World-renowned woodwind players to give masterclasses in Uusikaupunki, Finland, in 2024!
Crusell Music Festival in Uusikaupunki, Finland, is one of the few festivals in the world focused around woodwind instruments. Next summer will be the 43rd edition of the Crusell Music Festival, and the festival will take place July 22-28. In addition to fantastic chamber music concerts, Crusell Music Festival organizes annual masterclasses. We are proud to present some of the world’s finest woodwind artists and pedagogues as our teachers each year.
In 2024 the Crusell Music Festival will organize masterclasses for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. In addition to the masterclasses, the festival will host flute, oboe and clarinet courses, aimed for both younger and older woodwind enthusiasts and students.
We at the Crusell Music Festival want to make our festival a meeting place for woodwind professionals from both the orchestral and teaching fields. We would like to warmly welcome you to further your knowledge as a performer or as a teacher by following our masterclasses. You can follow the masterclasses by buying a passive student’s pass. With a student pass you can follow the masterclasses and learn the teaching methods of our guest teachers, get new inspiration as well as create some international relations and networks. At the end of the festival we will organize a roundtable discussion with the teachers and students of the masterclasses. The objective of the roundtable is to discuss the different paths of becoming a professional musician and the ways to further develop oneself as a musician.
Welcome!
Andea Lieberknecht, flute masterclass
Andrea Lieberknecht became principal flute with the Munich Radio Orchestra while still a student. In 1991, she moved to the same position with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, where she played until 2002. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has won numerous international competitions, including the “Prague Spring” in 1991 and the flute competition in Kobe/Japan in 1993. In addition to her extensive concert activities, Andrea Lieberknecht has been a professor of flute for 24 years, first at the Hannover University of Music & Drama, and since 2011 at the State University of Music & Drama in Munich. Her students have won major international flute competitions and hold positions in renowned orchestras. She is regularly asked to be a jury member at renowned international flute competitions and she gives master classes in Europe, Japan and Australia.
Niamh McKenna, flute class
Niamh McKenna is a German-Irish flautist. She was appointed principal flute of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014, since the autumn of 2019 she has been holding the same position with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017 she won the International Crusell Flute Competition, and in 2019 received third prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition. As a guest principal she has played in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in the Finnish as well as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, in Dresden Philharmonic and in the Tapiola Sinfonietta among others. She frequently performs as a soloist with orchestras throughout Finland. As an enthusiastic chambermusician, she can be heard in major Finnish chambermusic festivals.
David Walter, oboe masterclass
David Walter has pursued an original career: after obtaining First Prize in oboe and chamber music at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris, he quickly gained recognition outside of France by winning five international prizes one after the other. His chamber music activities include first and foremost playing with the Quintette Moragues and many other partners.
David Walter was only 29 years old when, owing to his enthusiasm and dedication to teaching, he was appointed the youngest-ever oboe and chamber music professor at the renowned Paris Conservatoire. He has also taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1997 to 2009, and regularly gives numerous masterclasses all over the world.
Yehuda Gilad , clarinet masterclass
A teacher, instrumentalist and conductor, Yehuda Gilad strives for “total musicianship,” and as a result, he has won the acclaim of both critics and audiences alike. As one of the founding members of the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, Mr. Gilad serves as Music Director of the Colburn Orchestra and Professor of Clarinet for the Colburn Conservatory, the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, and the Colburn Music Academy. In addition, he is Professor of Clarinet at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, and across these two prestigious institutions, he has developed one of the most sought-after clarinet studios in the world.
His students have achieved top honors in every premier international clarinet competition, and graduates of his studio hold positions in over 150 major orchestras worldwide. In 2012, he served as president of the jury for the Carl Nielsen 5th International Clarinet Competition in Odense, Denmark. Mr. Gilad is a recipient of numerous honors and awards. He is regularly invited to present master classes and performances at music conservatories and major festivals around the globe.
Christoffer Sundqvist, clarinet class
Christoffer Sundqvist is one of the leading clarinets of his generation. Alongside his outstanding performances of the classical repertoire, the Finn man is an ambassador for contemporary Nordic music.
Sundqvist has appeared as soloist with all major Finnish orchestras. BBC Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Norrköping Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Basel Symphony and Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. As a passionate chamber musician he is a co-founder of the brass quintet Arktinen hysteria and a long-term member of the Plus Ensemble based in Turku. Since 2013 he is Artistic Director of the Jakobstad Sinfonietta and Rusk Chamber Music Festival in Jakobstad.
Winner of the Crusell Clarinet competition 2002 and Juvenalia Chamber Music competition in Espoo, Christopher Sundqvist is principal clarinet of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2005. He teaches clarinet at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Dag Jensen, bassoon masterclass
Dag Jensen was Professor at the Hanover Academy of Music and Theatre from 1997 to 2011, and since 2011 he has been Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. He is also Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo.
He was principal bassoonist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988 and held the same position in the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1997. He is a member of the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra and the Mito Chamber Orchestra. His numerous solo appearances with renowned orchestras have taken him throughout Europe and Asia. Chamber music plays an important part in his musical life, and he is a member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and of the Ensemble Villa Musica. He is also a regular guest at several music festivals.
