TANGO KVINTET

Tangokvintettens medlemmer er anerkendte som nogen af landets førende musikere, allesammen med erfaring i international koncertvirksomhed.

Kvintetten spiller hovedsageligt værker af tangokongen Astor Piazzolla, men også andre værker af tangokomponister. Kvintettens success ved en debutkoncert for et par år siden har gjort dette ensemble til et af landets mest attraktive musikalske bud på markedet.

JAMES CRABB - Classical Accordion

James Crabb was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1967 and started playing the accordion at the age of four.

He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with classical accordion pioneer Mogens Ellegaard from 1985-92. He was 2nd prize winner of the Gaudeamus Interpreters competition 1989 in Holland, and was awarded the prestigious Carl Nielsen Music Prize, Denmark in 1991. During his studies he was awarded many scholarships from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, Tillett Trust, Sir James Caird Trust and gave over 150 performances for the Live Music Now series.

James Crabb's critically acclaimed debut in the Park Lane Group series at the Purcell Room in 1992 catapulted him on to the international concert platform and since then he has performed world wide pioneering the classical accordion. Critics internationally have constantly praised him for his virtuosity and versatile musicianship.

He has performed at many major international music festivals including Proms in London (debut in 1995), Belfast, Lucerne, Sydney Millennium, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Kuhmo, Turku, Brisbane, ISCM World Music Days, Gulbenkian Foundation's Nordic Days and recently the Edinburgh Festival in 2002.

James has also performed with well known conductors amongst others Daniel Barenboim, Elgar Howarth, Martyn Brabbins, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Gunter Schüller, Markus Stenz, Michael Schönwandt, Peter Eötvös and with many well known orchestras ineluding BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish S.0, Sydney S.0, Melbourne S.0, Philharmonia, London Philharmonie, London Sinfonietta, BirminghamCMG, Paragon Ensemble, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Kuhmo Vittuosi.

His most recent successes have been with the Australian Chamber Orchestra with whom he enjoys a very close collaboration among other things resulting in a recording release on the Chandos Label CD/CH10163.

As soloist he has been on an extensive tour of Japan and Europe with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in October 2003, and he also performed at the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup 2003 in Sydney together with ACO leader Richard Tognetti for a stadium of 80.000 people as well as 1.5 Billion TV viewers world-wide.

His highly acclaimed debut recording (with his colleague Geir Draugsvoll) of accordion duo transcriptions of Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Mussorsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for EMI Classies C.0/569072 (in 1996) was re-released in 2002, being a bestseller and enjoys cult status. The duo also performs regularly with The Tero Saarinen Dance Company (Finland) with their highly praised version of Petrouchka.

A recent performance at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival created history when it was broadcast live on Finnish national television. Another performance of Petrouchka in Skt. Petersborg in September 2003 was part of a cultural gift to the city from the Finnish Government.

James Crabb has recorded works for several composer portraits, on NMC, Classico, Dacapo, Simax and ABC Classic labels as well as regular radio and TV broadcasts of his performances. He made the first ever solo recital recording for the newly established Sky TV Digital Arts Channel in 2001.

He has enjoyed great success recently with his performances of Astor Piazzolla's music together with the original members of Piazzolla's Quintet.

He has collaborated with several leading composers, also giving world premiers and recordings of works by amongst others Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adés, Luciano Berio, Sofia Gubaidulina, Django Bates and Lyell Cresswell.

Already an experienced and highly regarded teacher, James Crabb is professor of classical accordion at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen (since 1995) and held a guest professorship at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria from 1995-2002. He has also given many master-classes at important music institutions including Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and Toronto University.

SERGUEI AZIZIAN - violin

Serguei Azizian er født i Armenien i 1957. Han har i de snart 10 år, han har været bosat i Danmark, ikke blot skabt respekt om sit arbejde som koncertmester i Sjællands Symfoniorkester, men også gjort sig stærkt gældende i kammermusikalske sammenhænge.

Efter 11 års undervisning på en specialskole (Yerevan, Armenia) for musikalsk begavede børn fulgte violinstudier hos professor Aleksander Fischer på Skt. Petersborg Konservatorium afsluttende med solistklasse. Allerede i studietiden konkurrerede han sig ind i Skt. Petersborgs Philharmoniske Orkester, hvor han var ansat, indtil han i 1993 vandt Sjællands Symfoniorkesters koncertmesterkonkurrence og bosatte sig i Danmark. Serguei Azizian har optrådt som solist med orkestret i Skt. Petersborg, med Sjællands Symfoniorkester, Armenian Philharmoniske orkester samt med Shanghai Philharmoniske Orkester.

Serguei Azizian er desuden særdeles aktiv som kammermusiker. I Skt. Petersborg var han medlem af Skt. Petersborgs Philharmoniske Oktet, og i Danmark er han medlem af klavertrioen Trio con Brio og grundlagde og ledede i to år Louisiana Museum Art Ensemble og optræder regelmæssigt ved kirkekoncerter med bl.a Bachs solosonater og partitaer. Sammen med den russiske pianist Elena Semishina har Serguei Azizian optrådt I Rusland, Danmark, Japan, Korea, Kina, Taiwan, Sverige, USA og Finland.

På CD har Serguei Azizian med Sjællands Symfoniorkester indspillet Brittens og Waltons violinkoncerter og værker af Schubert, Bach, Prokofieff, Schnittke, Ravel, Messiaen, Schönberg, Babadjanian, Langgaard og russiske miniaturer.

Pædagogisk virksomhed har også Serguei Azizians store interesse.

Han har således undervistpå konservatoriet i Skt. Petersborg og er nu professor på Det Kgl. Danske Musikkonservatorium i København.

JOSÈ RIBERA - piano

Professor of piano at the Royal Acaderny of Music in Copenhagen and chairman of the keyboard department. Previously held leading teaching positions at the academies in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Edsberg.

Born in Spain, Ribera studied at the Conservatory of Barcelona and later at the Royal College of Music in London.

Appears regularly throughout Europe, Asia and the America, performing solo and chamber-music recitals as well as with orchestras like Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Leningrad Philarmonic, London Philarmonia, The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Spains National Orchestra, in cooperation with such conductors as Jascha Horenstein, Pierre Monteux, Sergiu Celibidache, Eduardo Mata, Eliahu Inbal, Esa Pekka Salonen, Juri Temirkanov, Leif Segerstam and Jan Krenz among others.

As a chamber-musician José Ribera has appeared together with Henrik Szeryng, Ida Haendel, Georgy Pauk, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Frans Helmersson, the Borodin Quartet, Birgit Nilsson and Elisabeth Söderström.

Has made numerous recordings for EMI, SR Records, Caprice, Danacord and Danica labels as well as for radio and television in many countries.

Many Spanish and Scandinavian composers have written works especially for him.

Professor José Ribera is in constant demand to teach international master-classes worldwide

MICHAL STADNICKI - kontrabas

Bom in Poland. He graduated from the Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, studying under the tuition of Prof. T. Pelezar and then afterwards became himself a teacher there. From 1977-81 he played with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Warsaw.

In the early 1980's he left for Mexico where he was principal bass player with the leading orchestras including the National Opera Orchestra, the world's largest university orchestra in Mexico City.

In 1985 he left for Berlin to become principal bass with the well known Berlin Symphony Orchestra and also performed as a soloist there.

Mr Stadnicki is a laureate of the Geneva International Music competiton, and also a winner of the ‘Prix Suisse’ for the best performance of a work by a Swiss composer.

He has given master-classes in many countries and is also head of bass studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Michal Stadnicki also holds the principal bass position with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Alongside his orchestral duties, he is also very active as a soloist and chamber- musician playing a wide and diverse variety of musical styles.

GEORGE VASSILEV - guitar

George Vassilev, født i 1966 i Bulgarien, begyndte sine guitarstudier hos L. Haralambiev. I 1987 fortsatte han sin uddannelse på musikkonservatoriet i Kiev, senere på solistlinien ved Geneva Conservatory i Schweiz og på Det Kgl. Danske Musikkonservatorium i København.

George Vassilev har vundet flere internationale konkurrencer, bl.a. International Guitar Competition "Cittá di Alessandria" i Italien (1991), International Competition for Musical Performers "Maria Canals de Barcelona" (1992) og International Competition for Musical Performers (CIEM) i Schweiz (1995).

Som solist er George Vassilev en hyppig gæst ved guitar- og musikfestivaler og giver i årets løb koncerter i mange- europæiske lande og i Brasilien. Medlem af ensemblet Kordepan.

Han har lavet både solo- og kammermusikindspilninger med bl.a. musik af Rodrigo, Piazzolla og de Falla.