concertmaster

Maighréad McCrann has been 1. Concertmaster of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1993. In 1997 she was appointed Professor of violin at the University of Performing Arts in Graz. During this time she has also enjoyed a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and directing chamber orchestras from the violin. Her passion for teaching has resulted in many masterclasses and intense coaching with the youth orchestras of Spain, Catalunya, Columbia, the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute in Washington.

Born in Dublin where she studied with Brian McNamara, she graduated from Trinity College of music in 1984 and commenced studying in Vienna with Ernst Kovacic. Further violin lessons with Sandor Vegh and David Takeno. She was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and played baroque violin with Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus.

Franz-Markus Siegert, born in Dresden in 1981, began his training as a musician at the age of 15 in the class for gifted students conducted by Prof. Rudolf Rampf at the music college in Trossingen. He completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Christian Altenburger in 2009, graduating with distinction. He gathered further experience in master classes given by Dorothy Delay and Kurt Sassmannshaus in Aspen, Colorado.

While a student he was concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, receiving the funding award of the European Culture Foundation for this activity in 2007. He received invitations as guest concertmaster at the Bayerische Staatsoper and with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He was also a member of the Orchestra Mozart in Bologna at the invitation of Claudio Abbado.

He is a member of several chamber music ensembles and undertook a number of concert tours to Japan as first violin of the Rasumofsky-Quartett Wien during which he played in the Tokyo Opera City Hall and the Tokyo Oji Hall among others.

Franz-Markus Siegert has been assistant concertmaster of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2009.

Kristina Suklar was born in Serbia in 1983. In 1997 she began her studies at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna in Prof. Werner Hink’s class. Parallel to these studies, she began studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Prof. Tibor Varga in 2003. That same year she was awarded the Herbert-von-Karajan scholarship. In 2009 she completed her master’s degree in Prof. Pavel Vernikov’s class, graduating with distinction.

She has held the position of concertmaster in the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the UBS Chamber Orchestra and, since 2006, has regularly played with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.

She was a prizewinner in the Fidelio Competition and the Anton Bruckner Competition of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In 2006 she won second prize in the GRADUS AD PARNASSUM competition in Vienna.

In 2009 she became leader of the first violin section in the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and since 2011 has been assistant concertmaster.