Graduated from VŠMU Bratislava. He participated in several international courses and competitions (e.g. under R. Wallfisch). Since 1999 Andrej Gál has performed several times the first cello in the Internationale Orchesterakademie in Germany and also within the festival orchestra at Summer Arts in Idyllwild in California. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Music Orchestra and the Zwiebel Quartet. Andrej Gál performs chamber music and interprets contemporary Slovak and international music.
Experts - Visegrad Cello Quartet
Andrej Gál
Jozef Lupták
One of the leading contemporary musicians in Slovakia. He graduated from VŠMU and Royal Academy of Music in London. Jozef Lupták recorded several albums (e.g. complete suites for solo cello by J. S. Bach, the Cello Project, premiere recordings of V. Godár’s music, live recording from a recital in London, etc.), participated in the creation of several productions of contemporary composers. Jozef Lupták is a co-founder of the Opera Aperta ensemble. He is also the innitiator and art director of the Konvergencie music festival. He gave concerts in the U.S., Mexico, Hungary, France and the UK. His past season’s extraordinary projects included a solo recital at the Melos-Etos festival and an invitation to hold courses at Cardiff University and at the Royal Academy of Music in Wales.
Tamás Mérei
Studied under Csaba Onczay, Sándor Devich and Ferenc Rados in Hungary, then at Indiana university in the U.S. and also as a Fulbright scholar at Yale University and under Aldo Parison at the Julliard School in New Yorku. Among other prizes, Tamás Mérei is the youngest winner of the prestigeous Popper Cello Competition, international competition of the Hungarian Public Radio, and the winner of the main prize at the Piatigorsky Festival in Los Angeles. As a soloist, he has performed in Europe, USA, Israel and Japan. As a world premiere, he recorded Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Hungaroton Classic. He teaches at Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.
Aleksandra Ohar
Studied cello at the Academy of Music in Warsaw under Tomasz Strahl. Guest student at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Augsburg under Julius Berger. Alekszandra Ohar attended master courses at the Mozarteum Salzburg and in Łańcut, Źagań and Zamośći under famous cellists like A. Bauer, J. Berger, K. Michalik and T. Strahl. Already at the age of 12, she received the first prize at a competition for cello and double bass students in Rzeszów and several other awards at Polish festivals and competitions. In 2005 Ohar took part in the P. Casals International Competition in Germany. Besides her classical cello repertoire (Haydn, Dvořák, Tschaikovsky and others), Ohar also devotes herself to contemporary music (she participated in the Laboratorium Muzyki Współcesnej project). She performs as a soloist as well as an orchestra and chamber musician.
