Biography
The Ensemble Villa Musica has established an outstanding reputation for itself in the music world. Its members number among the leading instrumentalists currently active in Germany. Today these former concertmasters and principal soloists of great orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra devote their time and effort exclusively to solo and chamber performance.
All the instruments of the symphony orchestra, including the piano, are represented in Villa Musica and its various concert manifestations: from a single soloist to a chamber music orchestra of solo instrumentalists. Its repertoire ranges from the classical composers to contemporary music and includes true rarities as well as famous masterpieces.
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The name of the ensemble was taken from the Villa Musica Foundation, a program in the area of music patronage funded by the German land of the Rhineland-Palatinate. The members of the ensemble meet to prepare their concerts in the Villa Musica, an edifice on the bastion high over the historic centre of the city of Mainz.
The ensemble musicians perform regularly in Villa Musica programs and in guest performances in German and international music centres and the festivals. They also present their extensive repertoire in the Musikalische Akademie concert series based in Stuttgart. The members of the ensemble have also developed a new form of artistic collaboration with highly gifted young music fellows and perform together with these young talents in the Kurs and Konzert series of the Villa Musica. The Ensemble Villa Musica has begun the compact-disc documentation of its extensive repertoire on the Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm label.
Members of the Ensemble Villa Musica:
Jean-Claude Gérard, Flute
Ingo Goritzki, Oboe
Ulf Rodenhäuser, Clarinet
Radovan Vlatkovic, Horn
Marie-Luise Neunecker, Horn
Klaus Thunemann, Bassoon
Hannes Läubin, Trumpet
Branimir Slokar, Trombone
Walter Hilgers, Tuba
Thomas Brandis, Violin
Ida Bieler, Violin
Ernö Sebestyen, Violin
Enrique Santiago, Viola
Martin Ostertag, Violoncello
Wolfgang Güttler, Double Bass
Leonard Hokanson, Piano
Kalle Randalu, Piano
Helga Storck, Harp
Recordings
Bartok: Violin Sonatas MDG 304 0666-2
Bartok: Chamber Music MDG 304 0667-2
Faure: Piano Quartets MDG 304 0536-2
Fibich: Piano Quartet, Piano Quintet MDG 304 0775-2
Henze: Chamber Music Vol. 1 MDG 304 0881-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 1 MDG 304 0691-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 2 MDG 304 0692-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 3 MDG 304 0693-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 4 MDG 304 0694-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 5 MDG 304 0695-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 6 MDG 304 0696-2
Hindemith: Sonatas Vol. 7 MDG 304 0697-2
Hindemith: Chamber Music MDG 304 0447-2
Hindemith: Vocal Chamber Music MDG 304 0535-2
Hindemith: Chamber Music MDG 304 0537-2
Janacek: Chamber Music MDG 304 0439-2
Kirchner: Chamber Music MDG 304 0871-2
Klein: Chamber Music MDG 304 0618-2
Martinu: Chamber Music MDG 304 0774-2
Milhaud: Chamber Music MDG 304 0449-2
Mozart: Complete String Quintets Vol. 1 MDG 304 1031-2
Mozart: Complete String Quintets Vol. 2 MDG 304 1032-2
Mozart: Complete String Quintets Vol. 3 MDG 304 1106-2
Mozart: Complete Quintets Vol. 4 MDG 304 1183-2
Mozart: Complete Quintets Vol. 5 MDG 304 1184-2
Penderecki: Chamber Music MDG 304 0917-2
Prokofieff: Chamber Music MDG 304 0394-2
Raff Chamber Music MDG 304 1181-2
Reinecke: Chamber Music MDG 304 0478-2
Saint-Saens: Chamber Music MDG 304 0395-2
Schulhoff: Chamber Music MDG 304 0617-2
Smit: Chamber Music MDG 304 0995-2
Spohr: Chamber Music MDG 304 0534-2
Spohr: Chamber Music MDG 304 0448-2
Spohr: Chamber Music (2 CDs) MDG 304 1263-2
Strauss Music for Wind Instruments Vol. 1 MDG 304 1172-2
Strauss Music for Wind Instruments Vol. 2 MDG 304 1173-2
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.