Chamber Music at Sunday Salon

Chamber Music

Cello: Elena Gröger

Violin: Laurent Bourquin

Piano: Hanna Maria Meister, Yilan Zhao

Program

Lili Boulanger: 3 Pieces for cello and piano

Johannes Brahms: Sonata for cello and piano in e minor, Op.38

Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65

Elena Gröger, cello

Elena Gröger was born in Dießen am Ammersee, near Munich, Germany, in 2004 and discovered the cello for herself at the age of 4. She achieved 15 first prizes at Jugend Musiziert competitions (solo and chamber music) and made her debut at the age of 15 with the Reichenhaller Philharmonic Orchestra with the Cello Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns. In 2025 she received the Landsberg am Lech cultural award. Having graduated her Bachelor of Arts in Music with first class honors with Prof. Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in June 2024, she is continuing her studies with him in the Master's degree in Violoncello instrumental pedagogy/orchestra. Before, Elena Gröger took lessons from Prof. Stefan Haack, Hanno Simons and Prof. Matteo Ronchini. She completed master classes with Mischa Maisky, Daniel Müller-Schott, Claudio Bohórquez, Thomas Demenga et al. She has a wealth of orchestral experience under conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Fabio Luisi. She has already performed with Alice Sara Ott, Rudolf Buchbinder, Igor Levit, David Garrett, Nemanja Radulovic and Fazil Say. Elena Gröger has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and Portugal.

Laurent Bourquin, violin

Laurent Bourquin began learning the violin at the age of eight at the music school in Ma nnedorf. After four years, he transferred to Philip A. Draganov at the conservatory of zurich. At the Swiss Youth Music Competition (SJMW) in 2018, 2022, and 2024, he won several first prizes with distinction as a violinist and as a member of a quartet. In addition, he has participated eight times in the YOUTH CLASSICS Sima program. Since 2024, he has been studying at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in the class of Andreas Janke. With his quartet ROLS, he performed at the Festival des 4 Saisons in 2024/25 and in spring 2025, he took part in the tour of the Gustav Mahler Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Hanna Maria Meister, piano

Hanna Maria Meister began her piano training at the age of four. Alongside the piano, she developed a strong interest in organ and choral works and completed the C-Exam of sacred music in the Diocese of Essen with distinction. Following highschool, Hanna studied human medicine, earning her doctorate and and beginning specialist training before entering Zurich University of the Arts in 2020. Hanna has been studying piano under the guidance of Eckart Heiligers in parallel with her residency in neurology, completing her Bachelor’s degree in 2023 with distinction. She has since devoted herself entirely to music and is currently completing her Master’s degree in the Concert/Performance profile. From the beginning of her studies, Hanna has been deeply engaged with chamber music and art song. She has received important artistic impulses in masterclasses with Christoph Berner, Hans Adolfsen, Ulrich Eisenlohr, Roger Vignoles, Gerold Huber and others and is a participant of the 2025/26 edition of International Udo Reinemann Masterclass. As a collaborative pianist Hanna regularly works as répétiteur for opera and choirs in various ensembles.

Yilan Zhao, Piano/Host

The Chinese pianist Yilan Zhao is the winner of the Lucerne Festival Fritz Gerber Award and numerous international competitions including the 70th Viotti Music Competition. Her repertoire ranges from Rameau, Bach to contemporary composers, whose works she premieres. Her performances at festivals throughout Asia, Europe and the USA were enthusiastically received by the audience. She has performer with the Zürcher Kammerorchester, Orchestra Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, the Argovia Philharmonic, the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with conductors and musicians such as Oliver Schnyder, Daniel Hope, Roberto González-Monjas, Thomas Adés, Sylvain Cambreling, Marc Kissoczy and Daniel Somogyi-Tóth. Yilan Zhao began her professional piano studies at the Pre-College of Wuhan Music Conservatory. At the age of 15 she entered the Juilliard School in New York City, where she studied with Hung-Kuan Chen and received her bachelor's degree with honors. In 2023, She finished her master's degree with the highest distinction at the Zurich University of the Arts in the class of Konstantin Scherbakov. She continued her studies of contemporary music at the The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart with Nicolas Hodges and received the Concert Exam diplome in 2025. As a passionate chamber musician, she created and curated the Sunday Salon in 2022, providing young musicians in Zürich a local stage.

https://www.yilanzhao.com/

Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon in Lavatersaal, Zürich is an offering filled with live music, poetry and story telling that are based on the experience we share together as human beings who are going through similar situations in life. Founded by Yilan Zhao in February 2022, the Matinee series aims to break the boundaries between audience and performers by inviting everyone into the conversation of communicative art and making the floor a less formal and more interactive space for sharing. Every event is followed up by an Apéro for meeting new friends and asking the musicians any curious questions you migh have:)