Lecturers
of the International Summer Academy Bad Leonfelden 2026
Thomas Riebl was born in Vienna. He studied with Siegfried Führlinger, Peter Schidlof, and Sandor Végh. He made his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus at the age of 16; since then, he has performed on the most important stages in Europe and the USA (including the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Carnegie Hall, NY), with many orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Horst Stein, Edo de Waart, Sir Andrew Davies, and Sylvain Cambreling. He has been a guest at many renowned international music festivals (e.g., Salzburg Festival) and has performed with Jessye Norman, Brigitte Fassbaender, Aurèle Nicolet, Gidon Kremer, Benjamin Schmid, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Tabea Zimmermann, Natalia Gutman, Boris Pergamenschikow, Steven Isserlis, Sabine Meyer, András Schiff, Oleg Maisenberg, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Lars Vogt, and the Juilliard String Quartet.
Thomas Riebl won 3rd prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1976 and 1st prize at the Naumburg International Viola Competition in New York in 1982.
From 1972 to 1979, he was the violist of the Vienna Franz Schubert Quartet (1st prize at the European Broadcasting Union competition in Stockholm in 1974); from 1979 to 2004, he was a member of the Vienna String Sextet. Since 1983, he has been a professor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and has given countless master classes at the most prestigious international music academies. Many of his students have won international competitions and have become professors at music academies as well as members of leading orchestras and string quartets.
He is the artistic director of the International Summer Academy Bad Leonfelden, Austria, and has recorded numerous CDs for EMI, RCA, pan classics, and Hyperion Records. In 2010, together with master luthier Bernd Hiller, he developed a five-string tenor viola, on which he performs works such as the Arpeggione Sonata by F. Schubert, J.S. Bach’s lute version of his 5th Cello Suite, his 6th Cello Suite, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (in the original version for basset clarinet), as well as works newly written for the instrument, including „Toccata for Thomas“ by Garth Knox.
“The instantaneous grip, the electrifying playing style throughout, the logical phrasing, the rhythmic stability, and the staggeringly accurate intonation characterized all of Diyang Mei’s performances.”
Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Ever since violist Diyang Mei’s brilliant success at the 2018 ARD International Music Competition, winning first prize in the viola category, the Audience Prize and several special prizes, he has been steadily furthering his international career.
As a soloist, Diyang Mei has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the SWR Festival Schwetzingen, the Schwarzwald Music Festival and the Mozartfest in Würzburg. He has performed with András Schiff, Vadim Gluzman, Günter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Ana Chumachenco, Sabine Meyer, Christoph Prégardien und Frans Helmerson among others.
Diyang Mei has held the position of 1st principal viola of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra since the fall of 2019. In October 2022, he will take up the same position with the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra.
He was awarded first prizes at the 52nd International Instrumental Competition for Viola in Markneukirchen (2017), at the International Max Rostal Music Competition for Viola in Berlin (2015), at the Kulturkreis Gasteig Musikpreis for Strings in Munich (2015), at the IVC Young Artist Competition in Rochester (2012), at the 19th International Johannes Brahms Viola Competition in Austria (2012) and at the 10th International Viola and Cello Competition in Villa de Llanes, Spain (2008).
His first solo-album “Transforming Viola” was released in 2019. In June 2022, His second album “Viola à L’Ecole de Paris” will be released, to which he is dedicated together with the German-pianist Oliver Triendl.
Diyang Mei has studied with Hariolf Schlichtig at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2014 and as of October 2019, will continue his studies with Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Academy. He is supported by both the Yu Art Foundation in China and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and is also a Yehudi Menuhin LMN e.V. scholarship holder. He plays a Antonio Mariani viola from 1646, on generous loan by a private collection.
Marko Milenković has been the principal violist of the WDR Symphony Orchestra since 2024, having previously become the principal violist of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra at the age of 22. Starting in the winter semester of 2025, he will take up a professorship for viola at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
As a guest principal violist, Marko has worked with renowned ensembles such as Camerata Bern, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Casa da Música Symphony Orchestra (Portugal), the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein, and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists. He is also a regular guest with Camerata Salzburg and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
As a passionate chamber musician, Marko was a member of the Adelphi Quartet Salzburg, with whom he celebrated international success—including 1st prize at the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation Competition (Heidelberger Frühling), 2nd prize at the Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition in London, as well as several awards at the Premio Paolo Borciani International Competition in Reggio Emilia. Previous chamber music stations led him to the Testore Quartet (Austria) and the Amar Quartet (Switzerland).
He has performed at major festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, and the Rheingau Music Festival, where he appeared with artists such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Valentin Erben, Sergio Azzolini, and Ilya Gringolts. As a soloist, he has performed with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the Bosch String Soloists and has taught at the Haliaeti Masterclasses in Slovenia and at the Royal Conservatoire Birmingham.
Born in Ćuprija (Serbia), Marko began his musical education on the violin at the age of six before switching to the viola at fourteen and becoming a student of Prof. Tomislav Milošević. He continued his studies with Thomas Riebl and Lawrence Power.
He plays a viola by Hiroshi Iizuka from 1996.
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