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13th Festival of International Laureates,
which takes place in Los Angeles in July.

Deniz Toygur was born in Ankara in 1988. She started her musical life with Feruza Abdullaeva in the Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts in 1999, and throughout the years has performed numerous recitals as well as solo performances with a number of orchestras in Turkey. During her education, she has participated in master classes of Vanya Milanova, Mintcho Mintchev, Vesselin Paraschkevov, and Alexander Markov. Deniz graduated from Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts in 2008 with highest honors. In Turkey she was a first violinist of the Bilkent Youth Quartet and a concertmaster of the Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra. She joined World Youth Symphony Orchestra in the summer 2007 as one of the concertmasters, and in the winter was invited to the World Youth Chamber Orchestra.

First Prize winner in the “Pancho Vladigerov 6th International Competition of German and Austrian Music” in Bulgaria, Deniz also received a special award for her performance of German composer Jeannot Heinen’s “Concert Partita.” In October 2006, in the “2nd National Gulden Turali Violin Competition,” Mersin, she received second place in adult category.

Deniz and her partner, pianist Cihan Yucel, participated in the “Violin & Piano Masterclass” of Pierre Amoyal and Bruno Canino in Academie de Musique de Lausanne, Switzerland, and she was invited to continue her studies there. In 2008 Deniz was selected to take part in the iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates in Los Angeles, and also performed with iPalpiti in Switzerland.

Deniz plays an Italian violin c. 1936, made by Emmanuel Egildo. The violin was given to her as a present by an impressed patron from Switzerland after her performance in the Academy of Lausanne.

Daniel Austrich, born in 1984 in St. Petersburg, Russia, commenced studies of the violin at the age of five. He entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory Academy in 1993, where he studied with Alla Aranovskaya, the leader of the acclaimed St.Petersburg String Quartet. Two years later, he was selected to perform with the St.Petersburg Camerata in the Grand Philharmonic Hall in St.Petersburg, under the conductor Peter Ash. He has performed Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” with the St.Petersburg State University Orchestra, and has performed in city’s most prestigious concert venues, including the Hermitage Museum Theater and the Yusupov Palace. Daniel and his family moved to Hamburg, Germany in 1997. From 1999 until 2001, Daniel attended Hamburg’s Musikhochschule, where he studied with Albrecht Breuninger. After winning First Prize at the Hamburg Instrumental Contest in 1999, he was invited by the famous cellist David Geringas to perform in the Festival of Russian Music in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria. As the first prize winner at the German competition “Jugend musiziert” (2001), he was invited to record for the NDR (North German Radio) and Berlin’s “Deutschlandradio”.

In August of 2001 Daniel received a full scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he now studies with Ms. Aranovskaya. Recent and future engagements include solo performances in Europe with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in the Tonhalle Zurich , Jena Philharmonic under Mika Eichenholz, (which booked him for an additional performance in December under Fabrice Bollon), Hamburg’s Mozart Orchester under the baton of Robert Stehli in the Musikhalle Hamburg, and in the US with Charleston and Auburn Symphonies. Recitals in well-known music series include “St.Petersburg Dagen” in Holland (celebrating the 300th anniversary of Daniel’s native city), Arizona Friends of Chamber Music in Tucson (where he also taught his own Masterclass), “Piccolo Spoleto” in SC, South Shore Music in CT and Davos International Music Festival of Switzerland, where the “Neue Zurcher Zeitung” praised “his noble tone”.

Daniel is a recipient of special grants from the “Lyra” Foundation in Zurich, and “Die Zeit” foundation in Germany. He was invited to record for “Energia,” the new album of Jose Carreras, where he plays in a duet with a great tenor. As a prize-winner of the Deutsche Musikinstrumentenfonds contest in Hamburg, in 2002, Daniel Austrich was granted the use of a rare Andrea Guarneri violin form 1663.

Deniz Toygur was born in Ankara in 1988. She started her musical life with Feruza Abdullaeva in the Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts in 1999, and throughout the years has performed numerous recitals as well as solo performances with a number of orchestras in Turkey. During her education, she has participated in master classes of Vanya Milanova, Mintcho Mintchev, Vesselin Paraschkevov, and Alexander Markov. Deniz graduated from Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts in 2008 with highest honors. In Turkey she was a first violinist of the Bilkent Youth Quartet and a concertmaster of the Bilkent Youth Symphony Orchestra. She joined World Youth Symphony Orchestra in the summer 2007 as one of the concertmasters, and in the winter was invited to the World Youth Chamber Orchestra.

First Prize winner in the “Pancho Vladigerov 6th International Competition of German and Austrian Music” in Bulgaria, Deniz also received a special award for her performance of German composer Jeannot Heinen’s “Concert Partita.” In October 2006, in the “2nd National Gulden Turali Violin Competition,” Mersin, she received second place in adult category.

Deniz and her partner, pianist Cihan Yucel, participated in the “Violin & Piano Masterclass” of Pierre Amoyal and Bruno Canino in Academie de Musique de Lausanne, Switzerland, and she was invited to continue her studies there. In 2008 Deniz was selected to take part in the iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates in Los Angeles, and also performed with iPalpiti in Switzerland.

Deniz plays an Italian violin c. 1936, made by Emmanuel Egildo. The violin was given to her as a present by an impressed patron from Switzerland after her performance in the Academy of Lausanne.

A concertmaster and founder of the Kammerakademie Potsdam since 2000, Peter Rainer has developed an active career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher in his native Germany. He is the founder and leader of the popular Persius Ensemble, focusing mainly on a repertoire written for the classical nonet, and has released three CDs. The latest CD with nonets by Spohr, Clementi and Mozart was chosen by Berlin-Brandenburg Radio (RBB) as one of the best in 2007. With this group of mixed string and wind players he is touring throughout Europe. This year the Persius Ensemble is celebrating its 10th anniversary. He was also a concertmaster of the Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Kurpfalzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim and Ensemble Oriol Berlin and has appeared with these ensembles as a soloist. Peter Rainer is also playing on baroque violin, performing as a soloist at the Handel-Festival in Halle in June 2008.

Peter studied violin in the U.S. with Professor Eduard Schmieder at the Meadows School of the Arts, where he received his Artist Certificate in 1994 and his Master of Violin Performance degree in 1995. Upon his return to Germany, he was concertmaster of the Brandenburgische Philharmonie in Potsdam from 1996 to 2000. He has been a faculty member at the Universitat Potsdam since 1997 and has worked as the assistant to Professor Schmieder at the Holland Music Sessions and at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Peter has been a member and leader of iPalpiti since 1994. In 2005 he received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his leadership of iPalpiti and his contributions to culture. Since 2007 he has been on the faculty of the “Universitat der Kunste” in Berlin. Music-loving children know Peter Rainer through the many interactive concerts he developed for children in the past 10 years. This year’s new production for children is a mystery story about Vivaldi, commissioned by the “Musikfestspiele Potsdam.” During this season Peter led iPalpiti in a special concert at the Nestle Center in Vevey, Switzerland, and on its US East coast tour at the Kimmer Center and Carnegie Hall. A native of Santa Monica, Tim Fain studied in Los Angeles with Laura and Eduard Schmieder, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (with Victor Danchenko), and The Juilliard School, where he worked with Robert Mann. Tim’s debut with iPalpiti as a soloist was in Dallas at the Meadows Caruth Auditorium, and iPalpiti welcomes him again for the debut in his hometown of Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.