Schäfer / Then-Bergh / Yang
Biography Schäfer / Then-Bergh / Yang
Michael Schäfer
has a propensity for featuring unusual repertoire on his recordings and has been instrumental in surprising the descendants of forgotten composers with unexpected (ASCAP) royalty earnings. In addition, he performs as a soloist, as a member of various chamber music groups, and as an accompanist on concert podiums throughout the world. Master classes in various countries and a professorship at the State Conservatory for Music in Munich allow him to pass his experience on to the next generation of musicians.
Ilona Then-Bergh
was named the first concert-mistress of the Bavarian State Orchestra at the young age of 19. She later took the same position with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. In the meantime she has completely stopped performing in orchestras in order to be able to fully (and far more intensively) devote herself to performing chamber music as well as teaching at the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater.
She has been awarded the German Record Critics’ Award (Quarterly Critics’ Choice) several times in praise of her CD productions (including Piano Trios by Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Turina and Shostakovich).
Wen-Sinn Yang
who as a chamber musician and a soloist is numbered among the most versatile artistic personalities, became first solo cellist of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in 1989 at the age of 24 years, a position which he gave up in 2005 in favor of a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. In 1991 he won first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition. Since then he has been a welcome guest artist on the concert podium and at music festivals in Europe and Asia. As a soloist he has performed with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons. His very broad-ranging repertoire is documented in more than 20 CD recordings. In addition to the standard repertoire such as the concertos of Boccherini, Haydn and Dvořák, Yang has also recorded lesser known virtuoso cello and chamber music, especially from the 20th century, including works by François Servais, Carl Davidoff, Alfredo Piatti and Julius Klengel. His performance of the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach have also appeared on DVD in collaboration with Bavarian Radio and Television.
