Laurent Albrecht Breuninger
Winning the second prize in 1997, Laurent Albrecht Breuninger was the first German violinist ever to be placed in the first three in the history of the Queen Elisabeth Competition since it was founded in 1951. In the same month he was awarded the Composition prize of the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte for the Composition of his first String Quartet. These awards mark the culmination of a long line of prizes which Breuninger previously won among others in Brescia (1984), Belgrade (1986), Prague (1992), Vienna (1992), Berlin and Montreal (1995).

Laurent Albrecht Breuninger was introduced to violin playing early on in his French-German parental home in Stuttgart. At the age of 12 he encountered Vladimir Spivakov and Max Rostal. These meetings had a lasting influence on him and lead to the decision to study the violin. From 1981 until 1988 he studied with Thomas Füri in Winterthur and Zürich and from 1988 with Josef Rissin in Karlsruhe where he completed his professional studies at the Hochschule in 1994 with distinction. Other influences were Henryk Szeryng, Ruggiero Ricci, Aaron Rosand, Igor Ozim, Yfra Neaman and Ivry Gitlis. From 1998 to 2003 he was professor in Hamburg, since then he is professor at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe.

Laurent Albrecht Breuninger made his debut as a soloist at the age of 12 with the Budapest Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov at the Music Festival of Tours, France. Ever since he regularly performs as a soloist internationally. He also appears frequently as a recital artist. During the last years he performed among others at the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Braunschweiger Kammermusikpodium, the Bath International Music Festival, the Chamber Music Festival in Kuhmo, Finland, the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker and the Kissinger Sommer.

In 1997 Breuninger’s debut CD was released with works for violin and piano by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wieniawski and Breuninger. For the German broadcast company WDR he recorded the complete work for violin and orchestra by Eugène Ysaye, some of them unrecorded before. It is a remarkable coincidence that Breuninger won the 'Prix Ysaye' in Brussels, as he has had a special affinity to Ysaye’s music since his early youth. In 2001 he recorded Ysaye’s works for solo violin and for violin and piano for the Hessischer Rundfunk (Germany).

In 2002 and 2003 the four violin concertos by Karol Lipinski with the Warsaw Radio Orchestra under the direction of Wojciech Rajski were released on two CDs at the renowned label CPO. The same label published his recording of violin concertos by Charles de Beriot with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under the direction of Frank Behrmann. In 2009 followed a recital CD with works by Georgy Catoire (Piano: Anna Zassimova) and two CDs with concertos by Rodolphe Kreutzer and Felix Weingartner, both recorded with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Kaiserslautern under the baton of Alun Francis. Together with the German pianist Thomas Duis the artist recorded the violin sonatas of Georges Enescu, which has been released in 2010.

Additionally, Laurent Albrecht Breuninger is active as a composer. He often performs his own compositions in his recitals. His first String Trio was premiered in Karlsruhe in 1991 to critical acclaim, his prize-winning first String Quartet had it's first performance at the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte in 1997. He cultivates a close bond with various contemporary composers both as a performer and composer.

Lise Berthaud
started studying the violin at the age of five before turning to the viola. She studied with Pierre-Henry Xuereb and Gérard Caussé at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and was a prizewinner of the European Young Instrumentalists Competition in 2000. In 2005, she won the Hindemith Prize at the Geneva International Competition. She was short-listed by the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2009 as “Révélation de l’Année” (Revelation of the Year). Praised as an outstanding rising figure on the music scene, Lise Berthaud is a frequent guest of various prestigious concert venues and festivals throughout Europe. She has appeared with such artists as Renaud Capuçon, Eric Le Sage, Augustin Dumay, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Emmanuel Pahud, the Quatuor Ebène and the Modigliani Quartet, among others. As a soloist, she has been a guest of numerous major orchestras in France with conductors such as Emmanuel Krivine, Sakari Oramo, Fabien Gabel, Paul McCreesh and Marc Minkowski. In 2010 she was invited to perform Harold en Italie with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre for the opening night of the prestigious Berlioz Festival at La Côte-Saint-André in France. Lise Berthaud has worked with several major contemporary composers, including Philippe Hersant, Thierry Escaich, Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtág and Guillaume Connesson. In October 2013, her first recording as a soloist with pianist Adam Laloum was awarded several prizes including the sought after Diapason d’Or. In September 2013, she was selected to be part of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme and has been invited to perform with the BBC orchestras. Her début at the BBC Proms in September 2014 will be with BBC Symphony and Andrew Litton at the Royal Albert Hall.

Oliver Triendl
One can hardly imagine a more devoted champion of neglected and rarely played composers than pianist Oliver Triendl. His tireless commitment – primarily to romantic and contemporary music – is reflected in more than 100 CD recordings. The scope of his repertoire is surely unique, comprising some 90 piano concertos and hundreds of chamber music pieces. In many cases, he was the first to present these works on stage or to commit them to disc.

As a soloist Triendl has performed together with many renowned orchestras. The list includes the Bamberg and Munich Symphonies, Munich Radio Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radio Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Weimar, German Radio Philharmonic, German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate, Munich, Southwest German, Stuttgart, Württemberg and Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Tonkunstler Orchestra Vienna, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Czech State Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, St.Petersburg Camerata, Zagreb Soloists and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

The avid chamber musician has concertized with fellow musicians such as Christian Altenburger, Wolfgang Boettcher, Thomas Brandis, Eduard Brunner, Ana Chumachenko, David Geringas, Clemens Hagen, Frans Helmerson, Hervé Joulain, Isabelle van Keulen, Rainer Kussmaul, François Leleux, Lorin Maazel, Marie Luise Neunecker, Paul Meyer, Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, Pascal Moraguès, Charles Neidich, Arto Noras, Raphaël Oleg, Gustav Rivinius, Benjamin Schmid, Hagai Shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, Radovan Vlatković, Jan Vogler and Antje Weithaas. He performed with Apollon musagète, Artis, Atrium, Auryn, Carmina, Danel, Gringolts, Keller, Leipzig, Mandelring, Meta4, Minguet, Pražák, Schumann, Sine Nomine, Škampa, Talich and Vogler String Quartets as well as with excellent artists of the younger generation like Nicolas Altstaedt, Claudio Bohórquez, Mirijam Contzen, James Ehnes, Liza Ferschtman, David Grimal, Ilya Gringolts, Alina Ibragimova, Sharon Kam, Henning Kraggerud, Pekka Kuusisto, Johannes Moser, Daniel Müller-Schott, Alina Pogostkina, Christian Poltéra, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Baiba Skride, Valeriy Sokolov, Carolin and Jörg Widmann.

Triendl, a native of Mallersdorf, Bavaria, where he was born in 1970, and a prizewinner at many national and international competitions, studied under Rainer Fuchs, Karl-Heinz Diehl, Eckart Besch, Gerhard Oppitz and Oleg Maisenberg. He has concertized with success at festivals and in many of Europe’s major music centers as well as in North and South America, South Africa, Russia and Asia.