Masterclass for Violine 2026
Professors 2026
Prof. Skerdjano Keraj
At the age of 6, Skerdjano Keraj received his first violin lessons at the "Liceu Artistik Jordan Misja", a music boarding school for highly gifted children in Tirana. After passing his final artistic examinations with distinction in violin and chamber music with Prof. Andreas Reiner at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, he passed his concert examinations with Prof. Werner Scholz in Berlin and Rostock, also with distinction.
Keraj was awarded the Folkwang Prize for Music in 2001 and is a prize winner of the International Competition for Chamber Music in Thessaloniki.
From 2003 to 2015, he was concertmaster of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. As a guest concertmaster, he has performed with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and together with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. In addition, engagements as soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster have taken him to other European countries.
He is a regular member of the jury at the International Violin Competition "Queen Sophie Charlotte" in Mirow, at the "Szymon Goldberg International Competition for Violin and Viola" in Meissen and at the International Competition for Violin and Viola in Stuttgart and at the International Competition for Violin Kloster Schöntal and follows as a guest professor invitations to master classes in Italy, France, Poland and Germany.
Since 2008 Skerdjano Keraj teaches violin, chamber music and orchestral literature at the Aachen location of the HfMT Cologne, since 2015 he holds a full professorship for violin. He is associate dean and deputy director at the Aachen location.
His students are prize winners of international competitions and have received engagements as concertmasters, auditioners, part leaders, tuttists and academy players in renowned orchestras.
Prof. Paul Roczek
Paul Roczek has taught at the Mozarteum University since 1969, where he holds a professorship in violin and serves as Quartet in Residence. Over the course of his career, he has held numerous leadership positions, including Head of Department, Institute Director, Deputy Rector and Artistic Director of the International Summer Academy, as well as the Rectorate’s Representative for International Relations. Today, Paul Roczek is regarded as one of the leading figures in violin pedagogy, particularly in the training and development of young musicians.
Paul Roczek’s pre-college class at the Mozarteum has long been regarded as a training ground for promising musical careers. He attracted international attention in 2014 when his student Ziyu He won the Eurovision Prize European Young Musicians for Austria, followed by further successes at major international competitions, including the Menuhin Competition in 2016. He subsequently became the youngest musician ever to appear as a soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic, performing Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto in a subscription concert.
Another prominent young artist who has worked with Roczek for several years is Clara Shen, who, at just 13, has already won numerous international competitions, appeared repeatedly on German television and given major concerts.
As a respected pedagogue, Roczek has served on the juries of many leading international competitions, including the Kulenkampff, Kreisler and Louis Spohr competitions, as well as competitions in Schöntal Monastery, Shenzhen, Singapore and the Mozart competitions in Salzburg, Augsburg and Zhuhai. He has been invited as a visiting professor to institutions including Bowdoin, Semmering, the Menuhin Academy, the China Conservatory, the Sommerakademie Mozarteum and Keshet Eilon, and has given masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Moscow Conservatory, the Toho Gakuen School and the Shanghai Conservatory, as well as in major cultural centres such as Paris, Prague, Mannheim, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Vilnius, Tallinn, Gothenburg, Philadelphia and Dallas.
In recent years, Roczek has been involved in developing international youth competitions in Zhuhai and Sarajevo and serves as an adviser to the Polar Prize Concours in Gothenburg; in Austria, he chairs the Federal Advisory Board of the Austrian Music Competitions (prima la musica). His work in this field underscores his commitment to preparing talented young musicians, both technically and musically, for formal studies.
Prof. Michael Vaiman
Michael Vaiman is a top prize-winner at the H. Wieniawski Competition in Poznan (Poland). Professor of Violin at Musikhochschule in Cologne, EuroArts Academy and Talent Music Master Academy.
Michael Vaiman was born in Odessa (Ukraine). After graduating from the distinguished Stolyarsky School of Music in his hometown, he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, under the tutelage of legendary violinist David Oistrach & Semyon Snitkovsky.
Early in his career, Vaiman already received critical acclaim as a "poet of the violin." Along with his "technical brilliance", he has particularly been lauded for his "noble and articulate tone" and his "deep understanding of music".
Especially noteworthy is the unusual range of his repertoire, which includes all violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Frank, and Schumann, as well as all of Schubert, Shostakovich, and Szymanowski compositions for violin and piano. Michael Vaiman is also the first performer of a number of works of the modern composers (B. Tischenko, L. Hoffman, D. Smirnov, E. Firsova) He founded a chamber orchestra in Israel, which he manages and conducts (1991-96).
Recently he performed both as a soloist and a chamber musician in Europe, the USA, Japan, and Israel. Among the high points of his international career were violin concertos performed with orchestras and conductors such as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under G. Herbich, the Moscow Philharmonic under Y. Simonov, St. Petersburg's Symphony under A. Jansons, etc. He also participated in many chamber music festivals, such as Kuhmo (Finland), Tours (France), Elba Festival (Italy) and Summit Music Festival (New York).
Michael Vaiman's activity as a teacher began in 1980 at the Central Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and continued until 1989. From 1989 to 1997 he was Professor at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel-Aviv University, 1995-1999 guest professor at the Aichi Prefecture's University of Fine Art and Music in Nagoya, Japan. Michael Vaiman was invited as a juror at various international music competitions. Michael Vaiman is giving numerous master classes at Mozarteum Summer Academy (Salzburg), Royal College of Music (London, UK), Liszt Academy (Budapest), Toho Gakuen School (Tokyo), Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (China), Southern Methodist University in Dallas (USA), "Keshet Eilon" in Israel and many others in Japan and Europe.
His students work in the different orchestras in Spain, Japan, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, and the USA. Many of them are winners of international competitions.
Masterclass Regulations
The masterclass program includes four individual lessons à 45 minutes – at least one lesson with each professor, as well as internal performances and public concerts. Chamber music lessons for existing groups can also be arranged as an alternative to individual lessons. Participants are encouraged to observe one another's lessons.
Participants are free to choose their own repertoire. The prepared works should be of a level of difficulty comparable to a solo sonata or partita by Bach or Ysaÿe, or to a classical, romantic, or contemporary work.
Piano collaborators can be provided, based on availability, at no additional cost to the participants.
Please arrange to arrive on 09 August 2026. The masterclass begins on 10 August 2026, and the public concerts will take place on the last day of the masterclass, 14 August 2026.
All active participants will receive a certificate of participation after completion of the masterclass.
Application
Application is effected by completing the application form. A current curriculum vitae must be enclosed. All applications are to be received latest by 15 June 2026.
(Registrations received after this date will only be considered if capacity permits.)
Fees
Registration fee: 50,- € (non-refundable)
Course fee for active participants: 550,- €
Listener/accompanying person: 250,- €
Six nights in a double room including meals (at Haus Villigst): 390,- €
After the application forms have been received, a payment request for the registration fee (50, - €) will be issued. Payment of the registration fee must be received within 5 working days from the date of the payment request. Subsequently, a confirmation letter with further details will be sent via email. Payment for all the remaining fees are to be received in full by 31 June 2026.
All bank transaction fees and travel-related costs shall be borne by the participants.
Cancellation
In the event of cancellation by the participant, the registration fee (50,- €) is not refundable.
Course fee and accommodation fees will be refunded in full for cancellations received before 01 July 2026. For late cancellations up to 28 days before the start of the masterclass, only the course fee will be refunded. No refunds are possible for cancellations after this date.
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Organizer: Mr. Xiushi Wu
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