String ensemble led by Oleksandr Petryakov and prepared by Vincent Horsten
A short presentation of Beethoven's original Broadwood fortepiano 1817 and its replica, as well as the Chris Maene //250 will be given every
evening in the beginning of the concert, and a short excerpt of the concertos will be played on the Broadwood 1817.
The London-based Thomas Broadwood was one of the most productive piano builders in the 19th century. After meeting the celebrated composer Ludwig Van
Beethoven in Vienna in August 1817, the piano builder decided to present him with a fortepiano. To select the best instrument possible, he called in the help of five important musicians living in London: Friedrich Kalbrenner, Ferdinand
Ries, Johann Baptist Cramer, Jacques-Godefroi Ferrari and Charles Knyvett. Inside the piano, the autograph of these five musicians can be found, as well as the following text :"Hoc Instrumentum est Thomae Broadwood (Londrini) donum
propter ingenium illustrissime Beethoven" ("This instrument is a proper gift from Thomas Broadwood of London to the great Beethoven"). When Beethoven died, the instrument was sold to the Viennese music publisher Carl Anton Spina,
who gave it to Franz Liszt in 1845. In 1874, Liszt donated the instrument to the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.
We chose to perform Beethoven's five piano concertos on the Chris Maene straight strung concert grand piano due to its ability to
satisfy both historical aspects of piano playing as well as contemporary needs from pianists and concert halls. From the invention of the fortepiano around 1700 and development until the end of the 19th century, history has seen
a vast range of pianos, but they all had one thing in common:
Kirsten Gedeshi had her first piano lessons at the age of 6 at the Academy of Meise. Soon thereafter she started having private lessons with Barbara Baltussen and Belgian contemporary composer Gillis Sacré.
When she was 15 years old, she started taking piano lessons as a young talent student in the Royal conservatory of Brussels in the class of Jan Michiels, where she finished her masters in 2021.
Kirsten was laureate and finalist in diverse national and international youth competitions of which the competitions ‘Brodelet’ (1st place), ‘Vlamo’ (1st place), ‘Rotary-Breughel’ (2nd place), ‘ Steinway Piano Competition’
(2nd place) and Cantabile Piano Competition. As laureate of before mentioned competitions she had the occasion of gaining concert experience in various renowned concert halls such as Bozar, Flagey in Belgium and Musikverein in Vienna.
She made her orchestra debut at the age of 12 by playing Mozart piano concerto no. 21 in C major. As well as chamber music musician, as soloist, she was also invited to play in numerous Belgian music festivals, such as 'de zomer van
Sint-Pieters', midi-minimes and Arte Amanti.
She followed numerous masterclasseses with Jean-Claude Van den Eynden, Lucas Blondeel, Julien Libeer, Kyoko Hashimoto, Daniel Blumenthal, Piet Kuijken, Hans Rynckelynck, Katia Veekmans, Hannes Minnaar, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort,
Mariangela Vacatelo, Vitaly Samoshko, Hans Peter Stenzl, Gilead Mishory, Roland Krüger, Gottlieb Wallisch, Björn Lehmann, Mi-Joo Lee, Sheila Arnold, Markus Groh,...
Born in 1992 in Hunan, China, Xinyi Zhang began her musical education at the age of four. In 2009, she entered the National Conservatory of Marseille in France in the class of Natalie Lanoë, where she
was awarded the highest distinction in chamber music and the first prize in the Pierre Barbizet - J. S. Bach piano competition. She then joined the Conservatoire de Strasbourg in Amy Lin's class, where she obtained her Diplôme d’études
musicales (DEM). She is also the laureate of the Soroptimist Prize 2015 as a young talent woman musician, awarded by the Soroptimist International Organization. In 2016, she entered the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, and continued
her studies with Jan Michiels in modern piano, and fortepiano with Piet Kuijken. She graduated her bachelor’s degree with high distinction, and her master’s degree with highest distinction in piano.
She has played for renowned pianists and musicians such as Malcolm Bilson, Boris Berman, Dina Yoffe, Jean-Jacques Dunki, among others, and is an active performer in the international music scene, as both soloist and chamber
musician. She has performed in France, Italy , Belgium, Brazil and China. Her broad repertoire spans from the Baroque era until XXI century. She has been described by the French newspaper DNA (Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace) as "a well
established, brilliant talent, full of fluidity and sensibility.
Diego Saavedra (Lima, Peru-1991), began his piano studies at age 7 with Nora de Cano and late on with the Russian pianist Marina Ferreira. In 2009 was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music of
Peru. He won the 1st piano prize of the Conservatory in 2013, two years later he won the concerto competition of the same institution playing Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto in the Municipal Theatre of Lima. He finished his bachelor’s
studies in piano performance that same year.
Since 2008 he has performed regularly as a solo and chamber music pianist, especially in recitals, festivals, and competitions in Peru, the USA, Belgium, France, Italy, Costa Rica,
and the Dominican Republic.
He played with the Symphony Orchestra of the National Conservatory of Music of Peru (2015) and with the Lima Philharmonic Orchestra (2016). That same year he was a finalist and won a special prize
in the Iberoamerican Competition for Young Pianists at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. From 2018 to 2020 he studied at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, France, in “Cycle de Spécialisation” with the pianist and pedagogue Amy Lin.
In 2022 he finished his master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB) under the guidance of Jan Michiels.
Diego is passionate about pedagogy: he has worked as a piano teacher for more than 15 years and is currently
active in three music schools in the Region of Brussels.
Lenny Bui-Vandeput started playing the piano at the age of 6. After his education at the KSO Lemmens Institute, he entered in the class of Jan Michiels at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels where he obtained
his Master degree in 2021. At the moment he finishes his specialisation degree at the HEAR, Académie Supérieure de musique with Amy Lin. In 2021 he made is orchestral debut with Ortenau Orchester in Offenburg, Germany playing Mozart
d minor piano concerto KV466.
Lenny has already been awarded several prizes including 1st prize in the International Young Euregio Piano Award in Geilenkirchen (2019, Germany); 1ère medal in the International Piano Competition Challenge Aliénor de Parempuyre
(2019 France), 2nd prize in the 29th Young Musician International Competition ‘Citta di Barletta’ (2019, Italy), Finalist in the César Franck International piano competition (2018, Belgium), Premier Prix in the Festival d’Anniviers
(Switzerland 2013).
He followed numerous international masterclasses and lessons with renowned pianists and pedagogues such as; Boris Berman , Jean-Claude van den Eynden, Eliana Rodriguez, Vitaly Samoshko, Hannes Minnaar, Mariangela Vacatello,
Roland Krüger, Björn Lehmann, Tibor Szasz, Daniel Blumenthal, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Lucas Blondeel, Kyoko Hashimoto, … He has perfomed in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and Belgium.
Vinicius Talhaferro Bota began his piano studies at the age of 18 in Brazil with pianist Jussara Pinto, disciple of Lydia Alimonda. After a year of study he was approved in the selection process in one
of the best music universities of his country, the University of São Paulo, where he obtained his degree in piano under the direction of Luciana Sayure.
In 2014, he left Brazil to come to France to continue his studies with pianist Amy Lin, first in a Specialization cycle at the Conservatory of Strasbourg and then in a Master's degree in Piano Interpretation at the Académie
Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg.
Currently, he is a PhD student at the University of Strasbourg, where he develops research work on the music of the Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri.
Violins
Oleksandr Petryakov
Ian Ji
Mateusz Kolasinski
Christina Tsakalidou
Violas
Ance Lipste
Helena De Bruyn
Cellos
Filip Sporniak
Sebastian Rodriguez Tapia
Double bass
Mariana Fernandes
Piano's Maene was founded in 1938 by Albert Maene and Zulma Doutreloigne. In 1984, their son Chris Maene became the manager. Meanwhile, more than 80 years after its foundation, the family business has grown into a healthy SME with about 100 employees (of which 30 in the Netherlands) and 6 branches in Belgium and the Netherlands. The passion for music and pianos is the main driving force of the team. With Dominique and Frederic Maene (third generation) and a structured management team led by CEO Stefaan Vanfleteren, the company is ready for the future. Piano's Maene is a Warrant Holder of the Court of Belgium. Customer centricity is and has always been one of the main values. Direct customer contact and personalised service make the customer feel as much like a king as in 1938, when Albert and Zulma welcomed their customers in their home with coffee and cake.