About the artists

JOANNA SACHRYN

“ Paying cello means for me telling stories“

The Polish cellist Joanna Sachryn convinces with her expressivity and a personality, which is simply not conventional. Her captivating stage presence and unique cello-sound reflect her universal experience as a musician – chamber musician, soloist, in orchestra and as professor. Her personality deliberately refuse to be pigeonholed. Her debut with the E. Lalo Concerto after only four years of cello study attracted great interest in the Polish public. At the age of sixteen she toured with ‘Jeunesse Musicales’ to Paris and London. Already then the British ‘Observer’ extolled her extraordinary expressiveness.

At the age of seventeen she became Poland’s youngest cello soloist at the Opera of her hometown Szczecin. At the same time she passed her diploma with distinction at the music conservatory and won prizes in numerous national competitions.

Although the Iron Curtain was a major impediment, she went on to study in the Soloist Class with Gerhard Mantel at the University for Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt and in London with William Pleeth. She received decisive impulses through repertoire studies with the Russian cello giants Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniil Shafran.

Numerous engagements followed, e.g. with Munich Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, State Orchestra Stuttgart, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR - Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg.

She performed as a soloist with Philharmonic Orchestra Regensburg, Wernigerode Chamber Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, German Radio Orchestra, Württemberg Symphony Orchestra, State Orchestra of Ploiesti and Oradea in Rumania. In 2023 she performed the world premiere of the dedicated to her Cello Concerto “ Paysage Intime” by Polish composer Tomasz Skweres together with the Madrid Festival Orchestra.

As a chamber musician she played with artist such as Günter Ludwig and Justus Franz, Thomas Christian, Johannes Goritzki, Boris Pergamenschikow, Eleonora Schönfeld, Wolfgang Güttler and Boguslaw Furtok.

Joanna performed on international stages like The Musikverein Vienna, Cecilia Meirelles Hall Rio de Janeiro, Santory Hall Tokio, National Art Center and Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul, Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Art Center and Shanghai Symphony Hall - at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Shanghai Spring Festival, International Cello Festival Katowice, Musika Música Festival Bilbao.

She is cellist of the international established Cologne Piano Trio and member of the Vienna Cello Ensemble 5+1. She regularly performs with the Spanish pianist Pablo Amorós. As well she enjoyed a long-standing musical friendship with the international acclaimed chamber musician - the pianist Paul Rivinius. The Kaleidos label released two CDs of the duo Sachryn-Rivinius, “ Meyer-Shostakovich “ as well as ”Forgotten Treasures” much acclaimed world premiere recording of new discoveries from the Romantic period.

Joanna Sachryn regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, Asia and South America. She teaches at the Academy for Music Berlin and as visiting professor at Tongji University Shanghai as well at Y.Menuhin School Qingdao China.

PAUL RIVINIUS

Pianist Paul Rivinius, born in 1970, received his first piano lessons at the age of five. His teachers were first Gustaf Grosch in Munich, later Alexander Sellier, Walter Blankenheim and Nerine Barrett at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken. After graduating from high school he also studied horn with Marie-Luise Neunecker at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule and continued his piano studies with Raymund Havenith. In 1994 he was accepted into Gerhard Oppitz’s master class at the Musikhochschule in Munich, which he completed with honours in 1998. Paul Rivinius was for a long time member of the Bundesjugendorchester and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, he won several prizes with the Clemente Trio, founded in 1986, for example at the renowned ARD Music Competition in Munich in 1998 and subsequently performed as the “Rising Star” ensemble in the world’s ten most important concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London.

Paul Rivinius also plays in the Rivinius Piano Quartet together with his brothers Benjamin, Gustav and Siegfried.

Since 2004 he has also been pianist of the Mozart Piano Quartet, which has gained international reputation through extensive tours in North and South America and Asia.

In 2018 the Mozart Piano Quartet received the “Opus Klassik” for the recording of Georg Hendrik Witte’s Piano Quartet for MDG Dabringhaus & Grimm.

Paul Rivinius was part of numerous radio and CD productions with cellists Julian Steckel, Johannes Moser and with the Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling to name a few.

Paul Rivinius taught for many years as professor of chamber music at the “Hanns Eisler” Academy of Music in Berlin and lives now in Munich.