As one of the leading British clarinettists and most striking musicians, Matthew Hunt is known for the outstanding sound of his playing and for his ability to communicate with his audiences.

As soloist, Matthew has recently performed with conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Clemens Schulte, Pekka Kuusisto, as well as with orchestras such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Estonian festival Orchestra and as guest performer with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Berlin Kammermusik Saal. He is a passionate chamber musician and his partners to date include Meta4-, Chiarascuro-, Pavel Haas, the Elias Quartet as well as Pekka Kuusisto, Alina Ibragimova, Thomas Adès, Nicholas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexander Lanquich and the jazz pianist Iiro Rantala. Matthew Hunt is also principal clarinet with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

For the coming season, festival performances are planned in Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and America, plus further performances of Max Bruch’s concerto with Maté Szücs in the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as joint appearances with the much praised chamber ensemble ›Orsino‹.

Matthew Hunt’s recording of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, which has been greatly praised by the critics, has been hailed by BBC Music Magazine as a »seminal recording of this frequently recorded work«.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, his only German orchestra, since 2004. One highlight of the collaboration were the celebrated concerts of the Beethoven cycle, which received critical acclaim worldwide. Järvi received numerous awards for the recordings, including the ›Echo Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹ and the prestigious ›Annual Prize of the German Record Critics‹.

Following the Beethoven project, he and the orchestra tackled the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms, which received similarly enthusiastic reviews. Paavo Järvi is also Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Advisor to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia, and since 2019/20 Artistic Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly makes appearances as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, the Staatskappelle Dresden and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago and the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by the renowned British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. In 2019, he received the ›Opus Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹.

Artistic brilliance and innovative programming – these are the trademarks with which Nils Mönkemeyer has made the viola the subject of considerable attention, thereby also establishing himself as one of the most outstanding viola players of our time.

His programmes span the range from original discoveries and first ever recordings of 18th century viola literature, through to contemporary works and his own arrangements. In his international appearances, Mönkemeyer has worked with well-known conductors including Sylvain Cambreling, Joana Mallwitz, Kent Nagano and Markus Poschner, as well as having appeared as soloist with top-class orchestras such as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Münchener Kammerorchester. During the 2021/22 season, concert tours will take him to London, Vienna and to the Schubertiad festival.

This extraordinary musician also follows his heart; founded together with Caritas Bonn, the chamber music festival ›Klassik für Alle‹ makes music accessible to everyone. In addition, this sought-after viola player has been a professor at Munich’s College of Music and Drama – where he himself was a student with Hariolf Schlichtig – since 2011.

As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, he has released numerous award-winning albums. After his celebrated debut in 2019, Nils Mönkemeyer is now returning to the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.