CONDUCTING
MASTERCLASS AND COMPETITION
Admitted Participants will:
• Conduct on Three Public Concerts
• Have 140 Minutes of podium time
• Have Daily Conducting Masterclasses
• Have Conducting Seminars and Video Review
THREE WINNERS
WILL BE CHOSEN AND RECEIVE A CONCERT ENGAGEMENT DURING 2022-23
STUDY WITH
Former Director of the Vienna Symphony (Symphonia GesmbH)
Christian Schulz
CHRISTIAN SCHULZ
Artistic Director of the Mozart Collegium Vienna and Music Director of the concert series Schwingungen in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein, originates from a well-known Viennese family of musicians. Christian Schulz started his career as a cellist and performed as a chamber musician and soloist and recently was engaged with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Together with musicians from the Vienna Symphony he found the Ambassade Orchestra Vienna and leads this orchestra as their Chief Conductor. He was Music Assistant of F. Welser Möst, Vladimir Fedosejev and Yakov Kreizberg. The list of orchestras directed by him has meanwhile grown considerably, ranging from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra NÖ, the George Enescu Philharmonic Bucarest, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra Halle, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra up to chamber orchestras like the Austro-Hungarien Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra and the Konzert Verein Wien.
Alexandre De Costa
Visiting Guest Soloist
Sony Classical artist, Juno Award winner and Longueuil Symphony’s Music Director and Chief Conductor, Alexandre Da Costa was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astonishing ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. His chosen professional career as a violinist began very early and, after encouragement from Charles Dutoit, he was soon performing regularly as soloist with orchestra as well as in recital.
At age 18, he obtained a Master’s Degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. Concurrently, he also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Interpretation from the University of Montreal. Subsequently, told he had to choose one instrument, he studied in Madrid at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia with a legendary violin teacher who became his mentor, Zakhar Bron (whose previous students famously include the likes of Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin). He later pursued post-graduate studies at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Vienna, Austria, with G. Schulz, C. Altenburger and R. Honeck, and is currently completing a research PhD. Alexandre Da Costa has trained as a conductor in Austria and Germany with several colleagues and masters such as C. Schulz and J. Caballé-Domenech. Among the many other prizes that followed were the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts, and in 2003 the Council’s Musical Instrument Bank decided to go further and award him the “1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius”. In 2010, he received the prestigious Virginia-Parker Prize, one of Canada’s highest cultural distinctions.
Winner of many national and international first prizes, including the International Violin Competition Pablo Sarasate, Alexandre Da Costa has given close to two thousand concerts and recitals throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. He has performed the major halls of Vienna (Musikverein), Berlin (Philharmonie), New York (Carnegie Hall), Beijing (Poly-Theater) and beyond. He has played and recorded as guest soloist and conductor with more than a 100 different orchestras including London’s Royal Philharmonic, the Vienna, Berlin, Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the Dresden, Bergen, Buffalo and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the National TV and Radio Orchestra of Spain, the YOA Orchestra of the Americas and many more. He recently conducted the Vienna Symphony (Wiener Symphoniker) and the Queen Sofia Chamber Orchestra in Madrid. Conductors he has played under include Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, Lorin Maazel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tugan Sokhiev, Vasily Petrenko, Matthias Bamert, John Axelrod, Johannes Wildner and Peter Oundjian. His live performance broadcasts have aired on BBC, WestDeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), CBC, NPR, ORF and many others. Da Costa has given world premieres of works by Elliott Carter, Michael Daugherty, Lorenzo Palomo, Paul Sarcich, Jean Lesage and Airat Ichmouratov. Alexandre Da Costa is also active as a chamber musician and has recently recorded the complete Brahms sonatas, alongside pianist Wonny Song. Da Costa has performed alongside acclaimed chamber musicians such as Menahem Pressler, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Matt Haimowitz and Hélène Mercier.
As a recording artist, he has recorded 25 CDs with Sony Classical, Warner Classics, JVC/Victor, Naxos, Acacia Classics/Universal, ATMA, XXI-21 and Octave/Universal, among them the world premiere recordings of the Violin Concertos by Portuguese composers Freitas Branco and Fernandes. In 2012, he won the JUNO award for “Classical Album of the Year” for his recording of the concertos by American composer Michael Daugherty, with the Montreal Symphony under Pedro Halffter for Warner Classics. The Washington Post selected his recording of the Beethoven concerto with Klezmer cadenzas by Ichmouratov as CD of the Year. He now records for Sony Classical and PML. His latest release Stradivarius at the Opera, recorded with the Vienna Symphony, quickly attained the best-seller status, and was converted into a multimedia concert booked around the world.
As a teacher and educator, Alexandre Da Costa gives masterclasses at various universities and conservatories around the world. Between 2014 and 2018 held the position of Associate Professor and Head of Strings at the Edith Cowan University (Australia). Institutions he visited include the Sydney Conservatorium, the University of Toronto and the Superior Conservatories of Montreal, Madrid and Shanghai. He is presently Associate Professor and Head of International Music Development at DeTao Group (Shanghai, China). He also served as benchmarking consultant for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and guest speaker for TEDx. As Concertmaster, he regularly led orchestras such as the Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Singapore Symphony, under conductors such as Philippe Jordan, Tugan Sokhiev, Günter Herbig and Lorin Maazel.
As an administrator, Alexandre Da Costa currently holds the positions of Artistic Director of the Stradivaria Festival since 2012, President of StradEdgy Inc. since 2018, Music Director of the Longueuil Symphony Orchestra since 2019. Alexandre is also considered an expert in the field of rare violins, having analysed and used more than 1000 instruments of makers such as Stradivarius, Guarnerius del Gesù, Amati, etc.
Alexandre Da Costa plays the “Deveault” Stradivarius of 1701 loaned by his friends Guy and Maryse Deveault.
The Orchestra
Staatsbad Philharmonie Kissingen
In Bad Kissingen, guests and residents can look forward to concerts by the
“Staatsbad Philharmonie Kissingen” under conductor Burghard Toelke all year round. The professional orchestra delights its audience at regular spa concerts that take place several times a week, at holiday concerts and subscription concerts, which are made into a special experience by well-known soloists.
The unique thing about the
“Staatsbad Philharmonie Kissingen” is that the musicians are the only orchestra in the world to play regularly in the large Berlin salon orchestra line-up. Conscious of tradition, but at the same time future-oriented, the “Staatsbad Philharmonie Kissingen” has an extensive repertoire with around 3,000 pieces from all styles from the baroque to modern times. Listeners can look forward to their own transcriptions and arrangements, thanks to which many works written for large symphony orchestras can also be played by this smaller ensemble.
Featured Soloist
Stanley J. DeLage, Pianist
Pianist Stanley DeLage is a native of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where he began his piano studies at age five, and made his recital debut at the age of 13. He has been a prize winner of numerous national and international piano competitions including, MTNA State and Eastern divisions; The Osaka International Competition in Japan; and the International Chopin Competition of Hartford, Connecticut, where he was awarded first prize in 2015. Notable performances include concerts at Steinway Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, as well as chamber and solo performances at the Northern Lights Music Festival and the Vienna Summer Music Festival. He has debuted works of living composers including chamber and four hand piano works by the American composer Michael Polo. Mr. DeLage holds degrees from Rowan University (B.M.) and Peabody Conservatory (M.M.) where he studied with Veda Zuponcic and Alexander Shtarkman, respectively. Other teachers include Thomas Schumacher, Douglas Humpherys, and Alan Chow. Currently an adjunct faculty member at Rowan University, Mr. DeLage frequently gives collaborative and solo recitals, and is a sought-after chamber musician.