The ACFDC started the musical year with a concert of the young Vienna-based Auner Quartett, recorded exclusively for the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington. The concert was recorded in the Ehrbar Saal in Vienna, which was built in 1876 on behalf of the piano manufacturer Friedrich Ehrbar. The Auner Quartett regularly performs at festivals and concert halls worldwide and is the winner of numerous international awards.
Enjoy the music and listen to Daniel Auner giving insights into the musical masterpieces performed by them.
PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Divertimento in F-Major
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981)
String Quartett Op. 11
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Große Fuge Op. 133
Fritz Kreisler (1875 – 1962)
Syncopation
When: Monday, February 1, 2021 through Sunday, February 28, 2021
Where: online | YouTube
ABOUT THE AUNER QUARTETT
Photo © Nadja Alexandrowa
Winner of the Eugéne Ysaÿe Competition in Liége, Belgium 2018 and praised for their "stylistic confidence and willingness to impress with emotions - for all four of them chamber music seems to be the essence of music itself"; (Austrian National Radio ORF Ö1, "Intrada'') the Viennese Auner Quartett is rapidly making itself known in the chamber music world. The group holds a special residence in Vienna, performing monthly in the baroque hall of the former Vienna City Hall, today known as "Bank Austria Kultursalon'' and the prestigious Ehrbar Saal. As passionate chamber musicians the quartet strives to not only explore the extensive quartet repertoire, but to also present their unique voice within the music. As the chamber music classes with Prof. Johannes Meissl at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna focus strongly on the mastery of the “Wiener Klang'' (the famous Viennese Sound), the members of the Auner Quartett, Barbara, Nikita, Konstantin and Daniel, as his students were able to enjoy a professional training as individual musicians as well.
The Auner Quartett plays two generous loans from the collection of precious instruments of the Austrian National Bank; Daniel plays on “Elia”, a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini and the violist Nikita on an instrument by Giovanni Paolo Maggini.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
DANIEL AUNER | Primarius
Photo © Nadja Alexandrowa
The violinist Daniel Auner has toured the stages of the world for many years and is one of the most sought-after Viennese violinists of his generation. The “master violinist” (Die Presse), winner of the KlassikPreis Österreich and Eugéne Ysaÿe competition, is a regular guest of renowned orchestras and important music festivals worldwide.
Daniel Auner founded the “Auner Quartett” in Vienna in 2015. With this string quartet and the “Vienna Mozart Trio” he performs regularly in many of the major European concert halls. Since 2018 Daniel Auner teaches as a Violin Professor at the renowned Prayner Conservatory Vienna and is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide, especially about the interpretation of works from the first Viennese school; Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. In 2020 he became the artistic director of the Mödling Symphonic Orchestra. As a conductor and “Stehgeiger” of the music by Johann Strauss, Auner performs worldwide with the Strauss Festival Orchestra Vienna, Vienna Hofburg Orchestra and Vienna Residence Orchestra.
Daniel Auner plays on "Elia", one of the most beautiful instruments by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, belonging to the Austrian National Bank, and is generously supported by Thomastik Infeld.
BARBARA AUNER | Violin
Photo © Nadja Alexandrowa
Barbara de Menezes Galante was born in São Paulo (Brazil) in 1990. She came in contact with classical music very early and began studying violin at the age of six. She came to Austria in 2009 and started her Bachelor studies at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. From 2013 on Barbara studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. From 2011 to 2015 Barbara was the Concertmaster of "Philharmonie Salzburg'' and by invitation of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra a member of their Orchestra Academy in Ossiach.
Together with the Viennese Violinist Daniel Auner she founded the Duo Mozartiano in 2011, playing concerts in Austria, Italy, Brasil, Peru, Belize, Canada and Malta. Many of these concerts were initiated or supported by the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs and took place in Austrian Embassies or Austrian Cultural Fora. In 2013 she was one of the founding members of the Auner Quartett in Vienna. Barbara became a violin professor at the Prayner Conservatory Vienna in 2018 and is being supported generously by Thomastik- Infeld.
She plays on a violin by Johann Christoph Leidolff, made in Vienna 1740.
NIKITA GERKUSOV | Viola
Photo © Nadja Alexandrowa
Nikita Gerkusov was born in St. Petersburg in 1992 and received his first violin lessons at the age of 3. He first attended the special music school for gifted children before he enrolled in classes for violin and viola at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he completed his bachelor studies. Nikita began his international concert career as a soloist while still studying there. As a great lover of chamber music, he quickly looked for participation in various chamber music ensembles that took him on concert tours across Europe and to the USA.
Nikita Gerkusov has won several prizes at international competitions, among others the Johannes Brahms Competition. After permanent engagements as solo violinist with the Orchestra of the Theater Passau and subsequently with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Nikita won the audition for solo violinist with the Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich in summer 2017 and has lived in Vienna since then.
Nikita Gerkusov plays a viola from the collection of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, built by Giovanni Paolo Maggini.
KONSTANTIN ZELENIN | Violoncello
Photo © Nadja Alexandrowa
Born in Minsk in 1983, Konstantin Zelenin received his first violoncello lessons at the age of six. He graduated with distinction at the musical high school and began his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in the class of Univ.-Prof. Mag. Stefan Kropfitsch in 2009. In 2015 he completed his master's degree with Prof. Natalia Gutman at the MUK Private University in Vienna with “distinction”.
Konstantin Zelenin is a founding member of the Auner Quartett. He won the Ignaz Pleyel Prize with the chamber music group ATOUT and made guest appearances at the Vienna Musikverein. During his studies he recorded several works in cooperation with ORF and the KlangPause project. He was also involved in the recording of several J. Haydn quartets at the Haydn Institute and Tokyo Music University.
Before moving to Vienna in 2009, Zelenin taught as a professor at the Belarusian Academy of Music. Currently he teaches at the Schubert Conservatory Vienna and works as a cello teacher at the Amadeus International School Vienna.
Konstantin plays an instrument made by an unknown Italian violin maker, ca.1820.