Ziyang Zhao
Ziyang Zhao was born in December 2008 into a musical family in Wuhan, China. She is currently studying at the Berlin University of the Arts with Professor Danjulo Ishizaka. In 2017, she started her first cello lesson with Professor Long Man of Wuhan Conservatory of Music. In 2021, she was admitted to Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and then entered the “Wang Jian & Li Jiwu Cello Studio” to study with the two professors. In 2024, she went to Germany to study for a bachelor’s degree at the Berlin University of the Arts.
As the youngest first prize winner at the 8th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in 2024, Ziyang also won the first prize at the ArsClassica International Junior Competition in the same year. She was awarded the Max-Reger-Preis at the 58th International instrumental Markneukirchen Cello Competition in 2023. other achievements were receiving the First Price at the Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition in 2023 and First Prize at 2nd Swiss International Music Competition, S2 Strings in 2022.
Ziyang had been mentored by many renowned musicians and professors, including Lynn Harrell, Martti Rousi, Claudio Bohórquez, Richard Aaron, Jens Peter Maintz, Natalie Clein, Qin Liwei, Marcin Zdunik, Sergi Boadella, and Toke Moldrup. In September 2023, the premiere of “Capriccio on a Theme of Wild Goose” was held at Shenyang Shengjing Grand Theater (world premiere of cello and Chinese folk orchestra version); In 2023 and 2024, she was admitted to the Rutesheim International Cello Academy in Germany for two consecutive years, studying in the classes of Professor Danjulo Ishzaka and Claudio Bohórquez respectively. She was selected for the closing concert twice, collaborating as a soloist with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra of South Germany and the Reutlingen Philharmonic Orchestra of Württemberg conducted by Alexander Mayer; in 2024, she performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dawid Runtz at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Croatia. In 2025, She played Boccherini B-flat Major Concerto with Zagreb Soloists Orchestra in Montagano Italy and Bach BWV 1012 Cello Suite No.6 D major in Helsinki Finland. In 2026, she attended the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ziyang Zhao performs on a cello by Niccolò Bianchi, Genua 1871, generously loaned by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Sreten Krstić
He was born in 1953 in Belgrade. He started playing the violin at the age of seven. Since 1980, he has been the concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic, a position he has held since the time of the legendary chief conductor Sergiu Celibidache.
He was also the concertmaster of the World Youth Orchestra and performed with soloists such as Henryk Schering and Pierre Fournier and under the direction of conductors such as Jean Martinon and Bernard Klee. As a soloist, he also collaborated with famous conductors, including Sergiu Celibidache, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Hiroshi Wakasugi, Horst Stein, Václav Neumann or Dmitrij Kitajenko, and his career has taken him to almost all European countries, Japan, the USA and Russia.
He recorded for all radio and television stations of the former Yugoslavia, Bavarian Radio, West German Radio, BBC (Manchester), Greek Radio (Thessaloniki) and for the record companies PGP, Thorofon, Arte Nova Classics and others. He made several CDs for them, both solo and chamber music.
In 1985 he founded the Gasteig-Trio Munich, in 1996 the Philharmonic String Sextet, and in 1999 the Chamber Orchestra Philharmonic Soloists, of which he is the artistic director. In the same year, he became a member of the Glasovir Trio Gelius. He plays a violin built in 1760 by Nicola Gagliano.