PIANO TRIOS: FROSCHHAMMER – RAHMATULLA – MOUZA

PROGRAMME:

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856): Piano Trio No.2, Op.80 (1847)

I. Sehr lebhaft

II. Mit innigem Ausdruck – Lebhaft

III. In mässiger Bewegung

IV. Nicht zu rasch

BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824–1884): Piano Trio, Op.15 (1854–55)

I. Moderato assai – Più animato

II. Allegro, ma non agitato

III. Finale. Presto

Felix Froschhammer violin

Indira Rahmatulla violoncello

Alexia Mouza piano

ARTIST RÉSUMÉS:

Felix Froschhammer is first violinist of the casalQuartett, Concertmaster of the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel and the Sinfonietta de Lausanne. Since 2025, he has been Professor of Violin at the Haute École de Musique Vaud Valais Fribourg (HEMU), and since 2018 he has served as Artistic Director of the Festival du Jura in Switzerland. Alongside his extensive chamber music career, he performs regularly as a soloist with a wide-ranging repertoire and is also dedicated to the music of the Balkans with the ensemble Tri i Dve.

His international concert career has taken him to renowned festivals including the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Styriarte Graz, Schwetzingen SWR Festival, Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, Murten Classics, Bodensee Festival, and Lavaux Classic Festival. He has also appeared in major concert halls across Europe and Asia, including Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok, Moscow, Singapore, Milan, and Paris. His performances have been broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk, Deutschlandfunk, Radio Suisse Romande Espace 2, Radio France, France 2, Arte TV, and Mezzo.

His recordings for Warner Classics, Tokyo Camerata, ArcoDiva, and Solo Musica have received widespread critical acclaim. Several albums with the casalQuartett, including recordings of works by Titz, Glazunov, and Tchaikovsky, have been honoured with the Pizzicato Award Luxembourg and nominated for both the German Record Critics’ Award and the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).

Born in Munich, Felix Froschhammer began studying the violin with Olga Voitova at the age of seven. After making his solo debut with the Munich Radio Orchestra at the age of ten, he studied with Pierre Amoyal in Lausanne and later with Salvatore Accardo, graduating with the Soloist Diploma with highest distinction in 2007.

Born in a family of musicians, Indira Rahmatulla began her cello studies with her parents. A graduate of the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, Indira studied with Vagram Saradjian in Houston, Ronald Leonard in Los Angeles and after with Jean-Guihen Queyras, completing her Master Studies and Soloist Diploma in Freiburg, Germany. In addition, Indira has completed her Chamber Music studies as a part of a piano trio at the Instituto de Musica de Camara de Reina Sofia de Madrid under Ralf Gothoni and her Baroque Cello studies at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis under Christophe Coin.

Indira has won numerous prizes in prestigious international competitions, including Aram Khachaturian International Cello Competition in Armenia, Luis Sigall International Cello Competition in Chile and Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition in Los Angeles, California.

Indira has appeared as soloist with orchestras around the world among which are Armenian State Orchestra in Yerevan, National Symphony Orchestra of Santiago de Chile, American Youth Symphony and Torrance Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles and Bilkent Symphony and Bursa State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey.

As a chamber musician, Indira has performed in collaboration with many leading artists, such as Menahem Pressler, Paul Coletti, Sergio Azzolini, Alexander Melnikov, and has been mentored by outstanding musicians among which are Arnold Steinhardt, Eldar Nebolsin, Ferenc Rados and Tabea Zimmermann. Indira was a fellow at the VillaMusica foundation in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Since 2015, Indira is a member of Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in Switzerland. She frequently plays as solo-cello in Kammerorchester Basel, Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble and is a regular substitute at Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Indira is a founding member and the Artistic Director of the International Kalamata Music Days.

Described by the press as a pianist of “extraordinary energy, clarity and precision”, Alexia Mouza first gained national recognition at the age of eleven, winning First Prize with honours at the Filon 2000 Pan-Hellenic Piano Competition. She subsequently won First Prize at the Città di Cantù International Piano Competition, where she also received the Press Prize (2005), the Giorgos Thymis Piano Competition in Thessaloniki (2008), and Second Prize at the Val Tidone International Piano Competition (2009). In 2015, she was awarded Third Prize at the prestigious Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan and First Prize at the Delia Steinberg International Piano Competition in Madrid. In the same year, she was honoured by the Academy of Athens for her artistic achievements.

As a soloist, Alexia has appeared with leading orchestras including the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Athens State Orchestra, and Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, among others. She also performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela as part of the Festival of Young Pianists in Caracas, where she additionally gave a solo recital and a masterclass for young musicians of El Sistema.

Alexia has performed in many of the world’s most distinguished concert halls, including Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Sala Verdi in Milan, Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Megaron Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall in Tokyo, and the Tsai Performance Center in Boston, where she made her United States debut as winner of the Richmond Competition.

She has been invited to perform at numerous international festivals, including Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Pomeriggi Musicali, MITO SettembreMusica, Festival da Bach a Bartók (Italy), the Sichuan International Piano Festival in Chengdu (China), the International Mozart Festival in Hokkaido (Japan), the Sächsisches Mozartfest (Germany), Semaines Musicales (Switzerland), and the international festivals of Athens, Thessaloniki, Nafplio, Heraklion, Aegina, Kalamata, and Santorini.

Born in Athens in 1989 to a Greek-Venezuelan family, Alexia Mouza began studying the piano at an early age with her mother. From 1999 to 2013, she studied at the International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, Italy, under Leonid Margarius and Anna Kravtchenko. She subsequently completed the Artist Diploma (2013) at the College of Fine Arts, Boston University, where she studied with Boaz Sharon, supported by scholarships from both the Greek State and Boston University. She later continued her studies at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv under the guidance of Arie Vardi, with whom she has continued to work.