The oboe is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites.
Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death Sacher was majority shareholder of pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche and was considered the third richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion.
Jan Dismas Zelenka, baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint.
Sándor Veress was a Swiss composer of Hungarian origin. He was born in Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, nowadays called Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and died in Bern. The first half of his life was spent in Hungary; the second, from 1949 until his death, in Switzerland, of which he became a citizen in the last months of his life.
The Rheingau Musik Festival (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, in the wine-growing Rheingau region between Wiesbaden and Lorch.
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Walter Fink was a German entrepreneur and a patron of contemporary classical music. He is known for being a founding member, executive committee member and sponsor of the Rheingau Musik Festival, where he initiated a series of annual portraits of international composers of contemporary classical music.
Frieder Bernius is a German conductor, the founder and director of the chamber choir Kammerchor Stuttgart, founded in 1968. They became leaders for historically informed performances. He founded the Stuttgart festival of Baroque music, "Internationale Festtage Alter Musik", in 1987, and is a recipient of the Edison Award (1990), Diapason d'Or (1990) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1993).
Carolin Widmann is a German classical violinist. She focuses on contemporary music. Widmann plays a violin made in 1782 by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini.
The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the conductor Paul Sacher for the oboist Heinz Holliger. It was first performed in Zürich, June 17, 1988, by Heinz Holliger and the Collegium Musicum Zürich under the conductor John Carewe.
The Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Chamber Orchestra is a musical composition by the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. It was commissioned by the conductor Paul Sacher for the oboist Heinz Holliger and harpist Ursula Holliger, Heinz's wife. The work was composed between 1979 and 1980 and was first performed by Heinz and Ursula Holliger and the Collegium Musicum Zürich under the direction of Sacher in Lucerne on August 24, 1980. The piece is dedicated to Sacher.
Philippe Tondre is a French-British classical oboist. He has served as Principal Oboist of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since 2019, the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2020, and a professor of Oboe at the Curtis Institute of Music since 2022.
The Double Concerto by German composer Hans Werner Henze is a double concerto for oboe and harp, better known by its original Italian title Doppio concerto. It was completed and first performed in Zurich in 1966, and published by Schott.
Ursula Holliger, née Hänggi, was a Swiss harpist, known for her commitment to contemporary music.
The Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music Mainz is a classical music prize named after Robert Schumann, awarded biennially since 2012. The prize money is €15,000, donated by the Strecker Foundation, Mainz. The prize is awarded by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, for "personalities with an outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of poetry and music".
Vilém Veverka is a Czech oboist. He is the winner of the 7th International Tokyo Oboe Competition and a soloist.
František Xaver Thuri was a Czech composer, harpsichordist, oboist, organist, musicologist and a notable pedagogue.
Thomas Demenga is a Swiss composer and cellist.
Mai Åse Helen Jahren is a Swedish oboist. Jahren has performed many works by contemporary Swedish composers, such as Sven-David Sandström, André Chini and Mårten Josjö.
Messagesquisse (Message-Sketch) is a 1976 composition for solo cello and six cellos by Pierre Boulez.
