The young Viennese baritone, Christian Kotsis, completed his master’s
degree in opera singing with distinction at the University of Music
and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Adler, Prof. Meier, and Prof.
Nickler. He attended master classes with Prof. Gerhard Kahry and
Maestro Alessandro Corbelli. In 2017, he celebrated his debut in the
leading role of “Guglielmo” (Così fan tutte) in a Teatro Barocco
production at the Laxenburg Palace Theater near Vienna. May 2018 his
next role debut as “Graf Boni” (Die Csárdásfürstin) at the Bolzano
City Theater. As a new member of the Balthasar Neumann Choir &
Soloists under Thomas Hengelbrock, the first concerts in the Hamburg
Elbphilharmonie, Kiel Castle and the Lübeck Concert Hall followed in
early July 2018, all as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. A
series of Bach concerts with Luca Pianca’s Ensembele Claudiana in the
Wiener Konzerthaus were among his other creative powers. Guest
appearances in the USA with the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra round
off his artistic career to date.
Albanian American violinist Brunilda Myftaraj has drawn enthusiastic
accolades from audiences as well as critical acclaim for her masterful
musicianship in her native Albania, as well as Italy, Greece, France,
Marocco, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Israel and in the United States. The New London Day critic praised her as an “especially fine and beautiful player.” She graduated with the Highest Honors from the renowned Conservatory of Fine Arts in Tirana and has studied throughout Europe and the United States. Her teachers have included some of the world’s finest, Proletare Skenderi, Piero Faulli, Alberto Lissy, Phil Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Rafael Druian and Renato Bonacini. She has been featured as a soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra as well as other orchestras. She is an active recitalist, some of the series included Piano and Friends Chamber Music in Tucson Arizona, Mostly Mozart in Napa Valley, the Schubert Club in Minneapolis Westchester chamber music series, Music & friends of Manchester, and many more. She received first prize in the Van Rooy competition, Emerson Quartet competition, Trinity auditions in NY. She was semifinalist and participant in competitions such as the Young Artist Guild in NY, Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and the Lipizer Competition in Gorizia, Italy. Ms. Myftaraj served as a concertmaster for the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric opera, and Greve-In-Chianti Opera and Chamber Music Festival in Italy. She has recently joined the prestigious Berkshire Bach Society.