Elegy Trio

Global Genius Music Competition 2024 Spring Season - Grand Prix Winner

https://www.globalgeniusmusic.com/

Bernhard Lörcher was born in Freiburg in 1970 and as a young man already undertook tours throughout Europe with the regional and national youth orchestras. He won 1st prize with his cello trio at the national competition Jugend Musiziert. He studied in Karlsruhe by Prof. Martin Ostertag and received his chamber music education in Vienna with the Alban Berg Quartet and the Haydn-Trio Vienna. With several chamber music ensembles he was invited to perform at many music festivals and received invitations for concerts all over Europe. In 1994 he was a prize-winner at the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. Since 1999 he has been cellist with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, since 2001 as Principal Cellist. In 2006 he performed for the first time at the Santa Catarina Music Festival in Brazil, where he has since appeared several times as a guest lecturer and soloist. He also teaches regularly as a lecturer at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe.

Nargiza Alimova is one of the most sought-after solo and chamber music pianists in Germany. Originally from Tashkent (Uzbekistan), she has managed to establish an important name in the international music scene. She received a high quality and wide-ranging musical education first at the state music school called Uspensky for highly gifted children by Prof. A. Neuwirt, later at the state conservatory in Uzbekistan by Prof. E.Mirkasymova and I.Zheleznova. While studying for the soloist's exam studies, she also taught piano chamber a teaching position for piano chamber music. Already at a young age, she performed as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan. She won numerous prizes at several international solo and chamber music competitions: 2nd prize in Turkmenistan, Grand-Prix in Korea, prizes in Belarus, Spain and Germany. She also received an audience prize at the master class of Vitaliy and Yura Margulis. She is a regular guest at numerous international and renowned music festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Robert Schumann Festival in Zwickau, Weingarten Music Days. Several performances have been broadcast live on Deutschlandfunk and SWR2. Nargiza Alimova is a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe and also at the Summer Academy in Cervo and the Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University.

"...The name Farida should be marked.... she has a very, very big career ahead of her..." Badische Neueste Nachrichten. "...Her brilliant, virtuoso mastery always remained in the service of the musical work and never turned into a vain self promotion..." describes the Neue Westfälische her solo concert with orchestra in the Rudolf-Oetker Halle with the conductor S.Westphal. In her childhood, Farida was inscribed in the “Golden Book for Gifted Children and Youth of Azerbaijan”. As a graduate of the Concert Exam, she received the “Rising Stars!” award 2019 of the five music universities in Baden-Württemberg. As a winner of this program, she performed as a soloist, accompanied by the Rheinland-Pfalz Philharmonic Orchestra. This concert was broadcast live on SWR radio. At the award ceremony for the Schiller Prize in November 2022, she gave a performance for the Federal President, Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Farida is “Grand-Prix” winner of the international competitions: Grand Prize Virtuoso 2024 Amsterdam and Vienna, Global Genius Competition 2024 London, Music and Star Awards 2021 and Global Music Partnership 2019 (USA). She also received the Sound Spectrum Baden Württemberg Prize for her own composition. For these awards, she received invitations to be soloist at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Musikverein Gläserner Saal in Vienna in 2025. For her social and intercultural commitment and outstanding achievements, she has been awarded the DaaD Prize, the Cultural Prize of the Lippe State Association, and the Baden Cultural Fund Prize. Farida appeared as a soloist with various symphony and chamber orchestras. She has been invited as a guest for television shows and events, including the SWR New Pop Festival 2021, 2022 in Baden-Baden, the Ulrich Wickert Prize for Children's Rights 2020 and the Supertalent Show 2020. Her performances have also been broadcast on Deutschlandfunk, SWR2, HR and WDR. Farida teaches twice a year at the Cultural Academy of the University of Music Karlsruhe. The innovative project is supported by the Baden Württemberg Foundation. She accompanies future students through individual lessons, orchestral workshops, chamber music lessons and university guided tours. Her students achieve success and win international competitions. She is regularly invited by lecturers and professors to important concerts, award ceremonies and CD recordings. Farida was born into a family of musicians in 1993. Her father, a professor at the Musikhochschule and conductor of the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, and her grandfather, a famous composer, passed the musical talent on to her. She gave her first solo concert with an orchestra at the age of seven. She began her artistic career at M. Rostropovich's music school, which he founded and personally supervised. Later she studied in the classes of Prof. I. Aghayeva and Prof. Z. Guliyeva. She began her bachelor's degree at the age of 15. She graduated with distinction (1*) in her concert exam with Prof. N. Erlich, Prof. L. Breuninger and Prof. J. Rissin. Until 2019, she played a violin by Pietro Guarneri from 1745, which is owned by the state collection in Freiburg, with the kind support of the Renner family.