Artists & Projects

Jan Willem de Vriend is Principal Conductor of the Wiener KammerOrchester, Principal Guest conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, and artistic partner of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He makes regular guest appearances with such ensembles as the Belgian National, Hong Kong Philharmonic, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Melbourne Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchester National de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

In the 2024/25 season, Jan Willem de Vriend returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro RTVE in Madrid, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Stavanger Symphony, the Residentie Orkest, the Trondheim Symphony, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover, and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Three new recordings will also be released in the 2024/25 season: Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 12 (Dejan Lazić/ Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra – Challenge Records), Schumann Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (Stavanger Symphony Orchestra – Challenge Records), and Emilie Mayer Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 (NDR Radiophilharmonie – CPO).

From 2015 to 2019 Jan Willem de Vriend was permanent conductor of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and from 2006 to 2017 chief conductor of Phion, Orkest van Gelderland & Overijssel. He was also principal guest conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya from 2015 to 2021 and principal guest conductor of the Brabant Orchestra (now South Netherlands Philharmonic) from 2008 to 2015. De Vriend recorded numerous works by Beethoven with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, including numerous symphonies and concertos (with soloists such as Hannes Minnaar and Liza Ferschtman). Classic FM praised the 7th Symphony for its “lively atmosphere that does full justice to the composer’s joyful side”. Another highlight of the recordings for Challenge Records was the complete recording of the Mendelssohn symphonies with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Schubert symphonies with the Residentie Orkest.

De Vriend first appeared internationally as artistic director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he founded in 1982 and led as concertmaster until 2015. The ensemble, which specializes in repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries, rediscovered numerous rarely heard works and plays on modern instruments in historically informed performance practice. Gramophone Magazine praised the musicians as “versed, with technical finesse and a lively sense of design”. The ensemble’s communal spirit lives on in de Vriend’s exploration of the symphonic repertoire, particularly of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Schumann, Brahms and Johann Strauss.

In the opera sector, de Vriend, together with the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, has performed works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel, Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach (scenic versions of the Jagd- und Kaffeekantate at the Leipzig Bach Festival) in Europe and the USA, all under the direction of Eva Buchmann. Operas by composers such as Mozart, Verdi and Cherubini were part of his seasons with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, including a guest appearance in Switzerland with Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Rossini’s La Gazzetta, again directed by Eva Buchmann. De Vriend has also directed opera productions in Amsterdam (Nederlandse Reisopera), Barcelona, ​​Strasbourg, Lucerne, Schwetzingen and Bergen.

In the Netherlands, Jan Willem de Vriend is known to a wide audience through his appearances in TV and radio series and music formats. In 2012 he was awarded a prize for special creative contributions to classical music by the Dutch radio station NPO Radio 4.

2024/2025
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As a music director and guest conductor committed to collaboration, innovation and education,
Sarah Ioannides creates vibrant programming that inspires her audience. She was praised by the New York Times for her “undisputed strength and authority.” She is music director of Washington State’s Symphony Tacoma and resident conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. While centred on the USA, her career as a conductor has taken her to six continents. Sarah Ioannides was the first woman to hold a full-time position as a conductor with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Australia of Cypriot and Scottish descent, Sarah Ioannides trained in the UK (Oxford University, Guildhall School) and USA (Juilliard School and Curtis Institute). Before assuming her role at Symphony Tacoma in 2014, she established a reputation as the dynamic music director of both the El Paso Symphony Orchestra in Texas and the Spartanburg Philharmonic in South Carolina.

Her extensive repertoire, which spans four centuries, has been enriched through her work with living composers, not least as the conductor of over 60 world, North American and European premieres. She has collaborated with such figures as Steve Reich, Aaron J Kernis, Zosha Di Castri, Patrice Rushen and in the earlier years of her career was mentored by Tan Dun, notably taking charge of the Australian and Greek premieres of his Water Passion after St. Matthew and acting as his assistant conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra.  One of her earliest operatic projects was the European premiere of Stephen Paulus’s The Woodlanders.

In addition to her Symphony Tacoma season, her North American appearances include orchestras such as Buffalo Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Hawai’I Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Rochester Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and the Lake Chelan Bach Fest. The programming ranges wide – from Mozart to re-emerging composers like Louise Farrenc, Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Joseph Boulogne, and contemporary works by Aaron J Kernis, Valerie Coleman, Bernard Roumain, Nick DiBerardino and Jesse Montgomery.

Beyond North America, Sarah Ioannides’ past and current engagements include the Bilbao Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Konzerthaus-orchester Berlin, Malmö Symphony, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Simón Bolívar Symphony.

Making creative use of technology to expand musical horizons, she has led numerous multimedia projects in both the concert hall and the digital environment. These include videos to illustrate Holst’s Planets, Steve Reich’s Desert Music and Milhaud’s Création du Monde and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Symphony Tacoma’s Encore Series and the ‘digital collage’ Eternal Light: inspired by Mozart’s Requiem, it comprises clips of music, dance, poetry and visual art created by students in the Pacific Northwest.

One of Sarah Ioannides’ significant achievements in the field of education is Cascade Conducting & Composing; she is Founding Artistic Director of this annual Tacoma-based programme, established in 2017, which offers scholarships to diverse musicians from the US and the rest of the world. Furthermore she is the newly appointed Director of Orchestral Activities at Boston University beginning in August 2024. In 2025 she will conduct the Massachusetts All-State Festival Orchestra and in 2023 she was the Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra – USA. Among the conservatory orchestras she conducts are those of Yale University, Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and Bloomington’s Jacobs School of Music. A sought-after guest speaker, Sarah Ioannides sits on numerous advisory boards and has served as both panelist of the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) for the US Government and delegate at the World Culture Summit in Abu-Dhabi. In 2022 she spoke at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Women in Classical Music Symposium and conference. In June 2023 she was a panelist at ‘Bridges to the Future’, and at the conference of the League of American Orchestras.

2024 / 2025

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In the 2024/25 season Gérard Korsten will give his debut with Princeton Symphony Orchestra and with Beethoven’s Fidelio at Garsington Opera. He returns to Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra in Hungary and Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg in Austria.

Gérard Korsten has conducted over 100 orchestras in 24 countries with orchestras such as the Adelaide Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestre National de Lyon, Scottish and Swedish Chamber Orchestras, as well as the SWR Sinfonieorchester Freiburg.

Gérard Korsten’s recent operatic appearances have included: Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Le nozze di Figaro); Opéra National de Lyon (Ariadne auf Naxos, Idomeneo, La traviata, Siegfried, La Veuve joyeuse and Henze’s L’Upupa); Bregenz Festival (Simon Laks’ L’Hirondelle inattendue, Die Zauberflöte, Le Rossignol, Der Schauspieldirektor); Deutsche Oper Berlin (La traviata); English National Opera (Aida); Glyndebourne Festival (Così fan tutte, Albert Herring); Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Così fan tutte); Netherlands Opera (Così fan tutte); New National Theatre, Tokyo (Tosca); Royal Opera Stockholm (Don Giovanni) and Hungarian State Opera (Don Pasquale).

After 13 years as Principal Conductor of Austria’s Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg Bregenz, Gérard Korsten was awarded Conductor Laureate in summer 2018. Previously he has served as Principal Conductor of the London Mozart Players, the South African State Theatre in Pretoria and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra in Sweden. From 1999 to 2005 he was Music Director of the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in Sardinia. At the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, he not only conducted the Italian premieres of Richard Strauss’ Die ägyptische Helena, Weber’s Euryanthe, Delius’ A Village Romeo and Juliet and Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella, but also repertoire classics such as Aida, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Die Zauberflöte, Don Pasquale, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tosca, Un ballo in maschera and more recently Don Giovanni. After 13 years as Principal Conductor of Austria’s Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg Bregenz, Gérard Korsten was awarded Conductor Laureate in summer 2018.

Gérald Korsten’s Arthaus DVD of Le nozze di Figaro, recorded at La Scala with a cast led by Diana Damrau and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, was awarded a Diapason D’Or in France and designated Critic’s Choice by US magazine Opera News. His other recordings include Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and Souvenir de Florence with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Deutsche Grammophon), orchestral works by Crusell, Lindblad and Eggert (Naxos), La Veuve joyeuse (DVD, Erato) and a number of live recordings with the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari: Die ägyptische Helena, Euryanthe and Lucia di Lammermoor on CD (Dynamic) and, on DVD, Alfonso und Estrella (Dynamic) and Don Pasquale (Arthaus).

Born in Pretoria, Gérard Korsten began his career as an orchestral violinist. After studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia he went to Salzburg, where he trained with Sándor Végh, becoming concertmaster and then Assistant Music Director of Camerata Salzburg, of which Végh was Principal Conductor. In 1987 Korsten joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as it’s concertmaster; over his nine years with the ensemble he built close working relationships with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Heinz Holliger.

Gérard Korsten has two daughters and lives in both Zurich and Arezzo (Tuscany) with his wife, Italian soprano Eva Mei.

2024/2025
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The Iranian conductor Hossein Pishkar won the prestigious German Conducting Award in 2017, an international competition for young conductors organised by the German Music Council in partnership with Cologne’s leading musical institutions. Additionally in 2017 the German Music Council presented him with the Ernst-von-Schuch Sponsorship Award from the Ernst-von-Schuch Family Foundation.

In the 2024/25 season Hossein Pishkar will debut with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Spoleto Festival and the Pazaislis Music Festival Lithuania. He returns to the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Belgrade Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Qatar Philharmonic and the Danish Royal Opera Orchestra.

As a guest conductor Hossein Pishkar appears with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Danish Royal Opera Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatsorchester Stuttgart and the WDR-Sinfonieorchester.

Notable debuts in the past have included Bizet’s Carmen (stage direction: Barrie Kosky), Shostakovich’s The Nose (stage direction: Àlex Ollé), Verdi’s Aida and Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Royal Danish Opera, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (stage direction: Barrie Kosky) at the Staatsoper Stuttgart and Verdi’s Rigoletto (stage direction: Cristina Mazzavillani Muti) at the Ravenna Festival.

As an assistant he worked with François-Xavier Roth in the production of Philippe Manoury’s Lab.Oratorium with the Gürzenich-Orchester and as second conductor he took over performances at the philharmonic halls in Cologne and Paris, as well as at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Hossein Pishkar was an assistant of Sylvain Cambreling at the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie for Berg’s Lulu Suite and Rebecca Saunders’ violin concerto Still.

Hossein Pishkar has received further tuition in masterclasses with Riccardo Muti (Aida in Ravenna in the context of the Italian Opera Academy) and Sir Bernard Haitink (Lucerne Festival Orchestra). He has participated in Germany’s prestigious Dirigentenforum programme, taking classes with John Carewe, Marko Letonja, Nicolás Pasquet, Mark Stringer and Johannes Schlaefli.

Before moving to Düsseldorf to study conducting with Rüdiger Bohn at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Hossein Pishkar studied composition and piano in Teheran, where he was born. In Iran he has conducted the Teheran Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Teheran Music School.

2024/2025

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“Daniel Raiskin is clearly a musician of sensibility, well versed in his craft; a further example perhaps
of one last great gift of the old Soviet Union, the rigour and distinction of its conducting schools” (by
David Gutman, Gramophone)

With his unmistakable artistic signature, Daniel Raiskin has become one of the most recognized
conductors of his generation and had developed a broad repertoire beyond the mainstream in
his strikingly conceived programmes. A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up
in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his
studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton
as a result of an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took
classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und
Jorma Panula.

Daniel Raiskin is the Designated Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Janáček
Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in
Bratislava, Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor
of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.

Debuts in the 2024/25 season will take him to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and
Vancouver Symphony. His regular guest appearances include the Hong Kong Sinfonietta,
Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony
Orchestra Taiwan, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Residentie
Orkest, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Warsaw
Philharmonic Orchestra. Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische
Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016), of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz
(2008-2015), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (season
2017/18).

His appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s
Don Giovanni. Festival appearances include Music in the Mountains in Colorado in 2025 and
performances with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra at the InClassica Dubai International Music
Festival in 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, he conducted the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra on a
tour in Japan and South Korea in 2023.

Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and South Africa.

Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cameron Crozman,  Xavier de Maistre, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Hope, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Dejan Lazić, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya, Lukáš Vondráček and Alexei Volodin.

His extensive discography includes recordings of Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich
Symphony No. 4 (AVI), both to great critical acclaim, a Louis Glass Symphony cycle and a
concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian (CPO),
Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works (Dux) and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le
Prophète and Psaumes (World Premiere Recordings). His recording with cello concertos by
Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel (AVI) label received an Echo Klassik Award
in 2012.

2024/2025

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A conductor whose international reputation is built on repertoire of unusual stylistic diversity. Frank Strobel has long been recognised as a leading figure in the space where film meet music. In particular, he has played a crucial role in bringing film concerts into leading opera houses and concert halls.

As a guest conductor Frank Strobel conducts both film concerts and symphonic repertoire with orchestras such as the Filarmonica della Scala, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, HR-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre National de Belgique, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Seattle Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sydney Symphony, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He is curating film symphonic concert series at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Tonhalle Zürich. Frank Strobel held recently the position as Chief Conductor of the WDR Funkhausorchester.

In July 2024, the premiere of Abel Gance’s Napoléon epic took place in its’ entirety at the Seine Musicale in Paris, lasting a total of seven hours in two parts, directed by Strobel. The Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Choeur de Radio France performed this exceptional symphonic film concert with a revised compilation by Simon Cloquet-Lafollye, incorporating a vast collection of classical scores from Mozart to Wagner.

The 2024/25 season includes symphonic and symphonic film concerts tributing Ennio Morricone with the Orchestre National Capitole Toulouse, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich at the Grafenegg Festival and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. In November 2024 Frank Strobel conducts the German premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with music by Wojciech Kilar at the Film Festival Braunschweig with the Staatsorchester Braunschweig.

Frank Strobel has been particularly at home in the French music scene for some time. In 2023 he premiered also in Paris together with the Orchestre National de France the new score by David Hudry for Berlin. Symphony of a big city. Later on the premiere of the film concert with the feature film Kaamelott: Premier Volet by producer, actor and composer Alexandre Astier took place with the Orchestre National de Lyon. Another premiere was the film music concert Chaplin in Concert. With a smile under his direction at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Orchestre de Paris. Frank Strobel is also a repeated guest at the Festival Lumière. Grand Lyon Film Festival. In February 2021, he conducted at the Victoires de la Musique.

Another important French film concert project came to fruition at the Musikfest Berlin and at the Festival Lumière in Lyon in 2019: Abel Gance’s seven-hour silent epic La Roue, with a score specially assembled from 117 works written by French composers between 1880 and 1920. Having reconstructed Sergei Prokofiev’s music for Eisenstein’s films Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, Strobel conducted the first performances of his realisations at the Musikfest Berlin. In 2008 an original copy of Metropolis was discovered in Buenos Aires; two years later a fully restored version of the film was premiered at the Berlinale, with Frank Strobel conducting the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. In 2006 at Dresden’s Semperoper he conducted the Staatskapelle Dresden to accompany a reconstruction of the film of Der Rosenkavalier with Richard Strauss’s original music.

Beyond the world of film music, Frank Strobel has achieved international recognition for his first performances and revivals of works by Alfred Schnittke, Franz Schreker, Alexander von Zemlinsky und Siegfried Wagner. The great Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) found Frank Strobel congenial, considering him an ideal interpreter of his works. Strobel now retains the adaptation rights for Schnittke’s music.

In 2000 Frank Strobel and Beate Warkentien established the Europäische FilmPhilharmonie, an institution dedicated to the artistic development of music and film in the concert hall. This has given rise to such ambitious projects as Matrix Live at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Of special significance in this context was Strobel’s role as an adviser to the TV station ZDF/ARTE on its’ programming of silent films and this has resulted in notable performances of silent films to the accompaniment of legendary musical works.

Within his vast discography the CD series of first recordings with film suites by Alfred Schnittke, arranged by Frank Strobel and realised with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin were received to great critical acclaim. The fifth release of this series received an Opus Klassik Award in 2022.

2024/2025
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