Teachers

Since his success at the ARD Competition in 1986, Reinhold Friedrich, born in Weingarten/Baden, has been playing on the world’s most famous stages. His debut at the Berlin Festival 1982 with „Sequenza X“ by Luciano Berio and his debut at Vienna Musikvereinsaal in 1994 with the Trumpet Concerto by Joseph Haydn, played on the historical keyed trumpet, show the wide spectrum of his activities. In 2003, Claudio Abbado (†) appointed Reinhold Friedrich the permanent principal trumpet of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s Brass Ensemble.

For Reinhold Friedrich, early music and new music belong together – without contradicting each other. He has performed on period instruments with Capriccio Basel, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the Vienna Academy. Equally, he has premiered many contemporary works by Wolfgang Rihm, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Carola Bauckholt, Hans Werner Henze, Adriana Hölszky, Nicolaus A. Huber, Rebecca Saunders and Caspar Johannes Walter. Solo concerts such as “Eirene” by Herbert Willi (Wergo) and “Nobody knows de trouble I see” by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, whose CD recording won an ECHO Klassik in 1994, form a vital part of his broad repertoire.

Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts is a musical force to be reckoned with, whose all-embracing love of music knows no boundaries. Praised for his outstanding technical capabilities and sensitive musicality, his repertoire encompasses every epoch, from baroque to contemporary music and jazz.

He has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras including the NHK Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, and the Orchestre Philharmoniques of Strasbourg and Luxembourg, under conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Yakov Kreizberg, Jun Märkl, and Matthias Pintscher. He is a regular guest of internationally renowned music festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Niedersächsische Musiktage, the Takefu International Music Festival in Japan, Ars Musica in Belgium, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the Rheingau Musik Festival.

Noémi Makkos was born in Budapest in 1992. She started playing the trumpet at the age of eight, and her musical education continued at the St. Stephan Conservatory in Budapest. From 2010, she studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum under Prof. Hans Gasch, graduating in 2014 with distinction. Following this, she pursued her masters studies at the Hochschule for Music in Karlsruhe with Prof. Reinhold Friedrich and at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen with Prof. Laura Vukobratovic.

She is a laureate of various competitions in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria. Her extensive orchestral experience includes performances with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the European Youth Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Karajan-Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker, where she received lessons from Principal Trumpet Gábor Tarkövi.

Noémi played as deputy principal trumpet with the Essener Philharmoniker and the WDR Funkhausorchester in Cologne. She plays trumpet with the Staatskappelle Berlin since 2018 and with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra since 2019. Furthermore, she is assistant teacher at the Barenboim-Said Academy and at the Universität der Künste in Berlin for Gábor Tarkövi’s trumpet classes.

He was born in Zagreb, Croatia, were he began his music studies. He later entered the Academy of Music of Detmold in Germany, where he graduated as soloist.

He won the First Prizes in the Ancona (1979, Italy) and ARD in Munich (1983, Germany) international competitions, which have led him to numerous music festivals in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe, such as the Santander Encounter of Music and Academia.

Between 1982 and 1990, he was first horn player of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. As soloist he has performed with orchestras such as the Berlin and the Bavarian Radios, the BBC in London, the English Chamber, the Academy of St. Martin if the Fields, the Camerata Academica of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Yomiuri Orchestra, and the Tokyo and the NHK Orchestras. As chamber music performer he has played with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Heinz Holliger, Gidon Kremer, Aurèle Nicolet and András Schiff, among others.

Besides his artistic career, he has developed an important role in academia. From 1992 to 1998, he was the professor of horn in the Stuttgart Musikhochschule, and since then he has taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since the 2000-2001 academic year, he has been Head Professor of the Fundación ”la Caixa” Horn Department of the Reina Sofía Music School. He is also currently Professor of the Wind Department of the International Institute of Chamber Music of Madrid.

Lasse Mauritzen joined the Danish National Symphony Orchestra as Principal Solo Horn in 2006. Lasse has performed a number of solo concerts with the orchestra over the years and in December 2017 he played Richard Strauss Concerto for Horn No. 1 conducted by Fabio Luisi. Lasse has played the horn since he was 8 years old where he got accepted to the world’s oldest youth guard, the Tivoli Youth Guard which is an internationally recognized elite youth ensemble. His passion for the horn and the music lead him to encounter Hugh Seenan, the former Principal Horn of London Symphony Orchestra, with whom Lasse since then has had several master classes with.

Lasse was knighted in his native country of Denmark. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog in 2018, by Queen Margrethe II and in 2021 he was admitted to Kraks Blå Bog – Denmark’s most well-known and cited reference work with reliable information about important Danes.

One of the most influential brass players of our time, now a soloist, conductor and pedagogue, Ian Bousfield has been at the top of his profession for over 35 years, having formerly been principal trombone of the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony in an orchestral career that spanned thirty years. As a soloist he has appeared with, among others, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner and Kent Nagano with the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and the BBC Philharmonic. He has recorded for EMI, Chandos and Camerata.

In recent times his conducting career has taken off, seeing Ian regarded as one of the world’s foremost brass conductors. Ian is also professor of trombone at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern and the Royal Academy of Music in London. His book and videos, “Unlocking the Trombone Code” have met with great critical acclaim. He is a brass coach for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and a regular coach of the New World Symphony, two things that lie very close to his heart. He was awarded the ITA award in 2012, a lifetime honor from the International Trombone Association.

Isobel began to play the cornet at the age of three under the joint direction of her father, David Daws, and the late Maisie Ringham Wiggins MBE. She moved onto the trombone in September 2008 and within six months gained a scholarship to study trombone and piano at The Purcell School of Music. After eight years at the Purcell, she moved to Chetham’s School to study A Levels.

In 2014 Isobel was one of the five finalists in the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year Brass Category, and in 2018 she was once again in the Brass Category Final where she went on to be crowned the winner. In 2017, Isobel was the winner of the BBC Young Brass Award playing live on Radio 2. Isobel is alumni of the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The National Children’s and Youth Brass Bands of Great Britain, and The National Children’s and Youth Orchestras of Great Britain.

Isobel graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2022 where she completed her four-year undergraduate course studying with Matt Gee, Peter Moore and Ian Bousfield. Isobel won the Karajan Academy position at the Berlin Philharmonic in January 2022 and is currently living in Berlin.

Isobel has performed with orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera and brass ensemble, Septura. Isobel is a founding member of trombone quartet, Bone-afide, who have recorded a Christmas album, Christmas with Bone-afide and more recently a folk album with World of Sound.

Isobel is a Getzen Artist, and plays on a 4147IB Getzen Trombone. She is sponsored by Greg Black Mouthpieces.

Thomas Røisland is one of the leading tuba players of northern Europe. He has a permanent appointment in NRK (Norwegian Radio Orchestra), but has been granted leave for a couple of years to play in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Thomas is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician.

Jannicke is educated from the Grieg Academy in Bergen and from Höchschule Luzern in Switzerland. The teachers during her bachelor and master performance was Grethe Tonheim, Tormod Flaten and Thomas Rüedi. She finished her studies with the highest mark in 2015.

In 2006 Jannicke joined the leading brass band Eikanger-Bjørsvik, where she played for 10 years. With Eikanger-Bjørsvik she got to work with a number of great conductors such as David King, Nick Childs, Bramwell Tovey and Philppe Bach. During her time in the band they got the first prize in the Norwegian National Championship a total of 7 times.

Jannicke has participated in national and international soloist competitions. In 2008 she got the 2nd prize in the Norwegian National Competition for Wind, Brass & Percussion. In 2016 she advanced to the final of ITEC, and in 2017 she got the first prize in the Regional Competition for Wind, Brass & Percussion in Bergen.

As a soloist Jannicke has got the apportunity to perform with different band´s including Krohnengen Brass Band, Eikanger-Bjørsvik and the Royal Norwegian Naval Forces´Band.

Jannicke is now the principal euphonium of Krohnengen Brass Band. A high class brass band located in Bergen.

After she finished her music studies Jannicke is now working as a condutor and a teacher.

Vikentios Gionanidis is a Greek tuba player and arranger for brass. He was born in 1988 in Corfu and began his musical studies in 1998 at the wind band “Mantzaros” and in October 2007 he began his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover. He got his Diploma Degree on February 2013. 

He won first prizes in two of the most prestigious competitions for brass instruments. At the International Aeolus Competition in Düsseldorf (2010), apart from the first prize, he also won the special prize for contemporary music and the audience award, competing against other brass instruments including the trumpet and the trombone. At the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen (2012) Gionanidis won the first prize. He also won prizes at the National Music Academy Competition in Lübeck (2011) and the International Brass Competition in Gdansk (2012).

Vikentios has performed with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Konzerthaus-Orchestra Berlin, among others. 

Since 2014 Vikentios Gionanidis has been teaching orchestral and solo literature at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien, Hannover, assisting his teacher Prof. Jens Björn-Larsen. He has given masterclasses in many countries, including Greece, Germany, Sweden and the USA.

Since the season 2013/2014 Vikentios holds the position of Principal Tuba in the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.

Adam Rapa is an American trumpet player, composer, arranger and educator. He is a versatile musician who expresses himself as much in the field of jazz, funk or pop as in the classical or contemporary music. Rapa was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He began studying the trumpet at 11 years old and when he was just 18, he was invited to play at jazz clubs in Boston, New York and numerous jazz festivals in the USA or, among others, the Vienna Jazz Festival or the Riverboat Jazz Festival. Adam Rapa gives concerts all over the world both as a soloist and accompanied by a jazz band. He also performs as a teacher for Master Classes, exhibitions or university lessons.