Alon Sariel & Anne-Sophie Bertrand
Biography Alon Sariel & Anne-Sophie Bertrand
Alon Sariel
For the past decade, mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist Alon Sariel has been breathing new life into the mandolin, inspiring critics and audiences alike with his contagious musicianship and flawless technique, which makes him today's mandolinist of the first rank. With a record of over a thousand concerts in more than 35 countries, including performances in Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Brazil’s Sala São Paulo or Mexico‘s Palacio de Bellas Artes, he maintains a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber player and artistic director in diverse productions.
With Sariel’s ever-growing curiosity for different cultures and genres, various plucked instruments find their way to his hands and often - "when it clicks", as he puts it - they come to stay. In his concerts, he easily switches between those “plucked partners” to create diverse musical experiences for his audiences.
In his current recording series "Plucked Bach" (PENTATONE), Alon Sariel approaches Bach's solo music in enticing new arrangements on different mandolins and lutes, the baroque guitar, oud and baglama. For the Beethoven anniversary in 2020, he was invited by Naxos to record the composer's works for mandolin and fortepiano. With his album "Telemandolin" (Berlin Classics) Sariel has become the first mandolinist to be awarded an OPUS KLASSIK.
Alon Sariel is a goodwill ambassador for the animal welfare organization Pro Animale. In his free time, he likes to be in the nature, read or meditate.
Anne-Sophie Bertrand
She accomplished her musical studies with Honours at the Royal Academy of Music, London with Professor Skaila Kanga and in Lyon with Germaine Lorenzini. She received her Masters’ degree at the Brussel Koninklijk Muziek Konservatorium and in 2007 was awarded Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music.
A winner of many competitions such as the Tenuto Soloists Competition in Brussels, BBC Young Artists and the Cardiff International Harp Competition, Anne-Sophie was selected by London’s Park Lane Group in 1999. This led to concerts throughout the UK, Europe and South America. She has been invited to perform in many prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room in London, St David’s Hall in Cardiff, the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Die Musikhalle Hamburg, De Doelen in Rotterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt and Bolivar Hall in Caracas.
Solo festival appearances include Ars Musica, Festival de Saintes and Weilburger Schloss Konzerten. Since her early student years she has been a regular guest at Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music, where she performed the major harp chamber music repertoire with wonderful soloists. She also appeared on radio and television programmes including HR, NDR, WDR, the BBC and Radio-France.
She has recorded Toru Takemitsu’s ‘Towards the Sea’ for flute, harp and chamber ensemble for Telarc and has made numerous recordings for the Kreuz Verlag. Her solo CD Praeludio which includes the first recording of the 'Suite for Harp' by Jean Françaix won much critical acclaim.
Anne-Sophie Bertrand’s wide repertoire ranges from the baroque to the most daring expressions of contemporary music – a field in which she is very active. A prizewinner of Orpheus and Gaudeamus International Competitions for the interpretation of new music, she premiered numerous works for harp, both as soloist and with Prometheus Ensemble, the leading chamber ensemble in Belgium until 2010.
She has had the chance to work with such composers as Heinz Holliger, Matthias Pintscher, Jörg Widmann, Mauricio Kagel and Pierre Boulez – who warmly congratulated her on her performance of his ‘Pli selon pli’ in the Berliner Philharmonie.
Anne-Sophie was appointed Solo Harpist with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2000. A regular guest with such orchestras as NDR Elbphilharmonie Sinfonieorchester, Bamberg Symphoniker and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, she is also invited to play with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
She has worked with such eminent conductors as Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kurt Masur, Daniel Harding, Hugh Wolff, Mariss Janssons and Andres Orozco-Estrada.
Passionate about teaching since the beginning of her career, she was Guest Professor at the Brussels Conservatoire until 2014 and has given masterclasses at the Musikhochschulen in Hannover, Freiburg, Wien and at NRW Orchesterzentrum in Dortmund. She holds a teaching position at the Academy für Tonkunst in Darmstadt.
Following her masterclass at the Academy in November 2018 Anne-Sophie was appointed Visiting Professor of Harp.
'Coming back to the Academy as a Visiting Professor is a great honour and a great joy. The harp class is very well-prepared in every musical field and internationally acclaimed. I look forward to working on a regular basis with the students and to be part of this unique team.' - Anne-Sophie Bertrand
