PATRICK LECHNER

Austrian Pianist Patrick Lechner studied in Salzburg, Munich and Vienna. Among his teachers were Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Thomas Böckheler and Noel Flores. He holds a Doctoral degree
from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he received a full scholarship. He worked extensively with Zoltan Kocsis, Mikhail Voskressensky, Emanuel Ax, Michel Béroff, Philippe Entremont, Richard Goode and Peter Feuchtwanger, and participated in the selective International Piano Academy of Sergei Babayan in Cleveland and the Beethoven-masterclass of the Wilhelm-Kempff-Stiftung in Positano with John O' Conor.

He is a prize winner in several international competitions, the Joseph-Dichler Competition in Vienna/Austria, the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford/USA, the Münchner
Klavierpodium in Munich/Germany, the Concerto Competition in Cincinnati/USA. In addition, he won the Bösendorfer Scholarship of the Austrian Music Universities and the "Great Steinway Prize" in Munich.

Patrick Lechner frequently concertizes throughout Europe, the USA, Korea and China. He collaborated with prominent musicians, such as the conductors Martin Wettges, Maxim Heller, Aik Khai Pung, the violinists Ekatherina Frolova (Vienna Philharmonic), Korbinian Altenberger (concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra), the Cellist Vladan Koci and the Tenor Erkan Aki.

Worldwide performance venues include Alte Kongresshalle Munich, Laeisz Hall Hamburg, Nikolaisaal Potsdam, Passionskirche Berlin, Steinway-Haus Munich, Great City Hall Innsbruck, Gasteig Philharmonie Munich, St.Martin-in-the-Fields London, Great Hall Mozarteum Salzburg, Große LMU-Aula München, Austrian National Library Vienna, Ehrbar Hall Vienna, Corbett Auditorium Cincinnati, Citizen Hall Daegu, Suseong ArtPia Daegu, Kumho Art Hall Seoul, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, Guotai Art Center Chongqing, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, etc. He also appeared at major Music festivals like the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Pianopalooza Cincinnati, Münchner Klavier-Festival and others. His performances were broadcast by major Radio and TV stations (ORF Austria, Hunan TV China).

Lechner is a sought-after pedagogue and was appointed professor at the Tyrolean State Conservatory, the Yeungnam University in South Korea, Hunan First Normal University and
Chengdu University in China. His students won several top awards at the competitions “Jugend musiziert” and “Prima la musica” in Austria and Germany, and continue their studies at
prestigious institutes such as the Juilliard School in New York and the University Mozarteum Salzburg.

Patrick Lechner regularly holds master classes in Europe and Asia, among them at the music festival „Allegro Vivo“ and the international "Vienna Piano Academy". He is in high demand as a jury member in competitions worldwide, often for the major German competition „Jugend musiziert“, for the Melbourne International Youth Competition, the Brahms International Piano Competition, etc.

Besides a full concert and teaching schedule Patrick Lechner currently serves as president of EPTA China (European Piano Teachers Association, China branch) and artistic director of the
annual Chengdu International Music Week.

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PAVEL RAYKERUS (Piano)

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Pavel Raikerus graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Alexander Sandler). In 2000 he was a prize-winner at the Prokofiev International Young Pianists’ Competition (1st prize, Russia). The same year, he received an award from the Pro Europa cultural foundation (Denmark). He was a prize-winner at the Szymanowski International Piano Competition (1st prize, Poland, 2001), the Rubinstein International Competition (Germany, 2003), the Paderewski International Competition (2007) and the XXI Concurso Internacional de Piano Compositores de España (Madrid, 2010). Pavel Raikerus trained at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. In 1998 St Petersburg TV produced a film about Pavel Raikerus called And I Go out from Space... , while in 2003 and 2005 Germany’s Deutsche Welle produced two films about the young musician, one of which was broadcast as part of Euro News’ culture section. The pianist has recorded on St Petersburg Radio and Radio Russia. 
Pavel Raikerus has been the first performer of numerous works by contemporary young Russian and foreign composers. He regularly appears at St Petersburg’s most illustrious venues, among them the Great and Small Halls of the State Academic Philharmonic, the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Great Hall of the State Academic Cappella and the Glazunov Lesser Hall of the St Petersburg Conservatoire. In Moscow, Pavel Raikerus has performed at the Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatoire, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Moscow Philharmonic and the Concert Hall of the Russian Cultural Foundation. 
The pianist frequently tours abroad. He has appeared at the Louisiana Museum Concert Hall (Copenhagen), Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Laeiszhalle and the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Dresden’s Sepmeroper, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik as well as numerous venues in Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, South Korea and the USA. 
Pavel Raikerus devotes much of his time to chamber music with various ensembles. He has worked with such acclaimed maestri as Viktor Tretyakov (violin) and Sergei Roldugin (cello) as well as talented young musicians. 
Ensembles and orchestras the pianist has collaborated with include the Symphony Orchestras of the Moscow and St Petersburg Philharmonic Societies, the State Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg, the Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg State Cappella, the Symphony Orchestra of the State Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic (Poland), the Symphony Orchestra of the Voronezh Philharmonic and the Symphony Orchestra of the Mineralnye Vody Philharmonic in the Caucasus. 
Pavel Raikerus has taken part in major international festivals in Russia and abroad including Arts Square, Shostakovich throughout the Century, Moscow Autumn, Youth Academies of Russia, International Conservatoire Week, The New Silver Age, Dreiklang, the Liszt Kunstfest in Weimar, Schubertiade and Young Euro Classic among others. 
He has participated in the State-sponsored projects Looking towards the Future and The Musical Elite of the Future, specifically aimed at providing support to young performers and composers. He has appeared in the St Petersburg City Government’s official programme Presenting St Petersburg in Vienna. 
In June 2006 he was specially invited by the Kennedy Center (USA) as the only representative of Russia’s higher music education establishments at the XLV annual Academy of Achievement: International Summit in Los Angeles (USA). 
Pavel Raikerus currently has a busy concert schedule and teaches the special piano class at the Middle Special Ten-Year School of Music of the St Petersburg Conservatoire. He is also a guest teacher at the Daejeon School of Music (South Korea) and gives master-classes in Russia and abroad. His pupils include prize-winners at Russian and international competitions.

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