Duo printemps
The Pianist Yuliya Balabicheva and clarinetist Christoph Schneider together form the duo Printemps, which was founded in 2013 when the two musicians met during their master’s studies at the HfMT Cologne.
Yuliya Balabicheva, born in Kazakhstan, first studied in Almaty, where she won numerous prizes and awards. After moving to Cologne, she studied chamber music with Prof. Anthony Spiri, where she graduated with top marks, and later in the solo class of Prof. Florence Millet. In Cologne she is in demand as a chamber musician and performs regularly in various ensembles.
Christoph Schneider, born in Frankfurt am Main, studied in Weimar with Prof. Martin Spangenberg before moving to the HfMT Cologne to study with Prof. Manno. In addition to prizes at international competitions, such as a prize at the ARD competition with his ensemble canorusquintett and scholarships such as that of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, he has played in various German symphony orchestras and currently holds the position of 1st solo clarinetist at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Duisburg.
Together the Duo Printemps played in various chamber concerts, e.g. at the Cologne Musikhochschule, in the Beethovenhaus Bonn, at performances of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes or at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, where they could be heard in the live broadcast of the Open Auditions 2014.
Together with cellist Madoka Yoshida, the two musicians were prizewinners of the Chamber Music Competition of the HfMT Cologne in 2014.
In 2016 Yuliya Balabicheva and Christoph Schneider performed together with violinist Arsenis Selmazidis at the Kurt Weill Fest in Dessau and Berlin.
Their repertoire ranges from classical duo literature such as the works of Brahms, Saint-Saens or Debussy to clarinet concertos by Mozart or Weber and modern works such as the Sonata by Martinu or the Preludes by Gershwin. In addition, they play their own arrangements, such as the version of Beethoven’s Spring Sonata for piano and clarinet, which also gave the ensemble its name.
Contact: duo-printemps@gmx.de