Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, violin
Maximilian Kromer, piano
PROGRAMME:
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897): Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
I Allegro Amabile
II Andante Tranquillo
III Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante)
J.S. Bach (1685–1750): Solo suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
I Allemande
II Courante
III Sarabande
IV Gigue
V Chaconne
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A major, Op. 4 “The Kreutzer Sonata”
I Adagio Sostenuto – Presto
II Andante con variazioni
III Presto
Emmanuel Tjeknavorian was born in Vienna in 1995 and grew up in a family of musicians. He received his first violin lessons at the age of five and made his first public appearance two years later. Since 2011 he has been studying with Gerhard Schulz, formerly a member of the renowned Alban Berg Quartet, at the University for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
Since having received the award for the best interpretation of the Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto and having won second prize at the International Jean Sibelius Competition in 2015, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian has achieved international acclaim. He has been selected to take part in the Rising Stars series of the European Concert Hall Organisation during the 2017/2018 season, and in 2018, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian will be part of the Orpheum Foundation and will give his debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Michael Sanderling. He has also performed in such renowned concert halls as the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Munich Prinzregententheater, the Boston Symphony Hall and the Helsinki Music Centre.
The highlights of the current season include engagements with the Vienna Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony at the Easter Festival Warsaw, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Camerata Salzburg and the Bogotá Youth Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada. He will also give recitals at the Rheingau Music Festival, the Andermatt Classics, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad and the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s cycle “young elite”.
Apart from the Sibelius Competition he has won numerous prizes at international music competitions, and received top prizes at the Fritz Kreisler Competition, the Johannes Brahms Competition and the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition, which was broadcast throughout Europe as part of the opening ceremony of the Vienna Festival.
Emmanuel Tjeknavorian plays an Antonio Stradivari violin (Cremona 1698), generously loaned to him by a patron of the Beare’s International Violin Society, London.
Maximilian Karl Kromer was born in Vienna in 1996. At age four he entered the Vienna Music School. From 2005 to 2010 he studied with Susanna Spaemann and in 2010 he was accepted at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna as a junior student of Noel Flores. Since 2012 Maximilian has been a student of Martin Hughes.
As soloist Maximilian has been awarded numerous national and international prizes including 1 st prize at Prima la Musica Austria, 1 st prize at International Jenö Takacs Competition, 2 nd prize at the International TV-Music Competition “Nutcracker” in Moscow and 2nd prize at “A Step Towards Mastery” in St. Petersburg. Maximilian has given numerous recitals throughout Austria and abroad. In 2010, he played in the opening ceremony of the “Nutcracker” competition. Maximilian has also performed at the Grand Philharmonic Hall St. Petersburg, Gasteig Hall Munich, and the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna.
Besides his solo career, Maximilian regularly performs as a chamber musician, together with his violin partner Emmanuel Tjeknavorian. They have performed as a duo in a number of concerts and competitions, winning 1st prize and EMCY-prize at Prima la Musica Austria in Salzburg 2011. In 2015, they were invited to participate in the Academie de Musique Lausanne Violin-Piano Duo Masterclass by Pierre Amoyal and Anna Queffelec. There, Emmanuel and Maximilian were awarded the “Meilleur Duo” Prize. In 2016, the duo won the second prize at the Chamber Music Competition Pinerolo, Italy. Maximilian and Emmanuel have also performed at the Menuhin Festival Switzerland, Hanko Festival Finland, Pharos Festival Cyprus and Rheingau Festival Germany.