„colluvio is more than a Masterclass.“

The Workshop for Chamber Music colluvio, open to participants from all European countries, follows up an intensive rehearsal phase with an international concert tour.

Several well-known European youth orchestras have already followed this concept since the 1980s, rounding off their preparation studies with a series of concerts in different European countries. With Masterclasses for Solo or Chamber Music this has not been the case – colluvio fills this gap ….. 

“The European Chamber Music Project colluvio follows up an intensive rehearsal phase with an international concert tour.”

Our violin teacher Olivera Milić-Hirscher about the workshop:

“We rehearse in great depth, immersing ourselves completely in the service of the music concerned. Our aim is to strengthen the love of music in our young instrumentalists. They have the opportunity to build up their stage presence in a series of internal private house concerts, followed subsequently with the public performances on tour”.

Choice of participants

Since its foundation in 2001, the colluvio Chamber Music Academy annually advertises its work phases and concert tours in the whole of Europe.

Our musicians study at institutions such as the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, London, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, the Universities of Music in Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Music Academies of Berlin, Kiev, Warsaw, Rome, Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade …..
There are cooperations with music colleges, academies and conservatories from all over Europe.

Year after year, 9-12 musicians specialising in the following instruments are chosen by audition:
Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello.

After getting to know one another at Gut Hornegg, Austria, they are divided into 3 ensembles and rehearse and study with their new-found colleagues in works for Piano Trio/ Piano Quartet/ Piano Quintet.
Within a space of 10 days the “colluvio Method”  enables them to grow into three harmonious chamber music ensembles, where they gather experience in performance in internal house concerts and prepare themselves for the ensuing concert tour.

Our Alumni are among the outstanding musicians of their respective home countries, many are laureates or high prize winners of international competitions, including prestigious ones such as the “Van Cliburn International Piano Competition”, the “Carl Nielsen Violin International Competition”, the “ARD International Music Competition” (cello), the “Primrose International Viola Competition” and the “Palma d’Oro International Piano Competition”. Others have been selected for the Verbier Festival or the Gstaad Menuhin Academy; others are academy members of orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra or the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra or are members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra or the European Union Youth Orchestra.
Many former members dating from 2001 have become members of orchestras, as leader or sectional leader, also professors at Music Academies in their home countries, some have a solo carreer.

Johannes BRAHMS
Piano Trio op. 8, 2nd movement: Allegro molto – Meno allegro – Allegro molto
Final Concert of the 2017 tour, Belgrade
Elena Ovcharenko (21), David Horvat (19), Pavle Popović (19)
Here you can find the FULL VIDEO with all movements.

How the colluvio Workshop functions.

colluvio METHOD
11 days’ Masterclasses – 11 days’ Concert Tour

Days 1-8
Basic Workshop with the colluvio team:
Yuri Kot (Piano), Olivera Milić-Hirscher (Violin) and Meinhard Holler (Cello) alternate in working with all 3 ensembles.

Days 9-10
Open Workshop
To round the rehearsals off our Guest Tutor Claus-Christian Schuster (Piano) works with every ensemble.

Days 1-11
Stage Training
5 internal house concerts on days 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 in preparation for the concert tour. On day 11 is the dress rehearsal.

Days 12-22
International Concert Tour
2024: Gut Hornegg – Vilpolže – Ljubljana – Feldafing – Preßbaum – Vienna – Budapest – Belgrade

colluvio Team: Meinhard Holler, Olivera Milić-Hirscher, Yuri Kot

Guest Critic: Claus-Christian Schuster

Exclusive Conditions

The number of participants accepted on the project is limited to 9-12.
The Credo of the colluvio Chamber Music Academy incorporates an intensive, individual approach.
During the whole project, 4 tutors are available for just 3 three ensembles.
That enables the most wonderful chamber music literature to be studied with the necessary detail.

„Our aim is to work with musical depth“

Yuri Kot and students, Ruslan Strogiy (Russia) and Israel Gutiérrez (Chile), August 2022, rehearsing Dvořák´s Piano Quintett op. 81

Our musicians value the fact that with colluvio they can immediately put their talent into practice.
From day 1 onwards the focus lies on the concert tour; consideration of the concert platform is of prime importance. All participants are given the opportunity to perform their well-rehearsed works in each of the 8 concerts on tour.

„Focus on the concert platform!“

At the colluvio Master Classes the young musicians dedicate themselves to challenging literature, which they present every summer on a concert tour through Europe.

Programme 2025

Works for the Summer Tour 2025 will only be decided on when all participants are chosen on 15^th March 2025. – The programme is tailored to the individual qualities and talents of the players.

Review of 2024

“On the 100th anniversary of the death of GABRIEL FAURÉ”
(4. XII 2024)

Sonate pour piano et violon No. 1, La Majeur, op. 13 (1875-1876)
Élégie pour violoncelle et piano, ut mineur, op. 24 (1880)
Quatuor pour piano, violon, alto et violoncelle No. 1, ut mineur, op. 15 (1876-1883)
Trio pour piano, violon et violoncelle, ré mineur, op. 120 (1923)
Quintette pour piano et quatuor à cordes No. 2, ut mineur, op. 115 (1919-1920)

Gabriel FAURÉ, Piano Trio, op. 120, Allegro vivo (III.)
Elizaveta Ukrainskaia (27) piano, Frédéric Pouliot (23) violin, Jasmin Blomenkamp (24) cello play
Final concert of the 2024 tour, Belgrade
Here you can find the FULL VIDEO with all movements.

Musicians 2025

colluvio 2025 is currently being announced. Following their auditions, the selected musicians will be announced at this point from 15 March 2025.

The 12 musicians selected for summer 2024 were:

Piano:
Oleksandra Kiktenko (20), Ukraine – Elizaveta Ukrainskaia (27), Russia – Zsófi Persányi (25), Hungary
Violin:
Frédéric Pouliot (23), Canada – Naz İrem Türkmen (18), Turkey – William Kinney (20), USA – Nađa Komlenić (18), Serbia
Viola:
Wanxinyi Huang (23), China – Michaela Jurčová (25), Slovakia/Poland
Cello:
Beltrán Calderón (25), Spain – Clara Hope Simpson (25), Canada/USA – Jasmin Blomenkamp (24), Germany

CONCERT PROGRAMME and MUSICIANS 2024 Tour

Mieczysław WEINBERG
Piano Quintet op. 18, 5th movement: Allegro agitato
Final concert of the 2019 tour, Belgrade
Anastasiya Sharina (25), Assia Weissmann (22), Sofia Kolupov (22), Kinga Wojdalska (21) and Lucija Mušac (19)
Here you can find the FULL VIDEO with all movements.

West with East, North with South

The Romans used the Latin expression colluvio (confluence) also to refer to peoples of mixed races, probably alluding to those countries not already completely romanised withinin the Empire.
Our interpretation of the word is a family from different nations, all involved in a joint human and musical experience.

Parallel to its high musical ideals and in accordance with the same, colluvio is a project dedicated to bringing people in Europe together.

Its origins resulted from impressions of the tragic happenings in wars between the nations of Jugoslavia. This moving history is told in the impressive ORF- documentary film about colluvio “Music after the War, Kosovo between Trauma and New Beginnings”.

Concert tour 2010/ Prizren, Kosovo: Here one sees the old bridge with the Sinan-Pascha-Mosque, and in the background the burnt down Serbian district with the Holy Saviour Church.

Since then much has happened, colluvio has grown and developed. Understanding between nations through music has remained its central philosophy, even though in the meantime colluvio has gathered in significance far over the borders of its origins and now includes all countries in Europe.

Who can apply?

Music students of a high musical and technical standard from all over Europe and neighbouring countries, as well as specially talented pupils of 16 and over.

Instruments: Violin, Viola, Cello, Piano

Primarily the young instrumentalists taking part in colluvio have never made music with one another.
It goes without saying that fixed ensembles, e.g. a piano trio or a string quartet may also register. If a string ensemble is chosen, we would combine it with one of our pianists.

Auditions
Concerning the next project (29.07.-21.08.2025):

Final date for arrival of recordings is 15th February 2025!

“We are on the lookout for young musicians as of 16 years of age who show a particular interest in playing chamber music with others.”