Pas de deux

Biographies

York Höller was born on 11 January 1944 in Leverkusen. From 1963 to 1970, he studied composition (with Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Herbert Eimert), piano (with Alfons Kontarsky) and orchestral conducting at the Cologne University of Music, as well as musicology and philosophy at the University of Cologne. At the invitation of Pierre Boulez, Höller realised several of his works at the renowned Institute for New and Electronic Music, IRCAM in Paris, from the mid-1970s onwards. Paris became his second home, as he moved between Germany and France. From 1990 to 1999, he was artistic director of the newly established WDR Studio for Electronic Music. In 1993, he was appointed professor of composition at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, and in 1995 he moved to the Cologne Academy of Music in the same role, succeeding Hans Werner Henze. Among the composers of his generation in Europe, Höller is one of the most independent and idiosyncratic. Early on, he critically examined serial music and aleatoric and stochastic compositional models, drawing inspiration from philosophical and scientific approaches, information theory and Gestalt theory, and developed his concept of ‘Gestalt-Komposition,’ which also owes important moments of inspiration to Indian raga and Arabic maqam techniques, but above all to medieval isorhythm.

www.yorkhoeller.de

Cellist Valerie Fritz is a regular guest at festivals such as the Musikfest Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, the Klangspuren Schwaz and the Bavarian Radio's musica viva. Both as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, she cultivates a direct, sensitive dialogue with her audience and seeks close collaboration with composers. Formative artistic encounters with personalities such as Georg Friedrich Haas and Jennifer Walshe have resulted in new works that are, in a sense, tailor-made for her and incorporate performative elements such as singing, whispering or speaking. Valerie Fritz impresses with her versatile profile and innovative programming, for which she has received numerous awards. Among other honours, she has received the Berlin Prize for Young Artists and was nominated as an ECHO Rising Star for the 2025/26 season – an award that has brought her to the leading concert halls in Europe. Her debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is considered a particular highlight of her artistic career. Born in Tyrol, Valerie Fritz grew up in a family with a deep-rooted musical tradition. This lively musical environment shaped her from early childhood and laid the foundation for her artistic development. She received her musical training at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Clemens Hagen and Giovanni Gnocchi. Valerie Fritz plays an instrument made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1744, which is made available to her privately.

www.valeriefritz.at

The press raves about her ‘utterly enchanting, soft, almost melting touch – entirely in the grand tradition of Claudio Arrau’ (WZ). Pianist Nina Gurol developed a special affinity for contemporary music at an early age. ‘I am attracted to complexity, to penetrating multi-layeredness, and I want to venture into areas that at first seem opaque, perhaps even irritating,’ she says, describing her artistic approach. Trained by Prof. Gesa Lücker at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and influenced by her intensive collaboration with Tamara Stefanovich, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Maria João Pires, she combines intellectual acuity with pianistic sensitivity in her playing.
In her long-standing collaboration with composer York Höller, she has premiered numerous works and since then has curated her programmes in a thoughtful interplay of classical and contemporary repertoire. Solo and chamber music engagements have taken Nina Gurol to renowned concert halls such as the Cologne Philharmonic, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and the Chongqing Guotai Arts Centre, as well as to festivals such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and the ACHT BRÜCKEN | Musik für Köln festival. In 2022, she won the Hugo, an international competition for innovative concert formats, and was a finalist for the Berlin Prize for Young Artists. Live recordings of her concerts have been released by WDR, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Deutschlandfunk, among others.

www.ninagurol.com