EUCO Directors
HANS-PETER HOFMANN
Hans-Peter Hofmann began playing the violin at the age of four and studied first at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken with Heinz Stanske und Ulrike Dierick and then with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Already as a student, he began his wide-ranging and successful international career as concertmaster, chamber musician and soloist, touring in England, France Holland, Spain and Austria and performing in major halls such as the Vienna Musikverein and Vienna Konzerthaus, the Berlin Schauspielhaus and Cité de la Musique in Paris.
Hans-Peter has led the Bavarian Kammerphilharmonie and Bavarian Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Chamber Orchestra and since 1998 the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra in Bregenz. As first violin of Kontraste Nürnberg and Ensemble Plus Bregenz, he made many Radio and TV broadcasts, for example on Berlin Radio, both Süddeutsche and Südwestfunk in Germany, the ORF in Austria and also Swiss Radio, and he made a series of CDs of repertoire ranging from Baroque to Jazz. In 2006 Hans-Peter joined the prestigious Ensemble Les Dissonances in Paris and in 2011 founded the Quatuor Les Dissonances, which made its debut live on France Musique from the Théatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris and now performs regularly throughout France.
Hans-Peter became concert-master of the European Union Chamber Orchestra in 2007 with which he has since toured throughout Europe, South America and the UK, where several of his concerts have been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. He is also a sought-after teacher, since 1998 at the Musikhochschule in Nürnberg and since 2011 as Professor at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken.
PETRI AARNIO
While studying and graduating as a pupil of Dorothy DeLay and Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, PETRI AARNIO had a chance to play in the Juilliard Orchestra and to work with the New York Philharmonic and the orchestra of the New York Metropolitan under such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta and James Levine. On his return to his native Finland he was appointed to the temporary post of co-leader of the Finnish National Opera Orchestra. He has also been the leader of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish Chamber Orchestra and is now leader of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. A member of the New Helsinki Quartet since 1990, he has been its first violinist since autumn 2000. With cellist Erkki Lahesmaa and pianist Naoko Shibayama-Aarnio he plays in the Ad Libitum Trio. He has appeared in solo and chamber recitals both in Finland and in various other parts of Europe, the United States, South America, Africa, China and Japan. Mr Aarnio has taught at the Sibelius Academy since 1997 and at the University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki and Tampere.
EVA STEGEMAN
Dutch violinist Eva Stegeman stands out through her striking versatility both as a musician and festival director.
As a soloist she performs with ensembles and orchestra's in Holland and abroad and as an international chamber orchestra director and concertmaster she is much in demand. She is founder and artistic director of the ‘Classical Encounters’ chamber music festival (formerly International Chamber Music Festival in The Hague), a festival that is much acclaimed for its high artistic quality and innovative programming. Her repertoire reaches from the early baroque to contemporary music as involves a wide range of musical styles. Stegeman is professor of chamber music at the conservatories of The Hague and Rotterdam.
Stegeman was first concertmaster of Sinfonia Rotterdam from 2007 – 2012 and presently she is first concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss (Düsseldorf) as well as the Nootstroom Orchestra Friesland. Stegeman was primarius of the Doelen Ensemble from 2013 - 2016 (contemporary repertoire). With the European Union Chamber Orchestra, she has worked as a director (leading from the first chair) since 2003.
Stegeman regularly appears as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orfeo Orchester Budapest, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Bielefelder Symphoniker, Sinfonia Rotterdam and Nootstroom Orchestra Friesland. In 2007, Stegeman lead and directed a series of full-staged performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Thansau, Germany.
As concertmaster and director, she frequently makes guest appearances with orchestras such as the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Nootstroom Orchestra Friesland, the Orkest van het Oosten, Casco Phil (Belgische Kamerfilharmonie), the Radio Kamer Filharmonie and the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South-Korea).
As a chamber music player Stegeman is much in demand. With the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam a close-knit ensemble specialising in music from 1600-1800, she has toured Europe, Japan, Mexico and South-America, and has taken part in many CD recordings as well as numerous radio broadcasts (2002-2011). As the founding violinist of the Cristofori Piano Quartet she recorded piano quartets by Schumann and Beethoven. With the Leupold Trio (2003-2012) she recorded a CD with Italian baroque repertoire for the label Challenge Records. With actor/musicologist Huib Ramaer and pianist Tobias Borsboom she develops story-telling programmes such as about the musical friendship of Edvard Grieg en Julius Röntgen and the adventurous musical life of the Swedish violinist and composer Amanda Maier.
Stegeman is founder (2003) and artistic director of the annual international chamber music festival ‘Classical Encounters’ in The Hague. Under her direction the festival has established a reputation of high artistic quality, innovative programming combined with a uniquely personal approach of the public. The festival celebrated its 15-year jubilee in 2018 at which occasion Stegeman was awarded with the prestigious ‘Stadspenning’ of the city of The Hague for her significant and unique contribution to the cultural scene of The Hague.
Outside Holland, Stegeman has been invited to perform and give masterclasses at numerous international chamber music festivals such as in Germany (Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Fränkische Musiktage, Rheingau Musik Festival and festivo/Aschau in Chiemgau), Italy (Spoleto, Festival Emiglia Romagna, Ravello Festival), France (Festival Bach en Combrailles), England (the Bath Music Festival, Exeter Music Festival), Estonia (Tallinn - Glasperlenspiel) and Belgium (Festival de Wallonie and Flanders Festival). In the Netherlands she is a regular guest at festivals such as Wonderfeel, the Gergiev Festival Rotterdam, the Peter de Grote Festival Groningen, the Hortus Festival and the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam. She also appeared at jazz-festivals such as the Bologna Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Rotterdam with American jazz legend Steve Coleman.
Since 2016, Stegeman is professor of chamber music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Codarts in Rotterdam. As a jury member she worked for the Josef Micka Violin Competition (Prague), the Prinses Christina Concours and Het Nederlands Vioolconcours (Netherlands).
Stegeman studied with Davina van Wely at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she was awarded the M. Warsaw Chamber Music Award. In 1995 she was the 2nd prize winner at the National Oskar Back violin competition, performing the Beethoven concerto at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has taken part in international seminars with great pedagogues such as György Sebök, Wiktor Liberman, Herman Krebbers, Boris Belkin and Lorrand Fenyves. Stegeman plays a G.B. Rogeri (Brescia) violin from around 1680.
Click for more information: www.evastegeman.com