Tonhain Kollektiv at Summer Arts Lounge

Formed in the free chamber music scene of Berlin, Tonhain Kollektiv has quickly gained an excellent reputation as an ensemble of highly talented young artists. Their dedication to the landscapes of the repertoire makes them the innovators of the industry.

Mieczysław Weinberg: Streichtrio Op. 48

Allegro con moto
Andante
Moderato assai

Ludwig van Beethoven: Streichtrio G-Dur Op. 9 Nr. 1

Adagio - Allegro con brio
Adagio ma non tanto e cantabile
Scherzo – Allegro
Presto

-Pause-

Anton Arenski: Streichquartett Nr. 2 Op. 35

Moderato
Variations sur un thême de P. Tschaikowsky. Moderato
Finale. Andante sostenuto

Luke Hsu (violin)

Born in Shanghai, raised in Houston, and currently living in Berlin, American violinist and composer Luke Hsu (ARAM) has an artistic philosophy that eschews borders. Believing in the power of art to transcend the boundaries of one’s lived experience, he draws on his passions for history, culture, and folk music in crafting his interpretations, and champions music of our time as enthusiastically as that of the past. His compositions, like his performances, are a testament to his diverse artistic influences.

Friedemann Slenczka (viola)
Friedemann Slenczka was born in Göttingen in 1994 as the second of four children. In 2000, he moved to Mainz with his family and at the age of 6 got his first violin lessons and a little later piano lessons. At the age of 11, he became a member of the Mainz Cathedral Choir and performed as a boy soloist in numerous opera productions, among others as 2. Boy in the Magic Flute at the State Theatre Wiesbaden and as Yniold in Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande. In 2008 he moved with his family to Berlin and became a young student at the Sterninstitut with Professor Axel Gerhard.

Yehjin Chun (cello)

The South Korean cellist Yehjin Chun studied at the University of the Arts Berlin with Prof. Konstantin Heidrich and Prof. Jens Peter Maintz and completed her concert exam at the Hochschule für Musik Weimar with Prof. Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt in the summer of 2021. She has received several prizes at national and international competitions such as the Asia Youth Competition in Singapore and was one of the finalists at the Isang Yun Competition in 2018, where she received the Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize. As a soloist, she has played with orchestras such as the Thuringian Philharmonic, the Jena Philharmonic and the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra. She currently performs regularly as a member of Metamorphosen Berlin. She plays a cello by Giovanni Grancino, Milan 1705.

Rainer Crosett (cello)

Hailed as “sensational” and for playing with “total commitment and conviction” (Seen & Heard International 2024), cellist Rainer Crosett is quickly building an international career as an artist of uncommon sensitivity and creativity. From his Wigmore Hall recital debut in 2019 as the first American cellist ever to win the Pierre Fournier Award, to his Spring 2023 concerto debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, he regularly appears as a soloist and chamber musician on many of the most renowned stages throughout Europe and North America. Praised as an artist of “assurance, substance, and conviction” by Ralph Kirshbaum, Rainer’s passion for the many ways music relates to other fields continues to yield boundary-breaking interdisciplinary projects and programs.

Benjamin Lai (cello)

Taiwanese-American cellist Benjamin Lai was born in California and received his first cello lessons at the age of four with Mikhail Gelfandbein, a former student of Mstislav Rostropovich. At the age of 14 he moved to Berlin alone, where he was accepted as a young student in the class of Prof. Jens Peter Maintz. After graduating from high school, Benjamin studied with Prof. Heinrich Schiff in Vienna and with Prof. Julian Steckel in Munich. Since October 2021 he has been preparing his concert exam at the Lübeck University of Music with Prof. Troels Svane. Benjamin Lai attended master classes with Janos Starker, Yo-Yo Ma, David Geringas, Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson and Miklos Perenyi, among others. As a laureate of numerous international cello competitions (Popper, Dotzauer, Hindemith, TONALi Grand Prix, Janigro), Benjamin Lai has given concerts at renowned venues such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Musikverein in Vienna. As a chamber musician, he has been invited to music festivals such as the Music Campus Rhein Main, the Kissinger Sommer, the Usedom Music Festival and the tidal concerts. He plays a cello by Domenico Montagnana ("ex-Olevsky", Venice 1735).

Host or Publisher Althafen Foundation Summer Arts Lounge