Maastricht International Oboe Festival

 Kai Frömbgen  

Kai Frömbgen was born in 1977. 
After studying in Leipzig with Prof. Christian Wetzel he was Co- principal Oboe in Ludwigshafen from 2003 solo-oboe in Bamberger Symphonikern. 
During his study he was a member of EUYO. 
Later from 2006 on he became principal Oboe in the Lucerne Festivalorchesters with Claudio Abbado and in 2012 member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.  
Amongst others he played with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Bernard Haitink.  
Kai Frömbgen performed as soloist and chamber music partner with Frank- Peter Zimmermann, Isabelle Faust, Bläserensemble Sabine Meyer.  
From 2013 on he started to teach, first at the Musikhochschule Saar, Saarbrücken, from 2014 to 2018 at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and from 2018 at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.  
He is member of the Linos Ensembles. 

Fabien Thouand 

In 1996 Fabien Thouand was awarded first prize of the Conservatoire National de Region de Paris, where he studied in the class Jean-Claude Jaboulay. He then pursued his studies at the CNSM de Paris, initially under the guidance of Jacques Tys and Jean-Louis Capezzali, winning first prize unanimously in 2000, and then partaking in the master course of Maurice Bourgue there the following year. 

In 2001 Thouand won the 2nd prize in the “Prague Spring International Music Competition” and the 3rd prize in the “Giuseppe Tomassini” international competition in Petritoli. He was awarded the 3rd prize at the “Toulon Wind Instruments International Competition” in May 2002. 
Since then, he has pursued a career in France and abroad, specializing in the field of orchestral and chamber repertoire. As a soloist, he has been invited to perform with orchestras including the ones of La Monnaie (Bruxelles), Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonie Orchester, London Symphonie Orchestra, Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich), Opera de Lyon, Bamberger Symphoniker the Camerata Salzburg as well as the Toulouse National Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Ochestra of Europe. Furthermore, he has played under the baton of renowned conductors such as Ricardo Muti, Loreen Maazel, Zubin Metha, Yuri Termikanov, Kurt Mazur, Charles Dutoit, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev and Daniel Barenboim 
Since 2004 he is principal oboe at the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. 
Beyond his career as a performing musician, he is also active as a teacher, being nominated principal oboe teacher at the Lugano School of Music in 2011 and assistant teacher at the CNSM of Lyon in 2010. 
Recently nominated oboe teacher at the Royal College of Music of London. 

Juliana Koch 

Juliana Koch is Principal Oboe of the London Symphony Orchestra, and since the ARD International Music Competition 2017 she has been in demand as a soloist all over Europe. Juliana was appointed Professor of Oboe at the Royal College of Music, London, in 2018. 

For her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2019, Juliana performed the Richard Strauss Oboe concerto together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Other solo engagements include appearances with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks at the Philharmonie im Gasteig (Munich), the London Symphony Orchestra, the Münchener Kammerorchester, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Sinfonia Lahti and the Hungarian National Philharmonic, among others. 

Juliana is an active chamber musician and has performed at several prestigious festivals around the world, including Musica Viva’s Huntingon Estate Music Festival in Australia, Lucerne Festival and Bachfest Leipzig. She has appeared in recital performances in the Konzerthalle Bamberg, NDR Hannover and Deutschlandfunk Köln. 

As a soloist Juliana has recorded for Chandos, BIS, Wergo, cpo and LSO Live labels - including first recordings of the Ruth Gipps and Enjott Schneider oboe concertos. Her recording of the Dutilleux oboe Sonata has been selected for a BBC Music Magazine Award. 

Juliana has been guest Principal Oboe with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. 
She has previously held Principal Oboe positions with the Royal Danish Orchestra and Filarmonica della Scala, and has worked with many of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Bernhard Haitink, Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Pierre Boulez, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Valery Gergiev. 

Juliana has studied with François Leleux in Munich and Fabian Menzel in Frankfurt. Additionally, she has worked with Jacques Tys in Paris. In her time in Munich, she also studied Baroque Oboe with Saskia Fikentscher. 
Juliana plays a Marigaux M2 Oboe.