DANCE OF THE SUN

Dancer, choreographer, musician, and stage director, Juan Kruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola is one of today’s most fascinating artists in the field of contemporary dance. Born in Legazpi, Spain, he began his studies as a counter-tenor at the San Sebastián Conservatory, and later at the Early Music School in Amsterdam.

A self-taught dancer, he quickly got noticed by several prestigious choreographers in Europe, such as Pieter Scholten, Emio Greco, Arthur Rosenfeld, Luc Dunberry and Lloyd Newson, who all invited him to collaborate with their dance companies.

Since 1996, Juan Kruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola is a member of the Sasha Waltz Dance Company in Berlin. He has assisted Sasha Waltz himself in various choreographies, while also collaborating on various dance works with other companies.

In 2000, he created his first two choreographies, The rest of you, as well as My Dearest... My Fairest. following the success of these works, his was commissioned by the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin to create a new choreography based on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The world premiere of this show, given at the Radial System in Berlin, was hailed by the public and press.

His latest choreography, commissioned by the Geneva Camerata and based on Lully’s Baroque opera Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, has been praised as one of today’s most important accomplishments in the field of contemporary dance.

In addition to his work as choreographer and performer, he is also a guest professor at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen.

Known for his eclectic and fascinating programmes, conductor and pianist David Greilsammer is recognised as one of today’s most audacious classical artists. The New York Times has recently awarded two of David Greilsammer’s albums as Recording of the Year, in addition to selecting his solo recital “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas” as one of the ten most important musical events of the year.

Praised as creator of numerous ground-breaking musical projects, ranging from baroque to contemporary music, David Greilsammer has also been celebrated for his Mozart performances. He has performed in Paris all of Mozart’s piano sonatas in a one-day “marathon” and recently, he has played and conducted in Geneva all of Mozart’s twenty-seven piano concertos, in one season. In the past years, David Greilsammer has released four recordings on the Naïve label, and more recently, three prize-winning albums on the Sony Classical label.

Since 2013, David Greilsammer serves as Music and Artistic Director of the Geneva Camerata (GECA). With this adventurous ensemble, he gives over thirty-five concerts per season, including international tours that have taken him and the ensemble to venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Kings Place in London, NCPA in Beijing, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, and Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico. David Greilsammer and GECA regularly collaborate with dancers, choreographers, actors, visual artists, as well as jazz, world, rock, and folk musicians.

David Greilsammer has recently performed as guest conductor/soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Milano La Verdi Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Mexico National Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. He has also given solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Verbier Festival, Salle Flagey in Brussels, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and Kennedy Center in Washington.