Oliver Triendl, Staatskapelle Weimar & Eugene Tzigane
Biography Oliver Triendl, Staatskapelle Weimar & Eugene Tzigane
Oliver Triendl
One can hardly imagine a more devoted champion of neglected and rarely played composers than pianist Oliver Triendl. His tireless commitment – primarily to romantic and contemporary music – is reflected in more than 100 CD recordings. The scope of his repertoire is surely unique, comprising some 90 piano concertos and hundreds of chamber music pieces. In many cases, he was the first to present these works on stage or to commit them to disc.
As a soloist Triendl has performed together with many renowned orchestras. The list includes the Bamberg and Munich Symphonies, Munich Radio Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radio Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Weimar, German Radio Philharmonic, German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate, Munich, Southwest German, Stuttgart, Württemberg and Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Tonkunstler Orchestra Vienna, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Czech State Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, St.Petersburg Camerata, Zagreb Soloists and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
The avid chamber musician has concertized with fellow musicians such as Christian Altenburger, Wolfgang Boettcher, Thomas Brandis, Eduard Brunner, Ana Chumachenko, David Geringas, Clemens Hagen, Frans Helmerson, Hervé Joulain, Isabelle van Keulen, Rainer Kussmaul, François Leleux, Lorin Maazel, Marie Luise Neunecker, Paul Meyer, Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, Pascal Moraguès, Charles Neidich, Arto Noras, Raphaël Oleg, Gustav Rivinius, Benjamin Schmid, Hagai Shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, Radovan Vlatković, Jan Vogler and Antje Weithaas. He performed with Apollon musagète, Artis, Atrium, Auryn, Carmina, Danel, Gringolts, Keller, Leipzig, Mandelring, Meta4, Minguet, Pražák, Schumann, Sine Nomine, Škampa, Talich and Vogler String Quartets as well as with excellent artists of the younger generation like Nicolas Altstaedt, Claudio Bohórquez, Mirijam Contzen, James Ehnes, Liza Ferschtman, David Grimal, Ilya Gringolts, Alina Ibragimova, Sharon Kam, Henning Kraggerud, Pekka Kuusisto, Johannes Moser, Daniel Müller-Schott, Alina Pogostkina, Christian Poltéra, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Baiba Skride, Valeriy Sokolov, Carolin and Jörg Widmann.
Triendl, a native of Mallersdorf, Bavaria, where he was born in 1970, and a prizewinner at many national and international competitions, studied under Rainer Fuchs, Karl-Heinz Diehl, Eckart Besch, Gerhard Oppitz and Oleg Maisenberg. He has concertized with success at festivals and in many of Europe’s major music centers as well as in North and South America, South Africa, Russia and Asia.
The Staatskapelle Weimar
founded in 1491, is one of the oldest orchestras in Germany and among the most illustrious in the world. Its history is closely associated to some of the world’s best known musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss. Under the aegis of Duchess Anna Amalia, the Weimar court orchestra became the premier musical institution of “Classical Weimar” after 1759 and part of the newly founded Hoftheater Weimar in 1791. During the 19th century, the orchestra continued to attract attention due the achievements of Liszt and Strauss who improved its quality and reputation. The Hofkapelle Weimar was the first to perform numerous contemporary orchestral works such as Liszt’s Faust-Symphony, his symphonic poems including Les Préludes and Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration as well as operas such as Wagner’s Lohengrin, Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel and Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila.
Both in its extensive concert activities and opera productions at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the Staatskapelle has worked to cultivate its great tradition in combination with innovative aspects. A wide range of CD recordings reflect its impressively diverse repertoire with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwangler, and several contemporary composers. World-class soloists and conductors perform regularly with the Staatskapelle Weimar which is nationally and internationally renowned as a first-class concert orchestra. In past years, the ensemble has made guest appearances in Japan, Israel, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain and in the United States as well as at famous festivals and numerous major concert halls in Germany. With the start of the 2024/25 season, Ivan Repušić has taken over as chief conductor of Thuringia’s only A-orchestra.
Eugene Tzigane
Born in Japan, raised on both sides of the Pacific and now based in Europe, Eugene Tzigane has a diverse background both culturally and musically. From an early age, he was surrounded by music of vastly different origins from Jazz (his first love) to orchestral music both classical and cinematic, and folk music and dance of Eastern European.
Eugene started studying music relatively late but was fortunate to be surrounded by inspiring mentors and teachers. He studied conducting at Juilliard School with James DePreist, earning a Masters in Conducting. Later, he studied with Jorma Panula at the Royal Music School, Stockholm, earning a Post Graduate Diploma. During this time, Eugene won several conducting prizes including at the Gzegorsz Fitelberg, Georg Solti and Lovro von Matačić competitions. Soon after, he was elected Chefdirigent of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (Herford) as the youngest chief in Germany at the time.
Since then, he’s been hailed as “a poised orchestral leader” (Berliner Morgenpost) with an “almost fanatical precision… along the lines of the young Carlos Kleiber” (Neue Volksblatt). His engagements have taken him all across the globe including the Bruckner Orchester Linz, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestre National d’ile de France, Sinfonia Lahti, and the Symphony-Orchestras of the MDR Radio, Tokyo Metropolitan, Frankfurt Radio, Norwegian Radio, Adelaide, West Australian SO, Basel, Helsingborg, Gävle, Aarhus and Tampere to name a few.
Eugene also regularly conducts opera having made his operatic debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Così fan tutte). More recent engagements have taken him to Frankfurt am Main (Die Fledermaus), Hamburg (Die Zauberflöte), and Stockholm (Carmen and Fedora). Highlights of the 2021-2022 season include his debut with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and the Tonkünstler Orchester.
Collaborations include with soloists such as Isabelle Faust, Ronald Brautigam and Oliver Triendl. Eugene has been fortunate to work with some of the great soloists of our times including Mischa Maisky, Alban Gerhardt, Leif Ove Andsnes, Vilde Frang, Hyeyoon Park, Baiba Skrida, Håkan Hardenberger, Roland Pöntinen, Lucas Debargue, Alessio Bax, Inon Barnatan, Arabella Steinbacher, and Lise de la Salle.
Eugene’s baton is a bespoke 2019 “Alan Pierce”, generously on loan from himself. In his free time, he enjoys being in nature, contemplating the meaning of life, and long walks on the beach. At some point, he was a half-way decent Tango dancer but has given up hope due to Social Distancing and scheduling conflicts with life.
