Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann, Michael Volle, Sophie Karthäuser & Members of RIAS Kammerchor
Biography Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann, Michael Volle, Sophie Karthäuser & Members of RIAS Kammerchor
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Founded in Berlin in 1982 and recognized today as one of the world's leading chamber orchestras, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, or Akamus, enjoys an unprecedented history of success. The ensemble, which performs regularly in Europe's leading musical centers, has toured Asia, North America, and South America. In 2011 Akamus will be playing concerts and operas in nine European countries, as well as make its third tour to the United States and its debut in China.
Ever since the reopening of the Berlin Konzerthaus in 1984, the ensemble has enjoyed its own concert series in Germany’s capital, and since 1994 has been a regular guest at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden and at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. Each year Akamus gives circa 100 concerts, ranging from small chamber works to large-scale symphonic pieces, and performs under the artistic leadership of its concertmasters Midori Seiler, Stephan Mai, Bernhard Forck, and Georg Kallweit.
Numerous guest conductors and soloists have worked with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin as well. For over 25 years the partnership with the Belgian countertenor and conductor René Jacobs has produced many celebrated opera and oratorio productions. Most recent of these is the release of the recording of Mozart’s opera Magic Flute, which the BBC has hailed as “spine tingling”: “Jacobs is all about excitement and making the most of orchestral detail: the breakneck overture only manages to stay on the rails thanks to stunning playing from the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.”
The ensemble has also worked with the conductors Marcus Creed, Daniel Reuss, Peter Dijkstra, and Hans-Christoph Rademann, who currently leads the RIAS Kammerchor, as well as with Cecilia Bartoli, Andreas Scholl, Sandrine Piau and Bejun Mehta. Moreover, Akamus has extended its artistic boundaries to work together with the modern dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests for innovative productions of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Medea (music: Pascal Dusapin). And, with its visually dramatic performance of 4 Elements - 4 Seasons, a “staged concert,” Akamus has demonstrated yet again its international reputation for being a creative and innovative ensemble.
The international success of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is highlighted by well over a million recordings sold to the public. Recording exclusively for harmonia mundi France since 1994, the ensemble’s CDs have earned many international prizes, including the Grammy Award, the Diapason d'Or, the Cannes Classical Award, the Gramophone Award and the Edison Award. For its DVD production of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas with Sasha Waltz & Guests, Akamus received the German Record Critics’ Award in 2009. For its recording of Telemann's Brockespassion, the ensemble was awarded the MIDEM Classical Award 2010 and the Choc de l’Année. In February 2011 the recording of Mozarts Magic Flute was honoured with the German Record Critics' Award.
Raphael Alpermann
is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Berlin "Hanns Eisler". His studies were followed by training and master classes at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. During this time he also had lessons with Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman.
He is a member of the Berliner Barocksolisten and has worked together the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin since its foundation in 1982, where he has performed both as a soloist and member for numerous concerts and recordings. In 1995 he made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado with a concert of Bach and since then has regularly appeared as a guest with the orchestra. He has also worked together with numerous well-known conductors, including as Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and has participated in concerts and recordings with Thomas Quasthoff, and Cecilia Bartoli. Concert tours have taken Raphael Alpermann to music festivals around the world and to many of the most important concert halls on all five continents, including Carnegie Hall, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the City Opera in Tokyo, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and London’s Wigmore Hall. He has participated in over 100 recordings, of which many have received awards.
As a conductor, Raphael Alpermann debuted in 2011 with a production of Monteverdi's opera Poppea. Since then he has conducted several major oratorios, including most recently a performance of the Bach Christus-Oratorium at the 2013 Bach Festival in Leipzig.
Raphael Alpermann teaches at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, giving courses in both harpsichord and chamber music. He has also active in the promotion of young talented musicians, serving as the artistic director of the ensemble Concerto+14 and of the "Bachs Erben" youth baroque orchestra, which he founded in 2005 together with the Kloster Michaelstein foundation. For his work he has received several awards, including most recently the Mozart Prize of the Mozart Society in Saxony.
