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Violinist Takako Nishizaki is perhaps the most frequently recorded concert violinist of the digital era. She was also the first violinist to learn by way of the Suzuki method; her father, Shinji Nishizaki, worked with Shinichi Suzuki in developing the method, and Takako Nishizaki took instruction from both teachers. She made her debut at the age of 9, and further studied with Broadus Erle, starting in Japan and later at Yale University. Nishizaki finished her violin studies at Juilliard under Joseph Fuchs and in 1967 won second prize in the Leventritt International competition behind Pinchas Zukerman.

One would surmise that with her talent and beauty that American record companies would be getting in each other's way to obtain Nishizaki's recording contract. But they weren't, and by 1974 Nishizaki settled in Hong Kong, where she established a career as the pre-eminent violin virtuoso on the Chinese concert circuit. This was no small feat, as in China they take the violin seriously and its literature is central to the entire establishment of Chinese classical music. Along the way Nishizaki met and married German businessman Klaus Heymann, founder of HNH International, the corporate parent to the popular classical label Naxos. Heymann sponsored Nishizaki in an extensive series of recordings of Chinese classical music on his Marco Polo label. Some of these recordings sold into the millions of copies in China, providing the nest egg that launched the Naxos label in the late 1980s.

With Naxos, Nishizaki has recorded much of the standard Western violin literature, as well, but has made a special mission of recording key violin literature that is known in concert and in the classroom, but seldom represented on records. The most celebrated example of this tendency is her recordings of the concertos of Chevalier de St-Georges, but it also includes her interpretations of Charles August de Bériot, Louis Spohr, and Joseph Joachim. All of Nishizaki's recordings are notable for her generous, singing tone; flexible rhythmic sensibility; her sense of architectural symmetry in regard to whole movements; her ability to excite; and the sheer beauty of Nishizaki's sound.

The Capella Istropolitana is a Bratislava-based chamber orchestra whose activity in the recording studio places it among the most recorded ensembles of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Buyers browsing the bins of a record store or shopping online will find this seemingly ubiquitous ensemble on more than 250 CD releases. Actually, by 2008 the Capella Istropolitana had made over 90 recordings, but many of the performances appear on reissues, often in theme-oriented albums or series, like Cinema Classics (12 volumes), Chill with Bach, Chill with Beethoven, Best of Opera, and many others. But the ensemble is no mere peddler of popular or generic music for quick sale; they have been involved in highly successful Haydn and Mozart projects, and have recorded the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, the five Beethoven piano concertos, and large chunks of the output of Vivaldi, Handel, and others. Their repertory reaches well beyond the Baroque and Classical periods, both on recordings and in concert, taking in works by Brahms, Dvorák, Elgar, Britten, Respighi, Prokofiev, Bartók, Stravinsky, and Barber. Most of their recordings have been issued on the Naxos label, but others have appeared on Erato, Brilliant Classics, Bridge, and Claves.

Established in 1983 by members of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the Capella Istropolitana has performed under various conductors over the years and has regularly toured Europe, North America, the Far East, New Zealand, and Israel. The ensemble has never had a music director or chief conductor. In its early years it consisted of about 15 players, but eventually augmented its membership to accommodate performances of larger works, like the Beethoven symphonies.

The group's first Bach recordings appeared in the late '80s with general acclaim, and by the early '90s the group had achieved recognition both at home and abroad: in 1991 the Bratislava City Council honored the ensemble with a decree naming it Chamber Orchestra of the City of Bratislava; that same year Naxos began issuing the first CDs in the group's Haydn and Mozart symphony projects.

Throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the new century, the Capella Istropolitana remained extremely active in the recording studio, achieving great popularity with two platinum discs. The group also maintained a busy schedule of concerts, touring the U.S., Canada, and almost every European country. Its 2007 schedule, for instance, included numerous concerts in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, France, and Switzerland.

After beginning his career as a flutist, Bela Drahos has added the roles of chamber music leader and conductor to his dossier. With his recordings of the complete Beethoven symphonies, Drahos was propelled onto the international stage by the warm praise bestowed by critics, including H.C. Robbins Landon. Although he performs as an ensemble flutist and presents himself as an accomplished soloist, his work as a maestro has provided him with his greatest celebrity. While studying at the Gyor Conservatory beginning in 1969, Drahos won two flute competitions: in 1971, he took first prize in the Concertino Prague International Flute Competition, and in 1972, he placed first in an event produced by Hungarian television. After graduating with honors from Budapest's Liszt Academy, Drahos continued to win Central European awards such as the Hungarian Liszt Prize in 1985 and the Bartók/Pasztory Prize in 1988. Founder/leader of the Hungarian Radio Wind Quartet, Drahos was appointed principal flutist of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra in 1976. His solo career has taken him to numerous venues in Europe and the Far East. Drahos' podium activities significantly increased when he was engaged as resident conductor of the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra in 1993. A classical period orchestra, the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia, was assembled for Drahos in 1992 from members of the HSSO and principal players from other key Hungarian orchestras. Initially, the ensemble was intended for recordings only, but the NES eventually began performing public concerts. The ensemble's size varies from Baroque string groupings to mid-sized for the Haydn/Mozart symphonies and even larger for Beethoven orchestral works. The majority of Drahos' recordings have been made for the Naxos label. As a soloist, he has been featured on discs devoted to the flute sonatas of C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi flute concerti, and the flute concerti of Leopold Hofmann. With the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia, Drahos' traversal of the complete Beethoven symphonies won top recommendations from many news publications and music magazines; his sinewy, rhythmically firm readings satisfied both period performance enthusiasts and those who preferred the more substantial sound of modern instruments. The conductor's recordings of Haydn symphonies and masses have also earned high marks from critics.

Billing himself as "the fifth most recorded American conductor" thanks to his many CDs of works both popular and obscure for the budget Naxos label, Stephen Gunzenhauser has maintained a fairly low "live" profile in the United States, having devoted more than two decades to long-term relationships with small East Coast orchestras.

A graduate of New York City's High School of Music and Art, Gunzenhauser received a bachelor of music degree from Oberlin College, a master of music degree from the New England Conservatory, and a diploma from the Salzburg Mozarteum in Austria following three Fulbright scholarship grants. He was also awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters by Widener University.

Gunzenhauser assisted Igor Markevitch in Monte Carlo and Leopold Stokowski in New York before becoming executive and artistic director of the Wilmington (Delaware) Music School in 1974. Five years later, he was appointed conductor and music director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and of the Lancaster Symphony in Pennsylvania. Gunzenhauser left the Delaware Symphony at the end of the 2001-2002 season but retained his Lancaster position even after he was named artistic advisor and principal conductor of the Bogota (Colombia) Philharmonic in 2004.

The State of Delaware appointed Gunzenhauser to be its first cultural ambassador in 1990. In December 1999, Gunzenhauser received the Order of the First State, the highest accolade awarded by the Delaware state government. He continues to live in Wilmington. Naxos and Marco Polo have sold more than two million copies of his recordings in repertory including Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Bruch, Orff, many Romantic Russians, Copland, Dvorák, and Chinese composer Chen Gang.

Kevin Mallon is an Irish period performance musician. He studied voice and violin as a youngster in Ireland. He studied with John Eliot Gardiner, developing an interest in Baroque and Classical era violin.

He became concertmaster of two prominent Parisian "original instruments" groups, Les Arts Florissants and Le Concert Spirituel. He moved to Canada where he played for and sometimes conducted Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and taught at the University of Toronto. In 1996, he founded the Aradia Ensemble, and he and the orchestra soon began recording with Naxos, both orchestral and operatic music. Mallon also conducted Opera 2005 in Cork between 2004 and 2009, and has guest conducted several organizations in Canada, the United States, and throughout Europe. In addition to directing Aradia, the Toronto Chamber Orchestra, Ottawa's Thirteen Strings (since 2010), and New York's West Side Chamber Orchestra (since 2011), he also arranged and scored the television series Camelot (2010).

British choral conductor Jeremy Summerly has made many recordings with the Oxford Camerata, which he founded in 1984. He also directs the Choir of St. Luke's, Chelsea, and is a musicologist, radio presenter, and educator.

Summerly was born on February 28, 1961. He attended Lichfield Cathedral School, Winchester College, and New College Oxford. His conducting career began while he was still a student at the latter, as he led the New College Chamber Orchestra and the Oxford Chamber Choir. Graduating with honors in 1982, he landed a job as a studio manager at the BBC, also doing historical musicology research at King's College in London. He has been heard on the BBC 3 and BBC 4 radio networks since 1991 as a presenter and reviewer. In 1983, Summerly became the conductor of the choir at the Edington Music Festival, and the following year, he formed the Oxford Camerata choir. He remained as director of that group as of the mid-2020s. In 1991, he and the Oxford Camerata recorded the album Lamentations for the Naxos label; they have continued to record for that label, often issuing multiple albums in the course of a year. The group's repertory comprises mostly Renaissance music but extends back to Machaut and Hildegard of Bingen and forward through Fauré to contemporary music.

Summerly also conducted the Oxford Schola Cantorum from 1990 to 1996, and in 2010, he became director of music at St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, in London. From 2015 to 2019, Summerly was director of music at St. Peter's College, Oxford. He has taught at Gresham College in London and at the Royal Academy of Music, of which he is an honorary member. He has edited several collections of printed music and is the author of articles in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music as well as other major reference books. He continues to direct the Choir of St. Luke's, Chelsea, with which he issued a recording of music by contemporary composer Philip W.J. Stopford on Naxos in 2024. By the mid-2020s, his recording catalog comprised some 50 items. ~ James Manheim

The Aradia Ensemble is a period-instrument orchestra and vocal ensemble of 30 or so core members. Based in Toronto, it is best known for performances and recordings of 17th and 18th century French and English works by such composers as Charpentier, Lully, Rameau, Purcell, William Boyce, and Samuel Arnold. But it is hardly limited to those spheres, as its repertory takes in works by Vivaldi, Handel, J.S. Bach, Haydn, Cimarosa, and little known composers like Franz Beck, Václav Pichl, and Johann Baptist Vanhal. It also performs contemporary works by such composers as Canadian Rose Bolton. The ensemble is led by Irish-born, Canadian-based Kevin Mallon, who serves as both music director and artistic director. The Aradia Ensemble presents a regular series of concerts at various venues in Toronto, including the Glenn Gould Studio, Blessed Sacrament Church (for larger works), and Gladstone Hotel (for smaller ones). It has given regular international tours and often appear at music festivals in both Canada and the U.S. It has made over 30 recordings for the Naxos label.

Kevin Mallon founded the Aradia Ensemble in Toronto, Canada, in 1996. The AE immediately drew attention on the international scene, as its first recording for Naxos was issued that year, a CD of the Christmas Cantata and other works by Antonio Caldara.

As the new century approached the AE drew notice as far away as New Zealand, where in 2000 it was the principal ensemble at the New Zealand International Chamber Festival. The following year it performed to acclaim at the Musica nel Chiostro Festival in Tuscany, Italy.

By 2005 its Naxos recordings had amassed to more than a dozen, with notable efforts like the Buxtehude sacred cantatas (2004) and the Eight Symphonies, Op. 2, of William Boyce (2005), which was awarded a prestigious Editor's Choice Award from Gramophone Magazine.

The AE received its second Editor's Choice Award in March 2006 for a CD of Handel's Water Music and Royal Fireworks. In concert, successes also continued: a September 11, 2010, performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto was highly acclaimed by critics.

Raphael Wallfisch is one of the leading English cellists of his generation. His repertory is vast, taking in 19th century staples by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Dvorák, as well as 20th century standards by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Respighi, and Barber. Yet he has also focused much attention on works by British composers, too, from Elgar, Delius, and Bax to Maxwell Davies, MacMillan, Simpson, and Tavener. Wallfisch has recorded extensively for many labels, including Chandos, Nimbus, and Naxos.

Wallfisch was born in London on June 15, 1953. His mother was a cellist and his father a pianist. Young Raphael, after studies on the violin and piano, turned to the cello at age eight. His list of teachers is impressive: at home he studied with Amaryllis Fleming (1967-1969) and Derek Simpson (at the Royal Academy of Music from 1970-1973), and abroad with Amadeo Baldovino (Italy; 1969) and Gregor Piatigorsky (the U.S.).

It was through his studies with Piatigorsky in California that he was given the opportunity to perform in several private recitals with Jascha Heifetz. Wallfisch won first prize in Florence, Italy, at the Gaspar Cassadò International Cello Competition in 1977. Thereafter, his career grew in several directions: as a soloist he regularly appeared in recitals and with British orchestras; in 1980 he began a 12-year stint playing in a duo with his father, Peter, while serving as a professor of music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He would later teach cello at the Zürich Winterthur Konservatorium and Hochschule in Mainz, Germany.

In the 1980s Wallfisch gained an international reputation from his appearances throughout Europe and the U.S. In 1982 he started a long relationship with the English label Chandos: among his earliest recordings were a coupling of the Barber Cello Concerto and the Shostakovich First Cello Concerto (1982) and a disc of Tchaikovsky works that included the original version of the Rococo Variations (1983). Over the next decade or so he would make more than 20 recordings for Chandos. Since the 1990s he has branched out his recording activity to include other labels. Among later recordings is his two-disc set of the complete works for cello by Shostakovich on Nimbus (2006). Shostakovich was also featured, along with J.S. Bach and Tchaikovsky, in his successful concert tours of the U.K. and Germany in the fall of 2006. Further efforts included recordings of Zemlinsky's Cello Sonata (2007) and the cello sonatas of Chopin, Laks, and Szymanowski (2010).

The City of London Sinfonia is a medium-sized group that often collaborates with choirs and opera companies. The group has a major presence in London's concert life, appearing everywhere from traditional concert halls to clubs.

The City of London Sinfonia, often CLS, was founded in 1971 by conductor Richard Hickox, who shaped the group fundamentally and remained its music director until 2008. It was originally called the Richard Hickox Orchestra. The group collaborated with choirs from the beginning, appearing in a 1973 performance of Handel's Messiah at a Royal Albert Hall Promenade concert. The CLS made its first recording in 1975, issuing an album of Bach masses on the Argo label. The change to the name City of London Sinfonia came in 1979 when the group was installed as resident ensemble at the still-under-construction Barbican Centre. The CLS began its international career with a tour of West Germany in 1985 and has continued to tour in many countries, often annually. In the mid-'80s, the CLS made several recordings for the Collegium label of music by John Rutter with the Cambridge Singers. The group began a new residency at the summer Opera Holland Park company in 2004 and continues to hold that position as of the mid-2020s.

The group often collaborates with both choral ensembles and opera companies and in 1997, its recording of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes won a Grammy Award. The group has a large repertory ranging from the Baroque to contemporary works; in its earlier years, it often focused on British music. Michael Collins was named principal conductor in 2010, with Stephen Layton serving as artistic director; since 2017, the group has been led by violinist Alexandra Wood in the position of creative director. The orchestra's recording catalog is vast, although its pace slowed somewhat in the 2010s; it has recorded for Chandos, Signum Classics, Hyperion, and many other labels. In 2023, the CLS backed The Wimbledon Choral Society on a Signum Classics recording of Cecilia McDowall's Da Vinci Requiem and 70 Degrees Below Zero. By that time, the group's recording catalog comprised more than 60 digital items, plus earlier releases during the LP era. ~ James Manheim