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Percussionist László Hudacsek was born in Hungary. He has been a soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under conductors James Conlon, Heinz Holliger, Péter Eötvös, Mauricio Kagel, Roland Kluttig, Zsolt Nagy, Karlheinz Stockhausen, etc.
He completed his Concert Exam with honors, and subsequently studied percussion in Debrecen with József Vrana and in Karlsruhe with Professor Isao Nakamura and Prof. Péter Eötvös in his ensemble for new music. From 1990-93 he was percussionist with the Pécser Symphony. From 1994-2000 he was an assistant and musical partner to professor Nakamura. He has played with the Saarland Radio Orchestra, Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), Ensemble recherche (Freiburg), Ensemble Muskfabrik (Cologne), Ensemble Cologne, Stockhausen Ensemble, Israeli Contemporary Players, Klangforum Vienna, etc.
László Hudacsek received top honors at various competitions and foundations, e.g.- 1994/96/98- Darmstadt Summer Courses; 1995-97- for the project "percussion and electronics -new media", the graduation scholarship of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg; 1996- winner of the "13th Japan wind and Percussion Competition - Tokyo; and 2003- guest artist at ZKM, for the realization of the vibraphone solo piece "RAYS "of Karl Heinz Stockhausen.
Hudacsek was guest artist at several music festivals, including "Berliner Festwochen", "Music Biennale" and "Maerz Music" (Berlin), "Ars Musica" (Brussels), "Eclat Festival" (Stuttgart), "Music Triennale" (Cologne), "Ars Electronica" (Linz), "Prague Spring", Schleswig-Holstein, Tel Aviv Biannale, "Warsaw Autumn", "Wien Modern" (Vienna). He has appeared in prestigous concert halls across Europe, America and Asia.
Premieres (selection): Valerio Sannicandro's Births for percussion solo and ensemble (Darmstadt Summer Courses), Jörg Mainka's Mitschnitt at the South German Radio Karlsruhe, Mauricio Kagel's L ' Art Bruit as Isao Nakamura's assistant in the Cologne Philharmonic Concert Hall, Robert HP Platz's Andere Räume at WDR Cologne, Uwe Kremp's Little Big Bang at ZKM (center for art and media technology Karlsruhe), Wolfgang Rihm's Séraphin-Sphäre with Ensemble Recherche in the Philharmonie Brüssel, Shida Shoko's Rashomon at the Japanese Culture Institute + Deutschlandfunk, Cologne.
László Hudacsek lives since 1993 in Karlsruhe.
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Pianist Benjamin Kobler was born in 1973 in Munich (Germany). He began his piano studies at the age of 5 and subsequently studied cello and composition.
His most influential piano teachers have included C. Piazzini and P.-L. Aimard. In addition to completing his degree in Piano Performance, he furthered his studies with P. Eötvös in the interpretation of contemporary chamber music.
He regularly appears as a soloist in Europe, the U.S., Japan, Korea, Argentina and Brazil and performs with internationally renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra (Miami), NJO Orchestra, SWR and WDR Orchestras, with conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung, Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw and Sir Simon Rattle.
He regularly collaborates with preeminent Ensembles in Germany, e.g. Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), Musik-Fabrik (Cologne), and the Stockhausen-Ensemble.
Benjamin Kobler gave world-premieres of pieces of N. Brass, O. Finnendahl, E. Poppe, H. Pousseur and K. Stockhausen. V. Baltakas dedicated the piece Pasaka- a fairy tale to him.
Since 1999 he has devoted himself intensively to the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, working in close collaboration with the composer on the interpretation of his pieces Kontakte, Mantra, Schlagtrio, Kreuzspiel, 3XRefrain 2000, The Piedpiper, Stop and Start, Sonntags-Abschied and numerous Klavierstücke. Many of these performances were recorded for the Stockhausen Edition. In summer 2006 he performed the world-premiere of the piano solo "Natural Durations" from the 3rd hour of Stockhausen's "KLANG". He has been on the piano faculty of the Stockhausen Courses Kürten since 2003.
In 2005 Mr. Kobler was a jury member at the International Gaudeamus Competition for Interpreters (Amsterdam).
Benjamin Kobler appears regularly in international Festivals including ars musica (Brussels), Berliner Festwochen, Donaueschingen, Edinburgh International Festival, Gelderse Muziek Sommer (Holland), Festival Musica (France), Musica-viva (Munich), Pianofestival Ruhr, Schleswig-Holstein-Festival and Festival Acoustica (London). He has worked extensively for the radio and recorded works by N. Brass, O. Finnendahl, F. Hummel, G. Ligeti, E. Poppe, S. Reich and S. Wolpe.
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American pianist Heather O'Donnell has performed extensively throughout Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa. Recent festival engagements include MaerzMusik Berlin, Festival Agora Paris, Peterhof Festival St. Petersburg, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Indaba Festival South Africa, the Chopin Festival New York, Eclat Festival Stuttgart, and Tanglewood Festival. She has given solo recitals in such diverse cities as Amman, Kraków, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Moscow, New York, and Berlin, and appeared as a soloist with the St. Petersburg State Symphony, the Romanian State Philharmonic in Ploiesti, the DalSegno Chamber Orchestra, and the Harvard Orchestra.
Her repertoire spans from Bach's Goldberg Variations to pivotal works of the early 20th-century (e.g. Charles Ives's- Concord Sonata, Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit), and continues onto a passionate involvement with contemporary music. She gave over 30 world-premieres of solo piano works (including compositions by Luciano Berio, Walter Zimmermann and James Tenney) and is the dedicatee of works by several composers (including Michael Finnissy, Frederic Rzewski, and Oliver Schneller). She has been featured on Deutschland Radio, Radio France, and Deutsche Welle Television and gave lectures and masterclasses at Columbia University (New York), DePaul University (Chicago), New England Conservatory (Boston), and Rhodes University (South Africa). Heather O'Donnell was the first prize winner and the recipient of the Gaudeamus Foundation Prize in the Fifth Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition in Kraków, Poland. CD projects for 2006 include new recordings on Mode Records, Kairos Records, and Wergo. She has been the organizer of several commissioning projects including "Responses to Ives" and "Piano optophonique".
Heather O'Donnell was born in New York and began studying piano at the age of five. Her most influential teachers were Charles Milgrim, Stephen Drury and Peter Serkin. She also worked closely with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Emanuel Ax, and Claude Helffer. O'Donnell took several courses in Philosophy and Literature at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University, and was the teaching assistant of philosopher Paul Edwards at the New School for Social Research.
Heather O'Donnell is a Steinway Artist.
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Percussionist Rie Watanabe was born in 1979 in Hokkaido,Japan. From 1999-2003, she studied percussion at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with Makoro Aruga,Michiko Takahashi und Takafumi Fujimoto. Since 2005 she has studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe with Isao Nakamura, Hans-Joerg Bayer und Jürgen Heinrich.
In 2004 Rie Watanabe won the Saji Keizo Prize of the Suntry Music Foundation. In 2006 she received a Stupendienpreis from the International Summercourse for New Music in Darmstadt. That same year, she received a fellowship by the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists.
Since 2003 Rie Watanabe is a member of Ensemble Bois in Tokyo. She works often with composers in Germany and Japan.