Roman Patkoló
Roman Patkoló is a Slovak double bassist born in 1982 in Žilina. He started playing the double bass at the age of 13, and a year later he entered the music academy in his hometown. In the same year, he won prestigious competitions, and at the age of seventeen, he became a scholarship holder of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
In 2001, as a soloist, he won the European Prize for Culture in Berlin, and at the age of 24 he became a professor at the Academy in Munich. In 2018, he was recognized as instrumentalist of the year by the most prestigious German award for classical music, Opus Klassik.
He played in some of the world’s most famous halls, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Smetana Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Barbican Center, and he also collaborated with top world symphony orchestras such as the German Symphony Orchestra from Berlin, Camerata from Moscow, SWR Symphony Orchestra from Stuttgart, Virtuosi di Kuhmo, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra from Washington.
He regularly performs with the top German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter as a duo, and it was on her initiative that several contemporary composers wrote duets for violin and double bass. In 2018, he recorded Hommage a Penderecki with her and other soloists for Deutsche Grammophon.
Since February 2005, Roman Patkoló has been the leader of the double bass section at the Opera House in Zurich. He taught at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts and at the Music Academy in Basel and regularly holds master classes around the world.
Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová
Young Slovak guitarist Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová studied at the State Conservatory in Bratislava. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in interpretation and pedagogy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, she studied with the exceptional guitarist and pedagogue Alvaro Pierri at the Université du Québec à Montréal and at the Université Laval in Quebec City, where she obtained a master’s degree in interpretation (2001). In 2003, she completed her studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna as a postgraduate with the same teacher.
As an active participant in international master classes, she collaborated with artists such as Abel Carlevaro, Alvaro Pierri, Luisa Walker, Oscar Ghiglia, Pavel Steidl, John Duarte, Hubert Käppel, Costas Cotsiolis, Zoran Dukić, Aniello Desideri and Laura Young.
Miriam participated in several guitar competitions in Slovakia and abroad, where she won top prizes. Twice (1999 and 2000) she was awarded a scholarship as the best master class participant at the international music festival Joventuts Musicals de Torroella de Montgrí in Spain, which enabled her to give recitals in Spain and France.
She performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Bogotá Philharmonic, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the Thuringian Philharmonic, the Roman Symphony Orchestra, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Lodz, the Rzeszów Philharmonic, the Prague Virtuosos, the Chamber Orchestra Václav Talich, Orchestra Fondazione Arena di Verona, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, North Bohemian Philharmonic, Cappella Istropolitana, Slovak Sinfonietta, Symphony Orchestra of West Bohemia, Aeolus Quartet, Kallaci Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet, Stamic Quartet, Mucha Quartet and others.
Miriam has performed in famous concert halls such as the Prague Rudolfinum, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Seoul Arts Center, the León de Greiff Auditorium in Bogotá, the House of Music in Quito, the Las Condes Theater in Santiago de Chile, the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome, the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and others. Apart from Slovakia, she performed almost all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. She held workshops and master classes in Pretoria, Lima, Moscow, Hersbruck, Bratislava, Košice and Modra.
Miriam performed under the direction of several well-known conductors such as Howard Griffiths (UK), Carmen Moral (Peru/USA), Leos Svarovsky (Czech Republic), Vag Papian (Israel), Paweł Przytocki (PL), Charles Olivieri-Munroe (Canada), Nanse Gum (South Korea), Theodore Kuchar (USA), Jan Talich (Czech Republic).
As a chamber music performer, she regularly collaborates with great Slovak, Czech and Hungarian artists (such as violinists Dalibor Karvay and Sándor Jávorkai, double bass player Roman Patkol, cellist Petr Nouzovský, horn player Radek Baborák and soloists of the Slovak National Opera Eva Hornyákova and Pavel Remenár).
She recorded for Slovak Radio, Praga Digitals label (France), ArcoDiva (Czech Republic) and Pavlík Records (Slovakia). In 2005, she won the Bratislava Chamber Guitar International Music Festival, of which she is the artistic director. In 2015, she founded the International Guitar Competition, of which she is also the artistic director. In 2018, she founded the Music Youth Academy in Visegrad (for guitar, violin, cello and flute).
For several years she was engaged at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Now he teaches at the Conservatory in Bratislava and the Academy of Arts in Banska Bistrica. Miriam plays the guitar of famous builders Gernot Wagner, Petr Matoušek and Hans van den Berg.