Fanny Mendelssohn was a German pianist and composer, and the eldest sister and confidante of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, however she was never allowed to study music like her brother. Despite this, she developed a remarkable talent for piano music especially after her extensive Italian travel which is the source of much inspiration in some of these pieces. Felix readily admitted that his sister played the piano better than he did, and Fanny remained his chief musical adviser until he left home. She is said to have memorized J.S. Bach's complete Well-Tempered Clavier by age 13. Fanny married the Prussian court painter Wilhelm Hensel in 1829. She travelled in Italy with her husband in 1839-40. Upon her mother's death in 1842, she took over the direction of the Mendelssohn family home in Berlin, in which role she organized local concerts and occasionally appeared as a pianist. Fanny remained very close to her brother, and her death in 1847 greatly contributed to Felix's own demise six months later.

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LEIF ARUHN-SOL�N The Swedish tenor Leif Aruhn-Sol�n studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at Oberlin College, USA. At home in both opera and oratorio, Leif has appeared throughout the world. His high tenor voice and his ease for coloratura has made him particularly appreciated in the baroque repertory and in the operas of Mozart and Rossini. Leif has appeared in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" both at the Geneva Opera and at Chicago Opera Theater, in Mozart's "Zaide" at the Wuppertal Opera in Germany, in Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" at Festival d'Art Lyrique in France, in Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten" at the G�teborg Opera in Sweden, in Rameau's "Hippolyte et Aricie" at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and in a staged version of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" at New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, to mention a few. On the concert stage he has toured with the French baroque orchestra Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie and he has sung the large oratorios by Bach and Handel with such prestigious orchestras as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Capriccio Basel, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble. Leif is also passionate about art songs, Scandinavian as well as German, French and English. In 1997 he won the International Lieder Competition in Gorizia, Italy. VIKTOR �SLUND Viktor �slund studied piano, violin, composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with professors such as Greta Erikson, Jorma Panula and Jin Wang. He also studied with Geoffrey Parsons in London and Pierre Sancan in Nice. After his studies, Viktor �slund worked for five years as a coach at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. On CD he has recorded songs by Nordic composers and by Richard Strauss. In 2000 he received his diploma in conducting and was appointed 1. Kapellmeister at the Norrlandsoperan. Viktor �slund has ever since conducted concerts, operas and operettas in Europe and Asia. He conducted and co-produced the first performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in Central-Asia. In the fall of 2004 he made his Berlin debut at the Komische Oper.

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