Maria Fedotova, Flute
ensemble LUX:
Bojidara Kouzmanova – Violin
Julia Purgina – Viola
Mara Kronick – Violoncello
The great Russian flautist Maria Fedotova collaborates
with the internationally celebrated
Viennese ensemble LUX in contemporary flute
quartets by Austrian composers. Five of the
works are dedicated to Fedotova, and all appear
for the first time on CD.
Recording: 06/2011 – »The Pool« St. Pölten, Austria
Producer: Andreas Bertram
Recording Producer: Andreas Bertram
Layout: Felix Dreher
®+© 2013 Spektral 15543
Ord. No.: SRL4 – 13099
GTIN (EAN): 4260130380991
All rights reserved.
Fedotova, who was a graduate of the St.Petersburg Conservatory and began serving as principle flute at the age of 19 in Vladimir Fedoseyev’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio. Alongside her orchestral activity, she has developed a flourishing solo career. She has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Alexander Rudin, Juri Baschmet, Tatjana Grindenko and many others, and appears regularly at Lockenhaus. She is an integral member of Kremerata Baltica and has performed as soloist under Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, and Teodor Currentzis. Composers from all over the world have dedicated works to Fedotova. In 2009, following on the heels of Roland Freisitzer’s flute quartet, she started commissioning other flute quartets from young Austrian composers in order to form an entire concert program of contemporary flute quartets. In the same year, the newly-commissioned works (by Alexander Wagendristel, Thomas Bartosch, Thomas Heinisch and Norbert Sterk) were performed for the first time at the Arnold Schoenberg Center by Fedotova and the Ensemble Reconsil.
Founded in 2004, ensemble LUX has enjoyed successful performances at the Bregenzer Festspielen, Wien Modern, Aspekte Festival Salzburg, as well as many other venues and concert series, and has grown into one of the most important ensembles for contemporary music in Austria. Their most recent performing activities include a cycle of music devoted to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries at the Alte Schmiede in Vienna. In 2008, ensemble LUX recorded a disc of chamber music by the American composer Stephen Siegel for SPEKTRAL (SRL4-08041). The group has concertized in many European countries (Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, and Poland), and has enjoyed the support of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s NASOM (New Austrian Sound of Music) program for young artists.
Purgina was born in Straubing in 1980. She studied viola with Wolfgang Klos at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and with Ulrich Knörzer at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She also pursued composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, first with Erich Urbanner and then with Chaya Czernowin. She is presently studying Slovak and German at the University of Vienna. She has won prizes in various competitions and in 2011 was a composer at the Musikforum Mittersill. In 2013/14 she will be the composer in residence for the “WienerConcertverein”, and will be writing a violin concerto for Vera Novakova and a flute concerto for Maria Fedotova. Her works have been performed at Wien Modern as well as at other festivals. As a violist, she was a founding member of ensemble LUX, and has been the dedicatee of viola concertos by Erich Urbanner, Roland Freisitzer and Thomas Heinisch.
Thomas Bartosch was born in 1964 and was a fellow student of Purgina. He studied piano, trumpet and pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He also studied jazz piano with Roland Batik at the Vienna Conservatory. At the age of 12, he wrote his first jazz composition (ORF Wien). Since 1984 he has been the principle pianist and keyboard player for the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, and has also made guest appearances with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich and the Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien in concert and studio productions. In 2007, he concluded his composition studies with Erich Urbanner, graduating with distinction. He has collaborated with and been commissioned by, the Koehne Quartett, Ensemble Reconsil, Ensemble Kreativ, the chamber music festival at Burg Schlaining, the State Theatre of Bozen, Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, and Wien Modern.
Born in 1973, Freisitzer spent his childhood and youth in Russia, Poland, and South Africa. In 1989 he went to Moscow, where he studied with Edison Denisov at the Moscow Conservatory. While in Moscow, he also worked privately with Alfred Schnittke. Freisitzer’s studies were then interrupted by Denisov’s death as well as increased conducting activity. Following this pause in his academic studies, he concluded his studies in 1999 with Faraj Karayev at the Music Academy in Baku, Azerbaijan. His works have won prizes such as the Sponsorship Award (Förderpreis) of the Republic of Austria, and have been commissioned and performed by Ensemble Reconsil, Ensemble Modern, KammarensembleN, GAGEEGO!, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Ensemble “die reihe” and others. A CD of Freisitzer’s music has also appeared in the ORF “Zeit-Ton Portrait” series.
Thomas Heinisch was born in 1968 in Vienna and studied harmony and composition at the Vienna Conservatory with Reinhold Portisch. He worked privately with Christian Ofenbauer, and completed his composition studies with Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe. In addition, he also participated in masterclasses with Alfred Schnittke and Friedrich Cerha. In 1997 he was the recipient of UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers for his ensemblework Abglanz und Schweigen. His music has been presented by Klangforum Wien, GAGEEGO!, Ensemble 13, ÖENM Salzburg, Ensemble “die Reihe”, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, among others, and various works have also been commissioned by Steirischer Herbst, the Salzburg Festival and Wien Modern. In 2008 a CD of piano works by Heinisch, performed by pianist Janna Polyzoides, was nominated for the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and the“ORF Pasticcio-Preis”.
Sterk was born in 1968. Also a practicing speech therapist, he studied piano, double bass, theory and composition (under Heinz Karl Gruber) at the Vienna Conservatory. At the University of Vienna, he pursued philosophy, musicology and theatre studies. In addition, he attended seminars and courses with Ivan Eröd, Alfred Schnittke and Kurt Schwertsik. In 2008 Sterk was the recipient of theTheodor Körner Prize. His works have been performed both in Germany and abroad by Ensemble Reconsil, Ensemble “die Reihe”, Ensemble Wiener Collage, Oslo Sinfonietta, KammarensembleN, Argento ChamberEnsemble (USA), Stuttgart ChamberOrchester, Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, TrioAccanto, the vocal ensemble Stimmwerck, and Cinquecento. Recordings of works by Sterk can also be obtained on labels such as Phoenix, Capriccio and einklang records.
Wagendristel was born in 1965 in Vienna. He studied flute with Werner Trippand composition with Friedrich Neumann, Heinrich Gattermeyer and Erich Urbanner at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He participated in master classes with Aurèle Nicolet, and in 1988 took part in the Holiday Courses at Darmstadt. Since 1987, he has been principle flute for Vereinigte Bühnen Wien. As a result of his creative work, he has won various prizes from the BMUKK (FederalMinistry of Education, Art and Culture), the state of Lower Austria and the city of Vienna. He has also won the Theodor Körner Prize. His “Typhon” (piano concerto) was first performed at the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) in Vienna, with a subsequent performance at the World Music Days in Hong Kong. His works have also been performed in Germany, Russia, Hungary, Macedonia, Italy, Azerbaijan, the United States, and Switzerland.
