← Vienna Music Masters
The artists

Trio Elyrion

Piano, violin and cello: three musicians with international careers, brought together in Vienna by their passion for the great chamber music composed in this city. Together with host Izidor Mendas, they present Vienna Music Masters.

Photo © Andrej Grilc

Piano

Daniel Beskow

Swedish pianist Daniel Beskow studied at Edsberg Manor (Royal College of Music in Stockholm), the University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and MUK in Vienna. He regards his teachers Peter Feuchtwanger and Jiří Hlinka as his most significant and enduring influences.

Since his debut in Copenhagen in 2012, he has established himself as one of Scandinavia’s most compelling and versatile pianists, praised for his extraordinary musical intelligence. As a soloist he focuses on the Viennese Classical and Nordic repertoire; he is also a passionate Lied pianist and chamber musician. His awards include first prizes in both the soloist and the chamber music competitions of the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Audience Prize of the Danish Radio P2 competition, as well as scholarships from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and the Swedish Arts Council.

His “Fairytales” project, featuring illustrations by his great-grandmother Elsa Beskow, has been presented in hundreds of concerts across Scandinavia and Germany; the album he recorded with mezzo-soprano Josefine Andersson as the Nordic Light Duo was nominated for an OPUS Klassik in 2023. That same year he appeared as Hammerklavier soloist in Folkoperan’s production of Rossini’s Cinderella. Daniel is vice president of the International Peter Feuchtwanger Society and, in 2026, founded Vienna Music Masters.

Photo © Andrej Grilc

Violin

Alexej Barer

Born in Yekaterinburg, Alexej Barer began studying violin and piano at the age of six at the preparatory department of his hometown’s conservatory. He continued his violin studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, the Amsterdam Conservatory and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he earned degrees in both violin and conducting.

During his studies he received numerous awards, including the Prix de l’Espoir of the European Economic and Supportive Association, the Tzuzuki Prize and First Prize at the Austrian youth competition Prima la Musica. As a soloist he has performed with the Prague Philharmonic and at leading venues such as the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Great Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, and he has appeared at festivals and in radio broadcasts as both soloist and chamber musician.

From 2019 to 2025 he served as concertmaster, conductor and arranger of the Wiener Kaiser Orchester, and since 2022 he has been leading violinist and concertmaster of the Wiener Residenz Orchester. Since 2024 he has also toured Germany as a conductor with Johann Strauss Operetta Wien, leading a gala programme of opera and operetta and, in 2025, a staged production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow.

Photo © Andrej Grilc

Cello

Anik Schwall

Born in Luxembourg, Anik Schwall received her first musical training at the Conservatoire de Musique in Luxembourg before continuing her cello studies at the Musik-Akademie Basel and the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. In 2018 she graduated with distinction from the Zurich University of the Arts with a Master of Arts degree.

As an orchestral musician she was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Academy, and took part in the Gstaad Festival Orchestra Academy under Jaap van Zweden and the Grafenegg Academy under Neeme Järvi. As a guest she has performed with ensembles such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Spira Mirabilis and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Musikverein Vienna.

Since 2020 she has been a member of the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg, and has held several engagements with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich; she also plays in the Vienna Synchron Stage Orchestra, known for its award-winning soundtrack recordings. A dedicated chamber musician, she performs regularly in string quartet and piano trio formations and has appeared as a soloist with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and the Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra. She has received scholarships from the Fonds Culturel National Luxembourg and the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte.

Your host

Izidor Mendas

Izidor Mendas guides the audience through every programme. Between the pieces he tells the stories behind the music – the lives of the composers, the Vienna they knew and the background of each work – turning every concert into a masterpiece with a story.

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