Tonhain Kollektiv

Concert: Natural Crossings

Friday, October 23, 2026 at 07:00 PM

Description

We continue the season with an exploration of music’s reflection on natural journeys. Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, commissioned by Greenpeace for its “Save the Whales” campaign, is a meditation on the sea as a home for the most majestic creatures on earth. Kaija Saariaho’s Fall, composed as part of the ballet Maa (meaning “land” or “earth” in Finnish), which focuses on transitions, such as crossing water, passing through gates, and moving between states, distills these ideas into a solitary meditation for solo harp. Haydn’s famous ‘Bird’ quartet reveals that composers throughout history have always been fascinated by nature, while Jon Rose and Hollis Taylor’s work BEAK is the product of their decades-long study of Australian birds and the ecology of the Outback; in this work, they put field recordings of the Pied butcherbird’s songs in dialogue with a string quartet. The program finishes with George Crumb’s monumental Vox Balanae (Voice of a Whale), a groundbreaking work of environmental activism, tracing the history of the oceans and our interaction with them. Rather than including direct recordings of the humpback whale song which inspired him, the musicians imitate these natural songs using amplification and extended techniques.

Program

Toru Takemitsu: Toward the Sea III for flute and harp (1989) ~12'

Kaija Saariaho: Fall for Harp and Electronics (1991) ~6'

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet Op. 33 No. 3 'Bird' ~20'

Jon Rose & Hollis Taylor: BEAK for String Quartet and Tape ~10'

George Crumb: Vox Balaenae for flute, cello and piano ~20'

Artists

Aliya Vodovozova

flute

Flutist Aliya Vodovozova is quickly making a name for herself as a soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She has received top prizes at international competitions, including the 2nd Prize and Audience Award at the ARD International Music Competition 2024, 2nd Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition, and 1st Prize at the “Ton & Erklärung” competition with her Pacific Quintet. She has performed at major festivals such as the Verbier Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Zermatt Music Festival, Santander Encuentro, and Villecroze Music Academy. She has played in prestigious venues like the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and the Grand Théâtre de Provence. Born in Ukraine and raised in Turkey, Aliya began flute and piano lessons with her mother. She studied at the Gnessin School and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory before moving to Berlin in 2016 to study at the HfM Hanns Eisler with Benoit Fromanger. During the 2017/18 season, she played in the Dresden Philharmonic. She has performed as a soloist with the Tekfen Philharmonic, Bilkent Symphony, and thePresidential Symphony Orchestra of Türkiye. In 2020, Aliya participated in the “Nouveaux horizons” festival by invitation of Renaud Capuçon and recorded with Daniel Hope for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2023, she was an artist in residence at the Villecroze Music Academy, focusing on Sofia Gubaidulina’s works.

Marion Ravot

harp

French harpist Marion Ravot is one of the most sought-after musicians in her field. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Recent highlights include a duo concert with Gauthier Capuçon at the ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp conducted by Ton Koopman, alongside Mathieu Dufour in the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin. In 2020, she premiered Vito Žuraj’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, written for her, with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Marion has performed with some of the world’s leading artists, including Renaud Capuçon, Karl-Heinz Schütz, Bruno Delepelaire, and Daniel Hope. Since 2024, she is Solo Harpist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As an orchestral musician, she regularly appears with renowned ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her performing career, Marion teaches at the Universität der Künste Berlin since 2020. A native of Paris, Marion studied with Isabelle Moretti at the Paris Conservatoire and later with Nancy Allen at the Juilliard School. In 2016, she was admitted to the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where she studied for three years under the mentorship of Marie-Pierre Langlamet.

Luke Hsu

violin

Hailed as “in a class by himself with total command of the instrument” (Montreal Gazette), offering “genius interpretations” (Le Soir, Brussels) with “no-holds-barred gusto” (IndyStar), Luke Hsu, a co-founder of Tonhain Kollektiv, is sought after around the world as a violinist and composer. Born in Shanghai, raised in Houston, and currently living in Berlin, Luke’s artistic philosophy eschews borders. He draws on his passions for history, culture, and folk music in crafting his interpretations, and champions music of our time as enthusiastically as that of the past. Luke has appeared as a soloist at Wigmore Hall, Windsor Castle, Kennedy Center, Herkulessaal, Philharmonie Berlin, BOZAR, and many others. He has soloed with numerous renowned orchestras, most recently with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Belgian National Orchestra, and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, and worked closely with eminent conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Pascal Vierrot, Nikolaj Znaider, Hugh Wolff, Cristian Macelaru and Jean-Jacques Kantorow. A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth competition, Luke has won prizes at many of the most prestigious violin competitions in the world. He won the Bronze Medal, the Bach Prize, and the Mozart Sonata Prize at the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the 1st prize at the ISANGYUN Competition. His other major prizes have come from the Nielsen, Wieniawski, Michael Hill, and Paganini competitions.

Amelie Wallner

violin

Amelie Wallner, born in Munich in 1999, received her first violin lessons at the age of four. She continued her training as a pre-college student with Prof. Petru Munteanu in Augsburg and subsequently at the Berlin University of the Arts with Prof. Nora Chastain, where she completed her Bachelor’s degree and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree. From 2020 to 2025, she was a violinist in the Leonkoro Quartet, during which time she won numerous prizes and awards, including first prizes at the 2022 International String Quartet Competitions in Bordeaux and at Wigmore Hall in London, the Music Prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation, the MERITO String Quartet Award, the Young Talent Award of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and, in 2024, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. The ensemble was significantly shaped by its work with renowned musicians such as Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Heime Müller, Eckart Runge and Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartet), as well as pianist Alfred Brendel. In autumn 2023, the quartet’s debut album was released by Mirare and was awarded the Choc de Classica de l’année 2023 just a few weeks later. In 2024, the quartet began collaborating with the renowned label Alpha Classics. With the quartet, she has performed at major international concert series and festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zurich, Bozar in Brussels, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Pierre Boulez Saal and Philharmonie Berlin. Her concert tours have also taken her to Japan, China and North America. Alongside her passion for chamber music, Amelie Wallner regularly performs as an orchestral musician, including as a substitute player with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Berlin Philharmonic. She plays a J. Gagliano violin dating from 1742.

Nilay Özdemir

viola

Violist Nilay Özdemir began her musical training at the age of eleven at the State Conservatory in Antalya. Just three years later, she made her debut as a soloist with the Antalya Symphony Orchestra. She studied with Tatjana Masurenko at the Leipzig University of Music and Theater, with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, and with Hartmut Rohde at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she completed her master’s degree and went on to pursue her concert exam. She gained significant artistic inspiration through her participation in renowned international festivals and academies, including the Kronberg Academy, the Verbier Festival, the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, and the Krzyżowa Music Festival. There, she collaborated with outstanding artists such as Seiji Ozawa, Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, and Antoine Tamestit. As a chamber musician, she has performed on internationally renowned stages. In addition, she gained extensive orchestral experience as principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. In addition to her membership in the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, she remains actively and passionately dedicated to chamber music and performs regularly with various ensembles.

Rainer Crosett

cello

American cellist Rainer Crosett, a co-founder of Tonhain Kollektiv, performs throughout the U.S. and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. As a recipient of the 2018 Pierre Fournier Award, he made his recital debut at Wigmore Hall and his concerto debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. A passionate chamber musician, he regularly performs at festivals such as Yellow Barn, the Perlman Music Program, Prussia Cove, the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, and Music@Menlo. In recent years he has performed with renowned musicians* such as Robert Levin, Laurence Lesser, Donald Weilerstein, Cho-Liang Lin, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, and Kim Kashkashian. Since 2014, he has been Artistic Director of Project LENS, an interdisciplinary ensemble founded in Boston, USA. Rainer is currently completing his studies at the University of the Arts with Prof. Jens Peter Maintz.

Michael Cohen-Weissert

piano

Michael Cohen-Weissert is a pianist, composer, and conductor. He was born in Jerusalem in 1993 and moved to Berlin in 2008, where he is currently based. He has a diverse career, performing as a soloist and conductor with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano, and Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, as well as being a sought-after chamber musician, playing with musicians such as Claudio Bohorquez, Jens Peter Maintz, Mate Szücs, Marc Bouchkov, and Nur Ben-Shalom amongst others. As a composer and arranger, he collaborations include the project "Lebensmelodien", for which he has composed and arranged over 40 pieces inspired by melodies written between 1933 and 1945. Other musicians and ensembles who frequently play his music are Philharmonix, Tomoki Park, Markus Merkel, and Nimrod Ensemble. In 2018, his first opera, AMALIA!, was premiered in Bolzano. Believing a modern artist must not only play but also organize, he founded the Charles Rosen-Ensemble, dedicated to the performance and promotion of contemporary music, and he is co-artistic director of the festival Eole en Musiques in France. His piano teachers were Elena Lapitskaja, Jacques Rouvier, and Stefan Arnold. He also attended composition classes held by Elena Mendoza and Marc Sabat, as well as chamber music classes with teachers such as the Artemis Quartet and Eberhard Feltz.

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