This chamber ensemble, comprising seven or eight musicians, is the original line-up of the Kölner Klassik Ensemble. In 2005, the young ensemble recorded Astor Piazzolla’s "Estaciones Porteñas" for Sony Classical, thereby gaining international recognition.
In July 2025, our seven-piece chamber ensemble went on tour, giving four concerts in Cologne, Aachen, Bad Bergzabern and as part of the Kreuzgangkonzerte at the famous Alpirsbach Monastery. With its programme ‘Mediterranean Summer Night’, the ensemble combines Baroque, Classical and Romantic solo concertos by Vivaldi, Boccherini and Tchaikovsky with virtuoso Spanish music by Pablo de Sarasate and Isaac Albéniz, and the artful tango works of Astor Piazzolla.
The soloists Alexander Prushinskiy (violin), Lena Kravets (cello) and Tobias Kassung (guitar) showcase their instruments to great effect with atmospheric and highly virtuosic performances. A virtuoso spectacle and a real treat – for connoisseurs as well as for anyone who perhaps doesn’t attend classical concerts very often. The Schwäbische Bote wrote of the concert in Alpirsbach: “Pure, perfect harmony, the greatest joy in playing, rich sounds – a real delight!”
With its programme ‘Seasons – Cage, Piazzolla & Vivaldi’, the Kölner Klassik Ensemble celebrated its 20th anniversary on stage in 2023 at the sold-out Riphahn-Saal in Cologne. The ensemble brought together the ‘Four Seasons’ by John Cage (Quartet in Four Parts), Astor Piazzolla (Las Estaciones Porteñas) and Antonio Vivaldi (Le quattro stagioni) in a new way, with the different ‘Summers’ serving as the starting and ending points of the cycles. A symbol of the seasons, which are becoming increasingly blurred due to man-made climate change.
The regular line-up:
Alexander Prushinskiy, solo violin, concertmaster
Svetlana Shtraub, violin
Aliaksandr Senazhenski, viola
Lena Kravets, cello
Stanislav Anischenko, double bass
Tobias Kassung, guitar & arrangements
