Programme:
J. Brahms:
Sonata No. 1
in G Major Op. 78
A.Shor:
Violin Sonata No. 1
M. Ravel:
Sonata G Major
J. Brahms:
Sonata No. 1
in G Major Op. 78
A.Shor:
Violin Sonata No. 1
M. Ravel:
Sonata G Major
Aleksey Semenenko
Violin
The refined, impassioned and commanding playing of Ukrainian violinist Aleksey Semenenko identifies him as inheritor of the great Odessa violin tradition and earnt him places on both the BBC New Generation Artists scheme and Young Concert Artists in New York, bringing him to the attention of audiences across Europe and the US.
Semenenko has given recitals at Snape Maltings, Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall, and performed concertos with orchestras including BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Seattle Symphony, Orchestra of St Luke’s, National Orchestra of Belgium, Ulster Orchestra, Kyiv Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. His festival performances include invitations at the Hay, Cheltenham, Chipping Campden and Edinburgh festivals.
Recent highlights include a UK tour with National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the televised return of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ with BBC Concert Orchestra, and concerts and recordings with BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra and Szczecin Philharmonic. This season Semenenko makes his Canadian debut at Bourgie Hall, and gives concerts with Kyiv Symphony at Berlin Philharmonie, and with Kuopio Symphony.
The most recent addition to Semenenko’s discography is his album ‘Crossroads’ on BIS, with pianist Artem Belogurov, featuring sonatas by Previn, Schemmer and Gay. The launch of the album was marked by a Wigmore Hall recital in which the duo performed a selection of American works.
Semenenko began his violin studies at the age of six with Zoya Mertsalova at Stolyarsky School, making his solo debut with orchestra only a year later with Odessa Philharmonic. He completed his studies with Zakhar Bron and Harald Schoneweg at Cologne’s Hochschule für Musik and was a prize winner in the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition.
Alongside his performing career, Semenenko is Violin Professor at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany, and Co-organiser and Artistic Director of the Odesa International Violin Competition.
‘A powerful technique, rich tone and passionate approach. There was a fluidity and warmth to his playing throughout the program’
New York Times
Hisako Kawamura
Piano
Born in Nishinomiya (Japan), Hisako Kawamura moved to Düsseldorf (Germany) with her family at the age of 5 where she started studying piano with Kyoko Sawano. She conti nued her studies with Małgorzata Bator-Schreiber in Göttingen who provided her with musical and artistic training, and Prof. Vladimir Krainev at the Hannover University of Mu sic and Drama who nurtured the development of her artistic personality.
Kawamura's international concert career kick-started with First Prizes at the Concours Clara Haskil in Vevey, the A. Casagrande International Piano Competition in Terni, the G.B. Viotti International Music Competition in Vercelli and the European Chopin Competi tion in Darmstadt. She also had outstanding successes at renowned international piano competitions as a prizewinner at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich, the ARD Internatio nal Music Competition in Munich and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competiti on in Brussels.
In 2025, Kawamura was invited to perform the Second Concerto by S.Rachmaninov with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under their chief conductor Kazuki Yamada. Last season, she performed Johannes Brahms' first Concerto with the Wiener Symphoni ker under Omer Meir Wellber to join the Japan-Tour.
Kawamura has performed with orchestras including Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Moscow, St. Pe tersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductors Jiří Bělohlávek, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Junichi Hirokami, Jakub Hrůša, Eliahu Inbal, Paavo Järvi, Marek Janowski, Zoltán Kocsis, Alex ander Lazarev, Mikhail Pletnev, Tatsuya Shimono, Yuri Temirkanov and Kazuki Yamada, among others.
As a soloist, Kawamura has participated in major music festivals such as Klavierfestival Ruhr (Germany), Mozartfest Augsburg (Germany), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), Klavierwoche Ernen (Switzerland), Festival Auvers-sur-Oise (France), the Chopin Festival Duszniki-Zdroj (Poland), East Neuk Music Festival (Scotland) and Spring Festival in Tokyo.
As an avid and sensitive chamber musician Kawamura performs regularly with cellists Clemens Hagen, Maximilian Hornung and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. She also enjoys a dynamic partnership with the violinist Sarah Christian following the performances and German SWR broadcasts of the complete violin sonatas by Beethoven.
An enriching collaboration between Doric String Quartet was brought to light whilst per forming at the prize winner’s concert of the Suntory Music Award in 2023.
Her last CD „20 - twenty“ (RCA Red Seal) includes 22 encore pieces with which she feels connected over the past 20 years. It was enthusiastically received by the public. She recorded eight other CDs with RCA Red Seal: ‚Beethoven Projects vol.1-3ʼ with Piano sonatas by the German composer, ’Chopin: 24 Préludes & Polonaise-Fantasie', 'Rachma ninoff- Album', 'Chopin: Balladesʼ, 'Chopin: Sonata No. 3 and Schumann Humoreske' and ‘Notturno' which were also critically acclaimed.
Kawamura!s recordings for other labels feature works by Mozart, Schubert and Prokofiev (DiscAuvers), works by Schubert and Schumann (audite), works by Scarlatti, Debussy and Franck (Edition Klavierfestival Ruhr), Schumann's Piano Quintet (Nippon Columbia), Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra under Junichi Hirokami (Kyoto Symphony Orchestra label), Mozart's Piano Concerto KV 467 with the Argovia Philharmonic under Douglas Bostock (Coviello Classics).
The soundtrack of the Japanese movie 'LISTEN TO THE UNIVERSE' (Japanese title 'Mit subachi to Enrai') released by Sony Music, features Kawamura as a soloist performing for the lead character of the movie, Aya Eiden. Based on the novel of the same name by Riku Onda, the film tells a story of an international piano competition.
Kawamura has been awarded numerous scholarships from prestigious organisations such as the European Yamaha Foundation, Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the Rohm Music Foundation.
In Japan, Kawamuraʼs musical activity has been recognised by the prestigious Art Encou ragement Prize for New Artists of Music by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Sci ence and Technology. She was also awarded three important music prizes in 2009: the Fresh Artist Music Prize from the Nippon Steel Corporation, the IDEMITSU Music Prize from Idemitsu Kosan and the Prize of the Chopin Society Japan. Kawamura received also the Iue-Culture and Art Prize from Iue Memorial Foundation and the Hotel Okura Music Prize.
In 2020, Kawamura received the 51th Suntory Music Award. Moreover she was acknow ledged by the 12th CD Shop Award and the Music Penclub Japan Award both in the ca tegory Classic.
Committed to sharing her musical experience with the next generation of young musici ans Kawamura holds a professorship at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen (Germa ny) and teaches masterclasses at the Tokyo College of Music.