GAIA’s History

Since its inception in 2006, GAIA has become an effervescent melting pot of ideas and impulses, designed for a heightened experience for both musicians and their audiences. Following non-traditional paths in its quest for innovative ways of sharing music, GAIA strives to make music accessible for everyone and continuously pioneers conceptually-driven events which include established, rarely-played, contemporary and specially-commissioned repertoire, as well as alternative approaches to their presentation.

Notwithstanding its relatively short existence, GAIA is already being hailed as a platform for progressive thinking and unprecedented encounters, both of which are acutely relevant to exposure of the arts in the 21st century. With care and preparation, GAIA is forging dramatic and far-reaching change in the way music is made, heard and appreciated.


Musicians


Violin

Gabriel Adorján
Shmuel Ashkenasi
Florian Bachofer
Hovhannes Baghdasaryan
Alexina Barbe
Sebastian Bohren
Sandrine Cantoreggi
Yun-Jin Cho
Nicolas Dautricourt
Anke Dill
Evgenia Epshtein
Markus Fleck
Clémence de Forceville
Daniel Garlitsky
Gershon Gerchikov
Philippe Graffin
Ilya Gringolts
Barbara Gruszczynska
Ilya Hoffman
Gábor Homoki
Esther Hoppe
Jonian Ilias Kadesha
Suyeon Kang
Alexandra Kazovsky
Isabelle van Keulen
Pil Kyun Paul Kim
Wonji Kim
Guro Kleven Hagen
Abigel Kralik
Jiska Lambrecht
Yura Lee
Anna Lipkind
Gwendolyn Masin
Ronald Masin
Gina Maria McGuinness
Lena Neudauer
Laura Oomens
Sergey Ostrovsky
Igor Ozim
Minna Pensola
Ioana Petcu-Colan
Rosanne Philippens
Priyanka Ravanelli
Emi Ohi Resnick
Rahel Maria Rilling
Svetlin Roussev
Tatiana Samouil
Peter Sheppard Skærved
Artiom Shishkov
Alexander Sitkovetsky
Jan Talich
Antti Tikkanen
Sono Tokuda
Kirill Troussov 
Léa Valentin
Wouter Vossen
Mary Ellen Woodside
 


Viola

Tomoko Akasaka
Noémie Bialobroda
Anna Brugger
Alessandro D’Amico
Guy Ben-Ziony
Gérard Caussé
Isabel Charisius
Rumen Cvetkov
Viacheslav Dinerchtein
Blythe Teh Engstroem
Markus Fleck
Jan Grüning
Ilya Hoffman
Gábor Homoki
Garth Knox
Yura Lee
Anna Lipkind
Gareth Lubbe
Lilli Maijala
Vladimir Mendelssohn
Martin Moriarty
Sara Rilling
Aline Saniter
Natalia Tchitch
Lars Anders Tomter
Dana Zemtsov
Mikhail Zemtsov
 


Violoncello

Dávid Adorján
Dongkyun An
Claudio Bohórquez
Ofer Canetti
Natalie Clein
Alexander Chaushian
Christoph Croisé
Flurin Cuonz
Thomas Demenga
Leonard Elschenbroich
Antoaneta Emanuilova
Chiara Enderle Samatanga
Amit Even–Tov
Andreas Fleck
Christopher Franzius
Pavel Gomziakov
Frans Helmerson
Louise Hopkins
Vashti Hunter
Christopher Jepson
Guy Johnston
Benedict Klöckner    
Aleksei Kiseliov
Dóra Kokas
Gavriel Lipkind
Sandro Meszaros
Patrick Moriarty
Philippe Muller
Amy Norrington
David Pia
Rafael Rosenfeld
Timora Rosler
Martti Rousi
Jakob Spahn
Anton Spronk
Torleif Thedéen
István Várdai
Quirine Viersen
 


Double Bass

Holger Michalski
James Oesi
Massimo Pinca
Lars Schaper


Cimbalom

Miklós Lukács
 


Flute

Maximilian Randlinger
Janne Thomsen
Kaspar Zehnder
Jacques Zoon
 


French Horn

Olivier Darbellay
Tomas Gallart
Hervé Joulain
 


Clarinet

Reto Bieri
Fabio di Casola
Don Li
Calogero Palermo
Moritz Roelcke
Christoffer Sundqvist
Yevgeny Yehudin
 


Bassoon

Igor Ahss
Rui Lopes
Martin Kuuskmann
 


Oboe

Selen Schaper
Ivan Podyomov
 


Saxophone

Daniel Schnyder
 


Piano

Julia Bartha
Alasdair Beatson
Simon Bucher
Finghin Collins
Danae Dörken
Peter Frankl
José Gallardo
Diana Ketler
Vera Kooper
Robert Kulek
Alexander Lonquich
Aleksandar Madzar
Vincenzo Maltempo
Hannes Minnaar
Cédric Pescia
Sergei Redkin
Pascal Rogé
Jan Philip Schulze
Marianna Shirinyan
Dobrinka Tabakova
Alexandra Troussova
Caspar Vos
Roman Zaslavsky
Bálint Zsoldos
 


Harpsichord

Vital Julian Frey
Sebastian Wienand
 


Harp

Jana Bouškovà
Sarah Christ
 


Xala

Ania Losinger
 


Percussion

Pavel Bialiayeu
Matthias Eser
Andrei Pushkarev (Vibraphon)
David Brühlmann (Bodhrán)
 


Ensembles

Ariel Quartett
Aviv Quartett
Chaarts Chamber Artists
Evelyn and Kristina Brunner
Grazioso Kammerorchester der Ungarischen Nationalphilharmonie
Haas & Mann
The Lipkind Quartet
Melisma Saxophone Quartet
Merel Quartett
Quatuor Ernest
Tonus String Quartett
Young European Strings Kammerorchester
Yurodny
 


Voice

Tatjana Gazdik
Rachel Harnisch
Wolf Matthias Friedrich
Jordanka Milkova
Erika Stucky
Stephanie Szanto
Olesya Zdorovetska
 


Conductors

Gergely Madaras
Ronald Masin
 


Composer in Residence

Daniel Schnyder
 


Narrator

Heidi Maria Glössner
 


Mime

Clemens Lüthard
 


Author

Lukas Bärfuss
Lukas Hartmann
Melinda Nadj Abonji
 


Moderator

Marc Kilchenmann
Jörg Scheller


Composers

Hendrik Andriessen
Anton Arensky
Kurt Atterberg
Grażyna Bacewicz
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Johann Bernhard Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Samuel Barber
Michel de la Barre
Béla Bartók
Ludwig van Beethoven
Alban Berg
Leonard Bernstein
H. Ignaz Franz Biber
Ernest Bloch
Luigi Boccherini
Sylvie Bodorová
Jorge A. Bosso
Johannes Brahms
Frank Bridge
Benjamin Britten
Max Bruch
Anton Bruckner
Ferruccio Busoni
Ruperto Chapí
Ernest Chausson
Rebecca Clarke
Guillaume Connesson
Arcangelo Corelli
Carl Czerny
Raymond Deane
Claude Debussy
Ernst von Dohnányi
Antoine Dornel
Jan Ladislav Dussek
Antonín Dvořák
Hanns Eisler
Edward Elgar
Duke Ellington
George Enescu
Manuel de Falla
Gabriel Fauré
Thomas Fortmann
César Franck
Emil Frey
Igor Frolov
Dominik Furger
Hans Gál
George Gershwin
Osvaldo Golijov
Alexander Glazunov
Mikhail Glinka
Edvard Grieg
Maximilan Grossenbacher
Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Johann Halvorsen
George Frederic Händel
Joseph Haydn
Elisabeth von Herzogenberg
Heinrich von Herzogenberg
Wilfried Hiller
Paul Hindemith
Gábor Homoki
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Paul Juon
Robert Kahn
Zoltán Kodály
Kateřina Kolářová
Fritz Kreisler
Ernst Krenek
Don Li
György Ligeti
Franz Liszt
Gareth Lubbe
Miklós Lukács
Gustav Mahler
Marin Marais
Alessandro Marcello
Aregnaz Martirosyan
Frank Martin
Bohuslav Martinů
Jules Massenet
Nikolaj Medtner
Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Tarquinio Merula
Olivier Messiaen
Michel Pignolet de Monteclair
Vittorio Monti
Ignaz Moscheles
Franz Xaver Mozart
Leopold Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Modest Mussorgsky
Arvo Pärt
Sapo Perapaskero
Marco Antonio Pérez-Ramirez
Christoph Pfändler
Astor Piazzolla
Boris Pigovat
Massimo Pinca
David Popper
Sergei Prokofjew
Giacomo Puccini
Henry Purcell
Andrei Pushkarev
Roger Quilter
Sergej Rachmaninoff
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Maurice Ravel
Max Reger
Ferdinand Ries
Gioacchino Rossini
Camille Saint-Saëns
Pablo de Sarasate
Urs Peter Schneider
Alfred Schnittke
Daniel Schnyder
Arnold Schoenberg
Dmitri Shostakovich
Franz Schubert
Robert Schumann
Clara Schumann
Alexander Scriabin
Rodion Shchedrin
Jean Sibelius
Horace Silver
Valentin Silvestrov
Bedřich Smetana
Ethel Smyth
Hans Sommer
Louis Spohr
Adolf Strauss
Richard Strauss
Igor Strawinsky
Erika Stucky
Josef Suk
Otilie Suková
Arthur Sullivan
Dobrinka Tabakova
Sergej Taneyev
Georg Philipp Telemann
Pjotr Tchaikovsky
Marco Uccellini
Viktor Ullmann
César Viana
Antonio Vivaldi
Ilse Weber
Anton Webern
Kurt Weill
Mieczyslaw Weinberg
László Weiner
Léo Weiner
Jörg Widmann
Henryk Wieniawski
Józef Wieniawski
Régine Wieniawski /Poldowski
Eugène Ysaÿe


World and Swiss Premieres


2024

Sylvie Bodorová (*1954)
Dza More
Solo Violin

Swiss Premiere

Gareth Lubbe (*1976)
Miniatures
for Viola and Overtone Singing

World Premiere

Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944)/Menachem Kipnis (1887–1942)/David Einhorn (1886–1973)
Berjoskele
Swiss Premiere

Frank Bridge (1879–1941)
An Irish Melody «The Londonderry Air»
for String Quartet

Swiss Premiere

Christoph Pfändler (*1992)
Timo
for Folk Music Ensemble

World Premiere

 


2023

Garth Knox: (*1956)
The Weaver's Grave
String Quintet

Swiss premiere

Erika Stucky (*1962)/Garth Knox (*1956)/traditional
Cruel Wind Song
for Voice and Viola d’Amore

Swiss premiere

Aregnaz Martirosyan (*1993)
Work for 7 Instruments 
World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Contrabajissimo
Swiss Premiere of the arrangement by Lars Schaper

Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Histoire du Tango
for Violin, Clarinet, Piano and Double Bass

I. Bordello 1900
II. Café 1930
III. Nightclub 1960
Swiss Premiere of the arrangement by Akos Hoffmann

Urs Peter Schneider (*1939)
Work for 7 Instruments 
World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

 


2022

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
"Per questa bella mano"
Concert aria for baritone, bass and ensemble K. 612 in a transcription by Lars Schaper

Swiss premiere

Kateřina Smetanová Kolářová (1827-1859)
Polka for piano
Swiss premiere

Józef Wieniawski (1837-1912)
Valse-Caprice Op. 46 for piano
Swiss premiere

Irene Wienawska (aka Poldowski) (1879-1932)
Tango for violin and piano
Swiss premiere

Irene Wienawska (aka Poldowski) (1879-1932)
Caledonian Market for piano
Swiss premiere

Irene Wienawska (aka Poldowski) (1879-1932)
Mélodies sur des poésies de Paul Verlaine for piano and soprano
Swiss premiere

Eugene Ysaÿe (1858-1931)
String Quintet in B minor
Swiss premiere

Otilie Suková-Dvorakova (1878-1905)
Three Piano Pieces
Swiss premiere

 


2021

Wolfgang Renz (b. 1945)
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 – Finale

Arrangement for Chamber Ensemble and Choir 
World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

 


2019

Thomas Fortmann (b. 1951)
Dreisamkeit
for Mezzo Soprano, Clarinet and Double Bass

World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Dobrinka Tabakova (b. 1980)
Whispered Lullaby
for Violin and Piano

Swiss premiere

 


2018

Thomas Fortmann (b. 1951)
Andante für einen Oberhofer Purzelbaum
for String Sextet, Clarinet, Piano, and Mime

World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Thomas Fortmann (b. 1951)
Bourlesque
for String Sextet, Clarinet, Piano, and Mime

World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Raymond Deane (b. 1953)
Hungarian-Jewish Melodies
for Clarinet and String Trio

World Premiere (Commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

 


2017

Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)
Grotesque
Swiss Premiere

Maximilian Grossenbacher (*1991)
Airreel
World Premiere (commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Miklós Lukács (*1977)
Bartók Impressions
(after the Romanian Folk Dances Sz. 68 by Béla Bartók)
World Premiere

Marco Antonio Perez-Ramirez (*1964)
OLUM
World Premiere (commissioned by GAIA Music Festival)

Massimo Pinca (*1978)
The Fates for String Quartet and Cimbalom
World Premiere

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (*1932)
Humoresque for Piano
Arrangement by Massimo Pinca
World Premiere of the Arrangement

 


2016

Texts by Lukas Hartmann for
Suite Burlesque de Quixotte (Georg Philipp Telemann)
Suite italienne (Igor Strawinsky)
Pictures at an Exhibition (Modest Mussorgsky)

World Premieres

Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
Spanish Dance from La vida breve
Arrangement by Raymond Deane
Edited by Gwendolyn Masin
Swiss Premiere

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Danse macabre, Poème symphonique op. 40
Arrangement by Raymond Deane
Edited by Gwendolyn Masin
Swiss Premiere

Modest Mussorgski (1839–1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition
Arrangement for Piano and String Quintet by Rudolf Leopold
Swiss Premiere

 


2015

Daniel Schnyder (*1961)
Mensch Blue
World Premiere

Daniel Schnyder (*1961)
Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano ad parnassum
World Premiere

 


2014

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
Bagatelle for Violin, Viola and Piano
Swiss Premiere

Paul Juon (1872–1940)
Sextet in C minor Op. 22
Swiss Premiere

 


2013

Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
“GAIA’s Piazzolla Suite”

  • “Nightclub 1960” from “Histoire du Tango”
    

Arrangement for Vibraphone solo by Andrei Pushkarev
    Swiss Premiere
  • “Milonga loca” from “Tango: Zero Hour”
    Arrangement for Violin and Vibraphone by Andrei Pushkarev
    Swiss Premiere
  • “Introducción del Ángel” from “Concierto del Ángel”
    Arrangement for Violin, Violoncello and Vibraphone by Andrei Pushkarev
    

World Premiere
  • “Escualo”
    
Arrangement for Violoncello and Vibraphone by Andrei Pushkarev
    Swiss Premiere
  • “Chiquilin de Bachin”
    Arrangement for Vibraphone solo by Andrei Pushkarev
    World Premiere

Andrei Pushkarev (*1974)
“La folia de GAIA”
Arrangement of the Violin Sonata Op. 5 no. 12 “La folia”
by Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
World Premiere

Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805)
Quintett for String Quartet and Guitar No. 4 D major G 448
4. Movement: Fandango
Arrangement by Ilya Hoffman
World Premiere

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Sonata “Arpeggione” in A minor D 821
(in a Transcription for Solo Cello and String Quartet)
Swiss Premiere

Yurodny
Multiple new works and arrangements
World Premieres / Swiss Premieres

 


2012

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Ciaccona from Partita II in D minor BWV 1004 for Solo Violin
Arrangement for four Violoncelli by Laszlo Varga
Swiss Premiere

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude and Fugue in E-flat minor BWV 853 from The Well-Tempered Clavier I
Arrangement after Bach for four Violoncelli by Laszlo Varga
Swiss Premiere

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Suite V in C minor BWV 1011 for Solo Violoncello
Arrangement for two Violoncelli by Laszlo Varga
Swiss Premiere

 


2011

Kurt Atterberg (1887–1974)
Double Concerto in C Major for Violin, Violoncello and Strings Op. 57
Swiss Premiere

Alban Berg (1885–1935)
Piano Sonata Op. 1
Transcription for Viola and String Orchestra by Leonid Hoffman
Swiss Premiere

Ernest Bloch (1880–1959)
Prayer (T’Fila)
Orchestrated by Jorge Bosso
Swiss Premiere

César Viana (*1963)
“Sermaf” for Violin and Viola
Swiss Premiere

 


2010

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Concerto in D minor for Oboe, Violin, Strings and Basso continuo BWV 1060R
World Premiere of the transcription in C minor for Bassoon and Viola by Ilya Hoffman and Martin Kuuskmann

Jorge Bosso (*1966)
משה (Moshee) for Violoncello solo and 17 Strings
World Premiere

Max Bruch (1838–1920)
“Kol Nidrei”
Adagio in D minor on Hebrew Melodies for Violoncello and Orchestra Op. 47
Swiss Premiere of the transcription for Violoncello and String Orchestra by Gavriel Lipkind in collaboration with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra

Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935)
Sarabande with Variations in G minor (on a theme by Georg Friedrich Händel) for Violin and Viola
Swiss Premiere of the GAIA transcription for Violin and Violoncello

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Fantasiestücke Op. 73
Swiss Premiere of the transcription for Bassoon and Piano by Martin Kuuskmann after the original for Clarinet (Violoncello ad lib.) and Piano

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Piano Quartet in C minor
(Fragment, Anhang E 1)
Swiss Premiere (Completion of missing passages in the Piano part by Roman Zaslavsky)

Robert Schumann (1810 —1856) 
“Concertstück” in A minor for Violoncello and Orchestra Op. 129
Swiss Premiere of the transcription for Violoncello and String Orchestra by Gavriel Lipkind in collaboration with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra

Pjotr Tchaikowsky (1840–1893)
Variations on a Rococo Theme for Violoncello and Orchestra Op. 33
Swiss Premiere of the transcription for Violoncello and String Orchestra by Ann Kuppens

 


2009

Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935)
Passacaglia (on a theme by Georg Friedrich Händel) for Violin and Viola
World premiere of the GAIA Transcription for Violin and Violoncello

Don Li (*1971)
Part 87 / “Thirty Combinable Lines”
World Premiere