Ensemble Promena

The newly founded Ensemble Promena, based in Iceland, is dedicated to playing on period instruments, but does not limit itself to the music of the Baroque period, but includes music from the early 17th to the late 19th century in its repertoire. The ensemble varies in size from duo to small chamber orchestra, depending on the requirements of each project.

The core of Ensemble Promena is formed by violinist Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, violist Simone von Rahden and cellist Vladimir Waltham. They all have extensive solo experience, play regularly in formations of historically informed performance practice and feel equally at home on old and modern instruments. For example, Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, multiple prize-winner at the 2006 Leipzig International Bach Competition, regularly participates in concerts of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. From 2006 to 2014 she was concertmaster of the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, with whom she worked with Sasha Waltz, among others. Born in Karlsruhe, Simone von Rahden was Tabea Zimmermann's assistant at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, where she also studied. In 2015, she took over her own viola class there. Simone von Rahden was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from 2009 to 2017 and played in various renowned orchestras as principal viola. From 2016 to 2021 she held this position with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment in London. As a chamber musician, she will perform this season with Kristian Bezuidenhout, fortepiano, and Isabelle Faust, violin, among others. The Berlin-based French cellist Vladimir Waltham is a member of the Linos Piano Trio and principal cellist of the English baroque ensemble La Serenissima. He has recorded numerous CDs with both ensembles and performs with them in renowned concert halls and at acclaimed festivals.

As of August 2022