Biography

Performing Béla Bartóks Sonata for two pianos and percussion in 2005 Flügelschlag-Quartett was created by the German pianists Barbara Rieder and Sebastian Bartmann, both well-known as a piano duo called duo imPuls, as well as the two percussionists: Claudius Heinzelmann from Germany and Ákos Nagy from Hungary. The ensemble’s concerts show the great variety of their repertoire including original compositions as well as arrangements written by the quartet’s members and works by Sebastian Bartmann whose compositions have been internationally awarded (IBLA-Foundation Sizilien/New York, Composers’ Award of the City of Düsseldorf at the IDO-Festival).

 

Working on chamber music the musicians have been inspired and supported by Klaus Dreher, Michael Kiedaisch, Marta Klimasara, Manfred Kniel, Gyula Racz and Hans-Peter Stenzl. The musicians feel very honored about an exclusive masterclass in 2009 with Anders Loguin († 2011) from Stockholm, founding member of the percussion ensemble Kroumata, whom they were allowed to invite to Southern Germany for intensive work on repertoire.

 

The quartet have performed in different projects, for example for a television documentary about the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart and at the renowned German competition Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2008 in Bonn where they have received a scholarship granted by the German Music Council which admitted Flügelschlag-Quartett for the 53rd Bundesauswahl Konzerte Junger Künstler, a support programme with performances all over Germany.

 

Both working individually and playing in the ensemble all four artists have been involved in television and radio broadcasting recordings at Arte, BR, Deutschlandradio Kultur, SWR, WDR, ZDF and some foreign broadcasting stations and have achieved international reputation. The duo imPuls have won some international competitions, for example the Edvard-Grieg-Wettbewerb (Oslo) and the Concours Valberg (Nizza). Furthermore they have been invited to prestigious music festivals, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and the Edvard-Grieg-Festival in Oslo. Similarly the percussionists Claudius Heinzelmann and Ákos Nagy took part in several musical events, for example at Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Stuttgart ECLAT Festival, Schwarzwald Musikfestival, Musikfestwochen Donau-Oberschwaben, Internationale Festliche Musiktage Uster, Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, Aberdeen Music Festival and the festival KLANG – A Tribute to Karlheinz Stockhausen in London. The four musicians have individually performed in numerous major concert halls, for example in Berlin (Konzerthaus), Bonn (Beethovenhalle), Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts), Ljubljana (Cankariev Dom), Lisboa (Gulbenkian), London (Royal Festival Hall), Lucerne (KKL), Manchester (Bridgewater Hall) and Singapore (Esplanade – Theatres On the Bay).

 

In 2009 Flügelschlag-Quartett have won the 1. prize at the 13th International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music (former “Penderecki Competition”) in Cracow. Thereafter they have been invited to perform in renowned festivals as Musikfest Stuttgart, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Oberstdorfer Musiksommer. In 2011 the ensemble opened the festival "musikerlebnis open air" at Munich Residenz.