Alexander Mandl

Alexander Mandl or Sascha, as he is known to many, has been acclaimed to be one of the foremost young violinists of Brazil. Sascha began his violin studies at the age of four under Professor Cussy de Almeida. After his concert debut at the age of six, he went on to study with Professor Erich Lehninger at UNIRIO in Rio de Janeiro. At the 1983 Gramado International Music Festival, Sascha was invited by former Chicago Symphony concertmaster, Sidney Harth, and the world renown cellist, Aldo Parisot, to come to the United States and continue his studies with Mr. Harth at Yale University while finishing high school. During this period, he won a number of competitions including the CSO, the Shoreline Alliance Competition, the El Dorado, and the Jovens Solistas. In 1984, he was invited to be guest soloist at the 400th Anniversary of the State of Paraiba under Maestro Claudio Santoro and after a concert tour in 1987, he was received the Outstanding Soloist Award.

Sascha has performed in Europe, South and North America at renowned halls as Alice Tully, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Sprague Hall, the Mellon Institute and the Memorial of Latin America, among others. He has appeared under conductors such as Eleazar de Carvalho, Gunther Herbig, Aldo Parisot, Claudio Santoro, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Robert Shaw, Juan Pablo Izquierdo, Isaac Karabitchewski, Sidney Harth, and Kryzstof Penderecki to name few. He has participated in the famous Duke Ellington concert series performing throughout Northeastern United States along with the Ruff-Mitchel Duo. Sascha has been awarded the Francis G. Wickes fellowship, the Andrew Carnegie Tradition Award, the Milles Prize and the Yale Alumni Award among others. He has also been a regular guest at the Ted Sawyer program of WQED, Pittsburgh.

As an avid chamber musician Sascha has collaborated with artists such as Erick Friedman, Sidney Harth, Nai-Yuan Hu, Elizabeth Sawyer, Aldo Parisot, Yo-Yo Ma, Wang Jian, Humberto Lucarelli, Frank Morelli, Andres Cardenes, Thomas Rolston, Ruth Laredo and Julius Baker, among others. He is also a founding member of the Yale Piano Trio, which has appeared in concerts in Europe, North and South America. Recent performances include the Itu Festival in Brazil, and performances sponsored by the Angels of Music Society of New York at Weill Hall in New York. Sascha is a faculty member at the Hopkins School, the Neighborhood Music School, permanent faculty at the ITU Music Festival, the Eleazar de Carvalho Festival in Brazil, and has assisted Sidney Harth at Yale University.

A graduate of Yale and of Carnegie Mellon University, he was a pupil of Sidney Harth and Erick Friedman. Sascha performs on a 1725 Guarnerius and in December 2000 he recorded Bach's E major Violin Concerto with the Fundacao Izabel Burity Chamber Orchestra in Brazil.