Biography

MATSUYAMA Saeka

MATSUYAMA Saeka was born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo, Japan. She studied under ISHIKAWA Seiko and OGURI Machie until she moved to New York City where she currently resides. She has studied at The Juilliard School in New York City since 1990 and received her Bachelor's degree in 1999, and is currently pursuing her Master's degree there. Her former teachers include: Robert Chen, now concertmaster of Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Dorothy Delay; and Glenn Dicterow, present concertmaster of New York Philharmonic. She has been studying with Michael Gilbert, and since 2003, with Ronald Copes, 2nd violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet.

Her competition experience and success are impressive. In 2004, she won the First Place, as well as an Audience Prize at the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan. Subsequent prizes include: 2nd Prize at the Hannover International Violin Competition in 2003; Grand Prize at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Competition in 2000; 2nd Prize and the special Orchestra Prize at Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in 1999; 2nd Prize at the National Competition in Texas in 1998; and 2nd Prize and the Tchaikovsky Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 1995. She was given 1st Prize at the Juilliard Pre-College Competitions in 1998, 1995, and 1992.

At the Juilliard School, she has received three major awards. From 1994 to 1999, she was the Dora Ruth Memorial Scholarship holder; in 1999, she, was given the Senior Achievement Award as she graduated from the Pre-College Division of Juilliard; and in 2003, she won the Jean Doyle Loomis Scholarship.

At the age of 9, she began participating in reputable summer festivals, such as: Meadowmount, Aspen Music Festival, Encore - School for Strings, Schleswig-Holstein Music Academy in Germany where she served as a Concertmaster in 2000, and Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

In 1999, her highly praised first live recording of Carl Nielsen Violin Concerto was released under Bridge Recordings.

TAN Xiaotang

TAN Xiaotang was born in Beijing, China in 1979. He started piano at five and was placed first at the Chinese Hope Cup Piano Competition at the age of twelve. Having scored the highest of all applicants, he entered the piano department of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China in 1998. There he studied under Professor Yang Jun who himself is a famous pianist and teacher. TAN Xiaotang was awarded a number of scholarships while studying at the Central Conservatory of Music and was also highly regarded in numerous piano competitions and concerts. After graduating at the top of the class in 2002, TAN Xiaotang went on to graduate school at the Central Conservatory of Music by special recommendation. In the same year, he won 1st place in the Golden Bell Award Piano Competition, one of the most prestigious competitions in China. In 2003, he enrolled in Hochschule des Saarlandes für Musik und Theater in Germany to pursue his dream to become a successful pianist and has been studying under Professor Thomas Duis since then. He has also had the good fortune of being tutored by Mr. Ugorski and Mr. Fou Tsong, both of whom are prominent pianists. He has had a busy schedule, performing with various orchestras both in China and in various other countries, specifically in France, Germany and Poland. He is highly appraised for his outstanding techniques and his magnificent expressive performances by critics and audiences alike. Most recently, he won first place in the piano section at the 2nd Sendai International Music Competition held in June, 2004.

Thomas HOPPE

Thomas HOPPE was born and raised in Germany. He moved to the U.S. in 1993 and studied at The Juilliard School of Music where he became the first recipient of the Samuel Sanders Memorial Award. After he finished his graduate studies in 2001 with a diploma in collaborative arts there, he worked at the studio of Itzhak Perlman, Joel Krosnick and many others at The Juilliard School.

He developed his reputation as an exceptional pianist and collaborative artist while performing concerts with violinists Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Stefan Milenkovich, Saeka Matsuyama, Annette von Hehn, cellists Ronald Leonard, Amit Peled, Andre Emilianoff, Paul Katz, and singers such as Shirley Verrett, and the late Makiko Narumi.

He is a founding member of the ATOS Trio which was formed in 2003. The ATOS Trio has since won prizes at the International Brahms Competition in Austria and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Germany, and gives up to 70 recitals a season throughout Europe and the U.S. At the same time, Thomas HOPPE has extensive experience in vocal chamber music, as an orchestral pianist and vocal coach. In addition to the numerous prizes and awards he has received, he won full fellowship of the Aspen Music Festival for four consecutive years.

Performance engagements for the upcoming season include concerts in New York City, Tokyo, Berlin, Zagreb, as well as tours in Chile, Ireland, and Argentina. He is going to serve as a faculty member and staff accompanist for the Perlman Music Program at the invitation of violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Since October 2002 he has resided in Berlin, Germany where he teaches at the Universität der Künste Berlin.