Internationally recognized as a soloist as well as a chamber musician, Austro-Italianviolinist Olivia De Prato has been described as “flamboyant….convincing” (New York Times) and an “enchanting violinist” (Messaggero Veneto, Italy). After moving to New York City she has quickly established herself as a passionate performer of contemporary and improvised music, breaking boundaries of the traditional violin repertoire and regularly performs in Europe, South America, China and the United States.
Her chamber music activities include appearances at the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City, the David Byrne Perspective Series at Carnegie Hall, the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern Festival (Austria), “June in Buffalo” Festival, the Ojai Festival with Steve Reich and Brad Lubman, the Darmstadt New Music Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK.
Olivia is a member of New York contemporary music ensembles Signal and Victoire, and is the co-founder and first violinist of the Mivos String Quartet.
She has recorded on New Amsterdam Records, Tzadik, Carrier, Sunnyside, Mode, Cantaloupe and Porter Records.
In 2010 and 2011 she toured Europe and South Africa with Grammy-award winning Esperanza Spalding and Chamber Music Society on violin and viola.
As a guest artist, she has been invited to hold solo and chamber music master-classes for young musicians and composers in Anchorage (Alaska), Medellin (Colombia), Vienna (Austria), Hong Kong, “Yong Siew Toh Conservatory” (Singapore), Shanghai Conservatory, MIAM University (Turkey), Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College, New York University and CUNY Graduate Center in New York.
Olivia has closely collaborated with well-known composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Anthony Braxton, Chaya Czernowin, Peter Eotvos, Beat Furrer, Michael Gordon, Annie Gosfield, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenman, David Lang, Brad Lubman, Philippe Manoury, Benedict Mason, Meredith Monk, Krystof Penderecki, Hilda Peredes, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Ned Rothenberg, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong, J.G Thirwell, Julia Wolfe, Charles Wuorinen, and Evan Ziporyn.
Olivia De Prato grew up in Vienna and Italy. She studied at the University of Music and Arts in Vienna and holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music.
www.oliviadeprato.com

In response to his first CD, “When Interpretation and Improvisation Get Together”, Lord Yehudi Menuhin wrote: “David Dolan is giving new life to classical music.” International concert pianist, researcher and teacher, Professor Dolan devotes a part of his career to the revival of the lost art of classical improvisation and its various applications in performance. He has recorded and performed in four continents and integrated extemporization in many of his concerts. Professor Dolan is the Head of the Centre for Creative Performance & Classical Improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, and teaches also at the Yehudi Menuhin School. His series of master-classes and workshops take place in music centres around the world.

Dietmar Flosdorf studied viola with Hatto Beyerle and Kim Kashkashian in Vienna and Munich. Concert diploma and Master of Arts degree from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Worldwide concert activity as a member of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and as freelance musician in collaboration with ensembles such as the German Chamber Philharmonic, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. Teacher at the Vienna School of Music and the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
As music mediator, in 1989 he founded the experimental dialogical music mediation program “Music to Touch”. He is in charge of conception and implementation of the first music mediation projects for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and for the newly opened opera house Theater an der Wien.
From 2003 to 2011, Flosdorf directed the musical mediation activities of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He won the “Junge Ohren Preis” in 2007 and the “IRIDA achievement award for cultural education in new social contexts” in 2009.
Research projects such as “Artists in Creative Education” within the framework of EU Culture 2007-13 or “You feel, I hear, we make music – a dialogue” on inclusion with hearing-impaired and hearing pupils as part of “Sparkling Science” 2012-14.
Community projects with schools, educational and cultural institutions such as the Federal Institute for the Blind, the Institute for Education of the Deaf, the Vienna Mozart Year 2006, the European Football Championship 2008, the Vienna Technical Museum, “Integrationshaus Wien”, with Caritas institutions, “Jugend am Werk”, “Wiener Hilfswerk”, senior citizens’ homes, neighbourhood centres and refugee homes.
Publications and activities as a networker and advisory board member in various committees and programmes on music education.

Pianist Hsin-Huei Huang was born in 1977 in Taipei, Taiwan and began taking piano lessons at the age of five. Later on, she also began playing the cello. In 1997, she came to Europe to study piano with Thomas Duis and Ayami Ikeba in Graz, Austria and Hans Leygraf in Salzburg. Hsin-Huei Huang played a wide range of piano repertoire, from compositions by Bach through to contemporary music, already from an early stage, she dedicated her work to the interpretation of the contemporary piano repertoire and performed works by Wolfgang Rihm and Olivier Messiaen.
Composers like Beat Furrer, Bernhard Gander, Friedrich Cerha and Bernhard Lang
have worked closely together with the pianist to create the best possible
interpretations.
Hsin-Huei Huang recorded compositions by Bernhard Gander and
Beat Furrer for Label KAIROS and the Label NEOS. Hsin-Huei Huang regularly
performs as a soloist at internationally renowned concert halls and festivals and
composers with well-known ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet and Klangforum Wien. The development of interdisciplinary projects with selected piano compositions is a part of her work (with Claudia Doderer / Light installation; Ferdinand Schmatz / poet, essayist). She played in the Music Theater “The Final Days: On the Eve” by Christoph Marthaler in Vienna, Paris and Berlin. In 2004, she was awarded the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis Darmsadt. In addition to her artistic work, the pianist seeks to arrange educational project in order to increase awareness and knowledge of the contemporary piano repertoire.

Belgian violinist Eugenia´s professional career began following her debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra performing the Mendelssohn e-minor violin concerto at the age of 10. Her first teacher was her father, a pupil of Yuri Bashmet. Two years later she enters the Conservatory of Rotterdam in the class of N. Morozova as a junior student based on her exceptional talent, and continues being under the watchful eye of her parents, both musicians. After studying at Brussels Conservatory in the class of V.Oistrakh , a crucial moment in her development was the meeting with the legendary violin teacher Zakhar Bron. A year later she becomes his pupil at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and obtains her diploma with the “highest distinction”. In the meantime, she is also resident of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the French violinist and conductor Augustin Dumay . Seeking for further inspiration, Eugenia decides to continue studying in Cologne with Prof. Barnabás Kelemen. She also attends multiple master-classes with Ida Kavafian, Lewis Kaplan, Viktor Tretjakov, Pierre Amoyal and Krzysztof Wegrzyn. Eugenia obtained multiple awards and prizes such as the Gold Medal at the International Hindemith Violin Competition, she is laureate of the Rodolfo Lipizer International Competition, winner of the N.Philippart Belgian Foundation Award and Jeunes Musiciens competition. Besides her activities as a soloist, since the very early age Eugenia has developed an extraordinary passion for the symphonic repertoire. From 2014-2019 she holds the position of the first concertmaster at the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie and since then includes regular collaborations as guest concertmaster with many outstanding orchestras such as Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, WDR Funkhausorchester, La Monnaie Opera, Belgian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Duisburger Philharmoniker and many others. From 2020-21 Eugenia was first concertmaster at the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Konstanz and starting 2022 she was nominated as Concertmaster of the Bern Symphony. Her artistic activities include a wide range of various musical interests. She performed at numerous festivals including the Kronberg Festival, Verbier Festival and Interlaken Classics. Her broad repertoire ranges from Baroque to the latest contemporary creations. An avid interpreter of the Belgian and French post-romantic composers and a dedicated chamber musician, Eugenia frequently collaborates with her mother Nina Ardashir, a multi-faced pianist with incredible depth, maturity and creativity. Both create an expressive and versatile duo. Eugenia is constantly expanding her boundaries and experimenting with new styles. She is invited to perform as soloist and chamber musician all over Europe, Canada, Mexico and Asia on important international stages among others the Konzerthaus Berlin, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, De Doelen and Cadogan Hall.

EXPERTISE
Systemic Coaching
Triadic Career Counselling
Instrumental teaching experience
Project management in the cultural sector
Programme editing / proofreading

PROFESSIONAL CAREER
COACHING
Since 2006 Coach & Trainer for musicians and creative professionals
Since 2012 lecturer/guest lecturer/coach at the HfM “Hanns Eisler”, at the UdK Berlin, at the HM Freiburg as well as at the MH Münster (topics on extracurricular professionalisation of musicians)
6/2016 – 1/2018 Research assistant at the HfM “Hanns Eisler” (BCP funding project application coaching).

CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
2006 to 2020 freelance programme editor at the Berliner Philharmoniker
6/2002 to 3/2006 executive employee at KONZERT-DIREKTION ADLER, Berlin (responsible for event management as well as press and public relations)
5/2001 to 6/2002 temporary projects
10/1999 to 4/2001 Assistant to the Director of the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg (now Elbphilharmonie)
1/1998 to 11/1999 Editor-in-Chief of the magazine NEW of the association NEW GENERATION , Hamburg (non-profit association for active people over 50)

MUSIC
1990 to 1997 freelance musician and instrumental teacher
10/1995 to 10/1996 temporary employment in the State Orchestra Frankfurt/Oder (violin)

TRAINING
2016 to 2017 advanced training in triadic career counselling
2003 to 2004 advanced training in Systemic Coaching at the BIF Berlin Regular further training and supervision on various coaching topics
WS 1997 to WS 1999/2000 Diploma Postgraduate Course in Cultural Management at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre
SS 1986 to WS 1993 Studies at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin (now UdK), major violin

Ulla Pilz studied singing and composition at the MUK ‒ Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.
She works as a freelance presenter, singer, actress, author, director, music mediator, and host of music programs for Austrian radio Oe1. She played roles at Theater an der Wien, Burgtheater, Wiener Festwochen and many others. As a music mediator and presenter she collaborated with Musikverein Wien and Wiener Konzerthaus, Jeunesse, Brucknerhaus and Bruckner Orchester Linz, Styriarte, Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Symphoniker, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, Ensemble Kontrapunkte and others.
Ulla Pilz is a Senior Artist at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Philipp Sageder — a singer, vocal percussionist, and self-styled “sound scientist” — has mounted world tours with his “vocal groove project” Bauchklang and works internationally in a wide range of pop, jazz, and art projects (such as Klangwolke 2008) as a musician both live and in the studio and as an arranger and composer.

He teaches voice at the mdw’s Department of Popular Music in Vienna.

Alongside his teaching activities at the mdw’s Department of Popular Music and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), as part of which he covers areas from instrumental instruction to band coaching and from arranging to improvisation and solo playing in a number of styles, he has also spent many years leading the renowned JBBG – Jazz Bigband Graz. In his artistic projects, he works together with a wide range of well-known artists from the pop, jazz, and classical music worlds.

Born in Ried im Innkreis (Austria) in 1969, Roland Schueler visited the music gynmasium in Linz, then graduated from Mittenwald School of Violin Making and spent his journeyman years with Master Violin Maker Konrad Stoll in Allgäu (Germany). He opened his first violin making studio in Vienna in 1999. Strong influences from his membership in the group Klanggestalten. He studied violoncello performance at the Linz and Vienna Conservatories with Michael Dallinger and Andreas Lindenbaum, earning his degree in instrumental music education in 1998. In 2000, he participated in contemporary music classes at the “Impulse” Academy in Graz (Austria). He is a member of Trio EIS (together with violinist Ivana Pristasova and violist Petra Ackermann), and of PHACE | CONTEMPORARY MUSIC.

Dance and music equally determined Hannelore Unfried’s artistic education. She graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with a Magister artium. Hannelore Unfried owes the solid basis of her dance training to the grande dame of Austrian expressive dance, Rosalia Chladek. The French specialists Françine Lancelot and Christine Bayle gave her deeper access to the French dance culture of the Ancien Regime. The ensemble “HOF-DANTZER”, founded by Hannelore Unfried in 1988, has its stylistic focus on the 18th and 19th centuries and facilitates a fruitful exchange of artistic dance practice and dance research. Performances in Austria, France, Germany, England and America have enchanted audiences. Together with Frank Perenboom she created the programmes “Les Fêtes galantes” (2001) and “Le Triomphe des muses” (2002) for the Schloßfestspiele in Ludwigsburg. Hannelore Unfried is a leader in the field of ballroom practice of the Strauss era: Cotillon, Kör, Sir Roger and L’Alliance have all found their way from research and publication via courses and performances back into the ballroom through her work. Hannelore Unfried owes invaluable enrichment to her collaboration with Dr. Patri Pugliese, Boston, USA. Hannelore Unfried teaches historical dance at the University of Music in Vienna and the Konservatorium-Wien-Privatuniversiät as well as guitar at a music school. Her course work extends to Austria and Germany as well as Switzerland, England, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and the USA.

Andrea von der Emde is a physiotherapist, dance pedagogue and teaching trainer of the Franklin Method. She has been working as a physiotherapist in the field of psychosomatics and orthopedics since 1990 and as a dance pedagogue in the field of dance and bodywork for children and adults since 1993. She gives seminars in further education for dance and movement teachers and is a lecturer for applied anatomy and dance at the MUK Music and Art Private University of the City of Vienna and at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

www.lebendig.at

Thomas Wolf studied Musicology and Cognitive Science at the University of Vienna and at the Central European University, Budapest. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Social Mind and Body Lab in Vienna. His research focuses on how people predict the actions of others and prepare and execute their own actions to be coordinated in time. He studies cognitive mechanisms underlying interpersonal coordination that are essential for our social life in many day-to-day situations. Ensemble music, however, is an especially suitable social micro cosmos in which he investigates the ability to coordinate with others.