BIOGRAPHY
Founded in 2005 and considered one of the top chamber orchestras in the world, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra is made up of alumni of the Verbier Festival Orchestra training programme and who now hold positions in leading international ensembles. The extensive list of orchestras is impressive, and includes, among others, the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonics, and the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Concertgebouw, Tonhalle, and London Symphony Orchestras.
The VFCO is the resident chamber orchestra of the Verbier Festival, and the six concerts it performs at each summer’s Festival are led by both its acclaimed Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, as well as other illustrious conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Daniel Harding. The orchestra is often joined by soloists such as András Schiff, Leonidas Kavakos, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman, Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Daniil Trifonov and Gautier Capuçon. As an ambassador of the Verbier Festival, the orchestra’s celebrated tours have brought its electrifying energy to audiences at many of the world’s great concert halls and festivals. Its first recording was in 2006 with the violinist/conductor Maxim Vengerov, and was followed by a 22-concert tour in North America and Europe. Since then, the orchestra has toured regularly throughout the world and, since 2008, has taken up residence for a week each autumn at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.
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© Agnieszka Biolik 2022
MUSIC DIRECTOR
gábor takács-nagy
Hungarian conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy was appointed Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in 2007. A founding member and principal violin (1975 to 1992) of the Takács Quartet, he performed with Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovitch, András Schiff, Mikhail Pletnev, Joshua Bell and Gidon Kremer. He founded the Takács Piano Trio in 1996 and the Mikrokosmos Quartet in 1998 (Excellencia Prize for the complete cycle of Bartók’s quartets). Since 2002 he has devoted himself entirely to orchestral conducting, when he founded the Camerata Bellerive. In 2011, he was appointed Music Director of the Manchester Camerata and, in 2012, Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Takács became Principal Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra in 2013. He coaches string quartets at the Haute Ecole de Musique, Geneva, and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (2012) and Artistic Advisor for the Verbier Festival Academy’s Chamber Music offerings.
MUSICIANS
The following musicians are regular collaborators. The VFCO family includes many more.
Violin
Rimma Bergeron-Langlois (Ukraine)
Orlando Philharmonic
Daniel Cho (South Korea)
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Petr Chonkushev (Russia)
Musica Aeterna
Teodora Dimitrova (Bulgaria)
Sinfonieorchester Basel
Jeff Dyrda (Canada)
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Filip Fenrych (Poland)
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Lulu Fuller (China)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Emma Gibout (France)
Orchestre Des Pays De Savoie
Elizaveta Goldenberg (Russia)
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Roberto González-Monjas (Spain)
Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Giovanni Guzzo (Venezuela)
Camerata Salzburg
Laura Ha (United States)
Utah Symphony
Lelia Iancovici (Romania)
Les Arts Valencia
Guillaume Jacot (Switzerland)
Orchestre de La Suisse Romande
Felicity James (United States)
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Vivek Jayaraman (United States)
Florida Orchestra
Christoph Koncz (Austria)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Marta Krechkovsky (Ukraine)
Pittsburgh Symphony
Asaf Maoz (Israel)
Israel Philharmonic
Genevieve Martineau (Canada)
Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester
Aya Muraki (Japan)
Stavanger Symphoniorkester
Olga Polonsky (Russia)
Deutsche Sinfonieorchester
Simon Riverin (Canada)
Leipzig Gewandhausorchester
Alexandros Sakarellos (Greece)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Clare Semes (United States)
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Yoonshin Song (South Korea)
Houston Symphony
Viktor Stenhjem (Norway)
Münchener Kammerorchester
Sayaka Takeuchi (Japan)
Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich
Viola
Arabella Bozic (Australia)
Orchestre de Chambre de Paris
Blythe Engstroem (United States)
Co-Artistic Director, Verbier Festival
Karolina Errera (Dominican Republic)
Soloist, Chamber Musician
Natanael Ferreira (Brazil)
Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth
Joshua Newburger (United States)
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Janka Szomor-Mekis
Zurich Kammerorchester
Amanda Verner (Australia)
Sydney Symphony
Sharon Wei (Canada)
Western University
Elizaveta Zolotova (Russia)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin – RSB
Cello
Stephan Koncz (Austria)
Berliner Philharmoniker
Matyas Major (Hungary)
Malaysia Philharmonic (former)
Nerina Mancini (Italy)
Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin
Joël Marosi (Switzerland)
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
Guilherme Nardelli Monegatto (Brazil)
Bamberg Symphony
Theresa Schneider (Germany)
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Maksim Velichkin (Uzbekistan)
Composer, session musician
Mi Zhou (China)
Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse
Double Bass
Michael Fuller (United States)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Brendan Kane (United States)
Israel Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera (former)
Joan Perarnau Garriga (Spain)
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Maren Reck (United States)
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Jordan Scapinello (Canada)
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Tristan Sutton (United States)
Bergen Philharmonic
Flute
Zofia Neugebauer (Poland)
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Sinfonieorchester Basel
Frederic Sánchez (Spain)
Neues Orchester Basel, Azahar Ensemble
Helena Macherel (Switzerland)
Philharmonie Baden-Baden
Oboe
Vicente Castello Sansaloni (Spain)
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
Rémi Grouiller (France)
Orchestre de Paris
Emmanuel Laville (France)
Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester
Dmitry Malkin (Ukraine)
Israel Philharmonic
Clarinet
Luis Camara Palomares (Spain)
Euskadiko Orkestra/Basque National Orchestra
Aleksandar Tasic (Serbia)
Professor, Novi Sad Academy of Arts
Petr Vašek (Czech Republic)
Jihoceska Filharmonie/South Czech Philharmonic
Bassoon
Axel Benoit (France)
Leipzig Gewandhausorchester
Lola Descours (France)
Rotterdam Philharmonic
Hunter Gordon (United States)
Buffalo Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic
Pierre Gomes (France)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Marceau Lefevre (France)
Brussels Philharmonic
Horn
Clement Charpentier Leroy (France)
Orchestre de La Suisse Romande
Lionel Pointet (Switzerland)
Opernhaus Zurich
Manon Souchard (France)
Orchestre National de Lyon
David Sullivan (United States)
Kansas City Symphony
Trumpet
Gabriel Dias (Brazil)
Rio Brass
Célestin Guerin (France)
Orchestre de Paris
Andrés Nebot Pitarch (Spain)
Staatstheater Cottbus
Christopher Scanlon (United States)
Axiom Brass
Trombone
Jonathan Reith (France)
Orchestre de Paris
Alejandro Cantos Sanchez (France)
Orchestra Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española (RTVE)
Timpani
Ian Sullivan (United States)
New York City Ballet
Ziv Stein (Israel)
Israel Philharmonic
