Who are we?
What is a Cappella della lettera?
Lübeck's main church, St. Mary's, is the meeting point and center of the city. The special proximity to the town hall and the merchants, who ultimately brought the city its fame and wealth and traded with the whole of northern Europe, was also the reason for the establishment of a “Chapel of Letters”: if someone had received such a document, knew little about its contents, was unfamiliar with the foreign language or even couldn't read it at all, they went to the officials in the chapel, who opened it up for them, translated and transcribed it.
Inspired by this activity, we also found our name. Baroque music is worth listening to experimentally, opening it up anew and translating it. Our cappella is therefore not only a musical group, but also a flexible study group for mysterious baroque works and new music.
Buxtehude's oeuvre was reason enough for Andreas Kammenos to begin his studies in the Buxtehude city of Lübeck. Born in Gießen in 2004, the musician is studying recorder in the class of Prof. Karel van Steenhoven (Karlsruhe University of Music) and early music at the Lübeck University of Music (Pieter-Jan Belder).
Even at a young age, he won 1st prizes at the Bundeswettbewerb “Jugend Musiziert” and the Händel Competition in Karlsruhe. In 2020 he recorded his first solo CD “Sonnenstrahlen der Recorder”, 1st prize at the International Nordhorn recorder competition. Awarded “Young Baroque talent of the year” by the Austria Baroque Academy, he is now exploring some of Lübeck's 17th and 18th century music in a flutistic manner. He is supported by both the Lübeck Possehl Stiftung and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
Moscow-born cellist Dmitri Dichtiar teaches baroque cello and historical performance practice at the Karlsruhe University of Music and Performing Arts. He studied with Rainer Zipperling and Christophe Coin (Schola Cantorum Basilensis). His intensive study of early music from various stylistic periods has led him to collaborate with many renowned ensembles. He has performed as a soloist and chamber music partner at many music festivals and concert series in Germany and abroad and leads the Karlsruhe Barockorchester or the "Gottesaue Ensemble".
Dasha Vorontsova's enjoyment of music from all eras is also reflected in her choice of studies: she studied piano and historical keyboard instruments with Prof. Markus Stange and Kristian Nyquist in Karlsruhe and Moscow before embarking on a master's degree in contemporary music-making practice, rich in knowledge of historical music. The experience she brings from the one overlaps in the interpretation from the other and so in the ensemble she is always an eye for the future of historical performance practice.Dasha has already performed at the “Kleines Bachfest” Karlsruhe, played at the Aschaffenburg Bach Festival, with the Munich Chamber Orchestra or the KIT Orchestra.
Evnike Kammenos has been studying violin at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Music Mainz (class: Prof. Benjamin Bergmann) since 2020. During her pre-college years at the HfM Karlsruhe with Prof. Nachum Erlich, she discovered a feeling for the multifaceted richness of baroque music and was not a little surprised to build a line from Bach to Dieterich Buxtehude. The young musician is also experienced in other case of chamber music: She plays 1st violin in the Ökumenische Philharmonie and is an active member of the LandesJugendOrchester Baden-Würrtemberg.
Aris Kammenos (cello) was born in Karlsruhe in 2006 and attended the Helmholtz Music High School there after passing the entrance examination. He takes cello lessons with David Raiser (Neuenbürg) and baroque cello with Dmitri Dichtiar (Karlsruhe). He is the 1st bass in the Philharmonic Choir. In 2022 he won the 1st prize and the SWR prize together with the baroque ensemble “Ettlinger Kammerensemble” as basso continuo figure, which led to him appearing on radio and television. Aris attended master classes with Christoph Dangel, Maurice Steger, Prof. Michael Oman, etc.. He is a recipient of the Riemschneider Scholarship.
Konstantina Lazaridou also enjoys the many facets of Lübeck's baroque music anew every day. She studied in Thessaloniki with Vinia Tsopela and Theodor Tzovanakis (“University of Macedonia”). During her piano studies with Prof. Dr. h. c. Kalle Randalu, she then discovered her love for the harpsichord and the historical keyboard instrument and has been studying this with Kristian Nyquist (HfM Karlsruhe) since 2019. She graduated with honors in 2022 and was teaching harpsichord at the Musikakademie "Louis Spohr" in Kassel until 2024.
Guest Musicians: Kyuyoung Kim (Recorder), Helen Gwyneth Buck (baroque cello) Ena Markert (viola da Gamba), Lara-Sofie Brust (baroque singing), Huai-Hsin Chang (baroque oboe), Taewoo-Peter Kim (organ), Nataliya Abryutina (harpsichord), Henriette Brunner (baroque viola)