Milly (Emilie) Groz is a pianist and rhythmist living in Vienna. Her work is rooted in the traditions of free improvisation, jazz and the transdisciplinary approach of combining music and movement. Her projects range from jazz and improvisation to performance. In her solo project ‘MILLYCENT’, she combines elements of funk and mumble rap with feminist interpretations of pop culture ‘standards’. She is a member of the “Gedankenreiseorchester” and the ‘Vienna Soundpainting Collective’. 

In addition to her artistic activities, Milly Groz teaches improvisation and heads the Department of Music and Movement Education / Rhythmics at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Maria Gstättner-Heckel is senior artist at the University of Music and Performing Arts (MDW), Vienna, Austria.

She has a master degree in bassoon performance, a master of advanced studies degree in cultural management and a degree in instrumental pedagogy from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and obtained a Doctor of Arts at University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Maria works as composer, musician, pedagogue and artistic researcher. She is an internationally sought-after soloist and expert in free improvisation, contemporary music and orchestral literature with the bassoon. She works in interdisciplinary projects around theatre, painting, dance and poetry and has worked on several international artistic research projects. As a composer, she has developed numerous participatory, inclusive and community performances and operas as well as orchestral, chamber music and solo works. (www.magst.at)

Sophie Hassfurther has made a name for herself as a composer and musician. She is in demand as accomplished instrumentalist on saxophone, flute and clarinet. At the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Institute for Popular Music, she completed her master's degree with distinction, followed by studies in Amsterdam and New York.

In her own projects, she examines socially relevant topics and explores the boundaries between composing and improvising. Her artistic work has been critically acclaimed by media such as Jazz Podium and London Jazz News. She performs at renowned festivals internationally. As a composer, she has received a number of grants from the bmukk and the City of Vienna, several of her compositions have been premiered at Wien Modern. She has also created scores for large ensembles and theater.

Bulgarian pianist Sibila Konstantinova completed her Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance under a full scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Joan Havill. Before moving to Vienna to study with Avedis Kouyoumdjian at the University of Music and Performing Arts, she was a recipient of the prestigious GSMD Artist Fellowship. Among her many awards in the United Kingdom are the Philharmonia Orchestra/MMSF Award, the MBF Award and the Dame Myra Hess Award.

As a soloist and chamber musician Sibila has performed extensively throughout Europe in venues such as the Barbican Centre and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Grand Hall “Bulgaria” in Sofia, the Delft Chamber Music Festival, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam and the Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau. Her performances have been recorded by the Bulgarian National Television and radio, the Performance Channel (UK), Radio Ö1 (Austria) and NDR4 (Holland).

Sibila Konstantinova is a founding member of the Stefan Zweig Trio – winners of the 2015 Joseph Haydn International Chamber Music Competition. The group has already performed at Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Vienna and Konzerthaus Berlin. The 2018 release of their debut CD with trios by Korngold and Zemlinsky received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for one of Europe’s most prestigious awards – the OPUS Klassik.

A passionate teacher, Sibila has been on the faculty of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (MDW) since 2013. She became a Senior lecturer of piano chamber music in 2021 and last year was invited to give masterclasses at the Lithuanian National Academy of music and to teach at the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) at the Flanders Festival in Ghent.

It is versatility and diversity that greatly fascinates Lithuanian Pianist Veronika Kopjova. Possessing a wide range of repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music, she enjoys an active musical life as both a passionate chamber musician and soloist, performing worldwide at prestigious venues such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna, Auditorio Ciudad de León, and Lithuanian National Philharmonic halls.

Veronika is a recipient of numerous international prizes an d scholarships. Her studio
and live performances have been broadcast on radio in Holland, Germany, Austria and
Lithuania. In Autumn 2023 Veronika published the first CD with her duo partner.
Veronika studied piano, pedagogy and piano chamber music in Viln ius, Hannover
and Vienna. Currently she is Senior Lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts
Vienna and a Pianist of the Platypus Ensemble for New Music.

Mitra Kotte was born in Vienna, Austria in 1995. She studied piano performance with Martin Hughes and Chamber Music with Stefan Mendl at the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna.

Having won prizes at multiple international piano competitions, she has given solo and chamber music concerts in various countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in the United States. In the 2022/23 season, she was “Featured Artist” of Jeunesse- musik.erleben. Highlight of this recognition was a performance of R. Schumann Piano Concerto in a minor, op. 54 with the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra at the Musikverein Vienna broadcasted on Austrian National Radio ORF. This season she made her debut with a recital at the International Brucknerfest Linz and at the Tonhalle Zürich.

The pianist Adela Liculescu was born in Craiova, Romania and is a multiple prizewinner of several international piano competitions, among them the George Enescu Piano Competition Bucharest 2021, Prix du Piano Bern 2018, the International Brahms Piano Competitions in Pörtschach (Austria) and in Detmold (Germany) 2017 and the Bösendorfer Piano Competition Vienna 2015. She performed recitals and concerts at the Philharmonic Halls in Berlin and in Munich, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Musikverein, Konzerthaus and the Theatre of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Musikverein Graz, Stiftung Mozarteum and Haus für Mozart in Salzburg, Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in London, as well as in many other concert halls in Europe, Asia and America. In her native Romania she performed often in Bucharest (among others in the Romanian Athenaeum, the Radio Hall, the Presidential Palace and in the Royal Palace), as well as in over 40 other cities. In the year 2020 she got awarded the Prize Celebrating Beethoven by the Romanian Cultural Radio Broadcaster. She graduated with distinction from the Universities for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and Graz, Austria. Adela Liculescu is official Bösendorfer Artist and she is the pianist of the quintet Philharmonic Five, with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. With this ensemble she plays a concerts series in Konzerthaus Vienna and furthermore she has performed at the opening oft he Salzburg Festival 2021 and in the intermission film of the New Year’s Concert oft he Vienna Philharmonic 2023.

Veronika Morscher from Vorarlberg is a freelance singer, vocal coach and singer-songwriter. She completed her bachelor's degree in jazz singing at Berklee College of Music in Boston and went on to complete her master's degree in jazz singing at MUK Vienna and HfMT Cologne. Veronika works as a singer, lyricist, composer and arranger mainly in Germany and Austria and is part of numerous ensembles and projects. In 2017 she was awarded the Vorarlberg Jazz Culture Prize, in 2019 the Bonn Jazz Festival Sponsorship Award and in 2023 she was nominated for the German Jazz Award for Best Vocal Album of the Year.

She is also a trained yoga teacher (Yoga Centre Alpen) and studied psychology at the University of Cologne and Maastricht University. Veronika teaches performance coaching, introduction to breathing and movement, yoga and concentration practice in the Music Physiology department at the MDW and is also a lecturer for presentation training and resource work at the HfMDK in Frankfurt.

Born in Lower Austria, Elisabeth Sánchez Herrera studied the double bass at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

Alongside her studies, she began teaching in various music schools in Lower Austria and completed an orchestral internship with the Southwest German Philharmonic Orchestra in Constance. She also gained extensive orchestral experience with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. She has been a permanent member of the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra since 2017.

At the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, she has been leading the double bass class at the Alma Rosé Institute (formerly Josef Hellmesberger Institute) for string instruments in music education since 2020.

The Hungarian cellist Dorottya Standi is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, is a passionate chamber musician and has been a lecturer for Violoncello at the Friedrich Gulda School of Music Vienna since September 2023. Standi is a member of the sought-after young ensemble Oberton String Octet, the Ensemble XXI. Jahrhundert and she has hold an academy position for two years at the Tonkünstler Orchestra.

Dorottya Standi has studied cello with Rudolf Leopold at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz and chamber music with Johannes Meissl at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, and obtained both of her Master of Arts degrees with distinction. She has received further musical impulses from Yo-Yo Ma, Heinrich Schiff, Steven Isserlis and Gautier Capucon, among others.

Johanna Maria Zachhuber studied singing with Uta Schwabe at the MUK Vienna, furthermore she completed her masterstudies in singing pedagogy and musictherapy at the MDW. She is working at the Music Therapy Research Centre Vienna.

As a soloist she was singing in the Golden Hall oft he Musikverein Wien and in the big hall oft he Konzerthaus Wien. Further engagements led her to Kammeroper Wien, Neue Oper Wien, Palace of Arts Budapest, and the Reichshof Bayreuth where she sang fort he Bayreuther Festspiele. As a concert singer she did a lot of festivals abroad (f.e. MusicaAngelica Los Angeles, Pontificio Musica Sacra Rom, Collegium Nürnberg, MusikMeran, Freystätter Musiktage/Nürnberg, Dvořákova Olomouc/Tschechien).

2024 Johanna Zachhuber is engaged for „Malina“ in the Volkstheater Wien and in the operetta „Die Lustige Witwe“ in Bozen.

Born in 1993 in Budapest, Eszter Kruchió studied with Ernst Kovacic in Vienna, Tanja Becker-Bender in Hamburg, and Ulf Schneider in Hanover, currently in the Solo Performance Class.

In 2022, she was a finalist for the Berlin Prize For Young Artists, received the Maria Ladenburger Förderpreis, and a scholarship from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. As a passionate chamber musician, she has performed with artists such as Thomas Riebl, Shirley Brill, and Claudio Martínez-Mehner. Kruchió is a member of the multiple award-winning Chaos String Quartet, nominated as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2023-25. In the autumn of 2023, Eszter Kruchió started her doctoral studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Hamburg. In addition to her intensive concert activities, she continuously develops concert programs, inclusive concert formats, and is currently working on the first edition of her chamber music festival.
She plays on a violin by Stefan-Peter Greiner, a generous private loan.

Mentors 2024

Meesun Hong Coleman, the daughter of Korean immigrants, began her violin training with Dorothy Delay before completing a bachelor's degree in composition at Princeton University and a master's degree at the Juilliard School. In 2001, she went to Berlin on a Fulbright scholarship, where she planned to stay for a year. Two decades later, she is still in Europe. She is a passionate teacher, soloist, chamber musician, orchestra leader and conductor.

She is a professor of violin and chamber music at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz as well as a visiting professor of violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Senior Artist at the Marlboro Music Festival in the USA, concertmaster of the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Camerata Bern, where she often appears as conductor and soloist.

As a sought-after concertmaster, she has regularly conducted the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Het Gelders Orkest, among others.

As an orchestra leader and chamber musician, she has worked with numerous soloists from all musical genres, from baroque on historical instruments to jazz and experimental music on electric violin. The list of her co-conspirators includes Sergio Azzolini, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Isabelle Faust, Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, Gyorgy Kurtag, Nigel Kennedy, Enrico Onofri, Ute Lemper etc.

As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed worldwide at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival and the Ojai Festival and in renowned concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall and Vienna Musikverein.

She has recorded numerous CDs in various formations, most recently a highly acclaimed recording of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Patricia Kopatschinskaja (speaking voice).

Meesun Hong Coleman lives in Salzburg with her husband and two daughters.

Meesun Hong Coleman is the mentor of Mitra Kotte, Dorottya Standi and Elisabeth Sánchez Herrera.

Helena Gaunt is a musician, author and thought-leader on music education and professional practice, having been a professional oboist for many years, and founding member of the Britten Sinfonia. Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD), she sits on the Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society, Chairs the Advisory Board of the National Music Service in Wales, and has undertaken a leading role for the European Association of Conservatoire’s project Strengthening Music in Society. She is also a qualified executive coach.

Helena joined RWCMD in 2018 after over 25 years teaching and in leadership roles at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London where she initiated and directed the international Reflective Conservatoire Conference; chaired the Innovative Conservatoire (ICON) partnership, bringing conservatoire artist-teachers from across Europe and further afield together to share and develop their practice; and set up the Guildhall Creative Entrepreneurs scheme, incubating over 40 new businesses in the performing arts.

Major publications include ‘Musicians as “Makers in Society”: A Conceptual Foundation for Contemporary Professional Higher Music Education’ (2021); and Musicians in the Making: Pathways to Creative Performance (2017) co-edited with John Rink and Aaron Williamon. She is a National Teaching Fellow (2009) and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She lives in Cardiff and has five children, including two sets of twins.

Helena Gaunt is the mentor of Veronika Kopjova, Maria Gstättner and Veronika Morscher.

Sarah Maria Sun is known as one of the foremost and most extraordinary performers in the contemporary music scene. Her current repertoire includes over 2000 compositions from the 16th to 21st centuries. In recent years, she has increasingly performed monodramas of complex female characters. For her interpretations of the double role of Elsa/Lohengrin (‘Lohengrin’ by Salvatore Sciarrino, Salzburg Easter Festival) and Gwen (‘Psychosis 4.48’ by Philip Venables, Semper Zwei Dresden), she was nominated as Singer of the Year. She appears as a soloist in concert halls and festivals worldwide, has performed with leading conductors, orchestras and ensembles and has made guest appearances at numerous European opera houses.

From 2007-2014, she was the first soprano of the chamber ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, one of the world's leading pioneers of contemporary music for decades. Her discography includes more than 40 CDs, many of which have won awards. She regularly gives masterclasses in 20th and 21st century vocal music, including at universities and colleges in Oslo, Harvard, Chicago, Stockholm, Zurich, Lucerne, Rostock, Moscow, Dresden, Hanover and Berlin. In 2018-22 she was a visiting professor, tutor and lecturer at the conservatories in Hanover, Graz and Lucerne. She has been a professor of contemporary music at the Basel University of Music since 2022.

https://sarahmariasun.de/

Sarah Maria Sun is the mentor of Sibila Konstantinova, Johanna Zachhuber and Eszter Kruchió.

Constanze Wimmer is Professor of Music Mediation at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. She studied musicology, journalism and cultural management and holds a doctorate in music education from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She has worked in the concert industry and in cultural education in the fields of music mediation and audience engagement. She is a founding member of Plattform Musikvermittlung Österreich, IG Musikvermittlung Österreich and Forum Musikvermittlung an Hochschulen und Universitäten. Together with Johannes Voit, she edits the publication series Forum Musikvermittlung - Perspektiven aus Forschung und Praxis. In spring 2020, she took on the role of Vice-Rector for Teaching and International Affairs at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

Constanze Wimmer is the mentor of Adela Liculescu, Milly Groz and Sophie Hassfurther.