Kurt Masur was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic. He left many recordings of classical music played by major orchestras. Masur is also remembered for his actions to support peaceful demonstrations in the 1989 anti-government demonstrations in Leipzig; the protests were part of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin wall.
Riccardo Chailly, is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music.
Peter Ruzicka is a German composer and conductor of classical music.
Sabine Meyer, born 30 March 1959, in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg is a German classical clarinetist.
Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also Artist-in residence at Yale University and director of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world.
David Weber was an American classical clarinetist known for the beauty of his tone, his inspired playing, and his influential teaching of the clarinet.
Alison Lambert is a British clarinetist.
Eli Eban is an Israeli-American clarinetist and son of the late Israeli diplomat Abba Eban.
Lars Kristian Holm Brynildsen was a Norwegian clarinetist. He was principal clarinet of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 until his death in 2005 and was a member of the Bergen Woodwind Quintet for 25 years. Before coming to Bergen, he was principal clarinet in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He studied clarinet at the music conservatories in Oslo, Norway and Freiburg, Germany in addition to taking private lessons in Paris. As a young musician he played in the World Youth Symphony. He performed numerous times as soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and also taught at the Grieg Academy of Music in Bergen. He served as Music Director of the Bergen Symphonic Band from 1986 to 1996.
Wayne Marshall is an English pianist, organist, and conductor. He is Chief Conductor of WDR Funkhausorchester in Cologne, Germany, and Organist and Associate Artist of the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. He became Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in 2007, and is a celebrated interpreter of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and other 20th-century American composers.
Jörg-Peter Weigle is a German conductor and music professor. He is the uncle of the conductor Sebastian Weigle and the violist Friedmann Weigle.
Michael Sanderling is a German conductor and violoncellist.
Jon Manasse is an American clarinetist.
Quintessenz – Leipziger Querflötenensemble is a flute quintet from Leipzig, Germany. Its members are five musicians of the “Gewandhausorchester Leipzig”, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, and the “Staatskapelle Halle”. The group play music from every musical epoch and nearly every style.
Marco Antonio Mazzini is a Peruvian clarinetist.
Alfred Prinz was an Austrian composer, clarinetist, and music educator. In 1947 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Geneva Music Competition and in 1971 he won a composition award from the city of Vienna. His compositional output includes 7 symphonies, many concertos, several works for solo piano, songs, and chamber music. In 1998 his Fünf Goethe-Lieder were premiered by soprano Caroline Dowd-Higgins for whom Prinz had composed the pieces. As a concert clarinetist, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world and performed in concerts of chamber music internationally. He has recorded for Ariola Records, Decca Records, Deutsche Grammophon, His Master's Voice, and the Telarc International Corporation among other record labels.
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is based, the Gewandhaus. In addition to its concert duties, the orchestra also performs frequently in the Thomaskirche and as the official opera orchestra of the Leipzig Opera.
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the Christmas cantata for the First Day of Christmas, possibly in 1713 for the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. He performed it again for his first Christmas as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, on 25 December 1723.
Andreas Ottensamer is an Austrian clarinetist and is the principal clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Matthias Eisenberg is a German concert organist and harpsichordist, and a cantor. The award-winning player is known for performing concerts with clarinetist Giora Feidman. He has performed and conducted master classes internationally. He recorded, including the complete organ works by J. S. Bach and improvisations, and has conducted Bach cantatas from the harpsichord in collaboration with the Thomanerchor.
