Zurich Chamber Trio Bruno Meier, Flute Nicolas Corti, Viola Han Jonkers, Guitar

The three musicians have been playing regularly together since 1990. In 2001 their CD „ Serenades from the Biedermeier“ with Trios by Antonio Diabelli and Joseph Kreutzer was released at the Label Pan-Classics (Pan-Classics 510 126) and has received praise from the critics. You can hear audio files on www.nicolascorti.ch. In the meantime the ensemble has commissioned several compositions. Among them is a new piece, « the Mzanzi-Cycle » by the South African composer Paul Hanmer

Critics : -The ensemble of Meier, Corti, and Jonkers is sharp and their renditions are spirited and endearing... – American Record Guide –11/02 -Joseph Kreutzer’s trio was elegant and stylish, and beautifully played. The composer gave most of the melodic lines to the viola and flute, with the guitar providing harmony and tonal contrast. The combination worked very well, with the guitar sounding at times rather like a harpsichord. Most enjoyable.

Heinrich Neumann (1792-1861), provided a two-movement Serenade for viola and guitar. This, too, was very easy on the ear, with an admirable understanding between the two players and some virtuoso playing by the violist, Nicolas Corti, who produced a lovely rich tone throughout the evening.

This was followed by another, very different, Serenade, this one for flute and guitar, written in 1935 by the Swiss composer Willy Burkhard (1900-1950). The music opened with a rather Latin, South American flavour but soon moved into a modern idiom with many dissonances. The composer has deftly contrasted the two instruments, the flute playing far-ranging melodic phrases over a kind of arpeggio accompaniment from the guitar.

25.August 2009 Durban, Michael Green

Contact: Han Jonkers – Birsigstrasse 12 - 4054 Basel – Switzerland - Tel. & Fax: (int.) 41 61 332 16 15 – E-Mail: jonkers@bluewin.ch - Homepage : www.hanjonkers.com

Bruno Meier (Flute) was born in Switzerland and studied the flute with André Jaunet in Zurich, Marcel Moyse at Brattleboro (USA) and Peter-Lukas Graf at the Academy of Music in Basel, where he was a awarded a concert diploma with distinction. He went on to work as a teacher and as principal flautist with a number of well-known chamber orchestras. His concert tours have taken him to Switzerland, Germany, England, the Czech Republic, Russia (1982 and 1990) Southafrica (2009) and Belarus (1996/7, 1999 , 2001 and 2003 ), where he has held masterclasses at the Minsk Academy of Music. In the wake of numerous gramophone and radio recordings he has worked increasingly in the studio. In addition to his wide-ranging work as a practising musician, he has also been increasingly active in recent years as a musicologist, researching hitherto unknown works for the flute that he has then gone on to record. This aspect of his work has resulted in world-première recordings of flute concertos by Josef Mysliveček, Johann Baptist Vanhal, Franz Krommer, Antonio Rosetti, Joseph Reicha, Friedrich Witt, Peter von Winter , Franz Anton Hoffmeister and Franz Lachner. Together with the Stamitz Quartet, he has recorded the nine flute quintets of Mozart's contemporary Franz Krommer. His subsequent work with the Stamitz Quartet and the Prague Chamber Orchestra has been acclaimed all over the world. But Meier's wide-ranging repertory includes not only music by forgotten composers from the 18th and early 19th centuries and mainstream works for the flute, it also embraces little-known pieces from the Baroque to the present day. Bruno Meier plays a 14-carat gold flute by Verne Q. Powell. www.brunomeier.com Nicolas Corti (Viola) studied viola with his father Ottavio Corti at the Zurich Conservatory. 1980 he did his teaching, orchestral and solo diplomas. He then went to New York for intensive studies with Emanuel Vardi (the former soloviolist under Arthuro Toscannini with the famous NBC orchestra) for one year. Since 1976 he has worked freelance in the Zurich Tonhalle and Opera Orchestras. He was also 15 years member of the well known Collegium Musicum Zürich under Paul Sacher until this orchestra ended in 1992. He gives solo performances and also plays in various chamber music formations (as the Pianova Quartet, the Trio Musaïque (with flute,viola & harpe), the Zurich Chambertrio (with Flute,Viola & Gitare) and duo with See Siang Wong at the piano. In 1982, Corti was co-founder of the Amati Quartet that has become internationally known, thanks to its many concert appearances in most famous concerthouses in the world and recordings with several compactdisc prices in Europe. With the Amati Quartet Corti had numerous concerts with great musicians as: Krystian Zimerman, Bruno Canino, Karl Engel, Rudolf Buchbinder, David Geringas, Antonio Meneses, Anner Bjilsma, Steven Isserlis, Eduard Brunner, Paul Meyer, Karl Leister, Bruno Giuranna, Gérard Caussé, James Galway, Jaques Zoon and others.

The Amati Quartet finished playing 2009. About 30 compact disques show the very high quality of this ensemble. In 2008 he joined the Jury of the international Tromp Stringquartet Competition in Eindhoven (Netherlands). Since 1996, Corti teaches viola and chamber music at the Zurich University of Arts www.zhdk.ch , 2005 he became Violasoloist in the Winterthur Orchestra, the Musikkollegium Winterthur (www.musikkollegium.ch/orchester). More details you can see on: www.nicolascorti.ch The Dutch guitarist Han Jonkers studied guitar with Hans-Lutz Niessen at the Maastricht College of Music. After earning a music education degree and a soloist's diploma, a scholarship made it possible for him to study for several years with Oscar Ghiglia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, where he was awarded the "Diploma di Merito." Further studies followed at the Basel Academy of Music with Konrad Ragossnig and Oscar Ghiglia, where he also graduated with a soloist's diploma. Han Jonkers was prize-winner at several international competitions, 1983 in Viña del Mar, Chile, and in 1985 at the Competition "Maria Canals" in Barcelona, Spain. Since 1981 resident in Switzerland, he performs as a soloist and in chamber music formations on all continents. A number of composers have written works for guitar at his behest. His activities include the founding of guitar festivals and courses as well as the authoring of musicological contributions for specialist journals. Han Jonkers gives workshops at colleges of music at home and abroad, and summer courses under the auspices of the Arosa (Switzerland) Music Festival. Within the framework of the Swiss canton of Aargau's partnership with Byelorussia, he plays concerts there regularly and gives master classes at the Minsk College of Music. In March 2007, Han Jonkers went on his first New Zealand Tour with solo recitals and workshops at the Waikato University in Hamilton. In August 2009 Han Jonkers was, together with the Zurich Chamber Trio on his third extensive tour through South Africa and Namibia. Han Jonkers lives in Basel, and holds a teaching position for classical guitar at the University Of Applied Sciences Of North West Switzerland. Musikverlag Nepomuk, Aarau, publishes a series of music for guitar, of which he is the general editor. His CDs have been issued on CADENZA RECORDS, BAYER-RECORDS and PAN CLASSICS, and have received worldwide praise from the critics. His last CD “Minsk Music” was awarded in March 2006 as CD of the month by the Hessische Rundfunk. Since 2003, Han Jonkers is president of the Swiss section of the EGTA - European Guitar Teachers Association. Since 2009, Han Jonkers is Head of the Festival Boswil Guitar.