For decades, Elisabeth Leonskaja has been one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. Born in Tbilissi, she left the Soviet Union for Austria in 1978 and celebrated the start of her great career with an acclaimed concert at the Salzburg Festival. Since then, she has performed worldwide as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and has given solo recitals in all of Europe’s major concert halls. She has enjoyed a close artistic relationship with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen for many years.

Leonskaja’s early musical development was particularly influenced by her collaboration with her mentor Sviatoslav Richter, with whom she remained friends until his death in 1997. She also enjoyed a long-standing musical friendship with the Alban Berg Quartet. Their joint recordings are considered iconic. In addition to the numerous awards she has received for her extensive discography, this pianist was honoured with the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for her life’s work in 2020. More recently, she received the Wigmore Hall Medal in London in 2024.  Her latest solo album is dedicated to the Second Viennese School. In 2025, she released Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, ›Emperor‹.

Florian Donderer is first violin of Signum Quartet, one of the most adventurous and outstanding string quartets of today, as well as longstanding concertmaster of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen. He is a versatile musician, highly valued as chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster and conductor, collaborating with distinguished musicians such as Paavo Järvi, Steven Isserlis, Lars Vogt, Viktoria Mullova, Elisabeth Leonskaja and his wife and brother in law, Tanja and Christian Tetzlaff.

Florian Donderer is frequent guest at major festivals such as Bergen Festspielen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Festwochen Berlin, Schwetzinger Festspiele and is core member at ›Spannungen‹, one of Germany’s most prominent music festivals, founded by Pianist Lars Vogt. Concerts with Signum Quartet have taken him to international podia from Berlin‘s Boulez-Saal and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg to London’s Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Florian Donderer is especially renowned as an artistic leader, directing orchestras from the concertmaster’s desk. Top Chamber Orchestras such as Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Bern, invite him as director and soloist. Last year‘s recording ›Haydn and Bach Cello Concertos‹ with Steven Isserlis, Florian Donderer and The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen has received a Grammy Nomination. He made his debut as conductor with Ensemble Oriol and Christiane Oelze at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, followed by a CD recording with Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen and Tanja Tetzlaff. He has conducted among others the Kammerakademie Neuss, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim and Festival Strings Lucerne. This year Florian Donderer has taken on the position of artistic director of the chamber music festival of the city of Rottweil, one of Germany’s longest standing festivals. With his wife, Tanja Tetzlaff he is curating a chamber music series at Sendesaal Bremen.

He plays a violin built by German Violinmaker Peter Greiner in 2003 and bows by Nico Plog from Antwerp.