Nicolas Corti (Viola)

Nicolas Corti (*1956) studied viola with his fatherOttavio Corti at the Zurich Conservatory, after having completed his maturity in a grammar school. There he did his teaching, orchestral and solo diplomas. He then went to New York for intensive studies with Emanuel Vardi (the former soloviolist under Arthuro Toscannini with the famous NBC orchestra) for one year.
Since 1976 he has worked freelance in the Zurich Tonhalle and Opera Orchestras. 
He was also 15 yearsmember of the well known Collegium Musicum Zürich under Paul Sacher until this orchestra ended in 1992. 
He gave solo performances and also played in various chamber music formations such as the Trio Musaïque (flute, viola, harp), the Zürich Chamber Trio (Flute, Viola, Guitar) and many other changing formations.
In 1982, Corti was co-founder of the Amati Quartet that has become internationally known, thanks to its many concert appearances in most famous concerthouses in the world and recordings with several compactdisc prices in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. 
With the Amati Quartet Corti had numerous concerts with great musicians as: Krystian Zimerman, Bruno Canino, Karl Engel, Rudolf Buchbinder, David Geringas, Antonio Meneses, Anner Bjilsma, Steven Isserlis, Eduard Brunner, Paul Meyer, Karl Leister, Bruno Giuranna, Gérard Caussé, James Galway, Jaques Zoon and others. 
The Amati Quartet finished playing 2009. About 30 compact disques show the very high quality of this ensemble.
In 2008 he joined the Jury of the international Tromp Stringquartet Competition in Eindhoven (Netherlands)

2005 - 2021 he was the solo violist (50%) in the Winterthur Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur.

Currently:
Since 1996, Corti teaches viola and chamber music at the Zurich University of Arts.
Currently, he is a member of Pianova Quartett (piano quartet), plays duo concerts with Han Jonkers (guitar, viola) and See Siang Wong (piano, viola) and entertains with trio performances alongside Töbi Tobler (Hackbrett) and Franziskus Abgottspon (recitation) .

Also Corti sometimes plays with folk music specialists such as Claudia Muff (accordeon), Wolfgang Sieber (organ) and Nadja Räss (jodeling). The repertoire includes music from folksmelodies to classical style.

As soloist he plays with different orchestras.

Han Jonkers (Gitarre)

Dutch guitarist Han Jonkers studied at the conservatory in Maastricht, at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Oscar Ghiglia and at the Music Academy in Basel with Konrad Ragossnig and Oscar Ghiglia (soloist diploma).
Han Jonkers was a prize-winner at the competition in Viña del Mar (Chile-1983) and at the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona (1985).

He has been living in Switzerland since 1981 and performs as a soloist as well as in chamber music ensembles on all continents. Han Jonkers has been giving summer courses at the Music Festival Weeks in Arosa (Switzerland) for over ten years. Within the framework of the partnership of the Canton of Aargau (Switzerland) with Belarus, he has given regular concerts there with the flutist Bruno Meier and has held master classes at the Academy of Music in Minsk. Concert tours took him through South America (Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia) and Asia (Korea). In March 2007, he toured New Zealand with solo recitals and workshops at the University of Hamilton. In January 2017, Han Jonkers went on his fourth South African tour, this time with the Casal Quartet.
Several composers have written works for guitar on his commission (including Thüring Bräm, Martin Derungs, Sandra Goldberg, Galina Gorelova, V. Gritskevich, Paul Hanmer, Rudolf Kelterborn, Alexander Litwinowsky, Dimitry Lybin, Michael Schneider, Janos Tamas, Ernst Widmer, and Alfred Zimmerlin).
At the music publishing house Nepomuk in Aarau, a series with guitar music is supervised by him. His CDs have been released by CADENZA RECORDS, BAYER-RECORDS and PAN CLASSICS and received praising reviews in the press. His CD "Minsk Music" was awarded CD of the month by Hessischer Rundfunk in March 2006.
Han Jonkers initiates various guitar festivals and courses. He is the artistic director of the festival "Boswil Guitar", which takes place regularly. From 2003 to 2016 Han Jonkers was president of EGTA-Switzerland (European Guitar Teachers Association).

For many years, Han Jonkers has focused on teaching music to children. He regularly makes school visits to kindergartens and elementary schools and observes the music lessons of his students. As a result, he has completely changed his teaching concept for song accompaniment on the guitar in the direction of application-oriented teaching. In the last years, he has been regularly giving courses of song accompaniment for school lessons.
He has published several musicological articles in the press (among others in "Gitarre & Laute" about Frank Martin and in "Classical Guitar" - The Guitar in Switzerland).
Han Jonkers is a lecturer for guitar at the Pädagogische Hochschule, FHNW and lives in Basel.

www.hanjonkers.com