Maciej Kulakowski
was born in Gdańsk (Poland) in 1996 and began playing the cello at the age of six. From 2009 to 2012 he was a young student in the class of Michael Flaksman at Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts, afterwards he studied with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar. He has taken part in masterclasses with Frans Helmerson, Mischa Maisky, Truls Mørk, Gary Hoffman, Phillippe Muller, Jens Peter Maintz and Ivan Monighetti.

In 2015, he won first prize and a special award in the 10th Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition in Warsaw. He later won second prize at the 2015 TONALi Competition in Hamburg, and in 2016 was awarded both a scholarship and a special prize from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Bonn. He was also among the 2017 finalists at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.

Maciej Kułakowski has played in many European countries, both as a chamber musician and as a soloist, working under conductors such as Frank Brailey, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Stéphane Denève and Marek Pijarowski. His chamber music partners have included the musicians Alfred Brendel, Arnold Steinhardt and Charles Neidich. In 2011, he performed in the opening concert for the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice under Krzysztof Penderecki. He played Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Calgary Symphony Orchestra at Morningside Music Bridge in Calgary, and was likewise awarded prizes there. Working with the Kassak Brass Ensemble in 2010, he performed the world premiere of Tadeusz Kassak’s McKulak, a piece which is dedicated to him. He has also recorded a CD of works by Anton Arensky for the DUX label together with the Wiłkomirski Trio.

Maciej Kułakowski plays a cello by Charles Gaillard, Paris 1867, which is on loan to him from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

He was an active participant in the 2014 and 2016 Kronberg Academy Cello Masterclasses, where he was awarded the Landgrave of Hesse Prize in 2014. In the year 2015 and 2017 he participated in the Kronberg Academy Festival. Since October 2017, Maciej Kułakowski has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. These studies are funded by the Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff Scholarship.

Jonathan Ware
Sought after as a song accompanist and chamber musician, during 2019/20 Jonathan gives concerts across Europe at venues including the Théâtre des Champs-Elysée, Berlin Staatsoper, Bordeaux Opera, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, and the Pierre Boulez Saal, collaborating with Elsa Dreisig and Robin Tritschler.

In 2020 he makes his debut at La Scala with Bejun Mehta and returns to the Heidelberger Frühling Festival with Bejun Mehta and Ludwig Mittelhammer. In the United States, Jonathan also gives recitals at Carnegie Hall with Golda Schultz, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with Brenda Rae, and the University of California Mondavi Center with Luca Pisaroni.

Over the last year Jonathan has recorded with Elsa Dreisig for Warner Classics, Ludwig Mittelhammer for Berlin Classics and Bayerisches Rundfunk, as well as Renata Pokupić and Krešimir Stražanac for the Croatian Radio Television label. He gave recitals at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Snape Maltings, the Elbphilharmonie, L’Auditori, as well as the Garmisch Strauss Festival, and collaborated with the Vogler Quartett and trombonist Peter Moore at major venues including in Europe, and with oboist Olivier Stankiewicz in the US, appearing at the Morgan Library in New York to critical acclaim.

Texas born, Jonathan now resides in Berlin where he teaches at the Hochschule ‘Hanns Eisler’ and Barenboim-Said Academy. He studied at the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’. Awards include 1st Prize with Ludwig Mittelhammer in the International Hugo Wolf Competition and the Pianist’s Prize at both Das Lied and Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competitions. In 2014 he was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust.

During the 2012/13 season Jonathan was artistic co-director of Schubert and Company, a year-long festival devoted to the performance of the complete Schubert Lieder in New York. He has been a member of the coaching staff of the Steans Institute at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt Germany. He regularly returns to the Verbier Festival Academy as staff and to the Samling Institute to lead masterclasses.

Jonathan has performed widely throughout Europe appearing at venues including the Munich Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, the Rheingau Festival and Salzburg Festival Dialogues at the Mozarteum. Collaborating partners have included Mojca Erdmann, Michael Collins, Golda Schultz, Dame Ann Murray, Dame Felicity Lott, Ailish Tynan, and Christiane Oelze and the Volger Quartett, among many others.