Biography

Since its „official“ debut during the Salzburg Mozart Week (January 1994), the Altenberg Trio Wien – one of the few full-time piano trios in the world of chamber music – has in over 900 performances earned the reputation of one of the most daring and consistent ensembles in this category: its repertory comprises – in addition to a large number of works from directly related fields (piano quartets & quintets, duos, triple concertos, vocal chamber music) no less than 250 piano trios, among them numerous pieces which the Altenberg Trio suggested and first performed itself.
Simultaneously with its foundation, the ensemble became trio in residence of Vienna´s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, annually performing a cycle in the Brahms Saal for that society; as trio in residence of the Conservatory Vienna, the trio runs a seminar course for chamber music majors.

Among the Altenberg Trio´s other regular activities are the International Brahms Festival at Muerzzuschlag (Austria), whose artistic director is Claus-Christian Schuster, and the Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo (Piedmont), where the trio offers monthly master classes for young ensembles.
At the conferral of the Robert Schumann Award of the City of Zwickau in 1999, the Altenberg Trio succeeded in continuing the “Austrian” tradition of this award (winner 1997: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, winner 2002: Alfred Brendel); the immediate reason for its success was the recording of all Schumann piano trios which had just been released. The Altenberg Trio´s subsequent recording (Ives/Copland/Bernstein) in April 2000 already won the Edison Award in Amsterdam.

Amiram Ganz plays a violin by Goffredo Cappa (Saluzzo 1686), Alexander Gebert a cello by Frank Ravatin (Vannes 2005).

Pianist Claus-Christian Schuster was born in Vienna in 1952. He studied in Vienna, Bloomington/USA, and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with his father, with Wilhelm Huebner, Hans Graf, Dieter Weber and Vera Gornostayeva. His encounter with Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy, left an indelible impression upon him. He won awards at several international piano and chamber music competitions, performing as a soloist until 1984. That same year he founded the Vienna Schubert Trio, a regular guest at the most important music centers and renowned chamber music festivals
(Musikverein/Vienna – with their own cycle since 1988; Salzburg Festival, Teatro alla Scala/Milan, La Fenice/Venice; Concertgebouw Amsterdam, etc.). After the Vienna Schubert Trio ceased to exist in 1993, he founded the Altenberg Trio Wien together with Amiram Ganz and Martin Hornstein (replaced by Alexander Gebert in 2004), thus continuing and even intensifying his international chamber music activities.
Between 1976 and 1986 Claus-Christian Schuster taught at the Vienna Musikhochschule. In addition to performing widely, he is, together with his colleagues, at this point running a series of seminars for chamber music majors at the Conservatory Vienna as well as master classes in Europe an the U.S.

Violinist Amiram Ganz was born in Montevideo in 1952. He began to study violin in Uruguay with Israel Chorberg, the Leopold Auer-pupil Ilya Fidlon, and Jorge Risi. At the age of eleven he won the Jeunesses musicales Contest and then continued his studies with Richard Burgin in the U.S.A. and Alberto Lysy at the International Academy of Chamber Music in Rome. Studying on a scholarship at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory between 1974 and 1979 he met Victor Pikaisen, who became his teacher. As finalist and award winner of several international competitions (Long-Thibaud/Paris, ARD/Munich, etc.), he became first concert master of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in 1980. From 1987 until the foundation of the Altenberg Trio he was the violinist of the Shostakovitch Trio, appearing at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, etc. In 1994 he became a founding member of the Altenberg Trio of Vienna.
Since 1981 Amirams Ganz has also been teaching at the Strasbourg Conservatory; as a member of the Altenberg Trio he is now in charge of a series of seminars for course music majors at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna.
Amiram Ganz plays a violin built in Saluzzo in 1686 by Goffredo Cappa (1644-1717); it was made available to the trio by an anonymous patron.

Alexander Gebert was born in 1977 to a musical family in Warsaw. When he was three years old, they moved to Finland, where in 1982 he started to study cello with Timo Hanhinen at the Turku Conservatory. Later he became a student at the Sibelius Academy in the classes of Victoria Yaglig, Kazimierz Michalik und Heikki Rautasalo. From 1995 through 1998 he received a Polish state scholarship to study at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. After his graduation there he continued his studies with Philippe Muller at the Paris Conservatory and on a DAAD scholarship with Natalia Gutman in Stuttgart. In 2002 he was granted a three-year scholarship from the Groupe Banques Populaires in Paris.
Alexander Gebert won his first international contest at the age of 16. In 1997 he came in second at the Lutoslawski Competition in Warsaw, and the year 2000 saw him win Third Prize at the Antonio Janigro Contest in Zagreb, Second Prize and Audience Prize at the International Geneva Cello Competition (where he played with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Heinrich Schiff conducting), and First Prize at the Valentino Bucchi Contest of Rome subsequently.
He has widely performed both as a soloist and as a chamber musician at many prestigious venues (Kuhmo Festival, Oleg-Kagan-Musikfest, Festival de Deauville, Ravinia Festival). In 2004 he was invited to join the Altenberg Trio Vienna.
Alexander Gebert plays a cello built by Frank Ravatin (Vannes 2005).