TICC is proudly presenting this year's academy instructors:
Tetzlaff Quartett
The Tetzlaff Quartett is one of today’s leading string quartets. Their shared passion for chamber music led the members to form the string quartet in 1994. The quartet has been to all the important concert venues in Germany, as well as to France, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland and the USA. In Germany they have a residency at the Schwetzinger SWR Festival. The quartet has recorded several CD´s: The first one in 2010, with quartets by Schönberg and Sibelius, followed by one with works by Berg and Mendelssohn in 2013. This record was awarded the “Diapason d’Or”. Haydn and Schubert were in focus on the record released in 2017 and in 2020, two late string quartets by Beethoven were released.
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Christian Tetzlaff has set standards with his interpretations of the great violin concertos. He regularly gives guest performances in all international music metropolises.
Elisabeth Kufferath, violin
Since 2009 she has held a professorship for violin at the University of Music and Drama in Hannover. She is a sought-after chamber music partner and is committed to contemporary music.
Hanna Weinmeister, viola
Since 1998 she has been engaged as First Concertmaster of the Zurich Opera Orchestra.
Tanja Tetzlaff, cello
Tanja Tetzlaff performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe as well as in the USA, Australia and Japan.
Stefan Mendl
Stefan Mendl was born in Vienna in 1966. He started his piano education with Manfred Wagner-Artzt and later studied with Alexander Jenner at the University of Music in Vienna. In his early career he appeared regularly as a soloist in Austria and abroad. He was a founding member of the Vienna Piano Trio in 1988, which soon became one of Europe’s leading chamber ensembles. The trio studied with artists like the Haydn Trio Wien, Isaac Stern and members of the LaSalle and Guarneri Quartets. Numerous CD´s have gained international acclaim, such as Gramophone Editor´s Choice and Echo-Klassik in 2010 and 2012. Stefan Mendl appears frequently in duo-recitals with cellist Clemens Hagen and works regularly with artists like Jörg Widmann, Ruth Ziesak and Mark Padmore. He has given masterclasses at Wigmore Hall and the Royal College of Music in London, the Sibelius Academy, the HMdK in Stuttgart and Hochschule Hanns Eisler. He frequently appears as a jury-member in various chamber music competitions, among others the ARD International Music Competition (2018) and the International Johannes Brahms Competition Pörtschach (2019). Stefan Mendl is teaching Chamber Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts -mdw in Vienna.
Miguel da Silva
Miguel da Silva was born in Reims in 1961. He studied at the Conservatoire in Reims and later at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, with Serge Collot. He founded the Ysaÿe Quartet with 3 of his friends. They studied with the Amadeus String Quartet and after winning the 1st prize at the Evian String Quartet Competition in 1988 an international career followed, taking them throughout the world. Engagements have led Miguel to most of the greatest concert halls in Europe, from the Wigmore Hall in London to Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras in Europe, such as the Paris Chamber Orchestra and the Franz-Liszt orchestra and has collaborated with various musicians, from Leonidas Kavakos to Truls Mørk and Emmanuel Pahud, da Silva has done numerous recordings, both with the quartet and as a soloist. In 1994 he started a class of string quartets at the Conservatoire National de Région in Paris and in 2008 he was appointed professor in Luebeck’s Musikhochschule. In 2009, he joined Geneva’s Haute Ecole de Musique as a viola and chamber music teacher, and became the artistic director of Académie musicale de Villecroze in France. He is Master in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.
Matthew McDonald
Matthew McDonald was born in Canberra, Australia. In 1996 he began his studies with Max McBride at the Canberra School of Music, later continuing with Kees Boersma in Sydney, completing his bachelor’s degree in 2000. From 2000 to 2001 he was a scholar of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy, and was then engaged as deputy principal bass of the Danish National Orchestra. Studies followed at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, with Esko Laine. Engagements followed as principal bass with the Ensemble Modern and with Berlin’s Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, before he came to the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2009. Chamber music is one of Matthew’s passions. He has performed with Imogen Cooper, Radovan Vlatkovic, Mark Padmore and the Kuss Quartet, and played the Rossini Duo at the Wigmore Hall with cellist Phillip Higham in 2010. Matthew has given masterclasses at Yale University, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and at the Tongyeong Music Festival in South Korea. He has tutored the bass sections of the European Union Youth Orchestra, The Britten Pears Orchestra and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. He is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, teacher at the Karajan Academy and visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music London.
Photo credits:
Tetzlaff Quartett: Giorgia Bertazzi, Stefan Mendl: Nancy Horowitz, Matthew McDonald: Emile Holba