De Muziekkapel is honored to announce the arrival of Frank Braley and Avedis Kouyoumdjian as new Masters in Residence. They replace pianist Louis Lortie, who was Master in Residence of the piano department from 2016 to 2022. They are accompanied by violinist Corina Belcea, first violin of the Belcea Quartet, the new Master in Residence of the chamber music department after 17 years with the Artemis Quartet.
Frank Braley, former First Prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition of 1991 and pianist with an established reputation on Belgian and international stages, was from 2014 to 2020 music director of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, collaborated on numerous projects at De Muziekkapel and gave several masterclasses to young resident artists in previous seasons.
Avedis Kouyoumdjian is a former First Prize winner of the 6th International Beethoven Competition in Vienna. He has performed in prestigious concert halls around the world and began his teaching career at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he was director of the chamber music department of the Joseph Haydn Institute. He has also taught at many other institutions, including De Muziekkapel where he has been professor of the piano section since 2016.
The Belcea Quartet was born at the Royal College of Music. Corina has been a founding member and first violinist for 23 years. She has performed with the quartet and as a soloist around the world and holds a professorship for violin at the Hochschule der Kunste in Bern.
De Muziekkapel looks forward to welcoming these three new Masters in Residence from the 2022-2023 season onwards.