Björn Lehmann performs as a soloist and as a chamber musician in various ensembles, cultivating a special interest in new music in both areas. Concert tours take him to most European countries, Japan, South Korea, China, and Latin America. He regularly performs at numerous international festivals, including the Spring Festivals in Tokyo and Seoul.

He studied first in Hamburg with Peter-Jürgen Hofer and Ralf Nattkemper, in Lausanne with Fausto Zadra, and then at the Berlin University of the Arts with Klaus Hellwig. He has also received important artistic inspiration from Leonard Hokanson, Robert Levin, Ferenc Rados, Zoltán Kocsis, members of the Amadeus Quartet, Hartmut Höll, and Irwin Gage, among others.

His commitment to new music has led him to collaborate with composers such as Friedrich Goldmann, Arnulf Herrmann, and Mathias Spahlinger. In his concert programs, he often features traditional and contemporary repertoire alongside one another.

Since 2009 he has collaborated with pianist Norie Takahashi in frequent concerts as the PianoDuo Takahashi | Lehmann which, in its concert programs, often sheds light on the transcription repertoire, among other areas.

He has performed with violinist Sophia Jaffé in numerous concerts and festivals for more than twenty years. As a duo as well as in larger ensembles, they present a highly varied repertoire that ranges from Bach to the modern era. Lehmann has made radio and television recordings with numerous German and international radio stations and has released several CDs.

Since 2011 he has been a professor of piano at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he teaches an international class. He gives numerous masterclasses, including regularly in France, Austria, Japan, and South Korea, and serves on international competition juries such as the Concours de Genève and the Maj Lind International Piano Competition in Helsinki.

Christian Petersen studied in his hometown at the pre-college of the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, and later at the University of Music Detmold under Anatol Ugorski, where he earned his Master’s and Konzertexamen degrees. His pianistic and artistic development was further shaped by masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Leon Fleisher, Christian Zacharias, Alexis Weissenberg, András Schif, Hans Leygraf, and Nerine Barrett.

In 1997, as a fnalist of the competition Deutscher Musikwettbewerb he was featured in the program “Concerts of Young Artists”. In Germany he has performed at prestigious festivals such as Rheingau Musikfestival, Bodensee-Festival, MoselFestwochen and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. His performances have also taken him to neighboring European countries, as well as Japan, China, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA.

Chamber music plays an integral role in Christian Petersen’s career. He regularly performs in various ensembles with members and soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Vogler Quartet. As a soloist, he has collaborated with several German orchestras. One meaningful concert for him was the double piano concertos by Bach and Mozart with Anatol Ugorski and the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim. Radio productions, live recital recordings, and a CD (Genuin) featuring variations by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms attest to his artistic excellence and have led to positive reviews in the musical press, including Piano News.

Petersens pedagogical journey, a crucial part of his artistic identity, includes various positions in German universities, ranging from the assistance of Prof. Ugorski in Detmold to his current position as a professor at the Berlin University of Arts which he accepted in 2018.

He is a jury member of national and international piano competitions and frequently giving international masterclasses.

Lucas Blondeel is professor of piano and fortepiano at the University of Arts in Berlin and an internationally renowned pianist who performs on both modern and historical instruments.

At only four years of age, Lucas Blondeel began to make music on an early 19th century fortepiano that stood for sale in his parent’s art gallery. A passion for musical discoveries will remain a constant throughout his life. After his studies at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, he moved to Berlin to study with Professor Klaus Hellwig at the University of Arts, where he graduated with the Konzertexamen. More musical discoveries were made possible by personalities such as Irwin Gage for Lied and Malcolm Bilson and Jos Van Immerseel for fortepiano.

With Nicolas Callot he has formed a successful piano duo for more than twenty years. Other musical partners include Anima Eterna Brugge and conductor Bart Van Reyn, soloists of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, trio Fenix and Oxalys. He collaborates regularly with classical radio stations such as Klara, Musiq3, France Musique, BBC3, Kulturradio vom RBB…

His recordings include the Schubert Impromptus (Klara), Für Marianne with music by Haydn (Cyprès), chamber music by Albert Huybrechts (Cyprès), Lieder by Schubert, Strauss and Mahler with bass-baritone Werner Van Mechelen (Phaedra), piano duets by Schubert and Schumann with Nicolas Callot, recorded on a historical fortepiano by Conrad Graf from 1826 (Warner), works for clarinet and piano by Weinberg and Prokofiev with Annelien Van Wauwe (Genuin) and Haydn’s D-Major concerto on fortepiano with Le Concert d’Anvers under Bart Van Reyn (Fuga Libera). In 2020 this CD was chosen by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the best recordings of the year.

Lucas Blondeel is always searching for new ways to share musical experiences. He regularly organizes house concerts, gives introductions to his performances and shares videos about pieces and instruments on his YouTube channel. Together with musicologists such as Marten Norduin (Oxford), he conducts artistic research related to historical performance practice. As a member of the Ensemble1800Berlin, he researches the role of chamber music arrangements for the reception of symphonic music of composers like Mozart and Beethoven. His own instrument collection includes a clavichord, a fortepiano (copy) after Johann Andreas Stein (1780) and an original fortepiano by Conrad Graf (1838). He gives regular master classes for modern piano, Lied, chamber music, fortepiano and historical performance practice.

From 2012 to 2019, he taught a piano and fortepiano class at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt. In April 2018 he was appointed professor of piano (since 2020 also fortepiano) at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Shaun Choo was born in Singapore and commenced piano at the age of seven. Upon attaining his Diploma in Music Performance at fourteen under Ms. Lena Ching, he pursued his studies abroad at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria, graduating as “Bachelor of Arts” under professors Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Andreas Weber and “Master of Arts” under professor Jacques Rouvier with highest distinction. He is the first and only external piano candidate in many years to be successfully admitted into the prestigious “Konzertexamen” Postgraduate Program at the Berlin University of the Arts under the tutelage of professor Björn Lehmann. Further mentors include Dmitri Alexeev, Bernd Goetzke, Matti Raekallio and Dang Thai Son.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Shaun’s performing career has taken him across Europe and Asia. Venue highlights include the National Concert Hall Beijing, Bregenzer Festspielhaus, Leipziger Gewandhaus, Esplanade Concert Hall and Chopin’s birthplace in Zelazowa Wola. He has been invited to festivals such as the Schwetzinger Festspiele, Duszniki Chopin Piano Festival, Klavierfrühling Deutschlandsberg, Singapore International Piano Festival and Festival Piano Pic, and has performed at various international events and congresses. Shaun often appears as a soloist with orchestras such as the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra, Daegu Philharmonic, Leipzig Academic Orchestra and Orchestre de Pau.

COMPETITION AWARDS

Shaun is a prizewinner at more than ten international competitions, including nine first prizes. He emerged victorious at the 3rd International Piano Competition Istanbul Orchestra’ Sion and is a five-time prizewinner in international Chopin competitions held in Hungary, France, China, South Korea and Australia. Other notable triumphs include the Artur Schnabel Piano Competition Berlin, Grotrian Steinweg Piano Competition Beijing and ZF Musikpreis Friedrichshafen, and prizes at the “Flame” International Competition Paris and Blüthner Golden Tone Award in Vienna.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Shaun is an increasingly sought-after teacher, with many of his students winning prizes in international competitions themselves. He is frequently invited to conduct masterclasses and lectures, often at established institutions such as the Steinway STEPS program, Keimyung University (Daegu, South Korea), Bela Bartok University (Miskolc, Hungary) and the International Summer Academy Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria). He holds the title of Adjunct Lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore.

NOTABLE COMPOSITIONS

As an avid composer, Shaun often performs his own works during recitals. He was commissioned by the Singapore Armed Forces to compose the Signal Formation Song during his two-year military service. His 4-hands work “Fiestravaganza” has nearly 6 million cumulative views on YouTube. It has won numerous prizes at duo competitions and has sold hundreds of copies online.

Born in Los Angeles into a family of musicians with Greek roots, Evan-Alexis Christ spent his childhood in Las Vegas. He played oboe and piano at an early age and studied mathematics and composition at Harvard University and conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music.

Since 2020 he has worked regularly with the Sofia National Opera in Bulgaria. There he led the Bulgarian Premiere of Richard Strauss’ Elektra, and Ariadne auf Naxos as well as premieres of Richard Wagner’s complete Ring cycle and Lohengrin, in addition to numerous repertory performances. In October 2023 he made his Asian Debut, conducting Elektra at the Daegu Opera (South Korea) and was invited back for a new production of Der Rosenkavalier in 2024. In 2023/2024 he was the Chief Conductor of the Sarajevo Philharmonic for its 100th anniversary season. Joining prominent guest artists such as Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta, he conducted several programs throughout the year. Since 2022 he has been a regular guest conductor in Germany with the Nürnberger Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie-Westfalen, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, as well as with the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira in Portugal. Passionate about education, he has served as Resident Conductor of the annual Fiestravaganza International Music Academy in Berlin since 2023. Its orchestra, composed of some of the finest students from Berlin, collaborates with young soloists from around the world. Additionally, he led a master class on the opera Le Nozze di Figaro for the conducting students of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in December 2025.

He has worked extensively with German orchestras and opera houses, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, SWR Symphonieorchester, MDR Sinfonie-Orchester, WDR-Funkhausorchester, Bremer Philharmoniker, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Hannover, Theater Bonn, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Aalto-Theater Essen and the Nationaltheater Mannheim. Internationally he has collaborated on return engagements with the Zagreb Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2011, conducting Salvatore Sciarrino’s opera Macbeth with the Klangforum Wien. In 2018, he conducted the closing concert of the Ultraschall Berlin: Festival for New Music.

Evan-Alexis Christ has gained recognition for his innovative concert programs. His cycles of the complete Mahler and Beethoven symphonies and Wagner’s complete Ring cycle have been met with critical acclaim. He has conducted 70 world premiere performances and numerous film-music, midnight, educational, flash-mob and crossover programs. In addition, he has conducted more than 60 opera productions, including all of the standard Mozart operas and numerous German, Italian and French repertoire.

Evan-Alexis Christ was Music Director of the Brandenburg State Opera in Cottbus from 2008 to 2018, making him at the time one of the youngest music directors in Germany. The orchestra made several recordings and undertook international tours for the first time in their 100-year history. In 2011 the orchestra won the publishers prize (Boosey and Hawkes, Peters, Breitkopf, etc.) for the best concert program of all German orchestras. In 2010 the citizens of the city of Cottbus voted Christ “Cottbuser of the Year.” In the regular subscription series, audience attendance rose from 70 to 95 percent capacity. From 2009 to 2018, the orchestra premiered a new work in every subscription concert and collaborated regularly with the contemporary music ensembles Court-circuit (Paris) and ensemble mosaik (Berlin). The high quality of the orchestra’s artistic work was recognized and supported by numerous generous grants (Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation, Berlin Academy of the Arts, German “Excellent Orchestra Landscape” National Foundation and Impuls Neue Musik).

After a brief stint in 2003 as vocal coach and pianist at the Portland Opera (USA), he was First Kapellmeister and Associate Music Director at the Würzburg Opera between 2003 and 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he served as First Kapellmeister at the Wuppertal Opera.

Violinist and violist Gregor Sigl received early instruction in music from his mother starting at the age of five and continued his musical education at the Albert Greiner Music School in Augsburg.

When only ten years old, he enrolled at the renowned Mozarteum Salzburg, in the class of Prof. Jürgen Geise. In the following years, Sigl won First and Second Prizes at Germany’s nationwide music competition “Jugend Musiziert”, receiving a commendation in the violin solo and string quartet categories.

In 1991 he was awarded a scholarship to study with American violinist Lynn Blakeslee at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

In 1993 Sigl was accepted to the international masterclass of Latvian violinist Philippe Hirshhorn at the Utrecht Conservatory.

From 1997 to 1999 he completed his studies with violinists Arjen Beintema, Viktor Liberman, Herman Krebbers, Alexander Kerr and Charles André Linale.

Ever since 1997 Sigl has regularly been invited as a guest-concertmaster and musical director with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the Camerata Salzburg and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Roger Norrington, Vassily Sinaisky, Sakari Oramo, Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Harding, Zoltan Kocsis, Adam Fischer, Peter Eötvös, Trevor Pinnock, Michael Gielen, Sir Charles Mackerras, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Sigl holds professorships at the University of Fine Arts (Universität der Künste) in Berlin, as well as the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth) in Brussels.

As a member of the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, Sigl performs at all the most important concert venues in Europe, the US, Japan, South America, Australia and at numerous international music festivals. The Artemis Quartet records exclusively for Erato.