Esther Hoppe violin
Christian Poltéra violoncello
Ronald Brautigam piano

The Swiss violinist Esther Hoppe has built an international reputation as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue.

After studying in Basel, Philadelphia (Curtis Institute of Music), London and Zürich she won 1st Prize at the International Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg in 2002. Shortly after she founded the Tecchler Trio with whom she won many prizes at numerous competitions, such as 1st Prize at the International ARD-Competition in Munich in 2007. From 2009-2013 she was 1st concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

In 2013 she was appointed professor for violin at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Apart from many appearances as a soloist she is a passionate chamber musician. Her partners include Ronald Brautigam, Christian Poltéra, Francesco Piemontesi, Clemens und Veronika Hagen, Lars Anders Tomter, Alexander Lonquich and the Auryn Quartett, amongst others.

She’s a regular invite to festivals such as in Gstaad, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Lockenhaus, Mondsee, Graz (Styriarte) and Salzburg.

Following two highly-praised CD-recordings with works by Mozart, Strawinsky and Poulenc with pianist Alasdair Beatson for Claves Records, a complete recording with Johann Sebastian Bach’s works for solo violin will appear with the same label in October 2021. Further CD-recordings appeared for Virgin Classics, Neos, Concentus Records and Ars Musici.

Esther Hoppe plays the “De Ahna” Stradivarius from 1722.

Christian Poltéra was born in Zürich. After receiving tuition from Nancy Chumachenco and Boris Pergamenschikow, he studied with Heinrich Schiff in Salzburg and Vienna.

As a soloist he works with eminent orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Chamber Orchestra of Europe under such conductors as Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Andris Nelsons and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

He also devotes himself intensively to chamber music together with such musicians as Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mitsuko Uchida, Lars Vogt, Kathryn Stott, Esther Hoppe and Ronald Brautigam, and with the Auryn, Zehetmair and Hagen Quartets. Together with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra has formed a string trio, the Trio Zimmermann, which performs at most prestigious concert venues and festivals all over Europe.

In 2004 he received the Borletti-Buitoni Award and was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist.

He is a regular guest at renowned festivals (such as Salzburg, Lucerne, Berlin, Edinburgh and Vienna) and made his BBC Proms début in 2007. Christian Poltéra’s discography, which has won acclaim from the international press, reflects his varied repertoire that includes the concertos by Dvorak, Dutilleux, Lutoslawski, Walton, Hindemith and Barber as well as chamber music by Prokofiev, Fauré, Beethoven and Schubert.

Christian Poltéra teaches at the Lucerne University. He plays a Antonio Casini cello built in 1675 and the famous “Mara” Stradivari from 1711.

One of the leading pianists of his generation, Ronald Brautigam is one of the few to perform at the highest level on modern as well as period instruments. A student of the legendary Rudolf Serkin, he has over the years established himself as an authority on the classical and early romantic composers, with an acclaimed discography on the BIS label that includes complete cycles of works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as well as recordings of solo works and concertos by Kraus, Weber and Mendelssohn.

Ronald Brautigam has performed with leading orchestras across the world – from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra – as well as the foremost period ensembles.

In 2009 he began what has proved a highly successful collaboration with the Kölner Akademie and its conductor Michael Alexander Willens, resulting in acclaimed recordings of the complete piano concertos of Mozart (11 discs), Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Weber. Current recording projects include the piano concertos by the Dutch-German composer Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772 – 1847).

In 2004 Ronald Brautigam released the first instalment of a 15-disc Beethoven cycle on fortepiano, prompting the reviewer of the US magazine Fanfare to envisage a series ‘that challenges the very notion of playing this music on modern instruments, a stylistic paradigm shift.’

Featuring the piano sonatas, the first nine discs of the cycle were awarded an Edison Award and the prestigious Jahrespreise der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2015. Besides his work for BIS, Ronald Brautigam has recorded piano concertos by Shostakovich, Hindemith and Frank Martin with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly, as well as several discs with violinist Isabelle van Keulen and cellist Christian Poltéra. His recordings have earned him a number of awards including three Edisons, a Diapason d’Or de l’Année, and two MIDEM Classical Awards, for best solo piano and best concerto recording respectively.

His editorial work includes a reconstruction of the orchestral score of Beethoven’s piano concerto WoO4 from 1784, as well as preparing an edition of the 5 piano concertos by Johann Wilhelm Wilms.