CONCERT - Escher, Bach, Gödel: Perspectives and (im)possibilities

Bios

The Salzburg-born violinist David Frühwirth studied at the Mozarteum with Prof. Paul Roczek, with Ruggiero Ricci, Prof. Zackar Bron in Lübeck and Pinchas Zukerman in New York. He has worked with chamber music teachers such as Walter Levin, Isidore Cohen and Jaime Laredo. A multiple prizewinner at national and international competitions, he has performed at Musikverein Wien, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall N.Y., Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg, Herkulessaal Munich and Mariinsky Concert Hall. Since 2006, he is Primarius of the “Klenze” String Quartet. In 2021, David Frühwirth was appointed Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. He also received the Millennium Award in London for Lecture Recitals at the Menuhin School and at Oxford University. David Frühwirth plays a violin by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume and is the exclusive partner of Thomastik-Infeld Strings Vienna.

Lithuanian violinist Ieva Hieta began her musical career at the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art School under Prof. Ingrida Armonaitė and completed her Master’s degree at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in 2009. She continued her studies with Prof. Boris Garlitsky at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater and the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. While still a student, she was engaged by Gidon Kremer as a member of the Kremerata Baltica ensemble. Ieva Hieta has won many national and international competitions, including first prize at the 2011 Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg. As a soloist, she has performed with the Kremerata Baltica, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. She has been a member of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn since 2014 and a member of the Yaron Quartet since 2018.

Holger H. Hoos has been intrigued by connections between music, mathematics and visual art from an early age. He holds an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in Artificial Intelligence at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), as well as a part-time professorship in machine learning at Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands. He studied bassoon with Benedikt Manemann, Michael Held and Heiko Dechert, before deciding to pursue an academic career in computer science, where part of his work has been on topics in computer music. From his early teens, he regularly played the bassoon in orchestral settings and chamber ensembles; since 2019, he studies and plays the heckelphone. His public appearances as a heckelphonist include performances of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony at the Tonhalle Zurich in 2022 and the world premiere of Graham Waterhouse's “Perplexities after Escher" as part of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2024, where his recently published book "The Heckelphone: A Window into the History of Music" was also unveiled. Together with Graham Waterhouse, he recently played the US première of “Perplexities after Escher” in a gala concert at the International Double Reed Society’s 2025 Annual Conference in Indianapolis.

Mattia Riva began his musical studies at the age of 10 under the guidance of Amerigo Bernardi at the Istituto superiore di studi musicali “Achille Peri” in Reggio Emilia, where he graduated in 2018. He played with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and with the European Union Youth Orchestra. His post-graduate studies included courses with Alberto Bocini at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. In 2019, he moved to Munich, where he obtained a Master's degree in 2021 from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München in the class of Philipp Stubenrauch. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in August 2022, he was appointed principal bass with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn. He has also been guest principal bass with the Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Orchestra Leonore, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Sinfonieorchester Basel.

The Taiwanese violist Chialong Tsai has been deputy principal violist with the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. He also teaches at the University of Augsburg. He received his musical training as a scholarship holder at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle. He continued his studies in Germany at the music academies in Lübeck, Cologne, and Hamburg. Here he completed his violin and viola studies with Prof. Zakhar Bron and Prof. Winfried Rüssmann (violin) and with Paul Pesthy (viola). Chialong Tsai has since established himself as a versatile musician and regularly performs at various renowned opera houses and symphony orchestras. His engagements include performances with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Mainz Philharmonic Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Ulm Theater and Magdeburg Philharmonic.

Graham Waterhouse, composer and cellist, was born in London and received his musical education at Highgate School, Cambridge University and at the Conservatories of Essen and Cologne. Among his compositions are four string quartets, a string sextet, music for solo instruments (including the Highland bag-pipe and Heckelphone) as well as three cantatas, song cycles and chamber concertos for cello and for piano. He has performed his own Cello Concerto op. 27 in Switzerland and Germany as well as in London, Cambridge, Mexico-City and Nizhnij-Novgorod (Russia). He has received commissions from Kaske Stiftung, the Park Lane Group London, Munich Biennale and the International Double Reed Society. He is “Composer in Residence“ at the National Chamber Music Course in Oxfordshire as well as at courses and seminars in Germany and France. His works have appeared on CD with the English Chamber Orchestra, and more recently with the Munich Piano Quartet in a highly acclaimed recording of chamber music for piano and strings. In 2018, he was awarded a PhD in composition from Birmingham City University. In Summer 2023, he won the Durtal Festival Composition Prize in France. Since 2021, his works have been published by Schott Music, Mainz. As composer and cellist, he experiences how composing and performing music enrich each other.

As General Manager of Escher in The Palace, Marcel Westerdiep leads a small but passionate team at one of the most imaginative museums in the Netherlands. From its home in The Hague’s former royal winter palace of Queen Mother Emma, the museum welcomes more than 150,000 visitors each year to experience the mind-bending art of M.C. Escher. With 15 years at the museum and a background in cultural entrepreneurship, operational leadership and creative programming, he focuses on blending content, design, and innovation to create meaningful experiences. Inviting audiences of all ages, cultures, and abilities to connect with Escher’s work.