Chambermusic

Select one of the ensembles for more information.

• Ensemble Eddy Vanoosthuyse
• Trio Vanoosthuyse - Kugel - Samoshko
• Trio Vanoosthuyse - Tooten - De May

Ensemble Eddy Vanoosthuyse

Eddy Vanoosthuyse is a creative musician. Besides of his solo career, he has a special affection for the chamber music. This resulted in his own chamber ensemble. The group is build around the clarinet quintet (clarinet and string quartet), but it can be enlarged until a Chamberorchestra.

The basically formation is:

Eddy Vanoosthuyse, Lei Wang (concertmaster Brussels Philharmonic/Flemish Radio Orchestra and prof. violin at the ‘Hogeschool voor Wetenschappen en Kunst, department Lemmensinstituut in Leuven’ and Virginie Petit (2° violin), Grietje François (viola) and Jan Baerts (cello). All are members of the Brussels Philharmonic/Flemish Radio Orchestra.

The repertoire is big and goes from Mozart to Lindberg, until the combination with clarinet and Chamberorchestra (Mozart until the contemporary repertoire)

Trio Vanoosthuyse - Kugel - Samoshko

Michael Kugel was born in the USSR. He studied violin at the Beethoven School of Music and at the Music College in Kharkov, later he studied viola, composition and conducting at the Leningrad (St-Petersburg) Conservatory.
In 1975 he won First Prize ahhead of Yuuri Bashmet at the International Viola Competition in Budapest. In the USSR he was the soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Organisation Mosconcert, violinist of the Beethoven State Quartet and professor at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. From 1990 till 1996 Michael Kugel was a professor at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance.
In 1996 he settled in Belgium and now he is a professor at the Ghent Royal Conservatory (Belgium) and at the Maastricht Royal Conservatory (Holland). Michael Kugel appeared as a soloist with many major symphony orchestras in the world and also appeared as a conductor with many orchestras.
He has taken part in Festivals in Schlezwig-Holstein, Lockenhause, Lille, Rolandseck, Passau, Jerusalem, Rizor, Orebro, Krems, Divonn, Menton, Mürzzuschlag, Venezia, Festival van Vlaanderen, Dubrovnik, Cincinnati etc. and was a member of jury for International competitions in England, Austria, Israel, USA, Croatia, Belgium and CIS.
He has recorded about 20 discs and also made numerous records as a viola d'amore player as well.
Michael Kugel has enriched the viola repertoire with many transcriptions and with his own compositions : Sonata-Poem for viola solo, Concerto for viola and orchestra, Suite in memoriam Shostakovich for viola and piano, sonatas etc. His compositions also include a piano sonata, chamber symphony and chamber music among others.
Michael Kugel has given masterclasses in Germany, England, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Mexico, Israel, France, Belgium, Croatia, CIS, Holland, Canada etc. He is the author of two the two books : Viola sonata by Shostakovich and The viola Concerto by Bartók - The history of an era and the Masterpieces of the instrumental music.
Michael Kugel is the founder and the President of the Belgian Viola Society.
Michael Kugel has given masterclasses in Germany, England, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Mexico, Israel, Canada, France, CIS, Holland etc. He is the author of two the two books : Viola sonata by Shostakovich and The viola Concerto by Bartók - The history of an era and the Masterpieces of the instrumental music.

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1973, Vitaly Samoshko showed great musical promise at a very young age. At age five he was admitted to the Special Music School in Kharkiv. As of 1985 he studied with professor Leonid Margarius and later attended the Conservatory of Kharkiv from 1991 to 1996 also with Margarius as professor. Margarius and Samoshko continued their collaboration in Imola, Italy at the Accademia Pianistica "Incontri col Maestro".
Vitaly Samoshko has won major prizes at international piano competitions including the 1993 F. Busoni Competition (2nd prize), the 1995 Senigallia International Piano Competition (2nd prize), the 1996 Concours International de Piano de Montréal (2nd prize) and the 1998 A. Rubinstein Piano Master Competition (2nd prize). In 1999 he took first prize at the piano 1999 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium. Since then he has firmly established his solo career and has performed in over 25 countries on stages like the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum and the Steinway Hall in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Beethovenhalle in Bonn as well as the Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall, Okayama Symphony Hall and Kyoto Concert Hall in Japan, the Singel in Antwerp, the Concertgebouw in Bruges, de Bijloke in Ghent and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
Samoshko has performed at major festivals such as the Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany, the Festival de Montpellier Radio France and Festival de Besançon in France, the Festival Música Romântica in Switzerland, the Yokohama International Piano Festival in Japan, the Savannah Onstage Festival in the United States, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Canada, the Festival d'Echternach and the Bourglinster Festival in Luxembourg, the Chopin Piano Festival in Poland as well as the Festival of Flanders, Festival d'Aulne and Festival de Wallonie in Belgium.
He has played with world-class orchestras including the Tokyo Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Orchester der Beethovenhalle, the St. Petersburg State Symphony and Orchestre National de Lille.
Samoshko has collaborated with acclaimed conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Edvard Tchivzhel, Marc Soustrot, Gilbert Varga, Mendi Rodan, Georges Octors, Kazufumi Yamashita, David Shallon, Arthur Fagen, Otaka Tadaaki, Louis Langrée, Paul Daniel and David Angus.
He has recorded a number of broadcasts for Radio Suisse Romande in Geneva, Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne and "Musique 3" in Brussels. As well, he has recorded with various labels and TV stations.
In 2001 Vitaly Samoshko made Belgium his home. Two years later he recorded a double CD with the new label Lineair Art Transfer, which featured works by Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin and Prokofiev (LAT 2003-01). In a solemn broadcasting the Classic Radio Klara (VRT) awarded him with the 'Best international CD 2005' for his second album, Piano Studies Scriabin (LAT 2005-02). In the fall of that year he was appointed guest professor at the Conservatory of Ghent and is regularly invited to give master classes at conservatories and festivals.
From 2005 Vitaly Samoshko is a member of the Trio Sonnetto (with the violinist Leonid Kerbel and the cellist Ilia Laporev) and of a trio with Eddy Vanoosthuyse and Michael Kugel.

Trio Vanoosthuyse - Tooten - De May

Luc Tooten, first cello soloist in the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, studied at the Brussels Conservatory with Carlo Schmitz and followed master classes with Reine Flachot and Mistislav Rostropovitch. Subsequently, he started his career in chamber music and as soloist and has produced many CDs.  The recording with the Flemish Radio Orchestra of the Symphonic poem “To Higher Light” by L. De Vocht for cello and orchestra was crowned with a “Choc” award in 2005 by the music periodical “The World of Music”. 
In the field of chamber music, Luc Tooten worked with the Arriaga Quartet and with pianist Stéphane De May in various European countries, Israel, Canada, China, Mexico and the United States.  As soloist he performed in Belgium en internationally under the direction of well known conductors such as Yoel Levy, A. Rahbari, Jan Latham-Koenig, A. Borejko, Tan Dun…  Upon the request of Tan Dun, Luc Tooten participated in the Belgian creation of the cello concerts “Crouching Tiger” and “The Map”.
Various CDs were produced for the Belgian label Pavane including the cello sonatas of C. Saint Saens, the oeuvre of Fr Liszt for cello and piano and the integral composition for cello en piano by E. Lalo.  Together with pianist Stéphane De May, he produced a CD in 2004 with chamber music by C.M. von Weber. In 2005 another CD was produced with the unpublished work of Tango composers, including Bragato and Piazzolla.  Since 2006, Luc Tooten and the Trio Portici have a contractual relationship with the label Pavane.  Four CDs have since been published: Piano trios of César Franck, the chamber music of Frederick Chopin, the chamber music of Debussy and the chamber music of Mendelssohn.
Luc Tooten plays a magnificent instrument by Giulio Cesare Gigli, built in Rome in 1740.

Stéphane De May is a Belgian pianist whose promising career would run an astounding course.
Having obtained the higher diploma piano at the ‘Ecole Normale A. Cortot’ in Paris and the concertist diploma at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, he will complete his formation in Mons at the Royal Conservatoire obtaining the higher diploma of chamber music. He was to reap high honours with congratulations of the jury, such grand masters as A. delle-Vigne,A. Rahman El Bacha, T. Evdokimova, G. Van Waas, … leading him on the way to perfection.

On the international scene he was laureate in numerous competitions: Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, the United States of America, the Netherlands.
Currently he is guest professor at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, assistant professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Liège and professor at the Conservatory of Leuven and at the academy of Brussels.
He is a major performer of contemporary music especially Belgian music. This has resulted in CD recordings, one devoted to M. Lysight’s works, the other to postmodern consonant music together with violonist D. Pardoen.
His discography is a real spellbinder listing such composers as C.M. Von Weber, interpreted with violoncellist L. Tooten, flautist M. Grauwels and clarinettist R. Van Spaendonck; C. Franck’s and G. Lekeu’s sonatas with M. Grauwels; Variations for piano by F. Chopin, C. Franck, Mompou…
Of late, he has recorded a novel CD together with Luc Tooten devoted to the tango.
All these recordings have been extolled with profuse and lavish criticism by press and public alike.