Duo Avad, Rieko Yoshizumi, Clemens Krieger
Biography Duo Avad, Rieko Yoshizumi, Clemens Krieger
Rieko Yoshizumi
was born in Oita on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. She received her first piano lessons at the age of four. After attending Tokyo’s national music high school (Geiko), she studied piano (with Akiko Iguchi) and music education at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai). Her versatility was already evident during her studies, when she learned the harpsichord as an additional instrument, was in great demand as a vocal accompanist, and was the lead singer in a rock/pop band.
Yoshizumi pursued postgraduate studies in Germany, where she completed her piano studies with the concert exam degree at the Detmold University of Music in the soloist class of Friedrich Wilhelm Schnurr. She received further inspiration from Roberto Szidon. As a soloist, she has made guest appearances with a number of orchestras, including the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen, the Berlin Virtuosos, and the Detmold Soloists, in Europe, Japan, and Peru.
In addition to her numerous piano recitals and solo appearances with orchestras, Yoshizumi is a passionate chamber musician. As a founding member of the Trio Tre Mondi and the Duo Avad and as a chamber music partner of other ensembles, she has made numerous radio productions and recordings as well as CD productions. The world premiere recording of Jenö Takács’ Trio Rhapsody, Op. 11 received outstanding reviews, as did her GENUIN debut album.
Yoshizumi’s concert career encompasses invitations to renowned concert series and festivals in Europe, Asia, South America, and Lebanon. She captivates audiences with her interpretations, which feature a sensitive, imaginative, and at the same time clearly structured and powerfully impetuous style of playing.
Yoshizumi has been an instructor at the Detmold University of Music and has taught at the Dresden College of Music since 1994, having been appointed honorary professor in 2000. She gives master classes for piano and chamber music in Spain, Japan, and Peru and is regularly invited to the Czech Republic as a juror at one of the country’s international piano competitions.
Clemens Krieger
Having grown up in a highly musical and artistic family, Clemens Krieger began his cello studies with Marcio Carneiro at the Detmold University of Music, which he completed with the music teacher qualification and the concert exam in the soloist class. Daniil Shafran and Rudolf Metzmacher also had a formative influence on him. His playing combines a clear, radiant tone with warm expression and simple, straightforward elegance with a nuanced musical message.
Krieger discovered his special passion for chamber music early on, which for him represents the highest form of musical expression, including in terms of repertoire. He has many years of varied experience in several ensembles that he co-founded, including the String Trio Lukas David, the t.e.c.c. quartet, and particularly the Trio Tre Mondi, with which he made the world premiere recording of Jenö Tákacs’ Trio Rhapsody , Op. 11, as well as the Duo Avad, with whom he is releasing the world premiere recording of Lili Boulanger’s D’un soir triste , which he reconstructed, on the CD Französische Sehnsucht. Thomas Kupsch’s work Agens was dedicated to the Duo Avad in 2019 and premiered by the ensemble in January 2020.
An international concert career and numerous invitations to festivals and renowned concert series have taken Krieger to Europe, North Africa, South America, and Japan as a chamber musician and as a soloist with a number of orchestras. During a solo concert tour to France, he was awarded the medal of the city of Bayeux. Krieger has served as principal cellist of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow, the Southwest German Philharmonic in Konstanz, and the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a member of the Dresden Philharmonic since 1992.
Clemens Krieger has always felt a calling to pass on his experience to others. During his studies he taught as assistant to Marcio Carneiro at the Detmold University of Music, and since 2000 as an instructor at the Dresden College of Music. Numerous CD albums and radio recordings in addition to live TV recordings document the great musical range of Krieger’s cello playing as well as his openness to a wide variety of musical styles.
