Equilibris Piano Trio

Friday, 25th of October, Meet the artists, 7:30pm
Sunday, 27th of October, Recital, 6pm

The Equilibris Piano Trio was founded in 2018 by two Swiss string musicians – Anna Abbühl (cello) and Simon Wiener (violin) – together with Russian pianist Igor Andreev and they were joined together by their mutual passion for chamber music. All three young musicians are internationally active as soloists and the trio performs for the first time in Cyprus for only one recital at Technopolis 20, on Sunday, 27th of October 2019, at 6pm.

On Friday, 25th of October, at 7:30pm, do not miss the opportunity to meet these young talented musicians, under an informal interview and with a glass of wine. It will be interesting to discuss with them how it feels to achieve so many things in such young age, since all the three of them are awarded soloists, have performed in important venues and are collaborating with distinguished musicians and orchestras. During the discussion a number of short solo performances will take place, where one will be able to see the talent of the three young artists.

Anna was studying with professors as Antonio Meneses, Martti Rousi and Ivan Monighetti and she is a winner of Bischofszell music competition. Simon is a former student of Zakhar Bron and Renaud Capuçon, principal violin of Sinfonietta de Lausanne and winner of Kiefer Hablitzel music competition. Recently, he won the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Pörtschach, 2019) and the Critics’ Prize at Leopold Mozart Competition (Augsburg 2019). Igor is a concert pianist and at the same time an accompanist in the High School of Music in Bern, winner of prestigious Rina Sala Gallo piano competition, amongst others, chaired by Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, something that became an important point in his career.

The Equilibris Piano Trio gives concerts in 2019 at the Interlaken Classics Festival and St. Petersburg Piano Trio Festival as well as at the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg im Breisgau; other concert appearances are scheduled in Cyprus, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.
Entrance: 25 October, €10 (including a glass of wine) | 27 October, €15 | Both dates: €20
Reservations are necessary at 70002420 (calls only)

Programme:
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Piano Trio Nr. 3 in C minor, Op.101 (composed 1886)
Frank Martin (1890 – 1976), “Trio sur des mélodies populaires irlandaises” for violin, cello and piano (composed 1925)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827), Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 “Archduke” (composed 1811)

A few words about the artists
An impetuous pianist and sensitive musician - these qualities are characteristic of the young piano virtuoso Igor Andreev. His abilities and his enthusiasm for the music have been awarded numerous prizes in important piano competitions such as the Concours de Genève in Switzerland, UNISA competition in South Africa and the Hamamatsu competition in Japan. Winning in 2018 prestigious Rina Sala Gallo competition in Italian Monza, chaired by Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, became an important point in his career and brought him numerous concert engagements throughout Europe and Russia.
Igor Andreev was born in Kaliningrad in Russia and discovered his passion for the piano at the age of 5. After first musical impulses in Kaliningrad received from Vladimir Slobodyan, Igor was promoted at a young age at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg by Prof. Vladimir Suslov. He continued his studies at the University of the Arts in Berne in the class of Prof. Tomasz Herbut, where he devoted himself to the chamber music at the same time.
In 2017, Igor completed his Master Specialized studies at the Bern University of the Arts and received the Tschumi Prize for the best graduate. Since then he was developing artistically with Prof. Konstantin Lifschitz in Lucerne where Igor recently became an assistant.
As a soloist and chamber musician Igor performs in concert halls throughout the world. He gives concerts as a soloist with symphony orchestras such as Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, L'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, L'Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Zakhar Bron Festival Orchester, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Kaliningrad State Symphonic Orchestra, Kaunas Chamber Orchestra and others.
Igor was a participant of programs of the Rotary club and Lions club of Germany and different projects of Gartow-Foundation. He was supported by the Foundation "Russian Performing Arts", a Federal scholarship of the Swiss Confederation, a scholarship from the Hirschmann Foundation and the Fondation Clavarte. He was also awarded the promotion prize of the Kiefer Hablitzel Foundation and the Rotary Excellence Prize (Lugano).
The list of Igor's successes includes main prizes in the international piano competitions like Liszt Competition in Weimar (2005), Competition of the Rotary clubs in Spain (2009), “3rd Classics in the Streets” Competition in Bad Ragaz (2012), “6. Concours International de Piano de Lyon” (2014), “69. Concours de Genève” (2014), “9. Hamamatsu International Piano Competition” (2015), “13. UNISA International Piano Competition” (2016), “1. Manhattan International Music Competition" (2016), “4. Baltic International Piano Competition”, “Prix du Piano Bern” (2018), “2. Brescia Classica International Piano Competition” (2018), “4. City Acquaviva delle Fonti” International Piano Competition (2018), “8. Verona International Piano Competition” (2018) and “25. Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition” (2018).
In addition to the solo repertoire Igor Andreev pays much attention to chamber music. He is a prize winner of the Sviridov International Competition in St. Petersburg (2005), Shostakovich International Competition in Moscow (2010) and the “Three centuries of classical romances” international competition in St. Petersburg (2012). He expands these multifaceted activities by collaborating with professors like Antonio Meneses, Gertrud Weinmeister and Tianwa Yang as an accompanist at the Bern University of the Arts where he works since 2015. Moreover, he gives concerts on historical fortepiano with viola professor Gertrud Weinmeister, and also performs together with Antonio Meneses.
In 2018 he founded his own Equilibris Piano Trio with whom he performs in the main festivals in Switzerland and in Europe.

Anna Abbühl (cello) was born in 1995 in Basel in a family of musicians. Already in her early years she was influenced by the musical environment and at the age of 7 she started to learn cello playing. She received her first lesson from cellist and composer Alfred Knüsel.
Already at the age of 11, Anna Abbühl was a finalist at the International Popper Competition in Hungary.
Anna continued her studying at the different times as a junior student with Professor Guido Schiefen at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Professor Ivan Monighetti at the University of Music Basel. In 2016 Anna perfected her mastery with a bachelor's degree at the Bern University of the Arts graduating the class of Prof. Antonio Meneses. She has also received important suggestions and impulses from Prof. Frans Helmerson, Prof. Arto Noras and Prof. David Geringas.
Since summer 2017, Anna Abbühl continues her master studies with Prof. Martti Rousi at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.
Anna Abbühl is a multiple award winner of various national and international competitions, and since 2008 she regularly takes part in masterclasses throughout Europe.
Playing as a soloist with the orchestras like Neues Orchester Basel or St. Petersburg Capella are also an important part of her musical activities.

Simon Wiener (violin) was born in Uster (Switzerland) in 1994. From 2010 to 2014 he studied at the Musikhochschule Zürich with Prof. Zakhar Bron and graduated with distinction. He continued his education with Renaud Capuçon at the Lausanne Conservatory of Music and after that with Ilya Gringolts in Zurich. Numerous master classes with personalities such as Maxim Vengerov, Ana Chumachenco, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Benjamin Schmid, Ingolf Turban, Pavel Vernikov and Donald Weilerstein also enriched his musical personality.
At the same time Simon Wiener is a committed composer, and several of his pieces have been awarded prizes and publicly performed, including a string quartet (2010), a violin sonata (2012) and a commissioned work for the Musikkollegium Zürcher Oberland for piano solo (2013).
As a violinist he has won prizes at violin competitions in Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria and Switzerland, for example in 2012 at the International Wieniawski-Lipinski Competition in Lublin, in 2014 at the Rahn Music Prize Zurich, in 2016 at the International Postacchini Competition in Fermo/Italy, in 2017 at the „Henri Marteau“ in Germany, in 2018 at the „Rodolfo Lipizer“ in Italy as well as at the Swiss „Kiefer Hablitzel-Göhner Preis“. Recently he became a winner of the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Pörtschach, 2019) and winner of the Critics‘ Prize at Leopold Mozart Competition (Augsburg 2019).
In 2012, as a soloist with the Hermitage Orchestra in St. Petersburg, he interpreted Glasunov’s Violin Concerto. In 2012 and 2015 he toured with the Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, which also took him to the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Cuvillliés-Theater in Munich. Further performances brought him together with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Zakhar Bron Chamber Orchestra, the Zagreb Soloists, the New Orchestra Zurich and the Vienna Franz Schmidt Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Simon performed violin sonatas of Janacek, Beethoven, Prokofiew and Schumann at the Tonhalle in Zurich and many other venues in Germany and Switzerland, playing recitals at festivals such as "Sommets Musicaux Gstaad" or "Rélévations - Jeunes Talents" in Biel or “Interlaken Classics” in Grindelwald amongst others.