1st violin

Wei-Ping Lin was born in Taiwan in 1973.

In her home country she started her career in the musical sports youth movement, winning several national violin competitions. At the age of 15 she moved to Vienna to continue her violin studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Her teachers there were Josef Sivo, Dora Schwarzenberg and Yair Kless. During her studies she received advice and encouragement from Klara Flieder, Philippe Hirschhorn, Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Ozim, Gerhard Schulz and Abram Shtern, among others.

Recently, Wei-Ping Lin has focused primarily on interpreting new music and the music of the late 20th century. She does this as a member of various ensembles and as a chamber musician, but also as a soloist, most recently for a recording of the complete works of Giacinto Scelsi for Mode Records (Scelsi Edition 10), and she also premiered the violin concerto written by Volkmar Klien and dedicated to her.

Wei-Ping Lin has been principal first violin of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1998.

Michael Snyman was born in Rustenburg, South Africa in 1966.

From 1971 to 1988 he studied in South Africa and received a scholarship from Michigan, USA. Parallel to his university studies he attended master classes given by Dorothy DeLay (Juilliard School, New York). From 1988 he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Gerhard Schulz.

Michael Snyman has been a member of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1988, initially as first violin and since 2003 as principal first violin.

Willem De Swardt was born in Cape Town, South Africa, where he also grew up. He comes from a musical family: his parents are both music teachers, teaching piano, singing and strings.

De Swardt studied violin with Noel Travers and Fritz Kerri among others before coming to Vienna to study with Prof. Gerhard Schulz. He graduated with unanimous distinction.

Because he enjoys composing from time to time and is greatly interested in contemporary music, the Vienna RSO is the ideal orchestra for him. He appreciates the modern and varied programming.

Willem De Swardt has been a member of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1986.

Jussuf Karajev was born in Farg’ona, Usbekistan.

He took his first violin lessons at a local music school, before going on to the music high school of the city of Fergana. From 1976 to 1982 he studied with Irina Botchkova and Evgenia Tchugajeva at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, gaining his diploma.

From 1982 to 1985 Jussuf Karaev was principal violin in the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Tashkent in the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan.

Since 1995 he has been working at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as a teacher.

He has been principal violin with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1986.

Geert Langelaar was born in Munich in 1962 and was raised in Graz, Stockholm and The Hague.

From 1981 to 1985 he studied violin with W. Libermann in Utrecht, before moving to Vienna to study with Günter Pichler.

He has often been engaged as a substitute at the State Opera and for the Vienna Philharmonic.

He first played with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1987, standing in for a colleague on maternity leave, and was subsequently given a permanent position in the first violin section.

He has been married to Catharina Stenström Langelaar, also a member of the Vienna RSO, since 1991.

Zhanna Li, born in Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan in 1984, began learning the violin aged six with Prof. A. Abatova at the Bajseitova Special Music School for gifted children in Alma-Ata. In 1994 she moved to the Rimsky-Korsakoff Special Music School for gifted children in St. Petersburg where she was taught by Prof. O. Shulpiakoff. From 2002 she studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Prof. Irina Botchkova. From 2007 to 2009 she did a postgraduate course in the form of master classes with Prof. Jens Ellermann at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Since 2009 she has been studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Gerald Schubert.

She has won many awards, for instance at the international Wienjawski-Lipinski competition for young violinists in Lublin, Poland in 1996, third prize at the international competition for young violinists in Novobirsk, Russia in 1997, first prize at the international Jascha Heifetz competition in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2002, and second prize at the international violin competition in Uralsk, Kazakhstan in 2004.

In 2007 she was given the position of assistant concertmaster in the chamber orchestra Jahreszeiten in Moscow. From 2010 to 2011 she was leader of the second violins at the Landestheater Innsbruck and has been first violinist in the Vienna RSO since 2012.

Violaine Padilla was born in France in 1983. She received her first violin lessons at the age of seven.

She studied at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris with Suzanne Gessner and at the University of Music Lübeck in Thomas Brandis’s class.

At the same time she gained experience of orchestral playing in the Orchestre Lamoureux and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester working with conductors that included Claudio Abbado and Philipp Jordan.

She has been principal violin in the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2008.

Jue Hyang Park was born in Seoul in 1982 and began taking violin lessons at the age of four. Later she studied with Dora Schwarzberg at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, completing her diploma programme with distinction. She gained experience by Barbara Gorzynska.

At the age of only seven she won first prize in a competition run by the Korean daily newspaper Hankook-Ilbo.

As a soloist she performed with the Varna Symphony Orchestra and the State Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria. She was guest concertmaster with the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra and the Austrian-Korean Philharmonic. She also plays as a chamber musician, performing regularly with string quartets and piano trios.

She has been principal violin with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2016.

Barbara Schenzel was born in Hall in Tyrol in 1977.

She received her first music lessons at the music school in Innsbruck at the age of four. Her university studies then took her to Salzburg, Vienna and London. In 2002 she passed her diploma examination at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

She has been principal violin with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2004.

Anaïs Tamisier was born in Avignon, France. She studied in Paris, Lyon, Hamburg, Vienna and Berlin with Suzanne Gessner, Pavel Vernikov, Raphael Oleg, Michael Frischenschlager. In France, Anaïs completed her studies with a diploma in education.

She was a prizewinner at the Singer-Polignac Foundation and Cziffra Foundation. In 2012, she founded the Darian Trio which is a member of the prestigious European Chamber Music Academy and prizewinner at the Pro Musicis Competition (France) and the Tait Foundation (UK). The Darian Trio has performed at festivals in France, England, Germany, Austria and Norway.

Upcoming projects include participation in the Setouchi Triennale in Japan.
Anaïs Tamisier is also interested in acting and will commence studies at the drama school Ateliers du Sudden in Paris in the autumn of 2016.

She has been a member of the Vienna RSO since 2008.

Monika Uhler was born in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1973.

She received her first violin lessons at the age of six at the Arthur Rubinstein Music School in Bygdoszcz where her teachers were Prof. Stanislaw Hajzer and then Prof. Zenon Brzewski.

She studied with Prof. Miroslaw Lawrynowicz at the Warsaw Music Academy.

From 1994 she taught violin at the Warsaw Academy. She attended master classes given by Zakhar Bron, Rugierro Ricci, Thomas Brandis and Norbert Brainin.

From 1995 to 2002 she was a member of the Cordes string quartet and a substitute in the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

She was a prizewinner at the International Violin Competition in Geneva (semi-final), the International Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań (5th Prize) and received the funding award from R. Ricci’s master class in Berlin.

She has been principal violin with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2003.

Peter Uhler, born in Vienna in 1971, studied violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Michael Frischenschlager, Prof. Evgenia Tchougaeva and Prof. Jan Pospichal. He also obtained musical inspiration from the master classes he attended.

His work as a soloist and chamber musician has already taken him to Cyprus, Italy, Japan and Germany. In addition he has played in various chamber ensembles, television productions, CD recordings and theatre productions, for instance at the Burgtheater, Neues Wiener MusikTheater and Vienna Volkstheater.

He has been principal violin with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2000.