Suter: Le Laudi
Hermann Suter, Swiss organist and conductor, represents the generation of Bartók and Kodály. He was born in 1870 in Aargau, and studied in Basel, and then in Stuttgart and Leipzig (Reinecke). In Zürich he led a choir and later taught at the conservatory becoming an important figure in Swiss music and among Swiss musicians. Later he returned to Basel where he died in 1926. He wrote a symphony, a violin concerto and string quartets, but his most frequently performed work is the op. 25 oratorio: Le Laudi di San Francesco d’Assisi. The work has also been issued on CD, conducted by András Ligeti, director of the MATÁV Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, the mezzo soloist was Vesselina Kasarova. This time a mezzo role is to be sung by Susanne Schimmack who performs mainly in contemporary works in the Monnaie in Brussels. She recently sang the role of the Moon in the Ballata of Luca Francesconi, a student of Berio, in a production directed by Achim Freyer.

Concerto Copenhagen
The ensemble specialising in the performance of early music was formed by Danish and Swedish musicians in 1990. The core repertoire of Concerto Copenhagen (known to the Danish public as CoCo) is Baroque and early Classical music. They pay special attention to Nordic composers of the period, such as the Dane C. E. F. Weyse (1774–1842). In co-operation with the Royal Library of Copenhagen they have dusted down and brought to life many previously unknown scores worth discovering. Thanks to the combination of high standard playing and the rarely performed repertoire, the CoCo has become a unique phenomenon in the Danish (and international) music world. Since 1999 the ensemble’s music director has been the harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen who has given new impetus to the work of the ensemble. In 2002 they staged a performance of Handel’s Julius Caesar in the Royal Theatre, the biggest undertaking so far in the history of the orchestra.
Mortensen studied at the Danish Royal Academy of Music, then he was a student of Trevor Pinnock in London. Between 1988 and 1990 he played in the London Baroque orchestra, then until 1993 in the Collegium Musicum 90. His recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations won the French Diapason d’Or. In 2000 the Royal Theatre invited him to conduct Kunzen’s opera “Holger Danske”. Following the success of the performance Mortensen was appointed permanent conductor of the Royal Theatre and has since conducted many operas, including Mozart’s “Idomeneo”.

Harpist, Liszt Prize winner, teacher at the Academy of Music, founder and artistic director of the Gödöllő International Harp Festival. She has had 8 solo CDs published under the Capriccio label (Germany). She has given a number of highly successful solo concerts in the Main Hall of the Academy of Music. She is the soloist for concertos with leading orchestras (Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Strings). Her concert partners in recent years have included such outstanding artists as Zoltán Kocsis, David Grimal, Ervin Lukács, Dénes Gulyás, Csaba Onczay, Miklós Perényi, Vilmos Szabadi, Eszter Horgas, György Konrád, the Bartók Quartet, and the Amadinda Percussion Group.

Peter Bruns
Peter Bruns is regarded by the international music world as one of the leading cellists. His recording of Bach’s solo suites aroused special attention. The prestigious “Early Music Review” wrote: “This is perhaps the best recording of the year, or even of the decade. Not since Casals have we met such an authentic interpretation.” Bruns was born in Berlin and studied at the Hanns Eisler College. He was first cellist of the Dresdner Staatskapelle, and solo cellist of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, then from 1998 professor at the Dresden College.
He has appeared as a soloist in all countries of Europe, as well as in Israel, a number of Asian countries, North and South America. Together with the Dresden orchestra (conducted by the late Giuseppe Sinopoli) he took part in a number of highly successful tours. The main stages in his solo career: Berliner Philharmonie, New York (Carnegie Hall), London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Auditorium Les Halles), Dresden (Semperoper), Leipzig (Gewandhaus), Tokyo (Metropolitan Art Space Hall), Milan (Verdi Hall), Kuhmo Festival, St. Prée, Ambronay, Bergen, Schwetzingen and the Feldkirch Schubertiade.

Péter Nagy
At the age of eight he was already a student of the Budapest Academy of Music. As an especially gifted child he was taught by two excellent piano teachers, Klára Máté and Ferenc Rados. At the age of fourteen he became a full-time student of the prestigious institution, won international competitions, took part in master courses and also studied fortepiano playing with Malcolm Bilson. Between 1984 and 1987 he regularly attended the legendary lectures given by György Sebők at Bloomington. He is a familiar and popular artist from Sydney to Paris, and from Tokyo to Thessaloniki. He is a regular guest at major festivals including Aix-en-Provence, Kuhmo, and Edinburgh. His regular chamber partners are the violinist Leonidas Kavakos, the viola player Kim Kashkashian, and the cellist Martti Rousinak. He now holds his own master courses and has taught not only in Australia, but also in Asia and Europe.

Jos van der Kooy
Began his instrument studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, with Piet Kee. He continued his studies with Hans Haselböckn (improvisation), Ewald Kooiman (baroque music), Daniel Roth (César Franck), and Charles Wolff (Liszt, Réger organ works). In 1981 at the age of 30 he became the director of music and organist at the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. In 1990 he was appointed city organist in Haarlem, he is a member of the jury for the international organ competitions held in Haarlem every second year. The city’s Great Church has one of the best organs in Europe, built in 1735-36 by five-ten organ-builders under the direction of the renowned master, Christian Müller. The instrument was consecrated in 1738. The instrument has been restored a number of times, first in 1866, then in 1904, major renovation was carried out between 1959 and 1961; on its completion a gala concert was given on July 3, 1962 by van der Kooy’s teacher, Piet Kee and Albert de Klerk. Kooy is now a teacher too, teaching church music improvisation and, naturally the organ, in The Hague and in the conservatory in Alkmaar.