It is, of course, every musician’s dream to at some stage be able to play with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. At just 21 years of age, Sarah Christ had played in both these world famous orchestras. Born in 1980, Sarah began playing the harp at the age of 10. For a whole year she, who had been playing and continued to play both the violin and the piano, had to beg to be allowed to receive a harp and harp lessons. And thus the harp was introduced into this musical ensemble, the Christ family: The famous Martinu Oboe Concerto was written for and dedicated to Sarah’s grandfather, first oboist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sarah’s father had for 22 years been the leader of the violas in the Berlin Philharmonic. “In Kindergarten I had already begun to regularly attend the Berlin Philharmonic concerts and also other concerts my father played in. I can still remember the great aura surrounding Herbert von Karajan and when I shook his hand as a little girl in Salzburg in the ‘Festspielhaus’. I love playing together with my father and brother, which I have been able to do on multiple occasions in the Luzern Festival Orchestra with Claudio Abbado.” At the age of 13, Sarah Christ gave her debut as a soloist with the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonic hall. Since then, she has played as a soloist with the Jenaer Philharmonic orchestra, the Sinfonietta Cologne, the Kuerpfalzischen Kammerorchestra, the Prague Opera, the Dresden Kapellsolisten and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, just to name a few. Sarah regularly plays with brother and violinist Raphael Christ, and in 2006 together they were able to win first prize in the Kulturkreises des Bundes der Deutschen Industrie Competition. “The phase in my life that cemented my desire to become a musician was my involvement in the Mahler Youth Orchestra. I was 17 at the time, still at school, and playing with conductors like Claudio Abaddo, Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Moest left an incredible impression on me; it was definitely an honour. At that time I was also very involved in the piano and had even toyed with the idea of studying it. These trips with the youth orchestra, however, made it clear to me that I simply had to pursue the harp because as a pianist you don’t have nearly as many opportunities to play in an orchestra.” In 1999, Sarah embarked on her studies in Detmold with Catherine Michel, continued by studying in Lyon with Fabrice Pierre and later completed her studies with a Masterkalssendiplom Karmmermusik after having studied under Helga Storck in Munich. Her initial leap onto the highest rung of the musical ladder in 2002 came about through her engagement in the Vienna Opera Orchestra at the age of 21, making her one of the youngest members of the orchestra. "I have known Sarah Christ for several years and have watched her development with interest and joy. She is equally at home in the orchestra, as my concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic have proven, as well as in different kinds of chamber music ensembles, where her performance is always of the highest standard." Daniel Barenboim, 2003 Feeling as though she was still too young to settle into a permanent orchestral position, Sarah Christ left the Vienna Opera after two years in order to pursue the fields of Chamber music and solo performance. She also played in orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bayerischen Staatsoper, the Bayerischen Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and has, since 2004, been repeatedly invited by Claudio Abbado to take part in the Luzern Festival Orchestra. Sarah Christ has also received a scholarship from the Deutschen Musikrates and together with Sandra Schumacher (oboe) they formed the duet ‘Harbois’ and toured throughout Germany playing concerts. She has also played chamber music in festivals such as Tanglewood, Lockenhaus, the Edinburgh Festival, the Luzern Festival, the Moritzburg Festival, the Schwetzinger Musikfestspielen, as well as in the Carnegie Hall together with Emmanuel Pahud, Wolfgang Schulz, Jan Vogler, Albrecht Mayer, Renaud Capucon and Eckhardt Haupt. In 2013 Sarah Christ gave her debut in Wigmore Hall playing a Schubert Liederabend with baritone Matthias Goerne. Not exclusively involved in playing, Sarah Christ is also well acquainted with the art of teaching. She has taught in the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, in the Sommerakademie der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes in 2012, in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra academy and was invited as a guest professor to the Orchesterzentrum Dortmund. She lives with her husband, horn player in the Staatskapelle Dresden, and daughter in Dresden.

Julia Fritz is a prize winner of the 8th International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg (2015) and the International Competition for solo recorder in Feldkirch (2006). As a recorder and cornett player she performs in Europe, Taiwan, South Korea and in the USA. She has been invited to perform at festivals such as the Utrecht Early Music Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Arolser Barock-Festspiele and the Tage Alter Musik Regensburg. She plays with ensembles such as the Dresdner Kammerchor, Hamburger Ratsmusik and Musica Fiata. Julia Fritz has been performing with her recorder consort, the Boreas Quartett Bremen, for ten years. The ensemble has won numerous prizes (scholarship of the German Music Council and admission to the Federal Selection of Concerts of Young Artists, Early Music Prize of the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation). From 2020 to 2023, the Boreas Quartett will be supported by the Senator for Culture of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Since 2017, Julia Fritz has been teaching recorder, chamber music and didactics at the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium in Feldkirch/Austria. Previously, she taught at the Hochschule für Musik Trossingen. Julia Fritz’s own musical training encompassed pedagogical and artistic studies in recorder, cornett, organ and early music at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and the University of the Arts Bremen, where she graduated with a recorder concert exam in Han Tol’s class.

Sie möchten mehr über Magdalene Harer erfahren? Dann besuchen Sie ihre persönliche Homepage | www.magdalene-harer.de