María Savastano, Ensemble Diderot, Johannes Pramsohler & Jon Olaberria
Biography María Savastano, Ensemble Diderot, Johannes Pramsohler & Jon Olaberria
Maria Savastano
was born in Buenos Aires, and has been hailed by the newspaper LA NACION as “the new Argentinian Promise of classical singing”.
Ms. Savastano won the Grand Prize at both the Neue Stimmen competition (Gütersloh, Germany), and the Festspiele competition (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). In addition to these prizes, Maria has been awarded the “Stimulus Award” from the Association of critics of Argentina, the “Prix Lyrique du Cercle Carpeaux” in Paris, and the “Prix AROP” (Association pour le Rayonnement de L’Opéra de Paris).
She was a member of the Instituto Superior de Artes del Teatro Colon, and the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra National de Paris, where she performed in many operas and concerts, with repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to the contemporary Swiss composer Xavier Dayer.
Ms. Savastano has performed at Teatro Colon, Teatro Avenida des Buenos Aires, Opéra de Rennes, Palais Garnier, and made her debut on the main stage of Opera National de Paris Bastille, singing Papagena Die Zauberflöte and Barbarina Le Nozze di Figaro (cond. Philippe Jordan). Other repertoire includes Corilla Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali (Donizetti), Belinda Dido and Aeneas, Norina Don Pasquale, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Monica The Medium, Musetta La Boheme, Despina Cosi fan tutte (cond. Anthony Hermus), Elisetta Il matrimonio segreto (Cimarosa), Adina L’Elisir d’amore.
In concert, Maria has performed Musetta La Bohème, for the AIDS foundation in Berlin with Lawrence Foster, she sang Mozart and Rigel in Bremen with Jéremie Rhorer, she made concerts at the Palais Garnier with l’Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris, and a concert with L'Orchestre de Paris with Paavo Järvi’s Fauré programme Super flumina Babylonis, which has been released by Virgin Records..
She made her debuts at the Opéra de Dijon singing Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, and at Teatro Real, Madrid as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro, as well as Despina Cosi fan tutte in Cergy, France and Clarice Il Mondo della Luna in Buenos Aires (cond. Rodolfo Fisher). Ms Savastano subsequently returned to Teatro Real for Servilia La Clemenza di Tito, performed Angelo in Handel’s La Resurrezione at the Bastille Amphithéâtre for Opéra National de Paris, and sang Serpetta La Finta Giardiniera in Bobigny, France. Recent engagements have included Brahms’ Requiem in Oxford with Oxford Philomusica, a Mozart’s Mass in C minor with Mark Minkowski on tour in Japan, and the role of Silvia in "Zanetto", Herblay (France).
This season Maria performs Servilia La Clemenza di Tito at Opéra National de Paris, Serpetta La Finta Giardiniera with Emmanuelle Haïm in Lille and Dijon, and Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro in Dijon and Saint- Etienne. Subsequent engagements include Suzanna Le Nozze di Figaro in Bahrain and Amore Orfeo ed Euridice with Accentus in Aix-en-Provence.
Johannes Pramsohler
is one of a new generation of violinists specialising in historical performance. Born in culturally diverse South Tyrol, he grew up confronted by two very different cultures and was influenced from the very beginning by both Italian and German music – together with the very traditional Tyrolean folk music. Having completed modern violin studies in Bozen, Italy, Johannes moved to London to study with Jack Glickman at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After a life-changing meeting with Rachel Podger he decided to start lessons on the Baroque violin. This encounter led to several years of studies with Rachel and their relationship continues today through his ongoing partnership within her chamber music group Brecon Baroque. An invaluable source of inspiration is his collaboration with Reinhard Goebel.
After a short period of studies in Paris, where he still lives, he has gone on to establish himself as a successful soloist and chamber musician, performing throughout Europe and playing with many of the leading period instrument orchestras. Already during his studies he was regularly invited to play with Concerto Köln, Les Arts Florissants, the Academy of Ancient Music, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment which led to an extraordinary overview of Europe’s Early Music scene. The knowledge of five languages and master classes with nearly every important baroque violinist allowed a very thorough, broad and open-minded approach towards historical playing techniques and interpretation.
Alongside his work as leader and artistic director of the International Baroque Players and his own chamber music group Ensemble Diderot, Johannes is enjoying an increasingly busy career as a recitalist and orchestra leader; he has given solo concerts at major festivals throughout Europe and regularly leads Le Concert d’Astrée, The King’s Consort, Arte dei Suonatori, the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Concerto Melante as a guest of the Berlin Philharmonic.
International concert tours have taken him to all major European concert halls, to North and South America, the Near East, to Japan and Taiwan. In 2011 Johannes won the ‘Bärenreiter Urtext Prize’ at the 6th International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg.
2012 saw the release of his first CD „Pisendel- violin concertos from Dresden“ which was highly acclaimed by the international press. Johannes plays on a Pietro Giacomo Rogeri from 1713, previously owned by Reinhard Goebel.
Ensemble Diderot
was founded in 2008 by violinist Johannes Pramsohler. It dedicates itself to the exploration and performance of the Baroque trio sonata repertoire of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and performs on original instruments. The ensemble is based in Paris and owes its name to the French author, thinker, and philosopher Denis Diderot. The group has been regularly praised for its energetic and virtuoso playing and is undoubtedly one of today’s most interesting and original chamber music groups in Europe.
In the past, the ensemble could be heard in Germany and France, and also in Great Britain, Spain, Italy, and Poland. In addition, it was invited as ensemble-in-residence to Amilly, France and Aldeburgh, Great Britain. In 2010 the young musicians were in residence as the “Rheinsberger Hofkapelle” in the castle of Friedrich the Great and Prince Heinrich of Prussia at Rheinsberg, Brandenburg.
Since 2012 the ensemble has collaborated closely with the Théâtre Roger Barat in Herblay, France, where Monteverdi’s Combattimento, supplemented by music of seventeenth-century Italian masters, was staged in a spectacular manner, based on texts by Torquato Tasso. The ensemble’s residency at the Fondation Royaumont will see its first fruits in 2016 with the world premiere recording of the trio sonatas op 2 by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville.
Since 2015 the Ensemble Diderot performs also as an orchestra. A staged production of the opera Falstaff by Antonio Salieri was followed by concerts of Bach and Handel cantatas in France and Germany.
