Boston Music Institute
2020 BMI International Competition
November 12, 2020 | 2PM/EDT
Boston MA, USA
CANCELED
2020 BMI International Competition for Violin, Viola, Cello for ages 15-25
This fall of 2021 the winners will be performing chamber music with members of the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin, Germany.
Amihai Grosz, 1st Principal Viola
Berlin Philharmonic
Amihai Grosz, born in Jerusalem, started playing violin at the age of five and switched to the viola when he was eleven. He initially studied with David Chen at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, later continuing with Tabea Zimmermann in Berlin at the Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” and with Haim Taub at the Keshet Eilon Music Center in Israel. In September 2010 he was appointed first principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a concert soloist he has already appeared with various renowned orchestras like the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Berlin Staatskapelle.
Amihai Grosz is a founding member of the Jerusalem String Quartet and also plays in the Philharmonic Octet. In addition, the violist has performed as a chamber musician with partners including Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Pahud, Mitsuko Uchida, Janine Jansen and Julian Rachlin, at prestigious venues and festivals in Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland and the UK. Amihai Grosz plays an instrument made by Gasparo da Salò from the 16th century which is on loan to him for life from a private collection.
Martin Löhr, Principal Cello
Berlin Philharmonic
He studied with Wolfgang Mehlhorn at the Hamburg Musikhochschule, with Zara Nelsova at the Juilliard School in New York, and with Wolfgang Boettcher at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste. Besides being a principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, he also appears as a soloist and in chamber music in numerous European countries as well as in the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
As a member of the Jean Paul Trio he won the German Music Council prize and first prizes at the international chamber music competitions in Osaka and Melbourne. Since 2003 he has been a professor at Berlin’s Universität der Künste. His interests include literature – especially Russian – magic and theoretical physics.
Álvaro Parra, Violin
Berlin Philharmonic
Álvaro Parra grew up in a musical family. His earliest childhood memories include public concert performances by his parents, both pianists, and chamber music rehearsals at home. At the age of six, the only thing he wanted for Christmas was a violin and he knew quite early on that he wanted to be a violinist. To achieve this goal, the Chilean studied at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin. He also attended masterclasses with Christoph Poppen, Mauricio Fuks, Roman Nodel, and Harald Schoneweg. This was followed by fellowships at the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (2001/2002) and at the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker (2002-2004), where he was a student of Toru Yasunaga and Thomas Timm.
From 2005 to 2008, he taught in his home country as a professor of violin at the Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile before joining the 1st violins of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.