“A phenomenal musicality, no less artistic sensitivity and intellectual aristocracy awaken in this man dedicated to music a power of expression that one would like to call anti-virtuosity, because it has surpassed perfectly mastered virtuosity and elevated it to the core of higher values.” (Literatūra ir menas, Edmundas Gedgaudas) “In fact, it feels like his playing makes the world stand still for a moment.” (Hessische Allgemeine) “Anyone who plays a CD by this musician in the car is tempted to take a detour.” (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung) Johannes Hustedt studied music education and flute in Bremen with Renate Ruge-von Rohden and in Karlsruhe with Renate Greiss-Armin, where he , as awardee of the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation Bayreuth, graduated with honours in 1990. Masterclasses with Aurèle Nicolet, Alain Marion, Paul Meisen and András Adorján complemented his studies. With the aim of musical-cultural exchange, he performs worldwide as a crossover artist between interpretation and improvisation. World premieres and concerts at prestigious festivals such as Ludwigsburg, Hohenlohe, Madrid, Warsaw, Kiev, Lviv, Vilnius, Nida / Lithuania, Bergen / Norway, Toronto, Los Angeles and New York City bear witness to this, as do his internationally acclaimed CD releases as a soloist and chamber music partner, as well as worldwide radio and television productions. His playing is inspired by the exploration of music from all cultures, especially Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, as well as historical performance practice. Johannes Hustedt teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and is an internationally sought-after guest lecturer and juror. Since 2023, Hustedt has been responsible for the artistic direction of the largest classical open-air concert in Baden-Württemberg: Mount Klassik as part of DAS FEST Karlsruhe with up to 20,000 listeners. He is dedicatee of numerous works by contemporary composers. As part of the Reger Year 2016, the Max-Reger-Institute Karlsruhe entrusted Hustedt with the posthumous premiere of Reger's Scherzo in G minor for Flute and String Quintet. He was also commissioned by the Archiv Frau und Musik in Frankfurt to give the posthumous world premiere of Felicitas Kukuck's third flute sonata as well as the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s authorized new trio version of "Über die Linie VI" in 2025. Hustedt's first recording of all of Georg Metzger's flute concertos with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra and Sebastian Tewinkel was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award in 2022. The duo querhorn with his wife Chai Min Werner has received the award Green Event BW from the state of Baden-Württemberg several times for its sustainable concert formats and was selected by an expert jury for the 2022/23 ensemble funding programme of the German Music Council and Neustart Kultur. Together with her, he founded the Kunsthaus-Durlach in 2006 with the aim of bringing music, visual art and spirituality to life.

Sontraud Speidel joined the class of exiled Russian Irene Slavin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe at the age of eleven. After graduating from high school, she studied with Irene Slavin and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen in Karlsruhe, Branka Musulin in Frankfurt, Stefan Askenase in Brussels and Géza Anda in Lucerne. She has won prizes at national and international competitions (1st Prize at the Schools of the Federal Republic of Germany at the age of 16, 1st Prize at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Washington D.C. / USA, Jackson Prize of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for New Music, etc.). Concerts, radio and CD recordings, television appearances and masterclasses have taken her to Europe, the USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Brazil and Morocco. Speidel is a professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She has been a guest professor at universities and conservatoires in Europe, the USA, Canada, Israel and Asia and is a regular judge at national and international competitions. Several contemporary composers have dedicated works to her and entrusted her with premieres. She was the soloist at the world premiere of David Winkler’s "Concerto for Piano and 13 Instruments" in Tanglewood / USA and in 1979, at the invitation of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, she gave a piano recital at the Palais Schaumburg Bonn. In Thessaloniki she played the Greek premiere of Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto and in Karlsruhe the world premiere of Robert Schumann’s "Variations on a Nocturne by Chopin", newly discovered by Dr Joachim Draheim. In Solingen, she was the soloist at the world premiere of the piano concerto "Kristallspiele", dedicated to her by Violeta Dinescu. Speidel heads the Piano Podium Karlsruhe for the promotion of young musical talent and is co-founder and artistic director of the Musikforum Hohenwettersbach concert series. The Elisabeth Speidel Fund, which she initiated, supports talented musicians. She has been awarded the Silver Medal of Honour for Services to the State of Vienna, the Golden Josef Dichler Medal and the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2011, the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe awarded her the first-ever Eugen Werner Velte Prize. The Echo Klassik prize winner was honoured with the City of Karlsruhe’s Medal of Honour in 2024 and with the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg in 2025. She is a Steinway Artist, an honorary member of the Werner Trenkner Society Solingen, the Baden-Württemberg Tonkünstlerverband and Inner Wheel Nordschwarzwald.

Annika Schlicht was born in Stuttgart and studied voice at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. During her studies she joined the International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and subsequently became a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she remained for ten years. Guest engagements have taken the mezzo-soprano to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Opéra Bastille in Paris, San Francisco Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Stuttgart State Opera, and the Bregenz Festival. Her wide-ranging operatic repertoire includes roles such as Brangäne ("Tristan and Iseult"), Fricka and Waltraute ("The Ring of the Nibelung"), the Composer ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Pauline ("The Queen of Spades"), Dorabella ("Così fan tutte"), Hänsel ("Hansel and Gretel"), and Mrs Quickly ("Falstaff"). In the 2024/25 season she made her United States debut with Mahler’s "Das Lied von der Erde" at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and appeared as Brangäne and as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at San Francisco Opera. Equally in demand on the concert stage, Annika Schlicht has appeared with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the UNESCO World Orchestra for Peace. Since the 2025/26 season, Annika Schlicht has been a member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera, where she opens the season as the alto soloist in Schumann’s "Paradise and the Peri", and will also be heard as the Composer ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Pauline ("The Queen of Spades"), Brangäne ("Tristan and Iseult"), and Judith ("Bluebeard’s Castle").

The Croatian conductor Ivan Repušić is General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera as well as Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Munich Radio Orchestra. He previously served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he led well over 100 performances. His international engagements have taken him to major houses such as the New National Theatre Tokyo, Zurich Opera House, Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, and he regularly appears at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As a concert conductor, Ivan Repušić has worked with orchestras including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic, Orchestre Régional de Cannes, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Orchestra Verdi di Milano, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Bremer Philharmoniker, Hanover State Symphony Orchestra, and the Staatskapelle Weimar. In Croatia, he has conducted all the country’s major orchestras and opera ensembles. From 2004 to 2016, he taught at the Academy of Arts of the University of Split, where he was appointed Associate Professor. For his artistic achievements he has received numerous honours, including the Vladimir Nazor Prize, the Vatroslav Lisinski Prize, the Milka Trnina Prize, the Orlando Prize, and the Prize of the City of Zadar. In 2021, the University of Zadar awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cultural and artistic life. Born in Croatia in 1978, Ivan Repušić studied conducting at the Zagreb Academy of Music with Igor Gjadrov and Vjekoslav Šutej.

Croatian pianist Martina Filjak has enjoyed an international career since winning first prize and the Beethoven Prize at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition. She has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Musikverein Vienna, the Teatro Colón, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the BOZAR in Brussels, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Casa da Música in Porto, and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. She has also performed at festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, MITO SettembreMusica, the Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, and the Dubrovnik Festival, of which she has been Artistic Director since 2023. Martina Filjak has performed as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, the Zagreb Soloists, the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the Orquesta de Valencia, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Dortmunder Philharmonic and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. Her extensive solo repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio and includes more than 30 piano concertos. She has released several critically acclaimed albums of solo works and chamber music. A new album featuring works by Boris Papandopulo is scheduled for release on the CPO label in spring 2026.