords - RAITrade in 2008. Both were praised by critics for highlighting the ensemble's technical and musical prowess.
www.elcimarronensemble.com
Robert Koller
The baritone Robert Koller studied with Lásló Polgár at the Musikhochschule Zürich/Winterthur. In 2001 and 2002 he won the academic prize for solo voice awarded by the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund and the Ernst Göhner Association. In 2003, he won the ORPHEUS-Konzerte sponsorship award.
Some of the many opera and concert parts he has sung include Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew's Passion (Tonhalle Zürich), the title role in Carmen Maria Cârnecis' Giacometti-Oper (Kunsthaus Zürich, Ensemble Phoenix under Jürg Henneberger) and the King in the opera Siroe, re di persia (Musikhalle Hamburg and Zellerbach Hall Berkeley, Venica Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon). He performed in Beat Furrer's Invocation at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with Christoph Marthaler and has sung works by Charpentier at the Styriarte in Graz and on a tour of France with the Capella Reial de Catalunya under the direction of Jordi Savall. In Lyon, Annecy, Grenoble and Chambéry, he played Death in Voktor Ullmann's opera Kaiser von Atlantis. He sang the bass solo in Hans Ulrich Leihmann's Nachts ist der Himmelnäher als am Tag at the Lucerne Festival. He was invited to perform the title roles in the operas Heliogabalus and Egg Musher at the Audi Forum Sommerkonzerten in 2007. That same year, he sang in Regamey's Visions du Prophète Daniel at the Kiev Philharmonic with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. In 2008, he was the baritone soloist in several opera productions at the International Orpheus Festival in Fresno, California and the Krakow Festival and sang solo recitals at ART BASEL and at the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich.
Christina Schorn
Christina Schorn was born in Hallein, Austria, and received her first guitar lessons at the age of eight from Renate Sölva. She continued her studies with Eliot Fisk and Joaquin Clerch at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. She won first prize in the Austrian national competition Jugend musiziert in both 1991 and 1993. In 1995, she received a scholarship from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to continue her studies with Robert Brightmore. Together with her Portuguese guitar-duo partner M.P. Marques, she won first prize at the Pippa Portallion Chamber Music Competition. In 1996, she traveled to Montevideo to further her studies under the tutelage of Abel Carlevaro.
From a young age, Christina Schorn took part in master classes with renowned musicians such as Alvaro Pierri (Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg), Leo Brouwer, Hopkinson Sith, Oscar Ghiglia (Accademia Musicale Chigiana/Siena), Rey Guerra and Konrad Ragossnig.
Christina Schorn has performed in Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, England, Italy, Mexico, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the Czech Republic. In addition to her solo performances, she is also an active chamber musician.
Ivan Mancinelli
The percussionist Ivan Mancinelli studied with Beniamino Forestiere at the Conservatorio N. Piccinni in Bari and received his diploma with honors in 1996. At the Mozarteum in Salzburg he continued his studied with Peter Sadlo, receiving his diploma with honors in 2003.
An active chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist, Ivan Mancinelli has performed all over the world, including in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, United States, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China, Thailand and the United States.
He has performed numerous world premieres by Stefano Taglietti, Stefan Hakenberg, Agustín Castilla-Ávila, S.E. Panzerand Balz Trümpy, in venues such as the Teatro civico in Sassari, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Romanischer Sommer in Cologne and at the Slovakian Festival for New Music Banska Bystrica.
Since 2003, Ivan Mancinelli has been a frequent guest percussionist with the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin. In 2006, his solo CD featuring Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, transcribed for Marimba, was released by Bongiovanni Records Bologna. Critics have called this CD as a reference recording for all percussionists interested in Bach.
Michael Kerstan
Michae Kerstan, stage director and dramaturge, received his Ph.D. in empirical cultural studies after studying in Saarbrücken and Tübingen. As assistant to Hans Werner Henze, he worked on various music pedagogy projects in Italy, Austria, France and the United States. As artistic director he gave shape to the Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg (Austria), the Kultur Region Stuttgart, and the Junge Kultur in Hallein/Salzburg.
His theater and opera productions have taken him to the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Hebbel Theater Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Münchener Biennale für Neues Musiktheater, the Tübinger Kammeroper, Steirischer Herbst in Graz, Theater Konstanz and the CrossSound Festival in Juneau, Alaska, among other places.
Michael Kerstan debuted as a film director and scriptwriter in the one-hour feature film Paul's Party. He publishes regularly on contemporary music and cultural pedagogy, and has also published four plays and one opera libretto. He has recently published an illustrated volume on Hans Werner Henze and a monograph on the operetta in Nuremberg, Souris Arche. Kerstan lives in Nuremberg and Marino, near Rome.
David Grüber
Flautist David Grüber, born in 1985, received his musical education at the Musikum in Salzburg. During this time, he received multiple prizes from the music competition for youth "Prima la musica". With fifteen, he gave his solo debut with the Halleiner Chamber Orchestra.
David Gruber has studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg since 2004 under the Danish flautist Janne Thomsen and the world renowned Irena Grafenauer. In 2007, David won the I. E. Boleszny Music Scholarship from the city of Salzburg.
In addition to his solo performances, David is also an active chamber musician. He collaborates regularly with the Johann Strauss Orchestra Salzburg and a number of ensembles at the Mozarteum. David joined the El Cimarrón Ensemble in 2008.
Khac-Uyen Nguyen
The conductor Khac-Uyen Nguyen was born in Hanoi in 1971 and began his musical studies on the violin with his father at the age of 5. He later studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo and completed his post-graduate studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music.
As a violinist, Khac-Uyen has performed recitals in the UK, Norway, Germany and Vietnam. He is a former member of the Kristiansand Kammerorkester, the Oslo Kammerorchester, the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra Bonn and the Malmo Opera.
In 2002, Khac-Uyen Nguyen earned a Henry Wood Scholarship to study conducting with Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music. Khac-Uyen is the founder of the Ensemble Musicus Chamber Orchestra (EMCO), which was awarded the Concordia Prize for its London debut in September 2005. Khac-Uyen is currently a guest conductor for the Suffolk Sinfonia, the I Maestrio and the Southend Symphony Orchestra. Besides working as a performing artist, Khac-Uyen is also an active educator. He teaches violin and chamber music at the Centre for Young Musicians (Morley College) and the Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College.
General Management
Ivan Mancinelli
85. birthday of Hans Werner Henze
Robert Koller