The renowned Polish flautist Krzysztof Maciej Kaczka was born in Torun. He is thought of as one of the most creative and versatile musicians of his generation. He learnt to play the flute in early childhood, originally with Cecilia Knopp in Chorzow and later with Grzegorz Cimoszko and Elzbieta Dastych-Szwarc in Warsaw. He completed his studies with Irena Grafenauer at the Mozarteum Salzburg, with Wolfgang Schulz at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and with Marianne Henkel-Adorjan at the University of Music and Theater in Munich. It was here that he received his masterclass diploma in 2005. As an Erasmus scholar, he had the opportunity to perfect his artistic skills with Pierre -Yves Artaud at the Conservatoire de Paris. He has attended many master classes, including ones with Jeanne Baxtresser, Julius Baker, Philippe Bernold, William Bennett, Patrick Gallois, Peter Lukas Graf and Carol Wincenc. As an Artist in Residence at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, he has worked together with leading artists such as Joel Smirnoff (Juilliard String Quartet), Chen Halevi, Pedja Muzijevic and Barry Shiffman. Krzysztof Kaczka delights audiences around the world with his playing. He has been the prize winner and finalist of multiple international competitions (in New York, Sydney, Pittsburgh).

“Viola Virtuosa aims to demonstrate that the viola can, in addition to producing all the deep, sad notes and songful qualities attributed to it, also be an independent solo instrument. The instrument’s position, between the violin and the cello, offers us violists many opportunities to combine elements from both soundscapes and thereby to create something independent and new. This release features a number of transcriptions – not derived from a desire to take something from someone else, but because I am absolutely convinced that good music can be played in a variety of ways as long as we remain true to the spirit in which the work was originally composed.

"Works by both Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe and Gaspar Cassadó appear on this album, recorded for the first time on the viola. Ysaÿe has long fascinated me, and after featuring this work in a number of my concerts, it seemed perfectly natural to record his 4th Sonata. It was my former student Martin Moriarty who suggested the possibility of playing Cassadó on the viola, when he turned up for a lesson one day with the score of this cello suite. I was enthusiastic from the word go because the suite sounds so good on the viola and I hope that the enthusiasm we felt during the recording session is palpable. Thank you, Martin, for this great idea!” -Veit Hertenstein

A Renaissance artist for modern times, Lera Auerbach is a widely recognized conductor, pianist, and composer. She is also a published poet and an exhibited visual artist. All of her work is interconnected as part of a cohesive and comprehensive artistic worldview.

Born in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains at the gateway of Siberia, Lera Auerbach has become one of today’s most sought after and exciting creative voices. Her performances and music are featured in the world’s leading stages – from Vienna’s Musikverein and London’s Royal Albert Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Auerbach’s exquisitely crafted, emotional, and boldly imaginative music reaches to global audiences. Orchestral collaborations include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Munich’s Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Vienna’s ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester, among many others. Auerbach’s works for orchestra are performed by the world’s leading conductors, including Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Charles Dutoit, Andris Nelsons, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, and Marin Alsop, to mention only a few.