Young soloists of the Zakhar Bron School of Music took part in the Golden Festival in Herrliberg for the fifth time, presenting the concert Young & Virtuoso, which took place last Saturday, 23 August 2025. This tradition began in 2021 and has continued annually ever since. According to established custom, the soloists’ concert was held in the Thal Church in the afternoon at 2:00 pm and, as in previous years, took place to a full house.
This year, the young soloists were accompanied by the Belenus String Quartet — a regular participant in festival projects and a highly regarded Swiss chamber ensemble.
The concert was opened by Felipe Rafael Hauser, who performed J. S. Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major in an authentic Baroque style, using a Baroque bow with historically informed articulation and ornamentation.
Following Felipe, the young pianist Katya Gringolts appeared on stage, performing the second and third movements of W. A. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 (KV 488), thus continuing the programme with works of large classical form.
Next, the young violinist Sophie Branson presented the third movement of W. A. Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, often referred to as the ‘Turkish’ movement due to its use of intonational and rhythmic elements associated with Oriental musical traditions. Sophie performs at the Golden Festival in Herrliberg every year and is well known to the local audience, who consistently receive her with great warmth. Her performance concluded the first half of the concert.
The second half featured works from the French Romantic repertoire. It was opened by the talented violinist from Geneva, Kimia Corke, who performed Havanaise by Camille Saint-Saëns. Like Sophie, Kimia is a regular participant in the festival and performs on this stage every year.
The music of Saint-Saëns was continued by Tatjana Filimonova with the famous Rondo capriccioso. In May 2025, Tatjana had already performed this work with a symphony orchestra in Chișinău; at the Golden Festival in Herrliberg, a version for chamber ensemble was presented.
The concert concluded brilliantly with Sophie Branson’s performance of the virtuosic Carmen Fantasy by Franz Waxman. For this performance, percussion students from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) were specially invited to join the project, as Waxman’s version requires percussion in addition to the string ensemble. This marked Sophie’s stage debut of the work. Despite the extremely short preparation period — just a few weeks — she mastered this complex and highly virtuosic piece with remarkable success.
Felipe Rafael Hauser has been studying in the professional violin programme in the class of Liana Tretiakova, leading violin teacher and founder of the Zakhar Bron School of Music, since 2019. Significant support in preparing J. S. Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major was provided by Esther Hoppe, Professor of Violin and Head of Violin Studies at the Mozarteum University (Salzburg, Austria), during violin masterclasses she gave at the Zakhar Bron School of Music.
The gifted pianist Katya Gringolts has been studying at the Zakhar Bron School of Music for 11 years. For the past five years, she has studied in the piano class of Rafael Lipstein, the school’s leading piano teacher. Like Felipe, Katya is enrolled in the professional programme.
Sophie Branson has been taking violin lessons with Liana Tretiakova for more than 15 years — since 2010, when the school was first founded and Sophie was just four years old. She studies in the professional programme and aspires to pursue a professional performing career.
The charismatic violinist from Geneva, Kimia Corke, has been studying in the class of Liana Tretiakova since 2021. Like the other young violinists who performed in this concert, Kimia is enrolled in the professional programme.
The talented Tatjana Filimonova began her violin studies in 2019 at the Zakhar Bron School of Music in the class of Inna Khriplovich. She is currently continuing intensive studies in the professional programme and sees her future in a solo performing career.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Inna Khriplovich and Liana Tretiakova, our esteemed violin teachers, for accompanying the young soloists at the concert, preparing them for the performance, and — no less importantly — for their moral support during the event.
Special thanks are extended to our dear President and close friend, Dr. Marc Blessing, for his support in organising the concert and for making this project possible.
We would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the Belenus Quartett, namely:
—for performing on stage together with our students and supporting them throughout the concert.
Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen has become a source of inspiration for numerous instrumental works. Based on its themes, both orchestral and violin fantasies have been composed — including versions by Sarasate, Hubay, and Waxman. In these works, only the thematic material of the opera is used, reworked into independent virtuosic compositions that have long existed as part of the standard concert repertoire.
Tags: Felipe Hauser, Golden Festival, Inna Khriplovich, Katya Gringolts, Kimia Corke, Liana Tretiakova, Marc Blessing, Rafael Lipstein, Sophie Branson, Tatjana Filimonova
Categories: Concerts with Orchestra
