Conductors

Born in 1956, conductor/composer Amaury du Closel studied composition with Max Deutsch, himself a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, and conducting with Alexandre Myrat, Karl Oesterreicher, and Sir Charles Mackerras. He also attended master-classes with Pierre Boulez and Vladimir Delman. Amaury du Closel collaborated with numerous orchestras in London, Warsaw (Polish Radio and Television of Warsaw), Festival de Menton (Sinfonia Varsovia), Suwon (Korea), La Kamerata (Greece), Qatar, and is currently guest conductor of several orchestras in Italy, Germany, Romania - a.o. the Enesco Philharmony, the Romanian Radio orchestras, and the Tirgu-Mures and the Iasi State Philharmonic Orchestras -, Bulgaria - Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Varna State Opera -. In 2002, he was appointed permanent foreign guest conductor of the Romanian Radio National and Chamber Orchestras and permanent conductor of the Târgu-Mures State Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania.

Mikhail Kirchhoff is the Conductor of the Samsun State Opera and Ballet Theater (Turkey), the main guest conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra “Academy of soloists” (Kazakhstan) the artistic director and principal conductor of the “Eurasian Music Games”, the principal conductor of the festival “Ak Ertis”. Mikhail Kirchhoff was born in 1982 in Moscow.

Mario Kosik, Chief Conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra is a musician of international stature, much respected and admired in his homeland as well as abroad. He is also a co-founder of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra and the holder of a Doctorate in Music. Mario Kosik was appointed to the position of Chief Conductor of the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra in the year 2000. He was selected for this position as the first choice among a field of 120 applicants. This position opened doors for him and he was often invited to guest conduct such important European ensembles as the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the FOK Symphony Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra Brno and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava. His cooperation with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra brought him to Japan in 2006 where he toured with them in several triumphal concerts. Prior to assuming his present position as Chief Conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mario Kosik was a regular feature on the podiums of Slovak Symphony and Slovak Chamber Orchestras. Most importantly, he conducted such world-renown and respected ensembles as the Cappella Istropolitana, the Košice State Philharmonic, and the Žilina State Chamber Orchestra.

Studied at Ankara State Conservatory and in Paris, graduating from Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and at Rueil-Malmaison State Conservatory under the direction of professor P. Dervaux and professor G. Devos. During his assistance in the Pasdeloup Symphony Orchestra in Paris, he founded the Ensemble International de Paris, sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ender Sakpinar was invited to perform with this orchestra at the inauguration of the Omaggio Venezia festival in Venice and to numerous other concerts and festivals in France, Italy, Sweden, Malta, and Turkey.

Artistic Director of the Mozart Collegium Vienna and Music Director of the concert series Schwingungen in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein originates from a well-known Viennese family of musicians. Christian Schulz started his career as a cellist and performed as a chamber musician and soloist and recently was engaged with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Together with musicians from the Vienna Symphony he found the Ambassade Orchestra Vienna and leads this orchestra as their Chief Conductor. He was Music Assistant of F. Welser Möst, Vladimir Fedosejev, and Yakov Kreizberg. The list of orchestras directed by him has meanwhile grown considerably, ranging from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra NÖ, the George Enescu Philharmonic Bucarest, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra Halle, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra up to chamber orchestras like the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra and the Konzert Verein Wien. Since 2001 he conducted every year concerts as well as opera productions at the Bregenz Festival.

Maestro Hakan Şensoy was born in Istanbul in 1968. He started his musical education at the Istanbul Technical University Traditional Turkish Music Conservatory in 1977 and graduated in 1988. Since 1984, he has performed many recitals and orchestral performances both in Turkey and abroad: England, Sweden, the United States, Italy, Mexico, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Estonia, and Cyprus. In 1985, Şensoy was awarded the Most Successful Young Artist of the Year Award by the Istanbul Philharmonic Society, and the Great Performance in Art award by the rector of Istanbul Technical University. In 1988, Şensoy gave a recital at the Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Center to UNESCO representatives.

Director - Chief Conductor of the Kharkov Philharmonic, Honored Artist of Ukraine, the winner of the International competition named by Vakhtang Jordania. The works of maestro Yanko is characterized by high culture of performance, knowledge of musical styles and national schools. Crisp and clear gesture, emotional, dramatic and demanding to work with the orchestra - all that created a reputation as one of the best conductors of Ukraine. He graduated as a conductor-choirmaster Kharkov Special Music School (1980), Kharkov State University Art named by I.Kotlyarevsky (1985), as an opera and symphony conductor - National Music Academy named by P.Tchaikovsky (1991).The conductor of Academic Symphony Orchestra of Zaporozhye Philharmonic (1991-1994), artistic director and conductor of the chamber orchestra of Kharkov Specialized Secondary Music Boarding School (1999-2004). Since 1994 – the conductor of Kharkov Academic Opera and Ballet named by M. Lysenko.