Instrumental Ensembles
Gitarrissima Quintet |
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“The five guitarists aroused the audience to rapturous applause with their virtuoso performances...The astonishingly perfect interplay of the ensemble turned the predominantly well-known works into a completely new listening experience.” (Ruhr-Nachrichten)
Gitarrissima Quintet has been enchanting a steadily growing international audience with their unusual programming, sensitive musical interplay and virtuoso performances. Thanks to their unusual line-up, the quintet consists of an octave guitar (Krisztina Dobó), three concert guitars (Judith Bernhart, Maria Benischek, Zusanna Jánosi) and acoustic bass guitar (Caroline Auer) - and with their original arrangements, the ensemble is breaking new ground in the genre of classical guitar music. “It does not get any better than this... The Schubert songs were brought to life by an exquisite sound concept, by rhythmic accentuation in counterpoint to tremolo lines, through well thought out arrangements of the dramatic climaxes and perfectly executed endings...” (Westdeutsche Zeitung)
Shortly after its inception in 2002, the classical guitar quintet Gitarrissima became finalists at Germany’s International Guitar Contest “Open Strings.” Since then, they have appeared to great success throughout Europe, including Germany, England, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Luxemburg, Croatia and Turkey, as well as in the Far East. In addition, they have been the featured artists in a series of programs on European TV and radio stations. Of special note is their appearance on the popular TV-show “Kein Schoener Land” at one of the major German TV stations.
In 2003, Gitarrissima released its first CD “Melange” by Acoustic Music including works of Bach/Busoni, Rossini, Franz Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Vittorio Monti and Astor Piazzolla. They produced a new recording in 2005 “Tales & Dances” on Acoustic Music with music ranging from Vivaldi, Schubert, Brahms, Tschaikovsky, de Falla to Lars Wueller.
During the 2007/2008 season, Gitarrissima performs in concerts throughout Europe, including Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and Spain. They are also scheduled for their third recording on the German label Acoustic Music Records. The quintet will tour the United States in 2008 and 2009.
All five members of the quintet reside in Vienna and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts where they each received their master of music and diploma degrees for classical guitar.
Krisztina Dobó
Born in 1977 in Budapest, Krisztina Dobó started guitar-lessons
at the age of eight. From 1990-95 she attended the Bartók Béla
Music-Gymnasium in Budapest and then from 1995-97, she studied
Classical Guitar Performance at the Vienna Conservatory of Music with Heinz
Wallisch. Since 1997, Ms. Dobó studied Music Pedagogy and Classical Guitar
with Prof. Melitta Heinzmann and Prof. Brigitte Zaczek at the University
of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. She received her Bachelor of
Arts with honors in Music Pedagogy in 2001 and a Master of Arts with honors
in Classical Guitar Performance in 2004. Ms. Dobó has won prizes
at the international competitions Szendrey-Karper László in
Esztergom, Hungary and Nikita Koshkin in Rust, Austria. She has also attended
master-classes with Thomas Müller Pering, Alvaro Pierri, Pavel Steidl
and Hopkinson Smith.
Krisztina plays an octave-guitar by Hartmut Hegewald (Germany).
Olga Dimitrova
Born 1980 in Bulgaria, Olga Dimitrova took her first guitar lessons
at the age of eight. From 1993-1998, she attended the music gymnasium in
Plovdiv, where she graduated with excellence. While there, she competed
in several international competitions in classical guitar in Plovdiv, and
was awarded 1st prize in 1994, 2nd in 1995 and 1st in 1996. Since 1999:
Ms. Dimitrova studied classical guitar at the University of Music and Performing
Arts Vienna with Prof. Konrad Ragossnig and Alexander Swete and attended
several master classes. In 2006, she earned her 1st Diploma with excellence
and joined Gitarrissima in June 2006.
Guitar: George Ziata (Australia)
Maria Benischek
Maria Benischek was born 1976 in Melk, Austria. She began her first
guitar lessons at the age of six in Ybbs. She successfully participated
numerous regional and federal contests, such as the "Jugend musiziert." When
she was eleven, Ms. Benischek started preparatory studies in the University
of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Prof. Konrad Ragossnig and his
assistant Eugenia Kanthou. In 1994, Ms. Benischek began studies in Music
Pedagogy and Classical Guitar Performance with Prof. Konrad Ragossnig. She
received her Teaching diploma with honors in 1999 and a Concert diploma
in 2001. She has also attended master-classes with Alexander Swete, Heinz
Wallisch, Walter Haberl and Richard Pilkington. Maria Benischek started
with Gitarrissima in October 2004.
Guitar: Alkis Efthimiadis (Greece)
Réka Mihalovics
Born 1981 in Budapest, Réka Mihalovics took her first guitar-lessons
at the age of nine. From 1996-2001, she attended the Bartók Béla
Music-Gymnasium in Budapest. While there, she attended several guitar festivals
and master classes and was awarded 3rd prize in the national competition
in 1994, 1st prize in the Hungarian national competition in 1996, and 2nd
prize in the conservatory competition in 2000, In 2001, Ms. Mihalovics began
studies in Classical Guitar at the Vienna University of Music and Performing
Arts with Prof. Walter Würdinger and Prof. Brigitte Zaczek. She received
her first diploma in 2005 and joined Gitarrissima in June 2006.
Guitar: Karl-Heinz Römich (Germany)
Caroline Auer
Caroline Auer was born in Steyr, Austria in 1978 and began her first guitar
lessons at the age of ten. From 1997-2001, she studied Classical Guitar
with Prof. Melitta Heinzmann at the University of Music and Performing Arts,
Vienna. In 2001 she received her Bachelor of Arts with honors in Music Pedagogy.and
subsequently undertook further studies in Classical Guitar Performance with
Prof. Walter Würdinger. Throughout her education, she has attended
several master classes and guitar festivals. In 2005: Ms. Auer earned her
Bachelor of Arts with honors in Classical Guitar Performance and a
Master of Arts with honors in Music Pedagogy. Since 2006, Ms. Auer
has begun PhD studies at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz,
where she is also a lecturer in “Mental Training.”
Caroline plays a “Carl Hellweg & Dieter Hopf” acoustic-bass guitar (Germany).