Henja Semmler, Violine, Antoaneta Emanuilova, Violoncello, Jonathan Aner, Klavier
Oberon Trio - 20 Years Jubilee
12.12.2025 19:00 Sofia City Gallery, Sofia
20 Years Jubilee Program:
- Franz Schubert: Trio B-Dur D. 898 Op.99 (1797-1828)
- Pause
- Charlotte Bray: Those Secret Eyes (*1982)
That Crazed Smile - Felix Mendelssohn - Bartholdy: Trio d-Moll Op.49 (1809-1847)
More about The Oberon Trio
The Oberon Trio was founded in 2006 and has performed in many of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls, such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Dortmund Konzerthaus, and the Essen Philharmonie. The group is a frequent guest at festivals such as the Mozartfest in Augsburg, the Ludwigsburg Festival, and the Herbstgold Festival.
"The Oberon Trio moves listeners with a combination of technical mastery and thrilling emotional intensity", according to FonoForum, and the Gramophone says, "It’s a scintillating performance from start to finish".
These three musicians are committed to offering performances of lesser-known compositions alongside established masterpieces. Their repertoire extends from piano trios by CPE Bach and Joseph Haydn – the pioneers of the medium – to those by Jörg Widmann, Toshio Hosokawa and Charlotte Bray, whose trios were recorded for the first time by the ensemble. The trio also works together regularly with chamber music partners such as Tabea Zimmermann, Ian Bostridge, Christoph Prégardien, and Shirley Brill.
A special passion for the Oberon Trio is to establish greater intimacy between public and performers. Through moderated concerts, by publishing their own program-notes of the performed works, among other approaches, they provide listeners with insights into the processes and background of their interpretations.
The first album released by the Oberon Trio, entitled "Passacaglia", was recommended by hr2, mdr figaro, and NDR Kultur. Their second CD appeared in 2016 under the title "Oberon Celebrates Shakespeare". The magazine Das Orchester commented: "Featured here is an ensemble that merits serious attention: [the three musicians] display captivating technical virtuosity, musical verve, and consummate chamber music coordination". The trio’s third CD, "Duality", appeared in 2020. It contains works by Haydn, Schumann, and Copland, as well as the first recording of a trio by Toshio Hosokawa. The album was one of Journal Frankfurt’s top recommendations, and ORF (Austrian Radio) noted, "With a comprehensive engagement with the works, this recording persuasively demonstrates interpretational mastery and maturity". RBB Kultur awarded the CD five stars and wrote, "With an imaginative concept and, most importantly, brilliant musicality, the ensemble successfully reveals the dualities inherent in the four works recorded here".
Henja Semmler, Violine
Henja Semmler, born in Berlin, studied with Rainer Kussmaul, Thomas Brandis and Gerhard Schulz. Her studies were generously supported by the German National Academic Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfonds. Laureate of such competitions as the Louis Spohr Competition, German Music Competition, National Competition of the German conservatories and the Premio Franco Gulli, she has performed in Europe, the United States and Japan. As a member of different chamber music ensembles with partners including Kolja Blacher, Tabea Zimmermann, Wolfram Christ, Natalia Gutman, Jens-Peter Maintz and Jörg Widmann, Semmler has appeared at such festivals as the Berliner Festwochen, Rheingau Musikfestival, Lucerne Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
Henja Semmler gave her debut as a soloist in the Philharmonie of Berlin at the age of 17. She has also appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Weimar, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Davos Festival Orchestra. A founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Henja collaborated regularly with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons and Pierre Boulez. As a guest-concertmaster, she has been invited to the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Henja taught her own violin class at the Rostock University of Music, until she became a professor of violin at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna in 2018. Since 2023, she has been professor of violin at the University of Music and Theatre Rostock. Semmler has taught numerous master classes and participated in the juries for international competitions.
Antoaneta Emanuilova, Violoncello
Antoaneta Emanuilova was born in Bulgaria and moved to Germany at the age of seven. She studied with Wolfgang Boettcher and Jens Peter Maintz in Berlin and with Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School in New York. At the same time, she was a scholarship holder of the Villa Musica, the ZEIT-Stiftung of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and the Landessammlung Baden-Württemberg. Emanuilova regularly gives concerts as a soloist and has received several awards, including a first prize at the Domenico Gabrielli Competition in Berlin and the Grand Prix of the "Music and Earth" international competition. Her extensive chamber music work has led her to collaborate with musicians such as Jörg Widmann, Nils Mönkemeyer, Anna Prohaska, Amihai Grosz, Lauma Skride, Pauline Sachse, Martin Spangenberg, Ilan Gronich, and the Kuss Quartet. In 2007 she won a principal position in the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne. In 2011 she left the orchestra to devote herself more to making music in smaller ensembles, and the following year became a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Oberon Trio. Emanuilova has given guest performances as principal cellist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, SWR Stuttgart, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and, playing on historical instruments, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble.
She has also regularly been serving as principal cellist in the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, and has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. Since 2014 she has taught her own cello class at the Rostock University of Music and Theater.
Jonathan Aner, Klavier
Described as "a chamber musician par excellence" (Frankfurter Rundschau) Jonathan Aner is a member of the Brillaner Duo and plays regularly with clarinettist Shirley Brill. He has collaborated with such leading artists as tenors Ian Bostridge and Christoph Prégardien, violinists Guy Braunstein and Daishin Kashimoto, violists Tabea Zimmermann and Brett Dean, cellist Jakob Spahn and with the Vogler and the Ariel String Quartets. The winner of the Opus Klassik Award 2024, he has also won prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in Australia, the Città di Trapani and the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competitions in Italy, the Joseph Joachim and the "Erst- Klassik" Competitions in Germany, and the European Chamber Music Competition in France.
Mr. Aner performed recitals and chamber music concerts in such prestigious concert halls as the Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Asia, Australia and in Israel. He has taken part in the Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Heidelberg and Radio France Festivals.
Since 2010 Jonathan Aner has been a professor of chamber music at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, where he is also the artistic director of the Centre for Chamber Music.