Erika Geldsetzer

• Individual master classes for violin
• Audition training
• Opportunities to perform on stage as a soloist or in chamber groups
• Selected students will experience the Festival Orchestra

Born into a family of musicians, Erika was accepted at the music academy in Cologne as prestudent and went on to study in Karlsruhe with Prof. Ulf Hoelscher, in London at the Royal Academy of Music with Erich Gruenberg, at the same time in Cologne chambermusic with the Alban Berg quartet, and finally in Vienna with Prof. Gerhard Schulz.

As chamber music was always her passion, in 1995 she founded the Faure Quartett with pianist Dirk Mommertz,violist Sascha Frömbling and cellist Konstantin Heidrich. Since then, the quartet has enjoyed a busy and highly successful career, playing in major halls throughout the world. They are regular guests in London (Wigmore Hall), Berlin, Paris, New York, Buenos Aires, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and Osaka, as well as festivals such as Schleswig Holstein (Germany), Festival de Radio France Montpellier (France), Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern (Germany), Mänttä Music Festival (Finland),Martha Argerich Festival Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Enescu Festival Bucharest (Romania).

For the Deutsche Grammophon and Universal labels, as well as Sony and Berlin Classics the quartet recorded many major works of the piano quartet literature, such as quartets by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn, as well as quartets by Faure, Dvorak, Schumann, Mahler, Strauss, transcriptions of Mussorgski and Rachmanninov. Two of their discs received Germany’s most prestigious price for outstanding recordings, the “Echo”. Thelatest Cd was released in 2020 celebrating the Fauré Quartet’s 25^th anniversary with both piano quartets by Fauré as well as songs by Fauré specially transcribed for the quartet.

As a soloist, Erika played all the major concertos as well as lesser known concertos like Korngold or Elgar with orchestras like the South West radio orchestra Germany (SWR),the University Orchestra Heidelberg, the Capella Classica Betzdorf and the Philarmonia Romania.

In 2011 she formed a duo together with the well known english pianist and conductor Ian Fountain. They have been invited regularly to play recitals in major concert halls in Germany and abroad. Together with the world famous cellist David Geringas they often branch out into the world of piano trio.

Since April 2014 Erika Geldsetzer has a teaching position at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.